Upon a ravenous wolfe, and ftill did chaw Between his cankred teeth a venemous tode, "And wept that caufe of weeping none he had." Ovid fays, Envy was found chawing of vipers: Spenfer, "and ftill did chaw a venemous tode:" for toads and frogs are faid to fwell with envy, according to the fable to which Horace alludes, 2 Sat. iii. 314. Let us fee the dress of Envy,— "All in a kirtle of difcoloured fay "He clothed was, ypainted full of eyes Pierce Plowman, fol. xxi. 2, defcribing Envy, "And was as pale as a pellet, in the palfey he femed, "And clothed in caurymaury, I can it not discrive, "In kyrtel and curtepy, and a knife by his fide. Envy is likewife of the male gender, in Chaucer's Court of Love, v. 1256. His garment is here ypainted full of eyes: and Virgil paints the monster Fame, full of eyes and eares and tongues. "And in his bosome secretly there lay Mali "An hatefull snake, the which his tale upties "In many folds, and mortall fting implies." Implies, i. e. intangles, infixes his fting in his bofom. cious and envious perfons are faid to carry fnakes in their bofom. Hesiod, ☺tóy. v. 601. Ψυχρὸν ὃς ἐν κόλπῳ ποικίλῳ ἔιχες ὄφιν. Compare a description of Envy, F. Q. v. xii. 31. Nor let it offend the reader that this infernal imp is of both genders, for fuch imps and such impure spirits can affume what fex they pleafe. UPTON. XXX. 2. - ftill did chaw Between his cankred teeth a venemous tode, That all the poison ran about his chaw ;] Ovid feigns, that Envy was found eating the flesh of vipers, a fiction not much unlike Spenfer's picture. But our author has heightened this circumftance to a moft difgufting degree; for he adds, that the poifon ran about her jaw. This is, perhaps, one of the most loathfome images that Spenfer has given us, though he paints very strongly, F. Q. i. i. 20. As alfo in the difcovery of Dueffa, F. Q. i. viii. 47, 48. He is likewise very indelicate where he speaks of Serena's wounds, F. Q. vi. v. 31. And, to forbear difagreeable citations, fee F. Q. vii. vii. 30, and 40. The truth is, the ftrength of our author's imagination could not be fuppreffed on any subject; and, in fome measure, it is owing to the fullnets of his ftanza, and the That all the poifon ran about his chaw; But inwardly he chawed his owne maw At neibors welth, that made him ever fad; For death it was, when any good he faw; And wept, that caufe of weeping none he had; But, when he heard of harme, he wexed wondrous glad. XXXI. All in a kirtle of difcolourd fay He clothed was, ypaynted full of eies; Those heapes of gold with griple Covetyse; reiteration of his rhymes, that he defcribes these disagreeable objects fo minutely. But to return to his Envy. This perfonage is again introduced, F. Q. v. xii. 29, chewing a fnake, of which circumftance a most beautiful ufe is there made, ft. 39. Where see the note. T. WARTON. XXX. 4. about his chaw ;] So Spenfer chooses to spell the word, notwithstanding the rhymes, in both his own editions; which, however, Hughes, Church, and Upton, with the folios, have rejected. But furely it is as proper to retain what was, in Spenfer's time, a common fpelling of jaw, as any other obfolete fpelling in the poem, inftead of admitting the fame modernized. I refer the reader alfo to Barret's Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, published in 1580, in which he will find, numbered 399, 400, "the chaw bone," and " the chawes." TODD. XXXI. 7. griple Covetyfe ;] The learned bishop of Scotland in his translation of Virgil thus ufes griple : "And thare fixit faft << Amang the grippill rutis faft haldand." Speaking of the fpear of Æneas fixed in the roots, which he firove to difengage," lenta in radice tenebat," En. xii. 773. And grudged at the great felicitee Of proud Lucifera, and his owne companee. XXXII. He hated all good workes and vertuous deeds, And him no leffe, that any like did use; And, who with gratious bread the hungry feeds, His almes for want of faith he doth accufe; So every good to bad he doth abuse: And eke the verfe of famous poets witt He does backebite, and fpightfull poifon fpues From leprous mouth on all that ever writt: Such one vile Envy was, that fifte in row did fitt. XXXIII. And him befide rides fierce revenging Wrath, "The gripple roots," i. e. tenacious: it comes from nipan, to gripe. UPTON. XXXIII. 1. Wrath,] The philofophers define wrath, Libido ulcifcendi. See Cicero, Tufc. Difp. iii. 5. iv. 9. And Diogen. Laert. vii. 114. To this Spenfer alludes, when he says of Wrath, "Ne car'd for blood in his avengëment." His picture is that of the wrathful man in Seneca de Irá Lib. i. C. 1. "Flagrant et micant oculi, metus ore toto rubor, exæftuante ab imis præcordiis fanguine; labia quatiuntur." And L. ii. C. 35. "Non eft ullius affectus facies turbatiortumefcunt venæ, concutitur crebro fpiritu pectus, rapida vocis eruptio colla diftendit: tunc artus trepidi, inquietæ manus, totius corporis fluctuatio-Talem nobis Iram figuremus, flammâ lumina ardentia-tela manu utraque quatientem-vel, fi videtur, fit qualis apud vates noftros eft, "Sanguineum quatiens dextrâ Bellona flagellum, " Tis impoffible for the reader, I should think, not to see here the plain imitations of our poet, both as to the look, dress, and attitude. UPTON. Upon a lion, loth for to be led ; And in his hand a burning brond he hath, The which he brandifheth about his hed: His eies did hurle forth fparcles fiery red, And ftared fterne on all that him beheld; As ashes pale of hew, and feeming ded; And on his dagger ftill his hand he held, Trembling through hafty rage, when choler in him fweld. XXXIV. His ruffin raiment all was ftaind with blood Which he had spilt, and all to rags yrent; Through unadvized rafhnes woxen wood; For of his hands he had no governement, Ne car'd for blood in his avengement: XXXIV. 1. His ruffin raiment] Mr. Church here observes, that ruffin is reddish, from the Lat, rufus. I fufpect, however, that the poet did not intend to specify the colour of the drefs, but rather to give a very characteristical expression even to the raiment of Wrath. Ruffin, fo fpelt, denoted a Swashbuckler, or, as we should now fay, a bully. See Minfheu's Guide into Tongues, ed. 1627. Befides, I find in My Ladies Lookingglaffe, by Barnabe Rich, 4to. 1616, p. 21, a paffage which may ferve to ftrengthen my application of ruffin, in this fenfe, to garment. "The yong woman, that as well in her behauiour, as in the manner of her apparell, is most ruffian like, is accounted the most gallant wench." TODD. XXXIV. 3. woxen wood;] Mad. AngloSax. wod. Gawin Douglas often ufes the word in this fenfe. And Chaucer, Mill. Tale. 3507. edit. Tyrwhitt. "if thou wreye me, thou fhalt be wood." He uses alfo Wodenefs for Madness, Kn. Tale. 1153. "Yit faugh I Wodenefs laughing in his rage." This fine perfonification fuggefted to Gray his "moody Madness laughing wild "Amid fevereft woe." TODD. But, when the furious fitt was overpast, His cruel facts he often would repent; Yet, wilfull man, he never would forecast, How many mifchieves fhould enfue his heedleffe haft. Full XXXV. many mifchiefes follow cruell Wrath; Abhorred Bloodshed, and tumultuous Strife, Unmanly Murder, and unthrifty Scath, Bitter Defpight with Rancours rufty knife; And fretting Griefe, the enemy of life: All these, and many evils moe haunt Ire, The fwelling Splene, and Frenzy raging rife, The fhaking Palfey, and Saint Fraunces fire: Such one was Wrath, the last of this ungodly tire. XXXVI. And, after all, upon the wagon beame Rode Sathan with a smarting whip in hand, With which he forward lafht the laefy teme, So oft as Slowth ftill in the mire did ftand. Huge routs of people did about them band, Showting for joy; and ftill before their way A foggy mift had covered all the land; XXXV. 3. unthrifty Scath,] Indifcreet mifchief, fays Mr. Church. It may be added, that the poet introduces Unthriftyhead into fimilar company, F. Q. iii. xii. 25. Emongst them was fterne Strife, and Anger ftout, Unquiet Care, and fond Unthriftyhead." TODD. |