Most of them read
'towred', probably the past participle of the same verb, though
Grosart alters to 'two red'--not a very poetical description.
'towred', probably the past participle of the same verb, though
Grosart alters to 'two red'--not a very poetical description.
John Donne
in Paracelsum, cap.
4, fol.
196, he confesseth of gold, that
it makes the heart merry, but in no other sense but as it is in a
miser's chest:
----at mihi plaudo
----simulac nummos contemplor in arca
as he said in the poet: it so revives the spirits, and is an excellent
receipt against melancholy,
For gold in phisik is a cordial,
Therefore he lovede gold in special. '
Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, Pt. 2, Sub. 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.
it makes the heart merry, but in no other sense but as it is in a
miser's chest:
----at mihi plaudo
----simulac nummos contemplor in arca
as he said in the poet: it so revives the spirits, and is an excellent
receipt against melancholy,
For gold in phisik is a cordial,
Therefore he lovede gold in special. '
Burton, _Anatomy of Melancholy_, Pt. 2, Sub. 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.
