DEVOTIONS TOGETHER WITH DEATH'S DUEL. By .John Donne, with an
introduction by W. H. Draper. (Simpkirul 3s. tkl.)
Tins neat little book offers in a more available form than the. luxurious edition or Mr. Geoffrey Keynes an insight into the mind of.Donne, as expressed in his prose ; it follows well upon' Mrs. Aimpson's useful study of his prose works, and is a suit-: able complement to that luminous and masterly essay on his religion which we lately noticed in Mr. Sencourt's book, Oulflying Philosophy. The Master of the Temple writes a clear and dignified introduction, and shows wisdom both in referring to Professor Saintsbury and in including with the devotions the most famous of the sermons, and Isaac Walton's charming Life of Donne, so that the whole book is a useful. supplement, within reach of all, to those poems which our own generation has found so congenial. For, indeed, Donne's temper was a marvellous tissue of subtlety and passion. And the energy of his mind was equal to the mystical fervour he derived from exploring the capacities of his body and his soul, and those worlds which in the height of, pas: sion they create from and for one another. In his youth he delighted in dis- tilling an ecstasy from his reflections on the flesh as. the book of love's mysteries, or . in symbolizing his spiritual 'union with his beloved by the flea which had fed on the blOod Of each. In this famous sermon he elucidates his idea of life in 'death by, analyses, of abortion and reflection both on the woinh and Worms. The devotions show his tireless mind finding a distraction from his wearisome illness in noting down apposite'. reflections which are like all his turns of thought—intimate; elaborate, arrowy, exquisite, odd.
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