I have
retained
the text of _1633_, which has the support of
all the MSS.
all the MSS.
John Donne
29-30 (see textual note) would seem
to suggest that their version of the poem is an early one (revised by
Donne), and this may be an early reading; (2) because in l. 20 this
epithet is used as though repeated, 'thy gift being generall. ' It
would be not unlike Donne to quibble with the word, making it mean
first a gift made generally to all, and secondly a gift general in its
content, not limited or defined in any way. The whole poem is a piece
of legal quibbling not unlike Shakespeare's 87th Sonnet:
Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,
And like enough thou know'st thy estimate:
The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;
My bonds in thee are all determinate, &c.
PAGE =18=. SONG.
_Sweetest love, &c. _ Of the music to this and 'Send home my long
stray'd eyes' I can discover no trace. _The Baite_ was doubtless sung
to the same air as Marlowe's 'Come live with me'. See II. p. 57.
ll. 6-8.
I have retained the text of _1633_, which has the support of
all the MSS. That of _1635-54_ is an attempt to accommodate the lines,
by a little padding, to the rhythm of the corresponding lines in the
other stanzas.
PAGE =20=. THE LEGACIE.
ll. 9-16. I HEARD ME SAY, _&c. _ The construction of this verse has
proved rather a difficulty to editors. I give it as printed by
Chambers and by the Grolier Club editor. Chambers's modernized version
runs:
I heard me say, 'Tell her anon,
That myself', that is you not I,
'Did kill me', and when I felt me die,
I bid me send my heart, when I was gone;
But I alas! could there find none;
When I had ripp'd and search'd where hearts should lie,
It killed me again, that I who still was true
In life, in my last will should cozen you.
The Grolier Club version has no inverted commas, and runs:
I heard me say, Tell her anon,
That myself, that's you not I,
Did kill me; and when I felt me die,
I bid me send my heart, when I was gone;
But I alas! could there find none.
When I had ripped me and searched where hearts did lie,
It killed me again that I, who still was true
In life, in my last will should cozen you.
In my own version the only departure which I have made from the
punctuation of the 1633 version is the substitution of a semicolon for
a comma after 'lye' (l. 14).
to suggest that their version of the poem is an early one (revised by
Donne), and this may be an early reading; (2) because in l. 20 this
epithet is used as though repeated, 'thy gift being generall. ' It
would be not unlike Donne to quibble with the word, making it mean
first a gift made generally to all, and secondly a gift general in its
content, not limited or defined in any way. The whole poem is a piece
of legal quibbling not unlike Shakespeare's 87th Sonnet:
Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,
And like enough thou know'st thy estimate:
The charter of thy worth gives thee releasing;
My bonds in thee are all determinate, &c.
PAGE =18=. SONG.
_Sweetest love, &c. _ Of the music to this and 'Send home my long
stray'd eyes' I can discover no trace. _The Baite_ was doubtless sung
to the same air as Marlowe's 'Come live with me'. See II. p. 57.
ll. 6-8.
I have retained the text of _1633_, which has the support of
all the MSS. That of _1635-54_ is an attempt to accommodate the lines,
by a little padding, to the rhythm of the corresponding lines in the
other stanzas.
PAGE =20=. THE LEGACIE.
ll. 9-16. I HEARD ME SAY, _&c. _ The construction of this verse has
proved rather a difficulty to editors. I give it as printed by
Chambers and by the Grolier Club editor. Chambers's modernized version
runs:
I heard me say, 'Tell her anon,
That myself', that is you not I,
'Did kill me', and when I felt me die,
I bid me send my heart, when I was gone;
But I alas! could there find none;
When I had ripp'd and search'd where hearts should lie,
It killed me again, that I who still was true
In life, in my last will should cozen you.
The Grolier Club version has no inverted commas, and runs:
I heard me say, Tell her anon,
That myself, that's you not I,
Did kill me; and when I felt me die,
I bid me send my heart, when I was gone;
But I alas! could there find none.
When I had ripped me and searched where hearts did lie,
It killed me again that I, who still was true
In life, in my last will should cozen you.
In my own version the only departure which I have made from the
punctuation of the 1633 version is the substitution of a semicolon for
a comma after 'lye' (l. 14).
