Hunting full greedy after falvage blood: Soone as the royall Virgin he did spy, With gaping mouth at her ran greedily, To have attonce devourd her tender corfe: But to the pray when as he drew more ny, His bloody rage afwaged with remorse, And, with the fight amazd, forgat his furious forfe.

VI.

Inftead thereof he kift her wearie feet,

And lickt her lilly hands with fawning
tong;

As he her wronged innocence did weet.
O how can beautie maifter the most strong,
And fimple truth fubdue avenging wrong!

:

to a true virgin. Two lions, after this manner, fawn upon Sabra, in the Seven Champions, at which, fays St. George, "Now, Sabra, I have by this fufficiently proved thy true virginitie for it is the nature of a lion, he he never fo furious, not to harme the unfpotted virgin, but humbly to lay his bristled head upon a maiden's lap.” P. i. c. 11. T. WARTON. The fame circumstances are related of Jofian in the romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton. TODD.

VI. 4. O how can beautie maister the most strong,] O how beautie knows, is able, to maifter the most strong! Anglo-S. cunnan fcire, cann novi. Chaucer fo ufes it, Wife of Bathes Prol. 231.

"A wife wife, if that she can hire good,

"Shall beren hem on hond the cow is wood :" That is, if the knoweth her interest. UPTON.

Mr. Upton might have ftrengthened his illustration by a paffage in the Shep. Cal. Feb. v. 77.

"Seemeth thy flocke thy counfell can:"

That is, it seems as if they knew thy counfell. Chaucer, it may be added, very often thus ufes the word. TODD.

Whofe yielded pryde and proud fubmiffion, Still dreading death, when she had marked long,

Her hart

gan melt in great compaffion;

And drizling teares did fhed for pure

VII.

affection.

"The lyon, lord of everie beaft in field,"
Quoth the," his princely puiffance doth abate,
And mightie proud to humble weake does yield,
Forgetfull of the hungry rage, which late
Him prickt, in pittie of my fad estate :—
But he, my lyon, and my noble lord,
How does he find in cruell hart to hate
Her, that him lov'd, and ever most adord
As the god of my life? why hath he me abhord?”

VIII.

Redounding teares did choke th' end of her

plaint,

Which foftly ecchoed from the neighbour

wood;

And, fad to fee her forrowfull constraint,
The kingly beaft upon her gazing stood;

VI. 6. Whofe yielded pryde &c.] Milton feems to have had this line in view, where he speaks of Eve, Par. Loft, B. iv. 308.

"Subjection

"Yielded with coy fubmiffion, modest pride."

CHURCH.

VII. 9. As the god of my life?] P. xlii. 10. “I made my prayer unto the God of my life." But applied as in Cicero, Orat. ii. poft reditum. Sect. iv. Princeps P. Lentulus, parens ac deus noftræ vitæ, fortunæ, &c." UPTON.

66

With pittie calmd, downe fell his angry

mood.

At laft, in close hart shutting up her payne, Arofe the Virgin borne of heavenly brood, And to her fnowy palfrey got agayne, To feeke her strayed Champion if the might attayne.

IX.

The lyon would not leave her defolate,
But with her went along, as a strong gard
Of her chaft person, and a faythfull mate
Of her fad troubles and misfortunes hard :
Still, when she flept, he kept both watch and
ward;

And, when she wakt, he wayted diligent, With humble fervice to her will prepard: From her fayre eyes he took commandement, And ever by her lookes conceived her intent.

X.

Long fhe thus traveiled through deferts wyde, By which the thought her wandring Knight fhold pas,

Yet never fhew of living wight efpyde;

Till that at length fhe found the troden gras,
In which the tract of peoples footing was,
Under the steepe foot of a mountaine hore:
The fame the followes, till at last she has

IX. 5.

kept both watch and ward;] See the note on the Shepheards Calender, Sept. v. 234. TODD.

A damzel spyde flow-footing her before, That on her fhoulders fad a pot of water bore.

XI.

To whom approching the to her gan call,

To weet, if dwelling place were nigh at hand: But the rude wench her anfwerd nought at all; She could not heare, nor fpeake, nor underftand:

Till, feeing by her fide the lyon stand, With fuddein feare her pitcher downe she threw,

And fled away for never in that land

X. 8.

flow-footing her before,] So Milton, in

his moft exquifite Monody, of Camus :

"Next, Camus, reverend fire, went footing flow." Henry More uses the fame expreffion. TODD.

X. 9. That on her fhoulders fad a pot of water bore.] Our poet paints according to the fimplicity of ancient customs and manners; and his painting is therefore the more natural and pleafing. See Gen. xxiv. 15. and 45. "Rebecca came out with her pitcher upon her shoulder." So likewife the woman of Samaria, John iv. 7. And the very fame natural picture we have in Homer, Od. x'. 105.

to "

Κέρῃ δὲ ξύμβληντο πρὸ ἄσεος υδρευέση.

UPTON.

Sad fhoulders are heavy fhoulders. This expreffion is parallel heavy trees," F. Q. iii. vi. 42. So Milton, Par. Loft, B. viii. 162." He from the east his flaming road begin." Where, as Mr Richardfon obferves, the poet elegantly applies to the road what belongs to the fun. CHURCH.

Mr. Church's obfervation may be strengthened by Spenfer's ufe of fad for heavy, F. Q. ii. viii. 30.

"his hand, more fad then lump of lead." TODD. XI. 7. And fled away:] After having told us, that, feeing the lion stand by her, she fled away for fear, he adds, that this was because she had never seen a lady before, which certainly was no reason why fhe fhould fly from the lion. What our author intended to express here, was, that "at seeing the lion,

Face of fayre lady the before did vew, And that dredd lyons looke her caft in deadly

hew.

XII.

Full faft fhe fled, ne ever lookt behynd,
As if her life upon the wager lay;

And home fhe came, whereas her mother
blynd

Sate in eternall night; nought could she fay; But, fuddeine catching hold, did her dismay With quaking hands, and other fignes of feare: Who, full of ghaftly fright and cold affray, Gan fhut the dore. By this arrived there Dame Una, weary Dame, and entrance did requere:

XIII.

Which when none yielded, her unruly page With his rude clawes the wicket open rent, And let her in; where, of his cruell rage Nigh dead with feare, and faint aftonishment, Shee found them both in darkfome corner

pent:

pray

Where that old woman day and night did Upon her beads, devoutly penitent: Nine hundred Pater nofters every day, And thrife nine hundred Aves fhe was wont

to fay.

and fo beautiful a lady, an object never feen before in that country, he was affrighted, and fled." T. WARTON.