XIII. Quos ego-fed motos praeftat componere fluctus. -that rather had to dy.] quæ mallet mori, Iron- Inftances are obvious, and known to every one. ically. XVIII. So fill the fmart-] This is the reading of the XXX. . And in his eare him rounded clofe behind.] Runian to whisper, to rowne or round in the eare.' Somner. Sidney's Arcad. p. 15. one of Kalendar's fervaunts rounded in his eare. Shakefp. K. John. Act. ii. Sith late he fled from his too earnest foe.] See B. iii. Winter's Tale, Act i. he has made a fubftanScene the laft, rounded in the eare. And in the C. 8. St. 15, &c. XXIII. XXIV. tive from the verb, whispering, rounding.-'Tis printed wrong in fome editions, which has Said he, Thou man of nought-] Tidavos, homo occafioned this note. nibili. XXVI. What Lady, man? faid Trompart, take good hart.]- And presently after, inftead of Was never better time to fhew thy fmart XXXI. thus printed, and wrong in the 1ft edition; but I pardon yield, and that with rudenes beare.] 'Tis I have corrected it from the 2d, and Folios. Ibid. Fame is my meed and glory VERTUOUS PRAY.] So the ift quarto, the 2d. Fame is my meed, and glory VERTUES PRAY. The Folios, vertues pay. Glory is the pay of virtue; not gold. Virtue is not mercenary. It might be better thus, had we authority fo to Spenfer's putting these fentiments into the print. Was never better time to fhew thy fmart The which fuccour (meaning his noble mafter XXVIII. So ball your glory be advanced MUCH- Your worthy paine shall wel reward with guerdon RICH.] Perhaps Spenfer fpelt (as his custom is, all alike) mich, fich, rich. mickel, mich. A. S. rpilc. fich-albee I fimple fich, i. e. albeit I fimple fuch as you behold. XXIX. or a war-monger to be bafely nempt.] Caupo martis: bellum cauponans, xanλévar μáx. Non cauponantes bellum, fed belligerantes. Ennius, apud Cicer. de Off I tread in duft thee and thy money both, VOL. II. mouth of this vain and boafting knight is agree- Mil. Glor. A&t. i. Sc. 1. By Sanglamort my fword.] Compare this with Piftol. Have we not Hiren here? To giuft with that brave stranger knight a caf.] XLVII. Which when Malbecco faw, out of His bufh And like a gote among the gotes did rufh, That through the helpe of his faire borns on hight.] The firft line alludes to his name, fee B. iii. C. 9. St. 6. The 2d line alludes to the effect, which his imagination had worked upon him: for his imaginary horns were now become real horns. This is the beginning of his transformation; which is compleated in the last stanza, where he is turned into a monftrous fowl, hight Jealoufy. No metamorphofis in Ovid is worked up, from beginning to end, with finer imagery, or with a better moral allufion. CANT TO I. Hatefull hellish fnake what Fury firft-] This apoftrophe first to Jealoufy, and then to Love, with reference likewife to the fcope of the poem, and fo agreeable to his ufual introductory addrefs, merits more praise than I fhall ftay to bestow upon it. See how Virgil has painted the Fury Alecto, with her jealous and envious fnake, poisoning the Latian Queen, vipeream infpirans animam, Æn. vii. 351. compare Ovid. Met. iv. 497. I cannot help citing Cowley's verfes: they are fome of the best imitated from Virgil, that I now recollect: he is defcribing Saul infpired with the venom of jealoufy and envy by the Fury who comes from hell. VI. XI. What boots it plaine that cannot be redreft. What boots it then to plaine that cannot be redrefi.] He Sidney's Arcad. p. 2. When others were running ends his complaint with the fame verfe with at bafe, &c. Shakefp. Cymb. Act. v. Lads more like to run The country bafe, than to commit fuch slaughter. XIX. Life is not loft, faid fhe, for which is bought Endleffe renown, that more, then death, is to be fought] i. e. that renown is more to be fought, than death to be avoided. I thought once that thefe two words life and death fhould have exchanged places; Death is not loft (faid fhe) for which is bought Endleffe renown, that more then life is to be fought. Death is loft when we die inglorious: 'tis a Latin expreffion; and Spenfer is fond of introducing fuch into his poems. Her ample fhield he threw before her face.] Berni Orl. Innam. L. ii. C. 8. St. 36. Piglia lo fcudo, e'nnanzi a je lo mette. See Hom. II. v. 300. and Il. xii. 294. Romance writers are full of these conceits : we read perpetually of walls of fire raised by magical art to ftop the progrefs of knights errants. In Taffo the wizard Ifmeno guards the inchanted foreft with walls of fire. In the Orlando Innamorato, L. iii. C. 1. Mandricardo is endeavoured to be ftop'd by enchanted flames, but he makes his way through all. Like to- is the reading of the ift quarto: Taffo xii. 8. but altered in the context from other editions. Eft hic eft animus vitae contemptor, et iftum Qui vita bene credat emi, quo tendis honorem. Virg. ix. 205. The Author of the remarks on Spenfer fays he ought to have said,—that more than life is to be fought. Virg. v. 230. Vitamque volunt pro laude pacifci. XXII. Fool-hardy, as the Earthes children, which made-] XXIII. Daunger without difcretion to attempt Inglorious AND beaftlike is: therefore Sir knight--] So the two old quartos, and folio of 1609. But the folios of 1617, 1679, omit and: by which omiffion the verfe is brought within its due order and measure. Our poet feems to me to have in view the following from. Cic. XXIX. And in thofe tapets-] Spenfer, in his defcription of this tapestry, had his eye on the fabulous amours and metamorphofes of the gods, represented in the piece of tapestry woven by Arachne, in her conteft with Minerva, Ov. Met. vi. 103.-In the reign of Saturn (that cold planet) then were days of chastity: but when Jupiter dethroned his father, then Luft and Love were triumphant. As to the hiftory of this loving god's transformations, cheats, and adulteries, &c. they may be feen in Natales Comes, L. ii. C. 1. and in other mythological writers, as well as almost in all the poets; from whom Spenfer, according to his ufual manner, varies in several instances. Thus for inftance, Helle endeavouring to fwim over that narrow fea, afterwards called the Hellefpont, on the back of a ram: Jupiter (who changed himfelf into a ram to avoid the fury of Typhoeus and was worshipped in Lybia under the figure of a ram,) changed himself into the fame fhape to carry Helle over fafe, and to make her his mistress afterwards. The ftory of Danae is not varied, Whenas the god to golden hew himselfe transfard. Converfo in pretium deo. Hor. L. iii. Od. 16. Nor of Alcmena, Foying his love in likeness more entire, i. e. enjoying the love of Jupiter in the likenefs of her own husband. But as to what But as to what he fays of Afterie, or who this Afterie was, I refer the reader to Burman in his notes on Ov. Met. vi. 108. Whether 'twas Jove's eagle, or Jupiter in the fhape of an eagle, that fnatch'd from Ida the Trojan boy, remains a doubt. The picture here is imitated from Virgil and from Statius: But I cannot help tranfcribing the three poets, that the reader might with lefs trouble compare them together. Intextufque puer frondosâ regius Idâ Æn. v. 250. Hine Phrygius fulvis venator tollitur alis; Ora canes, umbramque petunt, et nubila latrant. Theb. i. 548. Again, whenas the Trojan boy fo faire He fnatcht from Ida bill; and with him bare: Wondrous delight it was there to behould How the rude fhepheards after him did ftare, Trembling through feare leaft down be fallen bould; And often to him calling to take furer bould. The two copiers, Statius and Spenfer, have not been servile copyers; therefore they will both bear examination and comparison with the great original. There is no end of the tricks and transformations of this Proteus Jupiter; he turned himself into a satyr, a fire, a fhepherd and a ferpent. And like a ferpent to the Thracian mayd. And he was like a ferpent when he appeared to, when he made love to-the paffage is elliptical, as many paffages in Spenfer are. See the notes in Burman's edit. on Ovid. Met. vi. 114. Varius Deöida ferpens. Deöis eft Proferpina filia Cereris, quæ And à Græcis nominatur. Jovem autem in draconem verfum cum Proferpina concubuiffe teftatur Eufebius. Now as And thou faire Phoebus---] Phoebus, or the Sun, having difcovered to Vulcan the amours of Mars and Venus, fhe ftirred up her fon Cupid to revenge her quarrels. Cupid has two arrows, the one of gold, imaging fuccefsful love; the other of lead, imaging illSee below fuccefs, fadnefs, and despair. St. 48. Some headed with SAD lead, fome with pure gold. With this ill-fated and fad leaden arrow he hit the heart of Apollo. The goldin love, and LEDIN love they hight, Compare the Rom. of the Rofe, ver. 920, &c. of Cupid's different bowes and arrows. 'Tis neither from Ovid, nor ancient mythologists, that we must always explain the conceits of Spenfer Chaucer and the Romance writers fometimes are his authorities; and sometimes his own allegory leads him to a mythology of his own.---'Tis faid St. 38, 39. that Apollo loved a fhepherd's daughter. He loved fe for his deareft dame---Iffe the daughter of Admetus ; and for her fake became a cow-herd; a vile cow-herd; what time he was banished heaven by Jupiter for killing of the Cyclopes. That Apollo fell in love with the daughter of Admetus, we have proof sufficient for a fairy poet. For love had him fo boundin in a fnare Ch. Troil. and Creff. i. 664. Apollo had reafon to become a Shepherd for the love of Daphne and the daughter of Admetus. Amadis de Gaul. Book i. Chap. 36. Iffe the daughter of Admetus, (fo fays Spenfer) not the daughter of Macareus: (fee the commentators on Ovid. Met. vi. 124.) Mythologifts and poets vary fo much, that where all is fiction, who can say which is the best invented? Now like a lyon hunting after spoile, Now like a hag, now like a faulcon flit. These two verses feem to be taken from the following in Ov. Met. vi. 122. |