of the words, intermixed alfo with Saxon letters, and diftin guished by other marks of his own invention. To enumerate all the forms, under which he has ingeniously placed paffages from Spenfer, the Antonomafia, the Metalepfis, the Onomatopaia, the Barbaralexis, &c. &c. would fill many pages, and might not, I fear, completely gratify the curiofity which these highfounding names excite. The following examples are from the Figures in found, cap. xxi. p. 108, &c. Ericavis, five Subiunctio. "Unam fi gemines vocem Subiun&tio fiet : ye bee." F. Q. i. i. 19. « Conuerfio, Αντισροφή αι. Επιστροφή. "Pluria membra fono Conuerfio claudit eodem. "For truth is one, and right is euer one. “ Επανάληψις. "Incipit & finit verbo Epanalepfis eodem: F. Q. v. ii. 48. "Bold was the chalenge, as himfelfe was bold." F. Q. iv. ii. 39. The following is an example, taken from the critick's Figures of fentence, p. 128. "Enávodos, Regrefio. "Quum femel in toto totum proponis, et inde "Birdes, voices, inftruments, windes, waters, all agree. A writer, fubfequent to Gill, has concifely and very properly noticed a peculiarity fometimes obfervable in Spenfer's verfification. "His making the end of one verfe to be the frequent beginning of the other (befides the art of the Trope) was the labour and delight of Mr. Edmund Spencer, whom Sir Walt. Raleigh and Sir Kenelm Digby were used to call the English Virgil." Preface to the Reader, in The Chaft and Loft Lovers, &c. Digested into three poems, by Will. Bofworth, Gent. 1651, 8vo. Lond. About twenty years after, a work was published, entitled "Anglie Speculum Morale: The Moral State of England, &c. 8vo. Lond. 1670." In which, the confideration of the poetry of this country forms a chapter, p. 65. &c. The remarks on Spenfer's imagery and LANGUAGE may here be properly introduced, as they ferve to fhow the eftimation in which the moral poet was held at that period: "The Bards and Chroniclers, in the Ifles of Britain and Ireland, have been in former times even ador'd for the ballads in which they extoll'd the deeds of their forefathers; and fince the ages have been refined, doubtlefs, England hath produced thofe, who in this way have equall'd most of the Ancients, and exceeded all the Moderns. CHAUCER rofe like the morning starr of Wit, out of those black mifts of ignorance; fince him, SPENCER MAY DESERVEDLY CHALLENGE THE CROWN; for though he may seem blameable in not observing decorum in fome places enough, and in too much (in the whole) countenancing Knight-errantry; yet the eafie fimilitudes, the natural pourtraicts, the fo refined and fublimated fancies, with which he hath bestudded every Canto of his subject, will eafily reach him the guerdon: and though fome may object to him that his language is harsh and antiquated; yet his defign was noble; to fhew us that our language was expreffive enough of our own fentiments; and to upbraid those who have indenizon'd fuch numbers of forreign words." Compare this with E. K.'s criticifm, before cited, p. cxxxv. Respecting the Alexandrine verfe, which clofes every stanza with greater dignity than an heroick line, and which Dryden. profeffedly used in imitation of Spenfer; it must be remarked that Spenfer was not the inventor of this fonorous termination, as Mr. Upton feems to have imagined. For I find, in Puttenham's Arte of English Poefie, 1580, p. 60, that "Sir Thos. Wiat the elder was the first who used the Alexandrine verse in the English tongue." It remains only to call the reader's attention to the beautiful construction of Spenfer's numbers, and to the forcible expreffion of his ideas, in the happy defcription of the poet given by that judicious critick, the late Dr. Jofeph Warton; "The characteristicks of this fweet and allegorical poet are not only ftrong and circumftantial imagery, but tender and pathetick feeling, a moft melodious flow of verfification, and a certain pleafing melancholy in his fentiments, the conftant companion of an elegant tafte, that cafts a delicacy and grace over all his compofitions." TODD. MR. UPTON'S REMARKS ON THE ACTION AND HISTORY OF THE FAERIE QUEENÈ. IT is not my intention to enter into a particular criticifim of any of our poet's writings, excepting the FAERIE QUEENE; which poem feems to have been hitherto very little understood; notwithstanding he has opened, in a great measure, his defign and plan in a letter to his honoured friend Sir Walter Raleigh. How readily has every one acquiefced in Dryden's opinion?"That the action of this Poem is not one; that, there is no uniformity of defign; and that he aims at the accomplishment of no action." See his dedications of the translation of Virgil's Eneid, and of the tranflation of Juvenal. It might have been expected that Hughes, who printed Spenfer's works, fhould not have joined fo freely in the fame cenfure: and yet he tells us," that the feveral Books appear rather like so many several poems, than one entire fable: each of them having its peculiar knight, and being independant of the reft." Juft in the fame manner did the criticks and commentators formerly abufe old Homer; his Iliad, they faid, was nothing else, but a parcel of loofe fongs and rhapsodies concerning the Trojan war, which he fung at feftivals; and thefe loofe ballads were firft collected, and ftitched, as it were, together by Pififtratus; being parts without any coherence, or relation to a whole, and unity of defign.. As this fubject requires a particular confideration; I defire the reader will attend to the following vindication of Homer and Spenfer, as they have both fallen under one common cenfure. a In every poem there ought to be fimplicity and unity; and in the epick poem the unity of the action fhould never be violated by introducing any ill-joined or heterogeneous parts. This effential rule Spenfer feems to me strictly to have followed: for what story can well be shorter, or more fimple, than the fubject of his poem?-A British Prince fees in a vifion the Faerie Queene; he falls in love, and goes in fearch after this unknown fair; and at length finds her.-This fable has a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning is, the British Prince faw in a vifion the Faerie Queene, and fell in love with her: the middle, his fearch after her, with the adventures that he underwent: the end, his finding whom he fought. But here our curiofity is raised, and we want a more circumftantial information of many things.Who is this British Prince? what adventures did he undergo? who was the Faerie Queene? where, when, and how, did he find her? Thus many queftions arife, that require many folutions. The action of this Poem has not only fimplicity and unity, but it is great and important. The hero is no less than the British Prince, Prince Arthur: (who knows not Prince Arthur)? The time when this hero commenced his adventures, is marked very exactly. In the reign of Uther Pendragon, father of Prince Arthur, Octa the fon of Hengift, and his kinfinan Eofa, thinking themfelves not bound by the treaties which they had made with aftrictly to have followed;] See, however, Dr. Hurd's Remarks on the Gothick system of this poem, and his successful objections to Mr. Upton's affertion, p. clx. TODD. Aurelius Ambrofius, began to raise disturbances, and infeft his dominions. This is the hiftorical period of time, which Spenfer has chofen, F. Që, iii. iii. 52. "Ye fee that good King Uther now doth make Could any epick poet defire a better historical foundation to build his poem on? Hear likewise what he himself says on this fubject, “I chose the history of King Arthur, as moft fit for the excellency of his perfon, being made famous by many mens former works, and also furtheft from the danger of envy and fufpicion of prefent time." I much queftion if Virgil's Eneid is grounded on facts fo well fupported. Befide a poet is a maker; nor does he compofe a poem for the fake of any one hero, but rather he makes a hero for the fake of his poem and if he follows fame, whether from the more authentick relation of old chronicles, or from the legendary tales of old romances, yet ftill he is at liberty to add, or to diminish: in fhort, to fpeak out, he is at liberty to lie, as much as he pleafes, provided his lies are confiftent, and he makes his tale hang well together. b Prince Arthur faw in a vifion, and feeing fell in love with, the Faerie Queene; juft about the time that the held her annual feftival, when her knights had their various adventures affigned them. From either of these periods an hiftorian might begin his b Our poet follows Geoffry of Monmouth, the British historian; and the old Romance entitled, The Hiftory of Prince Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, or La Morte d'Arthure, as entitled at the end, and fo cited by Afcham in his School-Mafter, pag. 87. who mentions it as a favourite author in his time. UPTON. 3 |