Which formerly Merlin made. This pointing I like beft, though the other may be defended, and has the authority of all the books. The enchanter Merlin is here faid to have made prince Arthur's fword. Heroes of old had their arms made by enchantment and fupernatural power the arms of Achilles and of Aeneas were made by Vulcan. But as our poet mentions the fword in particular, I would observe that the sword

of Hannibal was enchanted.

Hannibal agminibus paffim furit, et quatit enfem Cantata nuper fenior quem fecerat igni Litore ab Hefperidum Temifus. Sil. Ital. i. 429. Virgil comes nearer ftill to our poet's expreffions; who defcribing the fword of Turnus, fays, 'twas made by Vulcan for Daunus, the father of Turnus, and tinged hiffing hot in the Stygian

lake:

And feven times dipped in the bitter wave
Of hellish Styx.

Enfem quem Dauno ignipotens deus ipfe parenti
Fecerat, et Stygiâ candentem tinxerat undâ.

Valerius Flaccus likewife L. vii. 364. bears teftimony to the virtues and efficacy of the Stygian waters,

Prima Hecate Stygiis duratam fontibus harpen
Intulit.

And this explains and illuftrates Ariofto, xix. 84.

L'Usbergo fus di tempra era fi duro,
Che non li potean contra le percoffe,
E per incanto al fuoco de l'inferno
Cotto e temprato à l'acqua fu d'Averno.

Merlin befide mixt the metal with me daewart: i. e. with the wort or herb called medica, concerning which fee Virg. G. i. 215. It availed against inchantments, and for this reafon was ufed by Merlin. Nothing is more ufual in romance writers than to read of heroes made invulnerable by inchantments; and of fwords, by more powerful inchanters fo framed, as to prevail over even inchanted heroes. Don Quixote tells Sancho B. iii. C. iv. that he will endeavour to procure a fword, fuperior to all enchantments: fortune, he fays, may provide him such a one as that of Amadis de Gaul, who named himfelf knight of the burning fword: which fword could cut afunder whatever it undertook, and could refift all inchantments. So Balifarda the fword of Ruggiero,

Quel brando con tal tempra fabbricato,

Che taglia incanto ed ogni fatatura.

The vertue is, that neither fteel nor ftone,
The firoke thereof from entrance may defend.
So the sword is described, which the king of
Arabia fent to Cambufcan, Chaucer pag. 61.
This nekid fword--

Such virtue bath that what man so ye fmite
Thorough his armure it woll kerve and bite,

Were it as thick as is a braunchid oke.
So the sword of Michael is described, Milt. vi. 320
Of Michael from the armory of God,
-But the fword,
Was given him temper'd to, that neither keen
Nor folid might refift that edge.

This fword for its virtues was named Mord

dure: it bit hard and fharp; from mordre to bite, and dur, hard: mordax ferrum, Horat. L. iv. Od. vi. 9. or from the Ital. mardere, to bite or wound, and duramente, cruelly, hardly. From this very quality Orlando's fword had its name; and was called Durenda, as Turpin writes in his hiftory of Charles the Great, Chap. xxi. DURENDA interpretatur DURUS ICTUS. Hence Boyardo and Áriofto have called their heroes fword, Durlindana. I cannot help obferving how defignedly Spenfer here omits to follow either that filly romance called the Hiftory of prince Arthur, which gives a long and ridiculous account of his fword, Excalibur, i. e. cut steel: or even of Jeffrey of Monmouth, who fays, his fword's name was Caliburn, L. ix. C. iv. Compare Drayton's Polyol. pag. 61. however as 'tis certain Spenfer had red both the romance of prince Arthur, and Jeffry of Monmouth's British hiftory, fo it is as certain that he altered many things, and made their stories fubmit to the oeconomy of his poem. The following citation from Jeffry of Monmouth concerning prince Arthur, might here not improperly be made; Arthur having put on a coat

of mail, fuitable to the grandeur of fo potent a king, fits his golden helmet upon his head, ' on which was engraven the figure of a dragon (See B. i. C. 7. St. 31.) and on his fhoulder his fhield called Priwen, upon which the picture of the bleffed Mary mother of God being drawn, put him frequently in mind of her. Then girding on his CALIBURN, which was an excellent fword, made in the isle of Avallon, he graced his right hand with his launce, named Ron, which was hard, broad

To ufe that fword fo wifely as it ought.

i. e. So wifely as it ought to be used. And would the Palmer pay the Prince fuch a complement could he the leaft doubt it? The other reading is much better, complementing indeed Sir Guyon; but complements to one brave knight, don't carry a reflection with them on another real brave knight - But the Folios 1609, 1611, 1617, 1679, thus read,

Great God thy right hand blesse

To ufe that fword fo wifely as IT AUGHT. This comes nearest to Spenfer's manner; which is to make the letters correfpond in their jingling terminations and from this reading I would offer the following, in which not one letter is changed:

great God thy right hand bleffe To ufe that fword fo wifely as ITAUGHT.

i. e. So wifely as thou hast been taught to use it. I am fatisfied that Spenfer prefixed the i as well as they to participles and verbs of the perfect tenfe; like Chaucer and our old Englith writers. This correction I think, is not to be overlooked. The Palmer feeing the Prince in diftrefs, gives him a fword: poet plainly had Homer in view, where Minerva gives Achilles his fpear, ád "Exropa, et latuit Hectorem, Il. x. 276. She gave him his Spear fo lightly, as Hector knew not of it. So luturna (Virg. xii. 785.) gives Turnus his sword, who had broken his former fword on the Vulcanian arms of Æneas.

Ibid.

Then like a lyon, which hath long time faught His robbed whelpes, and at the laft them fond Emongst the fhepheard fwaynes, then wexeth wood and yond.] Yond is fo ufed by Fairfax, in his elegant verfion of Taffo, i. 55.

Nor thofe three brethren Lombards fierce and yond. And by our poet, B. iii. C. 7. St. 26. As Florimel fled from that monster yond. The Gloffary ufually prefixed to Spenfer, fays it means beyond: and from that monfter yond, is from beyond that monfter. But I believe a child may fee that in all thefe paffages yond is an adjective adverbs become adjectives in Greek by the article prefixed before them; and in English often by the prefixed, or by position: as wood and yond; fierce and yond; that monster yond. Anglo-S. geond, yond, ULTRA: from

which Latin adverb the French form their adjective outrè, i. e. furious, outragious, extravagant; and fo Spenfer ufes yond, adjectively

and in the fame fense: ULTRA AGENS naturam

For TRIAMOND. So we have Lady Momera, for Munera, Argument to Canto 2. B. v. Matilda, for Serena, Argument to Canto 5. B. vi. Crifpina, for Serena, See note on B. vi. C. 3. St. 23.

LIII.

-he wexed wondrous woe.] i. c. very fad. Anglo-S. Waa, maftus. Chaucer, Rom. Rose 312. Was never wight yet half so woe. And in the Wife of Bath's tale, 913. Wo was the knight

Dryden in his poetical verfion has kept this old expreffion,

Woe was the knight at this fevere command.
Ibid.

Deare Sir.] Sir Guyon does not fay, Sir, but deare Sir: yet the boatman (B. ii. C. 12. St. 18) addreffing the Palmer, fays, Sir Palmer. See Menage in SIRE: the word originally is the fame, whether written Sir or Sire; yet it may admit of a doubt, whether Spenser did not intend to distinguish this reverend Palmer, from the knights, by the addrefs of Sire, and not Sir: for this reverend Palmer, in the hiftorical view of this poem, alludes (perhaps) to_archbifhop Whitgift, formerly tutor of the Earl of Effex, imaged in Sir Guyon.

I.

BUT none then it more fowle and incedent

Diftempred through mifrule and passions bace, It grows a monster, and incontinent Doth lofe his dignity-] Indecent: fo corrected among the Errata.-And incontinent, i. e. and incontinently, immediately. - Obferve it in one line, and his in the following: which is, not unusual in our poet, as has been already noticed. This book is very philofophically written, and drawn from the Socratic fountains of true learning.

C. i. St. 1.

II.

V.

Have made thee foldier of_that princesse bright.} So
the two quartos, the Folio 1609, a foldier.-
Guyon replies in the following stanza.
But were your will her fold to entertaine,
And numbred be mongst knights of maydenhed,
Great guerdon, well I wote, fhould you remaine;
And in her favour high be reckoned,
As Arthegall and Sophy now beene honored.

and

Gallico

:

Gallico Lib. iii. C. 22. I refer the reader to Watchter in V. SOLDURII; and Menage in V. SOLDAT. The knights of Maydenhead, are the knights in Fairy land; alluding to the knights of the round table, inftituted (as faid) by Arthur; and likewise to the Knights of the Garter but particularly alluding to the Knights of the Garter in the court of queen Elizabeth. Arthegall and Sophy, are mentioned here, by the bye, to raise a curiofity of further inquiry in the reader; which curiofity he intended to answer hereafter: Arthegall, we fhall read of often; and Sophy I make no doubt was intended to be the hero of fome other book in this poem: he was the fon of king Gulicke of Northwales.

So Cambria had fuch too, as famous were abroad, SOPHY, king Gulick's fonne of Northwales, who had feene

The fepulcre three times, and more, feven times had been

On pilgrimage at Rome, of Beniventum there The painful bifhop made.

Drayton's Polyolb. Song xxiv. pag. 8o.

VII.

SEVEN times the funne with his lamp-burning light
HATH walkte about the world and I no leffe,
Sith of that goddeffe I have fought the fight.] So the
Ift old quarto. But the 2d and Folios,
Now hath the funne with his lamp-burning light
Walkt round about the world, and I no leffe-
ONE year is paft, fays prince Arthur, fince I
have been seeking the Fairy Queen. That this
is the true reading, appears plain from B. i.
C. 9. St. 15. Compare that paffage where the
prince is giving an account of himself and his
Love.

NINE MONTHS I Seek in vaine, yet nill that vow

unbind

This expreffion of the fun walking round about the world with his lamp-burning light, is taken from Virg. iv. 6.

Poftera Phoebea luftrabat lampade terras

Invida Fata piis, et Fors ingentibus aufis Rara comes.

Stat. x. 384.

Fortune, envying good, hath fully frowned.
B. v. C. 5. St. 36.

Sydney's Arcad. p. 102. Lady, how falls it out
that you, in whom all virtue fhines, will take the
patronage of Fortune, the only rebellious handmaid
against virtue.
IX.

Gramercy Sir, faid he, but mote I wote-] This appears at first fight an error of the prefs, inftead of weete, as the rhime and fenfe plainly fhow. -Obferve in the next ftanza, that he fays they did light from THEIR fweaty courfers: Sir Guyon's horfe was ftolen, and he does not fay how he got another: See note on B. iii, C. 1. St. 1. Their must include Sir Guyon, as well as prince Arthur and his Squire. There are fome few in this poem of these kind of inaccuracies, if paffing over little circumstances, may fo be called. And perhaps the mentioning them may appear as trifling, as the inaccuracies themselves.

XI.

And wind his born.] See note or B. i. C. 8. St. 3.

XII.

SEVEN years this wife they us befuged have.] See the ft ftanza, where the poet opens the allegory nor has the reader any occafion to be put in mind, that this caftle is the human body, and Alma the mind; and that this mifcreated troop of befiegers are vain conceits, idle imaginations, foul defires, &c. Compare with Orl. Fur. B. vi. St. 59. Or rather with Plato de Repub. Lib. viii. where he mentions the peryouthful foul, ts ↓uxñç áxpówodir, Alma's cafturbed affections feizing on the citadel of the tle, or ftrong hold. — He says seven years, perhaps, in allufion to the feven ages of the world. ift age, from Adam to Noah. 2d, to Abraham. 3d, from Abraham to the departure of Ifrael out of Egypt. 4th, to the building of the temple. 5th, to the captivity of Babylon.

VIII.

Fortune the foe of famous cherifaunce,
Seldom (faid Guyon) yields to virtue aid.]
O Fortuna viris invida fortibus,
Quàm non aequa bonis praemia dividis !

aetatum