The
latter was probably suggested by the 'soft' of the following line.
latter was probably suggested by the 'soft' of the following line.
John Donne
'Fruit that
ambrosial smell diffus'd': Milton, _Par. Lost_, ix. 852. The text
gives an earlier use of both these words in this meaning than any
indicated by the O. E. D. William Morris uses the same adjective in a
somewhat ambiguous way but meaning, I suppose, 'weak, ready to die':
Where still mid thoughts of August's quivering gold
Folk hoed the wheat, and clipped the vine in trust
Of faint October's purple-foaming must.
_Earthly Paradise, Atalanta's Race. _
PAGE =119=. ELEGIE XIX.
PAGE =120=, l. 17. _then safely tread. _ The 'safely' of so many MSS. ,
including _W_, seems to me a more likely reading than 'softly'.
The
latter was probably suggested by the 'soft' of the following line. The
'safely' means of course that even without her shoes she will not be
hurt.
l. 22. _Ill spirits. _ It is not easy to decide between the 'Ill' of
_1669_ and some MSS. and the 'All' of some other MSS. Besides those
enumerated, two lesser MSS. , viz. the Sloane MSS. 542 and 1792, read
'all'.
In _Elegie IV_, l. 68, 'all' is written for 'ill' in _B_.
PAGE =121=, l. 30. _How blest am I in this discovering thee!
ambrosial smell diffus'd': Milton, _Par. Lost_, ix. 852. The text
gives an earlier use of both these words in this meaning than any
indicated by the O. E. D. William Morris uses the same adjective in a
somewhat ambiguous way but meaning, I suppose, 'weak, ready to die':
Where still mid thoughts of August's quivering gold
Folk hoed the wheat, and clipped the vine in trust
Of faint October's purple-foaming must.
_Earthly Paradise, Atalanta's Race. _
PAGE =119=. ELEGIE XIX.
PAGE =120=, l. 17. _then safely tread. _ The 'safely' of so many MSS. ,
including _W_, seems to me a more likely reading than 'softly'.
The
latter was probably suggested by the 'soft' of the following line. The
'safely' means of course that even without her shoes she will not be
hurt.
l. 22. _Ill spirits. _ It is not easy to decide between the 'Ill' of
_1669_ and some MSS. and the 'All' of some other MSS. Besides those
enumerated, two lesser MSS. , viz. the Sloane MSS. 542 and 1792, read
'all'.
In _Elegie IV_, l. 68, 'all' is written for 'ill' in _B_.
PAGE =121=, l. 30. _How blest am I in this discovering thee!
