dala tecta, Virg. G. iv. 179. O ftupenda opra, o dedalo architetto! Arioft. xxxiv. 53. Hence from his art the ingenious artift Daedalus was named. Perhaps Spenfer had Tafso in view, who has the very fame expreffion, Canto xii.

94.

E fe non fu di ricche pietre elette

La tomba, e da MAN DEDALA fcolpita.

IV.

But if in living colours, and right hew,
Thyfelfe thou covet to fee pictured,
Who can it do more lively or more true,
Then that sweete verfe, with nectar fprinckeled,
In which a gracious fervaunt pictured
His Cynthia.] The 2d quarto and folio's read
Yourfelfe you covet.-But I have kept the oldeft
reading that of the 1ft quarto. So in B. iii.
C. 2. St. 3. Thyfelfe thy praifes tell-not, Your-
Selfe your prayfes tell. And in the Introduction to
the ift book, St. 5. Shed thy faire beames, not
Shed your faire beames-He adds, Then that fweet
verfe with nectar fprinckeled,

In which a gracious fervaunt-
-Volui tibi fuaviloquenti
Carmine Pierio rationem exponere noftram,
Et quafi Mufaeo dulci contingere melle.

Lucret. i. 944.

Pierio liquidam perfundis nectare vocem.

Varro Atacinus. This gracious fervaunt here mentioned means Sir

W. Raleigh, our poet's truly honoured friend, Tos; imaged and fhadowed in this, as well as in the other books, under the name of Timias. And Spenfer in his letter to Sir W. Raleigh fays he imitated him, expreffing the name of his royal mistress in Belphoebe, whose name ⚫he fashioned according to Sir W. Raleigh's < own excellent conceit of Cynthia; Phoebe

and Cynthia being both names of Diana.' See B. iii. C. 6. St. 28. 'Tis not much to the purpose to add that Cynthia was the fictitious name of the mistress of Propertius; but 'tis more material to obferve that Britomartis, the heroine of this book is the fame as Diana, Cynthia, or Belphoebe. Britomartis, fays Hefychius, is the name of Diana among the Cretans, βριτόμαρτις· ἐν Κρήτῃ ἡ "Αρτεμις· βειτύ, γλυκύ. Κρῆτες. from this word er, which fignifies fweet, in the Cretan dialect, our word pritty feems to me to be derived which I rather mention, because M. Cafaubon's etymology from glos is far fetched. Cretes Dianam religiofiffimè venerantur, Britomartin gentiliter nominantes, quod fermone noftro fonat virginem dulcem. Solin. Polyhift. Cap. xi. Britomartis was likewife the name of one of Diana's nymphs and companions, and is mentioned by Callimachus, Hymn. in Dian. 190. where the reader at his leisure may confult the learned Spanheim, and other commentators. This fhows whether 'twas the name of Diana, or one of her chaft nymphs, that Britomartis is well chofen for a goddefs to represent Chaf tity, and the BRITISH VIRGIN, xarà wagovoμacíar.

his adventure: but now, for present ufe, he has provided himself with another horfe. Spenfer does not tell us how he provided himfelf with this horfe 'tis a circumftance, he thinks too minute: and indeed there are feveral of these minuter circumstances, which he leaves unexplained, and the reader is to fupply them for himfelf. This verfe I believe was thus given by the author,

They courteous conge tooke and forth together rode :
Like two knights, alla cavalleresca.

A knight there was, and that a worthi man,
That fro the time that he first began
To ridin out, be lovid chevalree.

So Chaucer in the defcription and character of the knight: Again, fpeaking of Thefeus in the knight's tale, 983.

Thus ritt this duke, thus ritt this conquerour.

They fpide a knight that towards pricked fayre;]

St. 2. fays,

So long he yode, yet no adventure found,
And right: for he had just loft his horfe.
though we read in B. ii. C. 11. St. 20.
Which fuddein horror and confused cry
Whenas their captaine heard, in hafte he yode
The caufe to weet, and fault to remedy:
Upon a tygre fwift, and fierce he rode.

Yet this paffage by no means vindicates the above questioned reading: 'tis a mifcreated captain, without knighthood or dignity; befides he ought not to have used rode twice; nor make the fame word to rhime to itself. Let any one in our famous burlefque poem inftead of, Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling, And out he rode a colonelling,

fubftitute yode, and then he will better fee the impropriety of the received reading, and the propriety of what is now offered,

They courteous conge tooke, and forth together rode. It feems as if the fourth ftanza, just below, had, some how or other, caught the printer's eye; where the rhime (as faid above) is fufficient anfwer against alteration.

III.

Seeking the weake oppressed to relieve,
And to recover right for fuch as wrong did grieve.]
So the books read, which I would alter thus,
And to recover right for fuch as wrong'd did grieve.
This was the characteristic of knights errant,
and their military oath,

That feemd to COUCH under his field three-square; As if that age badd him that burden fpare,

to couch, i. e. to lie, to repofe, &c. But the tenor of the fentence feems to require, to crouch, to stoop,

That feemd to CROUCH under his fhield three-fquare; As if that age badd him that burden spare. 'twas fo burdenfome, and the Squire fo old, that the Squire seemed TO CROUCH under this threefquare field, i. e. three-cornered; like the shield of our English kings: for Britomart is a British Princefs. Marinell's fhield is likewife threefquare. See B. iii. C. 4. St. 16. But pray observe, that Sir Guyon, in whom is imaged Temperance, fpurs his horfe and tilts with this undefied knight: 'twas a ftrange custom this of courteous knights, fee B. iv. C. 6. St. 4. but much more, før fo fober and temperate knight, as Sir Guyon; unless we fuppofe fome fecret hiftory alluded to: and this poem is full of allufions, either moral or historical. In Britomart I fuppofed imaged the Virgin Queen; in Sir Guyon the Earl of Effex. Sir Guyon is difmounted prefuming to match himself against Britomart. If Guyon hiftorically and covertly (now and then) means the Earl of Effex, will it not bear an eafy allufion to his prefuming to match himself with Queen Elizabeth? And has not the poet with the finest art managed a very dangerous and fecret piece of history?

And eke, through feare, as white as whales bone. Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold,] Perhaps the reader is not to be put in mind that whales is of two fyllables, as in the Introduct. B. iii. St. 4.

And with the wonder of her beaměs bright,

So below B. iii. C. 1. St. 39. worldes. and many other of like fort. See notes in pag. 379. he fays, her garments were wrought of beaten gold, meaning perhaps, that beaten gold was interwoven through her garments. xpuoepns ions, χρυσεφὴς ἐσθὴς, auro intertexta veftis: as the dress of Chariclea is described in Heliodorus.

-Tenui telas difcreverat aura.

XVI.

All as a blazing farre doth farre outcast His heary beames, and flaming lockes difpredd, At fight whereof the people stand aghaft; But the fage wifard telles (as he has redd) That it importunes death and dolefull dreryhedd.] Spenfor has many allufions to what happened in his own times. This fimile though proper at any time, yet seems more affecting, as fuch a phænomenon appear'd in the year 1582, according to Cambden and the writers of Q. Elizabeth's reign.-The people standing aghaft-the wifard aftrologer foretelling-ieem to allude to

thofe particular times: and yet the fimile is fo artfully managed as that it may be taken in the moft general fenfe.-Hairie beames and flaming lockes difpredd, is very poetical and alluding to the etymology, Anglo-S. Feaxed rteorra, fella crinita, a ftarre with hairy beames, a blazing ftarre. Nor indeed is there scarcely any poet that mentions a comet, but alludes likewife to its etymology, and to its portentous nature. Cometas Graeci vocant, noftri crinitas, borrentes crine fanguineo, et comarum modo in vertice hifpidas. Plin Lib. ii. C. 25. See Cicero, Nat. Deor. ii. 5. Theo, in his Commentary on Aratus, pag. 120. τὰς ἀκτῖνας τὸ παντὸς ἀστέρος κίμας είναι νομίζεσιν. Compare Lucan. i. 528. Silius Ital. viii. 638. Taffo, vii. 52. Milton ii. 708. See note on B. iv. C. 1. St. 13.

XVIII.

The prince and Guyon-] He returns to this adventure, B. iii. C. 4. St. 45. B. iii. C. 6. St. 54. XXIV.

-fhe th' errant damzell hight.] So he calls Una, whom he names not; but describes her, as in B. i. C. 3. St. 3. B. i. C. 6. St. 2. B. i. C. 7. St. 50. The knight thus affaulted is the Red-crofs knight, St. George; who atchieves the adventure in the first book: See below, St. 42. Una is called the errant damzell, B. ii. C. 1. St. 19. which proves to demonftration the error that has gotten place in all the copies, in B. iii. C. 2. St. 4. for which I thus prepare the reader before hand.

XXV.

Ne may love be compeld by maiflery;
For foon as maiftery comes, fweet love anone
Taketh his nimble winges, and foone away is gone.]
This feems plainly from Chaucer in the Fran
kelins tale. 2310.

Love wolle not be conftreyn'd by maistery:
When maistery cometh, the god of love anone
Betith his winges, and farewell he is gone.
Hence Pope in his Epiftle of Eloisa to Abelard,
Love free as air, at fight of human ties
Spreads his light wings, and in a moment fiies.
Our poet has the fame thought in B. iv. C. 1.
St. 46.

For love is free and led with felf-delight,
Ne will enforced be with mafterdome or might.
Compare Xenophon, Memoirs of Socrates, B. ii.
C. 6. Sect. 9, and Sect. 31. and B. iii. C. 11.
Sect. 11.

II.

XXVIII.