It will be seen there are some important differences between the text
of this sonnet given in _1633_, _D_, _H49_, on the one hand and that
of _B_, _O'F_, _S_, _S96_, _W_. The former has (l. 5) 'this death'
where the latter gives 'thy death'. It may be noted that 'this' is
always spelt 'thys' in _D_, which makes easy an error one way or the
other. But the most difficult reading in _1633_ is (l. 8) 'thy little
booke'. Oddly enough this has the support not only of _D_, _H49_ but
also of _A18_, _N_, _TC_, whose text seems to blend the two versions,
adding some features of its own. Certainly the 'life-booke' of the
second version and the later editions seems preferable. Yet this too
is an odd expression, seeing that the line might have run:
If in thy Book of Life my name thou'enroule.
Was Donne thinking vaguely or with some symbolism of his own, not of
the 'book of life' (Rev. xiii. 8, and xx. 12) but of the 'little book'
(Rev. x. 2) which John took and ate? Or does he say 'little book'
thinking of the text, 'Strait is the gate and narrow is the way which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it' (Matt. vii. 14)? The
grimmer aspects of the Christian creed were always in Donne's mind:
And though thou beest, O mighty bird of prey,
So much reclaim'd by God, that thou must lay
All that thou kill'st at his feet, yet doth hee
Reserve but few, and leave the most to thee.
In l. 9 'last long' is probably right. _D_, _H49_ had dropped both
adjectives, and 'long' was probably supplied by the editor _metri
causa_, 'last' disappearing. Between 'glorified' and 'purified' in l.
11 it is impossible to choose. The reading 'deaths' for 'death' I have
adopted. Here _A18_, _N_, _TC_ agree with _B_, _O'F_, _S_, _W_,
and there can be no doubt that 'sleepe' is intended to go with both
'sinne' and 'death'.