religion inforced by perfecution; particularly the inquifition, which the Duke of Alva fet up in the Netherlands. XV. Nor undertake the fame FOR COWHEARD FEARE.] Belge fent her two fons to defire aid of Q. Elizabeth, which they afked in prefence of many of her knights, who not undertaking the adventure. FOR COWHEARD FEARE, Prince Arthur fepped forth, &c. I cannot perfuade myself that Spenfer thus wrote, fo contrary to decorum; and in the allegorical view reflecting upon the characters of all the knights in the service of Mercilla: for what reproach is equal to the name of Cowheard? I believe the copy was blotted, and the received reading made up, as ufual in fuch cafes, by the corrector of the prefs. What if we read, Who when he none of all thofe knights did fee Hartily bent that enterprise to heare, Nor undertake the fame; FAR DRIVING feare, He stepped forth with courage bold and greatXVI. The morrow next appeared with purple hayre.] See note on B. ii. C. 3. St. 1. XVIII. That to thofe fennes for faftneffe he did fly.] So the quarto, and Folio 1609. But the Folios, 1611. 1617. 1679. for fafenesse. I can fee no reason of altering: Fafine means strong holds or places of security. XXI. For other meed may hope for none of mee] For you Gave leave t' his ghost, from thraldome now unbound, may expect for none other meed of me. To wander in the griefly fhades of night. XVI. But ev'n that which thou fa-vedft, thine ftill to remain.] So the verfe is to be red in fcanfion. Belge offers herself and all her caftles to the Briton Prince fee below the handfome anfwer which the Prince makes. Does not this plainly allude to the States' offer, and to the Queen's refufal of the fovereignty of the Netherlands? XXI. —and his bright fhield difplay.] He difplays the brightness of Truth against fuperftitious illufions. See note on B. i. C. 8. St. 19. XXII. Upon the image with his naked blade Three times, as in defiance, there he firoke.] See this cuftom explained in a note on B. iv. C. 10. XXIII. St. 9. XXIV. the modern spelling. Ibid. She death fhall by. thofe tydings fad.] So this is printed in the quarto, and folio, 1609. But And Eagles wings.] The folio 1609, An eagles in the folio 1611, 1617, &c. as I have printed it in the context. wings. XXV. The father of that fatal progeny.] He calls the progeny of Oedipus fatal, as if Providence had marked them out for extraordinary punishments on account of his incestuous marriage. XXIX. As when the maft of some well-timbred hulke Is with the blast of fome outragious storme-] One would be apt to think the word above caught the printer's eye and occafioned the repetition of it below.-I had rather read, Is with the blaft of an outragious forme Ibid. XLI. But witneffe unto me, ye heavens, that KNEW How cleare I am from blame of this upbraide For ye into like thraldome me did THROW.] I have made for the fake of the rhime, a very obvious and easy alteration in the context.—This Apoftrophe of Arthegal to vindicate his honour from neglecting the adventure, which he had taken in hand, to relieve Irena, is very like that moft elegant apoftrophe, which Æneas makes, when he relates to Dido the fiege and deftruction of Troy. Arthegal ftands much more cleare; his thraldome is mentioned above, C. 5. St. 17. But how fupinely did the wife Whileft ftill fhe flands aftonifht and forlorne.] It and brave Æneas behave in fuffering the Greeks fhould be red as two words as tonight. to impofe on the Trojan credulity? and yet fee how he apoftraphizes It should not have been printed than: this is justly, For Ne for advantage terme to entertaine.] Perhaps, terms, conditions, &c. LXII. And forced him to throw it [his fhield] quite away.] i. e. to renounce his proteftant faith. In allufion to Ephef. vi. 16. Above all, taking As prayfe and honor.] i. e. honourable praise. THE SHIELD OF FAITH. ἓν διὰ δυοῖν. CANTO XII. SACRED hunger of ambitious mindes And impotent defire of men to raigne!] Spenfer is claffical in his expreffions; and to understand him you muft often tranflate him. Sacred hunger. Virg. iii. 56. Sacra fames. Impotent defire of men to raigne: Impotens regnandi cupido: i. e. ungovernable, violent, &c. He adds, Nor laws of men, &c. can keep from outrage, &c. Where they may hope a kingdom to obtaine. Perhaps he had in view, what Cicero tells us was Cæfar's favourite fentiment from a fpeech in Euripides, Nam fi violandum eft jus, regnandi gratiâ Violandum eft; aliis rebus pietatem colas. Cic. Off. iii. ex Phæniff. Eurip. No faith fo firme, no truft can be fo firong. No love fo lafting then, that may endure long. If this is the true reading, endure is of three fyllables, but I have followed the folio of 1609, XII. and printed it enduren. Reflections of this kind are very frequent: fo in B. ii. C. 10. St. 35But O the greedy thirft of royall crowne, That knows no kindred, nor regards no right. Chaucer, Knighte's Tale, 1626. O Cupido, out of all charitee! O reign, that wouldft have no felaw with thee? Full fothe is faid, that Love ne Lordship Will not his thankes have any felawship. So the Ital. Proverb, Amor et feignoria non vogliano compagnia. And Ovid. Non bene cum fociis regna Venufque manent. But frikes his fails, and vereth his main-fheet, So when the feamen from afar defcry XXIII. That falling on his mother earth he fed.] The conftruction is, that falling he fed on [he bit] his mother earth, Procubuit moriens et humum femel ore momordit. Virg. xi. 418. XXIII. Tho' as he back returned-] The hiftorical allufion points to the detraction and envy which followed the Lord Grey, when he returned from Ireland. "I remember that in the "late government of the good Lord Grey, "when after long travail, and many perillous "affays, he had brought all things almoft to "that pass that it was even made ready for “reformation, and might have been brought "to what her majefty would; like complaint "was made against him, that he was a bloody 66 man, and regarded not the life of her fubjects. "_whom, who that well knew, knew to be "moft gentle, affable, loving and temperate. "Therefore moft untruly and maliciously do "these evil tongues backbite and flander the "facred afhes of that moft juft and honourable "perfonage, whofe leaft virtue, of many that abounded in his heroic fpirit, they were never "able to aspire unto." Spenfer's view of Ireland. fer generally gives you fome hint, and a fhort tranfitory kind of view, of what he intends afterwards to difplay more fully. The Blatant beaft, here juft mentioned, he tells you is under the direction of Envy and Detraction: we shall read more of him in the next book. His name is derived from Blaterare, to babble idly and impertinently, like defamatory and detracting tongues or the Ital. blatterare. See note on B. vi. C. 12. St. 39. XXXIX. Then from her mouth-] Envy is defcribed above, St. 30, gnawing a snake, as in Ov. Met. ii. 760. videt intus edentem vipereas carnes. This halfgnawen fnake fhe throws at Arthegal, which fecretly bit him: intimating that he felt the effects of his envyers and calumniators. The by the ferpent of Envy are poifoned with the maconduct of other poets is different those bit lignity, and become the envyers, not the envyed. XL. As for Grandtorto-] When Lord Grey was deputy of Ireland, he put to the fword the Spaniards, who furrendered to his mercy. His enemies faid 'twas done with treachery and unjustly. This is the hiftorical allufion: and 'tis mention ed by Spenfer in his view of Ireland. Book, which treats, in the form of an allegory, LET us, as ufual, take a review of this Fifth of the most comprehenfive of all human virtues. Herodotus informs us, that the Perfian kings birth-day; when they granted to every one his celebrated with the highest magnificence their boon. Nor with lefs magnificence the Fairy days, and granted to every just petitioner the Queen kept her annual feaft, on twelve several requested boon. În one of those days a difconfolate queen, named Irena, attended by Sir Sergis, made her entry according to the custom established; and complaining that an oppreffiye tyrant kept by violence her crown from her, prayed that fome knight might be affigned to perform that adventure; her boon was granted, and Sir Arthegal was the knight affigned. This hero we have been long acquainted with ; and have seen him in Fairy land, seeking adventures, and perfecting himself in many a chivalrous emprife. But we muft fuppofe that joined by his faithful Talus; a man of iron he was not to proceed on his grand queft, till mold, without any degree of paffion or affection, but the propereft perfon imaginable to put in act the righteous decrees of Arthegal, or in one word, to be an executioner. Thus is juftice juftice (imaged in Arthegal) armed with power (imaged in Talus :) and thus accoutred, he relieves the oppreffed, diftributes right, and redreffes injured kingdoms aad nations. Though Arthegal appears in a fuller view in this book, than hitherto, yet our chief hero, who is to be perfected in justice, that he might in the end obtain true glory, is not forgotten. If Homer dwells on the exploits of Diomed, or hows you at large Agamemnon, or defcribes the fuccefs of Hector; yet ever and anon you are put in mind of Achilles; and you plainly perceive the fatal effects of that pernicious wrath, which brought fo many woes on Greece. Hence the unity of the poem is preferved. Why will you not confider Spenfer's poem in the fame view, only built on a more extensive plan ? The Briton prince becomes acquainted with Arthegal by a rencounter, which often happens among knight-errants: as foon as they are reconciled (for the real great and good never difagree) they go in queft of adventures; an! afterwards vifit Mercilla at her royal palace. And here the Briton prince undertakes the relief of Belge from an oppreffive tyrant: Mean time Arthegal goes to reinftate Irena in her priftine dignity. The hiftorical ailufions in this book are fo very apparent, that the moft fuperficial readers of Spenfer never could mistake them, because he mentions the very names. But I wonder that they stopped here, and did not pursue the hint, which the poet had given them. Of Faery lond yet if he more inquire, By certaine fignes here fet in fundry place, He may it find; ne let him then admire, But yield his fenfe to be too blunt and base, That n'ote without an hound fine footing trace. Introduction, B. ii. St. 4. Let us trace this fine footing, and take care we do not over-run our game, or ftart more game than we are able to catch. Sir Bourbon, Sir Bourbon, B. v. C. 11. St. 52, is Henry of Navarre; who was kept from his crown, because a proteftant; and hence in dangerous diftrefs of a rude rout, St. 44. The lady Flourdelis is the Genius of France. Bourbon in the encounter with the rude rout, i. e. his rebellious fubjects, flings away his fhield [the fhield of faith, Ephef. vi. 16. his religion.] And thus becomes a recreant knight. -the love of lordships and of lands Made him become moft FAITHLESS and unfound. C. 12. St. 2. Notwithstanding the Genius of France is forced to take him, VOL. II. So bore her quite away, nor well nor ill apaid. Let us trace out the epifode of Belge, There came two fpringalls [viz. the Marquis den, pag. 221, anno 1577.] Farre thence from of Hauree and Adolph. Metkerk. See Cambforrein land [from the Netherlands] where they did dwell, To feeke for fuccour of her [Q. Elizabeth] and The Briton prince, in whom I think imaged The kingdom's care with a white filver head, means the lord treasurer Burleigh: Spenfer by fome former poems had brought himself into this mighty man's difpleasure, B. vi. C. 12. St. 41. He now feems glad to curry favour; and methinks goes a little out of his way in making himfelf a party-man by abufing the memory of this unhappy Queen.-But this is foreign to my defign; let us return to our history. The two paramours of Dueffa, the Q. of Scots, are Blandamour and Paridell, i. e. the Earls of Northumberland and Weftmorland. Blandamour is the Earl of Northumberland, because the poet calls him, The Hotspurre youth, B. v. C. 1. St. 35. This was the well-known name given to the young Percy in the reign of King Henry IV. And is not this fpeaking out, as plain as the nature of this kind of poetry admits? Paridell is the Earl of Northumberland; Arthegal, I am thoroughly perfuaded, is Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton, Lord Deputy of Ireland, our poet's patron. His military and vigorous executions against the rebels in Ireland, brought upon him a load of envy and Idetraction, when he came back to England: and this is very plainly hinted at in the clofe of the 12th Canto. [Compare Cambden, pag. 243 and 257, anno 1580, and Lloyd's State Worthies, in the life of Arthur Grey Baron of Wilton.] Thefe circumftances are a ftrong proof that Ireland, agreeable to this kind of profopopæia, is fhadowed out to us by Irena. With this hint given, read and apply the following verfes, C. 12. St. 40. And that bright fword THE SWORD OF JUS- Had flained with reproachful crueltie, In guiltleffe blood of many an innocent. 4 M THE |