From what has been faid, I would not have it objected, that I have intended to arraign the powers of our author's invention; or infinuated, that he fervilely copied fuch reprefentations. All I have endeavoured to prove is, that Spenfer was not only better qualified to delineate fictions of this fort, because they were the real objects of his fight; but, as all men are influenced by what they fee, that he was prompted and induced to delineate them, because he faw them, efpecially as they were fo much the delight of his age. Instead of entering into a critical examination of Spenfer's manner of allegorifing, and of the poetical conduct of his allegories, which has been done with an equally judicious and ingenious difcernment by Mr. Spence, I fhall obferve, that our author frequently introduces an allegory, under which no meaning is couched; viz. Alma is the mind, and her Caftle the body, F. Q. ii. ix. 21. The tongue is the porter of this castle, the nose the portcullis, and the mouth the porch, about the infide of which are placed twice fixteen warders clad in white, * See Mr. Spence's Differtation in this Volume, p. xlii. TODD. twice fixteen warders clad in white, which are the teeth;] Mr. Warton fhould have faid, all armed bright in gliftring fteele. See the note on Mr. Spence's DISSERTATION, p. xlviii. But, in this method of allegorifing fo justly blamed both by Mr. Spence and Mr. Warton, our poet appears not to have been fingular. In a poem attributed to Camoens, entitled Da Creaçao e Composição do Homem, in three Cantos, the fame frange perfonifications are obfervable, C. ii. ft. 46. "Nefte moinho junto os dous porteiros, Lord Strangford, in his very ingenious Remarks on the Life and Writings of Camoens, mentions this poem, not on account of its merit, but from regard to the reputation of the Portuguese which are the teeth; thefe Alma paffes by, who rife up, and do obeifance to her, ft. 26. But how can the teeth be faid to rife up and bow to the mind? Spenfer here forgot, that he was allegorifing, and fpeaks as if he was defcribing, without any latent meaning, a real queen, with twice fixteen real warders, who, as fuch, might, with no impropriety, be faid to rife and bow to their queen. Many inftances of his confounding allegory with reality, occur through this whole Canto, and the two next; particularly, where he is defcribing the kitchen of this caftle, m which is the belly, he gives bard. "It is called," his Lordship says," The Creation and Compofition of Man, and is a strange medley of anatomy, metaphyficks, and school-divinity. In fubject, and occafionally in execution, it ftrikingly resembles the Purple Island of Phineas Fletcher; and, like it, is a curious example of tortured ingenuity. One inftance fhall fuffice. Man is typified under the fymbol of a tower. The mouth is the gateway, and the teeth are described as two and thirty millers, clothed in white, and placed as guards on either fide of the porch. His metaphor is more fatirically juft, when he represents the tongue as a female, old and experienced, whofe office was to regulate and affift the efforts of the thirty-two grinders aforefaid, all young men of indifpenfable utility and extraordinary powers! Duros e rijos, &c. He must poffefs no little credulity, who would attribute fuch a work to the author of the Lufiad. A Treatise on Surgery was printed in 1551, by Bernardino de Montana. The Second Part of it is called El Sueno, or The Dream, and seems to have been the original from which this fingular poem is derived." Poems from the Portuguese of Luis de Camoens, &c. by Lord Viscount Strangford, 1803. p. 28. It is remarkable that Spenfer's warders thould have efcaped his Lordship's notice. The Creation is printed in the Lisbon edition of Camoens's Works, 1772, vol. iii. TODD. which is the belly,] This idea is highly commended by Dudley Lord North, in his Light in the Way to Paradise, 8vo. 1682. p. 131. "We may confider the Stomach as Kitchin, which like the root of trees, draws and prepares nutriment for the whole; and here we may do well to imitate the most ingenious poet Spenfer, in difpofing of fome offices, the Appetite being us a formal defcription of fuch a kitchen, as was to be seen in his time in caftles, and great houfes, by no means expreffive of the thing intended. Again, the occult meaning of his bringing Scudamore to the houfe of Care, F. Q. iv. v. 32. clashes with what he had before told us. By this allegory of Scudamore coming to Care's houfe, it fhould be understood, that "Scudamore, from a happy, paffed into a miferable ftate." For we may reafonably fuppofe, that, before he came to Care's houfe, he was unacquainted with Care; whereas the poet had before reprefented him as involved in extreme mifery. It would be tedious, by an allegation of particular examples, to demonftrate how frequently his allegories are mere defcriptions; and that, taken in their literal fenfe, they contain an improper or no fignification. I fhall, however, mention one. The Blatant Beaft is faid to break into the monafteries, to rob their chancels, caft down the desks of the monks, deface the altars, and destroy the images found in their churches. By the Blatant Beaft is understood Scandal; and by the havock juft mentioned as effected by it, is implied the fup n fit for that of Cater, or Achater; Concoction for that of Cook; and Digestion for that of Clarke of the Kitchin, to serve in the concocted food to feveral tables for ufe, &c." The author of The Vifon and Difcourfe of Henry VII. 4to. Lond. 1610, feems to have had his eye alfo on Spenfer in the following lines: "The ftomack, like a cooke, each messe doth boyle, TODD. By the Blatant Beaft is understood SCANDAL ;] So Dryden appears to have confidered it, by the anfwer which he makes the Hind return to the abusive Panther; "The Panther's breath was ever fam'd for fweet; "But from the wolf fuch withes oft I meet: preffion of religious houfes and popish fuperftition. But how can this be properly faid to have been brought about by fcandal? And how could Spenfer in particular, with any confiftency fay this, who was, as appears by his Paftorals, a friend to the reformation, as was his heroine Elizabeth? But there is another capital fault in our author's allegories, which does not immediately fall under the stated rules of criticifm. "Painters," fays a French writer, "ought to employ their allegories in religious pictures, with much greater referve than in profane pieces. They may, indeed, in fuch fubjects as do not reprefent the mysteries and miracles of our religion, make ufe of an allegorical compofition, the action whereof shall be expreffive of fome truth, that cannot be reprefented otherwife, either in painting or fculpture.. I agree therefore to let them draw Faith and Hope fupporting a dying perfon, and Religion in deep affliction at the feet of a deceafed prelate. But I am of opinion, that artifts, who treat of the miracles and dogmas of our religion, are allowed no kind of allegorical compofition. "The facts whereon our religion is. built, and the doctrine it delivers, are fubjects in which the painter's imagination has no liberty to fport." The conduct which this author blames, is practifed by Spenfer, with this difference only; that the painters here condemned are fuppofed to adapt human allegory to divine mystery, whereas Spenfer has mingled divine mystery with human al "You learnt this language from the Blatant Beast;. "Or rather did not fpeak, but were poffeft." See alfo the note on the character of Duelfa, in Mr. Upton's Remarks on the Action and History of the Faerie Queene. • Abbe du Bos, Reflexions, &c. tom. i. c. xxiv. TODD. T. WARTON. legory. Such a practice as this tends not only to confound facred and profane fubjects, but to place the licentious fallies of imagination upon a level with the dictates of divine inspiration; to debafe the truth and dignity of heavenly things, by making Christian allegory fubfervient to the purposes of Romantick fiction. This fault our author, through a defect of judgement rather than a contempt of religion, has moft glaringly committed throughout his whole first Book, where the imaginary inftruments and expedients of romance are perpetually interwoven with the mysteries contained in the BOOK OF REVELATIONS. Dueffa, who is formed upon the idea of a romantick enchantrefs, is gorgeoufly arrayed in gold and purple, prefented with a triple crown by the giant Orgoglio, and feated by him on a monftrous feven-headed dragon, (C. vii. ft. 16.) whose tail reaches to the skies, and throws down the stars, (ft. 18.) the bearing a golden cup in her hand, (C. viii. ft. 25.) This is the Scarlet Whore, and the Red Dragon in the REVELATIONS. "Behold a great red dragon, having feven heads, and ten horns, and feven crowns upon his heads; and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did caft them to earth," Ch. xii. 3, 4. Again, "I faw a woman fit upon a fcarlet-coloured beaft, full to debase the truth and dignity, &c.] Hence he has also introduced the ancient objection made to the Chriftians, that they worshipped an ass, in F. Q. i. vi. 19. Where the Satyrs are reprefented worshipping the afs of Una. The poet, as Mr. Upton has obferved, alludes to the defcriptions given by Minucius Felix and Epiphanius on this fubject. See alfo Ter tullian, edit. Havercamp, 1718, p. 156. Spenfer ought not to have made this allufion. TODD. By the triple crown he plainly glances at popery. T. WARTON. |