This
is the only certain reference to Epps I have been able to find, but
Grosart declares he is the soldier described in Dekker's _Knights
Conjuring_ as behaving with great courage at the siege of Ostend
(1601-4), where he was killed.
is the only certain reference to Epps I have been able to find, but
Grosart declares he is the soldier described in Dekker's _Knights
Conjuring_ as behaving with great courage at the siege of Ostend
(1601-4), where he was killed.
John Donne
Seven children of Sir Nicholas are given, including another Nicholas
(aet. 14), and the whole is signed 'Nich Smith'.
This is doubtless Roe's friend. With Roe as a Falstaff he had probably
'heard the chimes at midnight' in London before he settled down to
raise a family in Devonshire.
l. 7. _sleeps House, &c. _ Ovid xi; Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_, Canto
xiv; Spenser, _Faerie Queene_, I. i.
PAGE =402=, l. 26. _Epps_. 'This afternoon a servingman of the Earl
of Northumberland fought with swaggering Eps, and ran him through the
ear. ' _Manninghams Diary_, 8th April, 1603 (Camden Club, p. 165).
This
is the only certain reference to Epps I have been able to find, but
Grosart declares he is the soldier described in Dekker's _Knights
Conjuring_ as behaving with great courage at the siege of Ostend
(1601-4), where he was killed. I can find no name in Dekker's work.
ll. 27-31. As printed in _1669_ these lines are not very intelligible,
and neither Grosart nor Chambers has corrected them. As given in the
MSS. (e. g. _TCD_) they are a little clearer:
For his Body and State
The Physick and Counsel (which came too late)
'Gainst whores and dice, hee nowe on mee bestowes
Most superficially: hee speakes of those,
(I found by him) least soundly whoe most knows:
The purpose of bracketing 'which came too late' is obviously to keep
it from being taken with ''Gainst whores and dice'--the very mistake
that _1669_ has fallen into and Grosart and Chambers have preserved.
The drawback to this use of the bracket is that it disguises, at least
to modern readers, that 'which came too late' must be taken with 'For
his Body and State'. I have therefore dropped it and placed a comma
after 'late'. The meaning I take to be as follows: 'The physic and
counsel against whores and dice, which came too late for his own body
and estate, he now bestows on me in a superficial fashion; for I found
by him that of whores and dice those speak least soundly who know
most from personal experience. ' A rather shrewd remark. There are some
spheres where experience does not teach, but corrupt.
l. 40.
