33.

The other nothing better was then shee,
Agreeing in bad will and cancred kynd;
But in bad maner they did difagree,
For what fo Envie good or bad did fynd
She did conceale, and murder her owne mynd;
But this, what ever evill fhe conceived,

Did fpred abroad and throw in th' open wynd:
Yet this in all her words might be perceived,
That all she fought was mens good name to have bereaved.
34.

For what foever good by any fayd

Or doen fhe heard, fhe would ftreightwayes invent How to deprave or flaunderously upbrayd,

Or to mifconftrue of a mans intent,

And turne to ill the thing that well was ment:
Therefore she used often to resort

To common haunts, and companies frequent,
To hearke what any one did good report,

To blot the fame with blame, or wreft in wicked fort.

35.

And if that any ill fhe heard of any,

She would it eeke, and make much worse by telling,
And take great joy to publish it to many,
That every matter worse was for her melling:"
Her name was hight Detraction, and her dwelling
Was neare to Envie, even her neighbour next;
A wicked hag, and Envy felfe excelling

In mischiefe; for her felfe fhe onely vext,

But this fame both her felfe and others eke perplext. 36.

Her face was ugly, and her mouth distort,

n

worfe was for her melling.] "Melling" is meddling, as we have already feen in vol. i. p. 186. "Mell" is, perhaps, not to be confidered as meddle mifpronounced, but as derived from the Fr. mêler. C.

Foming with poyson round about her gils,

In which her cursed tongue, full sharpe and short,
Appear'd like afpis fting that closely kils,

Or cruelly does wound whom so she wils:
A diftaffe in her other hand she had,
Upon the which she litle fpinnes, but spils;°

And faynes to weave falfe tales and leafings bad, To throw amongst the good which others had difprad. 37.

These two now had themselves combynd in one,
And linckt together gainst Sir Artegall;
For whom they wayted as his mortall fone,
How they might make him into mischiefe fall,
For freeing from their fnares Irena thrall:
Besides, unto themselves they gotten had

A monster, which the Blatant beast men call,
A dreadfull feend of gods and men ydrad,

Whom they by flights allur'd, and to their purpose lad. 38.

Such were these Hags, and fo unhandsome dreft:
Who when they nigh approching had espyde
Sir Artegall, return'd from his late quest,
They both arofe, and at him loudly cryde,
As it had bene two fhepheards curres had scryde
A ravenous Wolfe amongst the scattered flockes:
And Envie first, as fhe that firft him eyde,

Towardes him runs, and with rude flaring lockes

About her eares, does beat her breft and forhead knockes.

fhe litle fpinnes, but fpils.] "Spill" and poil are the fame word, from A. S. fpillan. In the next line "faynes" means delights: the is rejoiced" to weave falfe tales." C.

Phepheards curres had fcryde.] Had deferied: we know of no other author who uses this abbreviation of the word. "" Scry," it is true, occurs in the "Gorgeous Gallery of gallant Inventions," 1578, Sign. Iiiij, but there it means defcribe:—

"I neede no fcribe to fery my care in reftleffe rigor spread: They that beholde my chaunged cheere already judge me dead." C.

39.

Then from her mouth the gobbet fhe does take,
The which whyleare fhe was fo greedily
Devouring, even that halfe-gnawen snake,
And at him throws it most despightfully :
The curfed Serpent, though fhe hungrily
Earft chawd thereon, yet was not all fo dead
But that fome life remayned fecretly;

And as he past afore withouten dread,

Bit him behind, that long the marke was to be read.a

40,

Then th' other comming neare gan him revile,
And fouly rayle with all she could invent;
Saying that he had, with unmanly guile
And foule abufion, both his honour blent,
And that bright fword, the fword of Juftice lent,
Had stayned with reprochfull crueltie

In guiltleffe blood of many an innocent:
As for Grandtorto, him with treacherie
And traynes having furpriz'd, he fouly did to die.

41.

Thereto the Blatant beaft, by them set on,

At him began aloud to barke and bay

a Bit him behind, that long the marke was to be read.] This perfonage is introduced chewing of a toad, F. Q. i. iv. 30 [vol. i. p. 237]. Here a most beautiful ufe is made of her chewing the ferpent. It may be objected that Spenfer drew the thought of Envy throwing her fnake at Artegall from Alecto's attack upon Amata, Virg. Æn. vii. 346; but Spenfer's application of this thought is furely a stronger effort of invention than the thought itfelf. The rancour, both of Envy and of her fnake, could not have been expressed by more fignificant strokes. Although the fnake was her conftant food, yet fhe was tempted to part with her only fuftenance, while fhe could render it an inftrument of injuring another; and although the fnake, by being thus conftantly fed upon, was nearly dead, fome life, as he finely fays, remaining fecretly, yet its natural malignity enabled it to bite with violence. T. WARTON. Such, indeed, was its malignity, that the mark of the bite of Envy's ferpent was long indelible. C.

With bitter rage and fell contention,

That all the woods and rockes nigh to that way
Began to quake and tremble with dismay ;
And all the aire rebellowed againe,

So dreadfully his hundred tongues did bray :

And evermore those hags them selves did paine To sharpen him, and their owne curfed tongs did ftraine.

42.

And still among most bitter wordes they spake,

Most shamefull, most unrighteous, most untrew, That they the mildest man alive would make Forget his patience, and yeeld vengeaunce dew To her, that fo falfe fclaunders at him threw : And more, to make them pierce and wound more deepe, She with the fting which in her vile tongue grew Did sharpen them, and in fresh poyfon steepe. Yet he past on, and feem'd of them to take no keepe. 43.

But Talus, hearing her fo lewdly raile,

And speake fo ill of him that well deserved,
Would her have chaftiz'd with his

yron flaile, If her Sir Artegall had not preferved,

And him forbidden, who his heast obferved:

So much the more at him ftill did fhe fcold,

And stones did caft; yet he for nought would fwerve From his right course, but still the way did hold

To Faerie Court; where what him fell fhall else be told.

I guyde

In this delightfull land of Faery,

Are fo exceeding fpacious and wyde,

And fprinckled with such sweet variety

Of all that pleasant is to eare or eye,

That I, nigh ravisht with rare thoughts delight,
My tedious travell doe forget thereby ;

And, when I gin to feele decay of might,

It strength to me fupplies, and chears my dulled fpright.

2.

Such fecret comfort and fuch heavenly pleasures,

Ye facred imps, that on Parnaffo dwell,

And there the keeping have of learnings threafures Which doe all worldly riches farre excell,

Into the mindes of mortall men doe well,"

a Into the mindes of mortall men doe well.] i. e. do pour or make flow: as in "1 Henry IV," A. iii. Sc. 1, where " fwelling heavens" has always hitherto been the corruption, inftead of "welling heavens," an emendation which nobody has been able to difpute: fee Collier's Shakefpeare, 1858, vol. iii. p. 375. C.