No More Learning

From these I
must, however, except the English; for their language is all
languages; and as it pleases them, Greek and Latin become
plain English. But since _we_ do not thus admit foreign words
it is easy to understand in what difficulty we find ourselves
when we have to express in a pure German speech, _Ecstasis_,
_Atomi_, _Influentiae_, _Legatum_, _Alloy_, and the like. Set
these aside and the rest costs us no great effort. '

At the end of his life Huyghens wrote a poem of reminiscences,
_Sermones de Vita Propria_, in which he recalls the impression
that Donne had left upon his mind:

Voortreffelyk Donn, o deugdzaam leeraer, duld
Dat ik u bovenal, daar'k u bij voorkeur noeme,
Als godlijk Dichter en welsprekend Reednaer roeme,
Uit uwen gulden mond, 'tzij ge in een vriendenzaal
Of van den kansel spraakt, klonk louter godentaal,
Wier nektar ik zoo vaak met harte wellust proefde.

'Suffer me, all-surpassing Donne, virtuous teacher, to name
you first and above all; and sing your fame as god-like poet
and eloquent preacher. From your golden mouth, whether in
the chamber of a friend, or in the pulpit, fell the speech
of Gods, whose nectar I drank again and again with heartfelt
joy. '

Vondel did not share the enthusiasm of Huyghens and Hooft. ]

[Footnote 14: That is, many poems of his early years. ]

[Footnote 15: Tot verschiedene reizen meen ik U. E.
onderhouden te hebben met de gedachtenisse van Doctor Donne,
tegenwoordigh Deken van St Pauls tot Londen, ende, door dit
rijckelick beroep, volgens 't Engelsch gebruyck, in hooghen
ansien, in veel hooger door den rijckdom van sijn gadeloos
vernuft ende noch onvergelijckerer welsprekentheit op stoel.
Eertijts ten dienst van de grooten ten hove gevoedt, in de
werelt gewortelt, in de studien geslepen, in de dictkonst
vermaerdt, meer als yemand. Van die groene tacken hebben veel
weelderige vruchten onder de liefhebbers leggen meucken, diese
nu bynaer verrot van ouderdom uytdeylen, my synde voor den
besten slag van mispelen ter hand geraeckt by halve vijf en
twintig, door toedoen van eenighe mijne besondere Heeren ende
vrienden van die natie. Onder de onze hebb ick geene konnen
uytkiesen, diese voor U. E.
behoorden medegedeelt te werden,
slaende deze dichter ganschelijck op U. E. manieren van invall
ende uitspraeck. ]

[Footnote 16: This is not the only manuscript in which this
poem appears among the _Elegies_ following immediately on that
entitled _The Picture_, 'Here take my picture, though I bid
farewell. ' It is thus placed in _1633_. The adhesion of two
poems in a number of otherwise distinct manuscripts may mean,
I think, that they were written about the same time. ]

[Footnote 17: There are, however, grounds for the conjecture
besides the contents. The Westmoreland MS. was secured, Mr.
Gosse writes me, when the library of the Earls of Westmoreland
was disposed of, about the year 1892. 'The interest of this
library was that it had not been disturbed since the early
part of the seventeenth century. With the Westmoreland MS.
of Donne's Poems was attached a very fine copy of Donne's
_Pseudomartyr_, which contained, in what was certainly Donne's
handwriting, the words "Ex dono authoris: Row: Woodward" and
a motto in Spanish "De juegos el mejor es con la hoja". There
can be no doubt, I think, that these two books belonged to
Rowland Woodward and were given him by Donne. ' But is it
likely that after 1617 Donne would give even to a friend a
manuscript containing the most reprehensible of his earlier
_Elegies_ and the _Epithalamion made at Lincolns Inn_? It
seems to me more probable that the manuscript contains two
distinct collections, made at different times.