for Sir Philip Sidney, was lamented by all the poets in England; and the King of Scotland, afterwards King of England, writ a copy

of verses on his death. But I don't know whether this interprétation, fo plaufible, might not be queftioned. Read the following verfes in Colin Clout's Come Home Again,

There also is (ab! no, he is not now)
But fince I faid he is, he is quite gone,
AMYNTAS quite is gone and lies full lowe,
Having his Amaryllis left to mone.
Helpe, Oye fhepherds, helpe ye all in this,
Helpe Amaryllis this her life to mourne :
Her life is yours, your lofs Amyntas is,
AMYNTAS, flowre of Shepherds, pride forlorne:
He whilft he lived was the nobleft fwaine,
That ever piped on an oaten quill-

Now all the characters in this paftoral, though moftly figured in borrowed names, are are real characters and Amyntas (if I conjecture right) means Henry Lord Compton and Monteagle, who married one of the daughters of Sir John Spenfer. By faying he was immortalized by fweet poets verfe; he may allude to feveral copies of verfes written (as was then ufual) on his death, particularly by his fifterin-law, the famous Elizabeth, married to the eldeft fon of the Lord Hunfdon: though indeed I never met with any fuch verses myself.

Thus, reader, you have here offered two explanations of a dark and myfterious paffage : accept with candour what we have written, and judge for yourfelf. XLVII.

And footh it feemes they fay; for he may not
For ever dye, and ever buried bee

In baleful night, where all thinges are forgot;
All be he fubiect to mortalitie,
Yet is eterne in mutabilitie,
And by fucceffion made perpetuall,
Transformed oft, and chaunged diverflie:
For him the FATHER of all formes they call;
Therefore needs mote he live, that living gives to all.]
And it feems they fpeak truth; for Adonis, Matter,
cannot perifh: it changes only its form, and
thus is eternal in mutability. Thefe changes
preferve the beauty and youth of the world,
though feemingly they feem to deftroy both.
For what we mortals (as Maximus Tyrius finely
obferves, Differt. xli. Пéder Tà xaxá;) who fee
things partially and in a narrow and confined view,
falfely call evils, and imagine to be corruption and
deftruction; all these the Great Artift, who acts for
the good of the Whole, and makes each part fubfer-
vient to it, calls Zwτngiar to "One, the prefervation
of the Whole.

Nec perit in TOTO quicquam (mihi credite) mundo. Sed variat faciemque novatTransformed oft, and changed diverflie.

"'Tis to be remember'd that Venus is form and Adonis matter, now Adonis being the lover of Venus in this epifode, he therefore fays,

For him the FATHER of all formes they call. Whereas he should rather have faid the fubject matter of all forms: but you perceive how our poet's own mythology led him into this error of expreffion. So that we muft diftinguish between the philofophical, and poetical or mythological propriety, of his making Adonis, matter, the father of forms. As the lover of Venus, in the mythological view, he is the caufe, that the beauteous goddefs of forms conceives and brings to light her beauties: but as matter merely, (in the philofophical view) unactive, paffive, the mother, the nurse, the recep tacle, &c. The Platonifts call it a dens, allreceiving; as fufceptible of all form and figure: 'tis the firft term, and the common groundwork of bodies; and 'tis the laft to which body is reduced: 'tis all in power, though not any one thing in act: neque quid, neque quale, neque quantum. Hence Milton is to be explain'd, v. 472.

one firft matter all, Indued with various forms, viz.

Materia prima. Which matter is called in the Timæus, ἐκμαγείον καὶ παιδεχὲς καὶ τιθήνην καὶ ΜΗΤΕΡΑ -πάσης γενέσεως ὑποδοχὴν, οἷον τιθήνη-Sec Plato in

Timæo, pag. 49, 50, &c. So Ariftot. qua. Ang. Α. ἡ μὲν γὰρ [ὕλη] ὑπομένεσα συναιτία τὴ μορφὴ τῶν γινομένων ἐςὶν ὥσπες μήτηρ. And afterwards he ex. plains what he means by ύλη, λέγω γὰρ ὕλην, τὸ πρῶτον ὑποκειμενον ἑκάσῳ, ἐξ ὦ γίνεται τι ἐνυπάρχοντος ixásw, &

μή xarà ovμčelnxós. Such is ADONIS, allegorized. -But Form gives Matter an effence, determining it to be this or that particular thing-Forma dat effe rei: as they fay in the fchools. Form may be called fubftantial, when it fo modifies matter, as that the matter fhall be named, gold, trees, apples, &c. or accidental, when it fo affects matter, as to be denominated round, fquare, white, black, &c. Such is the power of beauty's queen, and the lover of Adonis, VENUS.Privation is the abfence of a certain form; and is neceflary to introduce a new form. But neither Privation (nor the WILD BOAR) is let loose to make havock and spoil at will and pleafure, or to reduce things back again to their pristine confufion and Chaos.

XLVIII.

XLVIII.

There now be liveth in eternal blis, Foying his goddeffe, and of her enjoyd.] This feems a tranflation of Taffo, xiv. 71. where Rinaldo is carried by Armida to an inchanted island. Ove in perpetuo april molle amorofa Vita feco ne mena il fuo diletto. Which the elegant tranflator renders

There in perpetual fweet and flowring Spring, She lives at eafe, and joyes her lord at will.

Ibid.

that foe of his Which with his cruell tusk him deadly cloyd.] Cloyd is so spelt that the letters might answer in the rhimes, for clawed: 'tis at the best but a catachreftical kind of expreffion, clawed with his tufke: unless we bring claw from xhaw, frango; then the expreffion will be more natural. But great But great allowances are to be made on account of rhimes fo frequently returning. Let us not forget the allegory, mentioned above. Venus is Form; Adonis, Matter; the wild Boar, Privation; now for ever imprifoned by the lovely goddess of forms, left by his cruel depredations he should reduce all things back again into Chaos and

confufion.

L.

And his trew love fair Pfyche with him plays—

-and hath him borne a chyld

Pleafure.] The allegory is, that true pleasure is the genuine offspring of the Soul, when infpired with true love. Both the fable and alBoth the fable and allegory of Pfyche and Cupid are mentioned by Fulgentius, Mythol. L. iii. C. vi., And Apuleius has told the ftory at large, of her long troubles and unmeet upbrayes, i. e. upbraidings; and

likewife of her reconciliation with Cupid and Venus. Milton alludes to this tale in his Maik,

But far above in fpangled fheen,

Celestial Cupid, her [Venus] fam'd fon advanc'd,
Holds his dear Pfyche fwect intranc'd,
After her wandring labours long-

Spenfer mentions Pleasure the daughter of Cupid in his Hymn to Love,

There with thy daughter Pleasure they do play. Hence Chaucer is to be explained in the Af. fembly of Fowls, ver. 214. The verfes are cited below in a note on B. iii. C. 11. St. 49.-

Perhaps Spenfer had his eye in this epifode on the ftory told by Plato, of Plenty, who drunk with nectar enjoyed Penury in the gardens of Jupiter; from whom Love was produced. Plenty is Mind; Penury, Matter the production of Mind and Matter is Lovely forms, which in perpetual revolutions die and revive again. See how Plutarch in his Ifis and Ofiris allegorizes this tale told in Plato's Symposium. LIII.

And for his dearest fake endured fore,

Sore trouble- i. e. forely endured fore trouble: as κακός κακῶς. μέγας μεγαλωςί. ingens ingenti, &c. κακὺς κακῶς ἀπολέσει αυτές. Matt xxi. 41. ἀπολ λυται κακὸς κακῶς. Cebetis Tabula. μέγας μεγαλως Tavodis. Hom. Il. xviii. 26. ingentem atque ingenti vulnere victum, Virg. x. 842.-The ftory here alluded to ye may elsewhere read, viz. B. iii. C. 11. & C. 12.

LIV.'

That was to weet the goodly Florimel.] See B. iii. C. 1. St. 15.

II.

-as if her former dred Were hard behind her ready to arrest.] Dread, fhould be perhaps printed with a capital letter. See note on B. iii. C. 10. St. 55.

Ibid.

-her weary wreft] Wrift, for arm. Pars pro

toto.

111.

But nought that wanteth reft can long aby.] This fentence is tranflated from Ovid; and cited in a note on B. i. C. 1. St. 32.

IV.

That fortune all in equal launce doth SWAY,
And mortall miferies doth make her play.] Launce
is an Italian word (which kind of words Spenfer
often introduces) fignifying balance cr fcales:
from the ablative of the Latin Lanx,

Scis etenim juftum gemina fufpendere LANCE
Ancipitis librae,

Perf. iv. 10.

Fortune doth SWAY all in equal balance: we fay to fway a fword, to fway a scepter, for to manage, wield, or to move to and fro: the expreffion is somewhat catachreftical; nor fhould we think of changing, did not fo obvious a reading occur as

That fortune all in equal launce doth WAY. i. e. doth weigh: fo fpelt that the letters might answer in the rhime, as juft above wreft for wrist; and a thousand others. So he spells it likewife in other places, as is taken notice of in the Gloffary in WAY. He says Fortune fports with human miferies, Ludum infolentem ludere pertinax. Ludit in humanis rebus. Sir Phil. Sidney in his Arcadia, p. 464. has a pretty image, which he feems to have taken from Plautus, Dii nos quafi pilas homines habent: Mankind are like tennis-balls toffed about by the rackets of higher powers.

of the ift and 2d editions did not attend to their copy, yet I am perfuaded Spenfer himself did intend thus to print, as the old folio has printed. Hence other paflages may easily be reduced to order and correction, which feem intricate So just below, St. 18.

For feare of mifchief, which fhe did forecast Might by the witch or by her fonne compaft. So the 1ft edition: but the 2d,

Might be the witch, or that her fonne compast. How eafy with the hint above given, by borrowing from these two editions of the highest authorities, thus to read?

For feare of mischief, which she did forecast Might be by th' witch, or by her sonne compast. The elifion of the puzzled the printer or compofitor of the prefs, and gave us this bad reading, which too fcrupuloufly we have received into the context. The want of attending to this elifion, as well as the blotted copy feems to have occafioned the error in B. iii. C. 2. St. 4. See the note there. I know very well what liberties Spenfer ufes in omitting this article the: in fome places it cannot be spared: as in B. iii. C. 9. St. 13.

It fortuned, foone after they were gone, Another knight, whom tempeft thether brought. Did not Spenfer write?

whom th' tempeft thether brought. See note on B. ii. C. 12. St. 27.

That through the fea th' refounding plaints did fly. See likewife the note on B. i. C. 5. St. 5.

Both thofe and th' lawrel garlands to the victor dew. So Milton in his Masque,

I must not suffer this yet 'tis but the lees [read but th
Lees]
And fettlings of a melancholy blood.

VIII.

She afkt what devill had her thether brought.] Perhaps Spenfer might ufe devill as an angry interjection, fo the Latins use nefas, malum, &c. -Sequiturque (nefas!) Ægyptia conjunx. Virg. viii. 686. Terent. Eun. Qui (malum !) alii— So here in the paffage before us,

She afkt what (devill!) had her thether brought. i. e. fhe asked what in the devil's name, what with a mischief, had brought her thither? And this correction, or rather explanation, may be further confirmed from Chaucer, whom Spenfer perpetually imitates,

Then

Thou couldeft ne'r in love thy felfen wife,
How (divell!) maieft thou bringen me to bliffe?
Troil. and Cref. i. 624.
XII.

A laefy loard, for nothing good to donne.] i. e. good to do no one thing. LOURDAN, bardus, ftupidus, hebes. G. lourdaut. B. loerd. Italis lordo eft fordidus. Quidni oirginem vocum petas ab In. lort, fterchus, ad quod • retulerim Suffexianum lourdy, ignavus, & • Spencerianum Loord.' Junius, Lye's edit. Verftegan fays that Lourdaine was a name given in derifion by the English, because the Danes would be called laford which is now Lord, fo they called them tour Danes inftead of Lord. tour, i. e. lither, cowardly, fluggish. This word loord I would reftore to Chaucer in two places, where the Monke is characterized in Urrys edit. pag. 2 and 3.

Theras this lord was keeper of the cell read, loord.

He was a lord full fatt and in gode point. [en bon point.]

I believe we should read here likewife loord. See note on B. i. C. 4. St. 18.

XXVII.

So fafety found at fea which she found not at land.] Methinks here are more circumftances and allufions brought together, than can well be interpreted morally: we muft therefore look into the hiftorical allufions, according to the scheme which I have laid down in interpreting this often darkly conceited' poem.-See the perfecuted and flying Florimel firft described in B. iii. C. 1. St. 15. and C. 3. 45. She is purfued by Prince Arthur, who, in the hiftorical allufion, is the Earl of Leicester, and who was talked of, and that too by Queen Elizabeth's confent, as the intended hufband of the Queen of Scots.-But what perfecutions does the undergo in this Canto ?-I don't fay that the monster pursuing her,

(With thoufand fpots of colours quaint elected.) typifies the motley drefs of the Queen of Scots' fubjects; whom to avoid the haftens to the feas,

For

For in the feas to drown herself fhe fond

rather than to be caught of that motley crew, her falfe tyrannical courtiers and fubjects now purfuing her: fhe leaps therefore into a boat, So fafety found at fea, which she found not at land. Hear Cambden, pag. 118. The Queen of "Scots having escaped out of prison, and levied a hafty army, which was eafily defeated: fhe was fo terrified, that fhe rode that day above fixty miles; and then chofe rather to commit ' herfelf to the miferies of the fea, than to the falfed fidelity of her people.'

XXIX.

But rather joyd to bee then feemen fuch:

Effe quam videri: & donen daλ' Iwai, This character, I fay, is what Salluft gave of Cato, Effe, quam videri, bonus malebat.

Æfchyl. in Theb.

Οὐ γὰρ δικειν, άρισος, ἀλλ ̓ εἶναι θέλει,
Non enim videri optimus, fed effe velit.
XXXIV.
As he that ftrives to flop a fuddein flood,
And in ftrong bancks his violence enclofe
Forceth it fwell] obferve his and it both agreeing
with flood. See B. ii. C. 9. St. 15. Inftances
are very frequent in our old writers of the like.
Difburdend heav'n rejoicd, and foon repaird
Her mural breech, returning whence it rolld.

Milt. vi. 878. If the falt have lost his favour, wherewith fhall it be jalted? Matt. v. 13. Perhaps in this fimile, Spenfer had in view Ovid. Met. iii. 568. which verfes are cited above in pag. 449.

Our poet adds,

The woful husbandman doth lowd complaine
To fee his whole yeares labor loft fo foone

For which to God he made fo many an idle boone -et deplorata coloni

b...

Veta jacent; longique labor perit irritus anni. Ov. M. i. 272 XXXVI. But trembled like a lambe fled from the pray] From the pray, i. e. from fome wild beaft which would have made a prey of her. praeda, for praedator; fo spoyle for spoyler,

**

To fave herselfe from that outrageous spoyle :i

B. ii. C. 8. St. 32.

i. e. the fishermen who would ravish her. XXXIX. And with blafphemous bannes high God in peeces tare.] i. e. She did tare, &c. we have already mentioned feveral inftances of he, she, they, omitted.:

XL.

All were the beame in bignes like a maft,] Tancred and Argante had fpeares, which Taffo calls, le noderofe antenne, and his elegant tranflator two knotty mafts. Canto vi: St. 40. Cowley has the fame expreffion of the fpear of Goliah, His fpear the trunk was of a lofty tree, Which nature meant fome tall fhips maft should be, Though his original fays, the faff of his fpeare was like a weaver's beame. 1 Sam. xvii. 7. compare Milton i. 292, of Satan's fpeare,

1

-to equal which the tallest pine, J Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the maft Of fome great ammiral, were but a wand.owil XLI.

Or on the marble pillour, that is pight Upon the top of mount Olympus hight, mang mud For the brave youthly champions to allay With burning charet wheeles it nigh to smite ;] 'I never yet faw any romance-writer, but fuppofed the Olympic games celebrated on mount Olympus. See De Inftitutione Ordinis Perifeelidis, lows, in the Defence of Poetry, pag. 55343 vol. 2. pag. 2. These our learned Sidney folPhilip of Macedon reckoned a horse-race won at Olympus among his three fearful felicities." I dont wonder therefore, that Spenfer fhould fuffer himself to be mifled by his brethren the Romance writers, but I rather wonder that Cooper in his Thefaurus, fhould be milled by them: Olympicum certamen was a game or pryce

kept on the hyll of Olympus. Sir W. Ra leigh therefore, taking upon him the historian, not the romance writer, fays, Thefe Olympian games took their name, not from the 'mountain Olympus, but from the city Olympia, otherwife Pifa, near unto Elis." Rawl. Hiftory of the world, pag. 490. Tis well known, that the great art of the Charioteer was feen in avoiding the goal, as they turn'd fhort around it: poets therefore perpetually mention this skill in nicely avoiding the Meta, Part curb their fiery fleeds, or fun the goal With rapid wheeles.