Observations on the Faerie Queene of Spenser: By Thomas Warton, ...

OF THE PLAN and CONDUCT OF THE FAERIE QUEENE. SECT. I.

WHEN the works of Homer and of Aristo∣tle began to be restored and studied in Italy, when the pure and uncorrupted sources of antient poesy and antient criticism were opened, and literature in general seemed emerging from the depths of Gothic ignorance and barbarity, it might have been expected, that, instead of the ro∣mantic species of poetical composition introduced by the provencal bards, a new and more legitimate taste of writing would have succeeded; that unnatural events, the machinations of imaginary beings, and adventures entertaining only as they were improba∣ble, would have given place to justness of thought and design, and to that decorum which nature dictat∣ed, and which the example and the precept of anti∣quity had authorised. But it was a long time before such a change as this was effected; and we find A∣riosto, many years after the revival of letters, reject∣ing

truth for magic, and chusing rather to follow the irregular and ridiculous excursions of Boiardo, than the propriety and uniformity of the great Graecian and Roman Epic models. Nor was the state of cri∣ticism less generally and effectually influenced than that of poesy by the restoration of antient learning: Beni, one of the most celebrated critics of the six∣teenth century, was still so infatuated with a love of the old provencal vein, that he ventured to write a regular dissertation, in which he compares Ariosto with Homer. Trissino, indeed, who was nearly con∣temporary with Ariosto, had taste and boldness enough to publish a poem written in profest imitation of the Iliad; but this attempt met with little regard or ap∣plause, for that very reason on which its real merit was founded; it was rejected as an insipid and unen∣tertaining performance, having few devils or enchant∣ments to recommend it. To Trissino succeeded Tasso, who, in his Gierusaleme Liberata, took the antients for his guides; but was, at the same time, too sensible of the prevailing taste for ideal beings, and romantic description, to omit them entirely; though he was well acquainted with, and fully con∣vinced of the excellencies of Homer and Virgil, yet he still kept the old provencal poets in his eye; like his own Rinaldo, who after he had gaz'd on the dia∣mond shield of truth, and while he was departing from Armida, and her enchanted gardens, could not help looking back upon them with some remains of fondness. Nor did Tasso's poem, though compos'd, in some measure, on a classical and uniform plan, gain its author (in his own country at least) any high∣er

share of praise and reputation upon that account: Ariosto, with all his extravagancies, was still pre∣ferred; and the superiority of the Orlando Furioso to the Gierusaleme Liberata was at length establish'd by a formal decree of the Academicians della Crusca, who held a solemn court of enquiry concerning the merit of both poems.

In the midst of this bad taste, Spenser began to write his FAERIE QUEENE; which, after the prac∣tice of Ariosto, was to consist of allegories, enchant∣ments, and romantic adventures, carried on by fairy knights, giants, magicians, and fictitious beings. It may indeed be urged, as an instance of Spenser's weak and undiscerning judgment, that he chose to follow Ariosto rather than Tasso, the plan and conduct of whose poem was much more regular and legitimate than that of his rival. To this objection it may be answered, in defence of our author, that he was rea∣sonably induced to follow that poem which was most celebrated and popular: for tho' the French critics in general gave the preference to Tasso, yet in Italy the partisans, on the side of Ariosto, were by far the most numerous, and consequently in England; for Italy, in the age of queen Elizabeth, gave laws to our island in all matters of taste, as France has done ever since. It must, however, be confessed at the same time, that Spenser was in some measure in∣fluenced, from the natural biass of his mind, to pre∣fer that plan, which would admit of the most exten∣sive range for his unbounded imagination. What this plan is, and how it is conducted, we shall now proceed to examine.

* 1.1The poet supposes, that the FAERIE QUEENE held a magnificent feast, (according to annual custom) which lasted twelve days; on each of which respec∣tively, twelve several complaints are preferred before her: accordingly, in order to redress the injuries which were the occasion of these several complaints, she sends out twelve different knights, each of which, in the particular adventure allotted to him, proves an example of some particular virtue, as of Holiness, Temperance, Justice, Chastity, &c. and has one com∣plete book assigned to him, of which he is the hero. But, besides these twelve knights, severally exempli∣fying twelve moral virtues, there is one principal knight, or general hero, viz. PRINCE ARTHUR; who represents Magnificence; a virtue which is supposed to be the perfection of all the rest; who assists in eve∣ry book, the end of whose actions is to find out GLO∣RIANA, or Glory, and in whose person the poet in∣tends to pourtray,

"THE IMAGE OF A BRAVE KNIGHT PERFECTED IN THE TWELVE PRIVATE MORAL VIRTUES."

It is evident, that our author, in establishing one hero, who seeking and attaining one grand end, viz. GLORIANA, or Glory, should exemplify one grand character, viz. that of a brave knight perfected in the twelve private moral virtues, had the practice of Virgil and Homer in his eye. But tho' he was sensible of the importance and expediency of a unity of the hero and of his design, yet he does not, at the same time, seem convinced of the necessity of that unity of action, by which this design should be properly accomplished; nor sufficiently acquainted with the method of pro∣ceeding

made use of by the two great originals above∣mentioned, in conducting their respective heroes to the one grand end proposed. It may be asked, with great propriety, how does ARTHUR execute this one grand ultimate design? It may be answered, with no less plausibility, that by assisting each patron of the twelve virtues respectively, in his allotted defence or patronage of each, ARTHUR approaches still nearer and nearer to Glory, 'till at last he obtains it, and so consummates the intended grand design. But surely to assist only is not sufficient to gain this end, or com∣plete the proposed character. The poet ought to have made his ARTHUR the principal agent in the re∣dress of each particular wrong, which arose from the various violation of Holiness, Temperance, Justice, Chastity, &c. If the hero had thus, in his own per∣son, exerted himself in the service of all the twelve virtues, he might have been deservedly stiled the per∣fect pattern of them all, and consequently would then have completed the proposed grand end, viz. the attainment of Glory. At present he is only a subordinate, or rather accessory character; the diffi∣culties and obstacles which he should have surmount∣ed in order to gain the proposed end, are done to his hand, and removed by others; it is not he who con∣quers the dragon in the first book, (to instance in no other) or who quells the magician Busirane in the third; these are atchievements executed by St. George and by Britomart. In short, the twelve several knights, or patrons, do too much for ARTHUR to do any thing, or at least what may reasonably be expected from the plan of the poet; while we are attending to

the design of the hero of the book, we forget that of the hero of the poem. Mr. Dryden remarks,

"We must do Spenser that justice to observe, that mag∣nanimity [magnificence] which is the true cha∣racter of PRINCE ARTHUR, shines throughout the whole poem; and succours the rest when they are in distress."† 1.2

If the magnanimity of PRINCE AR∣THUR did in reality shine throughout the whole poem with a steady and superior lustre, our author would stand excused; but at present it breaks forth but seldom, in dim and interrupted flashes; it is not like the pervading spirit of Virgil, which

—Agitat molem, & magno se corpore miscet.* 1.3

And to

"succour the rest when they are in distress,"

is a circumstance of too little importance in the hero of a poem: "to succour" is, in fact, a service to be perform'd in the cause of the hero, by some dependent and inferior chief, the business of a Gyas or a Cloanthus, a Mnestheus, or a Serestus.

Upon the whole, and in general, it must be ob∣served, that Spenser's adventures, which are the sub∣ject of each single book, have no mutual dependance upon each other, and consequenly do not contribute to constitute one legitimate poem; and Mr. Hughes, not considering this, has advanced a remark in com∣mendation of Spenser, which may most properly be turned to his censure.

"If we consider the first book as an entire work of itself, we shall find it to be no irregular contrivance: there is one principal action, which is completed in the twelfth Canto, and the

several incidents are proper, as they tend either to obstruct or promote it."* 1.4

As the heroic poem is required to be one WHOLE, compounded of many various parts depending upon, and relative to each other; so it is expedient, that not one of those parts should be so regularly contriv'd, and so completely finished, as to become a WHOLE of itself. For the mind being thus once satisfied in arriving at the completion of an orderly series of events, acquiesces in that satis∣faction, and its attention and curiosity are diverted from pursuing, with due vigour, the final and general catastrophe; whereas while each part is left imperfect, I mean, incomplete, if disjoined or separated from the rest, the mind still desirous and eager of gratify∣ing its expectations, is irresistibly and imperceptibly drawn on from part to part, till it receives a full and ultimate satisfaction from the accomplishment of one great event, which all those parts, following and il∣lustrating each other, contributed to produce.

Our author was probably aware, that by consti∣tuting twelve several adventures for twelve several knights, a want of continuity and general concatena∣tion of facts would be laid to his charge; and upon this account, I suppose, he sometimes begins a story in one book, the completion of which he defers, not without much interruption, to some future and di∣stant book; a proceeding, which unavoidably occa∣sions much confusion to the reader. And it seems to be for the same reason, that, after one of the twelve knights has fulfilled the adventure of his book, he in∣troduces

him, in the next book; acting, perhaps, in an inferior light, and degraded to some less dangerous adventure; a conduct which destroys that repose which the mind feels after having accompanied a hero, thro' various distresses and difficulties, to success and victory. Besides, when we view the hero entering upon an in∣ferior attempt, our former admiration is diminish∣ed; having seen him once nobly and decisively conquer, we become so warmly interested in his ho∣nour, that we look upon his engagement in any po∣sterior enterprise (however successfully) which is less arduous than that of which we had just before hail'd him the conqueror, as derogatory to that glory which he had just acquired by such a conquest. Spenser, per∣haps, would have embarassed himself and the reader less, had he made every book one entire detached poem, without any the least reference to the rest. Thus he would have written twelve distinct poems, in all of which, he might have completed the pattern of a particular virtue in twelve knights respectively; at present, he has remarkably failed in endeavouring to represent all the virtues completed in the character of one. The poet must either have established TWELVE KNIGHTS without an ARTHUR, or an ARTHUR without TWELVE KNIGHTS. Upon supposition that Spenser was resolved to characterise the twelve moral virtues, the former plan, perhaps, would have been best: the latter must necessarily want simplicity, as it is an action consisting of twelve actions, all equally great, and unconnected between themselves; and not an action consisting of one uninterrupted and coherent chain of incidents tending to the accomplish∣ment of one design.

It has been observ'd before, that our author endea∣voured to express the character of a knight perfected in the twelve moral virtues, by representing him as assisting in the service or defence of each, till at last he becomes possessed of all: this plan, however, in∣judicious, he certainly was obliged to observe; but in the third book, which is stiled the legend of Cha∣stity, PRINCE ARTHUR doth not so much as lend his assistance in the protection or vindication of that virtue; he appears indeed, but not as an auxiliary in the adventure of the book.

It must, however, be confessed, that there is some∣thing artificial in the poet's manner of varying from historical precision; a conduct which may be best il∣lustrated from his own words.

"But because the be∣ginning of the whole work seemeth abrupt, and as depending upon other antecedents, it needs that ye know the occasion of these three knights several adventures. For the method of a poet historical, is not such as of an historiographer. For an histo∣riographer discourseth of affairs orderly, as they were done, accounting as well the times as the action; but a poet thrusteth into the middest, even where it most concerneth him, and there re∣coursing to the things forepast, and divining of things to come, maketh a pleasing analysis of all. The beginning therefore of my history, were it to be told by an historiographer, should be in the twelfth book, which is the last; where I devise, that the FAERIE QUEENE held her annual feast twelve days; upon which twelve several days, the occasion of twelve several adventures hap∣pened:

which being undertaken by twelve several knights, are, in these twelve books, severally hand∣led and discoursed.* 1.5"

Thus according to this plan the reader would have been agreeably surprised, in the last book, when he came to discover, that all the adventures which he had just gone through, were un∣dertaken at the command of the FAERIE QUEENE, and that all the knights had severally set forward to the execution of them from her annual birth-day festi∣val; but Spenser, in most of his books, has inju∣diciously forestalled the first of these particulars; which certainly should have been concealed till the last book, not only to have prevented a needless repe∣tition of the same thing, but that he might likewise secure an opportunity to himself of amusing the read∣er's mind with a circumstance new and unexpected.

But notwithstanding the plan and conduct of our author, in the poem before us, is highly excep∣tionable, yet I am apt to think, that the FAERIE QUEENE is not, upon the whole, so confused and irregular as the Orlando Furioso. Though there is no general unity in the former, yet if we consider every book or adventure as a separate poem, we shall meet with so many distinct, however imperfect, uni∣ties, by which means the reader is less bewildered, than by that general indigested medley of which the former totally consists, and in which we meet with neither partial, nor universal unity.

—Cum nec pes nec caput UNI Reddatur FORMAE.—† 1.6

The very idea of celebrating the MADNESS of an hero, carries with it somewhat extravagant and absurd. Or∣lando doth not make his appearance till b. 8. where he is placed in a situation not very heroic; he is first discovered to us in bed, desiring to sleep. His ulti∣mate design is to find Angelica, but his pursuit of her is broken off in b. 30; after which there are sixteen more books to come, and in which Angelica disappears. Other heroes are likewise engaged in the same pursuit. After reading the first stanza of b. 1. one would be inclined to think, that the subject of the poem was the expedition of the Moors into France, under their emperor Agramante, to fight against Charlemayne; but this matter is the least part of the poem. In fact, many of the knights perform exploits equal, if not superior to those of Orlando; and particularly Rogero, with a grand atchievement of wholn the poem is closed, viz. his killing Rodo∣mont; but this event is not the completion of a story carried on principally through the whole work. The author passes from one incident to another, and from region to region (whether it be from England to the Hesperides, or from the earth to the moon) with such incredible swiftness and rapidity, that one would think he was mounted upon his own winged steed Ippogrifo. He begins a tale of a knight in Europe, and suddenly breaks it off to resume the unfinished catastrophe of another in Asia. The imagination of the reader is not so much involv'd in, as it is oppressed with the mul∣tiplicity of stories, in the relation of each of which the poet is at the same time equally engaged. To reme∣dy this inconvenience, it was thought proper to affix,

in some of the editions, marginal hints, informing the reader in what book and stanza the poet would recom∣mence some interrupted episode; an expedient not more inartificial than that which the first painters were obliged to make use of, in order to assist their want of skill, who having drawn the figure of a man, a bird, or a quadruped, found it necessary to write under∣neath the name of the kind to which the thing repre∣sented belonged. However, this method has been the means of giving the reader a clear comprehension of Ariosto's tales, which otherwise he could not have obtained without much difficulty. This poet is sel∣dom read twice in order; that is, by passing from the first canto to the second, and from the second to the rest successively; but by persuing (without any regard to the order of the books, or the stanzas) the different stories, which though all somewhere finish'd, yet are, at present, so mutually interwoven, that the incidents of one are perpetually clashing with those of another. The ingenious Abbé Du Bos † 1.7 observes hap∣pily enough, that

"Homer is a geometrician in comparison of Ariosto:"

And, indeed, his mis∣cellaneous matter cannot be better expressed than by the two first verses of his Exordium.

Le Donne, i Cavallier, l'arme, gli amori, Le Cortesie, l'audaci imprese, io canto.* 1.8

Of dames, of knights, of armes, of love's delight, Of courtesies, of high attempts, I sing.Harrington.

But, to return. Though the FAERIE QUEENE does not exhibit that oeconomy of plan, and exact arrange∣ment

of parts which Epic severity requires, yet we scarcely regret the loss of these, while their place is so amply supplied, by something which more powerfully attracts us, as it engages the affection of the heart, rather than the applause of the head; and if there be any poem whose graces please, be∣cause they are situated beyond the reach of art, and where the faculties of creative imagination delight us, because they are unassisted and unrestrained by those of deliberate judgment, it is in this of which we are now speaking. To sum up all in a few words; tho' in the FAERIE QUEENE we are not satisfied as critics, yet we are transported as readers.

Notes

• * 1.1

  See Spenser's letter to Sir W. Raleigh, &c.
• † 1.2

  Dedication to Juvenal.
• * 1.3

  Aen. vi. ver. 727.
• * 1.4

  Remarks on the Fairy Queen. Hughes's edit. of Spenser's works, vol. 1.
• * 1.5

  Letter to Sir W. Raleigh. It appears, from this quotation, that Spenser had finished but three books, when this letter was writ∣ten.
• † 1.6

  Hor. art poet. v. 13.
• † 1.7

  Reflexions, &c. c. 34.
• * 1.8

  C. i. S. 1.