The which to heare vouchsafe, O dearest Dread, a while. And this paffage Milton too had in mind: "Thy name "Shall be the copious matter of my fong." UPTON. IV. 9. O dearest Dread,] The fame expreffion we meet with below, i. vi. 2. "Una his dear Dread," i. e. one whom he reverenced. And iii. ii. 30. “ah my dearest Dread!" where he translates Virg. Ceiris, v. 224. "O nobis facrum caput." Our elegant Prior, who often ufes Spenfer's expreffions, addreffes queen Anne in the words with which Spenfer addreffed Q. Elizabeth, "To thee, our dearest Dread, to thee our fofter king." Milton, Par. Loft, B. I. 406, ufes dread for deity. "Next Chemos, th' obfcene Dread of Moab's fons," i. e. the obscene god of the Moabites. So in Samfon Ago niftes, "Our living Dread," ver. 1673. In the fame manner Fear is used in fcripture. Gen. xxxi. 42. “ Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Ifrael,” i. e. the God whom Ifrael fears. And v. 53. "And Jacob fware by the Fear of his father Ifaac." Again, Ifai. viii. 12, 13. “Neither fear ye their Fear nor be afraid: fanctify the Lord of hofts himself, and let him be your Fear, and let him be your Dread." UPTON. CANTO I. The Patron of true Holineffe I. A GENTLE Knight was pricking on the plaine, I. 1. was pricking on the plaine,] The poet haftens into the midst of things, and defcribes the Red-croffe Knight, St. George, the tutelary faint of England (whose name and lineage is more particularly mentioned below, x. 65) already entered on his adventure, being fent by the Faerie Queene at the request of Una, a king's daughter, to flay a monftrous dragon, which, according to the legend, harrassed her father's kingdom. That expreffion" pricking on the plaine," means always riding in career by pricking or fpurring the horse but I must acknowledge this interpretation carries with it no small inaccuracies; for the Lady, who attends upon a flow afs, rides him fair befide. Shall we apologize for our poet as for painters, who ufually draw their knights in full career, notwithstanding any fubfequent improprieties? or fhall we look for another explanation? fhall we fay that “ pricking on the plaine," means no more than riding on the plain, without any reference to the manner, whether flow or faft? or rather fhall we affign some other meaning to the paffage, as it stands here? Pricking then may fuggeft the fame idea in our knight's action, as that of the horseman recorded by Varius in Macrobius, L. vi. 2. where the verses are not altogether printed according to the following reading of them: Quem non ille finit lentæ moderator habenæ "Qua velit ire, fed angufto prius orbe coërcens 66 " Infultare docet campis, fingitque morando." What adds fome degree of plausibility to this notion is, that the Knight is described curbing in his horfe at the fame time that he thus pricks along, to which curb the generous animal unwillingly fubmits; Ycladd in mightie armes and filver shielde, Wherein old dints of deepe woundes did remaine, The cruel markes of many' a bloody fielde; Yet armes till that time did he never wield: His angry fteede did chide his foming bitt, As much difdayning to the curbe to yield: Full iolly knight he feemd, and faire did fitt, As one for knightly giufts and fierce encounters fitt. "His angry steede did chide his foming bitt, "As much difdayning to the curbe to yield." In this fenfe then (which more literally fuits with the fober Lady and her flow beaft) " pricking on the plaine" means here the Knight's fpurring his horfe to bring him to order, to teach him proudly to pace on the plain. Virg. Georg. iii. 195. "Infultare folo, et greffus glomerare fuperbos." UPTON. I. 2. and filver fhielde,] Hardyng; from Nennius, fays in his Chronicle, printed. in 1543, that, when Jofeph of Arimathea converted Arviragus, he "gave hym then a fhilde of filver white, "A croffe endlong and overtwart full perfecte : "For a common figne eche manne to know his nacion "Sainct Georges armes." CHURCH. I. 8. Full iolly knight] Handfome. Fr. Joli. Chaucer, as Mr. Church has remarked, applies the epithet to a head of hair, p. 26. edit. Urr. But the word, applied to perfon, appears to have been familiar; as in the Rom. of the Rofe, v. 7455. edit. Urr. "And of the daunce Jolie Robin;" which in the original, as Mr. Tyrrwhitt points out, is "De la danfe le beau Robin." This phrafe has been given to Robin Hood: See the fong, "Hey Jolly Robin," Ritfon's Rob. Hood, vol. ii. 209. Cotgrave's tranflation of joli, I fhould add, minutely paints a hero of romance, viz. " gay, trim, fine, gallant, neat, handfome, feat, well-fashioned, minion, compt, polite." TODD. II. And on his breft a bloodie croffe he bore, he wore, And dead, as living ever, him ador'd: II. 1. And on his breft a bloodie croffe he bore,] It may be curious to obferve that, in "Certayne Statutes and Ordenaunces of Warre, made by kynge Henry the viii. bl. 1. Empr. by R. Pynfon, 1513," is the following order refpecting the red cross: "For them that bere nat a bonde, or a CROSSE OF SEYNT GEORGE. Alfo that euery man goynge in oftynge or batayle, of what estate condycyon or pacyon he be, of ye kynges partie and hofte, except he be a busfhop or offycer of armes, bere a eroffe of feynt George, fuffyfaunt and large, vpon the payne that if he be wounded or flayne in the defaute therof he that fo woundeth or fleeth hym shall bere noo payne therfore. And if he for any caufe paffe the bondes of the felde that THEN he bere openly a crosse of seynt george with his capitaynes conyfaunce, vpon payne to be empryfoned and punysshed at the kynges wyll." Topp. II. 4. The firft and second editions give the line thus: "And dead as living ever him ador'd:" The editions of 1609, 1611, and of Hughes, include as living in a parenthesis; the edition of 1751, between two commas. Either stopping greatly alters the fenfe. Spenfer, I think, would have pointed the line as we have given it. He plainly alludes to Rev. i. 18. "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore." CHURCH. I have admitted Mr. Church's judicious punctuation into the text. Upton, it should be observed, includes as living between two commas; Tonfon's edition of 1758, in a paren thefis. Later editions follow Upton. TODD. II. 5. Upon his fhield the like was also fcor'd,] Fairfax in his moft elegant tranflation of Taffo, xvii. 58. has the fame expreffion, "The mightie fhielde all scored full they view For foveraine hope, which in his helpe he had. Right, faithfull, true he was in deede and word; But of his cheere did feeme too folemne fad; Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad. III. Upon a great adventure he was bond, (That greatest glorious queene of Faery lond,) have, grace to Which of all earthly thinges he most did crave: And ever, as he rode, his hart did earne To prove his puiffance in battell brave Upon his foe, and his new force to learne; Upon his foe, a Dragon horrible and stearne. II. 8. 66 of his cheere] Countenance. So, in Thirteen most pleafaunt and delectable Queflions, entituled a difport &c. by Iohn Boccace, and englished by H. G. 12mo. 1587. A gentlewoman of cheere very milde, that was named Grace.” Queft. xi. TODD. folemne fad ;] Ibid. Sad, as Mr. Warton has obferved, did not always imply forrow, but gravity of countenance and deportment. And where fhall we find a more beautiful application of the word in this latter fense, than in Spenfer's own defcription of his bride, Epithal. v. 234. "But her fad eyes, ftill faftned on the ground, "Are governed with goodly modesty, "That fuffers not one look to glaunce awry." This is a picture which vies with that of the penfive nun, the fad virgin" of Milton. See Il Penf. v. 43, and v. 103. Spenfer ufes the fame combination, as in the present instance, to defcribe a thoughtful lady, F. Q. ii. ix. 36: "Somwhat fad and folemne eke in fight." TODD. |