l. 46. Bawd, Tavern-keeper, Whore and Scrivener; The singular number of the MS. gives as good a sense as the plural and a better rhyme.
l. 47. The much of Privileg'd kingsmen, and the store
Of fresh protections, &c.
'We have many bankrupts daily, and as many protections, which doth marvellously hinder all manner of commerce.' Chamberlain to Carleton, Dec. 31, 1612. By 'kingsmen' I understand noblemen holding monopolies from the King. I do not understand the 'kinsmen' of the editions. By 'protections' is meant 'exemptions from suits in law', especially suits for debt. The London tradesmen were much cheated by the protections granted to the servants and followers of members of Parliament.
l. 65. found nothing but a Rope. I cannot identify this Rope. In the Aulularia of Plautus, when Euclio finds his treasure gone he laments in the usual manner. At l. 721 he says, 'Heu me miserum, misere perii, male perditu', pessume ornatus eo.' The last words may have been taken as meaning 'I have the rope round my neck'.
Page 108. Elegie XV.
l. 12. Following RP31 and also Jonson's Underwoods I have taken 'at once' as going with 'Both hot and cold', not with 'make life, and death' as in 1633-69. This is one of the poems which 1633 derived from some other source than D, H49, Lec.
ll. 16-18 (all sweeter ... the rest) Chambers has overlooked altogether the 1633 reading 'sweeter'. He prints 'sweeten'd' from 1635-69. It is clear from the MSS. that this is an editor's amendment due to Donne's 'all sweeter' suggesting, perhaps intentionally, 'all the sweeter'. By dropping the bracket Chambers has left at least ambiguous the construction of 17-18: And the divine impression of stolne kisses That sealed the rest. Does this, as in 1633, belong to the parenthesis, or is 'the divine impression' to be taken with 'so many accents sweet, so many sighes' and 'so many oathes and teares' as part subject to 'should now prove empty blisses'. I prefer the 1633 arrangement, which has the support of the MSS., though the punctuation of these is apt to be careless. The accents, sighs, oaths, and tears were all made sweeter by having been stolen with fear and trembling. This is how the Grolier Club editor takes it; Grosart and Chambers prefer to follow 1635-69.
Page 109, l. 34. I do not know whence Chambers derived his reading 'drift' for 'trust'—perhaps from an imperfect copy of 1633. He attributes it to all the editions prior to 1669. This is an oversight.