Her foule unbodied of the burdenous corpfe. O Lobb! thy loffe no longer lament; O happye herfe! Cease now, my Muse, now cease thy forrowes fourse; 170 "Why wayle we then? why weary we the Gods with playnts, As if fome evill were to her betight? She raignes a goddeffe now emong the faintes, That whilome was the faynt of fhepheards light, I fee thee, bleffed foule, I fee Walke in Elifian fieldes fo free. O happy herse! Might I once come to thee, (O that I might!) 175 180 "Unwife and wretched men, to weete what's good or ill, We deeme of Death as doome of ill defert; But knewe we, fooles, what it us bringes until, Make haft, ye fhepheards, thether to revert : 185 190 h Dido nis dead.] i. e. Dido ne is (or is not) dead-as in the preceding stanza, "That nys on earth." Todd printed " Dido is dead," exactly the contrary of what Spenfer wrote and intended. C. iDye would we dayly, once it to expert.] To experience. A verb perhaps of Spenfer's coinage. TODD. the shepheard can aftert.] "Aftert" is affright, or alarm—make to ftart. Todd abfurdly printed affert, which is authorized by the corruption of no old copy. C. "Dido is gone afore; (whofe turne shall be the next?) That whilome was poore fhepheards pryde, O happy herfe! Ceaffe now, my fong, my woe now wasted is; 195 200 205 The. Ay, francke fhepheard, how bene thy verses meint' With doleful pleafaunce, fo as I ne wotte Whether rejoyce or weepe for great constrainte. Thyne be the coffette, well haft thow it gotte. Up, Colin up! ynough thou morned hast ; Now gynnes to mizzle, hye we homeward fast. COLINS EMBLEME. La mort ny mord. GLOSSE. Jouifaunce, myrth. Sovenaunce, remembrance. Herie, honour. Welked, fhortned or empayred. As the Moone being in the waine is fayde of Lidgate to welk. In lowly lay, according to the feafon of the moneth November, when the fonne draweth low in the South toward his Tropick or returne. In fifbes bafke, the fonne reigneth, that is, in the figne Pifces all November: a hafke is a wicker pad, wherein they use to cary fish. Virelaies, a light kind of fong. Bee watred, for it is a faying of Poetes, that they have dronk of the Mufes Well Caftalias, whereof was before fufficiently fayd. I how bene thy verfes meint.] The word "meint" is in Richardfon, under minge it is not only used by Spenfer, but by Lydgate: "With lillies meynt and freshe roofes redde." In both poets it is to be understood as mingled, or mixed. Chaucer and Gower also use it as the past. part. C. Dreriment, dreery and heavy cheere. The great shepheard, is fome man of high degree, and not, as some vainely fuppofe, God Pan. The perfon both of the fhephearde and of Dido is unknowen, and closely buried in the Authors conceipt. But out of doubt I am, that it is not Rofalind, as fome imagin: for he fpeaketh foone after of her alfo. Shene, fayre and fhining. May, for mayde. Bynempt, bequeathed. Coffet, a lambe brought up without the dam. Unkempt, Incompti. Not comed, that is, rude and unhanfome. Melpomene, The fadde and waylefull Mufe, ufed of Poets in honor of Tragedies: as faith Virgile, "Melpomene tragico proclamat mæfta boatu." Up griefly ghosts, The maner of Tragicall Poetes, to call for helpe of Furies and damned ghofts: fo is Hecuba of Euripides, and Tantalus brought in of Seneca. And the rest of the reft. Herfe, is the folemne obfequie in funeralles. Waste of, decay of fo beautiful a peece. Carke, care. Ab why, an elegant Epanorthofis, as also soone after: nay, time was long ago. Flouret, a diminutive for a little floure. tentious comparison, "A minore ad majus." This is a notable and fen Relive not, live not againe, f. not in their earthly bodies: for in heaven they enjoy their due reward.TM The braunch, He meaneth Dido, who being as it were the mayne braunch now withered, the buddes, that is, beautie (as he fayd afore) can no more flourish. With cakes, fit for fhepheards bankets. Heame, for home, after the northerne pronouncing. Tinet, dyed or ftayned. The gaudie: the meaning is, that the things which were the ornaments of her lyfe are made the honor of her funerall, as is used in burialls. Lobbin, the name of a fhepheard, which feemeth to have beene the lover and deere frende of Dido. Rufbrings, agreeable for fuch bafe gyftes. Faked lockes, dryed leaves. As if Nature her felfe bewayled the death of the Mayde. Sourse, fpring. Mantled medowes, for the fondry flowres are like a Mantle or coverlet wrought with many colours. Philomele, the Nightingale: whome the Poetes faine once to have bene a Ladye of great beauty, till, being ravished by hir sisters husbande, m they enjoy their due reward.] Todd, following the fol. 1611, and looking no further, printed receive for "enjoy." C. fhe defired to be turned into a byrde of her name, whofe complaintes be very wel fet forth of Ma. George Gaskin, a wittie gentleman, and the very chefe of our late rymers, who, and if fome parts of learning wanted not (albee it is well knowen he altogy ther wanted not learning) no doubt would have attayned to the excellencye of those famous Poets. For gifts of wit and naturall promptneffe appeare in hym aboundantly. Cypree, ufed of the old Paynims in the furnishing of their funerall Pompe, and properly the figne of all forow and heavineffe. The fatall fifters, Clotho, Lachefis, and Atropos, daughters of Herebus and the Nighte, whom the Poetes fayne to fpinne the life of man, as it were a long threde, which they draw out in length, till his fatal howre and timely death be come; but if by other casualtie his dayes be abridged, then one of them, that is, Atropos, is fayde to have cut the threde in twain. Hereof commeth a common verse. "Clotho colum bajulat, Lachesis trahit, Atropos occat." O truftleffe, a gallant exclamation, moralized with great wisedom, and paffionate wyth great affection. Beare, a frame, wheron they use to lay the dead corfe. Furies, of Poetes are feyned to be three, Perfephone, Alecto, and Megera, which are fayd to be the Authors of all evill and mischiefe. Eternall night, is death or darknesse of hell. Betight, happened. I fee, A lively Icon or representation, as if he saw her in heaven present. Elyfian fieldes, be devised of Poetes to be a place of pleasure like Paradise, where the happye foules do reft in peace and eternal happyneffe. Dye would, the very epreffe faying of Plato in Phædone. Aftert, befall unwares. Nectar and Ambrofia, bee feigned to be the drink and foode of the gods: Ambrofia they liken to Manna in fcripture, and Nectar to be white like Creme, whereof is a proper tale of Hebe, that fpilt a cup of it, and stayned the heavens, as yet appeareth. But I have already difcourfed that at large in my Commentarye upon the Dreames of the fame Authour. Meynt, mingled. EMBLEME. Which is as much to say, as death biteth not. For although by course of nature we be borne to dye, and being ripened with age, as with a timely harvest, we must be gathered in time, or els of our felves we fall like rotted ripe fruite fro the tree: yet death is not to be counted for evill," nor (as the Poete fayd a little before) as doome of ill defert. For though the trefpaffe of the firft man brought death into the world, as the guerdon of finne, yet being overcome by the death of one that dyed for all, it is now made (as Chaucer fayth) the grene path way of life. So that it agreeth well with that was fayd, that Death byteth not (that is) hurteth not at all. n death is not to be counted for evill.] "Counted" is the word not merely in the 4to. 1579, but in the fol. 1611: nevertheless, Todd has it coveted. "Counted" requires no explanation. C. THIS Eglogue (even as the first beganne) is ended with a complaynte of Colin to God Pan; wherein, as weary of his former wayes, hee proportioneth his life to the foure Jeafons of the yeare; comparing hys youthe to the fpring time, when he was fresh and free from loves follye. His manhoode to the fommer, which, he fayth, was confumed with greate heate and exceffive drouth, caufed throughe a Comet or blazing ftarre, by which hee meaneth love; which paffion is comenly compared to fuch flames and immoderate heate. His riper yeares he refembleth to an unfeasonable harvefte, wherein the fruites fall ere they be rype. His latter age to winters chyll and froftie feafon, now drawing neare to his last ende. HE gentle fhepheard fatte befide a springe, and finge, For hee of Tityrus his fongs did lere : There, as he fatte in fecreate fhade alone, 5 This Eglogue.] This, which is one of his moft finifhed and elegant paftorals, is literally tranflated from old Clement Marot; which is not |