That Donne must have written 'sere-barke' or 'seare-barke' is
clear, both from the evidence of the editions and MSS.
clear, both from the evidence of the editions and MSS.
John Donne
_Cler. _ A pox of her autumnal face, her pieced beauty! there's no
man can be admitted till she be ready now-a-days, till she has
painted and perfumed . . . I have made a song (I pray thee
hear it) on the subject
Still to be neat, still to be drest. . .
The resemblance may be accidental, yet the frequency with which the
poem is dubbed _An Autumnal Face_ or _The Autumnall_ shows that the
phrase had struck home. Jonson's comedies seethe with such allusions,
and I rather suspect that he is poking fun at his friend's paradoxes,
perhaps in a sly way at that 'grave and youthful matron' Lady Danvers.
We cannot _prove_ that the poem was written so early, but the evidence
on the whole is in favour of Walton's statement.
PAGE =79=. ELEGIE I.
l. 4.
That Donne must have written 'sere-barke' or 'seare-barke' is
clear, both from the evidence of the editions and MSS. and from the
vacillation of the latter. 'Cere-cloth' is a word which Donne uses
more than once in the sermons: 'A good Cere-cloth to bruises,'
_Sermons_ 80. 10. 101; 'A Searcloth that souples all bruises,' Ibid.
80. 66. 663. But to substitute 'sere-cloth' for 'sere-barke' would be
to miss the force of Donne's vivid description. The 'sere-cloth' with
which the sick man is covered is his own eruptive skin. Both Chambers
and Norton have noted the resemblance to Hamlet's poisoned father:
a most instant tetter barked about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
ll. 19-20. _Nor, at his board together being sat
With words, nor touch, scarce looks adulterate. _
Quum premit ille torum, vultu comes ipsa modesto
Ibis, ut adcumbas; clam mihi tange pedem,
Me specta, nutusque meos, vultumque loquacem:
Excipe furtivas, et refer ipsa, notas.
Verba superciliis sine voce loquentia dicam:
Verba leges digitis, verba notata mero.
