a private man, colored in his Rinaldo; the other named POLITIC, in his
Godfredo. By ensample of which excellent poetry, I labor to portray in
Arthur, before he was King, the image of a brave Knight, perfected in the
twelve moral virtues, as Aristotle hath devised, the which is the purpose
of these first twelve books.

At last she chanced by good hap to meet
A goodly knight, fair marching by the way,
Together with his squire arrayed meet:
His glittering armor shined far away,
Like glancing light of Phoebus' brightest ray;
From top to toe no place appeared bare
That deadly dint of steel endanger may;
Athwart his breast a baldric brave he wear,

That shin'd like twinkling stars, with stones most precious rare.

And in the midst thereof, one precious stone
Of wondrous worth and eye of wondrous mights,
Shaped like a lady's head, exceeding shone,
Like Hesperus amongst the lesser lights,
And strove for to amaze the weaker sights :
Thereby his mortal blade full comely hung,
In ivory sheath engraved with curious sleights,
Whose hilts were burnished gold; and handle strong,
Of mother pearl; and buckled with a golden tongue.

His haughty helmet, horrid all with gold,
Both glorious brightness and great terror bred;
For all the crest a dragon did enfold

With greedy paws, and over all did spread
His golden wings; his dreadful hideous head
Close couched on the beaver, seemed to throw
From flaming mouth bright sparkles fiery red,
That sudden horror to faint hearts did show;
And scaly tail was stretch'd adown his back full low.

Upon the top of all his lofty crest,
A bunch of hairs discolor'd diversely

With sprinkled pearl and gold full richly drest,
Did shake and seemed to dance for jollity;
Like to an almond tree upmounted high
On top of green Selinis all alone,

With blossoms brave bedecked daintily;
Whose tender locks do tremble every one
At every little breath that under heaven is blown.

His warlike shield all closely covered was,
Nor might of mortal eye be ever seen;
Not made of steel nor of enduring brass,
(Such earthly metals soon consumed been)
But all of diamond perfect, pure and clean;
It framed was, one massy entire mould
Hewn out of adamant rock with engines keen,
That point of spear it never piercen could,

Nor dint of direful sword divide the substance would.

The same to wight he never would disclose,
But when as monsters huge he would dismay
Or daunt unequal armies of his foes,
Or when the flying heavens he would affray;
For so exceeding shown his glittering ray—

This vivid delineation is very much like Milton's inimitable description, (Par. Lost, Book VI, line 760.)

He, in celestial panoply all arm'd

Of radiant Urim, work divinely wrought,
Ascended; at his right hand Victory
Set eagle-winged; beside him hung his bow
And quiver with three-bolted thunder stored:
And from about him fierce effusion rolled,

Of smoke and bickering flame and sparkles dire:
Attended with ten thousand saints

He onward came; far off his coming shone.

Far off his coming shone.

"This," says Mr. Montgomery, "is one of the most poetic images in the English language:" and it illustrates the wonderful effect that may be given in a few words. The profuse description that precedes, does not portray the glory of the Son half so vividly as this short line-far off his coming shone. The impression is distnct, yet there is the most ample room for the imagination to play.

Spenser has not the intensity of this expression, but has much, if not all, the beauty of the thought. His glittering armor shined far away.

PRINCE ARTHUR

UNVEILS HIS ARMOR TO THE STEEDS OF THE SOLDAN.

Thus long they trac'd and travers'd to and fro,
Seeking by every way to make some breach:
Yet could the Prince not nigh unto him go,
That one sure stroke he might unto him reach,
Whereby his strength's essay he might him teach.
At last from his victorious shield he drew
The veil, which did his powerful light impeach;
And coming full before his horse's view,

As they upon him press'd, it plain to them did shew.

Like lightning flash that hath the gazer burned,
So did the sight thereof their sense dismay,
That back again upon themselves they turned,
And with their rider ran perforce away;

Milton vanquishes the enemies of God with the

same stroke of genius.

"Full soon

Among them he arrived; in his right hand

Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent
Before him, such as in their souls imfix'd

Plagues; they astonished, all resistance lost,
All courage. 22

Par. Lost, Book vi. Line 834.

The flight of the Soldan's steeds is as rapid as that of the vanquished angels.

Fast did they fly, as them their feet could bear
High over hills, and lowly over dales,

As they were follow'd of their former fear.

As when the fiery mouthed steeds, which drew
The sun's bright wain to Phæton's decay,
Soon as they did the monstrous scorpion view,
With ugly craples crawling in their way,
The dreadful sight did them so sore affray,
That their well known courses they forewent:
And leading the ever-burning lamp astray
This lower world well nigh to ashes brent,
And left their scorched path yet in the firmament.

Such was the fury of their headstrong steeds,
Soon as the infant's sun-like shield they saw,
That all obedience to words and deeds,
They quite forgot and scorned all former law;

Through woods, and rocks, and mountains they did draw,
And toss'd the Paynim, without fear or awe;

From side to side they tossed him here and there,
Crying to them in vain, that n'ould his crying hear.

BELPHEBE.

-Eftsoon there stepped forth

A goodly lady clad in hunter's weeds,
That seemed to be a woman of great worth,
And by her stately 'portance born of heavenly birth.

This radiant vision is accompanied by a train of sweet associations, and sylvan images. The dewy breezes have imparted to her their freshness, the springing flowers their beauty, and the swaying foliage its grace. She is pure and passionless; radiant with woman's charms, but destitute of her tender affections.

The fine fancy and tender sensibility of Spenser qualify him to excel in the portraiture of the womanly character. He is always felicitous here; and his sketches of their feminine nature are among his most interesting passages.

He traces minutely in his various characters the several forms of female excellence. His passion for the beautiful and the lovely, inclines him often to rise above, and never to fall below, nature.

The qualification he bestows is generally given to perfection, and we see that the character is human only because it lacks perhaps a single grace. She may have a pure spirit, but is destitute of the softer passions. She may be dignified and intellectual, but without beauty. She may seem to be composed of elements as sweet and delicate as the fragrance of summer flowers, but then she is timid and wild as the winds. He seldom ascribes to a female character anything harsh or unnatural, but makes her gentle and unearthly; she has so much of the attractive and graceful, with the ideal and lofty, that she is a creature for admiration, but not for love.

"Too fair for worship, too divine for love."