the information from his own Mufe.-This Thus at the panting dove a falcon flies; ftory which breaks off at St. 44. he refumes The fwifteft racer of the liquid skiesB. iv. C. 11. St. 6. XLV. the prince, and faery gent, Pope's Hom. II. xxii. 183. His uncouth Shield-] For it was covered with Whom late in chace of beauty-She lefte,-] See a veil. See note on B. i. C. 7. St. 33. XLVI. Of hunters fwifte, and fent of howndes trew.] The Folios read, hunters: the 1ft and 2d quarto edit. hunter. We have this measure frequent, howndes. XLVII. But Timias, the princes gentle fquyre, That ladies love unto his lord forlent,] But Timias the Squire of Prince Arthur had given up [had before lent or given up] that lady unto his lord. It should be therefore forelent. XLIX. Like as a fearfull dove, which through the raine Of the wide ayre her way does cut amaine, Having farre off efpyde a taffell gent Which after her his nimble winges doth ftraine, Doubleth her haft for feare to bee FOR-HENT, And with her pineons cleaves the liquid firmament.] The raine of the wide ayre, i. e. the aëry region. See raine in the Gloffary,-a taffell gent, a tarcel gentle Ital. terzuolo.-For-bent, fo the 1ft and 2d quarto: the Folios, Fore-hent: which is right, 1. e. to be taken before the can efcape. This fimile is frequently to be found in the poets; you may cite a hundred paffages. Sic aquilam penna fugiunt trepidante columbae. Ov. Met. i. 506. Ut fugere accipitrem penna trepidante columbae, Ut folet accipiter trepidas agitare columbas. Ov. Met. v. 605. Not half fo fwift the trembling doves can fly, LV. NIGHT-1 Of the dignity of this Matron we have spoken in a note on B. i. C. 5. St. 22. What is here faid, is faid by a man in a paffion, and not according to ancient mythology. There fecms an error in the clofe of the Stanza, occafioned by a repetition; which error is not unufual in this poem. here, by the grim fioud of Cocytus flow, Thy dwelling is in Hercbus black hous, (Black Herebus thy husband is the foe Of all the gods) where thou ungratious Halfe of thy dayes doeft lead in horrour hideous Who does not fee that is, just above, caught the printer's eye? Black Herebus, is put in appofition, and the true reading eafily occurs, Thy dwelling is in Herebus black hous, (Black Herebus, thy husband, and the foe. Of all the gods) where thou, &c. LIX. Dayes dearest children be the bleffed feed-] So the 2d quarto: but the 1ft, The children of day be the blessed feed. Zoroafter the magian (as Plutarch tells us in Ifis and Ofiris) called the good principle Oromazes, and faid it refembled light; and the evil principle Arimanius, which refembled darknefs. Oromazes begot fix deities, one of which was Truth-Truth is his daughter-Arimanius produced as many of quite contrary attributes, But in the end Good fhall be all in all, and Arimanius with his wicked offspring deftroyed, Dayes dearest children be the bleffed feed AND GOD SHALL BE ALL IN ALL. CANTO VII. But the rft Edit. as it should be, So may ye gaine to you I thought it not improper to notice that ye fhould be used in the nominative cafe, and you in oblique cafes. But our poet does not follow this rule fo ftrict as he ought. Where I can therefore lay the fault on the printers and editors, I remove this confufion from the context. The tranflators of the Bible are very correct in this diftinction of ye and you, and I wish others would follow their example. XII. The want of his good fquire-] See above B. iii. C. 4. St. 47. XV. For they were three Ungratious children of one graceleffe fyre.] Perhaps alluding to the threefold diftinction of luftful Such happineffe did maulgre to me fpight,] See the defire, viz. the luft of the eye, the luft of the Gloffary in Maulgre. VIII, IX. Yet he loves none but one, that Marinell is hight: Yet he loves none but one, that Marinell is hight; He fets nought at all by, i. e. he entirely difregards. ear, and the luft of the flesh. Mulier vifa, audita, tacta. MENTS XVI. FORTHWITH themselves with their fad INSTRU- ftruments does not jingle with went: he therefore will think it fhould be inftrument; for the fingular number may here be eafily defended. He will fee likewife that FORTHWITH and BYLIVE are both adverbs, both fignifying immediately, and 'twill be fuggefted to him that FORTHWITH is an easy corruption of the printer or tranfcriber, for FORTHY, which word we have in a hundred places, Anglo-S. Foppi quamobrem; on which account the whole paffage therefore runs thus, and connects with the foregoing Stanza, Forthy themselves with their fad inftrument XVII. By that fame way they knew that fquyre unknowne Mote algates paffe;-] By that fame unknowne way, &c. See note on Introduction to B. ii. So may YOU gaine to YOU-] This is the reading St. 3. XIX. He tombling downe with gnashing teeth did bite Sil. Ital. ix. 383. But Homer led the way, ὀδὰξ λαζοίατο γάιαν. XXIII. His finfull fowle with defperate difdaine Out of her fiefbly ferme fled to the place of paine.] From Virgil. arm of the enervated old king. Dryden's tranflation is happy, This faid, his feeble hand a javelin threw, Providence hevenly paffeth living thought,] See note -As faire as Phoebus funne.] As faire as Phoebus the fun expreffed as Phoebus Apollo, Пannas Arvn, Cytherea Venus, &c. See Bentley's note on Horat. Carm. i. iv. 5. Juft above concerning Braggadochio's cowardife, See B. ii. C. 3. St. 46. XXVIII. And made more hafte THE live to have bereav'd:] Well hoped fhee the beaft engor'd had beene, rather, HIS life: i. e. to have taken away the life of the beaft. perfue means the pursuit, and tracing of the beaft by his blood. XXX. Befides all hope with melting eies did vew,] did Vitaque cum gemitu fugit INDIGNATA fub umbras. fee out of all hope, hopeless. Aen. xii. A le fqualide ripe d'Acheronte Sciolta dal corpo, più freddo che giaccio, Beftemmiando fuggi L' ALMA SDEGNOSA. Orl. Furios. xxxvi. 140. Take notice of the iteration of the letters: hence perhaps he fays, fleshly ferme, and not flefly houfe: for the body is the houfe or tabernacle in which the foul dwells. What Menage obferves in FERME: will very well explain our poet. • Comme Firma a ete dit pour un lieu fernu, on a dit auffi Firmitas pour un bourg, ou village, fermé de murailles. Les capitulaires de Charles le Chauve, titre 31. chapitre 1. Et volumus et expreffe mandamus ut quicunque iftis temporibus caftella et firmitates et haias fine noftro verbo fecerint, &c.-on a auffi dit firmare pour enclore, et 'fortifier; d'où nous avons fait fermer, &c.' So that Flefbly ferm is an inclofure of flefh. ་ ་ à XXIV. Let us turn to Romance writers, no fmall imitators of Homer. Sir Phil. Sydney in his Arcadia, p. 69. introduces Gynecia having skill cafin furgery: an art in those days much ef As that did forefee The fearfull end of his avengement fad,] i. c. as if that he did forefee-praefaga mali mens, Virg. x. 843. The following verfes are expreffive of the faintly fluttering arrow, fhot from the bootleffe bow and will bear comparifon, with that well known paffage in Virgil, where he defcribes the feeble dart, fcarce flung from the teemed; because it ferved to virtuous courage, ' which even ladies would, even with the con'tempt of cowards, feem to cherish.' Angelica who makes fo great a figure in Boyardo and Ariofto had great intendiment of herbs.' See Boyardo, Orl. Innam. Fol. 51. or Berni. L. i. C. 14. St. 38. And Ariofto, xix. St. 22. This fame Angelica cures the wounded Medoro, as Belphoebe cures the wounded Squire. Spenfer mentions 1ft Tobacco: this was brought into England by Sir W. Ral. an. 1584. I took notice formerly in a letter to Mr. Weft, that Timias, this gentle Squire, was intended to exprefs exprefs covertly Sir W. Ral. Timias therefore covertly expreffing our poets honoured friend; the allufion is manifeft.-2dly, Panacea. This is mentioned in the cure of Æneas, Virg. xii. 419. the very name fhews it a fovereign remedy: Angelica ufes it too in the cure of Medoro, as well as the Dictamnus. See Virg. xii. 411.-3dly, Polygony. Pliny mentions Polygonum as good to ftanch blood. Whether any of these herbs it were, or whatever else the foveraine weed was named, this fhe brought, and applyed: Fovit eâ vulnus, Virg. xii. 420. Leva ogni fpafmo, Ariofto: She abated all fpafme. Ibid. what other could be do at least,] What at leaft could he do otherwise. XLVII. To her, to whom the hevens do ferve and few?] I O nimium dilecta Deo, cui militat aether, A medal likewife was ftrucken, representing a These often repeated verfes Dye, rather dye-the grammarians call verfus intercalares, rapeμßeßanpros. So in Ovid's Épiftles, Impia quid dubitas Deianira mori?-Theocritus, ApxETE Bwxoλixas, x. λ. Virgil, Incipe Maenalios, &c. XLVIII. Of every thing confumes and calcineth by art.] The Yet fill he wafted, as the fnow congeald, La mifera fi ftrugge, come falda LI. Her berth was of the wombe of morning dew.] Alluding to Pfal. cx. 3. The dew of thy birth is of the womb of the morning.-This is difficult to understand; the dew is, as it were, the offspring of the morning: a kind of birth or conception of the womb of the morning: the offspring of Chrift, his fubjects, and fons, &c. were to be as numerous as the dew of the morning. IV. Her mother was the faire Chryfogonee The daughter of Amphifa-] The Mythology is all our poet's own. Belphoebe is Q.Elizabeth; if we carry on the allufion Chryfogonee should be Anna Bullen: but this will not hold true, no more than Amorett is Queen Mary, because faid here to be fifter of Belphoebe. However, I neither affirm nor deny that Amorett is the type of Mary Q of Scots, whom Q. Elizabeth called fifter. VI. As it in antique bookcs is mentioned.] Our poet to gain credit to his strange affertions refers to certain antique bookes, which we have spoken of in a note on B. iii. C. 2. St. 18. Ibid. When Titan faire his beames did difplay.] The Folios read, When Titan faire his hot beames did difplay. See note on B. i. C. 5. St. 23. Haud aliter, quàm quum purum fpecularia folem Admittant; lux ipfa quidem pertranfit, & omnes Irrumpunt laxu tenebras, & difcutit umbras. Illa manent illaesa, hand ulli periva vento, Non hiemi, radijs fed tantum obnoxia Phoebi. Mahomet fays the Genii (a higher order of beings between angels and men) were created of elementary fire: He created man of clay, but the Genii he created of fire pure from fmoke. Al Koran ch. lv. What wonder that Belphoebe should be thus born, fince the fun generates fouls, like rays and fparks of fire? Sol (mens mundi) noftras mentes ex fefe, velut fcintillulas diffunditat. Amm. Marcell. L. xxi. And why more incredible that Chryfogone should conceive from the rays of the fun, than mares fhould conceive from the wind? Pliny, Virgil, and Taffo, mention this wonder. The foul itself is a ray of light from the fource of all light. Omnia Stoici Jolent ad igneam naturam referre. Cic. de Nat. Deor. L. iii. The foul is intelligible fire, we vogó. Cic. Tufc. i. Zenoni Stoico animus ignis videtur. Igneus eft ollis vigor, et caeleftis origo Though many paffages of like fort might easily be brought together, yet I fhall add but one more from Epicharmus. |