Wearie to fee th' inconftance of the heauens;
I faw the great Typhæus fifter come,

Hir head full brauely with a morian armed;
In maieftie the feemde to matche the gods.
And on the shore, harde by a violent streame,
She raifde a trophee ouer all the worlde.

An hundred vanquisht kings gronde at her feete,
Their armes in fhamefull wife bounde at their backes.
While I was with fo dreadfull fight afrayde,

I faw the heauens warre against her tho,

And seeing bir ftriken fall with clap of thunder,
With fo great noyse I start in fodaine wonder.

It must here be obferved that the fixth, eighth, thirteenth, and fourteenth, Visions of Bellay, which are in Spenfer's tranflation as published in 1591, are not in the Theatre for Worldlings; but four others are substituted, of which the writer thus fpeaks: "And, to the ende we myght speake more at large of the thing, I haue taken foure Vifions out of the Reuelation of S. Iohn, where as the Holy Ghoft by S. Iohn fetteth him (Antichrift) out in his proper colours." fol. 20.

As the book is not often to be met with, and as the subject is fo much connected with Spenfer's poetry, the reader might be displeased if I witheld the four different Vifions from his perufal.

I.

I SAW an vgly beast come from the sea,

That feuen heads, ten crounes, ten hornes did beare,
Hauing thereon the vile blaspheming name.

The cruell Leopard she resembled much :
Feet of a Beare, a Lions throte she had.
The mightie Dragon gaue to hir his power.
One of hir heads yet there I did efpie,
Still freshly bleeding of a grieuous wounde.
One cride aloude; What one is like (quod he)
This honoured Dragon, or may him withstande ?
And then came from the sea a fauage heast,
With Dragons fpeche, and fhewde his force by fire,
With wondrous fignes to make all wights adore
The beaft, in fetting of hir image vp.

II.

I SAW a Woman fitting on a beast,

Before mine eyes, of orenge colour hew;
Horrour and dreadfull name of blafphemie
Filde her with pride. And feuen heads I faw;
Ten hornes alfo the stately beaft did beare.

She feemde with glorie of the scarlet faire,
And with fine perle and golde puft vp in heart.
The wine of hooredome in a cup the bare.
The name of Myfterie writ in her face.
The bloud of Martyrs dere were hir delite.
Moft fierce and fell this Woman feemde to me.
An Angell then, defcending downe from Heauen,
With thondring voice cride out aloude, and fayd,
Now for a truth great Babylon is fallen.

III.

THEN might I fee vpon a white horse set
The faithfull man with flaming countenaunce;
His head did fhine with crounes fet thereupon.
The Worde of God made him a noble name.
His precious robe I faw embrued with blond.
Then faw I from the heauen on horfes white,
A puiffant armie come the felfe fame way.
Then cried a fhining Angell as me thought,
That birdes from aire defcending downe on earth
Should warre vpon the kings, and eate their flesh.
Then did I fee the beaft and kings alfo
Ioinyng their force to flea the faithfull man.
But this fierce hatefull beaft, and all hir traine,
Is pitileffe throwne downe in pit of fire.

IV.

I SAW new Earth, new Heauen, fayde Saint John.
And loe, the fea (quod he) is now no more.
The holy Citie of the Lorde, from hye
Defcendeth garnifht as a loued fpoufe.

A voice then fayde, Beholde the bright abode
Of God and men. For he fhall be their God,
And all their teares he fhall wipe cleane away.
His brightneffe greater was than can be founde;
Square was this citie, and twelve gates it had :
Eche gate was of an orient perfect pearle;
The houfes golde, the pauement precious ftone.
A liuely streame, more cleere than christall is,

Ranne through the mid, fprong from triumphant feat.
There growes lifes fruite vnto the Churches good.

As to the Visions of Petrarch in this little volume, they are very nearly the fame with Spenser's avowed tranflations; the following being the only variations.

The FIRST is literally word for word the fame as Spenfer's, except that, in the ninth line, The Theatre reads "this gentle beaft" and Spenfer, "that gentle beast."

In the SECOND, The Theatre at the end of the line Strake on a rock &c. places a full point, and then reads:

"O great misfortune, O great griefe, I fay,
"Thus in one moment to fee loft and drownde
"So great ryches, as lyke cannot be founde."

In the THIRD, The Theatre reads "a fresh" instead of " the fresh;" and, in the feventh line, "My fprites were ravisht with these pleasures there."

The FOURTH prefents the following variations in The Theatre, viz. in the first line, "the rocke;" in the seventh, "Vnto the gentle founding of the waters fall;" in the eighth, "The fight whereof did make my heart rejoice;" in the ninth, "But while I tooke herein &c." The thirteenth and fourteenth lines are not in The Theatre.

The FIFTH contains no other difference in The Theatre, except that, in the feventh line, "at length" occurs instead of "at laft;" and that, instead of the three last lines of Spenfer's avowed tranflation, the Vision clofes with the following line: "For pittie and love my heart yet burnes in paine."

In the SIXTH, the only variations, which The Theatre exhibits, are "in thinking" inftead of "thinking yet" in the fecond line; "in earth" instead of " on earth" in the eleventh ; "But bitter griefe that doth our hearts annoy," in the twelfth; and the want of the 13th and 14th lines.

Spenfer's SEVENTII occurs not in The Theatre. But to the fix preceding, (Epigrams as they are also called,) are added these four lines:

"My Song thus now, in thy conclufions,

"Say boldly that these fame fix Vifions

"Do yelde vnto thy lorde a fweete request,
"Ere it be long, within the earth to rest."

I will only add here, that the book, though entitled A Theatre for Worldlings, confifts chiefly of predictions of the ruin of Rome and fall of Antichrift; a fubject, particularly interesting to Spenfer. However, fee the Life of the poet; and a further extract from this work, in the note on Spenfer's Sonnet prefixed to the Hift. of Georg. Caftriot, and printed in this edition. ToDD.

DAPHNAÏDA:

AN ELEGIE

Upon the Death of the noble and vertuous Douglas Howard, Daughter and Heire of Henry Lord Howard, Viscount Byndon, and Wife of Arthur Gorges, Efquier.

DEDICATED TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE LADIE HELENA, MARQUESSE OF NORTHAMPTON.

BY ED. SP.