_But as some
Serpents
poyson, &c.
John Donne
e.
the various heavenly bodies moving in their spheres;
'the mother', the earth:
As the bright Sun shines through the smoothest Glasse
The turning Planets influence doth passe
Without impeachment through the glistering Tent
Of the tralucing (_French_ diafane) Fiery Element,
The Aires triple Regions, the transparent Water;
But not the firm base of this faire Theater.
And therefore rightly may we call those Trines
(Fire, Aire and Water) but Heav'ns Concubines:
For, never Sun, nor Moon, nor Stars injoy
The love of these, but only by the way,
As passing by: whereas incessantly
The lusty Heav'n with Earth doth company;
And with a fruitfull seed which lends All life,
With childes each moment, his own lawfull wife;
And with her lovely Babes, in form and nature
So divers, decks this beautiful Theater.
Sylvester, _Du Bartas, Second Day, First Week. _
PAGE =243=, l. 389. _new wormes_: probably serpents, such as were
described in new books of travels.
l. 394. _Imprisoned in an Hearbe, or Charme, or Tree. _ Compare _A
Valediction: of my name, in the window_, p. 27, ll. 33-6:
As all the vertuous powers which are
Fix'd in the starres, are said to flow
Into such characters, as graved bee
When these starres have supremacie.
l. 409.
_But as some Serpents poyson, &c. _ Compare: 'But though all
knowledge be in those Authors already, yet, as some poisons, and some
medicines, hurt not, nor profit, except the creature in which they
reside, contribute their lively activitie and vigor; so, much of the
knowledge buried in Books perisheth, and becomes ineffectuall, if it
be not applied, and refreshed by a companion, or friend. Much of their
goodnesse hath the same period which some Physicians of _Italy_ have
observed to be in the biting of their _Tarentola_, that it affects no
longer, then the flie lives. ' _Letters_, p. 107.
PAGE =245=, l. 460. _As matter fit for Chronicle, not verse. _ Compare
_The Canonization_, p. 15, ll. 31-2:
And if no peece of Chronicle wee prove
We'll build in sonnets pretty roomes . . .
God's 'last, and lasting'st peece, a song' is of course Moses' song in
Deuteronomy xxxii: 'Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak,' &c.
l. 467.
'the mother', the earth:
As the bright Sun shines through the smoothest Glasse
The turning Planets influence doth passe
Without impeachment through the glistering Tent
Of the tralucing (_French_ diafane) Fiery Element,
The Aires triple Regions, the transparent Water;
But not the firm base of this faire Theater.
And therefore rightly may we call those Trines
(Fire, Aire and Water) but Heav'ns Concubines:
For, never Sun, nor Moon, nor Stars injoy
The love of these, but only by the way,
As passing by: whereas incessantly
The lusty Heav'n with Earth doth company;
And with a fruitfull seed which lends All life,
With childes each moment, his own lawfull wife;
And with her lovely Babes, in form and nature
So divers, decks this beautiful Theater.
Sylvester, _Du Bartas, Second Day, First Week. _
PAGE =243=, l. 389. _new wormes_: probably serpents, such as were
described in new books of travels.
l. 394. _Imprisoned in an Hearbe, or Charme, or Tree. _ Compare _A
Valediction: of my name, in the window_, p. 27, ll. 33-6:
As all the vertuous powers which are
Fix'd in the starres, are said to flow
Into such characters, as graved bee
When these starres have supremacie.
l. 409.
_But as some Serpents poyson, &c. _ Compare: 'But though all
knowledge be in those Authors already, yet, as some poisons, and some
medicines, hurt not, nor profit, except the creature in which they
reside, contribute their lively activitie and vigor; so, much of the
knowledge buried in Books perisheth, and becomes ineffectuall, if it
be not applied, and refreshed by a companion, or friend. Much of their
goodnesse hath the same period which some Physicians of _Italy_ have
observed to be in the biting of their _Tarentola_, that it affects no
longer, then the flie lives. ' _Letters_, p. 107.
PAGE =245=, l. 460. _As matter fit for Chronicle, not verse. _ Compare
_The Canonization_, p. 15, ll. 31-2:
And if no peece of Chronicle wee prove
We'll build in sonnets pretty roomes . . .
God's 'last, and lasting'st peece, a song' is of course Moses' song in
Deuteronomy xxxii: 'Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak,' &c.
l. 467.
