A Little English Gallery. Louise Imogen Guiney
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The standing marble figure in a winding-sheet which Dr. King had modelled upon this strange painting on wood, may yet be seen in the south ambulatory of the choir of St. Paul’s; almost the only relic saved from the old cathedral which perished in the Great Fire of 1666. It is not only of unique interest, but of considerable artistic beauty, and “seems to breathe faintly,” as Sir Henry Wotton said of it.
[13] Dr. Donne’s papers were bequeathed to Dr. Henry King, the poet-Bishop of Chichester, then residentiary of St. Paul’s. The “find” were a precious one, if they yet survive.
[14] The half-romantic reference, which occurs more than once in Donne’s poems, to his own long-dead arm which still shall keep
“The bracelet of bright hair about the bone,”—
has it nothing to do with this blond head? Honi soit qui mal y pense. The internal evidences in The Relic, with its mention of St. Mary Magdalen, and its boast of purest friendship, and the roguery of the closing line in The Funeral, are somewhat strong, nevertheless.
[15] The famous Autobiography, indeed, boldly assures posterity that Lady Herbert, after 1597, “continued unmarried,” and, in brief, “was the woman Dr. Donne hath described her.” The acknowledgment of the accuracy of that funeral sermon, containing, as it does, its very specific Danvers passages, is in our fearless philosopher’s best style.
[16] There was afterwards, in France, a Gentleman of the Bedchamber who had other notions. “Gratitude,” said Thierry to his executioner in the court-yard of the Abbaye—“gratitude has no opinions. I am leal to my master.”
[17] An elder Charles, son of the Lady Elizabeth Danvers, was baptized in 1632, and must have died early.
[18] Edward Herbert sided eventually with the Parliament, which indemnified him for the burning and sacking of Montgomery Castle.
[19] The six very innocent, cheerful, pious ten-syllable stanzas, attributed in The Complete Angler to “another angler, Jo. Davors, Esq.,” are not, it is hardly necessary to add, from our scapegrace’s pen. He ceased to be “Jo. Davors, Esq.,” when Walton was fourteen years old.
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