Part 27 (1/2)

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.