Till it to ripeneffe grew, and forth to honour burst. IV. Amongst them all growes not a fayrer flowre Yet, being matcht with plaine antiquitie, Ye will them all but fayned fhowes esteeme, Which carry. colours faire that feeble eies mifdeeme: ས. But, in the triall of true Curtefie, Its now fo farre from that which then it was, IV. 9. of: UPTON. that feeble eies mifdeeme:] Judge wrongly V. 5. Which fee not perfect things but in a glas:] Not perfect things, i e. not perfectly, darkly: i anyar, i. e. asyparwows, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. "For now we fee through a glafs darkly.” βλέπομεν γὰρ ἄρτι δι ἐσόπῖρε ἐν ἀινίγματι. Our tranfators take oolgov, not for what reflects the image, Speculum; as Spenfer does: but for Speculare, a transparent crystal, or stone, or horn. UPTON. V. 6. gay,] Glaring. CHURCH. But Vertues feat is deepe within the mynd,' And not in outward shows but inward thoughts defynd. VI. But where fhall I in all antiquity So faire a patterne finde, where may be feene The VI. 8. But &c.] Perhaps name fhould be changed into fame in the laft line, or last but one, of this stanza; that name may not rhyme to itself. But the fame fault is to be found in F. Q. iii. iii. 22. JORTIN. The following instance is nearer to the point, F. Q. iii. xi. 47. But fee the note there. A parallel inftance is in this very Book, C. iii, ft. 21. But as they are both triplets, the poet (as I have already obferved) feems to have been lefs folicitous about the rhyme than the words, which, particularly in the prefent inftance, are, I think, aptly chofen. By name, in the eighth line, is meant appellation; in the laft line it fignifies character. Spenser had more exalted notions of Courtesy than what were usually affixed to the court-like or courteous behaviour of a Court. Comely courtefie (fays he, ft. 4.) "though it on a lowly stalke doe bowre, "Yet brancheth forth in brave nobilitie, " Alluding to this, he afterwards pays the highest compliment to his Princefs. Courtefie (fays he) "meriteth indeede an higher name: "Yet fo, from low to high, uplifted is your Name." As if he had faid; I would willingly find out fome higher name or appellation than that of Courtefie, whereby to exprefs Yet fo, from low to high, uplifted is your Name. VII. Then pardon me, moft dreaded Soveraine, dwell, you And doe adorne your Court where Courtefies excell. that humble, affable, obliging difpofition which fo eminently diftinguishes your Name or Character from all the amiable Characters in all antiquity. CHURCH. VII. 6. well] Flow. As all rivers come from the fea, Ecclef. i. 7. So from you, O Queen, all goodly virtues do originally pour themselves into the rest of the nobility. UPTON. VII. 7. which round about you ring,] That is, which encircle you. Alluding to the Ring at Court. CHURCH. CANTO I. Calidore faves from Maleffort I. OF Court, it feemes, men Courtefie doe call, For that it there most useth to abound; I. 1. Of Court, it seemes, men Courtefie doe call,] The courtefy, affability, and gallantry, for which Knights Errant were fo famous, are but the natural effects and confequences of their fituation. For the castles of the Barons were, as I have before faid, the courts of thefe little fovereigns, as well as their fortreffes; and the refort of their vaffals thither, in honour of their chiefs, and for their own proper fecurity, would make that civility and politeness, which is feen in courts and infenfibly prevails there, a predominant part in the character of these affemblies. This is the poet's Own account of "Court and royal citadel, "The great school-maistreffe of all Courtesy." F. Q. iii. v. 1. And again, more largely, in the present stanza : "Of Court, it feems, men Courtefie doe call, "For that it there most useth to abound; &c." Faery Court means the reign of Chivalry; which, it seems, had undergone a fatal revolution before the age of Milton, who tells us that Courtesy "is fooner found in lonely fheds And well befeemeth that in Princes hall That Vertue fhould be plentifully found, "Which of all goodly manners is the ground, And roote of civill converfation: Right fo in Faery Court it did redound, Further, The free commerce of the ladies, in those knots and circles of the great, would operate fo far on the sturdieft knights as to give birth to the attentions of gallantry. But this gallantry would take a refined turn, not only from the neceffity there was of maintaining the ftrict forms of decorum, amidst a promifcuous converfation, under the eye of the Prince and in his own family; but also from the inflamed fenfe they must needs have of the frequent outrages committed, by their neighbouring clans of adverfaries, on the honour of the fex, when by chance of war they had fallen into their hands. Violations of chastity being the most atrocious crimes they had to charge on their enemies, they would pride themselves in the glory of being its protectors: And as this virtue was, of all others, the fairest and strongest claim of the sex itself to fuch protection, it is no wonder that the notions of it were, in time, carried to fo Platonick an elevation. Thus, again, the great master of Chivalry himself, on this subject, F.. Q. iv. v. 1. "It hath bene through all ages ever feene, "That can her best defend from villenie ; "And She most fit his fervice doth deferve, "That faireft is, and from her faith will never swerve." Not but the foundation of this refined gallantry was laid in the ancient manners of the German nations. Cæfar tells us how far they carried their practice of chastity, which he feems willing to account for on political principles. However that be, their confideration of the fex was prodigious, as we fee in the hiftory of their irruptions into the Empire; where, among all their ravages and devaftations of other forts, we find they religiously abftained from offering any violence to the honour of the women. HURD. |
