fame history informs you who Carados was. This Saxon Virgin, whom he calls Angela, is I believe entirely one of his own feigning he intended perhaps to make her no mean actress in his heroic poem, which he thought fome time or other to finish, and which he hints at in B. i. C. 2. St. 7. Of this poem I have spoken in the Preface. LVII. Her harty words fo deepe into the mynd Of the young damzell funke, that great defire Of warlike armes in her forthwith they tynd.] Inftead of barty I would read hardy; and only want the authority of the books fo to print. LIX. King Ryence] a king in Wales; mentioned frequently in the Hiftory of Prince Arthur. See above B. iii. C. 2. St. 18. LX. Which Bladud] A British king skilled in magical arts. See concerning him the note on B. ii. C. 10. St. 25. And concerning this mighty fpear, fee note above on B. iii. C. 1. St. 7. LXII. Of diverfe thinges difcourfes to dilate] Shakespeare ufes this word in Othello, Act 1. That I would all my pilgrimage dilate. i. e. enlarge upon, relate at large. Ibid. The red-croffe knight diverft, but forth rode Britomart] The red-croffe knight, St. George, whose adventure is mentioned in the firft book, he went a different way: diverfus ibat: he diverst Cum inde fuam quifque ibant diverfi domum. We hear no more of St. George in the remaining books, only mentioned by the bye in B. v. C. iii. St. 53. The poet's defign feems plainly to bring all the various knights together, before the poem concluded; and all of them were to meet at the court of the Fairy Queen. CA II. N TO IV. To hear the warlike feats which Homer Spake Of bold Penthefilee, which made a lake Of Greekish blood fo ofte in Trojan plaine; But when I reade, how ftout Debora ftrake Proud Sifera, and how Camill' bath flaine The huge Orfilochus, I fwell with great difdaine.] 'Twas ufual formerly to call thofe additions, which were made to the books of Virgil and Homer, by the name of Virgil's and Homer's works. Thus G. Douglas calls Maphæus' additional book, the xiiith book of Virgil's Æneidos: and thus the writings of Quinctus Calaber (who wrote xiv books fubfequent to Homer's account of the Trojan war, and which are named τὰ μεθ' Όμηρον or Παραλιπόμενα) are confounded with Homer. Hence Spenfer calls it Homer's account of Penthefilea; though Penthefilea is mentioned by almost all the writers of the Trojan war, excepting Homer. I fhould not have thought that our poet had written at all the worfe, if he had thought fit to have given us his verses as follows, Z.222 To hear the warlike feats, which poets fpake But we must take the verses as we find them, and endeavour to apologize for them accordingly.-The fecond female he mentions is Debora, a prophetefs who judged Ifrael: 'twas through her means and Barak's, that Sifera was difcomfited but 'twas Jael that firake the nail into his temples, Judg. iv. 21. Fael, who with inhospitable guile The third, Camilla, who flew the huge Orfilochus, as mentioned in Virgil, xi. 690.. III. As thee, o queene, the matter of my fong.] Mil Dante Parad. Canto I. That VI. That nought but death her dolour mote depart.] That nought but death might caufe her grief to depart. Her blinded guest, means the blind god of love. In the laft verfe of this ftanza, 'Till that to the fea-coaft at length she her addreft. the folio 1619, reads, had addreft. IX. On the rough rocks or on the fandy fhallows.] This verfe is beyond measure, hypermeter: and rough as the subject requires.-Love fhe calls her lewd pilot which means ignorant, unskilful. So Milton, in a paffage not rightly explained, B. iv. 193. So fince into his church lewd hirelings climb. i. e. ignorant, as Chaucer frequently and all our old writers use this word. læpede. læpedman. laicus, a layman. Somn. IX. Then when I fhall myselfe in fafety fee, Of thy great grace and my great jeopardee, Here Stator Jove, and Phoebus king of verfe, The votive tablet I fufpendThese votive tablets are mentioned by the commentators on Horat. L. i. Od. 5. Juvenal. Sat. xii. 27. Tibull. Lib. i. Eleg. iii. And in feveral old infcriptions. XIII. As when a foggy mift-] Compare this fimile with B. ii. C. 8. St. 48. XIV.' That mortal Speare.] See note on B. iii. C. 1. St. 7. Ibid. By this forbidden way.] 'Twas ufual for knights errant in Romance-writers to guard fome pafs; and through this forbidden way no other knight was fuffered to go without trial of his manhood. -I believe this cuftom gave the hint to Milton (a great reader and imitator of romance-writers) of his placing Death as a guard to the pass from Hell into Chaos. In the following fimile all the expreffions are happily adapted to the old customs: the facred oxe, ingor, that careleffe ftands, that does not seem brought to the altar by force or violence: with gilden hornes, auratâ fronte juvencum, Virg. ix. 627. Compare Homer, Il. x. 294. and floury girlands, &c. vittis praefignis et auro Victima, Ov. Met. xv. 132.-The priest of Jupiter-brought oxen and garlands, [i. e. oxen adorned with garlands] and would have done facrifice, Acts xiv. 13. It ought not to be paffed over that this fimile is borrowed from Homer, Il. xvii, 589. which take in Mr. Pope's tranflation, As when the ponderous axe defcending full The fame fimile the learned reader may fee at Whiles thus he lay in deadlyy ftonishment, Tydings hereof came to his mothers eare-] This episode is in fome measure taken from Hom. Il. xviii. 35, &c. where Thetis arrives with her fifters, the daughters of Nereus, to comfort Achilles. And from Virg. G. iv. 317, where the fhepherd Ariftaeus complains, and his complaints reach his mother's ear, the Nereid Cyrene, beneath the chambers of the fea. Marinell's mother was black-browd Cymoënt: whofe name is formed from xuμa fluctus, as Cymo, . Cymo, Cymothoë, Cymodoche: and 'tis remarkable that Marinel's mother is called Cymodoce, B. iv. C. 11. St. 53. unless we must alter it (which I dont believe, becaufe Spenfer often varies in the fpelling and writing of his proper names) into Cymäente; black-brow'd is from the Greek, μshároPgus, nvároPgus. Marinell likewife has his name from the fea; his mother was a goddefs; his father an earthly peer. I have all along thought, and am ftill of the opinion, that Lord Howard, the Lord High Admiral of England, is imaged under the character of Marinell: There feems in Stanza 22 an allufion to his captures and rich prizes taken from the Spaniards. Ibid. Who on a day, Finding the nymph afleepe in fecret wheare marked in a note on B. i. C. 3. St. 36. Shakefpeare ufes it fo frequently; but no modern would, with all these authorities, fo use it at present. XXV. Proteus For Proteus was with prophecy infpir'd.] By the Carpathian Wifard's hook. Milton calls him a Wifard as he was a prophet; his book means his fhepherd's hook; for Proteus As he by chaunee did wander that fame way.] It was Neptune's fhepherd or herdsman, has been proposed to read, Finding the nymph asleep in fecret wheare- Youths folke now flocken in every where, Aegl. v. i. e. in every place: as our poets friend and oldest commentator explained it. So above in fecret wheare, i. e. in à fecret place. The adverb for the fubftantive, ex. gr. He has a ubi, a rò zu, a where, to live in. In Italian Dove is ufed both adverbially and fubftantively: Dove, where. Dove, a place. Sapete il dove? do you know the where, or place? Let it be added too that Fairfax has the very fame phrafe, B. iv. St. 90. Alone fometimes fhe walkt IN SECRET WHERE, 'Tis to be remember'd that Fays frequented To doen his nephew in all riches flow] To caufe his grandfon to abound in wealth. To do fee the gloffary. Nephew for grandson, we have taken notice of elsewhere. XXIV. -to reft his wearie knife.] From pos, and in the fame fenfe, as I have already re5 And hath the charge of Neptunes mighty herd. B. iii. C. 8. St. 30. Proteo Marin, che pafche il fiero armento Arioft. Orl. F. viii. 54. -immania cujus Armenta, et turpes pafcit fub gurgite phocas. Virg. G. iv. 395. XXVII. But ah! who can deceive his defliny?] Æfchyl. ἄκαν ἂν ἔκφυγοι γε τὴν πεπρωμένην. Fulgentem-fallit [λavdáva] beatior. Ibid. So weening to have arm'd him, he did quite difarme.] Obferve this playing with found of words. So B. i. C. 12. St. 27. That erft him goodly arm'd, now most of all him harm'd. Hence Milton, vi. 655. Oppress'd whole legions arm'd: Their armour help'd their harm. XXVIII. And full of fubtle fophifmes, which doe play And be thefe jugling fiends no more believd, Who knows not the oracles of old? which Milton calls in Parad. Regain. B. i. They were all taught by Triton to obay To the long raynes at her commandement] To obey to, fee inftances of this expreffion in a note on B. ii. C.6. St. 20. The 1ft edition has raynes, the other editions, traines. Prefently after The rest of other fifbes drawen weare, himself duragisorolóxea, which is happily compounded according to the Grecian ease of compounding words, and means that though the had brought forth a noble offspring, yet 'twas an unhappy one: And after the fame manner fhe bemoans, Il. i. 414. Ὤμοι τέκνον ἐμὸν, τί νύ σ ̓ ἔτρεφον ἀινὰ τέκεσα ; Cymoent fays, Now lyeft thou a lump of earth forlorne? Which with their finny oars the SWELLING fea The body without the foul is rightly fo called : the Latin poets ufe corpus inane in the fame fense. did fheare. This epithet fuelling is directly contrary to what is faid just above, The waves obedient to theyr beheaft Them yielded ready paffage, and their rage furceaft. Again, Eftfoones the roaring billows STILL abid. Ardet in extru&to corpus inane rogo. ed, thy' being cut off, Ně can thy' irrevocable deftiny bě weft. So that methinks we might fet all to rights with Not this the worke of womans hand ywis no great variation of letters, The reft of other fifhes drawen weare, That fo deepe wound through these dear members drive.] Not this truly a womans handywork that drives Which with their finny ears the YIELDING fea fo deep a wound through thefe dear members of my fon. See note on B. iv. C. 11. St. 46. XXXVIII did fheare. Fielding, in the fame sense as buxome, in St. 31. which proves the propriety of this correction. And thus Fairfax, xv. 12. Their breafts in fuunder cleave the YEELDING deepe. He fays a teme of dolphins drew the chariot of Cyoment, the reft were drawn of other fifhes: and greater croffe To fee friends grave, then dead the grave felf to on- Teftatur Saturnigenam, nec nomine cessat ὁ δὲ τάλαινα Bio Idyl. i. 53. Senec. Agam. O quàm miferum eft nefcire mori! XXXIX. That the dim eyes of my deare Marinell I mote have clofed, and him bed fareweel.] Virg. ix. 486. Nec te tua funera mater Produxi, preffive oculos. And And him bed farewell-according to an old cuftom, to which Virgil alludes, Æn. ii. 644. and xi. 97. This laft farewell we often find in ancient infcriptions. virgines. Tigavov σxlev, a tyrant fcepter. Af chil. Prometh. exercitus victor, the victor army. Livy. his victor foote, B. ii. C. 5. St. 12. bellator equus, the warriour horfe. Virg. Briton Prince, Introduct. B. i. St. 2. Britane land, B. i. C. 10. St. 65, Bryton fieldes, B. i. C. 11. St. 7. lyon Gruter p. DCCLIX. whelpes, B. i. C. 6. St. 27. with many other of like fort, which we leave to the reader. AETERVM. MEVM. VALE SOLATIVM. AVE. SEXTI and fpreding on the ground Their wachet mantles-] A watchet colour is a faint blue, or skye-colour: fo named from the woad, with which the cloth is dyed blue. And from woad comes WOAD-CHET or WATCHET. See Skinner in machet colour. Again, fpeaking of a river god, B. iv. C. ii. St. 27. All decked in a robe of watchet hew. i. e. noavóπenλos, caeruleum peplum habens. Drayton in Polyol. part. 2d. pag. 15 uses this epithet, speaking of Neptune, Who like a mightie king, doth caft his watchet robe, Farre wider than the land, quite round about the globe. Before him, Chaucer in the Miller's Tale, 213. All in a kirtle of a light wachet. Ibid. They foftly wipt away the gelly bloody So the old quartos and Folio of 1689. but the Folios of 1611. 1617. 1679. all read jelly'd blood. Spenfer, I am pretty certain, and having for my affurance the beft editions for authorities, preferred the fubftantive. The diction is more poetical: So Horace fays, Stertinium acumen, Lib. i. Epift. xii, 20. Mauris jaculis, L. i. Od. xxii, 2. Mauris anguibus, L. iii. Od. x, 18. So Juvenal (though modern editions fay otherwife) Oceano fluctu, the ocean wabe, Sat. xi. 94. littore oceano, xi. 113. the ocean shore. And thus Spenfer, in ocean waves, B. i. C. 2. St. 1. the ocean wave, B. i. C. 11. St. 34. Water dew, B. i. C. 11. St. 36. the virgin rofe, B. i. C. 12. St. 74. rofae Ibid. They pourd in fouveraine balme and nectar-] So Venus in the cure of Æneas, Virg. xii. 419. Spargitque falubres Ambrofiae fuccos et odoriferam panaceam. And Thetis pours in nectar to preserve the body Tho when the lilly-handed Liagore-] Lilly-handed, λευκώλενος. Liagore was one of the daughters of Nereus, according to Hefiod, toy. ver. 257. But this mythology is partly our poets own, and partly borrowed from the ftory of Apollo's ravishing Oenone, and teaching her the secrets and ufes of medicinal herbs. He fays Paeon was born of Liagore and Apollo. Pæon was phyfician of the gods, and is mentioned in Homer, II. v. 401. and 900. LXII. Then all the reft into their coches clim,] See note on B. iv. C. 11. St. 46. |