Or Cybeles franticke rites have made them
mad:

They, drawing nigh, unto their god present
That flowre of fayth and beautie excellent:
The god himfelfe, vewing that mirrhour rare,
Stood long amazd, and burnt in his intent:
His owne fayre Dryope now he thinkes not
faire,

And Pholoë fowle, when her to this he dotli

compaire.

XVI.

The wood-borne people fall before her flat, And worship her as goddeffe of the wood; And old Sylvanus felfe bethinkes not, what To thinke of wight fo fayre; but gazing stood In doubt to deeme her borne of earthly brood:

Sometimes dame Venus felfe he feemes to fee; But Venus never had fo fober mood:

Sometimes Diana he her takes to be;

XVI. 2. as goddeffe of the wood;] Perhaps alluding to the very elegant defcription of Chariclea in Heliodorus, Ethiop. L. i. Κόρη καθῆτο ἐπὶ πέτρας, αμήχανόν τι κάλλος, καὶ ΘΕΟΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΑΝΑΠΕΙΘΟΥΣΑ, κ. τ. λ. Again, Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ΘΕΟΝ τινα ἔλεγον, καὶ ΘΕΟΝ ΑΡΤΕΜΙΝ, ἤ τὴν ἐγχώριον Ισιν. So below, "Sometimes Diana he her takes to be." Milton's Lady in Comus is thus addreffed as the goddess of the wood, in which he is loft, ver. 267. And Dryden certainly had his eye on Spenfer, when he defcribed Cymon viewing Iphigenia fleeping:

"An awful fear his ardent with withstood,
"Nor durft disturb the goddess of the wood;
"For fuch the feem'd." TODD.

But miffeth bow and fhaftes, and bufkins to her

knee.

XVII.

By vew of her he ginneth to revive
His ancient love, and dearest Cypariffe ;
And calles to mind his pourtraiture alive,
How fayre he was, and yet not fayre to this;
And how he flew with glauncing dart amiffe
A gentle hynd, the which the lovely boy
Did love as life, above all worldly bliffe:
For griefe whereof the lad n'ould after ioy ;
But pynd away in anguish and felfewild annoy.

XVIII.

The wooddy nymphes, faire Hamadryades,
Her to behold do thether runne apace;
And all the troupe of light-foot Naiades
Flocke all about to fee her lovely face:
But, when they vewed have her heavenly

grace,

They envy her in their malitious mind, And fly away for feare of fowle disgrace : But all the Satyres fcorne their woody kind. And henceforth nothing faire, but her, on earth they find.

XIX.

Glad of fuch lucke, the luckeleffe lucky Mayd

XVII. 9.

XIX.

1.

annoy.] Noyance, hurt. CHURCH.

the luckeleffe lucky Mayd] This

line is much disfigured by the play upon the word luck. Ap

Did her content to please their feeble eyes; And long time with that falvage people stayd, To gather breath in many miferyes.

During which time her gentle wit fhe plyes, To teach them truth, which worshipt her in vaine,

And made her th' Image of Idolatryes :

But, when their bootleffe zeale fhe did reftrayne

From her own worship, they her affe would wor

fhip fayn.

XX.

It fortuned, a noble warlike Knight
By iuft occafion to that forreft came
To feeke his kindred, and the lignage right,
From whence he tooke his wel-deferved name:
He had in armes abroad wonne muchell
fame,

And fild far landes with glorie of his might;

Plaine, faithfull, true, and enimy of shame,

parent contradictions of this kind, however, are frequent in the impaffioned letters, and speeches, of Knights and Ladies in romance. Shakspeare intended to ridicule them in the fignature of the pretended Olivia to the letter which is directed to Malvolio: "Farewell: She, that would alter fervices with thee, The fortunate-unhappy." TODD.

XIX. 9.

they her affe would worship] Alluding to the objection made against the ancient Chriftians, that they worshipped an afs. See the Effay on the Allegorical Character of this poem. TODD.

XX. 3. To feeke his kindred,] So all the editions. I should fuppofe Spenfer gave," To fee," as in the thirtieth ftanza, where it appears that this was not his firft vifit. CHURCH.

And ever lov'd to fight for Ladies right; But in vaine glorious frayes he litle did delight.

XXI.

A Satyres fonne yborne in forreft wyld,
By ftraunge adventure as it did betyde,
And there begotten of a Lady myld,
Fayre Thyamis the daughter of Labryde;
That was in facred bandes of wedlocke tyde
To Therion, a loofe unruly fwayne,

Who had more joy to raunge the forreft wyde, And chafe the falvage beast with busie payne, Then ferve his Ladies love, and wafte in plea

The forlorne mayd did with loves longing burne, And could not lacke her lovers company; But to the wood fhe goes, to ferve her turne, And feeke her spouse, that from her ftill does fly

And followes other

game and

venery:

XXI. 8. And chafe the falcage beast with bufie payne,] That is, diligently; with diligent labour. 'Tis an expreffion which Chaucer ufes, Squ. Tule, 529.

"Undir plefaunce and undir bify paine."

And G. Douglas, p. 5. ver. 3.

"And zit forfoith I fet my befy pane

"(As that I couth) to mak it brade and plane.”

Our poet ufes it frequently. See F. Q. i. vii. 24, ii. vii. 35, iii. v. 31. UPTON.

XXII. 5.

other game and venery:] Venery is hunting, from the French venerie, a word often used in romance. Chaucer employs a fimilar reduplication of expreffion, Kn. Tale. 2310. ed. Tyrwhitt.

A Satyre chaunft her wandring for to finde ; And, kindling coles of luft in brutish eye, The loyall linkes of wedlocke did unbinde, And made her perfon thrall unto his beastly kind.

XXIII.

So long in fecret cabin there he held

Her captive to his fenfuall defyre;

Till that with timely fruit her belly fweld,
And bore a boy unto that falvage fyre:
Then home he fuffred her for to retyre;
For ransome leaving him the late-borne
childe:

Whom, till to ryper years he gan afpyre, He noufled up in life and maners wilde, Emongst wild beaftes and woods, from lawes of men exilde.

"I am (thou woft) yet of thy compagnie,

"A mayde, and love hunting and VENERIE."

Mr. Warton, however, thinks that Spenfer might, in the prefent inftance, intend a pun. TODD.

XXIII. 8. He noufled] This is the reading of the first edition, which Mr. Church follows. Moft editions read nourse, which, Mr. Upton fays, it ought to be. Nourfle indeed occurs in F. Q. vi. iv. 35. But noufel or nuzzel for nurse up, appears to have been not uncommon in Spenfer's time. Thus, in E. K.'s Gloffe on the Shep. Cal. June: "But to roote that rancke opinion of Elfes out of mens heartes, the truth is, that there bee no fuch thinges, nor yet the thadowes of the thinges, but onely by a fort of balde Friers and knauish shauelings fo feigned, which, as in all other things, fo in that, fought to noufell the common people in ignoraunce, &c." And thus, in Stafford's Niobe, fpeaking of Wisdom, P. 2d. p. 199. 2d. edit. 1611. "Shee nuzzleth her felfe in his bofom, cherisheth his foule, lifts vp his lowe-groueling thoghts as high as Heaven." TODD.