Page 22. Aire and Angels.
l. 19. Ev'ry thy haire. This, the reading of 1633-39 and the MSS., is, I think, preferable to the amended 'Thy every hair', &c., of the 1650-69 editions (which Chambers adopts, ascribing it to 1669 alone), though the difference is slight. 'Every thy hair' has the force of 'Thy every hair' with the additional suggestion of 'even thy least hair' derived from the construction with a superlative adjective. 'Every the least remembrance.' J. King, Sermons 28. 'Every, the most complex, web of thought may be reduced to simple syllogisms.' Sir W. Hamilton. See note to The Funerall, l. 3.
ll. 23-4. Then as an Angell face and wings
Of aire, not pure as it, yet pure doth weare.
St. Thomas (Summa Theol. I. li. 2) discusses the nature of the body assumed by Angels when they appear to men, seeing that naturally they are incorporeal. There being four elements, this body must consist of one of these, but 'Angeli non assumunt corpora de terrâ vel aquâ: quia non subito disparerent. Neque iterum de igne: quia comburerent ea quae contingerent. Neque iterum ex aere: quia aer infigurabilis est et incolorabilis'. To this Aquinas replies, 'Quod licet aer in sua raritate manens non retineat figuram neque colorem: quando tamen condensatur, et figurari et colorari potest: sicut patet in nubibus. Et sic Angeli assumunt corpora ex aere, condensando ipsum virtute divina, quantum necesse est ad corporis assumendi formationem.'
Tasso, familiar like Donne with Catholic doctrine, thus clothes his angels:
Così parlògli, e Gabriel s' accinse
Veloce ad eseguir l' imposte cose.
La sua forma invisibil d'aria cinse,