Quotes

Quote 449 of 521

[John] Donne hated milk. Mortally sick, about to celebrate his death
by sitting for his portrait in a shroud, he was urged by his doctor
that 'by Cordials, and drinking milk twenty days together, there was a
probability of his restoration to health'.  Donne would have none of
it. The doctor ... insisted that his patient should at least try.
Donne thereupon drank milk--but for ten days only. Then he told Dr Fox
that he would not drink the stuff for another ten days even 'upon the
best moral assurance of having twenty years added to his life'.

"A Notable Disliker of Milk and Matyrdom", by
		   Robert Nye, a review of "John Donne: The Reformed
		   Soul" by John Stubbs in <cite>Literary
		   Review</cite>, August 2006.
		   http://www.literaryreview.co.uk/nye_08_06.html

Tags: havingtwentyyears drfox johndonne cordials twentydays shroud probability health