by John Donne
north: Cold.
188. flood: The great deluge, described in Genesis 6:12–8:19, which only the occupants of Noah’s ark escaped.
189. doctrine: Copernicus’s theory that the earth revolves around the sun, published in 1543, but still not universally accepted in Donne’s day.
194. masks: Both facial masks and masques, dramatic courtly entertainments.
203–4. do not set so … depart: The sun and moon do not set together; so the moon, the bride, must depart first.
208. jelly: A type of algae which appears as a jelly-like mass on dry soil after rain, supposed to be the remains of a fallen star or meteor.
218–19. Tullia’s tomb … year: Tullia (c. 79–45 BC), daughter of the Roman statesman Cicero (106–43 BC), was reportedly found in a tomb where a lamp had burned for 1,500 years.
Text notes: 12 murmur ms] murmurs 1633; 29 kindle ms] kindles 1633; 34 plots ms] places 1633; 59 East Indian ms] Indian 1633; 63 inward ms] inner 1633; 86 unto ms] to the 1633; after 107 Epithalamion ms] omitted 1633; 129 eyes ms] eye 1633; 131 Singly ms] Single 1633; 132 Yet ms] omitted 1633; 148 Art ms] Are 1633; 155 clad’st ms] cloudst 1633; 181 yours ms] you 1633; 234 festival 1633] nuptial ms
SATIRES
Satire I
1. fondling: Foolish.
motley: The garb of the court fool.
humorist: A person subject to the four humours thought to determine a person’s temperament (phlegmatic, sanguine, melancholy or choleric); a fanatical, whimsical or comical person.
2. chest: Small study; coffin.
7. jolly: Full of presumptuous pride; overbearing.
10. Giddy: Dizzy, whirling with bewildering speed.
fantastic: Existing only in the imagination; imaginative; concerned with fantasy or illusory appearances.
18. parcel … pay: A parcel is a portion of the whole, suggesting that the captain, who should be a vital member of a regiment, has used the group for personal gain, appropriating ‘forty dead men’s pay’ – pay for deceased men kept on a military company’s list, often collected by the captain.
22. blue coats: Servants, identified by their blue uniform.
30. broker: Pawnbroker.
prize: Appraise.
36. Jointures: Properties owned jointly by a husband and wife, often including the wife’s dowry, which reverted to her if her husband died first.
45–6. when by sin … skin: After the Fall, God clothed Adam and Eve in animal skins.
58. Th’Infanta: Probably referring to the Spanish Infanta, whom the Roman Catholics had advanced as the heir to the English throne.
59. gulling weather-spy: Deceitful weatherman or astrologer.
60. heaven’s scheme: A schematic diagram of the heavenly bodies.
68–70. creeps to the wall … liberty: The humorist takes the superior social position next to the wall and away from the street, where he is less likely to be splashed and sullied but where he is also less visible to wealthy passers-by.
77. stop lowest, at highest sound: The highest notes are obtained by stopping the strings lowest on the instrument.
78. brave: Finely dressed.
80–81. wise politic horse … ape: Morocco, a trained performing horse and his master, Banks, became famous in the 1590s, performing with an elephant and an ape in 1594; ‘heretofore’ may refer to the plague’s impact on their performances.
82. King of Spain: Philip II (r. 1556–98), whose militant Catholicism posed a political threat to England.
88. drinking his tobacco: Intake of tobacco was first described as ‘drinking’ rather than smoking.
96. device: The manner in which a thing is devised; an opinion; a fanciful or witty expression, a conceit.
handsoming: Making seemly or becoming; beautifying, adorning.
97. pink: Decorative eyelet.
panes: Cloth strips.
plight: Pleat.
98. conceit: Judgement or opinion; a fanciful, witty expression; an affectation of thought or style; hence a pun on ‘device’ in l. 96.
101. travailed: Laboured; travelled.
Text notes: 32 hat 1635] hate 1633; 39 bareness ms] barrenness 1633; 50 warned 1635] warmed 1633; 58 Infanta ms] infant 1633; 60 scheme 1635] scenes 1633; 61 ruffles ms] ruffs 1633; 62 witted ms] wittied 1633; 63 canst ms] can 1633; 70 his 1635] high 1633; 73 them 1635] then 1633; 78 stoops 1635] stoopt 1633; 81–2 1635] omitted 1633; 95 all 1635] s’all 1633; 100 stop’st 1635] stoop’st 1633; 108 lechery 1635] liberty 1633
Satire II
6. Spaniards: England, as a Protestant country, was under constant threat from Catholic Spain.
10. papists: Roman Catholics, persecuted increasingly in Britain during the last two decades of the sixteenth century.
12–13. and cannot read, / And saves his life: A condemned man could avoid execution by proving himself literate.
19. Rams: Battering rams.
slings: Weapons for hurling stones by hand, slingshots.
seely battery: Weak or poor artillery.
20. Pistolets: Both small pistols and foreign gold coins, suggesting that money has become ‘the best artillery’ in courtiership.
27. Rankly: Coarsely; foully.
32. outdo: In sexual acts.
out-usure Jews: Jews were known as moneylenders, since usury was prohibited among Christians.
35. confessors: Priests that hear confessions, banned by the Protestant Reformation.
36. new tenements in hell: Scholars and philosophers believed each sin had its own region of hell.
37. canonists: Lawyers skilled in canon or ecclesiastical law.
40. Coscus: A name Donne gives to the lawyer who fancies himself a poet, used by the anonymous author of Zepheria(1594), a collection of conventional sonnets that included legal conceits.
my just offence: My justified sense of disgust.
41. makes blotches pox: Makes boils reveal themselves as signs of syphilis.
44. scarce a poet: Barely a poet.
jollier: Prouder.
46. lime-twigs: Twigs covered in a sticky substance used as a snare for small birds.
48. the pleas and bench: The Court of Common Pleas and the Queen’s Bench, the highest court.
50. tricesimo of’the Queen: The thirtieth year of Elizabeth’s reign, 1588.
51. Continual claims: Legal claims reintroduced at regular intervals to keep them on the court docket.
51–3. injunctions … Proceed: Court orders have been obtained to prevent his rival’s claims going forward.
53. Hilary term: First term of the courts at Westminster.
54. size: Assize, court session.
55. remitter: The principle whereby someone who successfully claims an estate by the later or more defective of two titles is adjudged to hold it by the earlier or more valid one. Coscus is entitled to the woman based on the right of first possession, since his love originated before his rival’s.
59. Sclavonians’: Slavs, whose speech was considered harsh in tone.
62–4. men … prostitute: Men who practise law for mere gain demean the law worse than prostitutes in a brothel degrade themselves.
66. bill: Both a weapon, the halberd, and a legal document.
68. suretyship: Taking on the debt of another.
71. Like a wedge … bar: Like a splitting wedge in a block of wood, wrestle his way through a crowded courtroom to the bar, the barrier or wooden rail where plaintiffs faced the judge.
72. Bearing like asses: Carrying like donkeys; also a hint of bribery, since ‘bearing’ could mean bringing forth, and ‘asses’ were Roman coins bearing the image of a two-faced god.
73. carted whores: Prostitutes were paraded through the streets in carts before being brought to trial.
78. From Scots … to Dover strand: From Scotland in the north to the Isle of Wight off the southern coast, and from St Michael’s Mount in the west to Dover beach in the east.
86. Wringing: Wrestling.
pulling prime: Drawing the winning cards in a primero game.
88. Assurances: Legal documents transferring ownership of a property.
94–6. Short Pater nosters … clause: The paternoster prayer, ‘Our Father, which art in heaven …’, was later lengthened by the Protestants to include the clause ‘For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory’.
98. ses heires: (French) ‘his heirs’, omitted from the deed so that the lawyer can claim the land for himself.
101. controverters: Controversialists.
103–5. Where … door: The lawyer has cut and sold the spreading woodlands for profit.
106. Carthusian: Order of monks known for their austerity.
107. means: Moderation.
108. hecatombs: Sacrifices of many animals.
110. Good works: Unlike the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church held that good works contributed to salvation.
Text notes: 6 dearths ms] dearth 1633; 32 dildoes ms] omitted 1633; 33 Litany ms] omitted 1633; 69–70 1635] omitted 1633; 74–5 1635] omitted 1633; 77 our ms] the 1633; 84 Relic-like ed.] Relique-like ms, Reliquely 1633; 87 parchments ms] parchment 1633; 105 In great ms] Great 1633
Satire III
1. Kind: Natural, innate; benevolent.
spleen: The supposed source of laughter and melancholy.
7. first blinded age: Pre-Christian times were ‘blind’ because man had not yet seen the light of God.
9. them: Those of the pre-Christian era whose goodness enabled them to reach heaven even without knowing Christ and the Bible.
17. mutinous Dutch: England was aiding the Dutch Protestants in their revolt against Spain.
22. frozen North discoveries: The attempts to find a north-west passage to the Pacific.
23. salamanders: Lizard-like creatures believed to be so cold-blooded that they could survive fire.
24. Children in th’oven: The three Jews who remained unharmed after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon cast them into a furnace for refusing to worship his golden idol (Daniel 3:12–28).
fires of Spain: The burning of heretics during the Spanish Inquisition.
the line: The warm climate at the equator.
27. draw: Draw his sword in a duel.
43. Mirreus: Fictive character representing Roman Catholicism.
44. here: In England, where Roman Catholicism was prohibited by law.
48. statecloth: Canopy over the chair of state.
49. Crants: Fictive character representing Calvinists in Switzerland.
55. Graius: Fictive character representing the Church of England.
62. Pay values: Wards who did not marry according to their guardian’s wishes were expected to pay the amount the guardian could have made from an arranged marriage.
Phrygius: Fictive character who rejects all religions.
65. Gracchus: Fictive character who accepts all religions.
76. To’adore … protest: Catholics adore images of Christ and the saints that Protestants scorn; Protestants protest about abuses in the Roman Catholic Church.
81. about must … go: To reach the pinnacle of truth one must circle the mountain repeatedly, ascending indirectly rather than straight up the most impenetrable face.
92. vicars: Persons acting as parish priests in place of the real rector.
95. last day: Judgement Day.
boot: Avail.
96–7. a Philip … a Martin: Referring to the Catholics Philip II of Spain (1527–98) and Pope Gregory XIII (1502–85) and the Protestants Henry VIII (1491–1547) and Martin Luther (1483–1546).
98. mere contraries: Direct opposites.
Text notes: 7 to 1635] in 1633; 40 itself’s ms] it self 1633; 44 here 1635] her 1633; 47 her ms] the 1633; 57 bid ms] bids 1633
Satire IV
1. receive: Last Rites, or Communion.
8. Glaze: Fictional name.
10. hundred marks: Fine for attending Catholic Mass.
18–19. Nile’s slime … bred: The sun was thought to create strange creatures in the bed of the Nile.
20. posed: Puzzled.
22. Guyana’s rarities: Strange wonders mentioned in Sir Walter Ralegh’s The Discovery of Guiana.
24. Danes’ massacre: English king Ethelred the Unready ordered the killing of all the Danes in England on St Brice’s Day, 13 November 1002.
27. watch: Guard.
29. priesthood: Jesuit priests deemed traitors by the 1581 parliament.
31. jerkin: Close-fitting jacket or short coat.
33. tuftafata: Tufted taffeta; thin glossy silk.
34. rash: Smooth silk fabric.
41. Mountebank’s: Quack doctor.
48. Jovius or Surius: Catholic historians Paolo Giovio (1483–1552) and Laurentius Surius (1522–78).
53. seelily: Senselessly, nairely.
54. Calepine’s Dictionary: Polyglot dictionary edited by Italian lexicographer Ambrose Calepine, first published in 1502.
55. Beza: Theodore Beza (1519–1605), a French Calvinist.
57. two academies: Cambridge and Oxford.
59. linguists: The Holy Ghost gave the gift of tongues to the Apostles at Pentecost.
Panurge: Multilingual character in Rabelais’s Pantagruel (1553).
61. travail: Travel, work.
65. tower: Tower of Babel.
67. alone: Unique.
68–9. Spartans’ … drunkards: Spartans showed their young men drunken slaves as a deterrent to drinking.
70. Aretine’s pictures: Pietro Aretino (1492–1556), Italian author, wrote obscene sonnets to accompany the erotic paintings of Giulio Romano.
80. King Street: Leading from Charing Cross to Westminster Palace.
86. grogaram: Coarse fabric of silk, mohair and wool.
87. pitch: The height to which a bird of prey flies before descending.
88. chafed: Teased.
94. still: Distilling device.
95. sem’breve: Length of a whole note, or one measure of music.
97. Hollensheads … Stows: sixteenth-century historians Raphael Holinshed, Edward Hall and John Stow.
106. span-counter or blow-point: Childish games.
109. home-meats: Gossip.
112. Gallo-Belgicus: Representative of yellow journalism.
115. big: Pregnant.
116. travail: Go into labour.
117. makeron: Buffoon; dandy.
132. giant statutes: Statutes against treason; also perhaps the statute that prohibited the unlicensed printing of satires.
134. lechers: Those afflicted with syphilis were believed to be freed of the disease upon infecting someone else.
144. crown: Coin worth five shillings.
171. flouts: Mocks.
175. mews: Stables.
176. Balloon: Game similar to handball.
stews: Brothels.
186. Cheapside: London’s market district.
books: Financial accounts.
189. cutchannel: Valuable scarlet dye.
197. Heraclitus: The ‘weeping philosopher’ (540–480 BC).
Macrine: Fictitious name.
199. moschite: Mosque.
200. shrift: Confession.
204. Durer’s rules: Rules laid out in Albrecht Dürer’s Of Human Proportion (1528) and The Art of Measurement (1525).
217. our Lady’s Psalter: Rosary.
226. hangings: Tapestries depicting the scourging of Jesus.
233. Askaparts: Legendary giants.
242. Maccabee’s: Old Testament Book of Maccabees, not considered canonical by English Protestants.
Text notes: 8 Glaze 1633] Glare 1635–69; 16 at ms] in 1633–69; 38 one 1633–69] no ms; 62 wonders 1635] words 1633; 67 loneness 1635] loneliness 1633; 68 loneness 1635] loneliness 1633; 83 Mine? 1635] Fine, 1633; 84 Frenchman 1633] Sir 1635–69; 92 address 1633] dress 1635–69; 106 shall 1633–69] they ms; 113 have 1635] hath 1633; 134–6 That … free 1635–69 and ms] omitted 1633; 154 haste 1633–69] make ms; 156 precious 1633] piteous 1635–69; 164 th’ ms] omitted 1633–69; 171 presence 1633] courtier
s 1635–69; 226 still 1635] yet still 1633; 230 which ms] omitted 1633–69; 240 scarce 1633] scant 1635–69
Satire V
2–3. he which … courtiers: Baldassare Castiglione (1478–1529), in The Courtier (1528).
11. same elements: All things were thought to be comprised of four principal elements: earth, wind, fire and water.
16. self: Same.
20. lust: Avarice.
27. wittols: Husbands who condone their wife’s adultery.
28. Empress: Queen Elizabeth (r. 1558–1603).
31. You, sir: Donne’s employer, Sir Thomas Egerton (1540–1617), Lord Keeper of England, who began to investigate legal misconduct in 1597.
35. O age of rusty iron: Last of the four proverbial ages of history, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron, symbolizing humanity’s corruption.
37. The Iron Age … sold: Inverted syntax, meaning ‘That was the Iron Age when …’
39. gamesters: Gamblers.
41. controverted lands: Lands whose ownership was disputed.
42. Angelica: The heroine of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (1516) who escaped from two knights while they fought over her.
44. letter or fee: Letter from an influential person or bribe.
46. first main head: Queen Elizabeth.
these: Lower courts under her.
50. when upwards: When you try to appeal to a higher authority.
59. angels: Also English gold coins, stamped with the archangel Michael slaying a dragon, used here as a bribe.
60–61. Dominations, / Powers, Cherubim: Orders of angels.
65. pursuivant: A heraldic officer who searched out Roman Catholics during Elizabeth’s reign, looking for signs that they were practising their religion in secret.
66. primers: Roman Catholic prayer books.
67. mistake: Wrongly confiscate.
73. chairs: Seats in high offices.
79. barest: By removing one’s hat in respect, with a bawdy innuendo.
83. Urim and Thummim: Jewels that enabled their bearer to reveal God’s will; also Hebrew for ‘light’ and ‘perfection’ (Exodus 28:30).
84. paper: Both legal documents and wrapping paper.
85. the great carrack’s pepper: The Madre de Dios, a Portuguese ship carrying pepper, captured by the English in 1592.
86. lease: Lose.
87. Haman: Offered to pay his agents to exterminate the Jews in the Book of Esther.
90. the swimming dog: The dog in Aesop’s fable who lost the bone in his mouth when he grabbed for its reflection on the water.
