The strange poem _The Progresse of the Soule_, or _Metempsychosis_, is
dated by Donne himself, 16 Augusti 1601. The different use of the
same title which Donne made later to describe the progress of the
soul heavenward, after its release from the body, shows that he had no
intention of publishing the poem. How widely it circulated in MS. we
do not know, but I know of three copies only which are extant, viz.
_G_, _O'F_, and that given in the group _A18_, _N_, _TCC_, _TCD_.
It was from the last that the text of _1633_ was printed, the editor
supplying the punctuation, which in the MS. is scanty. In some copies
of _1633_ the same omissions of words occur as in the MS. but the poem
was corrected in several places as it passed through the press.
_G_, though not without mistakes itself, supplies some important
emendations.
The sole light from without which has been thrown upon the poem comes
from Ben Jonson's conversations with Drummond: 'The conceit of Dones
Transformation or [Greek: Metempsychôsis] was that he sought the soule
of that aple which Eve pulled and thereafter made it the soule of a
bitch, then of a shee wolf, and so of a woman; his generall purpose
was to have brought in all the bodies of the Hereticks from the soule
of Cain, and at last left in the bodie of Calvin. Of this he never
wrotte but one sheet, and now, since he was made Doctor, repenteth
highlie and seeketh to destroy all his poems.'
Jonson was clearly recalling the poem somewhat inaccurately, and
at the same time giving the substance of what Donne had told him.
Probably Donne mystified him on purpose, for it is evident from the
poem that in his first intention Queen Elizabeth herself was to be the
soul's last host. It is impossible to attach any other meaning to the
seventh stanza; and that intention also explains the bitter tone in
which women are satirized in the fragment. Women and courtiers are
the chief subject of Donne's sardonic satire in this poem, as of
Shakespeare's in _Hamlet_.
I have indicated elsewhere what I think is the most probable motive
of the poem. It reflects the mood of mind into which Donne, like many
others, was thrown by the tragic fate of Essex in the spring of the
year. In _Cynthia's Revels_, acted in the same year as Donne's poem
was composed, Jonson speaks of 'some black and envious slanders
breath'd against her' (i.e. Diana, who is Elizabeth) 'for her divine
justice on Actaeon', and it is well known that she incurred both
odium and the pangs of remorse. Donne, who was still a Catholic in
the sympathies that come of education and association, seems to
have contemplated a satirical history of the great heretic in lineal
descent from the wife of Cain to Elizabeth--for private circulation.
See _The Poetry of John Donne_, II. pp. xvii-xx.
PAGE =295=, l. 9. _Seths pillars._ Norton's note on this runs: 'Seth,
the son of Adam, left children who imitated his virtues. 'They were
the discoverers of the wisdom which relates to the heavenly bodies and
their order, and that their inventions might not be lost they made
two pillars, the one of brick, the other of stone, and inscribed their
discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be
destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain and exhibit
these discoveries to mankind.... Now this remains in the land of
Siriad to this day.' Josephus, _Antiquities of the Jews_ (Whiston's
translation), I. 2, §3.
PAGE =296=, l. 21. _holy Ianus._ 'Janus, whom Annius of Viterbo and
the chorographers of Italy do make to be the same with Noah.' Browne,
_Vulgar Errors_, vi. 6. The work referred to is the _Antiquitatum
variarum volumina XVII_ (1498, reprinted and re-arranged 1511), by
Annius of Viterbo (1432-1502), a Dominican friar, Fra Giovanni
Nanni. Each of the books, after the first, consists of a digest
with commentary of various works on ancient history, the aim being
apparently to reconcile Biblical and heathen chronology and to
establish the genealogy of Christ. _Liber XIIII_ is a digest, or
'defloratio', of Philo (of whom later); _Liber XV_ of Berosus,
a reputed Chaldaean historian ('patria Babylonicus; et dignitate
Chaldaeus'), cited by Josephus. From him Annius derives this
identification of Janus with Noah: 'Hoc vltimo loco Berosus de tribus
cognominibus rationes tradit: Noa: Cam & Tythea. De Noa dicit quod
fuit illi tributum cognomen Ianus a Iain: quod apud Aramaeos et
Hebraeos sonat vinum: a quo Ianus id est vinifer et vinosus: quia
primus vinum invenit et inebriatus est: vt dicit Berosus: et supra
insinuavit Propertius: et item Moyses Genesis cap ix. vbi etiam Iain
vinum Iani nominat: vbi nos habemus: Cum Noa evigilasset a vino. Cato
etiam in fragmentis originum; et Fabius Pictor in de origine vrbis
Romae dicunt Ianum dictum priscum Oenotrium: quia invenit vinum et
far ad religionem magis quam ad vsum,' &c., XV, Fo. cxv. Elsewhere
the identity is based not on this common interest in wine but on
their priestly office, they being the first to offer 'sacrificia et
holocausta', VII, Fo. lviii. Again, 'Ex his probatur irrevincibiliter
a tempore demonstrato a Solino et propriis Epithetis Iani: eundem
fuisse Ogygem: Ianum et Noam ... Sed Noa fuit proprium: Ogyges verum
Ianus et Proteus id est Vertumnus sunt solum praenomina ejus,' XV, Fo.
cv. No mention of the ark as a link occurs, but a ship figured on the
copper coins distributed at Rome on New Year's day, which was sacred
to Janus. The original connexion is probably found in Macrobius'
statement (_Saturn._ I. 9) that among other titles Janus was invoked
as 'Consivius ... a conserendo id est a propagine generis humani quae
Iano auctore conseritur'. Noah is the father of the extant human race.
PAGE =299=, ll. 114-17. There can be no doubt, I think, that the 1633
text is here correct, though for clearness a comma must be inserted
after 'reasons'. The emendation of the 1635 editor which modern
editors have followed gives an awkward and, at the close, an absurdly
tautological sentence. It is not the reason, the rational faculty,
of sceptics which is like the bubbles blown by boys, that stretch too
thin, 'break and do themselves spill.' What Donne says, is that the
reasons or arguments of those who answer sceptics, like bubbles which
break themselves, injure their authors, the apologists. The verse
wants a syllable--not a unique phenomenon in Donne's satires; but if
one is to be supplied 'so' would give the sense better than 'and'.
PAGE =300=, l. 129. _foggie Plot._ The word 'foggie' has here the in
English obsolete, in Scotch and perhaps other dialects, still known
meaning of 'marshy', 'boggy'. The O.E.D. quotes, 'He that is fallen
into a depe foggy well and sticketh fast in it,' Coverdale, _Bk.
Death_, I. xl. 160; 'The foggy fens in the next county,' Fuller,
_Worthies_.
l. 137. _To see the Prince, and have so fill'd the way._ The
grammatically and metrically correct reading of _G_ appears to me to
explain the subsequent variation. 'Prince' struck the editor of
the 1633 edition as inconsistent with the subsequent 'she', and he
therefore altered it to 'Princess'. He may have been encouraged to
do so by the fact that the copy from which he printed had dropped the
'have', or he may himself have dropped the 'have' to adjust the verse
to his alteration. The former is, I think, the more likely, because
what would seem to be the earlier printed copies of _1633_ read
'Prince': unless he himself overlooked the 'have' and then amended
by 'Princess'. The 1635 editor restored 'Prince' and then amended the
verse by his usual device of padding, changing 'fill'd' to 'fill up'.
Of course Donne's line may have read as we give it, with 'Princess'
for 'Prince', but the evidence of the MSS. is against this, so far
as it goes. The title of 'Prince' was indeed applicable to a female
sovereign. The O.E.D. gives: 'Yea the Prince ... as she hath most of
yearely Revenewes ... so should she have most losse by this dearth,'
W. Stafford, 1581; 'Cleopatra, prince of Nile,' Willobie, _Avisa_,
1594; 'Another most mighty prince, Mary Queene of Scots,' Camden
(Holland), 1610.
PAGE =301=, ll. 159-160. _built by the guest,
This living buried man, &c._
The comma after guest is dropped in the printed editions, the editor
regarding 'this living buried man' as an expansion of 'the guest'. But
the man buried alive is the 'soul's second inn', the mandrake. 'Many
Molas and false conceptions there are of Mandrakes, the first from
great Antiquity conceiveth the Root thereof resembleth the shape of
Man which is a conceit not to be made out by ordinary inspection,
or any other eyes, than such as regarding the clouds, behold them in
shapes conformable to pre-apprehensions.' Browne, _Vulgar Errors_.
PAGE =303=, ll. 203-5. The punctuation of this stanza is in the
editions very chaotic, and I have amended it. A full stop should be
placed at the end of l. 203, 'was not', _because_ these lines complete
the thought of the previous stanza. Possibly the semicolon after 'ill'
was intended to follow 'not', but a full stop is preferable. Moreover,
the colon after 'soule' (l. 204) suggests that the printer took ''twas
not' with 'this soule'. The correct reading of l. 204 is obviously:
So jolly, that it can move, this soul is.
Chambers prefers:
So jolly, that it can move this soul, is
The body ...
but Donne was far too learned an Aristotelian and Scholastic to make
the body move the soul, or feel jolly on its own account:
thy fair goodly soul, which doth
Give this flesh power to taste joy, thou dost loathe.
_Satyre III_, ll. 41-2.
'The soul is so glad to be at last able to move (having been
imprisoned hitherto in plants which have the soul of growth, not of
locomotion or sense), and the body is so free of its kindnesses to the
soul, that it, the sparrow, forgets the duty of self-preservation.'
l. 214. _hid nets._ In making my first collation of the printed texts
I had queried the possibility of 'hid' being the correct reading for
'his', a conjecture which the Gosse MS. confirms.
PAGE =305=, l. 257. _None scape, but few, and fit for use, to get._
I have added a comma after 'use' to make the construction a little
clearer; a pause is needed. 'The nets were not wrought, as now, to let
none scape, but were wrought to get few and those fit for use; as, for
example, a ravenous pike, &c.'
PAGE =306=, ll. 267-8. '_To make the water thinne, and airelike faith
cares not._' What Chambers understands by 'air like faith', I do not
know. What Donne says is that the manner in which fishes breathe is a
matter about which faith is indifferent. Each man may hold what theory
he chooses. There is not much obvious relevance in this remark, but
Donne has already in this poem touched on the difference between faith
and knowledge:
better proofes the law
Of sense then faith requires.
A vein of restless scepticism runs through the whole.
l. 280. _It's rais'd, to be the Raisers instrument and food._ If with
_1650-69_, Chambers, and the Grolier Club editor, we alter the full
stop which separates this line from the last to a comma, 'It' must
mean the same as 'she', i.e. the fish. This is a harsh construction.
The line is rather to be taken as an aphorism. 'To be exalted is often
to become the instrument and prey of him who has exalted you.'
PAGE =307=, l. 296. _That many leagues at sea, now tir'd hee lyes._
The reading of _G_ represents probably what Donne wrote. It is quite
clear that _1633_ was printed from a MS. identical with _A18_, _N_,
_TC_, and underwent considerable correction as it passed through the
press. In no poem does the text of one copy vary so much from that
of another as in this. Now in this MS. a word is dropped. The editor
supplied the gap by inserting 'o're-past', which simply repeats 'flown
long and fast'. _G_ shows what the dropped word was. 'Many leagues at
sea' is an adverbial phrase qualifying 'now tir'd he lies'.
ll. 301-10. I owe the right punctuation of this stanza to the Grolier
Club edition and Grosart. The 'as' of l. 303 requires to be followed
by a comma. Missing this, Chambers closes the sentence at l. 307,
'head', leaving 'This fish would seem these' in the air. The words
'when all hopes fail' play with the idea of 'the hopeful Promontory',
or Cape of Good Hope.
PAGE =308=, ll. 321-2. _He hunts not fish, but as an officer,
Stayes in his court, at his owne net._
Compare: 'A confidence in their owne strengths, a sacrificing to their
own Nets, an attributing of their securitie to their own wisedome or
power, may also retard the cause of God.' _Sermons_, Judges xv. 20
(1622).
'And though some of the Fathers pared somewhat too neare the quick in
this point, yet it was not as in the Romane Church, to lay snares, and
spread nets for gain.' _Sermons_ 80. 22. 216.
'The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of comfort comes to him' (the courtier)
'but hee will die in his old religion, which is to sacrifice to his
owne Nets, by which his portion is plenteous.' _Sermons_ 80. 70. 714.
The image of the net is probably derived from Jeremiah v. 26: 'For
among my people are found wicked men; they lay wait as he that setteth
snares; they set a trap, they catch men.' Compare also: 'he lieth in
wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor when he draweth him
into his net.' Psalm x. 9.
PAGES =310-11=, ll. 381-400. Compare: 'Amongst _naturall Creatures_,
because howsoever they differ in bignesse, yet they have some
proportion to one another, we consider that some very little
creatures, contemptible in themselves, are yet called enemies to great
creatures, as the Mouse is to the Elephant.' _Sermons_ 50. 40. 372.
'How great an Elephant, how small a Mouse destroys.' _Devotions_, p.
284.
ll. 405-6. _Who in that trade, of Church, and kingdomes, there
Was the first type._
The _1635_ punctuation of this passage is right, though it is better
to drop the comma after 'Kingdoms' and obviate ambiguity. The trade is
the shepherd's; in it Abel is type both of Church and Kingdom, Emperor
and Pope. As a type of Christ Donne refers to Abel in _The Litanie_,
p. 341, l. 86.
PAGE =312=, l. 419. _Nor <make> resist._ I have substituted 'make' for
the 'much' of the editions, confident that it is the right reading and
explains the vacillation of the MSS. The proper alternative to 'show'
is 'make'. The error arose from the obsolescence of 'resist' used as
a noun. But the O.E.D. cites from Lodge, _Forbonius and Priscilla_
(1585), 'I make no resist in this my loving torment', and other
examples dated 1608 and 1630. Donne is fond of verbal nouns retaining
the form of the verb unchanged.
l. 439. _soft Moaba._ 'Moaba', 'Siphatecia' (l. 457), 'Tethlemite' (l.
487), and Themech' (l. 509) are not creatures of Donne's invention,
but derived from his multifarious learning. It is, however, a little
difficult to detect the immediate source from which he drew. The
ultimate source of all these additions to the Biblical narrative and
persons was the activity of the Jewish intellect and imagination in
the interval between the time at which the Old Testament closes and
the dispersion under Titus and Vespasian, the desire of the Jews in
Palestine and Alexandria to 'round off the biblical narrative, fill
up the lacunae, answer all the questions of the inquiring mind of the
ancient reader'. Of the original Hebrew writings of this period none
have survived, but their traditions passed into mediaeval works like
the _Historia Scholastica_ of Petrus Comestor and hence into popular
works, e.g. the Middle English _Cursor Mundi_. Another compendium
of this pseudo-historical lore was the _Philonis Judaei Alexandrini.
Libri Antiquitatum. Quaestionum et Solutionum in Genesin. de Essaeis.
de Nominibus hebraicis. de Mundo. Basle._ 1527. An abstract of this
work is given by Annius of Viterbo in the book referred to in a
previous note. Dr. Cohn has shown that this Latin work is a third- or
fourth-century translation of a Greek work, itself a translation from
the Hebrew. More recently Rabbi M. Gaster has brought to light the
Hebrew original in portions of a compilation of the fourteenth century
called the _Chronicle of Jerahmeel_, of which he has published
an English translation under the 'Patronage of the Royal Asiatic
Society', _Oriental Translation Fund_. New Series, iv. 1899. In
chapter xxvi of this work we read: 'Adam begat three sons and three
daughters, Cain and his twin wife Qualmana, Abel and his twin wife
Deborah, and Seth and his twin wife Nōba. And Adam, after he had
begotten Seth, lived seven hundred years, and there were eleven sons
and eight daughters born to him. These are the names of his sons: Eli,
Shēēl, Surei, 'Almiel, Berokh, Ke'al, Nabath, Zarh-amah, Sisha,
Mahtel, and Anat; and the names of his daughters are: Havah, Gitsh,
Harē, Bikha, Zifath, Hēkhiah, Shaba, and 'Azin.' In Philo this
reappears as follows: 'Initio mundi Adam genuit tres filios et unam
filiam, Cain, Noaba, Abel, et Seth: Et vixit Adam, postquam genuit
Seth, annos DCC., et genuit filios duodecim, et filias octo: Et haec
sunt nomina virorum, Aeliseel, Suris, Aelamiel, Brabal, Naat, Harama,
Zas-am, Maathal, et Anath: Et hae filiae eius, Phua, Iectas, Arebica,
Siphatecia, Sabaasin.' It is clear there are a good many mistakes in
Philo's account as it has come to us. His numbers and names do not
correspond. Clearly also some of the Latin names are due to the
running together of two Hebrew ones, e.g. Aeliseel, Arebica, and
Siphatecia. Of the names in Donne's poem two occur in the above
lists--Noaba (Heb. Nobā) and Siphatecia. But Noaba has become
Moaba: Siphatecia is 'Adams fift daughter', which is correct according
to the Hebrew, but not according to Philo's list; and there is no
mention in these lists of Tethlemite (or Thelemite) among Adam's sons,
or of Themech as Cain's wife. In the Hebrew she is called Qualmana.
Doubtless since two of the names are traceable the others are so also.
We have not found Donne's immediate source. I am indebted for such
information as I have brought together to Rabbi Gaster.
PAGE =314=, l. 485. (_loth_). I have adopted this reading from the
insertion in _TCC_, not that much weight can be allowed to this
anonymous reviser (some of whose insertions are certainly wrong),
but because 'loth' or 'looth' is more likely to have been changed to
'tooth' than 'wroth'. The occurrence of 'Tooth' in _G_ as well as in
_1633_ led me to consult Sir James Murray as to the possibility of a
rare adjectival sense of that word, e.g. 'eager, with tooth on edge
for'. I venture to quote his reply: 'We know nothing of _tooth_ as an
adjective in the sense _eager_; or in any sense that would fit here.
Nor does _wroth_ seem to myself and my assistants to suit well. In
thinking of the possible word for which _tooth_ was a misprint, or
rather misreading ... the word _loth_, _loath_, _looth_, occurred
to myself and an assistant independently before we saw that it is
mentioned in the foot-note.... _Loath_ seems to me to be exactly the
word wanted, the true antithesis to willing, and it was a very easy
word to write as _tooth_.' Sir James Murray suggests, as just
a possibility, that 'wroth' (_1635-69_) may have arisen from a
provincial form 'wloth'. He thinks, however, as I do, that it is more
probably a mere editorial conjecture.
PAGE =315=, ll. 505-9. _these limbes a soule attend;
And now they joyn'd: keeping some quality
Of every past shape, she knew treachery,
Rapine, deceit, and lust, and ills enow
To be a woman._
Chambers and the Grolier Club editor have erroneously followed
_1635-69_ in their punctuation and attached 'keeping some quality of
every past shape' to the preceding 'they'. The force of Donne's bitter
comment is thus weakened. It is with 'she', i.e. the soul, that the
participial phrase goes. 'She, retaining the evil qualities of all the
forms through which she has passed, has thus "ills enow" (treachery,
rapine, deceit, and lust) to be a woman.'