A Scholastic
doctrine often lurks behind Donne's wit, ignorance of which
has led to corruption of the text.
doctrine often lurks behind Donne's wit, ignorance of which
has led to corruption of the text.
John Donne
I have sometimes
recorded a quite impossible reading of a manuscript because it
clearly came from one rather than another of two rivals, and
thus lends support to that reading despite its own aberration.
(2) Generally speaking, 'Difficilior lectio potior,' the more
difficult reading is the more likely to be the original. This
applies forcibly in the case of a subtle and difficult author
like Donne. The majority of the changes made in the later
editions arise from the tendency to make Donne's thought more
commonplace. Even in _1633_ errors have crept in. The obsolete
words 'lation' (p. 94, l. 47), 'crosse' (p. 43, l. 14) have
been altered; the old-fashioned and metaphorically used idiom
'in Nature's gifts' has confused the editor's punctuation;
the subtle thought of the epistles has puzzled and misled. (3)
'Three minor considerations may be added which are often very
important, when applicable, though they are from the nature of
the case less frequently available. ' _Moore_. These are (_a_)
the consistency of the reading with sentiments expressed by
the author elsewhere. I have used the _Sermons_ and other
prose works to illustrate and check Donne's thought and
vocabulary throughout. (_b_) The relation of the reading
to the probable source of the poet's thought.
A Scholastic
doctrine often lurks behind Donne's wit, ignorance of which
has led to corruption of the text. See _The Dreame_, p. 37,
ll. 7, 16; _To Sr Henry Wotton_, p. 180, ll. 17-18. (_c_) The
relation of a reading to historical fact. In the letter _To Sr
Henry Wotton_, p. 187, the editors, forgetting the facts, have
confused Cadiz with Calais, and the Azores with St. Michael's
Mount. ]
[Footnote 41: It is worth while to compare the kind of
mistakes in which a manuscript abounds with those which occur
in a printed edition. The tendency of the copyist was to write
on without paying much attention to the sense, dropping words
and lines, sometimes two consecutive half-lines or whole
stanzas, ignoring or confounding punctuation, mistaking words,
&c. He was, if a professional copyist or secretary, not very
apt to attempt emendation. The kind of errors he made were
easily detected when the proof was read over, or when the
manuscript was revised with a view to printing. Words or
half-lines could be restored, &c. But in such revision a new
and dangerous source of error comes into play, the tendency of
the editor to emend.
recorded a quite impossible reading of a manuscript because it
clearly came from one rather than another of two rivals, and
thus lends support to that reading despite its own aberration.
(2) Generally speaking, 'Difficilior lectio potior,' the more
difficult reading is the more likely to be the original. This
applies forcibly in the case of a subtle and difficult author
like Donne. The majority of the changes made in the later
editions arise from the tendency to make Donne's thought more
commonplace. Even in _1633_ errors have crept in. The obsolete
words 'lation' (p. 94, l. 47), 'crosse' (p. 43, l. 14) have
been altered; the old-fashioned and metaphorically used idiom
'in Nature's gifts' has confused the editor's punctuation;
the subtle thought of the epistles has puzzled and misled. (3)
'Three minor considerations may be added which are often very
important, when applicable, though they are from the nature of
the case less frequently available. ' _Moore_. These are (_a_)
the consistency of the reading with sentiments expressed by
the author elsewhere. I have used the _Sermons_ and other
prose works to illustrate and check Donne's thought and
vocabulary throughout. (_b_) The relation of the reading
to the probable source of the poet's thought.
A Scholastic
doctrine often lurks behind Donne's wit, ignorance of which
has led to corruption of the text. See _The Dreame_, p. 37,
ll. 7, 16; _To Sr Henry Wotton_, p. 180, ll. 17-18. (_c_) The
relation of a reading to historical fact. In the letter _To Sr
Henry Wotton_, p. 187, the editors, forgetting the facts, have
confused Cadiz with Calais, and the Azores with St. Michael's
Mount. ]
[Footnote 41: It is worth while to compare the kind of
mistakes in which a manuscript abounds with those which occur
in a printed edition. The tendency of the copyist was to write
on without paying much attention to the sense, dropping words
and lines, sometimes two consecutive half-lines or whole
stanzas, ignoring or confounding punctuation, mistaking words,
&c. He was, if a professional copyist or secretary, not very
apt to attempt emendation. The kind of errors he made were
easily detected when the proof was read over, or when the
manuscript was revised with a view to printing. Words or
half-lines could be restored, &c. But in such revision a new
and dangerous source of error comes into play, the tendency of
the editor to emend.
