l. 38. _our Pinnaces._ 'Venices' is the reading of _1633_ and most of the MSS., where, as in _1669_, the word is often spelt 'Vinices'. But I can find no example of the word 'Venice' used for a species of ship, and Mr. W. A. Craigie of the _Oxford English Dictionary_ tells me that he has no example recorded. The mistake probably arose in a confusion of P and V. The word 'Pinnace' is variously spelt, 'pynice', 'pinnes', 'pinace', &c., &c. The pinnaces were the small, light-rigged, quick-sailing vessels which acted as scouts for the fleet. l. 48. _A scourge, 'gainst which wee all forget to pray._ The 'forgot' of _1669_ and several MSS. is tempting--'a scourge against which we all in setting out forgot to pray.' I rather think, however, that what Donne means is 'a scourge against which we all at sea always forget to pray, for to pray for wind at sea is generally to pray for cold under the poles, for heat in hell'. The 'forgot' makes the reference too definite. At the same time, 'forgot' is so obvious a reading that it is difficult to account for 'forget' except on the supposition that it is right. ll. 51-4. _How little more alas, Is man now, then before he was? he was Nothing; for us, wee are for nothing fit; Chance, or ourselves still disproportion it._ Donne is here playing with an antithesis which apparently he owes to the rhetoric of Tertullian. 'Canst thou choose', says the poet in one of his later sermons, 'but think God as perfect now, at least as he was at first, and can he not as easily make thee up againe of nothing, as he made thee of nothing at first? _Recogita quid fueris antequam esses._ Think over thyselfe; what wast thou before thou wast anything? _Meminisses utique, si fuisses_: if thou had'st been anything than, surely thou would'st remember it now. _Qui non eras, factus es; cum iterum non eris, fies._ Thou that wast once nothing, wast made this that thou art now; and when thou shalt be nothing again, thou shalt be made better then thou art yet.' _Sermons_ 50. 14. 109. A note in the margin indicates that the quotations are from Tertullian, and Donne is echoing here the antithetical _Recogita quid fueris antequam esses_. This echo is certainly made more obvious to the ear by the punctuation of _1669_, which Grosart, the Grolier Club editor, and Chambers all follow. The last reads: How little more, alas, Is man now, than, before he was, he was? Nothing for us, we are for nothing fit; Chance, or ourselves, still disproportion it. This may be right; but after careful consideration I have retained the punctuation of _1633_. In the first place, if the _1669_ text be right it is not clear why the poet did not preserve the regular order: Is man now than he was before he was.