du

l'ouvrage du Dieu fevere; condamnoient, avec Tatien, le mariage, l'ufage des oeufs, du lait, de la chair, vin, qu'ils nommoient le fiel du Dieu des tenebres. They forbad the use of wine, which they called the gall of the God of Darkness.

That, O ye Heavens! defend, and turn away
From her, unto the mifcreant himself.

Virgil, Æn. II. 190.

Convertant!

quod Di prius omen in ipfum

Spenfer here, and in many other places, ufes Heaven and the Heavens, for God, and the Gods; as do all modern writers. Whether ancient authors have done fo, has been doubted. Vavaffor, in his Treatife De Vi et Ufu quorumdam verborum, fays he could find no other example but this of Statius, Silv. I. IV. 4.

Es Calo, Dis es, Germanice, cordi.

Sta

I can help the reader to a good many more. tius ufes the word fo perpetually. Theb. VI. 16.

-quibus Argos alumnis connexum calo.

Which is fomething like-genus qui ducis Olymp in Virgil, Æn. VI. 835. Theb. IX. 97.

Dis coram, et celo infpectante.

Theb,

Theb. I. 650.

favo tanta inclementia calo eft.

Where Barthius: "Cœlo. Superis cælum habitantibus. Frequens pofterioribus Græcis, Latinis, etiam optimi ævi, locutio. Papinius infra, II. 600.

toto necquicquam obfeffus Olympo.

boc eft, omnibus Numinibus. Omnes enim divos uno nomine Domus ipforum cenfebant. Petronius: Nemo cœlum putat, nemo jus jurandum fervat. Manilius, V. 18.

Araque divorum, cui votum folvit Olympus.
Hoc eft, quantum eo Deorum continebatur. Idem IV.
Augufto crefcit fub principe cœlum.
Hoc eft, numerus Deorum augetur. Claudianus:
providus æther

Noluit humano titulos auferre labori.

Sedulius: Quid apertius eft Patre teste, Cœlo asfertore."

So Ovid, Met. VIII. 618.

immenfa eft, finemque potentia cæli

Non habet.

Claudian, Epift. ad Hadrianum: Humana fuperos nunquam tetigere querela, Nec vaga fecurum penetrant convicia cælum.

Aufonius, Grat. Actione. Augufte Juvenis, Cali tibi et humani generis rector hoc tribuat, ut, &c.

So Heaven fometimes, in the holy Scriptures, and often in the Rabbinical writers, is the name of God. See Whitby on Matth. iii. 2. and the Commentators on Matth. xxi. 25.

Wherewith, the Souldan all with fury fraught,
Commanded ftraight his, armour to be brought;
And mounted straight upon a charet high,
With iron wheels and hooks arm'd dreadfully.

But the bold Child that peril well espying,
If he too rafhly to his charet drew,
Gave way unto his horfe's fpeedy flying.

See an account of thefe chariots, currus falcati, in Q.Curtius, IV. 9. Alexander bade his foldiers avoid them, laxatis ordinibus. IV. 13.

That made him rave, like to a lion Which being wounded of the huntíman's hand, Cannot come near him in the covert wood; Where he with boughs hath built his fhady ftand, And fenc'd himself about with many a flaming brand. The lion fears fire. Homer, Il. A. 553. Καιόμεναί τε δεταί, τάς τε πρεῖ ἐσσύμενός περι

Incenfæque faces, quas horret, violentus quamvis.

STANZ.

STANZ. XL

As when the fiery-mouthed fteeds, which drew The Sun's bright wam to Phaeton's decay, Soon as they did the monstrous Scorpion view, With ugly craples crawling in their way; The dreadful fight did them fo fore affray, That their well knowen courfes they forwent; And leading th' ever-burning lamp aftray, This lower world nigh all to ashes brent, And left their fcorched path yet in the firmament.

If the reader examines thefe lines, he will find in them a figure called ανακόλυθον, a figure which Spenfer deals very much in,-awant of conftruction. He imitates Ovid here, but varies a little from him for Ovid tells us, that the Scorpion frightened Phaethon, Met. II. 198.

Hunc puer ut nigri madidum fudore veneni
Vulnera curvata minitantem cufpide vidit,
Mentis inops, gelida formidine lora remifit.

Scorched path. Natalis Comes, VI. 1. Finxerunt Phaethontem in ea parte præcipue figniferi deliraffe, quæ eft ultima Libre in Scorpionem, ubi via dicitur ufta: qua gradus decem utrinque continet.

STANZ. XLVII.

Like raging Ino, when with knife in hand
She threw her husband's murdred infant out;
Or fell Medea, when on Colchick strand
Her brother's bones fhe scatter'd all about;
Or as that madding Mother, 'mongst the rout
Of Bacchus' priests, her own dear flesh did tear.
Yet neither Ino, nor Medea ftout,

Nor all the Moenades [Mænades] fo furious were. Raging Ino, &c. See Natalis Comes, VIII. 4. By the madding Mother he means, I fuppofe, Agave, who tore her fon Pentheus to pieces.

Like as the fowler on his guileful pipe
Charms to the birds full many a pleasant lay.

So in Colin Clout's Come Home Again:

The Shepherd's boy

Sat, as his custom was, upon a day,

Charming his oaten pipe unto his

STAN Z. XXXI, XXXII.

peers.

All lovely daughters of high Jove, that hight Litæ, by him begot in love's delight, Upon the righteous Themis: those they say Upon Jove's judgment-feat wait day and night: And when in wrath he threats the world's decay, They do his anger calm, and cruel vengeance stay.

Thofe