But how eafy, without any forced figures of fpeech, which here too will avail nothing, to read Non vigil ales ibi criftatus cantibus oris Evocat Auroram So in Faft. L. 1. 455. he fays, Criftatus ales: and hence Milton in Paradife Lost. vii, 443. "The crested Cock. Chaucer tranflates fagacior anfer, the waker goofe, in the affembly of fowles, . 358. Why called fo, is well known from the Roman biflory. Ovid admits here no noise but that which a murmuring ftream makes, (as the author of the Remarks obferves) but Spenfer has very juftly introduced the trickling ftream, ever-drizling rain, and murmuring wind. And herein the poet or maker, differs from the tranflator, in knowing when to add, or diminish, or vary, as his fubject requires, and his own obfervations on beauty and nature can beft inftruct him. I cannot yet leave Ovid; read the following with the imitation, Tanaquil Faber abuses this verse, and thinks it not written by Ovid: perhaps he did not fee the conftruction, convicia humanae linguae, means the reproachful tongue of man, by a figure named EN AIA ATOIN. Nor did Heinfius, with all his ingenuity, fee the like construction in L. VIII. 712. ANNIS AEVOQUE foluti Ante gradus facros cum ftarent Annis & aevo, i. e. Old age. You fee in Spenfer Quiet is personalized, and thus too it should be printed in Ovid. But the most difficult of all is ftill to come, Saxo tamen exit ab imo Rivus aquae Lethes: PER QUEM cum murmure labens i. e. Per quem rivum unda labens, &c. And how hard is the construction to make rivus in the former part of the fentence to stand for a river, in the latter part for the channel of a river? Ovid feems to have Horace in view, Epad. II. Fontefque lymphis obftrepunt manantibus, Hence Milton in Il penferofo. And the waters murmuring, "With fuch confort as they keep, Entice the dewy-feather'd Sleep. 144: Spenfer Spenfer leaves Ovid, and follows Chaucer; who fays, "Came renning fro the Clyffes adowne Ovid fays, "rifing from the bottom of the rock." In Spenser's verses there is a lulling fumbering foftness, that wonderfully accommodates itself to the thing defcribed. Book VI. c. X. st. XXIV. "And eke themselves fo in their dance they bore, "That good should from us go, then com, in greater store. So 'tis printed in the Fol. 1611. froward is averfe. In the Rom. of the Rofe, *. 4940. "It is forward in 4th 1596, and Fitin 1609. Again, "So froward is it from fadneffe As to us ward, fo from or fro us ward. "Whether in Paphos or Cytheron hill. B. 3. c. 6. ft. 29. "He should have faid Cythera," fays the learned author of the Remarks: but in the Orifon of Palamon to Venus we read, "Thou gladdir of the mount of Citberon. *. 2225. And Dryden fays Citberon twice in his verfion of this tale; as thinking Chaucer's authority fufficient. Book I. c. VI. ST. I. "As when a ship, that flies faire under faile, "That lay in waite her wrack for to bewaile, Jee Portin? "The mariner yet halfe amazed stares "At peril paft, and yet it dout ne dares "To joy at his foole-happy overfight. This is the reading in Fol. 1611. But in the older Quarto tis fpelt, doubt. Her wracke to bewaile, means not to lament her wrack: but in the old English, to waile, or to bewaile, means to make choice of, to felett. Gawin Douglas, "WALE OUT al thaym bene waik & unweildy. Et quicquid tecum invalidum-DELIGE. Virg. V, 716. "Tharewith Anchifes fon the wyfe Ence "Ane hundreth gay Ambaffiatouris did wALE, 1609. Tum fatus Anchifa DELECTOS ordine ab omni Centum oratores augufta ad moenia regis Ire jubet Aen. VII, 152. In the Teftament of Crefeide, in Chaucer, &. 30. Wailid wine, is choife wine. Concerning the etymology you may, if you think proper, confult the Gloffary at the end of Douglas Virgil, and the very learned editor of Junius in WEAL. See too Welen, eligere: in the German dictionaries. A Latinift would bring it from velle, to will; for what we will, we choose: A Grecian from the, FX, among other fignifications, capeffere, eligere. In this fignification how poetical then has Spenfer expreffed himself? The rock lays (as it were) in wait defignedly to make a wrack of ber: chooses her out for that purpose, &c. "The mariner yet halfe amazed stares "At peril paft, and yet it douts, ne dares i. e. and yet he dreads it, from the Ital. dottare, and fo ufed by Chaucer, whom our poet perpetually follows. But the Fol. 1617. reads, and yet in doubt. Which may be right, but 'tis conjectural, for the edition is of no authority. BUT I am forgetting myfelf; and dwelling too much on particulars. I will only then add, that Spenfer in imitation of Chaucer, ufes tho, for then. then, than. thereas, whereas, where. withouten, without: correct therefore, "Whose folds difplaid "Were ftretcht now forth at length without entraile. B. I. C. I. ft. 16. and read, withouten traile, i. e. without trailing or dragging on the ground. Forthy, A. S. Forði. "These idle wordes (faid fhe) doe nought afwage "Yt is, O nourse, which on my life doth feed. B. 3. C. 2. ft. 37. THE addition of y or i to verbs of the perfect tense need not be mentioned but to correct our author; inftead therefore of, "His mother eke, more to augment his fpight, 167 B. 2. C. 5. ft. 22. I would read,· YBURNING bright How could fhe kindle it, if it had been always burning? But this pointing may seem to help the Senfe, "Which fhe, in ftygian lake ay burning bright, This will not much mend the matter, for the lake of brimstone burnt not bright, but ferved only to make darkness vifible. Give me leave now to explain and correct a verfe in Chaucer, where he is defcribing the Priorefe; having finished her mental qualifications, he speaks of her perfon and drefs, "Full fetife was her cloke, as I was ware. *.157. I can get no infight into the meaning of this verfe from any edition or gloffary: I thought once that ware was thus written to rhime to the word bare, and was the fame as warne, i. e. affured. But Chaucer draws the characters of the Pilgrims, and describes their particular dreffes, from his own obfervations. I think therefore the place corrupted, and without altering a letter, and by an easy transpoßtion, we may read, "Full fetife was her cloke as was iware. i. e. Her cloak was very neat, and as handsome as was worn by any woman. For in compofition fometimes increases the fignification, and sometimes gives the word an ill fenfe. As Forory, very dry or faplefs: Fordon, undone. The former word is to be restored to a paffage in the Squier's tale, These verses thus pointed and red convey no manner of Ideas, or at least not fuch as the author intended. With a finall alteration let us read, "Amid a tre fordry, as white as chalk "There fat a faucon. i. e. Amidft a faplefs withered tree there fat a white faulcon. I omit many expreffions that Spenfer borrows from Chaucer, fuch as, Put in his bode an apewell to file his torgue-doughty doufipeerscoft him many a Jane well mote thou the SIT: to become, fuit, agree with: It fits well, 'tis highly proper. Correct therefore your Spenfer in B. I. C. I. ft. 30. With boly father FITS not with fuch things to mell. Again, in B. I. C. 8. ft. 33. And faid, old Sire, it seems thou haft not red How ill it FITS with that fame filver bed In vaine to mock. In both thefe places we must read SITs, which was Chaucer's expreffion; and FITS is the glofs, or profaic interpretation. But if you will not believe me, turn to the oldeft quarto edition, and there you will find it, as I have restored it. I will mention no more of these kind of expreffions at prefent; tho' many more might properly be mentioned were I writing a book; but I am writing only a letter. BEFORE I lay Chaucer out of my hands pray read the following lines transcribed from the Ploughman's tale, which is a continued Satyre against the Clergy, and written in imitation of Piers Ploughman's vision. "They take on 'hem royall power He plainly means the ecclefiaftical power, with the civil power at their command; with one they damn, with the other they kill. But I cite these verses to explain a very difficult paffage in Milton's Lycidas, The hungry fheep look up, and are not fed, But fwoln with wind, and the rank mift they draw, Rot inwardly and foul contagion spread: -Daily devours apace and nothing fed, But that two-banded engine at the door Stands ready to fmite once, and fmite no more. V. 125. Nothing fed, as 'tis in my edition, and whilft I write, I have no other to confult, fhould be Nothing fed:- -the grim wolf, i. e. the hierarchy: Nothing faid, i. c. no evangelical teaching: nothing but threatnings of the Ecclefiaftical Sword, the two-banded engine: See Milton Paradife Loft. B. VI. y. 251. With buge twobanded fway Brandifh'd aloft: Which they have at their beck to fmite once, and not twice; to make a thorough difpatch once for all: to fmite once and fmite no more, is the fcripture language. 1 Samuel xxvi, 8. Let me fmite bim, I pray thee, with the fpear, even to the earth at once, and I will not fmite him the fecond time. WERE I to dwell on every book that Spenser has imitated, so circumftantially as I have on Chaucer, I fhould much exceed my prefcribed bounds: tho' in the ftream of my difcourfe, perhaps, you might meet with fomething worth the picking up. Among the books that our poet confulted Ariofto and Taffo ought not to be overlooked. From the former is taken all that description of Prince Arthur's fhield, [B. I. C. 7. ft. 33.] with its amazing effect: and the Squier's bugle horn. [B. I. C. 8. ft. 3.] Britomart's enchanted spear, is the golden lance of Bradamant: Brigliadore is the name of Orlando's, as well as Guyon's horse: * * Orlando Fur. B. 2. f. 55. where the magical fhield of Atlant is described, and the tranflator fays "the imitation is taken from Medufa's head." This fhield came into the poffeffion of Rogero. Ibid. B. 15. ft. 10. Aftolfo receives a horne from Logefylla [who represents, virtue, reason, &c.] the found of which breeds terror in his enemies. |