No converse here to fancy cold 20 O DE V. SENT TO MR. UPTON, ON HIS EDITION OF THE FAERIE QUEENE. (Published in 1777.) As oft, reclin'd on Cherwell's shelving fhore, Much would I grieve, that envious Time fo foon O'er the lov'd strain had caft his dim disguise; 6 Ode, &c.] In the Library of Trinity College, Oxford, there is a copy of Urry's Chaucer, on the firft leaf of which is the following. memorandum. Notulas manufcriptas adjecit Joannes Upton, Præbendarius Ecclefiæ Roffenfis. Cujus a Musæo redemptus eft ifte liber. T. Warton. V. 2. romantic Spenfer's moral page ;] "Romantic," because he fings Of turneys and of trophies hung, Of forefts and inchantments drear. Il Penf. But at the fame time, "moral," because under the wildeft ftories More is meant than meets the ear. Spenfer fays of his own poetry, Fierce warres and faithfull loves shall moralize my fong, As lowering clouds, in April's brightest noon, Mar the pure fplendors of the purple skies. Sage UPTON came, from every mystic tale Thus, never knight with mortal arms effay'd 15 V. 8. Mar the pure fplendors of the purple fkies.] See Ph. Fletcher's Purple Island: Only one blot fo great a light to mar, That never could he hope his waning to repair. vi. 70. I would mention here that the use of "repair" in the above paffage, and again in Cant. vi. St. 64. of the fame poem, So foon repairs her light doubling her newborn rays, may perhaps have occurred to Milton in Lycidas, ver. 169: And yet anon repairs his drooping head; and will more fully justify Gray, where he fays of " the orb of "day," To-morrow he repairs the golden flood. Bard, III. iii. See note on the above from Lycidas in Warton's edit. of Milton. V. 16. —with golden fpear-] I rather suspect an oversight in this paffage. When Britomart attended at Satyrane's Turneyment in disguise, she is distinguished as the "Knight of the hebene "Speare:" (See F. 2. IV. v. 8.) and it appears from IV. vi. 6. that it was with the same spear that she had penetrated the castle of Bufyrane. Warton remarks however, (Obf. on Spenfer, i. 207.) The dauntless maid with hardy step explor'd 21 At this, where'er, in distant region fheen, She roves, embower'd with many a fpangled bough, that Spenfer fometimes calls it "golde launce." I am not aware that he ever calls it fo; nor do I know what authority Upton has for faying (vol. ii. p. 517.) that it was headed with gold, or for identifying it, as he seems to do, with Aftolfo's lancia d'oro. Perhaps indeed he has only mentioned the latter, by way of accounting for Spenfer's having attributed such virtue to the "bebene speare.” Compare Warton's Hift. of Eng. P. vol. i. p. 412. V. 17. The dauntlefs maid with hardy ftep explor'd, &c.] See Faerie Queene, B. III. C. xi. and xii. Most of the expreffions in this ftanza are properly taken from Spenfer: Much fairer than the former was that roome, And richlier by many partes aray'd. III. xi. 51. And in the next stanza, And all aboute the gliftring walles were hong And in the argument to Canto xii: The mafke of Cupid and th' enchaunted Chamber are difplay'd. Spenfer elsewhere ufes imagery as in the text : That richer feem'd than any tapestry, That princes bowres adorne with painted imagery. VII. vii. 10. V. 21. At this, where'er, in diftant region fheen, &c.] This stanza has evidently an allufion to the first Book of the Faerie Queene; but I do not altogether understand it. Mild Una, lifting her majestic mien, At this, in hopelefs forrow drooping long, 25 V. 26. Her painted wings Imagination plumes ;] Triumph of Ifis: She refts her wearied feet, and plumes her wings. Ver. 240. Comus, ver. 378, on which fee the note; She plumes her feathers, and lets grow her wings. Thomson is close to the text, where he says of the birds, that they begin -to plume the painted wing. Spring, 585. The wings of Imagination are "painted" for an obvious reason. VOL. I. |