T is easily
confounded
with F.
John Donne
The modern editors, by dropping the comma after 'asham'd', have
given this line the opposite meaning to what Donne intended. I have
therefore, to avoid ambiguity, inserted one before. Sir Henry Goodyere
is not to be asham'd to imitate his hawk, but is, _through shame_,
to emulate that noble bird by growing more sparing of extravagant
display. 'But the sporte which for that daie Basilius would
principally shewe to Zelmane, was the mounting at a Hearne, which
getting up on his wagling wings with paine . . . was now growen to
diminish the sight of himself, and to give example to greate persons,
that the higher they be the lesse they should show. ' Sidney's
_Arcadia_, ii. 4.
Goodyere's fondness for hawking is referred to in one of Donne's prose
letters, 'God send you Hawks and fortunes of a high pitch' (_Letters_,
p. 204), and by Jonson in _Epigram LXXXV_.
l. 44. _Tables, or fruit-trenchers. _ I have let the 'Tables' of
_1633-54_ stand, although 'Fables' has the support of _all_ the MSS.
T is easily confounded with F. In the very next poem _1633-54_ read
'Termers' where I feel sure that 'Farmers' (spelt 'Fermers') is the
correct reading. Moreover, Donne makes several references to the
'morals' of fables:
The fable is inverted, and far more
A block inflicts now, then a stork before.
_The Calme_, ll. 4-5.
O wretch, that thy fortunes should moralize
Aesop's fables, and make tales prophesies.
_Satyre V. _
If 'Tables' is the correct reading, Donne means, I take it, not
portable memorandum books such as Hamlet carried (this is Professor
Norton's explanation), but simply pictures (as in 'Table-book'),
probably Emblems.
PAGE =185=. TO M^r ROWLAND WOODWARD.
Rowland Woodward was a common friend of Donne and Wotton. The fullest
account of Woodward is given by Mr. Pearsall Smith (_The Life and
Letters of Sir Henry Wotton_, 1907). Of his early life unfortunately
he can tell us little or nothing. He seems to have gone to Venice
with Wotton in 1604, at least he was there in 1605. This letter was,
therefore, written probably before that date.
given this line the opposite meaning to what Donne intended. I have
therefore, to avoid ambiguity, inserted one before. Sir Henry Goodyere
is not to be asham'd to imitate his hawk, but is, _through shame_,
to emulate that noble bird by growing more sparing of extravagant
display. 'But the sporte which for that daie Basilius would
principally shewe to Zelmane, was the mounting at a Hearne, which
getting up on his wagling wings with paine . . . was now growen to
diminish the sight of himself, and to give example to greate persons,
that the higher they be the lesse they should show. ' Sidney's
_Arcadia_, ii. 4.
Goodyere's fondness for hawking is referred to in one of Donne's prose
letters, 'God send you Hawks and fortunes of a high pitch' (_Letters_,
p. 204), and by Jonson in _Epigram LXXXV_.
l. 44. _Tables, or fruit-trenchers. _ I have let the 'Tables' of
_1633-54_ stand, although 'Fables' has the support of _all_ the MSS.
T is easily confounded with F. In the very next poem _1633-54_ read
'Termers' where I feel sure that 'Farmers' (spelt 'Fermers') is the
correct reading. Moreover, Donne makes several references to the
'morals' of fables:
The fable is inverted, and far more
A block inflicts now, then a stork before.
_The Calme_, ll. 4-5.
O wretch, that thy fortunes should moralize
Aesop's fables, and make tales prophesies.
_Satyre V. _
If 'Tables' is the correct reading, Donne means, I take it, not
portable memorandum books such as Hamlet carried (this is Professor
Norton's explanation), but simply pictures (as in 'Table-book'),
probably Emblems.
PAGE =185=. TO M^r ROWLAND WOODWARD.
Rowland Woodward was a common friend of Donne and Wotton. The fullest
account of Woodward is given by Mr. Pearsall Smith (_The Life and
Letters of Sir Henry Wotton_, 1907). Of his early life unfortunately
he can tell us little or nothing. He seems to have gone to Venice
with Wotton in 1604, at least he was there in 1605. This letter was,
therefore, written probably before that date.
