Note 40 — POEMS

Contributions To The Textual Criticism of The Divina Commedia, &c. By the Rev. Edward Moore, D.D., &c. Cambridge, 1889. The tests which Dr. Moore lays down for the judgement, on internal grounds, of a reading are—I state them shortly in my own words—(1) That is the best reading which best explains the erroneous readings. I have sometimes recorded a quite impossible reading of a manuscript because it clearly came from one rather than another of two rivals, and thus lends support to that reading despite its own aberration. (2) Generally speaking, 'Difficilior lectio potior,' the more difficult reading is the more likely to be the original. This applies forcibly in the case of a subtle and difficult author like Donne. The majority of the changes made in the later editions arise from the tendency to make Donne's thought more commonplace. Even in 1633 errors have crept in. The obsolete words 'lation' (p. 94, l. 47), 'crosse' (p. 43, l. 14) have been altered; the old-fashioned and metaphorically used idiom 'in Nature's gifts' has confused the editor's punctuation; the subtle thought of the epistles has puzzled and misled. (3) 'Three minor considerations may be added which are often very important, when applicable, though they are from the nature of the case less frequently available.' Moore. These are (a) the consistency of the reading with sentiments expressed by the author elsewhere. I have used the Sermons and other prose works to illustrate and check Donne's thought and vocabulary throughout. (b) The relation of the reading to the probable source of the poet's thought. A Scholastic doctrine often lurks behind Donne's wit, ignorance of which has led to corruption of the text. See The Dreame, p. 37, ll. 7, 16; To Sr Henry Wotton, p. 180, ll. 17-18. (c) The relation of a reading to historical fact. In the letter To Sr Henry Wotton, p. 187, the editors, forgetting the facts, have confused Cadiz with Calais, and the Azores with St. Michael's Mount.