l. 4. That Donne must have written 'sere-barke' or 'seare-barke' is
clear, both from the evidence of the editions and MSS. and from the
vacillation of the latter. 'Cere-cloth' is a word which Donne uses
more than once in the sermons: 'A good Cere-cloth to bruises,'
_Sermons_ 80. 10. 101; 'A Searcloth that souples all bruises,' Ibid.
80. 66. 663. But to substitute 'sere-cloth' for 'sere-barke' would be
to miss the force of Donne's vivid description. The 'sere-cloth' with
which the sick man is covered is his own eruptive skin. Both Chambers
and Norton have noted the resemblance to Hamlet's poisoned father:
a most instant tetter barked about,
Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust,
All my smooth body.
ll. 19-20. _Nor, at his board together being sat
With words, nor touch, scarce looks adulterate._
Quum premit ille torum, vultu comes ipsa modesto
Ibis, ut adcumbas; clam mihi tange pedem,
Me specta, nutusque meos, vultumque loquacem:
Excipe furtivas, et refer ipsa, notas.
Verba superciliis sine voce loquentia dicam:
Verba leges digitis, verba notata mero.
Quum tibi succurrit Veneris lascivia nostrae,
Purpureas tenero pollice tange genas.
Si quid erit, de me tacita quod mente queraris,
Pendeat extrema mollis ab aure manus:
Quum tibi, quae faciam, mea lux, dicamve placebunt,
Versetur digitis annulus usque tuis,
Tange manu mensam, quo tangunt more precantes,
Optabis merito quum mala multa viro.
Quod tibi miscuerit sapias, bibat ipse iubeto;
Tu puerum leviter posce, quod ipsa velis.
Quae tu reddideris, ego primus pocula sumam,
Et qua tu biberis, hac ego parte bibam.
Ovid, _Amores_, I. iv. 15-32.
Thenceforth to her he sought to intimate
His inward grief, by meanes to him well knowne:
Now Bacchus fruit out of the silver plate
He on the table dasht as overthrowne,
Or of the fruitfull liquor overflowne,
And by the dancing bubbles did divine,
Or therein write to let his love be showne;
Which well she red out of the learned line;
(A sacrament profane in mysterie of wine.)
Spenser, _Faerie Queene_, III. ix.
ll. 21 f. _Nor when he, swoln and pamper'd with great fare
Sits down and snorts, cag'd in his basket chair, &c._
Vir bibat usque roga: precibus tamen oscula desint;
Dumque bibit, furtim, si potes, adde merum.
Si bene compositus somno vinoque iacebit;
Consilium nobis resque locusque dabunt.
Ovid, _Amores_, I. iv. 51-4.