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to the Queen,[1] a secretaryship in Ireland, and the place George Sandys later occupied as secretary in Virginia. Yet, even in this earlier period, it is inconceivable that James, who was on the lookout for clever young scholars and waverers from Catholicism, was not aware of Donne's gifts and search for preferment. Thomas Morton, whom Donne had assisted in controversy, was in 1607 one of the King's chaplains-in-ordinary ; Sir Henry Goodyer, to whom the poet for years sent weekly letters, was of the privy chamber; Sir Robert Ker, another friend, was in the Prince's household. If the Pseudo-Martyr was not written at the King's command — and of course such authority would not in any case be spoken of in the book itself — it was at least dedicated to the King and written chiefly to win his regard. When, in November, 1614, the poet's claims were finally presented definitely to James, he evidently had already formed an opinion of Donne's gifts and a plan for his career: "I know Mr. Donne is a learned man, has the abilities of a learned Divine, and will prove a powerful preacher; and my desire is to prefer him that way, and in that way I will deny you nothing for him."[2] The idea of entering the church had been in Donne's mind at least two or three years earlier; and if, as he used to say later, the King "first inclined him to be a minister," there may possibly have been some previous offer, hindered, as Mr. Gosse would suggest, by the poet's hesitation on points of doctrine.
Walton states that soon after his entering the church Donne became one of the King's chaplains; he at least preached frequently at court and pleased the King greatly by his sermons. "A piece of such perfection as could admit neither addition nor diminution," James is said to
- ↑ Ibid., Vol. I, p. 156. Mr. Gosse here suggests that Donne was seeking merely some employment under Fowler; but that his aim was the secretaryship itself is shown by a reference in a letter to Goodyer in 1611: "And for a token of my desire to serve him, present Mr. Fowler with three or four thousand pounds of this, since he was so resolved never to leave his place without a suit of like value." — Ibid., Vol. I, p. 240.
- ↑ Walton, Life of Donne, p. 208.
