Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fann'd From their soft wings, and Flora's earliest smells. What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat? Hunger, with sweet restorative delight. 365 370 But Spenser has to charm frequently in this sense. Thus, in his "Colin Clout's come home again," of his shepherd's boy, Charming his oaten pipe unto his peers: And again, in the conclusion of his "October: "— Here we our slender pipes may safely charme.-DUNSTER, And winds Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fann'd From their soft wings. Mr. Thyer, who supposes this circumstance introduced in compliance with the Eastern custom of using perfumes at their entertainments, has noticed the similarity of the following lines, "Paradise Lost," b. iv. 156 : He might also have cited a beautiful line from our author's early Elegy, “In Adventum Veris;" Cinnamea Zephyrus leve plaudit odorifer ala. Milton, in the same Elegy, refers to the " Arabian odours ;" and in the continuation of the passage from the "Paradise Lost," exhibited by Mr. Thyer, he speaks of the winds blowing 66 Sabæan odours from the spicy shore Of Araby the blest.-DUNSTER. See likewise "Paradise Lost," b. viii. 515, &c. And compare Apoll. Rhod. Argon." i. 1142; and particularly the following passage from Drayton, "Muses Eliz." 1630, p. 138: Where the soft windes did mutually embrace, In the cool arbours Nature there had made; Through the calm cincture of his amorous shade.-TODD. • Such was the splendour. Virgil, describing the magnificent entertainment prepared by Dido for Æneas, (“ Æn.” i. 637,) says,— At domus interior regali splendida luxu on which La Cerda observes :-" Apte et signate splendida; nam splendor de conviviis sape;" and he cites from Athenæus, b. iii. Aаμжрoтáтηv deiπvoû πараσкеνýν.—Dunster. These are not fruits forbidden; no interdict This sarcastical allusion to the Fall of Man, and to that particular command, by the transgression of which, being seduced by Satan, he fell, is finely in character of the speaker. Milton, in his "Paradise Lost," terms the forbidden fruit "the tree of interdicted knowledge; " and, in the eighth book, where Adam, relating to the angel what he remembered since his own creation, particularly recites the "rigid interdiction," ver. 323 -335.-DUNSTER. And all the wrik harmonious airs were heard O: criming strings, or charming pipes; and winds I te el rotnance of Mort d'Arthur, or The Ly of King Arthur. of his noble knyghtes e te roun, tabkan r toende the dolorus deth of then all: writter originally in French, translate int Engins St Thomas Malleory, Knt, printed by William Carton, -From the où romanes, M: Warton. Observations or Spenser," sect. 2) shows tus pense borrowe. IEHOL Sr. Lanceio: is there called of Logris:" and Sir Tristram 'unde" which tile he appears also in the Faery Queen" "Legris" C as the same Will Loegral (according to the more fabulous historians, and amongst them ao nam ter Engian. Holmsher calls it bott Loegria and Logiers. See Histo e Eurant 1.4 5. The same author, in his "Description of Britain," meta, of Zerg & Legier, writer Loegres. The title of his 22nd chapter is, "after W manner un sovertanta of the ist dot remaine to the princes of Loegres or kings of Engian Spenser, i. La Faery Queen.," where he gives the “Chronicle of the early bitor amp from brute to I ther's reign," calis i Logris, i. x. 14 :— And Camber di possess the western quart. Lyones we at oif name for Cornwall, or at least for a part of that county. Camden, 11. nas • brianna' greaking of the Land's End, says, "the inhabitants are of opinion that the promontory die one react farther to the west, which the seamen positively conclude from the rundest ther ɑraw 11. The neighbours will tell you too, from a certain old tradrton, tuar the land there drowned by the incursions of the sea was called Lionesse." Sir Tristram of Drones, or Lionesst, well known to the readers of the old romances. In the French tratsiation of the Oriande Inamorate" of Boiardo, he is termed Tristan de Levnuva, although in the original he is ons mentioned by the single name of Tristran. In the -Oriants Inamorate List, among the knights, who defend Angelica in the fortress of A. tracta agamns: Agricat is Sir Huber of Lyones. Uberto dal Lione. Tristram, in his account if tumself in the Faery Queen” vi, il 28, says. He then relates how his uncle seized upon the crown; whereupon his mother, conceiving great fears for her son's personal safety, determined to send him into some foreign land,” Out of the countrie wherein I was bred, The which the fertile Lionesse is hight, Into the land of Faerie. These particulars, Mr. Warton shows, are drawn from the "Morte d'Arthur," where it is said there was a knight Meliodas, and be was lord and king of the county of Lyones, and he wedded king Marke's sister of Cornewale." The issue of this marriage was Sir Tristram. These knights, he also observes, are there often represented as meeting beautiful damsels in desolate forests. Sir Pelleas, “a very valorous knight of Arthur's round table," is one of those who pursue the blatant beast, when, after having been conquered and chained up by Sir Calidore, it broke its iron chain" and again "ranged through the world,"-Faery Queen, vi. xii. 39. Milton's later thoughts could not, we find, but rove at times, where, as he himself told 118, "his younger feet wandered," when he "betook him among those lofty fables and romances, which recount in solemn cantos the deeds of knighthood founded by our victo rious kings, and from hence had in renowne over all Christendome." "Apol. for Smectym." p. 177, "Prose Works," ed. Amst. 1698.-DUNSTER. And all the while harmonious airs were heard Thus in "Paradise Lost," b. xi. 558 : the sound Of instruments that made melodious chime. And again, ver. 594, "charming symphonies." Spenser, as Mr. Calton observes, thus likewise uses the verb to charm, "Faery Queen," v. ix. 13: Like as the fouler, on his guileful pype, Charmes to the birds full many a pleasant lay. Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fann'd From their soft wings ", and Flora's earliest smells. What doubts the Son of God to sit and eat? Hunger, with sweet restorative delight. 365 370 But Spenser has to charm frequently in this sense. Thus, in his "Colin Clout's come home again," of his shepherd's boy, Charming his oaten pipe unto his peers: And again, in the conclusion of his "October: " Here we our slender pipes may safely charme.-DUNSTer, And winds Of gentlest gale Arabian odours fann'd From their soft wings. Mr. Thyer, who supposes this circumstance introduced in compliance with the Eastern custom of using perfumes at their entertainments, has noticed the similarity of the following lines, "Paradise Lost," b. iv. 156 : Now gentle gales, Fanning their odoriferous wings, dispense Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy spoils. He might also have cited a beautiful line from our author's early Elegy, "In Adventum Veris;" Cinnamea Zephyrus leve plaudit odorifer ala. Milton, in the same Elegy, refers to the "Arabian odours ;" and in the continuation of the passage from the "Paradise Lost," exhibited by Mr. Thyer, he speaks of the winds blowing Sabæan odours from the spicy shore Of Araby the blest.-DUNSTER. See likewise "Paradise Lost," b. viii. 515, &c. And compare Apoll. Rhod. "Argon." i. 1142; and particularly the following passage from Drayton, "Muses Eliz." 1630, p. 138: Where the soft windes did mutually embrace, Through the calm cincture of his amorous shade.-TODD. Such was the splendour. Virgil, describing the magnificent entertainment prepared by Dido for Æneas, (" Æn.” i. 637,) says, At domus interior regali splendida luxu Instruitur; on which La Cerda observes :-" Apte et signate splendida; nam splendor de conviviis sæpe;" and he cites from Athenæus, b. iii. Aаμжρотáтηy de‹πνоÛ πараσкеVÝν.—Dunster. These are not fruits forbidden; no interdict Their taste no knowledge works, at least of evil. This sarcastical allusion to the Fall of Man, and to that particular command, by the transgression of which, being seduced by Satan, he fell, is finely in character of the speaker. Milton, in his "Paradise Lost," terms the forbidden fruit "the tree of interdicted knowledge; " and, in the eighth book, where Adam, relating to the angel what he remembered since his own creation, particularly recites the "rigid interdiction," ver. 323 -335.-DUNSTER. All these are spirits of air, and woods, and springs ", Thee homage, and acknowledge thee their Lord. When and where likes me best, I can command? And count thy specious gifts no gifts, but guiles *. What I might have bestow'd on whom I pleased, Of these things others quickly will dispose, u All these are spirits of air, and woods, and springs. 375 389 385 390 395 400 These "spirits of air, and woods, and springs," remind us of Shakspeare's "elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves," in the "Tempest."-Dunster. The whole of this passage is extraordinarily and exquisitely beautiful; the turn of the expression is in the highest degree persuasive and happy. Command a table in this wilderness. From Psalm 1xxviii. 19 :-"They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" -RICHARDSON. Flights of angels. An expression likewise in Shakspeare, "Hamlet," a. v. s. 6: "And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."-NEWTON. Compare St. Matthew, xxvi. 53.-DUNSTER. And count thy specious gifts no gifts, but guiles. Not without a resemblance to Virgil, " Æn." ii. 49 : Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes; and to a preceding part of the same speech of Laocoon : O miseri, quæ tanta insania, cives? Dona carere dolis Danaum? Dr. Newton observes, that "thy gifts no gifts," is from Sophocles, "Ajax," v. 675.— DUNSTER. Compare our author, in his "Apology for Smectymnuus," scct. xi. :-"Shall we receive our prayers at the bounty of our more wicked enemies, whose gifts are no gifts, but the instruments of our bane ?"-TODD. h Whose pains have earn'd the far-fet spoil. With that, With sound of harpies' wings and talons heard : а Only the importune a tempter still remain'd, By hunger, that each other creature tames, Which way, or from what hope, dost thou aspire Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost? y With that, &c. See the notes on "Comus," ver. 659.-TODD. z With sound, &c. 405 410 413 420 The sound of the wings and talons is much finer than if the harpies had been seen; because the imagination is left at work, and the surprise is greater than if they had been mentioned before.-T. WARTON. As this infernally magical banquet vanishes, the attendant spirits (sce before, ver. 236,) who had appeared in the scene as "tall stripling youths, nymphs of Diana's train, or ladies of the Hesperides," resume their proper infernal shapes. Milton, we may observe, characterises the furies as harpy-footed, "Paradise Lost," b. ii. 596.-Dunster. The powerful brevity of this termination of the splendid array is very striking. a Importune. Spenser and our old poets write impórtune, thus accented; “Faer. Qu." i. xii. 16 :— And often blame thee to impórtune fate.-NEWTON. b Or at thy heels the dizzy multitude, Longer than thou canst feed them on thy cost? The" dizzy multitude" is the ventosa plebs of the Roman poet, who speaks of them as to be gained in the same manner. Hor." Epist." 1. xix. 37 : Non ego ventosæ plebis suffragia venor See also Shakspeare," Henry V." a. iv. s. 3 :— Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost.-Dunster. e Money brings honour, friends, conquest, and realms. Mammon, in the "Faery Queen," attempts the virtue of Sir Guyon with the same pretences, ii. vii. 11 :— Vain-glorious elf, said he, dost thou not weet, That money can thy wants at will supply? Shields, steeds, and arms, and all things for thee meet, It can purvey in twinkling of an eye : And crowns and kingdoms to thee multiply. Do I not kings create, and throw the crown Sometimes to him that low in dust doth lie? And him that reign'd into his room thrust down; And whom I lust, do heap with glory and renown?-CALTON. |