Donne,' is said by
Professor
Norton to be Edward Hyde, D.
John Donne
(Letter, dated 1664, prefixed to
Walton's _Lives_, 1670. ) The sermons and papers thus consigned to King
were taken from him later at the instance apparently of Donne's son.
But the presence of King's epitaph in this edition of _Deaths Duell_
seems to show that he was responsible for, or at any rate permitted,
the issue of the sermon by Redmer and Fisher. The reappearance of
these Elegies signed, and accompanied by a number of others, suggests
in like manner that King _may_ have been the editor behind Marriot
of the _Poems_ in 1633. This would help to account for the general
excellence of the text of that edition, for King, a poet himself as
well as an intimate friend, was better fitted to edit Donne's poems
than the gentle and pious Walton, who was less in sympathy with the
side of Donne which his poetry reveals.
Of Henry King (1591-1669) poet, 'florid preacher', canon of Christ
Church, dean of Rochester, and in 1641 Bishop of Chichester it
is unnecessary to say more here. A fresh edition of his poems by
Professor Saintsbury is in preparation and will show how worthy a
disciple he was of Donne as love-poet, eulogist, and religious poet.
Probably the finest of his poems is _The Surrender_.
It was to King also that Redmer was indebted for the frontispiece to
_Deaths Duell_, the picture of Donne in his shroud, reproduced in the
first volume. 'It was given', Walton says, 'to his dearest friend
and Executor D^r King, who caused him to be thus carved in one entire
piece of white Marble, as it now stands in the Cathedral Church of St.
Pauls. '
The second of the _Elegies_ in 1633 was apparently by the author of
the _Religio Medici_ and must be his earliest published work, written
probably just after his return from the Continent. The lines were
withdrawn after the first edition.
The Edw. Hyde responsible for the third Elegy, 'On the death of Dr.
Donne,' is said by Professor Norton to be Edward Hyde, D. D. (1607-59),
son of Sir Lawrence Hyde of Salisbury. Educated at Westminster School
and Cambridge he became a notable Royalist divine; had trouble with
Parliament; and wrote various sermons and treatises (see D. N. B. ). 'A
Latin poem by Hyde is prefixed to Dean Duport's translation of Job
into Greek verse (1637) and he contributed to the "Cambridge Poems"
some verses in celebration of the birth of Princess Elizabeth. '
It would be interesting to think that the author of the lines on Donne
was not the divine but his kinsman the subsequent Lord Chancellor.
There is this to be said for the hypothesis, that among those who
contribute to the collection of complimentary verses are some of
Clarendon's most intimate friends about this time, viz. Thomas Carew,
Sir Lucius Carie or Lord Falkland, and (but his elegy appears first
in 1635) Sidney Godolphin. The John Vaughan also, whose MS. lines to
Donne I have printed in the introduction (_Text and Canon, &c. _, p.
lxiv, note), is enrolled by Clarendon among his intimates at this
time. If his friends, legal and literary, were thus eulogizing Donne,
why should Hyde not have tried his hand too?
Walton's _Lives_, 1670. ) The sermons and papers thus consigned to King
were taken from him later at the instance apparently of Donne's son.
But the presence of King's epitaph in this edition of _Deaths Duell_
seems to show that he was responsible for, or at any rate permitted,
the issue of the sermon by Redmer and Fisher. The reappearance of
these Elegies signed, and accompanied by a number of others, suggests
in like manner that King _may_ have been the editor behind Marriot
of the _Poems_ in 1633. This would help to account for the general
excellence of the text of that edition, for King, a poet himself as
well as an intimate friend, was better fitted to edit Donne's poems
than the gentle and pious Walton, who was less in sympathy with the
side of Donne which his poetry reveals.
Of Henry King (1591-1669) poet, 'florid preacher', canon of Christ
Church, dean of Rochester, and in 1641 Bishop of Chichester it
is unnecessary to say more here. A fresh edition of his poems by
Professor Saintsbury is in preparation and will show how worthy a
disciple he was of Donne as love-poet, eulogist, and religious poet.
Probably the finest of his poems is _The Surrender_.
It was to King also that Redmer was indebted for the frontispiece to
_Deaths Duell_, the picture of Donne in his shroud, reproduced in the
first volume. 'It was given', Walton says, 'to his dearest friend
and Executor D^r King, who caused him to be thus carved in one entire
piece of white Marble, as it now stands in the Cathedral Church of St.
Pauls. '
The second of the _Elegies_ in 1633 was apparently by the author of
the _Religio Medici_ and must be his earliest published work, written
probably just after his return from the Continent. The lines were
withdrawn after the first edition.
The Edw. Hyde responsible for the third Elegy, 'On the death of Dr.
Donne,' is said by Professor Norton to be Edward Hyde, D. D. (1607-59),
son of Sir Lawrence Hyde of Salisbury. Educated at Westminster School
and Cambridge he became a notable Royalist divine; had trouble with
Parliament; and wrote various sermons and treatises (see D. N. B. ). 'A
Latin poem by Hyde is prefixed to Dean Duport's translation of Job
into Greek verse (1637) and he contributed to the "Cambridge Poems"
some verses in celebration of the birth of Princess Elizabeth. '
It would be interesting to think that the author of the lines on Donne
was not the divine but his kinsman the subsequent Lord Chancellor.
There is this to be said for the hypothesis, that among those who
contribute to the collection of complimentary verses are some of
Clarendon's most intimate friends about this time, viz. Thomas Carew,
Sir Lucius Carie or Lord Falkland, and (but his elegy appears first
in 1635) Sidney Godolphin. The John Vaughan also, whose MS. lines to
Donne I have printed in the introduction (_Text and Canon, &c. _, p.
lxiv, note), is enrolled by Clarendon among his intimates at this
time. If his friends, legal and literary, were thus eulogizing Donne,
why should Hyde not have tried his hand too?
