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And ran towardes the far rebownded поусе, To weet what wight fo loudly did lament. Unto the place they come incontinent: Whom when the raging Sarazin efpyde, A rude, mishapen, monftrous rablement, Whofe like he never faw, he durft not byde; But got his ready fteed, and faft away gan ryde.

IX.

The wyld woodgods, arrived in the place, There find the Virgin, doolfull, defolate, With ruffled rayments, and fayre blubbred face,

As her outrageous foe had left her late;

VIII. 5. they come incontinent:] Inftantly. Ufed as an adverb for incontinently. The French fo ufe incontinent. See alfo F. Q. i. ix. 19, ii. ix. 1, iv. iii. 18, vii. vii. 17.

CHURCH. Thus, in Hawes's

The word is common in our old poetry. Hift. of Graunde Amoure, 1554. Sign. T. iii. "And at our comming, then, incontinent "They welcomed vs—'

Again, Sign. X. iii.

"

"And did me fende to you incontinent
"With this goodly fhelde." ToDD.

VIII. 7.

See

monstrous rablement,] Rablement, a crowd, was commonly used in a contemptuous manner. F. Q. i. xii. 9. Thus, in A Commemoration or Dirige of Baftarde Edmonde Boner, &c. vfurped Bifshope of London, 12mo. 1569. bl. 1.

"About this gooste flocked a rablement

IX. 2.

"Of Friers fatte and foule."

See alfo A Retentive to stay good Chriftians, &c. by W. Fulke, 12mo. 1580. p. 48. "The lafte rablement of Trent." TODD. doolfull,] So the first. edition reads. Some editions have changed the orthography to dolefull. But Spenfer thus fpells doole alfo, which is dole or forrow, in F. Q. ii. xij. 20, iv. viii, 3, &c. TODD.

And trembling yet through feare of former

hate:

All stand amazed at fo uncouth fight, And gin to pittie her unhappie ftate; All stand aftonied at her beautie bright, In their rude eyes unworthy of fo wofull plight,

X.

She, more amazd, in double dread doth dwell;
And every tender part for feare does shake.
As when a greedy wolfe, through honger fell,
A feely lamb far from the flock does take,
Of whom he meanes his bloody feaft to make,
A lyon spyes faft running towards him,
The innocent pray in haft he does forfake;
Which, quitt from death, yet quakes in every

lim

With chaunge of feare, to fee the lyon looke

fo grim.

XI.

Such fearefull fitt affaid her trembling hart; Ne word to speake, ne ioynt to move, the

had:

The falvage nation feele her secret smart, And read her forrow in her count'nance fad;

X. 8. Which, quitt from death, yet quakes in every lim

With chaunge of feare, to fee the lyon looke so grim.] Ovid, Met. vi. 527.

“Illa tremit, velut agna pavens, quæ faucia cani
"Ore excuffa lupi, nondum fibi tuta videtur."

UPTON.

Their frowning forheads, with rough hornes

yclad

And ruftick horror, all afyde doe lay;

And, gently grenning, fhew a femblance glad To comfort her; and, feare to put away, Their backward-bent knees teach her humbly to obay.

XII.

;

The doubtfull Damzell dare not yet committ
Her fingle perfon to their barbarous truth
But ftill twixt feare and hope amazd does fitt,
Late learnd what harme to hasty trust ensu’th:
They, in compassion of her tender youth
And wonder of her beautie foverayne,
Are wonne with pitty and unwonted ruth;

All the

XI. 5. Their frowning forheads,] All the editions point thus: "Their frowning forheads with rough horns yclad, "And rufticke horror all afyde doe lay," CHURCH. XI. 8. and, feare to put away,] The punctuation of this paffage was rectified by Mr. Church. old editions had placed only a comma after To comfort her, and the edition of 1751 had placed a femicolon after away. In Mr. Upton's and in Tonfon's edition of 1758 this latter miftake does not occur; and the femicolon after her, is rightly obferved by Upton. TODD.

XII. 1. The doubtfull] Fearful. So F. Q. iii. iii. 20. “The doubtfull mayd." CHURCH.

XII. 2.

their barbarous truth;] Their un

civilized fincerity. So he ufes barbarous, F. Q. vi. xi. 4.

CHURCH.

XII. 7. with pity and unwonted ruth;] Mr. Upton proposes to read, "unwonted truth," and to transfer "ruth" to the fecond line in this stanza, by which change he thinks the defcription would be highly improved: "She dare not yet truft herself to their barbarous, uncivilized, pity; and they, in compaffion, &c. are wonne with pitty and unwonted

And, all proftráte upon the lowly playne, Doe kiffe her feete, and fawne on her with count'nance fayne..

XIII.

Their harts she gheffeth by their humble guife, And yieldes her to extremitie of time:

So from the ground fhe feareleffe doth arife, And walketh forth without fufpect of crime : They, all as glad as birdes of ioyous pryme, Thence lead her forth, about her dauncing round,

Shouting, and finging all a fhepheards ryme; And, with greene braunches ftrowing all the ground,

Do worship her as queene with olive girlond

cround.

XIV.

And all the way their merry pipes they found, That all the woods with doubled eccho ring; And with their horned feet doe weare the ground,

Leaping like wanton kids in pleasant Spring.

Truth; i. e. herfelf; for fhe was Truth." But truth, as Mr. Church has obferved, is here used for fincerity, and the combination pity and ruth is ufual. Thus, in Sir Bevis of Hampton: "He had fuch ruth and pity,

"That the teares ran downe plenty."

It is also used in Milton's ninth Sonnet.

XIII. 4.

TODD.

without fufpect of crime:] That is,

having no apprehenfions of being reproached, if the fhould be See note, F. Q. i. xi. 46. "The crime

feen in fuch company.

of our firft Father's fall." CHURCH.

VOL. II.

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So towards old Sylvanus they her bring; Who, with the noyfe awaked, commeth out To weet the caufe, his weake steps governing And aged limbs on cypreffe ftadle stout; And with an yvie twyne his waste is girt about.

XV.

Far off he wonders what them makes fo glad, Or Bacchus merry fruit they did invent,

XIV. 7. his weake fteps governing And aged limbs on cypresse stadle flout;] I do not remember that Sylvanus is any where described as infirm with old age. Neither would the young cypress tree which he carried in his hand, a fapling, or small plant torn up by the root, have served for this purpose. Virgil addresses him, Georg. i. 20. "teneram ab radice ferens, Sylvane, cupreffum."

T. WARTON.

Stadle, according to Dr. Johnson, is a Saxon word, denoting a foundation. I know of no other ancient authority for ftadle in the prefent fenfe. In Pierce the Ploughmans Crede, however, a kindred word is to be found, which is explained in the Gloffary at the end of the poem, impr. by R. Wolfe in 1553, stay. See Sign. B. ii. b.

"And for chef charyte, we chargeden us feluen

"In amendyng of this men; we maden our celles "To ben in cytes yfet, to ftyghtle the puple:" To lay the people, that is, to fupport, hold up, the people. The friar is relating the charity of his order. TODD.

XV. 2. Or Bacchus &c.] Hughes reads, "If Bacchus &c." But even then there is an obscurity. The meaning of the paffage is this: "He wonders what makes them fo glad; he doubts with himself, whether or no their mirth was not occafioned by wine which they had discovered, or whether or no they might not be driven to madness by Cybele's rites." Invent is here one of Spenfer's Latinifms for difcover, as it is in F. Q. v. xi. 50. T. WARTON.

The editions of 1751, of Tonfon's in 1758, and of Church and Upton, preferve the reading of the first edition, "Or Bacchus." The fecond edition, and all the folios, read "Of Bacchus. TODD.

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