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Helen Gardner (ed.), John Donne: The Elegies and The Songs and Sonnets

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Jealosie

  • Editor’s NoteCritical Apparatus1Fond woman, whih would'st have thy husband die,
  • 2And yet complain'st of his great jealousie;
  • 3If swolne with poyson, hee lay in'his last bed,
  • Editor’s Note4His body with a sere-barke covered,
  • 5Drawing his breath, as thick and short, as can
  • 6The nimblest crocheting Musitian,
  • 7Ready with loathsome vomiting to spue
  • 8His Soule out of one hell, into a new,
  • Critical Apparatus9Made deafe with his poore kindreds howling cries,
  • 10Begging with few feign'd teares, great legacies,
  • 11Thou would'st not weepe, but jolly,'and frolicke bee,
  • Critical Apparatus12As a slave, which to morrow should be free;
  • 13Yet weep'st thou, when thou seest him hungerly
  • 14Swallow his owne death, hearts-bane jealousie.
  • 15O give him many thanks, he'is courteous,
  • 16That in suspecting kindly warneth us.
  • 17Wee must not, as wee us'd, flout openly,
  • 18In scoffing ridles, his deformitie;
  • pg 1019Nor at his boord together being satt,
  • 20With words, nor touch, scarce lookes adulterate.
  • Editor’s NoteCritical Apparatus21Nor when he swolne, and pamper'd with great fare,
  • 22Sits downe, and snorts, cag'd in his basket chaire,
  • 23Must wee usurpe his owne bed any more,
  • 24Nor kisse and play in his house, as before.
  • Critical Apparatus25Now I see many dangers; for that is
  • 26His realme, his castle, and his diocesse.
  • 27But if, as envious men, which would revile
  • 28Their Prince, or coyne his gold, themselves exile
  • 29Into another countrie,'and doe it there,
  • Editor’s NoteCritical Apparatus30Wee play'in another house, what should we feare?
  • 31There we will scorne his houshold policies,
  • 32His seely plots, and pensionary spies,
  • Editor’s Note33As the inhabitants of Thames right side
  • Critical Apparatus34Do Londons Mayor; or Germans, the Popes pride.

Notes Settings

Notes

Critical Apparatus
Jealosie (Elegy I Gr). Title from 1635
Critical Apparatus
1 woman,] woman 1633
Editor’s Note
l. 1. Fond: foolish.
Editor’s Note
l. 4. a sere-barke: a dry crust. Cf.
  •     a most instant tetter bark'd about
  • Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
  • All my smooth body.
(Hamlet, I. v. 71–73)
Critical Apparatus
9 poore] pure C 57, H 49,W
Critical Apparatus
12 free;] free 1633
Critical Apparatus
21 great] high Dob, O'F, S 96, P, B: his Cy
fare,] fare 1633
Editor’s Note
l. 21. great. Here, and more strikingly in l. 30, Group III presents a genuine alternative reading.
Critical Apparatus
25 that MSS.: it 1633
Critical Apparatus
30 We into some third place retyred were Dob, O'F, S 96, Cy, P, B
Editor’s Note
l. 30. Wee play'in another house, what should we feared? 'We into some third place retyred were' (III, Cy, P, B) is weaker. It is not easy to explain 'some third place', unless we take 'board' and 'bed' as two. I hesitate to ascribe the Group III readings here and in l. 21 to authorial revision and would prefer to postulate some defect in the copy on which these manuscripts depend.
Editor’s Note
l. 33 Thames right side: the South Bank. Although Southwark was a ward of the City of London, it was notoriously unruly. The rest of the South Bank was outside the Lord Mayor's jurisdiction.
Critical Apparatus
34 Mayor; MSS.: Major, 1633, Gr
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