ABSTRACT
Collier (1789-1883), Shakespearean scholar and literary forger, wrote a dialogue in which the three participants debate whether Donne was the first satirist in the language and then discuss at length the text and the texts of Donne's poetry (The Poetical Decameron or Ten Conversations on English Poets and Poetry, Particularly oJthe Reigns oJElizabeth and James 1,1820, i, pp. 153-60). There is an accurate account of the printed texts and of some manuscripts. 'Bourne', who is the scholarly speaker in the dialogue, says that he has done some collating work on the manuscript and early printed versions of the poems; and he gives a good reading or two to replace bad readings in the edition of 1633.
