No More Learning

like _O'F_ is due to the
identification of Donne's mistress with his wife. Only the father of
Anne More was alive at the time of their first acquaintance. It is not
at all certain, however, that this poem is addressed to Anne More,
and in any case Donne would probably have disguised the details. The
change of 'parents' to 'fathers' is more likely than the opposite.
In l. 12 'wayes' (edd. ) and 'meanes' (MSS. ) are practically
indistinguishable; nor is there much to choose between the two
versions of l. 18: 'My soule from other lands to thee shall soare'
(edd. ) and 'From other lands my soule towards thee shall soare'
(MSS. ). In each case the version of the editions is slightly the
better. In l. 28, on the other hand, I have adopted 'mindes' without
hesitation although here the MSS. vary.
There is no question of
changing the mind, but there is of changing the mind's habit, of
adopting a boy's cast of thought and manner: as Rosalind says,

and in my heart
Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will,
We'll have a swashing and a martial outside,
As many other mannish cowards have
That do outface it with their semblances.
_As You Like It_, I. iii. 114-18.

In l. 35 the reading 'Lives fuellers', i. e. 'Life's fuellers', which
is found in such early and good MSS. as _D_, _H49_, _Lec_ and _W_,
is very remarkable. If I were convinced that it is correct I should
regard it as decisive and prefer the MS. readings throughout. But
'Loves fuellers', though also a strange phrase, seems more easy of
interpretation, and applicable.

In l. 37 there can, I think, be no doubt that the original reading is
preserved by _A18_, _N_, _S_, _TCD_, and _W_.

Will quickly knowe thee, and knowe thee, and, alas!

The sudden, brutal change in the sense of the word 'knowe' is quite in
Donne's manner.