She was the daughter of Sir James Harington, younger brother of John,
first Baron Harington of Exton.
first Baron Harington of Exton.
John Donne
' _Biathanatos_, Part I, Dist.
2, Sect.
3.
The
marginal note calls them 'Soldurii', and refers to Caes. , _Bell.
Gall. _ 3, and _Tholosa. Sym. _ lib. 14, cap. 10, N. 14.
PAGE =279=. ELEGIE ON THE LADY MARCKHAM.
The wife of Sir Anthony Markham, of Sedgebrook in the county of Notts.
She was the daughter of Sir James Harington, younger brother of John,
first Baron Harington of Exton. See note to last poem. She was thus
first cousin to Lucy, Countess of Bedford, and died at her home at
Twickenham on May 4, 1609. On her tombstone it is recorded that she
was 'inclytae Luciae Comitissae de Bedford sanguine (quod satis) sed
et amicitia propinquissima'. It is probably to this friendship of
a great patroness of poets that she owes this and other tributes
of verse. Francis Beaumont wrote one which is found in several MS.
collections of Donne's poems, sometimes with his, sometimes with
Beaumont's initials. In it he frankly confesses that he never knew
Lady Markham. I quote a few lines:
As unthrifts grieve in strawe for their pawnd Beds,
As women weepe for their lost Maidenheads
(When both are without hope of Remedie)
Such an untimelie Griefe, have I for thee.
I never sawe thy face; nor did my hart
Urge forth mine eyes unto it whilst thou wert,
But being lifted hence, that which to thee
Was Deaths sad dart, prov'd Cupids shafte to me.
The taste of Beaumont's poem is execrable. Elegies like this, and I
fear Donne's among them, were frankly addressed not so much to the
memory of the dead as to the pocket of the living.
According to two MSS. (_RP31_ and _H40_) the _Elegie_, 'Death be
not proud', was written by Lady Bedford herself on the death of
her cousin. It is much simpler and sincerer in tone than Donne's or
Beaumont's, but the tenor of the thought seems to connect it with the
_Elegie on M^{ris} Boulstred_, 'Death I recant'. The same MSS.
marginal note calls them 'Soldurii', and refers to Caes. , _Bell.
Gall. _ 3, and _Tholosa. Sym. _ lib. 14, cap. 10, N. 14.
PAGE =279=. ELEGIE ON THE LADY MARCKHAM.
The wife of Sir Anthony Markham, of Sedgebrook in the county of Notts.
She was the daughter of Sir James Harington, younger brother of John,
first Baron Harington of Exton. See note to last poem. She was thus
first cousin to Lucy, Countess of Bedford, and died at her home at
Twickenham on May 4, 1609. On her tombstone it is recorded that she
was 'inclytae Luciae Comitissae de Bedford sanguine (quod satis) sed
et amicitia propinquissima'. It is probably to this friendship of
a great patroness of poets that she owes this and other tributes
of verse. Francis Beaumont wrote one which is found in several MS.
collections of Donne's poems, sometimes with his, sometimes with
Beaumont's initials. In it he frankly confesses that he never knew
Lady Markham. I quote a few lines:
As unthrifts grieve in strawe for their pawnd Beds,
As women weepe for their lost Maidenheads
(When both are without hope of Remedie)
Such an untimelie Griefe, have I for thee.
I never sawe thy face; nor did my hart
Urge forth mine eyes unto it whilst thou wert,
But being lifted hence, that which to thee
Was Deaths sad dart, prov'd Cupids shafte to me.
The taste of Beaumont's poem is execrable. Elegies like this, and I
fear Donne's among them, were frankly addressed not so much to the
memory of the dead as to the pocket of the living.
According to two MSS. (_RP31_ and _H40_) the _Elegie_, 'Death be
not proud', was written by Lady Bedford herself on the death of
her cousin. It is much simpler and sincerer in tone than Donne's or
Beaumont's, but the tenor of the thought seems to connect it with the
_Elegie on M^{ris} Boulstred_, 'Death I recant'. The same MSS.
