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templation, in his hermitage on the top of a hill, reprefented as an old man almoft wafted away in study:

"With fnowy lockes adowne his fhoulders fhed,
"As hoary frost with spangles doth attire
"The moffy braunches of an oke halfe ded."

The Knight and his companion inquire of him,
"Is not from hence the way that leadeth right
"To that most glorious houfe that gliftreth bright
"With burning starres and ever-living fire ?"

This is extremely noble, as well as the old man's fhowing him, from the top of the hill, the heavenly Jerufalem, which was proper to animate the hero against the combat in which he is prefently after engaged: His fuccefs in that combat, and his marrying Una, are a very juft conclufion of this Book, and of its chief Allegory.

It would be eafy to point out many instances, befides those I have mentioned, of the beauties in this Book; yet these few will give the reader a tafte of that poetical fpirit and genius for Allegory which every where fhine in this Author, It would be endlefs to take notice of the more minute beauties of his epithets, his figures, and his fimiles, which occur in almost every page. I fhall only mention one or two as a fpecimen. That image of Strength, in ftriking a club into the ground, which is illuftrated by the following fimile, is very great:

"As when almightie love, in wrathfull mood, "To wreake the guilt of mortall fins is bent, "Hurles forth his thundring dart with deadly food, "Enrold in flames, and fmouldring dreriment, "Through riven cloudes and molten firmament; "The fiers threeforked engin, making way, Both loftie towres and highest trees hath rent, "And all that might his angry paffage stay; "And, fhooting in the earth, caftes up a mount of clay. ·

"His boyftrous club, fo buried in the grownd, "He could not rearen up againe, &c."

As alfo that of a giant's fall;

"That downe he tombled; as an aged tree,
"High growing on the top of rocky clift,

"Whofe hart-ftrings with keene fteele nigh hewen be; "The mightie trunck halfe rent with ragged rift "Doth roll adowne the rocks, and fall with fearfull drift.”

These are such paffages as we may imagine our excellent Milton to have ftudied in this Author. And here, by the way, it is remarkable that as Spenfer abounds with fuch thoughts as are truly fublime, fo he is almoft every where free from the mixture of little conceits, and that low affectation of wit which fo much infected both our verfe and profe afterwards, and from which fcarce any writer of his own time, befides himself, was free.

I fhall fhorten my Remarks on the following Books; yet the beauties in them rife fo thick, that I muft not pafs them by without mentioning fome. The Second Legend is framed on the Virtue of Temperance, which gives the Author opportunity to lay out in defcription all the most luxurious images of pleasure, riches, and riot, which are oppofed to it, and confequently makes it one of the most poetical Books of this whole Work. Sir Guyon is the hero, and the poet has given him Sobriety, in the habit of a palmer, for his guide and counfellor; as Homer has fuppofed Minerva or Wisdom, in the fhape of Mentor, to attend Telemachus in his travels, when he is feeking out his father Ulyffes. That thining defcription of Belphoebe, as a huntrefs, like Venus in Virgil, appearing to her fon Æneas, is defigned as a compliment on Queen Elizabeth, and is therefore wrought up with the moft finifhed beauty. Her fpeech in praife of that true glory which is only at

tained by labour and ftudy, is not only extremely proper to the fubject of this Book, but admirable, if we confider it as the fenfe of that Princefs, and as a fhort character of fo active and glorious a reign.

"Abroad in armes, at home in ftudious kynd, "Who feekes with painfull toile, shall Honor fooneft fynd: "In woods, in waves, in warres, she wonts to dwell, "And will be found with perill and with paine; "Ne can the man, that moulds in ydle cell, "Unto her happy manfion attaine:

"Before her gate High God did Sweate ordaine,
"And wakefull Watches, ever to abide :
"But eafy is the way and paffage plaine
"To Pleafure's pallace; it may foone be fpide,

"And day and night her dores to all stand open wide.”

Such paffages as these kindle in the mind a generous emulation, and are an honour to the art of poetry, which ought always to recommend worthy fentiments. The reader may fee in Canto VI. a character quite oppofite to this, in that of Idleness, who draws Sir Guyon for a while from his guide, and lays him afleep in her island. Her fong with which the charms him into a flumber,

"Behold, O Man! that toilefome paines doest take,

"The flowrs, the fields, and all that pleasaunt growes, &c." is very artfully adapted to the occafion, and is a contraft to that speech of Belphoebe I have juft quoted.

The epifode of Mammon, who in the palmer's abfence leads Sir Guyon into his cave, and tempts him with a furvey of his riches, very properly diverfifies the entertainment in this Book, and gives occafion to a noble fpeech againft riches, and the mifchievous effects of them. I have, in the Difcourfe on Allegory, taken notice of the fiends and spectres which are placed in crowds at the entrance to this place. The Author fuppofes the House of Riches

to lie almoft contiguous to hell; and the guard he sets upon it expreffes a very juft moral:

"Before the dore fat felfe-confuming Care,
"Day and night keeping wary watch and ward."
The light which is let into this place,

"Such as a lamp, whofe life does fade away; "Or as the moone cloathed with clowdy night :" The fmokinefs of it, and the flaves of Mammon working at an hundred furnaces, are all defcribed in the most lively manner; as their fudden looking at Sir Guyon is a circumftance very naturally reprefented. The walks, through which Mammon afterwards leads the Knight, are agreeably varied. The defcription of Ambition, and of the Garden of Proferpine, are good Allegories; and Sir Guyon's falling into a fwoon on his coming into the open air, gives occafion to a fine machine of the appearance of an heavenly spirit in the next Canto, by whofe affiftance he is reftored to the Palmer.

I cannot think the poet fo fuccefsful in his description of the House of Temperance, in which the Allegory feems to be debafed by a mixture of too many low images, as Diet, Concoction, Digeftion, and the like, which are reprefented as perfons: but the allegorical defcription of Memory, which follows foon after, is very good.

The IXth Canto, in which the author has made an abridgement of the old British history, is a very amufing digreffion, but might have been more artfully introduced. Homer or Virgil would not have fuffered the action of the poem to stand still whilst the hero had been reading over a book, but would have put the hiftory into the mouth of fome proper perfon to relate it. But I have already faid that this Work is not to be examined by the strict rules of epick poetry.

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The laft Canto of this Second Book being defigned to fhow the utmoft trial of the Virtue of Temperance, abounds with the most pleasurable ideas and representations which the fancy of the Poet could affemble together; but, from the 58th stanza to the end, it is for the most part copied, and many whole ftanzas tranflated, from the famous episode of Armida in Taffo. The reader may obferve, that the Italian genius for luxury appears very much in the defcriptions of the garden, the fountain, and the nymphs; which, however, are finely amplified and improved by our English poet. I fhall give but one inftance in the following celebrated stanza, which to gratify the curiofity of those who may be willing to compare the copy with the original, I fhall fet down in Italian.

"Vezzofi augelli, infra le verdi fronde,
"Temprano à prova lascivette note:
"Mormora l'aura, e fà le foglie e l'onde
"Garrir, che variamente ella percote.
"Quando taccion gli augelli, alto risponde;
"Quando cantan gli augei, piu lieve scote.
"Sia cafo od arte, hor accompagna, ed hora
"Alterna i verfi lor la Mufica ora.' ""

Spenfer has two ftanzas on this thought, the laft of which only is an imitation of Taffo, but with finer turns of the verse, which are fo artificial, that he feems to make the mufick he describes.

"Eftfoones they heard a most melodious found
"Of all that mote delight a daintie eare,
"Such as attonce might not on living ground,
"Save in this paradise, be heard elsewhere:

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Right hard it was for wight which did it heare "To read what manner muficke that mote bee; "For all that pleafing is to living eare

"Was there conforted in one harmonee;

"Birdes, voices, inftruments, windes, waters, all agree:

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