In _HN_ Drummond has altered
to 'Ethnicks' a word Donne uses elsewhere: 'Of all nations the Jews
have most chastely preserved that ceremony of abstaining from Ethnic
names.
to 'Ethnicks' a word Donne uses elsewhere: 'Of all nations the Jews
have most chastely preserved that ceremony of abstaining from Ethnic
names.
John Donne
The voiced 'f' was not always distinguished
from the breathed sound by a different spelling ('v' for 'f'), and
'lifes' would very easily become 'life'. On the other hand 'v' was
frequently written where we now have 'f', and sometimes misleads.
Peele's _The Old Wives Tale_ is not necessarily, as usually printed,
_Wives'_. It is just an _Old Woman's Tale_.
PAGE =284=. ELEGIE.
PAGE =285=, l. 34. _The Ethicks speake, &c. _ A rather strange
expression for 'Ethics tell'. The article is rare. Donne says, 'No
booke of Ethicks. ' _Sermons_ 80. 55. 550.
In _HN_ Drummond has altered
to 'Ethnicks' a word Donne uses elsewhere: 'Of all nations the Jews
have most chastely preserved that ceremony of abstaining from Ethnic
names. ' _Essays in Divinity. _ It does not, however, seem appropriate
here, unless Donne means to say that she had all the cardinal virtues
of the heathen with the superhuman, theological virtues which are
superinduced by grace:
Her soul was Paradise, &c.
But this is not at all clear. Apparently there is no more in the line
than a somewhat vaguely expressed hyperbole: 'she had all the cardinal
virtues of which we hear in Ethics'.
PAGE =286=, l. 44. _Wee'had had a Saint, have now a holiday_: i. e.
'We should have had a saint and should have now a holiday'--her
anniversary. The MS. form of the line is probably correct:
We had had a Saint, now a holiday.
l. 48. _That what we turne to_ feast, _she turn'd to_ pray. As printed
in the old editions this line, if it be correctly given, is one of the
worst Donne ever wrote:
That what we turne to feast, she turn'd to pray,
i.
from the breathed sound by a different spelling ('v' for 'f'), and
'lifes' would very easily become 'life'. On the other hand 'v' was
frequently written where we now have 'f', and sometimes misleads.
Peele's _The Old Wives Tale_ is not necessarily, as usually printed,
_Wives'_. It is just an _Old Woman's Tale_.
PAGE =284=. ELEGIE.
PAGE =285=, l. 34. _The Ethicks speake, &c. _ A rather strange
expression for 'Ethics tell'. The article is rare. Donne says, 'No
booke of Ethicks. ' _Sermons_ 80. 55. 550.
In _HN_ Drummond has altered
to 'Ethnicks' a word Donne uses elsewhere: 'Of all nations the Jews
have most chastely preserved that ceremony of abstaining from Ethnic
names. ' _Essays in Divinity. _ It does not, however, seem appropriate
here, unless Donne means to say that she had all the cardinal virtues
of the heathen with the superhuman, theological virtues which are
superinduced by grace:
Her soul was Paradise, &c.
But this is not at all clear. Apparently there is no more in the line
than a somewhat vaguely expressed hyperbole: 'she had all the cardinal
virtues of which we hear in Ethics'.
PAGE =286=, l. 44. _Wee'had had a Saint, have now a holiday_: i. e.
'We should have had a saint and should have now a holiday'--her
anniversary. The MS. form of the line is probably correct:
We had had a Saint, now a holiday.
l. 48. _That what we turne to_ feast, _she turn'd to_ pray. As printed
in the old editions this line, if it be correctly given, is one of the
worst Donne ever wrote:
That what we turne to feast, she turn'd to pray,
i.
