LIFE OF DONNE.

JOHN DONNE, the descendant, on the father's side, from an ancient family in Wales, and, on that of the mother, from the family of Sir Thomas More, was born in London, in 1573. At the age of eleven, he became a commoner of Hart-hall, in Oxford; where it was soon perceived, that, if he were not born wise, he would never be made so by study. He remained at Oxford three years; but, being a Roman Catholic, he could not submit to the protestant oath, which was the pre-requisite to a diplo

ma.

He subsequently went to Trinity College, in Cambridge; and, after a residence of three years, removed to Lincoln's Inn, in London. That he cultivated poetry here, his amorous dittics sufficiently indicate:-that he studied the law, his works no where inform us; and his cotemporaries are silent. In 1592, the death of his father left him a property of 30007.; and, quitting the profession of the law, he entered deeply into an examination of the dispute between the two great religious parties, which then divided the empire of opinion. He began a Roman Catholic, and ended a Protestant.

He was in the Earl of Essex's expedition against Cadiz, in 1596 and 1597; and resided some years both in Spain and in Italy. On his return to England, he was made secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, lord keeper of the great seal: and, in 1602, he married, in private, Anne, daughter of Sir George Moore, chancellor of the garter, and lieutenant of

the tower; who was so much offended at the union, that he procured Donne's dismissal from service, and caused him to be thrown into prison. But he soon obtained his liberty; and, after a tedious lawsuit, succeeded in recovering his wife. Sir Francis Wooley, a relation, entertained his family several years, in his own house, at Pilford, in Surrey; and was finally enabled to effect a reconciliation between himself and his father-in-law; who agreed to make his daughter's portion 800 pounds, and to give her twenty pounds quarterly, until that sum should be paid. At the death of Sir Francis, Donne removed his family to Mitcham, in Surrey; and took lodgings for himself near Whitehall; where he received the visits and caresses of the nobility, foreign ambassadors, and other persons of distinction. He afterwards took apartments for his family, in the house of his friend, Sir Robert Drury, in Drury-lane.

In 1610, he received the degree of master of arts, from Oxford, as he had previously done, from Cambridge; and, about the year 1612, he accompanied Sir Robert Drury to Paris. On his return, King James persuaded him to take orders; and, shortly after, he was made a chaplain in ordinary to his majesty, and constituted a doctor of divinity by the university of Cambridge. He was much afflicted by the loss of his wife; who died, on the seventh day after the birth of her twelfth child, August 15th, 1617. He was, soon after, chosen preacher to the society of Lincoln's Inn; was appointed, by his majesty, to accompany the Earl of Doncaster, on his embassy to Germany, in 1619; became dean of St. Paul's, in 1621;* and, soon after, received the

On this occasion Donne was invited to dinner by his majesty; who, when he had sat down, and before he commenced eating, said to his guest, Mr. Donne, I have invited you to dinner; and though you sit not down with me, yet I will carve to you of a dish that I know you love well; for, knowing you love London, I do therefore

vicarage of St. Dunstan in the West, from the Earl of Dorset, and another benefice, from the Earl of Kent. In 1624, he was made prolocutor to the convocation; and was occasionally nominated by the king, to preach sermons at St. Paul's Cross. We hear nothing more of him, till the year 1630; when a fever threw him into a consumption, of which he died, on the 31st of March, 1631. He was interred in the cathedral church of St. Paul's; and had a tomb erected to his memory. He seems to have had a curiosity, while living, to know how he should appear when dead; and, some time before his decease, he enveloped himself in a shroud, closed his eyes, and had his portrait taken.

Donne is considered as a great wit, a tolerable divine, and something of a poet. Poetry, indeed, in the highest sense of the word, we can almost say, he had none. He was more intent upon showing the acuteness of his penetration than the opulence of his fancy; and, instead of grouping and describing new objects, he sets himself laboriously at work to refine and analyze the old. What furnishes other poets with a passing metaphorical allusion, would be a sufficient subject of a whole poem to Donne and his followers. It would take them ten centuries to finish the siege of Troy; and the figures of speech in the first book of the Iliad would supply their laboratory with an inexhaustible stock of materials. We are often amused with the brilliancy of their experiments, and with the novelty of their results. They stimulate our reflection, and awaken our memory; but they seldom excite our feelings, or give play to the imagination. Of Donne, it may be said, that he was more witty than learned; and more learned than poetical.

make you dean of St. Paul's; and, when I have dined, then do you take your beloved dish home to your study; say grace there to yourself, and much good may it do you? Wallon's Life of Donne. All this was contrived, in order that his facetious majesty might play upon the word London.