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"But Fame with golden wings aloft doth flie,
Above the reach of ruinous decay,
And with brave plumes doth beate the azure skie,
Admir'd of base-borne men from farre
away:
Then who fo will with vertuous deeds affay 425
To mount to heaven, on Pegasus must ride,
And with sweete Poets verfe be glorifide.

"For not to have been dipt in Lethe lake,
Could fave the fonne of Thetis from to die;
But that blinde Bard did him immortall make
With verfes, dipt in deaw of Caftalie :
Which made the Eafterne Conquerour to crie,
O fortunate yong-man, whose vertue found
So brave a Trompe, thy noble acts to found.

431

"Therefore in this halfe happie I doo read 435 Good Melibæ, that hath a Poet got To fing his living praises being dead,

Ver. 428. For not to have been dipt in Lethe lake, &c.] The lines are elegant; but the poet should have said “Stygian lake." JORTIN,

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Ver. 432. Which made the Eafterne Conquerour to crie, O fortunate yong-man, &c.] Alexander Achillem prædicabat felicem, quod tantum virtutis fuæ præconem inveniffet." Freinshemius, Suppl. in Q. Curtium, I. 4. JORTIN,

Spenfer more probably drew this from Tully pro Archid: "Atque is [Alexander] tamen cùm in Sigeo ad Achillis tumulum adftitiffet, O fortunate, inquit, Adolefcens, qui tuæ virtutis Homerum præconem inveneris." T. WARTON.

Ver. 436.

Good Melibæ, that hath a Poet got,] Sir Francis Walfingham, who died Apr. 6. 1590, is Meliba. The

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Deferving never here to be forgot,

In fpight of envie, that his deeds would spot: Since whofe decease, learning lies unregarded, And men of armes doo wander unrewarded. 441

"'Those two be those two great calamities,
That long agoe did grieve the noble spright
Of Salomon with great indignities;
Who whilome was alive the wisest wight.
But now his wifedome is difprooved quite;
For he, that now welds all things at his will,
Scorns th' one and th' other in his deeper skill.

445

"O griefe of griefes! O gall of all good heartes! To see that vertue fhould dispised bee

450

Of him, that first was raifde for vertuous parts, And now, broad fpreading like an aged tree, Lets none fhoot up that nigh him planted bee: O let the man, of whom the Mufe is fcorned, Nor alive nor dead be of the Muse adorned! 455

"O vile worlds truft! that with fuch vaine illufion Hath fo wife men bewitcht, and overkeft,

Poet is Thomas Watson, who published his "Meliboeus, five Ecloga in Obitum Honoratiffimi viri Dom. Fr. Walfinghami, Equitis Aurati, &c. 4to. 1590." OLDYS.

Ver. 440. Since whofe deceafe, &c.] See Spenfer's poem to him, before the Faerie Queene. OLDYS.

Ver. 447. For he &c.] Lord Burleigh. See the Life of the Poet. This line is thus altered in the firft folio:

"For fuch as now have moft the world at will, &c." And, in the next flanza the fingular him &c. is altered to the plural fuch &c. TODD.

That they fee not the way of their confusion:
O vaineffe! to be added to the reft,
That do my foule with inward griefe infest:
Let them behold the piteous fall of mee,
And in my case their owne enfample fee.

461

"And who fo els that fits in highest seate
Of this worlds glorie, worshipped of all,
Ne feareth change of time, nor fortunes
threate,

Let him behold the horror of my fall,
And his owne end unto remembrance call;
That of like ruine he may warned bee,
And in himselfe be moov'd to pittie mee."-

465

470

Thus having ended all her piteous plaint,
With dolefull fhrikes fhee vanished away,
That I through inward forrowe wexen faint,
And all astonished with deepe dismay
For her departure, had no word to fay;
But fate long time in fenceleffe fad affright, 475
Looking ftill, if I might of her have fight.

Which when I miffed, having looked long,
My thought returned greeved home againe,
Renewing her complaint with paffion strong,
For ruth of that fame womans piteous paine; 480
Whose wordes recording in my troubled braine,

feeble heart,

I felt fuch anguish wound my
That frofen horror ran through everie part.

So inlie greeving in my groning breft,
And deepelie muzing at her doubtfull speach,
Whofe meaning much I labored foorth to
wrefte,

Being above my flender reafons reach;

486

At length, by demonftration me to teach, Before mine eies ftrange fights prefented were, Like tragicke Pageants feeming to appeare. 490

1.

I SAW an Image, all of maffie gold,
Placed on high upon an Altare faire,
That all, which did the fame from farre beholde,
Might worship it, and fall on loweft staire.
Not that great Idoll might with this compaire,
To which th' Affyrian Tyrant would have

made

The holie brethren falslie to have praid.

496

Ver. 490. Like tragicke Pageants &c.] Spenfer, as E. K. informs us, wrote a poem on these allegorical representations. See the Gloffe on June, Shep. Cal. Poffibly the following Emblems made a part of his labour on the fubject. They represent the overthrow of Empire, of the Works of Art, of Pleasure, of Strength, and of Beauty, befides their manifeft allufion to the hiftory of Sir Philip Sidney. Pageants were a fashionable exhibition in Spenfer's time. See the fecond vol. of this edition, pp. ci. cii. TODD..

Ver. 497. The holie brethren, &c.] See Daniel, iii. 15. &c, TODD.

But th' Altare, on the which this Image ftaid, Was (O great pitie !) built of brickle clay, That fhortly the foundation decaid,

500

With fhowres of heaven and tempefts worne

away;

Then downe it fell, and low in ashes lay,
Scorned of everie one, which by it went;
That I, it seeing, dearelie did lament,

II.

Next unto this a statelie Towre appeared, 505 Built all of richest stone that might bee found, And nigh unto the Heavens in height upreared, But placed on a plot of fandie ground:

Not that great Towre, which is fo much renownd

For tongues confufion in Holie Writ,

510

King Ninus worke, might be compar'd to it.
But O vaine labours of terreftriall wit,
That buildes fo ftronglie on fo frayle a foyle,
As with each ftorme does fall away, and flit,
And gives the fruit of all your travailes toyle,
To be the pray of Tyme, and Fortunes spoyle!
I faw this Towre fall fodainelie to duft,
That nigh with griefe thereof my heart was

bruft.

Ver. 499.

517

brickle] So the poet's own edition reads. The reft have altered it to brittle. But I concieve brickle to be the word intended by Spenfer. It occurs in Cotgrave's old Fr. Dict. "BRICKLE, full of brickes, fit for brickes, briqueux." TODD.

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