Letters to Severall Persons of Honour Part 27

To George Gerrard, and evidently an amplified version of Lx.x.xV.

XCIII

Apparently written on Donne's return to London at the beginning of the winter of 1612-13. I imagine that George Gerrard and his sister had come up to London to meet Donne, but had, by some mischance, failed to find him.

XCIV

Written, I think, early in the summer of 1612, and, if so, from Paris, whither Donne had gone with his "n.o.ble neighbour," Sir Robert Drury. "That n.o.ble Lady" is presumably the Countess of Bedford.

XCV

To George Gerrard, and like the next letter written from Amiens in the winter of 1611-12.

XCVII

To George Gerrard's sister, and written from Spa in the summer of 1612.

XCVIII

Certainly not addressed to Sir Henry Goodyer, but probably to Somerset, during the negotiations of which Walton, though with some inaccuracy, reports the happy ending:

"His Majesty had promised him a favour, and many persons of worth mediated with his Majesty for some secular employment for him, to which his education had apted him, and particularly the Earle of Somerset, when in his height of favour, being then at _Theobalds_ with the King, where one of the Clerks of the Council died that night, the Earle having sent immediately for Mr. _Donne_ to come to him, said, _Mr._ Donne, _To testifie the reality of my affection, and my purpose to prefer you, stay in this garden till I go up to the King, and bring you word that you are Clerk of the Council_. The King gave a positive denial to all requests; and having a discerning spirit, replied, _I know Mr._ Donne _is a learned man, has the abilities of a learned Divine, and will prove a powerfull Preacher, and my desire is to prefer him that way_. After that, as he professeth, _the King descended almost to a solicitation of him to enter into sacred Orders_: which, though he then denied not, yet he deferred it for three years."

XCIX

Written in 1613. (See note on L, above.)

C

Donne's fifth daughter, Margaret, was christened April 20th, 1615, three days after the date of this letter.

CI

Mary, Donne's fourth daughter, died in May, 1614, in her fourth year.

CII

This letter, and CXIII, below, seem to belong to the same period, probably to the closing years of Donne's residence at Mitcham, when Donne may have begun to hope that through his acquaintance with the Earl of Bedford (who is, I think, here intended by "My Lord") he might obtain public employment of some kind.

CIII

This and the two following letters belong to July and August, 1622, and seem to relate to a single incident. Sir Robert Ker had apparently asked Donne for his opinion of one of his fellow-travellers in attendance on Lord Doncaster during the German tour. Donne's evident anxiety to be fair to both parties results in a somewhat indefinite answer.

CVI

Donne's eyes gave him a good deal of trouble in the winter of 1613-14; this letter, as well as LXVII, above, may belong to this period.

CVII

"In August, 1630," says Walton, "being with his eldest daughter, Mrs.

Harvy, at Abury Hatch in Ess.e.x, he there fell into a fever, which, with the help of his constant infirmity (vapours from the spleen,) hastened him into so visible a consumption, that his beholders might say, as St. Paul said of himself, 'He dies daily.'" This letter was written from Abury (or Aldeburgh) Hatch. "Mrs. Harvy" is Donne's daughter Constance, the widow of Edward Alleyn, and now the wife of Samuel Harvey. Donne's son George, the soldier, was taking part in the campaign in Spain. Lord Carlisle was the old friend whom, as Lord Doncaster, Donne had attended in his German emba.s.sy. Lord Percy was Algernon Percy, soon to become fourth Earl of Northumberland.

CVIII

Written apparently before Donne had entered the church, and probably in 1614, while Donne was still living in Drury House. George Gerrard was at court. His "hopeful designs upon worthy widows" seem to have been the cause of much pleasantry. (See XIX.)

CIX

There is no certain indication of the date of this letter. Mr. Gosse a.s.signs it conjecturally to 1622. It seems to me more likely that it belongs to the period of Donne's residence at Mitcham, and is of 1609, or earlier date. "My house" would then be Donne's lodgings in the Strand.

CX

Written not long after the date of CVII, above, and presumably from Aldeburgh Hatch. "The Lady of the Jewel" (obviously "the Diamond Lady" of CVII) remains a mystery. Apparently she had placed her jewels in Donne's keeping, thus charging him with a responsibility which he seems to have found exceedingly irksome.

CXI

Donne was ordained in January, 1615, a "very few days" before the date of this letter.

CXII

This letter may safely be a.s.signed to 1613. Rochester was made Earl of Somerset in December of this year, a few days before his marriage to Lady Frances Howard. Surely none of the letters to Somerset for which Sir Francis Bacon has been so severely condemned expresses a more complete submission than is here offered.

CXIV

To George Gerrard. Probably written from France, and, if so, presumably to be a.s.signed to 1612, when Donne was in Paris with Sir Robert Drury. "This book of French _Satyrs_" Mr. Gosse takes to be the first authoritative edition of Regnier's _Satyres et autres [oe]uvres folastres_, 1612.

CXV

The allusion to Pierre du Moulin, the French theologian, who preached before the Court in June, 1615, gives the approximate date of this letter.

Sir Thomas Grymes, the husband of Donne's sister Jane, we have already met. Donne says _father-in-law_ where we should say _step-father_.