feribes: Her face is a human face; but the rest of Ecco la fiera con la coda aguzza- Sen' venne; e arrivò la tefta e'l bufto; XIV. Revel. ix. 10. And they had tails like unto fcor- Inferno, Canto xvii. Dante in his defcription of this fame monster, A little glooming light, much like a shade.] Anglo S. glommung, the twilight; apud Elfricum invenitur Theonul leoht, quod exponitur maligna feu dubia lux. Skinner. See Vofs. Etymol. in V. Crepufculum; and Junius, V. Twilight. -Nocte fic mixtâ folet Praebere lumen primus aut ferus dies. Ibid. Soone as that uncouth light upon them fhone, Into her mouth they crept-] The ugly offspring of errour flies at the leaft approach of light and truth. Thefe unclean fpirits, which come out of the mouth of this monfter, and creep into it again, are imaged from Revel. xvi. 13. And I Sen. Herc. F. 671. Jaw three unclean fpirits like FROGS [See below St. xx.] come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the falfe prophet: for they are the fpirits of devils, &c. Compare St. xx. -Subluftri noctis in umbrâ. Virg. ix. 373. Her vomit full of bookes and paper was, &c. But a faint fhadow of UNCERTAIN light; Com' i difcerno per lo fioco lume. i. e. without trailing or dragging on the ground; as we say the trail of a garment. There is no letter added or omitted by this reading -But Spenfer borrows words not only from Latin, but Italian, French, and other languages, and Dante Infern. C. iii. makes them free of his own, by altering their fpelling and fitting them to the English mouth. twift. WITHOUT ENTRAILE, without twinGall. entrelas, a knot; entrelaffer, to twine or ing, knotting or twisting.-Let the reader please himself; and accept of our emendation or explanation, as likes him beft. Qua nitet obtufo lumine falfa dies. Sannaz. L. i. Eleg. 3. v. 37. Ibid. For light fhe hated as the deadly bale.] I fhould not queftion to alter, had I any authority of editions, into For light fhe hated as her deadly bale. 20. HER bale, emphatically: in allufion to John iii. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light left his deeds fhould be reproved. Prudentius, Hymn. Matut. ii. 21. Verfuta FRAUS et callida Amat tenebris obtegi. You fee above, St. xiv. that the armour of the knight gave light: it is to be remembered he has put on chriftian armour, the armour of light. Rom. xiii. 12. The celestial panoplie of radiant Urim, as Milton calls it. XVII. Which when the valiant elfe perceiv'd, he lept As lyon fierce upon the flying pray.] The knight intercepts the retreat of Errour into her den. Our poet tranflates Homer, Il. . 297. .485. 'Ns dè Xéwv iπópuce, tanquam leo irruit. Ibid. And turning fierce her speckled taile advaunft.] Her fpeckled taile: So this monster is described by Dante, Lo doffo, e'l petto, et amendue le cofte Inferno, C. xvii. The metaphor is plain, spotted, infamous, scandalous, &c. Mos & lex maculofum edomuit nefas. Hor. iv. v. 22. Avaritiâ et libidine foedus et MACULOSUS. Tacit. Hift. ii. 7. 2. Our Shakespeare ufes it no lefs learnedly than elegantly, Upon this spotted and unconflant man. Midf. Night's Dream, Act. 1. XVIII. Tho wrapping up her wrethed fterne around.-] i. e. Then wrapping all around her wreathed tail.Fairfax, in his tranflation of Tafso, xv. 50, ufes it for the tail of a lyon. His fterne his back oft fmote his rage to whet. But for the explaining of hard words I refer to the Gloffary. Let us confider what follows, Plato de Repub. L. vii. Σκόπει δὴ ἀυτῶν λύσιν τε καὶ ἴασιν τῶν τε δεσμῶν καὶ τῆς ἀφροσύνης.—Spenfer is a great imitator of fcripture expreflions: and the metaphor is so proper, that I am apt to believe that the printer's roving eye was caught with the word above; which errour is frequently erred in this book. However, we leave both our interpretation and correction to the reader's confideration. XIX. Add faith unto your force-] For this alone overcometh, 1 John v. 4. By faith is often meant in fcripture the whole combination of chriftian virtues. poet's allufion in this ftanza is to Revel. xvi. 13. where UNCLEAN fpirits come out of the mouth of Errour and impofture: Πνέυματα ΑΚΑΘΑΡΤΑ Quora Baтęáxos. like frogs. Her vomit full of books and papers was: meaning fophiftical and polemical divinity; cabaliftical and fcholaftical learning, &c. Χέυματι πηλώεντι ΝΕΗΝ περιβάλλεται ΕΙΛΥΝ. And the fame allufion we have in Heliodorus, Lib. IX. I fancy Spenfer had him in his eye: this elegant writer mentioning the feftival of Nile, which is celebrated, when the river begins to fwell, about the fummer folftice; adds, "that "the Ægyptians fuppofe Nilus a god, and the 66 greateft of all the gods [Κρειττόνων τὸν μέγισον] "they fpeak of this river in high terms calling "him the rival of the fkies, because he waters "their fields he is Ofiris, Orus, the faviour "of upper Ægypt; the FATHER and maker of "the lower-NEAN IATN res inayorra “ ΝΕΙΛΟΝ ἐντεῦθεν ὀνομαζόμενον — Nilus fignifes "likewise emblematically the year, for the let"ters, which compofe the name, make up, com"puted together, the number 365, the number of days in a year." · Spenfer corrected this firft verfe himself among But when his later spring gins to avale Here the meaning is, when the spring tide at the on B. iii. C. 6. St. 8. XXIII. Lib. II. v. 282. allows As gentle Shepheard-] Vida in his art of poetry, About the wine-prefs where fweet muft is pour'd Thefe images from common life give variety to Simil Simil battaglia fa la mosca audace Contra il maftin Hence Mars calls Minerva Kuróμvia, II. XXI. 394.I will cite Homer's fimilitude (Il. 6. 469.) at length, that the reader may fee how our poet in fenfe, as well as in construction, refembles this ancient bard and father of poetry. Ηὔτε μυιάων ἀδινάων ἔθνεα πολλά, “Αιτε κατὰ ταθμὸν ποιμνήϊον ηλάσκεσιν, Schol. Ἐπὶ τῷ ΔΕΥΕΙ ὑποτίζομεν, τῆς ἀνταποδιδομένης, ἤντε, λέξεως ἀνακολουθως ἐχέσης· ὡς ἐν τῇ 9. της Ιλιάδος. Ns d' ́ör' iv úgávų äṛça Prevvàv åμpt ocxám. Lira φέρει, Τόσσα μεσηγὺ νεῶν. Now the reader might fee the fame kind of axónov (as the Grammarians call them) in many of Spenser's fimilitudes: fome are to be helped by fupplying, he, who, and: or by turning the verb into a participle, or participle into a verb; or the like. See B. i. C. 6. St. 10. B. iv. C. 4. St. 47. and other paffages to be mentioned hereafter-But I will not leave this fimile and fubject without animadverting a little on Mr. Pope's tranflation, and note, on II. XVII. v. 570. where Menelaus obftinately perfevering to defend and carry off the dead body of Patroclus is compared to a gnat or fly, which though beaten off, returns as oft to its attack. Καὶ οἱ μυίης θάρσος ἐνὶ σήθεσσιν ἐνῆκεν, Ητε καὶ ἐργομένη μάλα πὲς χροὸς ἀνδρομένοιο Ισχανάα δακέειν, λαρόν τέ οι αιμ ̓ ἀνθρώπω. Τοίς μὲν θάρσες πλῆσεν φρένες ἀμφιμελάινας. Et ei [Menelao] mufcae pertinaciam in pectoribus immifit, Quae licet abacta crebrò à corpore humano, Appetit mordere, dulcifque illi fanguis eft hominis. Tali eum pertinaciâ replevit praecordia profunda. So burns the vengeful HORNET (foul all o'er) Repuls'd in vain, and thirsty fill of gore (Bold fon of air and heat) on angry wings, Untam'd, untir'd, he turns, attacks, and flings. What has the hornet to do here, and why is he called thirsty of gore, &c? Is not this perverting the juftness of the original, as well as jumbling together the different nature of animals? there is a fimplicity and strong propriety in Homer's verfes-But let us fee the note-"It is literally " in the Greek, She infpired the hero with the boldness of a fly. There is no impropriety in the "comparifon, this animal being of all others "the most perfevering in its attacks, and the "moft difficult to be beaten off: the occafion "alfo of the comparifon, being the refolute "perfiftance of Menelaus about the dead body, VOL. II. "renders it ftill the more juft. But our present "idea of the fly is indeed very low, as taken "from the littlenefs and infignificancy of the "creature. However, fince there is really no "meanness in it, there ought to be none in expreffing it; and I have done my best in the "tranflation to keep up the dignity of my au"thor." I believe Mr. Pope's friend wrote one part of this note, and he interlined it with additions of his own: which is the only way to account for the disagreement between the tranflation and the notes. XXX. He faire the knight faluted, louting low, Who faire bim quited-] him requited, payed him back his falutations again. IVhom he faluting faire, faire refaluted was. B. v. C. 7. St. 17. But when the wizard fage their first falute Receiv'd, and quited had-Fairfax XVII. 59. Dictâ acceptâque falute, Ovid. #govar xaiger, årTiçin. Xen. añоμ. L. iii. C. 13. fect. 1. Επει δὲ ἡμᾶς τὰ ἐιωθότα ἐσπάσαλο, καὶ τῶν ἀμοιβαίων dè xvx, Poftea vero quàm nos (ut moris eft) falutavit et viciffim eft refalutatus. Heliod. Æthiop. L. 2. pag. 127. Ibid. With holy father fits not with fuch thinges to mell.] Which Dryden has imitated in his poetical pa- It fits not, 'tis not becoming. Il fied, it fits well, raphrafe of Chaucer's knight's tale. With honour to his home let Thefeus ride, Laftly fhe forward rode with love to guide. cum. θεῶν ἀίκητι. XXIX. At length they chaunft to meet upon the way For neither man nor angel can difcern The speeches of this old hypocrite are finely in character: one would wonder how rhyme could accord fo well with reafon. His habitation, St. 34. is wonderful picturefque. The reader muft fee and feel thefe beauties without ever and anon being put in mind of them. 'tis becoming. So we fay, it fits well on a perfon: And this phrafe, which is very frequent in our old english poets, whom Spenser perpetually follows, is constantly altered in all the editions excepting in the first quarto edition, which I print from, into fits: a very obvious alteration to every corrector of the prefs: this I noticedformerly. And let us fee how our old poets ufed this word. |