If 'towring' is not right, 'lowring' is
the most probable emendation.
the most probable emendation.
John Donne
4.
ELEGIE XII.
PAGE =101=, l. 37. _And mad'st us sigh and glow_: 'sigh and blow' has
been the somewhat inelegant reading of all editions hitherto.
l. 42. _And over all thy husbands towring eyes. _ The epithet 'towring'
is strange and the MSS. show some vacillation. Most of them read
'towred', probably the past participle of the same verb, though
Grosart alters to 'two red'--not a very poetical description. _RP31_
here diverges from _H40_ and reads 'loured', perhaps for 'lurid', but
both these MSS. alter the order of the words and attach the epithet
to 'husbands', which is manifestly wrong, and the Grolier Club edition
prints 'lowering' without comment, regarding, I suppose, 't' as a
mistake for 'l'.
The 'towring' of _1669_ and _TCD_ is probably correct, being a
bold metaphor from hawking, and having the force practically of
'threatening'. The hawk towers threateningly above its prey before it
'sousing kills with a grace'.
If 'towring' is not right, 'lowring' is
the most probable emendation.
PAGE =102=, l. 43. _That flam'd with oylie sweat of jealousie. _ This
is the reading of all the MSS. , and as on the whole their text is
superior I have followed it. If 'oylie' is, as I think, the right
epithet, it means 'moist', as in 'an oily palm', with perhaps a
reference to the inflammability of oil. If 'ouglie '(i. e. ugly) be
preferred it is a forcible transferred epithet.
l. 49. _most respects? _ This is the reading of all the MSS. , and
'best' in _1669_ is probably an emendation. The use of 'most' as an
adjective, superlative of 'great', is not uncommon:
God's wrong is most of all.
ELEGIE XII.
PAGE =101=, l. 37. _And mad'st us sigh and glow_: 'sigh and blow' has
been the somewhat inelegant reading of all editions hitherto.
l. 42. _And over all thy husbands towring eyes. _ The epithet 'towring'
is strange and the MSS. show some vacillation. Most of them read
'towred', probably the past participle of the same verb, though
Grosart alters to 'two red'--not a very poetical description. _RP31_
here diverges from _H40_ and reads 'loured', perhaps for 'lurid', but
both these MSS. alter the order of the words and attach the epithet
to 'husbands', which is manifestly wrong, and the Grolier Club edition
prints 'lowering' without comment, regarding, I suppose, 't' as a
mistake for 'l'.
The 'towring' of _1669_ and _TCD_ is probably correct, being a
bold metaphor from hawking, and having the force practically of
'threatening'. The hawk towers threateningly above its prey before it
'sousing kills with a grace'.
If 'towring' is not right, 'lowring' is
the most probable emendation.
PAGE =102=, l. 43. _That flam'd with oylie sweat of jealousie. _ This
is the reading of all the MSS. , and as on the whole their text is
superior I have followed it. If 'oylie' is, as I think, the right
epithet, it means 'moist', as in 'an oily palm', with perhaps a
reference to the inflammability of oil. If 'ouglie '(i. e. ugly) be
preferred it is a forcible transferred epithet.
l. 49. _most respects? _ This is the reading of all the MSS. , and
'best' in _1669_ is probably an emendation. The use of 'most' as an
adjective, superlative of 'great', is not uncommon:
God's wrong is most of all.
