FAYRE Thamis streame, that from Ludds stately

towne Runst paying tribute to the ocean seas, 3 Let all thy Nymphes and Syrens of renowne Be filent, whyle this Bryttane Orpheus playes : Nere thy sweet banks there lives that sacred Crowne, Whose hand strowes palme and never-dying bayes. Let all at once, with thy soft murmuring sowne, Present her with this worthy Poets prayes : For he hath taught hye drifts in Shepherdes weedes, And deepe conceites now finges in Faeries deedes.

.: R. S.

GRAVE Muses, march in triumph and with prayses; .
Our Goddesse here hath given you leave to land;
And biddes this rare dispenser of your graces
Bow downe his brow unto her facred hand.'!"
Deserte findes dew in that most princely doome,
In whose sweete brest are 'all the Muses bredde:
So did that great Auguftus erst in Roome
With leaves of fame adorne his Poets hedde.
Faire be the guerdon of your Faery Queene,
Even of the faireft that the world hath feene!

H. Bi

WHEN stout Achilles heard of Helens rape, ...'
And what revenge the States of Greece devis’d;
Thinking by Neight the fatall warres to scape,
In womans weedes himselfe he then disguis'd:
But this devise, Ulysses soone did spy, simo!!
And brought him forth, the chaunce of warre to try,

When Spenser saw the fame was spredd fo large,
Through Faery land, of their renowned Queene;
Loth that his Muse thould take so great a charge,
As in such haughty matter to be seene; . .
To seeme a Shepheard, then he made his choice;
But Sidney heard him fing, and knew his voice.i

And as Ulyfies brought faire Thetis sonne
From his retyred life to menage armes :
So Spenfer was, by Sidney's fpeaches, wonne
To blaze Her fame, not fearing future harmes :
For well he knew, his Mufe would soone be tyred
In her high praise, that all the world admired. :

Yet as Achilles, in those warlike frayes,
Did win the palme from all the Grecian Peeres :
So Spenser now, to his immortal prayfe,
Hath wonne the laurell quite from all his feeres.
What though his taske exceed a humaine witt;
He is excus d, fith Sidney thought it fitt.

. W. L.

TO looke upon a worke of rare devise
The which a workman setteth out to view,
And not to yield it the deserved prise
That unto such a workmanship is dew,
Doth either prove the iudgement to be naught,
Or els doth fhew a mind with envy fraught.

abour to commend a peece of worke, ich no man goes about to discommend,

Would raise a jealous doubt, that there did lurke Some fecret doubt whereto the prayse did tend :

For when men know the goodnes of the wyne, 'Tis needless for the Hoast to have a sygne. .

Thus then, to few my iudgement to be such
As can discerne of colours blacke and white,
As alls to free my minde from envies tuch;
That never gives to any man his right;

I here pronounce this workmanship is such
As that no pen can set it forth too much.

And thus I hang a garland at the dore;'
(Not for to fhew the goodness of the ware;
But such hath beene the custome heretofore,
And customes very hardly broken are;)
And when your taft fhall tell you this is trew,-
Then looke you give your Hoast his utmost dew.

.:: : IGNOTO.

ADDRESSED, BY THE AUTHOR OF THE FAERIE QUEENE,

TƠ SEVERAL NOBLEMEN &c.'...'

To the Right Honourable Sir Christopher Hatton, ? Lord high Chauncelor of England &c. ,. THOSE prudent heads, that with their counfels

wise Whylom the pillours of th' earth did sustaine, And taught ambitious Rome to tyrannise,

And in the neck of all the world to rayne ; Oft from those grave affaires were wont abstaine,

With the sweet Lady Muses for to play:
So Ennius the elder Africane;

So Maro oft did Cæfars cares allay.
So you, great Lord, that with your counsell fway

Ver. 7. So Ennius &c.] The meaning is, “ So Ennius allayed the cares of Scipio Africanus, and so Virgil &c.” Claudian relates the same circumstance of Ennius; and possibly afforded it to Spenser. See Præf. in Lib. 3. Laud, Stilic..

“ Major Scipiades," et seq. T. WARTON. Ver. 9. So you, great Lord, that &c.] The diligence and integrity, with which Sir Christopher Hatton executed his office of High-Chancellor, manifest themselves in many pafsages of Queen Elizabeth's history. It is remarkable that, fince the exclusion of the ecclesiasticks from bearing this office, he was the first person preferred to it who was not a professed lawyer. He was made Chancellor in the year 1587 and died in 1591. See Camden's Annals Eliz. T. WARTON.

The burdein of this kingdom mightily, T With-like delightes sometimes may eke delay

The rugged brow of carefull Policy; of And to these ydle rymes lend litle space, ?. Which for their titles fake may find more grace.

E. S. ?

To the Right Honourable the Lord Burleigh, Lord

high Threasurer of England.. TO you, Right Noble Lord, whose carefull

brest To menage of most grave affaires is bent; And on whose mightie shoulders moft doth reft

Ver. 11.

may eke delay The rugged brow of carefull Policy :] May Smootk or Soften. The word delay is used by Spenser in the fame fense, in his Prothalam. ver. 3, where modern editions ima properly read allay. See the note on the passage. But Milton is the best commentator on the words now before us; for he describes the nightingale, in his Il Penseroso, ..

" In her sweetest saddest plight

“ SMOOTHING the rugged brow of night." TODD. Ver. 14. for their titles Fake] Their title being the Faerie Queene, who, represented Queen Elizabeth. Camden relates, that Sir Christopher was a singular favourite of the Queen, long before his promotion to the. Chancellorthip. However, as that historian adds, he was not raised to it purely by her choice, but by the artifice of certain Courtiers who, envious of his growing interest, thought to diminish his favour with the Queen, by conferring a post upon him which necef. sarily drew him from a constant attendance on the Court, and to which his ignorance of the law rendered him unequal.

T. WARTON. Ver. 1. To you, &c.]. See the Life of Spenser. TODD.