When Spenfer faw the fame was fpredd fo large, And as Ulyffes brought faire Thetis fonne Yet as Achilles, in those warlike frayes, Did win the palme from all the Grecian Peeres : W. L. TO looke upon a worke of rare devise Doth either prove the iudgement to he naught, To labour to commend a peece of worke, Would raise a jealous doubt, that there did lurke Some fecret doubt whereto the prayfe did tend: For when men know the goodnes of the wyne, "Tis needlefs for the Hoaft to have a fygne. Thus then, to fhew my iudgement to be such I here pronounce this workmanship is fuch And thus I hang a garland at the dore; And when your taft fhall tell you this is trew, VERSES ADDRESSED, BY THE AUTHOR OF THE FAERIE QUEENE, TO SEVERAL NOBLEMEN &c. To the Right Honourable Sir Chriftopher Hatton, Lord high Chauncelor of England &c. THOSE prudent heads, that with their counsels wife Whylom the pillours of th' earth did fuftaine, And taught ambitious Rome to tyrannife And in the neck of all the world to rayne; Oft from thofe grave affaires were wont abstaine, With the fweet Lady Mufes for to play : So Ennius the elder Africane ; So Maro oft did Cæfars cares allay. So you, great Lord, that with your counsell sway Ver. 7. So Ennius &c.] The meaning is, "So Ennius allayed the cares of Scipio Africanus, and fo Virgil &c." Claudian relates the fame circumftance of Ennius; and poffibly afforded it to Spenfer. See Præf. in Lib. 3. Laud. Stilic. Major Scipiades," et feq. T. WARTON. Ver. 9. So you, great Lord, that &c.] The diligence and integrity, with which Sir Chriftopher Hatton executed his office of High-Chancellor, manifeft themselves in many paffages of Queen Elizabeth's hiftory. It is remarkable that, fince the exclufion of the ecclefiafticks from bearing this office, he was the first perfon preferred to it who was not a profeffed lawyer. He was made Chancellor in the year 1587 and died in 1591. See Camden's Annals Eliz. T. WARTON. The burdein of this kingdom mightily, With like delightes fometimes may eke delay The rugged brow of carefull Policy; And to thefe ydle rymes lend litle space, Which for their titles fake may find more grace. E. S. To the Right Honourable the Lord Burleigh, Lord high Threafurer of England. TO you, Right Noble Lord, whose carefull To breft menage of moft grave affaires is bent; And on whofe mightie fhoulders most doth reft may eke delay Ver. 11. The rugged brow of carefull Policy:] May Smooth or foften. The word delay is ufed by Spenfer in the fame fenfe, in his Prothalam. ver. 3, where modern editions improperly read allay. See the note on the paffage. But Milton is the best commentator on the words now before us; for he defcribes the nightingale, in his Il Penferofo, "In her sweetest faddeft plight "SMOOTHING the rugged brow of night." TODD. Ver. 14. for their titles fake] Their title being the Faerie Queene, who reprefented Queen Elizabeth. Camden relates, that Sir Chriftopher was a fingular favourite of the Queen, long before his promotion to the Chancellorship. However, as that hiftorian adds, he was not raifed to it purely by her choice, but by the artifice of certain Courtiers who, envious of his growing intereft, thought to diminish his favour with the Queen, by conferring a poft upon him which neceffarily drew him from a conftant attendance on the Court, and to which his ignorance of the law rendered him unequal. T. WARTON. Ver. 1. To you, &c.] See the Life of Spenfer. TODD. The burdein of this kingdome's governement, (As the wide compaffe of the firmament On Atlas mightie fhoulders is upstayd,) Unfitly I thefe ydle rimes prefent, The labor of loft time, and wit unftayd: Yet if their deeper fence be inly wayd, And the dim vele, with which from commune vew Their fairer parts are hid, afide be layd, Perhaps not vaine they may appeare to You. Such as they be, vouchfafe them to receave, And wipe their faults out of your cenfure grave. E. S. To the Right Honourable the Earle of Oxenford, RECEIVE, moft Noble Lord, in gentle gree, Defended from foule Envies poifnous bit. Ver. 1. gree,] Favour. See the F. Q. i. v. 16, and the note there. TODD, |