_The
Monument
of a Faire Maiden Lady.
John Donne
_a Lampe of Balsamum_, i.
e.
burning balsam instead of ordinary
oil: 'And as _Constantine_ ordained, that upon this day' (Christmas
Day), 'the Church should burne no Oyle, but Balsamum in her Lamps, so
let us ever celebrate this day, with a thankfull acknowledgment, that
Christ who is _unctus Domini_, The Anointed of the Lord, hath anointed
us with the Oyle of gladnesse above our fellowes. ' _Sermons_ 80. 7.
72.
ll. 75-7. _Cloath'd in, &c. _ Chambers's arrangement of these lines is
ingenious but, I think, mistaken because it alters the emphasis of the
sentences. The stress is not laid by Donne on her purity, but on her
early death: 'She expir'd while she was still a virgin. She went away
before she was a woman. ' Line 76:
For marriage, though it doe not staine, doth dye.
is a sudden digression. Dryden filches these lines:
All white, a Virgin-Saint, she sought the skies
For Marriage, tho' it sullies not, it dies.
_The Monument of a Faire Maiden Lady. _
PAGE =248=, l. 83. _said History_ is a strange phrase, but it has the
support of all the editions which can be said to have any authority.
l. 92. _and then inferre. _ Compare: 'That this honour might be
inferred on some one of the blood and race of their ancient king. '
Raleigh (O. E. D. ). Donne's sense of 'commit', 'entrust', is not far
from Raleigh's of 'confer', 'bestow', and both are natural extensions
of the common though now obsolete sense, 'bring on, occasion, cause':
Inferre faire Englands peace by this Alliance.
Shakespeare, _Rich. III_, IV. iv.
oil: 'And as _Constantine_ ordained, that upon this day' (Christmas
Day), 'the Church should burne no Oyle, but Balsamum in her Lamps, so
let us ever celebrate this day, with a thankfull acknowledgment, that
Christ who is _unctus Domini_, The Anointed of the Lord, hath anointed
us with the Oyle of gladnesse above our fellowes. ' _Sermons_ 80. 7.
72.
ll. 75-7. _Cloath'd in, &c. _ Chambers's arrangement of these lines is
ingenious but, I think, mistaken because it alters the emphasis of the
sentences. The stress is not laid by Donne on her purity, but on her
early death: 'She expir'd while she was still a virgin. She went away
before she was a woman. ' Line 76:
For marriage, though it doe not staine, doth dye.
is a sudden digression. Dryden filches these lines:
All white, a Virgin-Saint, she sought the skies
For Marriage, tho' it sullies not, it dies.
_The Monument of a Faire Maiden Lady. _
PAGE =248=, l. 83. _said History_ is a strange phrase, but it has the
support of all the editions which can be said to have any authority.
l. 92. _and then inferre. _ Compare: 'That this honour might be
inferred on some one of the blood and race of their ancient king. '
Raleigh (O. E. D. ). Donne's sense of 'commit', 'entrust', is not far
from Raleigh's of 'confer', 'bestow', and both are natural extensions
of the common though now obsolete sense, 'bring on, occasion, cause':
Inferre faire Englands peace by this Alliance.
Shakespeare, _Rich. III_, IV. iv.
