There are some
spheres where experience does not teach, but corrupt.
spheres where experience does not teach, but corrupt.
John Donne
' _Manninghams Diary_, 8th April, 1603 (Camden Club, p.
165).
This
is the only certain reference to Epps I have been able to find, but
Grosart declares he is the soldier described in Dekker's _Knights
Conjuring_ as behaving with great courage at the siege of Ostend
(1601-4), where he was killed. I can find no name in Dekker's work.
ll. 27-31. As printed in _1669_ these lines are not very intelligible,
and neither Grosart nor Chambers has corrected them. As given in the
MSS. (e. g. _TCD_) they are a little clearer:
For his Body and State
The Physick and Counsel (which came too late)
'Gainst whores and dice, hee nowe on mee bestowes
Most superficially: hee speakes of those,
(I found by him) least soundly whoe most knows:
The purpose of bracketing 'which came too late' is obviously to keep
it from being taken with ''Gainst whores and dice'--the very mistake
that _1669_ has fallen into and Grosart and Chambers have preserved.
The drawback to this use of the bracket is that it disguises, at least
to modern readers, that 'which came too late' must be taken with 'For
his Body and State'. I have therefore dropped it and placed a comma
after 'late'. The meaning I take to be as follows: 'The physic and
counsel against whores and dice, which came too late for his own body
and estate, he now bestows on me in a superficial fashion; for I found
by him that of whores and dice those speak least soundly who know
most from personal experience. ' A rather shrewd remark.
There are some
spheres where experience does not teach, but corrupt.
l. 40. _in that or those_: 'that' the Duello, 'those' the laws of the
Duello. There is not much to choose between 'these' and 'those'.
ll. 41-3. _Though sober; but so never fought. I know
What made his Valour, undubb'd, Windmill go,
Within a Pint at most:_
The MSS. improve both the metre and the sense of the first of these
lines, which in _1669_ and Chambers runs:
Though sober; but nere fought. I know . . .
It is when he is sober that he never fights, though he may quarrel.
Roe knows exactly how much drink it would take to make this undubb'd
Don Quixote charge a windmill, or like a windmill. But the poem is too
early for an actual reference to _Don Quixote_
PAGE =403=, ll.
is the only certain reference to Epps I have been able to find, but
Grosart declares he is the soldier described in Dekker's _Knights
Conjuring_ as behaving with great courage at the siege of Ostend
(1601-4), where he was killed. I can find no name in Dekker's work.
ll. 27-31. As printed in _1669_ these lines are not very intelligible,
and neither Grosart nor Chambers has corrected them. As given in the
MSS. (e. g. _TCD_) they are a little clearer:
For his Body and State
The Physick and Counsel (which came too late)
'Gainst whores and dice, hee nowe on mee bestowes
Most superficially: hee speakes of those,
(I found by him) least soundly whoe most knows:
The purpose of bracketing 'which came too late' is obviously to keep
it from being taken with ''Gainst whores and dice'--the very mistake
that _1669_ has fallen into and Grosart and Chambers have preserved.
The drawback to this use of the bracket is that it disguises, at least
to modern readers, that 'which came too late' must be taken with 'For
his Body and State'. I have therefore dropped it and placed a comma
after 'late'. The meaning I take to be as follows: 'The physic and
counsel against whores and dice, which came too late for his own body
and estate, he now bestows on me in a superficial fashion; for I found
by him that of whores and dice those speak least soundly who know
most from personal experience. ' A rather shrewd remark.
There are some
spheres where experience does not teach, but corrupt.
l. 40. _in that or those_: 'that' the Duello, 'those' the laws of the
Duello. There is not much to choose between 'these' and 'those'.
ll. 41-3. _Though sober; but so never fought. I know
What made his Valour, undubb'd, Windmill go,
Within a Pint at most:_
The MSS. improve both the metre and the sense of the first of these
lines, which in _1669_ and Chambers runs:
Though sober; but nere fought. I know . . .
It is when he is sober that he never fights, though he may quarrel.
Roe knows exactly how much drink it would take to make this undubb'd
Don Quixote charge a windmill, or like a windmill. But the poem is too
early for an actual reference to _Don Quixote_
PAGE =403=, ll.
