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Rh that he must have composed what he calls his 'Paradox,' the Biathanatos, a work which is quite unique. In it he discusses with wonderful subtlety and learning the question whether under any conceivable circumstances suicide might be excusable. The earliest mention of this book occurs in a letter of 13 Feb. 1614, which has never been printed, and the impression conveyed is that the book had been composed not very long before. Six years later, when he was about to start for Germany, he sent a copy of it in manuscript to Lord Herbert of Cherbury, which is now in the Bodleian, and a second to Kerr, earl of Ancrum. Both copies were written by his own hand, and in the letter which he wrote to Lord Ancrum he speaks of the book as 'written many years since … by Jack Donne, and not by Dr. Donne' (Letters, p. 21). That up to the last he could not quite abandon all hope of escaping from the inevitable appears from a letter in Tobie Matthew's collection (p.311),in which he petitions the Earl of Somerset to procure him a diplomatic appointment to the Dutch states. He only met with another rebuff. Meanwhile his obligations to Somerset, which were very great—for in speaking of himself in the letter last referred to he says, 'Ever since I had the happiness to be in your lordship's sight I have lived upon your bread',—had compromised him as a dependent upon that worthless nobleman, and when the case of the divorce of the Countess of Essex from her husband came on, Donne took an active part as an advocate for the nullity of the first marriage [see Abbot, George (1562-1633) (DNB00), 1562-1633], and actually wrote a tractate in support of his view, which still exists in manuscript (Hist. MSS. Comm. 8th Rep. p. 22b). It has never been printed and, it is to be hoped, never will be. Somerset was married to the divorced Countess of Essex on 26 Dec. 1613. Ben Jonson addressed the earl in some fulsome verses; Bacon induced Thomas Campion to write a masque on the occasion, and himself bore the expense of bringing it out; and Donne wrote the 'Epithalamium,' which is to be found among his poems. The hideous exposure which followed some months later has made this business appear very dreadful to us, but they who are inclined to blame Donne and others for being in any way concerned in it will do well to remember Mr. Spedding's caution (Bacon's Letters and Life, iv. 392): 'It does not follow they would have done the same if they had known what we know.'

It was just a year after the marriage of Somerset, when every other avenue was closed to his advancement, that Donne at length began his new career as a divine. Writing to his friend, Sir Henry Goodere, on 21 Dec. 1614, he tells him that he was about to print 'forthwith' a collection of his poems, 'not for much public view, but at mine own cost, a few copies,' and he adds a request that Goodere would send him an old book, in which it seems he had written his 'Valediction to the World,' a poem which he meant to include in the collection. Unhappily not a single copy of this small issue of Donne's poems has come to light. It was only a few weeks after this that he was ordained by Dr. John King, bishop of London, who had been Lord Ellesmere's chaplain at the time when Donne was his secretary. There is reason to believe that his ordination took place on Sunday, 25 Jan. 1615, the feast of the conversion of St. Paul (see Letters, p. 289). James I almost immediately made him his chaplain, and commanded him to preach before the court. Walton tells us that his first sermon was preached at Paddington, then a suburb of London, in the little ruinous church which was rebuilt about sixty years afterwards. On 7 March following, James I, with Prince Charles and a splendid retinue, paid a visit to Cambridge, and signified his desire to have the degree of D.D. conferred upon his newly appointed chaplain. The Cambridge men for some reason were very averse to this, and the degree was granted him with a bad grace, no record of it being entered upon the register of the university. It is said that no fewer than fourteen country livings were offered to Donne in the single year after his ordination, but, as acceptance of them would have involved his leaving London, he declined them all. In January 1616, however, he accepted the rectory of Keyston in Huntingdonshire, and in July of the same year the much more valuable rectory of Sevenoaks. Keyston he appears to have resigned, but Sevenoaks he retained till his death, and in his will he left 20l. to the poor of the parish. Three months later we find him elected by the benchers of Lincoln's Inn to be divinity reader to the society, his predecessor being a certain Dr. Thomas Holloway, vicar of St. Lawrence Jewry (, Rep. i. 386;, Importance of a Religious Life, ed. C. P. Cooper, 1849, p. 219). The reader was required to preach twice every Sunday in term time, besides doing so on other specified occasions. The post, however, was an honourable one, and afforded scope for the preacher's powers. He was immediately recognised as one of the most eloquent and able preachers of the day. The sermons which he delivered at Lincoln's Inn are among the most ingenious and thoughtful of any which have come