Uppon a Camell loaden all with gold:
Two iron coffers hong on either fide,
With precious metall full as they might hold;
And in his lap an heap of coine he told;
For of his wicked pelfe his God he made,"
And unto hell him felfe for

money fold:

Accurfed ufury was all his trade,

And right and wrong ylike in equall ballaunce waide. 28.

His life was nigh unto deaths dore yplafte;

And thred-bare cote, and cobled fhoes, hee ware;
Ne scarfe good morfell all his life did taste,
But both from backe and belly still did spare,
To fill his bags, and richeffe to compare :*
Yet childe ne kinfman living had he none
To leave them to; but thorough daily care
To get, and nightly feare to lofe his owne,
He led a wretched life, unto himselfe unknowne.

29.

Moft wretched wight, whom nothing might fuffife;
Whose greedy luft did lacke in greatest store;

P Two iron coffers.] It is coffets in the edit. 1590, but amended afterwards: few things were more common than for old printers to miftake t and r. C.

For of his wicked pelfe his God be made.] Here Spenser ufes "pelfe" figuratively, as was not uncommon; but as Puttenham says, in his "Art of Engl. Poefie," 1589, 4to. it properly means "the scrappes or shreds of taylors and of skinners, which are accompted of a vile price," (p. 229;) and Stephen Goffon, in his "Quip for newfangled Gentlewomen," 1595 and 1596, employs it for trash or trumpery:— "This ftarch and these rebating props,

as though ruffes were fome rotten house; All this new pelfe now fold in fhops,

in value true not worth a louse," &c.

And again afterwards:

"To carry all this pelfe and trash

because their bodies are unfit," &c. C.

▾ To fill his bags, and richesse to compare.] Procure. Lat. Comparare divitias. JORTIN.

Whofe need had end, but no end covetife;

Whose welth was want, whofe plenty made him pore;
Who had enough, yett wished ever more;
A vile disease: and eke in foote and hand
A grievous gout tormented him full fore,

That well he could not touch, nor goe, nor stand. Such one was Avarice, the forth of this faire band. 30.

And next to him malicious Envy rode

Upon a ravenous wolfe, and ftill did chaw
Between his cankred teeth a venemous tode,
That all the poifon ran about his chaw;"
But inwardly he chawed his owne maw
At neibors welth, that made him ever fad,
For death it was, when any good he saw ;

And wept, that cause of weeping none he had; But when he heard of harme he wexed wondrous glad. 31.

All in a kirtle of discolourd say

He clothed was, ypaynted full of eies;
And in his bofome fecretly there lay

An hatefull Snake, the which his taile uptyes
In many folds, and mortall sting implyes.
Still as he rode he gnasht his teeth to see
Those heapes of gold with griple Covetyfe;
And grudged at the great felicitee

Of proud Lucifera, and his owne companee.

s Between his cankred teeth a venemous tode.] Ovid feigns that Envy was found eating the flesh of vipers, a fiction not much unlike Spenfer's picture. This perfonage is again introduced, F. Q. v. xii. 29, chewing a fnake, of which circumstance a moft beautiful ufe is there made, St. 39. T. WARTON.

t

about his chaw.] ran

Chaw" and jaw are the fame word, although we now spell the fubftantive jaw, and the verb chaw or chew. Spenfer elsewhere has jaw, and, why not here? other authors have both jaw and "chaw." "Chaw" is from the A. S. ceowan. C.

32.

He hated all good workes and vertuous deeds,
And him no leffe, that any like did use ;
And who with gratious bread the hungry feeds,
His almes for want of faith he doth accuse.
So every good to bad he doth abuse;
And eke the verse of famous Poets witt
He does backebite, and fpightfull poifon fpues
From leprous mouth on all that ever writt.
Such one vile Envy was, that fifte in row did fitt."
33.

And him befide rides fierce revenging Wrath,
Upon a Lion, loth for to be led;

And in his hand a burning brond he hath,
The which he brandifheth about his hed:
His eies did hurle forth fparcles fiery red,
And ftared fterne on all that him beheld;
As afhes pale of hew, and feeming ded;
And on his dagger ftill his hand he held,
Trembling through hafty rage when choler in him fweld.

34.

His ruffin raiment all was ftaind with blood
Which he had fpilt, and all to rags yrent,
Through unadvized rafhnes woxen wood;
For of his hands he had no governement,
Ne car'd for blood in his avengement:
But, when the furious fitt was overpast,
His cruel facts he often would repent;
Yet, wilfull man, he never would forecast,

W

u that fifte in row did fitt.] It is "firfte in row" in the 4to. 1590, and although among the printer's errors it is pointed out as a mistake, it was, nevertheless, continued as late as the edit. 1611. Drayton wrote 5th." in his margin. C.

Through unadvized rafhnes woxen wood.] i. e. grown mad: from the A. S. wod. It is a word of perpetual occurrence; and Shakespeare puns upon it in " Midf. N. Dream," A. ii. Sc. 2. C.

How many mischieves fhould enfue his heedleffe hast.

35.

Full many mischiefes follow cruell Wrath:
Abhorred bloodshed, and tumultuous ftrife,
Unmanly murder, and unthrifty scath,
Bitter defpight, with rancours rufty knife,
And fretting griefe, the enemy of life:
All these, and many evils moe haunt ire,
The fwelling Splene, and Frenzy raging rife,
The shaking Palfey, and Saint Fraunces fire.
Such one was Wrath, the last of this ungodly tire.*
36.

And, after all, upon the wagon beame,

Rode Sathan with a smarting whip in hand, With which he forward lafht the laefy teme, So oft as Slowth still in the mire did ftand. Huge routs of people did about them band, Showting for joy; and still before their way A foggy mist had covered all the land; And, underneath their feet, all scattered lay Dead fculls and bones of men whofe life had gone aftray. 37.

So forth they marchen in this goodly fort,

To take the folace of the open aire,

And in fresh flowring fields themselves to sport:
Emongst the rest rode that false Lady faire,
The foule Dueffa, next unto the chaire
Of proud Lucifer', as one of the traine :'

But that good knight would not so nigh repaire,

* the last of this ungodly tire.] Of this ungodly rank, or order. C. Of proud Lucifer', as one of the traine.] So it is printed in the 4to. 1590, the a at the end of Lucifera being elided for the measure, although the verse might stand, as in fubfequent impreffions,

Of proud Lucifera, as one, &c.

if the reader carried on the vowel at the end of the name to the next word, which begins with the fame vowel.

Him felfe eftraunging from their joyaunce vaine, Whofe fellowship feemd far unfitt for warlike fwaine. 38.

So, having folaced themselves a space

With pleasaunce of the breathing fields yfed,
They backe retourned to the princely Place;
Whereas an errant knight in armes ycled,
And heathnish shield, wherein with letters red
Was writt Sansjoy, they new arrived find:
Enflam'd with fury and fiers hardy hed,"

He feemd in hart to harbour thoughts unkind, And nourish bloody vengeaunce in his bitter mind. 39.

Who, when the fhamed fhield of flaine Sansfoy
He spide with that fame Fary champions page,
Bewraying him that did of late destroy
His eldest brother; burning all with rage,
He to him lept, and that fame envious gage
Of victors glory from him fnacht away:

But th' Elfin knight, which ought that warlike wage, b
Difdaind to loose the meed he wonne in fray;

And, him rencountring fierce, reskewd the noble pray.

40.

Therewith they gan to hurtlen greedily,

Redoubted battaile ready to darrayne,

2 and fiers hardy bed.] i. e. hardy hood: but it is printed as two words in the firft edit. and hardy-head in fubfequent impreffions. The termination head, thus ufed, of course, always denotes ftate or condition, as maidenhead for maidenhood, or the state of virginity; but though we have hardyhead, luftyhead, &c. we seldom meet with any change of the fort in widowhood, and manhood.

C.

a Who, when the shamed shield.] The propriety of this epithet is explained in Stanza 41. CHURCH.

b But th' Elfin knight, which ought that warlike wage.] Which owed, or owned "that warlike wage." To "owe" for to own is of conftant occurrence in all the writers of the age of Spenfer. C.

battaile ready to darrayne.] To "darrayne" or darraign battle