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

SECT. XI. Containing Miscellaneous Remarks.

IN reading the FAERIE QUEENE some observations necessarily occured which could not be conveniently referr'd to the general heads of the foregoing sections, which, in this, are thrown together without connection, as they occasionally and successively offered themselves.

B.i. Introduct. S.i. Fierce warres, and faithfull loves shall MORALIZE my song.

By the word moralize, Spenser declares his design of writing an allegorical poem; tho' my subject, says he, consists of fierce wars and faithfull loves, yet under these shall be couch'd moral doctrine, and the pre∣cepts of virtue. Our author, in another place, styles his FAERIE QUEENE A MORALL LAY, where the shepherd addresses Colin Clout, who represents Spenser,

Whether it were some Hymne, or MORALL LAY, Or caroll made to please thy loved laste.

And bishop Hall, in his prologue to his satires where he alludes to this poem, hints at the preceptive na∣ture of it in these words; speaking of the swords of Elfish Knights,

—Or sheath them new In misty MORAL types.—

And Drayton calls our author, with reference to the morality contained in the FAERIE QUEENE,

—Grave, MORALL Spenser.* 1.1—

B. i. C. i. S. vii.

Of a grove.

Not perceable with power of any star.

It was an antient superstition that stars had a malign influence on trees. Hence Milton, in Arcades,

Under the shady roof Of branching elm, STAR-PROOF.

And in the same poem.

And heal the harmes of thwarting thunder blue; Or what the cross dire-looking planet smiles.

Where dire-looking is drawn from the astrological term, malign aspect.

B. i. C. i. S. xv.

Speaking of the young ones of error.

Into her mouth they crept, and suddaine all were gone.

This circumstance is not the poet's invention; it is reported of adders by many naturalists.

B. i. C. i. S. xlv. —Made a lady of that other spright And fram'd of liquid ayre her tender parts.

Thus a false Florimel is made of snow, animated with a spright, 3. 8. 5. Mr. Pope thinks that our author drew the idea of his false Florimel from that passage in Homer where Apollo raises a phantom in the shape of Aeneas, B. 5. Iliad. and from the fictitious Turnus of Virgil; Aen. 10. 637. But he probably borrow'd it more immediately from romance, where magicians are often feigned to dress up some wicked spirit with a counterfeit likeness, in order to carry on their pur∣poses of deception.

B. i. C. ii. S. xi. In mighty arms he was yclad anon, And silver shield; upon his coward brest A bloudie cross.—

Thus Archimago disguises himself in the accoutre∣ments of the Red-Cross Knight, who, as we were be∣fore told, was

Yclad in mightie armes, and silver shield, i. i i.

And,

—On his brest a bloudie crosse he bore,S. 2.

B. i. C. v. S. ii. At last the golden oriental gate Of greatest heaven gan to open faire, And phoebus, fresh as bridegroome to his mate, Came dauncing forth, shaking his dewy hair.

Spenser, as Mr. Jortin observes, plainly alluded to this text in the Psalms,* 1.2

"In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun; which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoyceth as a giant to run his course."

But our author has strangely inverted the circumstances. The psalmist alludes to the Jewish custom of the bridegroom being conducted from his chamber at midnight, with great pomp, and preceded by a great number of torches. This is the illustration of the admirable Dr. Jackson, and without it the comparison is of no force or pro∣priety. The idea which our author would convey is, that, Phoebus came forth fresh and vigorous as a bridegroom, when he goes to his bride. The cir∣cumstance of Phoebus

"came dauncing forth"

seems to have been copied by Milton in his elegant song on May morning.

Now the bright morning-star, dayes harbinger, Comes dancing from the east.—

But probably Milton drew it from an old poem, cal∣led, the CUCKOW, by R. Niccols, 1607, who speak∣ing of the east, says,

From whence the daies bright king came dancing out.

especially as Milton has two thoughts in that song, which are likewise in the CUCKOW. Milton calls the morning star

—Day's harbinger.

Niccols calls the cock

—Daies harbinger.

Milton says of May,

—Who from her green lap throwes The yellow cowslip, &c.

Niccols of May,

And from her fruitfull lap eche day she threw The choicest flowres—

Milton, I suppose, had been reading this poem of the CUCKOW just before he wrote his song, and so im∣perceptibly adopted some of its thoughts and expres∣sions. And here it may be observ'd, that in critici∣sing upon Milton, Johnson, Spenser, and some other of our elder poets, not only a competent knowledge of all antient classical learning is requisite, but also an acquaintance with those books, which, though now forgotten and lost, were yet in repute about the time in which each author respectively wrote, and which it is most likely he had red.

B. i. C. iii. S. v. A ramping Lion, &c.

A Lion here fawns upon Una. It is the doctrine of romance, that a Lion will do no injury to a true virgin.

B. i. C. iv. S. xiv. Some frounce their curled haire in courtly guise, Some pranke their ruffes—

According to the fashion of dress which prevail'd in the poet's age.

B. i. C. v. S. x. At last the Paynim chaunct to cast his eye, His suddaine eye, flaming with wrathfull fire,

Upon his brothers shield which hung thereby; Therewith redoubled was his raging ire, And said, ah wretched sonne of wofull sire, Dost thou sit wayling by blacke Stygian lake, While here thy shield is hang'd for victors hire?

In this beautiful circumstance, he, probably, received a distant hint from Virgil.

—Infelix humero cum apparuit ingens Baltheus, & notis fulserunt cingula bullis Pallantis, &c. Ille oculis postquam saevi monumenta doloris Exuviasque hausit, furiis accensus, & ira Terribilis, Tune hinc, &c.* 1.3

B. i. C. vii. S. i. —What earthly wit so WARE.

"So prudent."

This word puts me in mind of a correction, which Mr. Upton has made in Chaucer.

Full fetise was her cloke, as I was WARE.† 1.4

Mr. Upton cannot make sense of this; and therefore proposes to read,

Full fetise was her cloke as was iware.

That is,

"As handsom as was worn by any woman."

But the expression, I was ware, occurs again in Chaucer.

Betwixt an Hulfere, and a wode bende As I was ware, I sawe where laie a man.* 1.5

And, I presume, signifies, in both placet, as, I was AWARE, as, I perceiv'd; and we meet with, was I ware, after this manner,

Tho was I ware of pleasance anon right.† 1.6

very frequently; which is the same as, I WAS WARE.

B. i. C. vii. S. xxiv. The which these reliques sad present unto mine eye.

That is, her knight's armor; which the Dwarf brings to her. St. 19.

B. i. C. ix. S. xix. —A box of diamond sure EMBOWD with gold, and gorgeous ornament.

EMBOW'D, i. e.

"arched, arcuatus, bent like a BOW."

A box having a vaulted cover of gold. Spenser, in the Visions of the world's vanity, expresses the curve of the Moon by this word.

EMBOWED like the moon.

Harrington, in his Orlando Furioso, makes use of EMBOWD, to denote the concave appearance of the clouds in the sky.

Ev'n as we see the sunne obscurd sometime By sudden rising of a mistie cloud,

Engendred by the vapor-breeding slime, And in the middle region there EMBOWD.* 1.7

Gascoigne in Jocasta, a tragedy, applies EMBOWD to a roof.

The gilted roofes EMBOWD with curious worke.† 1.8

That is, vaulted with curious work: and Milton,

—The high, EMBOWED roof With antique pillars massy-proof, And storied windows richly dight, Casting a dim religious light, There let the pealing organ blow To the full-voiced quire below,(†) 1.9

Impressions made in earliest youth, are ever after∣wards most strongly felt; and I am inclin'd to think, that Milton was first affected with, and often in∣dulg'd the pensive pleasure, which the awful solemnity of a Gothic church conveys to the mind, and which is here so feelingly describ'd, while he was a school∣boy at St. Paul's. The church was then in its origi∣nal Gothic state, and one of the noblest patterns of that kind of architecture.

B. i. C. x. S. lxiv. Sith to thee is unknowne the cradle of thy brood.

Thus again,

Even from the cradle of his infancy. 5. 1. 5.

Thus also G. Gascoigne to Lady Bridges.

Lo thus was Bridges hurt In cradel of her kynd.

And in the Hymne in honour of Love,

The wondrous cradle of thine infancy.

B. i. C. xi. S. liv.

Of the Dragon's death.

So downe he fell, and forth his life did breath That vanisht into smoake, and clowdes swift.

We meet with the same circumstance in Hawes's Pastime of Pleasure. But it is usual in Romance.

B. i. C. xii. S. xxxviii. To drive away the dull melancholy.

The same verse occurrs, and upon the same occasion. 1. 5. 3.

B. ii. C. i. S. vi. And knighthood tooke of good Sir HUON's hand.

There was an old romance, entitled, Sir HUON OF BOURDEAUX; mention'd among other old histories of that kind, in the letter concerning Q. Elizabeth's entertainment at Kenelworth, above quoted.* 1.10

B. ii. C. i. S. liii. The woods the nymphes, the bowres my mid∣wives were, Hard help at need.—

Heroines in Romance are often deliver'd in solitary forrests, without assistance; and the child, thus born, generally proves a knight of most extraordinary puis∣sance.

B. ii. C. ii. S. iv. To shewe how sore BLOUD-GUILTINESSE he hat'th.

We meet with BLOUD-GUILTINESSE again below. S. 30.

—With BLOUD-GUILTINSESE to heap offence.

Again,

Or that BLOUD-GUILTINESSE or guile them blot. 2. 7. 19.

This is a word which would have been rank'd among Spenser's obsolete terms, had it not been accidently preserv'd to us, in the translation of the Psalms us'd in our Liturgy,

"Deliver me from BLOUD-GUILTI∣NESSE, O God."† 1.11

The same may be said of BLOUD-THIRSTIE,

And high advancing his BLOUD-THIRSTIE BLADE.

B. i. C. viii. S. xvi. —As doth a hidden moth The inner garment fret, not th' utter touch.

He seems to have had his eye on that verse in the Psalms,

"Like as it were a moth fretting a garment."* 1.12

B. ii. C. iii. S. xxix. Her dainty paps which like young fruit in May Now little gan to swell, and being tide, Through their thin weed their places only signifide.

Dryden, who had a particular fondness for our au∣thor, has copied this passage, in Cymon and Iphigenia.

Her bosom to the view was only bare; Where two beginning paps were scarcely spy'd, For yet their places were but signify'd.

B. ii. C. iii. S. xxxiii. O Goddesse (for such I thee take to bee) For neither doth thy face terrestrial shew, Nor voice sound mortall, &c.—

Drawn from Aeneas's address to his mother, and in the same manner again,

Angell, or Goddesse, do I call thee right. 3. 5. 35.

Milton has finely applied this manner of address (originally drawn from Ulysses's address to Nausicaa, Odyss. 6.) in Comus.

—Hail foreign wonder! Whom certain these rough shades did never breed, Unless the goddess that in rural shrine Dwellst here with Pan and Sylvan; by blest song Forbidding every bleak unkindly fog To touch the prosperous growth of this tall wood.

This is highly agreeable to the character of the flat∣tering and deceitful Comus; and the supposition that she was the goddess or genius of the wood, resulting from the situation of the persons, is new as well as pro∣per.

There is another passage in Comus, whose sub∣ject is not much unlike that of the verses just pro∣duc'd, which, probably, Milton copied from Euripides.

Their port was more than human, as they stood; I took it for a faery vision Of some gay creatures of the element, That in the colors of the rain-bow live, And play i' th' plighted clouds: I was awe-strook, And, as I past, I worship'd.—

Comus thus describes to the Lady her brothers. And thus a shepherd, in Iphigenia in Tauris, describes Py∣lades and Orestes to Iphigenia.

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Hic geminos vidit juvenes quidam Pastor nostrum, & recessit retro Summis [pedum] relegens vestigium, Et dixit, non videtis? Daemones quidam

Sedent isti [hic]: quidam verò de nobis religiosior Sustulit manus, & adoravit, intuens, O marinae Leucotheae fili, &c. O Domine Palaemon, &c. Sive in littore vos sedetis Gemini.

I shall take this opportunity of pointing out one or two more of Milton's imitations; by which it will farther appear, how well he knew to make a bor∣row'd thought or description his own, by the pro∣priety of the application. Michael thus speaks of what would happen to Paradise in the universal De∣luge.

—then shall this mount Of Paradise, by might of waves be mov'd Out of his place, push'd by the horned flood, With all his verdure spoil'd, and trees adrift, Down the great river to the opening gulf; And there take root, an iland salt and bare, The haunt of seals, and orcs, and seaw-mews clang.† 1.14

Delos (in Homer's hymn to Apollo) tells Latona, that he is unwilling that Apollo should be born in his island,

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Ne cùm primum videat, lumen solis Insulam dedecoret, (quoniam asperum solum sum) Pedibus conculcans, & impellet in maris Pelagus. Ubi me quidem magna unda, magnâ vi abunde semper Inundabit; ille autem ad aliam terram veniet, ubi placuerit ipsi, Constructurus templum, lucosque arboribus densos. Polypodes autem in me thalamos, Phocaeque nigrae Domicilia facient, neglecta multitudine hominum.

In the same book, some of the circumstances in Mi∣chael's account of the Flood, seem to be drawn from an Ode of Casimir, entitled, Noe Vaticinium.

—Sea cover'd sea, Sea without shore; and in their palaces, Where Luxury late reign'd, sea-monsters whelp'd And stabled.—* 1.15

Noah is introduc'd by Casimir, thus describing the effects of the Flood.

Aut ubi turrigerae potentum Arces Gigantum? queis modo liberi

Festo choreas agmine plausimus, Delphines insultant plateis, Et vacuas spaciosa cete Ludunt per aulas, ac thalamus pigrae Pressere Phocae.—† 1.16

B. ii. C. v. S. vi. —The upper marge Of his seven-folded shield.—

This seems to be Virgil's,

—Clypei extremos septemplicis orbes.* 1.17

B. ii. C. v. S. xxxiii. The SUGRED liquor thro' his melting lips.

SUGRED, to express excessive sweetness, was a fre∣quent epithet with the poets of this age, and with those of the ages before it. It answer'd to the Mel∣litus of the Romans.

B. ii. C. vi. S. viii. But to weake wench did yeeld his martial might.

Some late editors of Shakespere have endeavour'd to prove, that wench did not antiently carry with it the idea of meanness or infamy. But in this place it plainly signifies a loose woman; and in the following passages of Chaucer. January having suspected his wife May's conjugal fidelity, May answers,

I am a gentlewoman, and no WENCH.‡ 1.18

And in the House of Fame, wench is coupled with groom,

Lord, and Ladie, grome, and WENCH.* 1.19

B. ii. C. vi. S. viii. —One sweet drop of sensuall delight.

Lucretius has given us this metaphor.

—Dulcedinis in cor Stillavit Gutta.—† 1.20

B. ii. C. vi. S. xxviii. Thou RECREANT knight.—

RECREANT knight, is a term of romance. Thus in MORTE ARTHUR.

"Than said the knight to the king, thou art in my daunger whether me lyst to save thee or to sley thee; and but thou yeeld thee as overcome and RECREANT, thou shalt dye. As for death said king Arthur, welcome be it when it cometh; but as to yeeld me to thee as RECREANT, &c."(†) 1.21

B. ii. C. vii. S. iii. In smith's fire-spetting forge.—

SPETT seems anciently to have more simply signify'd DISPERSE, without the low idea which we at present affix to it. Thus Milton in Comus,

—When the dragon woom Of stygian darkness SPETTS her thickest gloom.

And Drayton, in the barons wars, of an exhalation

—SPETTETH his lightening forth,† 1.22

B. ii. C. viii. S. v.

A description of an angel.

Beside his head there sate a faire young man Of wondrous beauty, and of freshest yeares, Whose tender bud to blossom new began, And flourish faire above his equall peares; His snowy front, curled with golden haires, Like Phoebus face adorn'd with sunny rayes, Divinely shone; and two sharp-winged sheares Decked with diverse plumes like painted jayes, Were fixed at his backe, to cut his ayerie wayes.

Milton* 1.23 in his description of Satan under the form of a stripling-cherub, has highly improv'd upon Spen∣ser's angel, and Tasso's Gabriel‡ 1.24, both which he seems to have had in his eye. And in his Raphael.** 1.25 Many authors, before Milton, have describ'd angels, in which they have insisted only upon the graces of youth and beauty. But it must be granted, that our great countryman was the first that ever attempted to give, or who, at the same time, gave with becoming majesty, the idea of an ARMED ANGEL. He, pro∣bably, receiv'd some hints, in this respect, from painting, swhich he had seen in Italy; particularly from one by Raphael, where Michael, clad in celestial panoply, triumphs over Satan chain'd.

B. ii. C. x. S. vii.

Speaking of Albion,

But farre in land a salvage nation dwelt Of hideous giants.—

This puts me in mind of Geoffry of Monmouth's ac∣count of the original state of Albion.

"Erat tunc nomen insulae Albion, quae a nemine nisi a PAUCIS GI∣GANTIBUS inhabitabatur."

A few giants in that hi∣storian's opinion were but of little consideration.

B. ii. C. xi. S. xviii. —Let fly Their fluttring arrows thick as flakes of snow.

So Virgil,

—Fundunt simul undique tela Crebra, nivis ritu.* 1.26

Thus again,

—Arrowes haild so thick.— 5. 4. 38.

And in the same stanza,

—A sharpe showre of arrowes—

And above,

For on his shield as thick as stormy show'r Their stroakes did raine.— 2. 8. 35.

Which two last instances are more like Virgil's ferreus imber.

B. ii. C. xi. S. xxxv.

—Thereby there lay An huge great stone which stood upon one end, And had not had been removed many a day. * * * * * * * * *

xxxvi.

The same he snatcht, and with exceeding sway Threw at his foe.—

Among other instances of the extraordinary strength of heroes in lifting a huge stone, describ'd by the antient poets, I think the following in Apollonius has never been alledged. Jason crushes the growing warriors with a vast stone.

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Arripit e campo magnum & rotundum saxum, Mirum Martis Gradivi discum; non ipsum viri Juvenes quatuor ne paulum quidem terra elevassent, Id sumptum in manibus valde procul in medios abjecit Insiliens.—

But Jason was assisted in this miraculous effort by the enchantments of Medea.

B. ii. C. xii. S. lx. And in the midst of all a fountaine stood.

Hardly any thing is describ'd with greater pomp and magnificence than artificial fountains in Romance. See a glorious one in Ariosto. 42. 91.

B. ii. C. xii. S. lxxxi. But one above the rest in speciall That had an hog been late, hight Grill by name, Repined greatly, and did him miscall, That had from human shape him brought to naturall.

Mr. Jortin * 1.28 observes, that this is taken from a Dia∣logue in Plutarch, inscrib'd,

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where Gryllus, one of the compa∣nions of Ulysses, transform'd into a hog by Circe, holds a discourse with Ulysses, and refuses to be re∣stor'd to his human shape.

Not many years before the FAERIE QUEENE was written, viz. 1548, Gelli published his Circe, which is declar'd in the Preface to be founded upon the Dia∣logue of Plutarch, mention'd by Mr. Jortin. Circe soon became a very popular book, and was translated into English (as likewise into other languages) in the Year 1557, by one Henry Iden; so that, probably, Spenser had red it; and might be induc'd to consult that Dialogue, from its mention in the preface.

B. iii. C. i. S. xiv. Save Beares, Lyons, and Buls which romed them around.

This verse would be improv'd in its harmony, by reading,

Save Lyons, Beares, and Buls, &c.

As would the following also,

Yet was admired much of fooles, women, and boyes. 5. 2. 30.

If we were to read,

Yet was admired much of women, fooles, and boyes.

But these corrections are made by the critic, upon a supposition that his author must infallibly have writ∣ten what was best. It may be laid down as a general rule, that an Alexandrine cannot be harmonious with∣out a full pause after the third foot. Thus,

That spear enchanted was—which laid thee on the green.

Consequently the sixth syllable must necessarily be a monosyllable, or the last syllable of a word; for we cannot make a full pause in the middle of a word, upon which account such Alexandrines as these are necessarily inharmonious.

So in his angry cour—age fairly pacify'd. That bore a Lyon pass—ant in a golden field. But that he must do batt—el with the sea-nymph's son. And to her watry cham—ber swiftly carry him.

And because a full pause must be made on the last syllable of the third foot, the third foot should never consist of a Trochee, for then we should be oblig'd to lay the greater stress upon the short syllable; as if the third foot was to be Beāuty̆, Coūrăge, grēedy̆, flōwry̆, or the like.

And it may be further remark'd, that an Iambus, for the third foot, will make the verse more musical, as the pause will be more strong after a short syllable. Thus,

Fit to adorn thĕ dēad,—and deck the dreary tomb. That art thus foully̆ flēd—from famous enemy.

For the same reason an Iambic foot at the end of any English verse has a good effect.

An Alexandrine entirely consisting of Iambic feet, answers precisely to a pure Iambic verse of the antients. Thus,

Thĕ gēntlĕ Evē ăwākes rĕfrēshfŭll āirs ăroūnd.

Equēs sŏnāntĕ vērbĕrābĭt ūngŭlā.

In reading this kind of measure, the antients did not, probably, huddle the syllables together, as we do: but it would be difficult to point out the places at which they made their pauses. Why should the fol∣lowing pure Iambic of Sophocles,* 1.29

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Be red like mere prose, without any certain pause, or division? and this verse of Anacreon,† 1.30

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Be red with these rests,

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May we not suppose, that the Iambic of Sophocles was red with some such divisions as these,

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Which are not very unlike those which we make use of in reading the above English Alexandrine (or Iambic) verse,

The gen-tle Eve-awakes-refresh-full airs-around.

It may be observ'd, that a Latin Hexameter is essen∣tially distinguish'd from a prose sentence, only by being ended with a Dactyle preceding a Spondee; upon which account our manner of reading the end∣ings of such Hexameters as these, procumbit Humi Bos, Oceano Nox, amica Luto Sus, &c. is probably wrong. According to our present manner of reading them, the whole verse doth not differ in sound from an Ora∣tio prosaica; contrary therefore to our present prac∣tice, we should take care to express the Dactyle and Spondee thus—Ocean—o Nox; and so of the rest. And that this was the practice of the antients, may be farther infer'd from these words of Quintilian, on reading verses,

"SIT LECTIO VIRILIS, ET CUM SEVERITATE QUADAM GRAVIS; ET NON QUIDEM PROSAE SIMILIS QUIA CARMEN EST."* 1.31

B. iii. C. i. S. xvi. All as a blazing starre doth farre outcast His hairie beames, and flaming lockes disspred.

Hairie seems to be an odd epithet for Beames. I once thought that Spenser might have wrote, airie beames, i. e. beams streaming through the air. But hairie is undoubtedly the genuine reading, as the ad∣jective and substantive, hairie and beames, are alternate∣ly inverted and oppos'd to flaming and locks.

B. iii. C. i. S. lvi. And every knight, and every gentle squire Gan chuse his dame with bascio mani gay.

With bascio mani, Ital. with kissing her hands: a phrase, perhaps, common in our author's age, when Italian manners were universally affected.

B. iii. C. i. S. lxii. —Out of her FILED bed.

"Out of her DEFILED bed."

B. iii. C. ii. S. xxv. He bore a crowned little Ermilin, That deckt the azure field with her faire POULDRED skin.

That is, with her skin spotted, or variegated; in its primary sense, besprinkled: this is the genuine spelling of powder'd, according to the etymology to which Skin∣ner conjectures it to belong, viz. a pulvere, conspergo

pulvere. We find the substantive POWDER generally spelt thus in old authors.

Thus B. Johnson,

And of the POULDER-plot they will talk yet.* 1.32

Spenser again uses the verb in its sense, besprinkle,

—A crowne POWDRED with pearle and stone.— 5. 10. 31.

Thus Sir Ph. Sydney, in Astrophell and Stella,†† 1.33

Some one his song in Jove, and Jove's strange tales attires, Border'd with buls and swans, POWDRED with golden raine.

Thus Harrington,

—A horse of dainty hew * * * * * * His collour py'd, POWDRED with many a spot.† 1.34

Again, where it may be interpreted, embroider,

She dreamt the bases of her loved knight, Which she embrodred blacke the other day, With spots of red were POWDRED all in sight.(*) 1.35

Thus also Chaucer,

Full gay was all the ground, and queint, And POWDRED as men had it peint.(†) 1.36

The grounde was grene, YPOUDRED with daisye.* 1.37

And, in the following instance, it seems to be lite∣rally used for embroidering.

Aftir a sorte the collir and the vente Lyke as armine is made in purfilinge, With grete perlis ful fine and orient, They were couchid all aftir one worching, With diamondes instede of POUDIRING.† 1.38

I had not collected all these instances, but with a de∣sign of placing an expression of Milton in a proper light.

—The Galaxy, that milky way, Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest POWDRED with stars.(*) 1.39

That is,

"The milky way, which every night ap∣pears to you, like a circling zone besprinkled or em∣broider'd with stars."

To the majority of readers, I dare say, powdred with stars has ever appear'd a very mean, or rather ridiculous, metaphor. It oc∣currs in Sackville's Induction to the MIRROR OF MAGISTRATES.

Then looking upwards to the heaven's leames, With night's bright STARRES thick POWDRED every where.

That is, thick-besprinkled, or variegated. Sandys, in his notes to the CHRISTUS PATIENS of Grotius, speaking of the Veil in Solomon's Temple,

"says, that it was POWDRED with Cherubims."(†) 1.40

B. iii. C. ii. S. xlviii. For the faire damsell from the holy HERSE Her love-sicke heart to other thoughts did steale.

From the holy herse, is, I suppose, the same as if he had said, from the holy HERSAL, which is us'd after∣wards.

—sad HERSAL of his heavy strife. 3. 11. 18.

So that holy herse is here, the rehearsal of the prayers in the church-service, at which Britomart is now de∣scrib'd as present. HERSE occurs, in the Pastoral of November, as the burden of Colin's song, "O heavie HERSE," and, "O happie HERSE" where E. K. interprets HERSE, The solemne Obsequie in Funerals.

B. iii. C. iii. S. xxvi. But sooth he is the sonne of Gorlois.

This is the Gorlois of whom Milton speaks,* 1.41

Tum gravidam Arturo, fatali fraude, Iogernen, Mendaces vultus, assumptaque Gorlois arma, Merlini dolus.

Geoffrey of Monmouth informs us, that Uther Pendragon fell in love with Igerne, or Iogerne, the wife of Gorlois prince of Cornwall. In the absence of Gorlois, Merlin, by his magic, transform'd Uther into the likeness of Gorlois, and one Ulfin into the likeness of Jordan, a familiar friend of Gorlois, him∣self assuming the figure of one Bricel; by means of

which artifice, Uther enjoy'd Iogerne, and begot king Arthur.† 1.42 Spenser, in his Epistle to Sir W. Raleigh, calls Iogerne, or Igerne, the Lady IGRAYNE.

B. iii. C. iii. S. liii. Bardes tell of many women valorous Which have full many feates adventurous Perform'd in paragone of proudest men: The bold Bonduca, whose victorious Exploits made Rome to quake, stout Guendolen, Renowned Martia, and redoubted Emmelen.

Glauce, with the greatest propriety, is here made to allude to the bards, whose * 1.43 business it was to sing to the harp the warlike atchievements of their countrymen, and who flourished in high perfection, at the time in which our author has suppos'd the events of the FAERIE QUEENE to have fallen out. They are in∣troduc'd, with no less consistency, playing upon their harps in the hall of the House of PRIDE.

—Many bards that to the trembling chord Can tune their timely voices cunningly. 1. 5. 3.

The bards were usually employ'd upon such public occasions, in bower or hall, as Milton terms it.

B. iii. C. v. S. xxxii. There whether it divine Tobacco were, Or Panacea, or Polygony.

Tobacco was, at this time, but newly discover'd to the English, and not an ordinary herb, as it is at pre∣sent. Probably Tobacco is here mention'd, with so much honour, by way of paying a compliment to Sir Walter Raleigh, our author's friend and patron, who first introduc'd and us'd Tobacco in England.

B. iii. C. vii. S. vi. There in a gloomy hollowe glen she found A little cottage built of stickes and reedes, In homely wise, and wall'd with sods around, In which a witch did dwell, in loathely weedes, And wilfull want, all carelesse of her needes.

Witches were thought really to exist in the age of Queen Elizabeth, and our author had, probably, been struck with seeing such a cottage as this, in which a witch was suppos'd to live. Those who have perus'd Mr. Blackwall's Enquiry into the life and writings of Homer, will be best qualified to judge how much better enabled that poet is to describe, who copies from living objects, than he who describes, in a later age, from tradition.

B. iii. C. vii. S. ix. Wiping the tears from her SUFFUSED eyes.

So Virgil,

Tristior, atque oculos lacrymis SUFFUSA nitentes.* 1.44

B. iii. C. vii. S. lii. Her well beseemes that QUEST.—

QUEST is a term properly belonging to Romance, importing the expedition in which the knight is en∣gag'd, and which he is oblig'd to perform. It is a very common word with Spenser.

B. iii. C. viii. S. xxxix.

Sometimes he boasted, that a God he hight But she a mortal creature loved best; Then he would make himself a mortal wight, But then she said she lov'd none but a Faerie knight.

xl.

Then like a Faerie knight himself he drest.

The use which the poet here makes of Proteus's power of changing his shape, is artful enough.

B. iii. C. x. S. viii. —Ballads, * 1.45 VIRELAYES, and verses vaine.

Virelayes are often mention'd by Chaucer, and our old poets. G. Gascoigne, in his Defence of rhyme, gives

this account of Virelayes.

"There is an old kinde of rhyme called VERLAYES, deriv'd, as I have redde, of the worde verde which betokeneth greene, and laye which betokeneth a song, as if you would say GREENE SONGES. But I must tell you by the way, that I never redde any verse which I saw by autho∣ritie called VERLAY, but one; and that was a long discourse in verses of tenne sillabeles, whereof the four first did rhyme across; and the fyfth did an∣swere to the fyrst and thyrde, breaking off there, and so going on to another termination. Of this I could shew example of imitation, in myne owne verses written to the right honourable the Lorde Grey of Wilton."

E. G.

A strange conceit, a vaine of new delight Twixt weale and woe, 'twixt weale and bitter griefe, Hath pricked foorth my hastie pen to write This worthlesse verse, in hazard of reproofe, And to mine alder-lievest Lord I must indice.

B. iii. C. x. S. xii. As Hellene when she sawe aloft appeare The Trojane flames, and reach to heavens hight, Did clap her hands, and joyed at that dolefull sight.

Virgil tells us, that Helen, while Troy was burning, hid herself for fear.

Illa sibi infestos eversa ob Pergama Teucros, Et paenas Danaum, & deserti conjugis iras Permetuens, Trojae & patriae communis erynnis, Abdiderat sese, atque aris invisa sedebat.* 1.46

Spenser's lines put me in mind of a thought in one of Daniel's sonnets, which seems to be copied by Waller.

Who whilst I burne she sings at my soules wracke Looking aloft from turret of her pride; There my soules tyrant joyes her in the sacke Of her owne seat.—† 1.47

Daniel here alludes to a circumstance related of Nero; and Waller seems to have imitated Daniel's applica∣tion of it.

Thus Nero with his harp in hand survey'd His burning Rome, and as it burnt he play'd.* 1.48

B. iii. C. x. S. xxxv. For having filcht her bells, her up he cast To the wide world, and let her fly alone.

Here is a metaphor taken from hawking; a diver∣sion highly fashionable in our author's age, to which he frequently alludes, and from whence he has drawn a very great number of comparisons. The hawk's bells are mention'd afterwards,

Like as an hawke, that feeling herself freed From bells and jesses, which did let her flight. 6. 4. 19.

B. iii. C. xii. S. xli. He bound that piteous lady prisoner now releast.

Mr. Jortin observes, that Spenser (to the best of his knowledge) never uses verses of six feet, except in the last line of the stanza, and in this place. But he had forgot these instances,

But whilst his stony heart was toucht with tender truth. 4. 12. 13.

Again,

Sad death revived with her sweet inspection. 4. 12. 34.

We meet with an Alexandrine in the Samson Ago∣nistes, which I believe was not left so by the author.

But I God's counsel have not kept, his holy secret Presumptuously have publish'd, &c.* 1.49

The preceding line is,

The mark of fool set on his front?

Perhaps we should read,

The mark of fool set on his front? but I God's counsel have not kept, his holy secret Presumptuously have publish'd, &c.

B. iv. C. ii. S. ii. Such musick is wise words with time CONCENTED.

CONCENTED, from the substantive concent, which we meet in our author.

All which together sung full chearfully A lay of loves delight with sweet CONCENT. 3. 12. 5.

And in Virgil's Gnat,

But the small birds in their wide boughs embowring Chaunted their sundry tunes with sweet CONCENT.

Probably in the Epithalamion, where Spenser is speaking of many birds singing together,

So goodly all agree with sweet consent,

Instead of consent, we should read CONCENT. Milton uses the word in his poem, at a solemn music,

That undisturbed song of pure CONCENT Aye sung before the sapphire-colourd throne.

As it has been restor'd instead of content, upon the best authority, by Dr. Newton, in his late very use∣ful edition of Milton's poetical works.

B. iv. C. iii. S. i.

Speaking of mankind,

That every howre they knocke at deathes gate.

This recalls to my memory a beautiful image of Sackvill, in his INDUCTION to THE MIRROR OF MA∣GISTRATES concerning the figure of OLD AGE.

His witherd fist still knocking at death's dore.

which perhaps is not more expressive than Chaucer's representation of ELDE, or old age. After telling us that Distress, Sickness, &c. always abide in her court, and are her senators, he adds,

The day and night her to torment With cruell death they her present; And tellen her erlich and late, That deth stondeth armed at her gate.

Death's door was a common phrase, and occurs in our translation of the psalms.

"They were even hard at death's door."† 1.50

B. iv. C. iii. S. iii. These warlike champions all in armour-SHINE.

SHINE is likewise us'd as a substantive in Harring∣ton's Ariosto,

—The SHINE of armour bright.* 1.51

And in our translation of the psalms,

"His lighten∣ings gave SHINE unto the world."† 1.52

B. iv. C. iv. S. xii. Against the turneiment which is not long.

The same mode of speaking occurrs in the verse which is the burden of the song in the Prothalamion.

Against the bridale day which is not long.

i. e.

"Approaching, near at hand."

B. iv. C. viii. S. xxix. More hard for hungry steed t' abstaine from pleasant lare.

LARE is a Saxon word for bed. It is us'd by Milton.

—Out of the ground uprose As from his LAIR the wild beast where he wons In forest wild, in thicket, &c.* 1.53

Yet it here seems to be us'd for pasture or grass; in which however a bed may be made. So again be∣low, S. 51.

This giant's sonne that lies there on the laire An headlesse heap.—

i. e. (I suppose) lies there on the grass,

B. iv. C. ix. Arg. The SQUIRE OF LOWE DEGREE releast Paeana takes to wife.

The squire of lo degree, is the title of an old ro∣mance, mention'd together with Sir Huon of Bor∣deaux; which, as we remark'd before, is spoken of among a catalogue of antient books, in the letter concerning Q. Elizabeth's entertainment at Kenel∣worth.

B. vi. C. ix. S. viii. —Him compeld To open unto him the prison dore, And forth to bring those thrals that there he held; Thence forth to him were brought about a score, Of knights and squires, &c. All which he did from bitter bondage free.

The releasing of the prisoners is a ceremony con∣stantly practised in romance, after the knight has kill'd the giant, and taken possession of his castle.

B. iv. C. x. Arg. Scudamore doth his conquest tell Of vertuous Amoret.

Scudamore is a name deriv'd from Scudo, a shield, and Amore, Love, Ital. because in this Canto, S. 10. he wins the SHIELD OF LOVE.

B. iv. C. x. S. xxxv. Else would the waters overflow the lands And fire devoure the ayre, and hell them quight.

I suppose he means

"Else the waters would overflow the lands, and fire devoure the air, and hell would

entirely devoure both waters and lands."

But this is a most confused construction.

B. iv. C. x. S. xxi. —All that nature, by her mother-wit Could frame, &c.

Dryden has adopted the expression MOTHER-WIT from our author, in his Ode on Caecilia's day,

With nature's MOTHER-WIT, and arts unknown before.

I think it occurrs likewise in Donne.

B. iv. C. x. S. l. And next to her sate goodly SHAMEFASTNESS.

Shamefastness, if I remember right, is introduc'd as a person in Lidgate's story of Thebes.

B. vi C. xi. S. xxxviii. And after them the fatal Welland went, That if old sawes prove true (which God forbid) Shall drowne all Holland with his excrement, And shall see Stamford, tho' now homely hid, Then shine in learning, more than ever did Cambridge or Oxford, England's goodly beames.

Holland (says Selden, in his notes on Drayton's Polyolb. S. 8.) is the maritime part of Lincolnshire, where the river Welland flows. By the old Sawes the poet hints at a prophesy of Merlin,

Doctrinae studium quod nunc viget ad VADA BOUM, Ante finem saecli, celebrabitur ad VADA SAXI.

VADA BOUM, i. e. Oxenford or Oxford; VADA SAXI, i. e. Staneford, or Stamford.

B. iv. C. x. S. xxxii. And Mole that like a nousling mole doth make His way—

So, in Colin Clouts come home again,

In which like Moldwarps, nousling still they lurk.

B. iv. C. xii. S. xvii. In this sad plight he walked here and there, And romed round about the rocke in vaine, As he had lost himself, he wist not where; Oft listening if he mote her hear againe, And still bemoaning his unworthy paine; Like as an hynde whose calfe is falne unawares Into some pit, where she him heares complaine, An hundred times about the pit-side fares Right sorrowfully mourning her beareaved cares.

This comparison has great propriety. There is one not much unlike it in Lucretius.

At mater virides saltus orbata peragrans, Linquit humi pedibus vestigia pressa bisulcis, Omnia convisens late loca; si queat unquam Conspicere amissum faetum: completque querelis

Frondiferum nemus adsistens, & crebra revisit Ad stabulum, desiderio perfixa juvenci.* 1.54

The circumstance of the calf fallen into the pit, from whence the mother can only hear him complain, finely heightens this parental distress, and that of her walking round the pit so often, I think exceeds the crebra revisit ad stabulum; and it may be observ'd, upon the whole, that the tenderness of Spenser's tem∣per remarkably betrays itself on this occasion.

B. v. C. i. S. ix.

Chrysaor is the name of Sir Arthegall's sword. Swords are often nam'd in Romance; and in Arios∣to's Orlando Furioso; as, Orlando's Durindana, Renaldo's Fusberta, Rogero's Balisarda, &c.

B. v. C. i. S. xv. That I mote drinke the cup whereof she dranke.

That is,

"That I might suffer what she did."

These words seem to be a very improper imitation of a pas∣sage in the New Testament, which every serious reader cannot but remember with the greatest reverence.

B. v. C. ii. S. xxvii. The which her sire had scrapt by HOOKE AND CROOKE.

So again,

In hopes her to attaine BY HOOKE OR CROOKE. 3. 1. 17.

The proverb of getting any thing by hooke or by crooke is said to have arisen in the time of Charles I. when there were two learned Judges, nam'd HOOKE and CROOKE; and a difficult cause was to be gotten ei∣ther by HOOKE or by CROOKE. But here is a proof that this proverb is much older than that time.

B. v. C. iii. S. xxiv, xxv.

When the false Florimel is plac'd by the side of the true Florimel, the former vanishes into nothing; and as suddenly, says the poet, as all the glorious colours of the rain-bow fade and perish. With regard to the circumstance of the sudden evanescence in each, the comparison is just and elegant: but if we consider, that a rainbow exists by the presence of the sun, the similitude by no means is made out: however, it is the former of these circumstances only which the poet insists upon, so that a partial correspondence only is expected.

B. v. C. iii. S. xxxiv.

Of Brigadore,

—And louted low on knee.

This is related of Alexander's horse Bucephalus.

B. v. C. iv. S. xlii.

Of an Eagle,

To weather his broad sayles—

Sails are often us'd by our author for wings, and af∣ter him by Milton. And by Fletcher,

So up he rose upon his stretched sailes.* 1.55

Again, by our author,

His flaggy wings when forth he did display, Were like two sailes.— 1. 11. 10.

Thus Bayardo, in Ariosto, fights with a monstrous bird, whose wings are like two fails.

L'Ale havea grandé che parean DUO VELE.† 1.56

Her wings so huge, they seemed like a saile. Harrington.

B. v. C. v. S. iii. And on her shoulder hung her shield bedeckt, Upon the bosse, with stones that shined wide, As the faire moon in her most full aspect.

Satan's shield is compar'd to the moon.* 1.57 But to the moon as seen through a telescope.

B. v. C. v. S. xi.

—Her sunshiny helmet soone unlaced, Thinking, at once, both head and helmet to have raced.

xii.

But when as he discovered had her face, He saw his senses strange astonishment, &c.

This is such a picture as Propertius gives us,

Ausa ferox ab equo quondam oppugnare sagittis Maeotis Danaum Penthesilea rates;

Aurea cui postquam nudavit cassida frontem, Vicit victorem candida forma virum.† 1.58

B. v. C. viii. S. xxxvii.

At last from his victorious shield he drew The veile, &c.— And coming full before his horse's view, As they upon him prest, it plain to them did shew.

xxxviii.

********** So did the sight thereof their sense dismay, That backe againe upon themselves they turned.

The Aegis is represented with the same effect on horses, in Val. Flaccus.

Aegida tum primùm virgo, spiramque Medusae Tercentum saevis squallentem sustulit hydris; Quam soli vidistis EQUI; pavor occupat ingens, Excussis in terga viris.—* 1.59

B. v. C. viii. S. xliii. Like as the cursed son of Theseus, That * * * * * * * Of his owne steeds was all to pieces torne.

Why does he call Hippolitus cursed? Neither was Hippolitus torn in pieces by his own horses, but by a monster sent by Neptune, as Euripides relates, Hipp. Cor. 1220. and other authors. In this account of the

death of Hippolitus, he greatly varies from himself, 1. 5. 37, & seq.

B. v. C. ix. S. xxiii. The marshall of the hall to them did come, His name hight ORDER.—

Here Spenser paints from the manners of his own age. In his age the custom of a

—Feast Serv'd up in hall with sewrs and seneshalls

was not entirely dropt. one of the officers at these solemnities was styl'd the marshall of the hall: An office which Chaucer tells us, his host at the tabard was very well qualified for.

A semely man our hoste was withal To ben a MARSHALL IN A LORDIS HALL.* 1.60

As the guests at these pompous and public festivals were very numerous, and of various conditions, I suppose the business of this office, was to place every one according to his rank, and to keep peace and order.

B. v. C. ix. S. xxix. Whilst KINGS and KESARS at her feet did them prostrate.

Spenser frequently uses the expression Kings and Kesars.

—The captive hearts Of KINGS and KESARS.— 4. 7. 1.

This is the state of KESARS and of KINGS. 6. 3. 5.

Mighty KINGS and KESARS into thraldom brought. 3. 11. 29.

Ne KESAR spared he awhit nor KINGS. 6. 12. 28.

It is a very antient form of speaking, and is found in the Visions of Pierce Plowman.

Death came driving after, and all to dust pashed KYNGES and KAYSERS, knights and popes.† 1.61

It was not unfamiliar in B. Johnson's time; thus,

Tu. I charge you in the queen's name keep the peace. Hil. Tell me o' no QUEENE or KEYSAR.** 1.62

It occurrs likewise in Harrington's Ariosto.

For myters, states, nor crownes may not exclude Popes, mightie KYNGS, nor KEYSARS from the same,†† 1.63

B. v. C. ix. S. xxxv.

The horses of the sun,

Towards the western BRIM begin to draw.

BRIM is often us'd for margin or bank of a stream by

our author, and the old poets. Also by Milton in Comus,

By dimpled brook, and fountain-BRIM.* 1.64

FOUNTAIN-brim seems to have been a common pression. It is us'd by Drayton,

—Sporting with Hebe by a fountain-BRIM.† 1.65

And in Warner's Albion's England,

As this same fond selfe-pleasing youth stood at a FOUNTAYNE-BRIM.** 1.66

We have ocean-BRIM in the Paradise-lost,

With wheels yet hovering o'er the OCEAN-BRIM.†† 1.67

B. v. C. x. S. xxix. And for more horror, and more crueltie, Under that cursed idols altar-stone, An hideous monster doth in darkness lie, Whose dreadfull shape was never seen of none That lives on earth.—

We are apt to conceive something very wonderful of those mysterious things which are thus said to be unknown to us, and to be out of the reach and com∣pass of man's knowledge and apprehension. Thus a cave is said to be,

A dreadfull depth, how deepe no man can tell, 5. 9. 6.

If the poet had limited the depth of this cave to a very great, but to a certain number of fathom, the imagi∣nation

could still have suppos'd and added more; but now as no determinate measure of its depth is assign'd, our imagination is left at liberty to exert its utmost arbitrary stretch, to add fathom to fathom, and depth to depth, till it is lost in it's own attempt to grasp the idea of that which is unbounded or infinite.

B. v. C. x. S. xxxiii. —His corse, Which tumbling downe upon the SENSELESSE ground.

It should rather be

"tumbling SENSELESSE downe."

We have the same metathetical form again,

But as he lay upon the humbled grass. 6. 7. 26.

Where humbled should be made to agree with he ra∣ther than with grass.

B. v. C. xi. S. v. The whilst at him so dreadfully did drive That seem'd a marble rocke asunder could have rive.

Spenser undoubtedly wrote,

The whilst at him so dreadfully he did drive.

The y in dreadfully being slur'd, or cut off. So.

Saint George of merry' England the signe of victory. 1. 10. 61.

There are many other instances of the Caesura of this letter, in our author, as likewise in Milton. In the following verse e in idle is sunk.

What idle' errand hast thou earth's mansions to for∣sake? 6. 6. 25.

In this verse,

That seem'd a marble rock asunder could have RIVE.

there is an ellipsis of IT before seem'd, and of HE be∣fore could; and rive should have been RIV'D, unless he wrote it rive for RIVEN.

B. vi. Introduct. S. iv. —To please the eye of them that pass Which see not perfect things, but in a glass.

St. Paul to the Corinthians,* 1.68

"For now we see through a glass; darkly."

B. vi. C. ii. S. iv. —Ah sory boy Is this the hope that to my hoary heare Thou bringst? aye me is this the timely joy Which I expected long? now turn'd to sad annoy!

Aladine is brought home dead upon a bier to his father Aldus, who bursts out into these exclamations over his son's body; In like manner Evander mourns over his son Pallas,

—Feretro Pallanta repostum.† 1.69

But these exclamations are somewhat similar to those which Aeneas in the same book utters over Pallas,

Hi nostri reditus, expectatique triumphi, Haec mea magna fides, &c.** 1.70

B. vi. C. iii. S. xxviii. —With carefull hands Did her sustaine, softing foot her beside.

Softing-foot is a typographical blunder which, I think, runs through all the editions for SOFT-FOOTING; William Ponsonby's edition in quarto, 1596, not excepted.

B. vi. C. vi. S. iv. For whylome he had been a doughty knight.

That is the hermit had been, &c. Many of the her∣mits in romance are represented to have been very valorous knights in their youth. Hence it is that Don Quixote is introduced gravely debating with Sancho, whether he shall turn saint or archbishop.

B. vi. C. vii. S. i. —A vile dunghill mind.

So,

The dearest to his dunghill mind. 3. 10. 15.

So in an hymne of love,

His dunghill thoughts which do themselves enure To durtie drosse.—

And Chaucer,

Now fie churle (quoth the gentle Tercelet) Out of the dung-hill came that word aright.* 1.71

B. vi. C. viii. S. xxi. And sitting carelesse on the Scorner's stoole.

We meet with something like this in our old metrical version of the first psalm.

Nor sate in Scorners chair.

B. vi. C. x. S. vi. And in their tops the soaring hawke did towre, Sitting like king of fowles in majestie and powre.

This is said in honour of hawking, which (as I be∣fore hinted) was a very fashionable and courtly diver∣sion in Spenser's time. And for the same reason, and somewhat after the same manner, he particularizes the falcon, in the speech of the Genius of Verulam.

Where my high steeples whilome used to stand, On which the lordly falcon wont to towre.

B. vi. C. xii. S. xvii. A little maid the which ye CHILDED tho.

CHILDING is us'd in Chaucer for conceiving, viz.

Unknowing hym, CHYLDING by miracle.† 1.72

B. vi. C. xii. S. xxiii. &c.

His description of the Blatant Beast (under which is shadow'd scandal or calumny) attacking all ranks of life, and making havock in courts, monasteries, and cottages, is exactly like this passage in the Lin∣gua of Erasmus,

"Circumferat quisque oculos suos, per domos privatas, per collegia, per monasteria, per aulas principum, per civitates, per regna; & com∣pendio

discet, quantam ubique pestem ingerat LINGUA CALUMNIATRIX."* 1.73

B. vii. C. vii. S. x. That richer seems than any TAPESTRY That princes bowres adorne with painted imagery.

In the age of the poet, tapestry was the most fashionable furniture of halls and state-rooms; as it was when Milton wrote his Comus, who mentions tapestry as a circumstance of grandeur.

—Courtesie, Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds, With smoaky rafters, than in TAP'STRY HALLS And courts of princes.—

As the general fashion of furnishing halls, &c. is at present entirely different from this, the reader passes over the expression, TAPESTRY-HALLS, without feel∣ing any idea convey'd to him by it, because the ob∣ject from whence it is drawn, does not at present exist: and we may observe, from this passage, how much of their force and propriety both expressions and descriptions must necessarily lose, when the ob∣jects, or customs, or manners, to which they allude, are out of use, and forgotten. There is another re∣ference to tapestry in Milton, which is equally un∣meaning to a modern reader,

Auditurque chelys SUSPENSA TAPETIA circum, Virgineos tremulâ quae regat arte pedes.† 1.74

B. vii. C. vii. S. xxxv. Like that ungracious crew which faines demurest grace.

He seems here to have intended a satirical stroke against the Puritans, who were a prevailing party in the age of Queen Elizabeth; and, indeed, our au∣thor, from his profession, had some reason to declare himself their enemy, as poetry was what they parti∣cularly stigmatiz'd, and bitterly inveigh'd against. In the year 1579, one Stephen Gosson wrote a pamphlet, with this title,

"The Schoole of Abuse, containing a pleasaunt invective against poets, pipers, plaiers, jesters, and such-like caterpillers of a common∣wealth."

This was soon follow'd by many others of the same kind.

But the most ridiculous treatise of this sort was that written many years afterwards by W. Prynne; as a specimen of which, I shall beg leave to entertain the reader with its title-page.

"HISTRIOMASTIX, the Players Scourge, or Actors Tragedie, divided into two parts; wherein it is largely evidenced by divers arguments, by the concurring authorities, and resolutions of sundry texts of Scripture; of the whole primitive Church, both under the law and gospel; of fifty-five Synods and Councils, of seventy-one Fathers, and Christian writers, before the year of our Lord 1200; of above one hundred and fifty foraigne and domestic protestant and po∣pish authors since; of forty heathen philosophers, historians, poets; of many heathen, many christian

nations, republicks, emperors, princes, magistrates; of sundry apostolical, canonical, imperial constitu∣tions, and of our own English statutes, magistrates, universities, writers, preachers.—That popular stage-playes (the very pompes of the devil, which we renounce in baptisme, if we believe the Fathers) are sinfull, heathenish, lewd, ungodly spectacles, and most pernicious corruptions; condemned in all ages as intolerable mischiefes, to churches, to re∣publicks, the manners, mindes, and soules of men: and that the profession of play-poets, of stage-play∣ers, together with the penning, acting, and fre∣quenting of stage-playes, are unlawfull, infamous, and misbeseeming christians: all pretences to the contrary are here likewise fully answer'd; and the unlawfullness of acting, of beholding academical enterludes briefly discussed; besides sundry other particulars concerning dancing, dicing, health-drinking, &c. London, 1633.

This extravagant and absurd spirit of puritanical enthusiasm, proved at last, in its effects, as perni∣cious to polite learning, and the fine arts, as to the liberties and constitution of our country: while every species of elegance was represented, by these austere and melancholy zealots, as damnable luxury, and every degree of decent adoration, as popish idolatry. In short, it is not sufficiently consider'd, what a rapid and national progress we were, at that time, making in knowledge, and how sudden a stop was put to it, by the inundation of presbyterianism and ignorance; which circumstance alone, exclusive of its other at∣tendant

evils, gives us ample cause to detest the pro∣moters of that malignant (I wish I could add, un∣provok'd) rebellion, which no good man can remem∣ber without horror.

It may not, perhaps, be impertinent to remark here, that Milton, who was inclin'd to puritanism, had good reason to think, that the publication of his Samson Agonistes, would be very offensive to his brethren, who held poetry, and particularly that of the dramatic kind, in such abhorrence. And, upon this account, it is probable, that, in order to excuse him∣self for having engag'd in this proscrib'd and forbid∣den species of writing, he thought it expedient to pre∣fix to his play a formal DEFENCE OF TRAGEDY, in which he endeavours to prove, that some of the gravest writers did not scruple to illustrate their dis∣courses from the works of tragic poets, and that many of the wisest philosophers, and of the primitive fathers, were not asham'd to write Tragedies.

The subsequent remarks are thrown together with∣out order, which the reader is desir'd to look upon as a SUPPLEMENT to this concluding SECTION.

B. i. C. vi. S. xvi. Farre off he wonders what them makes so glad, Of Bacchus merry fruits they did INVENT, Or Cybel's frantic rights have made them mad.

Hughes reads, IF Bacchus', &c. but even then there is an obscurity. The meaning of the passage is this.

"He wonders what makes them so glad; he

doubts with himself, whether or no their mirth was not occasion'd by wine which they had disco∣ver'd, or whether or no they might not be driven to madness by Cybel's rites."

INVENT is here one of Spenser's latinisms for discover; as it is also in this verse,

Ay me, that ever guile in women was invented. 5. 11. 50.

That is, found out.

B. v. C. ix. S. xiii. Like as the fowler on his guilefull pipe, CHARMES to the birds full many a pleasant lay.

Charm is thus us'd again, as Mr. Jortin observes, in Colin Clouts come home again.

The shepheard's boy— Sate as his custom was— CHARMING his oaten pipe unto his peres.

It seems to be us'd somewhat in the same sense, St. 39. below.

That well could CHARME his tongue, and time his speach.

Again,

Here we our slender pipes may safely CHARME.† 1.75

B. v. C. vii. S. xxxiv. The wicked shaft guided thro' th' ayrie WIDE.

Ayrie WIDE seems to be us'd for ayrie VOID.

B. vii. C. vi. S. lv.

Speaking of Diana's departure from Ireland.

—parting from the place Thereon a heavy haplesse curse did lay, To weet, that wolves, where she was wont to space Should harbour'd be, and all those woods deface, And thieves should rob, and spoil that coast around; Since which those woods, and all that goodly chase, Doth to this day with wolves and thieves abound.

In Colin Clouts come home again, where he is praising England, he does it by an enumeration of some of the miseries of Ireland.

No wayling there, nor wretchednesse is heard, No bloudie issues, nor no leprosies; No griesly famine, nor no raging sweard: No nightly bodrags, nor no hues and cries, The shepherds there abroad may safely lie On hills and downes, withouten dread or danger: No ravenous wolves the good mans hope destroy, Nor outlawes fell affray the forrest ranger.

Space is a latinism, spatiari.

B. ii. C. xii. Arg. Doth overthrow the bowre of bliss.

Sir Guyon's temptation is, in great measure, made to consist in the gratifications of sense afforded by a delicious garden. This circumstance puts me in mind

of an instance related by Olaus Magnus,* 1.76 concerning the severity of manners among the antient Visigoths. This author informs us, that on the top of the moun∣tain Kindaberg, near the castle of the same name, there was a beautiful garden, the most delicious spot of ground in all the Northern climate. Into this gar∣den none but old men were permitted to enter. The admission of young men to a survey of so delightfull a scene, it was fear'd, might prove too great a relaxa∣tion from their unintermitted daily discipline, and make such impressions on their susceptible disposi∣tions, as might be the beginnings of an effeminate and luxurious life.

B. vi. C. vi. S. xx. To whom the prince, HIM faining to embase.

HIM for HIMSELF is the language of poetry at pre∣sent. The elder poets took greater liberties in this point, so that sometimes it is difficult to determine whether HIM is us'd for se or illum. Of this the verse before us is an instance.

Thus again,

Scudamore coming to CARE's house Doth sleep from HIM expell. 4. 5. Arg.

That is,

"expells sleep from HIMSELF."

Thus in Sydney's VISION upon the conceit of the FAERIE QUEENE, the most elegant of his works.

At whose approache the soule of Petrarcke wept, And from thenceforth those graces were not seen, For they this queene attended; in whose stead OBLIVION laid HIM down on Lauras' herse.

We are apt, at first, to refer HIM down, &c. to Petarcke,

"OBLIVION laid PETRARKE down,"

While the meaning is,

"OBLIVION LAID HIMSELF DOWNE, &c."

The initial line of this sonnet seems to have been thought of by Milton, viz.

Methought I sawe the grave where Laura lay,

Thus Milton on his Deceased wife.* 1.77

Methought I saw my late-espoused saint.

And he probably took the hint of writing a visionary sonnet on that occasion, from this of Sydney.

B. vi. C. iv. S. xix. His target allwaies over her pretended.

PRETENDED,

"stretch'd or held over her."

This latinism is to be found in Milton, but in a sense some∣what different.

—Lest that too heavenly form PRETENDED To hellish falshood, snare them.—† 1.78

B. iii. C. ii. S. xxxii. The time that mortall men their weary cares Do lay away, and all wilde beasts do rest, And every river eke his course forbeares, Then doth this wicked evill thee infest.

These verses which, at first sight, seem to be drawn rom Dido's * 1.79 night in the fourth Aeneid, are translated from the Ceiris attributed to Virgil, as it has been be∣fore in general hinted, Sect. 3.

Tempore quo fessas mortalia pectora curas, Quo rapidos etiam requiescunt flumina cursus.232.

B. iv C. vi. S. xliv. With that the wicked Carle, the master smith, A paire of red-hot iron tongs did take, Out of the burning cinders, and therewith Under the side him nipt.—

In these verses the allegory is work'd up to an amazing height. What he says of Erinnys in the RUINS of ROME, is somewhat in this strain,

What fell Erinnys with hot-burning tongs, Did gripe your hearts?— St. 24.

From the same stanza Milton probably drew the expression BLIND FURY, in Lycidas; as it was not taken from the authority of antient mythology.

Comes the BLIND FURY, with th' abhorred shears And slits the thin-spun life.—

Spenser,

If the BLIND Furie, which warres breedeth oft, Wonts not, &c.

B. v. C. vii. S. 21. Magnificke virgin, that in QUEINT DISGUISE Of British armes.—

That is,

"in strange disguise."

In this sense the word QUEINT is us'd in COMUS.

—Lest the place, And this QUEINT habit breed astonishment.

Somewhat in this signification it is likewise applied by the shepherd Cuddy, in our author's OCTOBER.

With QUEINT Bellona.—

Where E. K. in explaining it, has discover'd more learning than penetration. Skinner seems to have wrongly interpreted QUAINT, elegans. If it ever signifies elegant or beautifull, it implies a fantastic kind of beauty arising from an odd variety. Thus Milton in LYCIDAS, of flowers.

Throw hither all your QUEINT enamel'd eyes.

And in ARCADES; where it expresses an elegance re∣sulting from affectation rather than nature.

—And CURL the grove In ringlets QUAINT.—

Where Milton copies Johnson, in a MASKE at Wel∣beck, 1633.

When was old Sherwoods head more QUEINTLY CURLD?

The same poet has likewise drawn one or two more strokes in the ARCADES, from a mask of Johnson. In song 1. he thus breaks forth,

This, this is she To whom our vows, and wishes, &c.

So Johnson in an Entertainment at Althrope, 1603.

This is shee, This is shee.

Milton in Song 3. pays this compliment to the countess of Derby,

Tho' Syrinx your Pan's mistress were, Yet Syrinx well might wait on her.

Thus Johnson in the same Entertainment.

And the dame has Syrinx' grace.

These little traits of likeness just lead us to con∣clude, that Milton before he sate down to write his ARCADES, had recourse to Johnson (who was the most eminent masque-writer then extant) for the form and manner proper to this species of composition, and that in the course of writing it, he naturally fell upon some of Johnson's expressions.

B. vi. C. ix. S. xxix.

In vaine, said then old Melibee, doe men The heavens of their fortunes fault accuse, Sith they know best, what is the best for them; For they to each such fortune doe diffuse,

As they do know each can most aptly use. For not that which men covet most is best, Nor that thing worst which men do most refuse: But fittest is, that all-contended rest With that they hold: each has his fortune in his breast.

xxx.

It is the mind that maketh good or ill.

In these lines he plainly seems to have had his eye on those exalted * 1.80 Socratic sentiments, which Juvenal has given us in the close of his tenth satire. The last-cited lines, in particular, point out to us the sense in which Spenser understood the two last controverted verses of that satire.

Nullum numen [abest] habes, si sit prudentia; sed TE NOS FACIMUS FORTUNA DEAM, caeloque locamus.

B. iv. C. viii. S. xxxvii. With easy steps so soft as foot could STRIDE.

Probably we should read slide for STRIDE; though STRIDE occurs in the old quarto.

B. ii. C. iii. S. iv. —his BRAND.

Concerning the word BRAND for sword, take the following explication of Hickes.

"In the second

part of the EDDA Islandica, among other appella∣tions, a sword is denominated BRAND; and glad or glod, that is, titio, torris, pruna ignita; and the hall of the Odin is said to be illuminated by drawn swords only. A writer of no less learning than penetration, N. Salanus Westmannus, in his Disser∣tation, entitled, GLADIUS SCYTHICUS, pag. 6, 7. observes, that the antients formed their swords in imitation of a flaming fire; and thus, from BRAND a sword, came our English phrase, to brandish a sword, gladium strictum vibrando coruscare facere."* 1.81

B. i. C. ii. S. iv.

He is speaking of the witch Duessa.

Till on a day, (that day is every prime, When witches wont do penance for their crime) I chaunct to see her in her proper hew, Bathing herself in origane and thyme, A filthy foule old woman, &c.

The penance here mention'd, I suppose, our author drew from tradition, or romance. From one of these sources, Milton seems to have deriv'd, and applied his annual penance of the devils.

—Thus were they plagu'd, And worn with famin, long and ceaseless hiss, Till their lost shape, permitted, they resum'd; Yearly injoyn'd, they say, to undergo This ANNUAL HUMBLING certain number'd days.† 1.82

B. iii. C. i. S. xxxv. To crowne his golden locks with honor dew.

Honor dew, frequently occurs in Spenser, from whom Milton, perhaps, adopted it in L'Allegro.

If I give thee HONOUR DUE.

It has been conjectur'd, that Milton took the hint, in some measure, for writing on MIRTH and ME∣LANCHOLY, from the Ode prefix'd to Burton's ME∣LANCHOLY. In support of this supposition I shall add, that Milton had certainly been consulting that treatise before he wrote his two poems, as this line in L'Allegro,

Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles,

occurs almost literally in Burton,* 1.83

With becks, and nods, and smiles again.

Before I close this series of Observations, I will hope for the reader's pardon once more, while I lengthen out this digression, in order to illustrate another passage in Milton.

Leviathan— * * * * Him haply slumbring on the Norway foam The pilot of some small night-founder'd skiff, Deeming some iland, oft, as sea-men tell, With fixed anchor in his scaly rind Moors in his side, under the lee, &c.† 1.84

On the words, as Sea-men tell, says Hume,

"Words well added to obviate the incredibility of casting anchor in this manner."

It is likely that Milton never heard this improba∣ble circumstance, of mistaking the Whale for an Iland, from the sea-men, but that he drew it from that pas∣sage in his favorite Ariosto, where Astolpho, Dudon, and Renaldo are said to have seen so large a Whale in the sea, near Aclyna's castle, that they took it for an island.

Veggiamo una Balena: la maggiore, Che mai per tutto il mar veduta fosse: Undeci passi, e piu dimostra fuore Di l' onde salse le spallaccie grosse. Caschiamo tutti insieme in uno errore: Parch'era ferma, e che mai non si scosse: CH' ELLA SIA UNA ISOLETTA CI CREDEMO, Cosi distante ha l' un à l' altro estremo.* 1.85

Among the rest that were too long to count, We saw the fish that men Balaena call; Twelve yards above the water did amount His mighty backe, the monster is so tall: And (for it stood so still) we made account It had been land, but were deceived all, We were deceiv'd, well I may rew the while, It was so huge, we thought it was an ile. Harrington.

Afterwards † 1.86 Astolpho, persisting in his mistake, ventures upon the back of the Whale, with Alcyna, and is carried out many miles into the sea.

Milton's imagination, possest with these extravagan∣cies (for he was a great reader of Ariosto) was easily dispos'd to give us this romantic fiction of his Levia∣than, the absurdity of which he has prudently enough tranferr'd to sea-men, who deal in idle reports.

He has given us somewhat of a similar idea in ano∣ther place.

—there Leviathan, Hugest of living creatures, on the deep Stretch'd like a promontory, sleeps, or swims And seems a moving land.—* 1.87

B. vii. C. vii. S. xvii. I do possesse the worlds most REGIMENT.

Spenser very frequently makes use of REGIMENT for Rule, GOVERNMENT, DISTRICT, &c.

Gainst tortious powre, and lawlesse REGIMENT. 5. 8. 30.

So when he had resign'd his REGIMENT. 2. 10. 30.

When the full time, prefixt by destinie, Shall be expir'd of Britons REGIMENT. 3. 3. 39.

Then loyall love had royall REGIMENT. 4. 8. 30.

—Strive

With saturnes sonne for heavens REGIMENT. 7. 6. 2.

In the following instance it is us'd for KINGDOM,

An auncient booke.— That of his lands first conquest did devise, And old division into REGIMENTS. 2. 9. 59.

B. iv. C. vi. S. xiv. Like as the lightning brond from riven skie, Thrown out by angry Jove in his vengeance, With dreadfull force falles on some steeple hie, Which battring, downe it on the church doth glaunce, And teareth all with terrible mischaunce.

Not many years before the FAERIE QUEENE was written, viz. 1561, the steeple of St. Paul's church was struck with lightening, by which means not only the steeple itself, but the entire roof of the church was consumed.* 1.88 The description in this simile was probably suggested to our author's imagination by this remarkable accident.

Notes

• * 1.1

  To my most dearely loved friend, Henry Reinolds, of poets and poesie.
• * 1.2

  Psal. 19. 5.
• * 1.3

  Aen. 12. v. 940.
• † 1.4

  Prol. 157.
• * 1.5

  Black Kn. 129.
• † 1.6

  Speght's edit. fol. 234.
• * 1.7

  32. 93.
• † 1.8

  Act. 1. S. 2.
• (†) 1.9

  IL. PENS.
• * 1.10

  Sect. ii.
• † 1.11

  Psal. 51. v. 14.
• * 1.12

  Psal. 39. v. 12.
• * 1.13

  V. 264.
• † 1.14

  Par. Lost, 11. 829.
• * 1.15

  Ibid. 749.
• † 1.16

  Aen. 12. 925.
• * 1.17

  Lyricor. B. 4. Od. 27.
• ‡ 1.18

  March. Tale. 1719.
• * 1.19

  V. 206.
• † 1.20

  4. 1054.
• (†) 1.21

  1. 21.
• † 1.22

  B. 2. St. 35.
• * 1.23

  Par. Lost, 3. 636.
• ‡ 1.24

  Ibid. 5. 276,
• ** 1.25

  C. 1. S. 13.
• * 1.26

  Aen. 11. v. 610.
• † 1.27

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. B. 3. 1364.
• * 1.28

  Remarks, pag. 77.
• * 1.29

  Elect. v. 518.
• † 1.30

  Od. 1. v. 1.
• * 1.31

  Instit. Orat. l. 1. c. 8.
• * 1.32

  Epig. 92.
• †† 1.33

  St. 6.
• † 1.34

  19. 53.
• (*) 1.35

  43. 148.
• (†) 1.36

  Rom. R. v. 115.
• * 1.37

  Cuckow and Night. v. 63.
• † 1.38

  Ass. L. 526.
• (*) 1.39

  Par. Lost, 7. 579.
• (†) 1.40

  Act. 4. v. 296.
• * 1.41

  Epitaph. Damonis, 166.
• † 1.42

  B. 8. c. 19.
• * 1.43

  Leland de Script. Brit. cap. 2.
• * 1.44

  Aen. 1. v. 228.
• * 1.45

  As the name of G. GASCOINE has been frequently mention'd in the course of this work, it may not be, perhaps, improper to give the reader some further knowledge of him. His works were print∣ed An. 1576, with this title,

  "A hundreth sundrie flowres, bounde up in one small poesie; gather'd, partly by translation, in the fyne and outlandish gardens of Euripides, Ovid, Petrarke, Ariosto, and others; and partely by invention, out of our own fruitefull orchardes in Englande; yielding sundrie sweet savours of tragi∣call, comicall, and morall discourses, both pleasaunt and profita∣ble to the well-smellyng noses of learned readers."

  This was follow'd by another edition, An. 1587. This author was well esteem'd by his cotemporary writers, as appears by their testimo∣nies of him; and it must be confess'd, that he has much exceeded all the poets of his age, in smoothness and harmony of versification. Would it not extend this note too far, as a specimen of his talent for love-verses, I would produce his Ode,

  "In praise of Lady Bridges, now Ladie Sandes, on a scar on her forehead,"

  in which the reader would be surpriz'd to discover a delicacy, rarely, if ever, to be found in that early state of our poetry.

  But the reader will, probably, be still more entertain'd with some passages in JOCASTA, a Tragedie, (before mention'd) written ten years before the Poem just quoted, and acted at Gray's Inn, 1566, in which he will not only perceive the strength and harmony, but likewise the poetical spirit of Spenser, who did not publish any one of his pieces till fourteen years afterwards. The story is taken, and in some measure translated, from the PHOENISSAE of Euripides; it is written in blank verse, with chorusses (none of which are copied from those in the PHOENISSAE); and before each Act, according to the practice of that age, the Dumb Shew is introduc'd. In Act 2. 2. combat is likely to ensue, between Eteocles and Polynices; on which occasion the Chorus, consisting of four Theban dames, sing an Ode, which thus begins.

  O fierce and furious God! whose harmefull harte Rejoyceth most to shed the giltlesse blood; Whose headie will doth all the world subvert, And doth envy the pleasaunt merry moode Of our estate, that erst in quiet stoode; Why dost thou thus our harmelesse towne annoy Which mightie Bacchus governed in joye?

  Father of warre and death! that dost remove With wrathfull wrecke from wofull mothers breast The trustie pledges of her tender love; So graunt the Gods, that for our finall rest, Dame Venus' pleasaunt lookes may charm thee best, Whereby when thou shall all amazed stand, The sword may fall out of thy trembling hand:

  And thou maist prove some other way full well The bloudie prowesse of thy mightie speare, Wherewith thou raisest from the depths of hell, The wrathfull sprites of all the furies there, Who, when they wake, doe wander everie where, And never rest to raunge about the coastes, T' enrich their pit with spoile of damned ghostes.

  And when thou hast our fields forsaken thus, Let cruell DISCORDE beare thee companie, Engirt with snakes, and serpents venemous, Ev'n she, that can with red vermilion dye The gladsome greene, that florish'd pleasantly, And make the greedie ground a drinking cup To sup the bloud of murder'd bodies up.

  Yet thou return, O joye, &c. &c.

  There are other passages equally striking, which it would be no less tedious than impertinent to transcribe.
• * 1.46

  Aen. 2. 571.
• † 1.47

  44.
• * 1.48

  On my L. Isabella playing on the lute.
• * 1.49

  V. 497.
• † 1.50

  Ps. 108. v. 18.
• * 1.51

  37. 15.
• † 1.52

  Ps. 97. v. 4.
• * 1.53

  Par. Lost, 7. 457.
• * 1.54

  2. 355.
• * 1.55

  Purple Island, C. 12. S. 59.
• † 1.56

  C. 33. S. 84.
• * 1.57

  Par. Lost, 287.
• † 1.58

  3. 10.
• * 1.59

  6. 396.
• * 1.60

  Prol. 753.
• † 1.61

  Passus 16.
• ** 1.62

  A tale of a tub. A. 2. S. 2.
• †† 1.63

  C. 44. S. 47.
• * 1.64

  V. 119.
• † 1.65

  Bar. W. 6. 36.
• ** 1.66

  B. 9. 46.
• †† 1.67

  5. 140.
• * 1.68

  1 Ep. 13. 12.
• † 1.69

  Aen. 11. 149.
• ** 1.70

  11. 54.
• * 1.71

  Ass. F.
• † 1.72

  Ball. Lady, v. 133.
• * 1.73

  Basiliae, apud Froben. 1526. pag. 220.
• † 1.74

  B. 1. El. 6.
• † 1.75

  October.
• * 1.76

  B. 3. C. 20.
• * 1.77

  Son. 23.
• † 1.78

  Par. Lost, 10. 872.
• * 1.79

  I cannot forbear taking this opportunity of checking the petu∣lance, and confuting the weakness of the redoubted Mr. Rymer's criticism on the NIGHT of MEDEA in Apollonius.

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. B. 3. V. 743.

  "Night drew her shade over the earth: The mariners contem∣plated from their ships Helice and Orion; the traveller and door∣keeper were drowsy; the sleeping mother forgott her dead chil∣dren; there was no barking of dogs heard through the city, nor any loud sound; and silence attended upon the black darkness.—But sweet sleep did not seize Medea."

  Upon the propriety of these images Mr. Rymer thus expatiates.

  "He would say that all the world is fast asleep but only Medea; and then his mariners, who are gazing from their ships on Helice and Orion, can serve but little for his purpose; unless they may be supposed to sleep with their eyes open. Neither dares he say that the porter and traveller are yet taking a nap, but only that they have a good mind to't. And after all, we find none but the good woman who had lost her child (and she indeed is fast) asleep, unless the dogs may likewise be supposed so, because they had left off barking. And these methinks were scarce worthy to be taken notice of in an heroic poem, except we may believe that in the old time, or that in Greek, they bark heroically."

  Our critic here unfortunately sets on upon a sup∣position absolutely false, viz. that

  "the poet is representing all the world as fast asleep,"

  so that every argument which he draws from this supposition must necessarily fall to the ground. Apol∣lonius ushers in his night-piece by telling us,

  "night cover'd the earth with her shade,"

  and afterwards selects such objects and circumstances the repose and tranquillity of which produce the most striking contrast to, and consequently most strongly exaggerate the distraction and inquietude of Medea. Hence he tells us that the mariner was contemplating with calm attention the constellations of Helice and Orion; or, that now it was the time, according to Virgil's translation,

  cum medio volvuntur sydera lapsu:

  or that it was a still, and consequently a silent night, that even the traveller and door-keeper (whom he singles out, as their employment implies watching and wakefullness) were now about to fall asleep; that even the mother (whom we might expect to find awake) had now forgot her dead babes in slumber; that the dogs had ceased barking thro' the city, a circumstance highly natural and picturesque of a still night; that every sound, &c. but, that amidst this situation of things Medea could not sleep. But what can we expect from a critic who confesses himself to be struck with this choice represen∣tation of the night in Dryden's conquest of Mexico?

  All things are husht, as Nature's self lay dead; The mountains seem to nod their drowsy head: The little birds in dreams their songs repeat, And sleeping flowers beneath the night-dew sweat. Ev'n Lust and Envy sleep.—

  These lines are no bad burlesque; but it is their misfortune, that they are written without the least intention of producing a smile. Nor are Mr. Rymer's sentiments upon them a worse specimen of burlesque criticism, which however are dictated with the most serious and unaffected gravity.

  In this description, four lines yield greater variety of matter, and more choice thoughts than twice the number of any other language. Here is something more fortunate than the boldest fancy has yet reached, and something more just, than the severest reason has ob∣served. Here are the flights of Statius and Marino temper'd with a more discerning judgment, and the judgment of Virgil and Tasso animated with a more sprightly wit. Nothing has been said so ex∣pressive and so home in any other language as the first verse in this description. The second is Statius improv'd.

  Et simulant fessos curvata cacumina somnos,

  Saith Statius, where simulant is a bold word in comparison of our English word seem, being of an active signification; and ca∣cumina may as well be taken for the tops of Trees, as the tops of Mountains, which doubtful meaning does not so well content the reader, as the certainty.

  In the third verse, 'tis not said that the birds sleep, but what is more new, and more poetical, their sleep is imply'd, by their dreams. Somewhat like to the fourth we have in Marino.

  —E languidetti i fiori Giaceano a l'herba genitrice in seno. Adonis, Cant. 20.

  Which is a pretty image, but has not so near a resemblance with truth, nor can so generally be apply'd to all flowers. Our author here dares not say directly that the flowers sleep, which might sound a little harsh, but slurs it over in the participle, as taken for granted, and affirms only that they sweat, which the night-dew makes very easie.

  In the last half-verse, we may see how far our author has out∣done Apollonius. 'Twas no such strange thing in the sorrowful woman when she had spent her tears, for sleep to close her eyes: but here we have the most raging and watchful passions lust and envy. And these too instead of the lustful and the envious, for the greater force and emphasis, in the abstract.

  Some may object, That the third verse does contradict the first. How can all things be hush'd, if birds in dreams repeat their songs? Is not this like the indiscretion of Marino? who says, That the winds and all things are husht, and the seas so fast asleep, that they snore. Cant. 20.

  It may be answer'd, That in this place 'tis not the poet that speaks, but another person; and that the poet here truly represents the nature of man, whose first thoughts break out in bold and more general terms, which by the second thoughts are more correct and limited. As if one should say, all things are silent, or asleep how∣ever; if there is any noise, 'tis still but the effect of sleep, as the dreams of birds, &c. This comparison might be much further im∣prov'd to our advantage, and more observations made, which are left to the readers ingenuity. Pref. to Aristot. POET.
• * 1.80

  SOCRATES, quasi quoddam terrestre oraculum, nihil ultra petendum a diis immortalibus arbitrabatur, quam ut bona tribuerent, quia ii demum scirent, quid unicuique esset utile, &c. VALERIUS MAX. l. 7. c. 2.

  See the second ALCIBIADES of Plato.
• * 1.81

  Ling. Vet. Sept. Thes, cap. 23. pag. 193.
• † 1.82

  Par. Lost, 10. 572.
• * 1.83

  Not in the poem prefix'd, but in the Book itself, pag. 487. edit. 1660.
• † 1.84

  Par. Lost, 1. 201.
• * 1.85

  C. 6. S. 37.
• † 1.86

  St. 41.
• * 1.87

  Par. Lost, 7. 413.
• * 1.88

  Stow's Survey of London, pag. 357. edit. 1633.