Be sure The wines be lusty, high, and full of spirit, And amber'd all. Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Custom of the Country_, iii. 2. This was the original meaning of the word 'amber', which was extended to the yellow fossil resin through some mistaken identification of the two substances. Mr. Gosse has called my attention to some passages which seem to indicate that the other amber was also eaten. Tallemant des Réaux says of the Marquise de Rambouillet, 'Elle bransle un peu la teste, et cela lui vient d'avoir trop mangé d'ambre autrefois.' This may be ambergris; but Olivier de Serres, in his _Théâtre d'Agriculture_ (1600), speaks of persons who had formed a taste for drinking 'de l'ambre jaune subtilement pulvérisé'. PAGE =134=, ll. 85-6. _Thou hast no such; yet here was this, and more, An earnest lover, wise then, and before._ This is the reading of _1633_ and gives, I think, Donne's meaning. Missing this, later editions placed a full stop after 'more', so that each line concludes a sentence. Mr. Chambers emends by changing the full stop after 'before' into a comma, and reading: Thou hast no such; yet here was this and more. An earnest lover, wise then, and before, Our little Cupid hath sued livery. This looks ingenious, but I confess I do not know what it means. When was Cupid wise? When had he been so before? And with what special propriety is Cupid here called 'an earnest lover'? What Donne says is: 'Here _was_ all this,--a court such as I have described, and more--an earnest lover (viz. the Earl of Somerset), wise in love (when most men are foolish), and wise before, as is approved by the King's confidence. In being admitted to that breast Cupid has ceased to be a child, has attained his majority, and the right to administer his own affairs.' Compare: '_I love them that love me, &c._... The Person that professes love in this place is Wisdom herself ... so that _sapere et amare_, to be wise and to love, which perchance never met before nor since, are met in this text.' _Sermons_ 26. 18, Dec. 14, 1617. Then, sweetest Silvia, let's no longer stay; True love we know, precipitates delay. Away with doubts, all scruples hence remove; No man at one time can be wise and love. Herrick, _To Silvia to Wed_. PAGE =135=. I have inserted the title _Epithalamion_ after the _Ecclogue_ from _D_, _H49_, _Lec_, _O'F_, _S96_, as otherwise the latter title is extended to the whole poem. This poem is headed in two different ways in the MSS. In _A18_, _N_, _TC_, the title at the beginning is: _Eclogue Inducing an Epithalamion at the marriage of the E. of S._ The proper titles of the two parts are thus given at once, and no second title is needed later. In the other MSS. the title at the beginning is _Eclogue. 1613. Decemb. 26._ Later follows the title _Epithalamion_. As _1633_ follows this fashion at the beginning, it should have done so throughout.