Like
Wotton, Goodyere, Roe, and others of Donne's circle he followed Essex
to Ireland and was knighted at Dublin in 1599.
Wotton, Goodyere, Roe, and others of Donne's circle he followed Essex
to Ireland and was knighted at Dublin in 1599.
John Donne
Chance has preserved
another probably in the form in which it was sent. Mr. Gosse has
printed it (_Life, &c. _, i, p. 91). I reproduce it from the original
MS. , Tanner 306, in the Bodleian Library:
To my ever to be respected friend
M^r John Done secretary to my
Lord Keeper give these.
As in tymes past the rusticke shepheards sceant
Thir Tideast lambs or kids for sacrefize
Vnto thir gods, sincear beinge thir intent
Thoughe base thir gift, if that shoulde moralize
thir loves, yet noe direackt discerninge eye
Will judge thir ackt but full of piety.
Soe offir I my beast affection
Apparaled in these harsh totterd rimes.
Think not they want love, though perfection
or that my loves noe truer than my lyens
Smothe is my love thoughe rugged be my years
Yet well they mean, thoughe well they ill rehears.
What tyme thou meanst to offir Idillnes
Come to my den for heer she always stayes;
If then for change of howers you seem careles
Agree with me to lose them at the playes.
farewell dear freand, my love, not lyens respeackt,
So shall you shewe, my freandship you affeckt.
Yours
William Cornwaleys.
The writer is, Mr. Gosse says, Sir William Cornwallis, the eldest
son of Sir Charles Cornwallis of Beeston-in-Sprouston, Norfolk.
Like
Wotton, Goodyere, Roe, and others of Donne's circle he followed Essex
to Ireland and was knighted at Dublin in 1599. The letter probably
dates from 1600 or 1601. I have reproduced the original spelling,
which is remarkable.
This letter and that to Mr. E. G. show that Donne was a frequenter
of the theatre in these interesting years, 1593 to 1610, the greatest
dramatic era since the age of Pericles. Sir Richard Baker, in his
_Chronicle of the Kings of England_ (1730, p. 424), recalls his 'Old
Acquaintance . . . Mr. John Dunne, who leaving Oxford, liv'd at the Inns
of Court, not dissolute but very neat: a great Visiter of Ladies, a
great Frequenter of Plays, a great Writer of conceited Verses'. But of
the Elizabethan drama there is almost no echo in Donne's poetry. The
theatres are an amusement for idle hours: 'Because I am drousie, I
will be kept awake with the obscenities and scurrilities of a Comedy,
or the drums and ejulations of a Tragedy. ' _Sermons_ 80.
another probably in the form in which it was sent. Mr. Gosse has
printed it (_Life, &c. _, i, p. 91). I reproduce it from the original
MS. , Tanner 306, in the Bodleian Library:
To my ever to be respected friend
M^r John Done secretary to my
Lord Keeper give these.
As in tymes past the rusticke shepheards sceant
Thir Tideast lambs or kids for sacrefize
Vnto thir gods, sincear beinge thir intent
Thoughe base thir gift, if that shoulde moralize
thir loves, yet noe direackt discerninge eye
Will judge thir ackt but full of piety.
Soe offir I my beast affection
Apparaled in these harsh totterd rimes.
Think not they want love, though perfection
or that my loves noe truer than my lyens
Smothe is my love thoughe rugged be my years
Yet well they mean, thoughe well they ill rehears.
What tyme thou meanst to offir Idillnes
Come to my den for heer she always stayes;
If then for change of howers you seem careles
Agree with me to lose them at the playes.
farewell dear freand, my love, not lyens respeackt,
So shall you shewe, my freandship you affeckt.
Yours
William Cornwaleys.
The writer is, Mr. Gosse says, Sir William Cornwallis, the eldest
son of Sir Charles Cornwallis of Beeston-in-Sprouston, Norfolk.
Like
Wotton, Goodyere, Roe, and others of Donne's circle he followed Essex
to Ireland and was knighted at Dublin in 1599. The letter probably
dates from 1600 or 1601. I have reproduced the original spelling,
which is remarkable.
This letter and that to Mr. E. G. show that Donne was a frequenter
of the theatre in these interesting years, 1593 to 1610, the greatest
dramatic era since the age of Pericles. Sir Richard Baker, in his
_Chronicle of the Kings of England_ (1730, p. 424), recalls his 'Old
Acquaintance . . . Mr. John Dunne, who leaving Oxford, liv'd at the Inns
of Court, not dissolute but very neat: a great Visiter of Ladies, a
great Frequenter of Plays, a great Writer of conceited Verses'. But of
the Elizabethan drama there is almost no echo in Donne's poetry. The
theatres are an amusement for idle hours: 'Because I am drousie, I
will be kept awake with the obscenities and scurrilities of a Comedy,
or the drums and ejulations of a Tragedy. ' _Sermons_ 80.
