No one of the
reformers was more disliked by Catholics than Beza.
reformers was more disliked by Catholics than Beza.
John Donne
Sleidan's history did not
give entire satisfaction to the reformers. It is quite possible
that Donne's first sneer was at the Protestant historian and that he
thought it safer later to substitute the Catholic Surius.
l. 54. _Calepines Dictionarie. _ A well-known polyglot dictionary
edited by Ambrose Calepine (1455-1511) in 1502. It grew later to
a _Dictionarium Octolingue_, and ultimately to a _Dictionarium XI
Linguarum_ (Basel, 1590).
l. 56. _Some other Jesuites. _ The 'other' is found only in _HN_, which
is no very reliable authority. Without it the line wants a whole
foot, not merely a syllable. Donne more than once drops a syllable,
compensating for it by the length and stress which is given to
another. Nothing can make up for the want of a whole foot, though in
dramatic verse an incomplete line may be effective. To me, too, it
seems very like Donne to introduce this condensed and sudden stroke at
Beza and nothing more likely to have been dropped later, either by
way of precaution or because it was not understood.
No one of the
reformers was more disliked by Catholics than Beza. The licence of
his early life, his loose Latin verses, the scurrilous wit of his own
controversial method--all exposed him to and provoked attack. The _De
Vita et Moribus Theodori Bezae, Omnium Haereticorum nostri temporis
facile principis, &c. : Authore Jacobo Laingaeo Doctore Sorbonico_
(1585), is a bitter and calumnious attack. There was, too, something
of the Jesuit, both in the character of the arguments used and in the
claim made on behalf of the Church to direct the civil arm, in Beza's
defence of the execution of Servetus. Moreover, the _Vindiciae contra
Tyrannos_ was sometimes attributed to Beza, and the views of the
reformers regarding the rights of kings put forward there, and those
held by the Jesuits, approximate closely. (See _Cambridge Modern
History_, iii. 22, _Political Thought in the Sixteenth Century_, pp.
759-66. ) In his subsequent attacks upon the Jesuits, Donne always
singles out the danger of their doctrines and practice to the
authority of kings. Throughout the _Satyres_ Donne's veiled Catholic
prejudices have to be constantly borne in mind.
PAGE =161=, l. 59. _and so Panurge was. _ See Rabelais, _Pantagruel_
ii. 9.
give entire satisfaction to the reformers. It is quite possible
that Donne's first sneer was at the Protestant historian and that he
thought it safer later to substitute the Catholic Surius.
l. 54. _Calepines Dictionarie. _ A well-known polyglot dictionary
edited by Ambrose Calepine (1455-1511) in 1502. It grew later to
a _Dictionarium Octolingue_, and ultimately to a _Dictionarium XI
Linguarum_ (Basel, 1590).
l. 56. _Some other Jesuites. _ The 'other' is found only in _HN_, which
is no very reliable authority. Without it the line wants a whole
foot, not merely a syllable. Donne more than once drops a syllable,
compensating for it by the length and stress which is given to
another. Nothing can make up for the want of a whole foot, though in
dramatic verse an incomplete line may be effective. To me, too, it
seems very like Donne to introduce this condensed and sudden stroke at
Beza and nothing more likely to have been dropped later, either by
way of precaution or because it was not understood.
No one of the
reformers was more disliked by Catholics than Beza. The licence of
his early life, his loose Latin verses, the scurrilous wit of his own
controversial method--all exposed him to and provoked attack. The _De
Vita et Moribus Theodori Bezae, Omnium Haereticorum nostri temporis
facile principis, &c. : Authore Jacobo Laingaeo Doctore Sorbonico_
(1585), is a bitter and calumnious attack. There was, too, something
of the Jesuit, both in the character of the arguments used and in the
claim made on behalf of the Church to direct the civil arm, in Beza's
defence of the execution of Servetus. Moreover, the _Vindiciae contra
Tyrannos_ was sometimes attributed to Beza, and the views of the
reformers regarding the rights of kings put forward there, and those
held by the Jesuits, approximate closely. (See _Cambridge Modern
History_, iii. 22, _Political Thought in the Sixteenth Century_, pp.
759-66. ) In his subsequent attacks upon the Jesuits, Donne always
singles out the danger of their doctrines and practice to the
authority of kings. Throughout the _Satyres_ Donne's veiled Catholic
prejudices have to be constantly borne in mind.
PAGE =161=, l. 59. _and so Panurge was. _ See Rabelais, _Pantagruel_
ii. 9.
