l. 10. vile blasphemous Conjurers. The 'vilde' of the MSS. is obviously the right reading. The form too is that which Donne used if we may judge by the MSS., and by the fact that in Elegie XIV: Julia he rhymes thus:
and (which is worse than vilde)
Sticke jealousie in wedlock, her owne childe
Scapes not the showers of envie.
By printing 'vile' the old and modern editions destroy the rhyme. In the sonnet indeed the rhyme is not affected, and accordingly, as I am not prepared to change every 'vile' to 'vilde' in the poems, I have printed 'vile'. W writes vile. Probably one might use either form.
Page 326, IX. 9-10. I have followed here the punctuation of W, which takes 'O God' in close connexion with the preceding line; the vocative case seems to be needed since God has not been directly addressed until l. 9. The punctuation of D, H49, which has often determined that of 1633, is not really different from that of W:
But who am I, that dare dispute with Thee?
Oh God; Oh of thyne, &c.
Here, as so often, the question-mark is placed immediately after the question, before the sentence is ended. But 'Oh God' goes with the question. A new strain begins with the second 'Oh'. The editions, by punctuating
But who am I that dare dispute with thee?