That fure he weend him born of noble blood,
With whom thofe graces did fo goodly FIT.
B. vi. C. 2. St. 24..

But that he wrote,
With whom thofe graces did fo goodly SIT.
And I would read likewife in B. v. C. 5. St. 10.
With fpightfull fpeaches fitting with her well.
And not fitting, as printed in all the Editions.
XXXI.

In which that wicked wight his dayes doth weare.]
A Latinifm, dies terit, confumit. and Grecifm,

τρίβει τὰς ἡμέρας. Βίον τρίβει.

XXXII.

For what fo ftrong, But wanting reft will also want of might?] Want of might, i. e. be deficient in might. The thought is from Ovid, Epift. IV. 89. Quod caret alternâ requie durabile non est. The fame obfervation he has again, B. iii. C. 7. St. 3.

But nought that wanteth reft can long aby.
So in his Shepherd's Calend. Ecl. IX.
Whatever thing lacketh changeable rest
Mought needs decay when it is at beft.
Chaucer likewife had Ovid in his eye in the
Merch. Tale. 1378.

For every labour fometime mote have reft,
Or ellis long time may he not endure.

For wele he wifte whan that fong was fonge, He must preche and well afile his tongue.

This Pandarus

Chauc. Prol. 714.

gan newe his tongue afile.

Ch. Troil. & Cref. II. 1681. Johnson calls Shakespeare's poems 'well torned and true-filed lines.' bene tornatos et limatos verfus. See Dr. Bentley's learned note on Horat. Art. Poet. v. 441. but don't be perfuaded by his fair-filed tongue to admit his correction. I ought not to forget that Faifax likewife uses this expreffion, v. 8.

He ftord his mouth with speeches fmothly filde.
Again, VI. 73. with his filed tongue. And Dryden,
in Cym. & Iphigen.

His mien he fashion'd and his tongue he fild.
XXXVI.

The drouping night thus creepeth on them faft,
And the fad humor loading their eye-liddes,
As me fenger of Morpheus on then caf
Sweet flombring deaw-] Morpheus, according to
the more modern poets, is the god of fleep, and
fo characterized in Chaucer; whom our poet
plainly had before him, as well as Ovid, when
he wrote that beautiful defcription of Morpheus'
houfe, which we fhall prefently fee. Notwith-
ftanding Spenfer is fo fettered with rhyme, his
verfes are wonderfully picturefque; both the
images and the expreffion correfponding each
to the other. Milton feems to have imitated
this paffage in Par. Loft. IV. 614.

X x 2

And

Scimus enim et quicquid dici nofcique timetis,
Et turbare Hecaten; ni te Tymbrace vererer,
Et triplicis mundi fummum, QUEM SCIRE NEFAS-

TUM.

This line of Statius is very remarkable,
Et triplicis mundi fummum, quem fcire nefaftum.
One would think that he alluded to that tre-
mendous, unutterable name, the four-lettered
name: A name written that no man knew, Revel.
xix. 12. A name, that rightly pronounced,
would work all miracles: if you believe the
Jews. The inchanter Ifmeno in Taffo threat-
ens the fpirits with the dreaded name of Demo-
gorgon; the whole paffage of Taffo is an imi-
tation of Lucan, and Statius.

E so con lingua anch' io di fangue lorda
Quel NOME proferir GRANDE e TEMUTO:
A cui nè Dite mai ritrorfa, è forda,
Ne trafcurato in ubbidir fu Pluto.

Canto xii. 10.

Hence Milton, the dreaded name of Demogorgon: or from Spenfer, St. 43.

And threatned unto him the dreaded name of Hecate. This tremendous deity is mentioned too below, B. i. C. 5. St. 22. and B. iv. C. 2. St. 47.-But let us return to Archimago, whom we find in his ftudy confulting his magical books, from which choofing out few words most horrible, certain myftical words of inchantments, he framed verfes and spells of them; and thus Taflo of the inchanter Ifmeno, Canto xiii. 6. Mormorò potentiffime parole: or as Shakespeare learnedly and, finely expreffes it, muttering his unintelligible jargon.' Carmen magicum volvit, Seneca ligible jargon.' Carmen magicum volvit, Seneca in Oedip. Sufurramen magicum, Apul. Met. 1. -Obfcurum verborum ambage novorum Ter movies carmen magico demurmurat ore.

Ov. Met. xiv. 57. Tunc vox Lethaeos cunctis pollentior herbis Excantare deos, confundit murmura primùm Diffona, & humanae multùm difcordia linguae.

Lucan. vi. 685. The next thing the inchanter does, is to call by name upon the infernal deities. So Medea in

Seneca,

Vos precor vulgus filentum, vofque ferales deos, Et Chaos caесит.

But wander too and fro in waies unknowne.
But this rule is not always observed by him.
XXXIX.

He making Speedy way through fperfed ayre,
And through the world of waters wide and deepe,
To Morpheus houfe doth haftily repaire.
Amid the bowels of the earth full fteepe
And low, where dawning day doth never peepe
His dwelling is; there Tethys his wed bed
Doth ever wash, and Cynthia ftill doth steepe
In filver deaw his ever-drouping bed,
Whiles fad Night over him her mantle black doth
pred.] Tis hardly poffible for a more picturesque
defcription to come from a poet or a painter,
than this whole magical fcene. Archimago
calls to his affiftance two infernal fpirits, one of
which ftays with him, the other is fent to the
house of Morpheus,

The god of fleep there hides his heavy head,
And empty dreams on every leaf are spread.

Virg. vi. 396.
He [i. e. the spirit fent by Archimago] making
Speedy way through SPERSED AIR
This fame expreffion Fairfax has, xiii. 2.
Legions of devils by thoufands thither come,
Such as in fparfed aire their biding make.
And the next verfe Milton has borrowed,
And through the world of waters wide and deep-
The rifing world of waters dark and deep.
Par. Loft, iii. 2.
With refpect to Milton's imitation, and his
change of one of the epithets, with the reafon
of it; I have spoken already in critical obferva-
tions on Shakespeare. p. 267. and in a letter to
Mr. Weft, concerning a new edit. of Spenfer-
Next, this infernal imp arrives at the house of
Morpheus: now here Spenfer acts as a Scholar

and

and a poet should act; which is to fee what others have faid on the fame fubject, and then to imitate what beft fuits his fubject.-When Juno wanted to lull the thunderer to repose, and to withdraw him from affifting the Trojans, fhe is thus defcribed

She fpeeds to Lemnos o'er the rowling deep
And fecks the cave of Death's half-brother Sleep.
Sweet pleafing Sleep (Saturnia thus began)
Who fpreadft thy empire oer each God and man-
Il. xiv. 264.
As Spenfer had no intent to characterize the
Lemnians as fluggards, he places the house of
Morpheus amid the bowels of the earth. In
the Odyffey, Homer places the region of
dreams at the ends of the earth, among the
Cimmerians,

When lo! we reach'd old ocean's utmost bounds-
There in a lonely land, and gloomy cells,
The dufky nation of Cimmeria dwells:
The Sun ne'er views th' uncomfortable feats,
When radiant he advances, or retreats.

Hom. Od. xi. 13: Ovid has tranflated this paffage of Homer, in Met. xi. 592. and fo has Valerius Flacc. iii. 398. and Statius, Theb. x. 84. And likewife Ariofto Canto xiv. St. 102.-The reader at his

leifure may (if he pleases) compare these authors together. Let me add the dream of Chaucer, v. 136. pag. 405. Urry's edit.

Go bet, quoth Juno to Morpheus,
Thou knowft him wel, the god of flepe
This melenger toke leve and wente
Upon his way and nevre he fente,

Tyl he came to the darke valey

is frequently made, and Thetis is printed for Tethys, often in Spenfer, and often in other poets: and this very blunder runs through Drayton's Polyolbion. I thought it not improper to mention this once for all, as this errour (as I faid above) runs through most of the editions of Spenfer, both here and in feveral other paffages. XL.

Whofe double gates he findeth locked fast, The one faire fram'd of burnifht yvory, The other all with filver overcaft.] Hear my dream (fays Socrates in Plato's Charmides) whether it comes from the gate of horn, or from the gate of ivory: i. e. whether true or falfe. The poets fuppofe two gates of Sleep, the one of horn, from which true dreams proceed; the other of ivory, which fends forth falfe dreams. [Hom. Odyfs. ' 562. Virg. vi. 894] But Spencer very judicioufly varies from thefe poets; for he fuppofes the wicked Archimago not to have access to truth in any fhape; much lefs to thofe dreams, which may be faid to come from the throne of Jupition with vain and diftracting images. The ter; but to thofe only, which fill the imaginagates of horn may be imagined to fend forth true dreams, from its transparency and fimplicity; the gates of ivory, filver, &c. from its gaudy appearance, to fend fallacious dreams. I find interpreters extremely puzzled to find a reason why Virgil makes Anchifes difmifs his fon and and the Sibyl through the ivory gate: it is (they fay) undoing all he has done before, and giving the lye to the prediction of Anchifes: quite otherwife, I think: 'tis only faying that the truth is a little embellifh'd with the gaudy fictions of poetry. An hiftorian might find his hero through the gates of horn: a poet must

Urry's edit.]

Unto the god of fepe anone,

That dwellith in a cave of stone,
Upon a ftreme that cometh fro Lete,
(That is a fiode of hell unfwete)
Befide a folke men clepe Čimerie-

Befide a folke-prope Cimmerios: as I elsewhere corrected and explained this paffage: for Chaucer has tranflated Ovid. Met. xi. 592. only he makes Morpheus the God of fleep, and fo does the moderns. but in Ovid Morpheus is one of the fons of Somnus.

XXXIX.

There Tethys his wet bed-] In fome editions 'tis printed Thetis. Tethys, was the wife of Oceanus, and is used for the ocean; Thetis, was a Nereid or fea-nymph. But the blunder and confufion

gate, the gate of ivory, adorned and embellifh'd with its proper fiction: and proper fiction beft conveys truth.

Of fwarming bees, did caft him in a fwowne.] Spenfer does not confine himself to the imitation of any one poet, but gathers the flowers of many. Thus Chaucer expreffes himself in his defcription of the houfe of Morpheus the God of flepe, as he names him :

Save that there werein a fewe welles
Came running fro the clyffes adowne
That made a dedly flepinge fowne.

Obferve here Sowne, which is Spenfer's word: though altered in fome editions. Ital. Suono. Lat. Sonus.

Ibid.

-but careless Quiet lies.] QUIET, as a perfon: and thus it fhould have been printed in Ovid. Met. xi. 602. Muta Quies habitat. Spenfer's epithet is much prettier. Thus Statius in the fame defcription, Theb. x. 89. Limen opaca Quies, et pigra Oblivia fervant.

ii. 2.

was to bring a reproach upon chriftianity: that the way of TRUTH might be evil spoken of. 2 Peter See Shend in the Gloffary: 'tis a word frequently ufed by Spenfer: though the first time the printer faw it he blundered; perhaps the word above (as ufual) caught his eye. The fame blunder was made in Shakespeare, viz. fent for fhent: See Critical Obfervations on Shakespeare, page 193. Methinks the allegory, as well as the propriety and rhyme, all lead us to this eafy correction." .: XLIV.

The God obayde, and calling forth ftraight way A diverse dreame out of his prifon darke] A dream that would occafion diverfity and distraction; hideous dreame. or from the Ital.. Sogno diverfo, a frightful,

Cerbero fiera crudele e diverfa.

Dante, Infern. C. vi.

XLII.

Whofe DRYER braine.] i. e. too fober. SICCIS omnía nam dura deus propofuit. Hor. L. i. Od. 18.

XLIII.

Hether (quoth he) me Archimago SENT
He that the ftubborn fprites can wifely tame,
He bids thee to him fend for his intent

A fit falfe dreame, that can delude the fleepers SENT. The great enemy and impoftor intended to difgrace chriftianity: to delude was the means; the end was to difgrace: how fhould he difgrace Una ? by fullying her character. How lead the knight into difgrace? by feparating him from truth. The allegory therefore points out the emendation. The rhyme too points out the emendation; for thefe jingling terminations (if poffible) fhould not confift of words fpelt alike: and Spencer always endeavours to avoid it, but his fetters often flick too close. The words likewise are embarraffed and may have, as they now ftand, different meanings affigned, ex. gr. a falje dreame that may delude the fent or fcent of the fleeper: or, of the fleepers.But the correction is obvious with a little attention to the allegory and to Spenfer's manner of rhyming, A fit false dreame, that can delude the fleepers SHENT, i.e. brought into difgrace. The fleepers were Una and the knight, whom he wanted to delude and to difgrace: the intention of this enemy

XLV.

vifionary phantom deck'd out like Una, feems And fram'd of liquid ayre her tender parts] This imaged from Homer, Virgil, and Taffo. That weaker fence--Should rather have been thus, That th' weaker fence it would have ravisht quight. The weaker fence, as oppofed to the fenle of reafon and underftanding: but this particle and hereafter, much to the detriment and perfpicuity others he often omits, as the reader will fee

of the sentence.