Donne. So is the Pox.
The brackets round 'which understand none' I have taken from Q. I had thought of inserting them before I came on this MS. Of course brackets in old editions are often used where commas would be sufficient, and one can build nothing on their insertion here in one MS. But it seems to me that these words have no point unless regarded as a sarcastic comment interpolated by Donne, perhaps sotto voce. 'To you, who understand neither French nor Italian, he may seem perfect French and Italian—but to no one else.' Probably an eclectic attire was the only evidence of travel observable in the person in question. 'How oddly is he suited!' says Portia of her English wooer; 'I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany, and his behaviour everywhere.' Brackets are thus used by Jonson to indicate a remark interjected sotto voce. See the quotation from the Poetaster in the note on The Message (II. p. [37]). Modern editors substitute for the brackets the direction 'Aside', which is not in the Folio (1616).
Page 149. Satyre II.
ll. 1-4. It will be seen that H51 gives two alternative versions of these lines. The version of the printed text is that of the majority of the MSS.
Page 150, ll. 15-16. As in some Organ, &c. Chambers prints these lines with a comma after 'move', connecting them with what follows about love-poetry. Clearly they belong to what has been said about dramatic poets. It is Marlowe and his fellows who are the bellows which set the actor-puppets in motion.
ll. 19-20. Rammes and slings now, &c. The 'Rimes and songs' of P is a quaint variant due either to an accident of hearing or to an interpretation of the metaphor: 'As in war money is more effective than rams and slings, so it is more effective in love than songs.' But there is a further allusion in the condensed stroke, for 'pistolets' means also 'fire-arms'. Money is as much more effective than poetry in love as fire-arms are than rams and slings in war. Donne is Dryden's teacher in the condensed stroke, which 'cleaves to the waist', lines such as
They got a villain, and we lost a fool.
Page 151, l. 33. to out-sweare the Letanie. 'Letanie,' the reading of all the MSS., is indicated by a dash in 1633 and is omitted without any indication by 1635-39. In 1649-50 the blank was supplied, probably conjecturally, by 'the gallant'. It was not till 1669 that 'Letanie' was inserted. In 'versifying' Donne's Satyres Pope altered this to 'or Irishmen out-swear', and Warburton in a note explains the original: 'Dr. Donne's is a low allusion to a licentious quibble used at that time by the enemies of the English Liturgy, who, disliking the frequent invocations in the Litanie, called them the taking God's name in vain, which is the Scripture periphrasis for swearing.'
l. 36. tenements. Drummond in HN writes 'torments', probably a conjectural emendation. Drummond was not so well versed in Scholastic Philosophy as Donne.
l. 44. But a scarce Poet. This is the reading of the best MSS., and I have adopted it in preference to 'But scarce a Poet', which is an awkward phrase and does not express what the writer means. Donne does not say that he is barely a poet, but that he is a bad poet. Donne uses 'scarce' thus as an adjective again in Satyre IV, l. 4 (where see note) and l. 240. It seems to have puzzled copyists and editors, who amend it in various ways. By 'jollier of this state' he means 'prouder of this state', using the word as in 'jolly statesmen', I. 7.