His dayes, his goods, his bodie, he did spend: O horrible enchantment, that him fo did blend!' 81.

The noble Elfe and carefull Palmer drew

So nigh them, minding nought but luftfull game,
That fuddein forth they on them rufht, and threw
A fubtile net, which only for that fame"
The skilfull Palmer formally did frame:*
So held them under faft; the whiles the reft
Fled all away for feare of fowler shame.

The faire Enchauntresse, so unwares opprest,
Tryde all her arts and all her fleights thence out to wrest.

82.

And eke her lover ftrove, but all in vaine;
For that same net fo cunningly was wound,
That neither guile nor force might it distraine.
They tooke them both, and both them strongly bound
In captive bandes, which there they readie found:
But her in chaines of adamant he tyde;
For nothing else might keepe her fafe and found:
But Verdant (fo he hight) he foone untyde,
And counfell fage in fteed thereof to him applyde.

83.

But all those pleasaunt bowres, and Pallace brave,
Guyon broke downe with rigour pittilesse;
Ne ought their goodly workmanship might save
Them from the tempeft of his wrathfulneffe,

that him fo did blend.] Here blind, for the rhyme's fake, is printed" blend," and blent, the participle, is not unfrequently used for blinded. To "blend" is alfo to confound. C.

u

X

only for that fame.] That is, for that purpofe. So Spenfer's first edition reads the rest read, less perfpicuously," for the fame." TODD. formally did frame.] Perhaps we must read “ formerly" heretofore. But if we keep the old reading, then formally may mean according to form or method, cunningly, defignedly; fecundum formam, modum, et artem; formalitèr. UPTON.

But that their bliffe he turn'd to balefulneffe.

Their groves he feld; their gardins did deface; Their arbers fpoyle;' their Cabinets fuppreffe ; Their banket houfes burne; their buildings race; And, of the fayreft late, now made the fowlest place. 84.

Then led they her away, and eke that knight
They with them led, both forrowfull and fad.
The way they came, the fame retourn'd they right,
Till they arrived where they lately had

Charm'd those wild-beafts that rag'd with furie mad;
Which, now awaking, fierce at them gan fly,
As in their mistreffe refkew whom they lad;

But them the Palmer foone did pacify.

Then Guyon afkt, what meant those beaftes which there did ly?

85.

Sayd he; "These feeming beafts are men indeed,
Whom this Enchauntreffe hath transformed thus;
Whylome her lovers, which her luftes did feed,
Now turned into figures hideous,

According to their mindes like monftruous."
"Sad end," (quoth he) "of life intemperate,
And mourneful meed of joyes delicious!
But, Palmer, if it mote thee fo aggrate,

Let them returned be unto their former state."

86.

Streight way he with his vertuous ftaffe them ftrooke, And ftreight of beastes they comely men became ; Yet being men they did unmanly looke,

And ftared ghaftly; fome for inward shame,

* Their arbers spoyle.] So Spenfer's first edition reads. The reft read, inaccurately, "fpoil'd;" for did, in the preceding line, applies to Spoyle, fuppreffe, burne, and race, as well as to deface. TODD.

And some for wrath to fee their captive Dame:
But one above the rest in speciall

That had an hog beene late, hight Grylle by name,' Repyned greatly, and did him mifcall

That had from hoggish forme him brought to naturall. 87.

Saide Guyon; " See the mind of beastly man,
That hath so foone forgot the excellence
Of his creation, when he life began,

That now he chooseth with vile difference
To be a beast, and lacke intelligence!"

To whom the Palmer thus: "The donghill kinde
Delightes in filth and fowle incontinence:

Let Gryll be Gryll, and have his hoggish minde; But let us hence depart whileft wether ferves and winde.”

That had an bog beene late, hight Grylle by name, &c.] Dr. Jortin has obferved that this fiction is taken from a dialogue in Plutarch, infcribed, περὶ τοῦ τὰ ἄλογα λόγῳ χρῆσθαι: where Gryllus, one of the companions of Ulyffes, transformed into a hog by Circe, holds a discourse with Ulyffes, and refuses to be reftored to his human fhape. Not many years before the "Faerie Queene" was written, Gelli published his Circe," viz. in 1548, which is faid in the preface to be founded upon the dialogue of Plutarch, mentioned by Jortin. "Circe” foon became a very popular book, and was tranflated into English, in the year 1557, by one Henry Iden; fo that, probably, Spenser had read it, and might be induced to confult that dialogue from its mention in the preface. "Swinish Grill" is mentioned by Hall, Sat. ii. B. 2. T. WARTON.

a Let Gryll be Gryll, &c.] The poet seems to allude to that fevere fentence denounced against thofe who fhall incorrigibly perfevere in vicious intemperance, Rev. xxii. 11. "He which is filthy, let bim be filthy ftill." CHURCH.

THE THIRDE BOOKE OF

THE FAERIE QUEENE

CONTAYNING THE LEGEND OF BRITOMARTIS," OR OF CHASTITY.

I.

T falls me here to write of Chastity,
The fayreft vertue, far above the reft:
For which what needes me fetch from
Faery

Forreine enfamples it to have exprest? Sith it is fhrined in my Soveraines brest,

a The Legend of Britomartis.] "Britomartis," among the Cretans, was another name for Diana, the goddefs of Chastity: I think fhe is fo called in Claudian. It is not improbable, as our author has copied the greatest part of the fecond canto of this book from the "Ceiris" of Virgil, that he found, from the fame poem, that " Britomartis was a name for Diana, viz.

Dycinnam dixere tuo de nomine Lunam." She was a Cretan nymph, and the daughter of Jupiter and Charme, whom Virgil has introduced, in his "Ceiris" as the nurfe of Scylla, and from whom our author has copied his Glauce, Britomart's nurfe, in the canto mentioned above. She was called Dictynna, because she invented nets for hunting, which being alfo one of Diana's names, Britomartis and Diana were looked upon as the fame. The reader is defired to take notice, that the paffage which Spenfer has copied from the "Ceiris" of Virgil, begins at this verfe of that poem,

Quam fimul Ogygii Phænicis filia CHARME;"

and ends at,

"Defpue ter, virgo: numero deus impare gaudet."
T. WARTON.

The fayreft vertue.] We follow the oldeft impreffion: others read,

And formd fo lively in each perfect part,
That to all Ladies, which have it profeft,

Need but behold the pourtraict of her hart;
If pourtrayd it might bee by any living art.

2.

But living art may not least part expreffe,
Nor life-refembling pencill it can paynt:
All were it Zeuxis or Praxiteles,

His dædale hand would faile and greatly faynt,
And her perfections with his error taynt:
Ne Poets witt, that paffeth Painter farre
In picturing the parts of beauty daynt,
So hard a workemanship adventure darre,

For fear, through want of words, her excellence to marre.

3.

How then fhall I, Apprentice of the skill

That whilome in divineft wits did rayne,

Presume fo high to stretch mine humble quill?
Yet now my luckeleffe lott doth me conftrayne
Hereto perforce. But, O dredd Soverayne!
Thus far forth pardon, fith that choiceft witt
Cannot your glorious pourtraict figure playne,
That I in colourd fhowes may fhadow itt,
And antique praises unto present persons fitt.

4.

But if in living colours, and right hew,

.d

Thy felfe thou covet to fee pictured,

"That fayreft vertue;" but there seems no fufficient reason for abandoning the original text, especially when no note is met with among the errata to fhow that it is wrong. C.

the parts of beauty daynt.] Öld Fr. dain, daintie, fine, &c. Dr. Johnfon fays, in his explanation of dainty, that he could not find this old French word, to which Skinner refers, in the dictionaries: it occurs, however, in Cotgrave. Daynt has been hitherto unnoticed by our lexicographers. TODD. Richardfon inferts it both as a fubftantive and as an adjective. C.

d Thy felfe thou covet, &c.] This is the reading of the poet's first edition: the fecond reads, " Yourfelfe you covet," &c. TODD.