It is written in the latter with a
contraction
which could easily be
mistaken for 'or'.
mistaken for 'or'.
John Donne
W.
l. 1. _Haste thee, &c. _ By the lines 5-6, supplied from _W_, this poem
is restored to the compass of a sonnet, though a very irregular one in
form. The letter is evidently written from London, where the plague is
prevalent. The letter is to be (l. 14) Donne's pledge of affection if
he lives, his testament if he dies.
PAGE =206=. TO M^r T. W.
l. 5. _hand and eye_ is the reading of all the MSS. , including _W_.
It is written in the latter with a contraction which could easily be
mistaken for 'or'.
TO M^r T. W.
l. 3. _I to the Nurse, they to the child of Art. _ The 'Nurse of Art'
is probably Leisure, 'I to my soft still walks':
And add to these retired Leisure,
That in trim gardens takes his pleasure.
According to Aristotle, all the higher, more intellectual arts, as
distinct from those which supply necessities or add to the pleasures
of life, are the fruits of leisure: 'At first he who invented any art
that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired
by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions,
but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more
arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life,
others to its recreation, the inventors of the latter were naturally
always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because
their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. Hence when all
such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not
aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered,
and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This
is why the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt; for there
the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure. ' _Met. _ A. 981^b
(translated by W. D. Ross).
l. 1. _Haste thee, &c. _ By the lines 5-6, supplied from _W_, this poem
is restored to the compass of a sonnet, though a very irregular one in
form. The letter is evidently written from London, where the plague is
prevalent. The letter is to be (l. 14) Donne's pledge of affection if
he lives, his testament if he dies.
PAGE =206=. TO M^r T. W.
l. 5. _hand and eye_ is the reading of all the MSS. , including _W_.
It is written in the latter with a contraction which could easily be
mistaken for 'or'.
TO M^r T. W.
l. 3. _I to the Nurse, they to the child of Art. _ The 'Nurse of Art'
is probably Leisure, 'I to my soft still walks':
And add to these retired Leisure,
That in trim gardens takes his pleasure.
According to Aristotle, all the higher, more intellectual arts, as
distinct from those which supply necessities or add to the pleasures
of life, are the fruits of leisure: 'At first he who invented any art
that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired
by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions,
but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more
arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life,
others to its recreation, the inventors of the latter were naturally
always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because
their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. Hence when all
such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not
aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered,
and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This
is why the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt; for there
the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure. ' _Met. _ A. 981^b
(translated by W. D. Ross).
