l. 8. selfe-lifes infinity to'a span. The MSS. supply the 'a' which the editions here, as elsewhere (e.g. 'a retirednesse', p. [185]), have dropped. In the present case the omission is so obvious that the Grolier Club editor supplies the article conjecturally. In the editions after 1633 'infinitie' is the spelling adopted, leading to the misprint 'infinite' in 1669 and 1719, a variant which I have omitted to note.
Page 321. Resurrection.
It will be seen there are some important differences between the text of this sonnet given in 1633, D, H49, on the one hand and that of B, O'F, S, S96, W. The former has (l. 5) 'this death' where the latter gives 'thy death'. It may be noted that 'this' is always spelt 'thys' in D, which makes easy an error one way or the other. But the most difficult reading in 1633 is (l. 8) 'thy little booke'. Oddly enough this has the support not only of D, H49 but also of A18, N, TC, whose text seems to blend the two versions, adding some features of its own. Certainly the 'life-booke' of the second version and the later editions seems preferable. Yet this too is an odd expression, seeing that the line might have run:
If in thy Book of Life my name thou'enroule.
Was Donne thinking vaguely or with some symbolism of his own, not of the 'book of life' (Rev. xiii. 8, and xx. 12) but of the 'little book' (Rev. x. 2) which John took and ate? Or does he say 'little book' thinking of the text, 'Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it' (Matt. vii. 14)? The grimmer aspects of the Christian creed were always in Donne's mind:
And though thou beest, O mighty bird of prey,
So much reclaim'd by God, that thou must lay
All that thou kill'st at his feet, yet doth hee
Reserve but few, and leave the most to thee.
In l. 9 'last long' is probably right. D, H49 had dropped both adjectives, and 'long' was probably supplied by the editor metri causa, 'last' disappearing. Between 'glorified' and 'purified' in l. 11 it is impossible to choose. The reading 'deaths' for 'death' I have adopted. Here A18, N, TC agree with B, O'F, S, W, and there can be no doubt that 'sleepe' is intended to go with both 'sinne' and 'death'.