honestae esse virtutes cum referentur ad se ipsas nec propter aliud expetuntur: etiam tunc inflatae et superbae sunt, et ideo non virtutes, sed vitia iudicanda sunt. Sicut enim non est a carne sed super carnem quod carnem facit vivere; sic non est ab homine sed super hominem quod hominem facit beate vivere: nec solum hominem, sed etiam quamlibet potestatem virtutemque caelestem.' PAGE =186=, ll. 25-7. _You know, Physitians, &c._ Paracelsus refers more than once to the heat of horse-dung used in 'separations', e.g. _On the Separations of the Elements from Metals_ he enjoins that when the metal has been reduced to a liquid substance you must 'add to one part of this oil two parts of fresh _aqua fortis_, and when it is enclosed in glass of the best quality, set it in horse-dung for a month'. l. 31. _Wee are but farmers of our selves._ The reading of _1633_ is 'termers', and as in 'Tables' 'Fables' of the preceding poem it is not easy to determine which is original. 'Termer' of course, in the sense of 'one who holds for a term' (see O.E.D.), would do. It is the more general word and would include 'Farmer'. A farmer generally is a 'termer' in the land which he works. I think, however, that the rest of the verse shows that 'farmer' is used in a more positive sense than would be covered by 'termer'. The metaphor includes not only the terminal occupancy but the specific work of the farmer--stocking, manuring, uplaying. Donne's metaphor is perhaps borrowed by Benlowes when he says of the soul: She her own farmer, stock'd from Heav'n is bent To thrive; care 'bout the pay-day's spent. Strange! she alone is farmer, farm, and stock, and rent. Donne in a sermon for the 5th of November speaks of those who will have the King to be 'their Farmer of his Kingdome.' _Sermons_ 50. 43. 403. It must be remembered that in MS. 'Fermer' and 'Termer' would be easily interchanged. l. 34. _to thy selfe be approv'd._ There is no reason to prefer the _1669_ 'improv'd' here. To be 'improv'd to oneself' is not a very lucid phrase. What Donne bids Woodward do is to seek the approval of his own conscience. His own conscience is contrasted with 'vaine outward things'. Donne has probably Epictetus in mind: 'How then may this be attained?--Resolve now if never before, to approve thyself to thyself; resolve to show thyself fair in God's sight; long to be pure with thine own pure self and God.' _Golden Sayings_, lxxvi., trans. by Crossley. PAGE =187=. TO S^r HENRY WOOTTON. The date of this letter is given in two MSS. as July 20, 1598. Its tone is much the same as that of the previous letter (p. 180) and of both the fourth and fifth _Satyres_. The theme of them all is the Court.