With fhining gold, and arched over hed, She wondred at the workmans paffing skill, Whofe like before the never faw nor red;

And thereuppon long while ftood gazing ftill,

But thought that she thereon could never gaze

her fill.

VI.

Thenceforth unto the Idoll they her brought;
The which was framed all of filver fine,
So well as could with cunning hand be
wrought,

And clothed all in garments made of line,
Hemd all about with fringe of filver twine:
Uppon her head she wore a crowne of gold;
To fhew that the had powre in things divine:
And at her feete a crocodile was rold,
That with her wreathed taile her middle did
enfold.

VII.

One foote was fet uppon the crocodile,

And on the ground the other faft did stand;
So meaning to fuppreffe both forged guile
And open force: and in her other hand
She stretched forth a long white felender
wand.

Such was the goddeffe: whom when Brito

VI. 9.

mart

her wreathed &c.] So all the editions. It should be "his wreathed &c." See ft. 15, 16. CHURCH.

Had long beheld, herfelfe uppon the land She did proftráte, and with right humble hart Unto herselfe her filent prayers did impart.

VIII.

To which the Idoll as it were inclining
Her wand did move with amiable looke,
By outward fhew her inward fence defining:
Who well perceiving how her wand the fhooke,
It as a token of good fortune tooke.

By this the day with dampe was overcast, And ioyous light the house of Iove forfooke: Which when the faw, her helmet fhe unlafte, And by the altars fide herfelfe to flumber plafte.

IX.

For other beds the priests there used none,
But on their mother Earths deare lap did lie,
And bake their fides uppon the cold hard
ftone,
Tenure themselves to fufferaunce thereby,
And proud rebellious flesh to mortify:

VIII. 3. defining:] So fpelt for the fake of the rhyme. Tonfon's edition in 1758 gives it defigning. Spenfer here uses the word in the Latin fenfe, fignifying, from defigno, as Mr. Church has obferved. Some editions read defining. TODD.

VIII. 5. It as a token of good fortune tooke.] "Accepit omen," Virgil, Æn. xii. 260. "Tis frequently mentioned that the idols, by some sign or other, gave tokens of their favouring or disfavouring the requeft of their votaries. UPTON.

IX. 3. bake] Quære, harden their fides as a thing baked? Unless we might read bare, i. e. did make bare their fides &c. CHURCH.

For, by the vow of their religion,
They tied were to ftedfaft chastity

And continence of life; that, all forgon, They mote the better tend to their devotion.

X.

Therefore they mote not taste of fleshly food, Ne feed on ought the which doth bloud containe,

Ne drinke of wine; for wine they fay is blood, Even the bloud of gyants, which were slaine By thundring love in the Phlegrean plaine: For which the Earth (as they the story tell) Wroth with the gods, which to perpetuall paine Had damn'd her fonnes which gainst them did rebell,

With inward griefe and malice did against them

fwell:

X. 1. Therefore they mote not tafte &c.] Concerning the temperance requifite in the priests of Ifis, fee Plutarch De Ifid. p. 353. Ηρξαντο δὲ πίνειν ἀπὸ Ψαμμητίχε, κ. τ. λ. JORTIN. X. 3. For wine they fay is blood,

Even the bloud of gyants,] "The Egyptian priests were next in dignity to the king: they drank no wine until the time of Pfammeticus, the laft of the Pharaoes, esteeming it to have fprung from the blood of the giants, &c." Sandys Travels, p. 103. From Plut. De Ifid. et Ofir. The following Epigram is worth reading, viz. Calii Calcagnini Ferrarienfis, de vini origine :

"Terrigenæ victi; victor Saturnius; acis
"Undique Phlegræis molibus horror erat.
"Mæfta parens Tellus in vites offa redegit

"Cæforum, et vinum eft qui modo fanguis erat.
"Ah ne quis mala vina bibat! de fanguine nata
"Qui biberit, cædes exitiumque bibet." UPTON.

XI.

And of their vitall bloud, the which was thed Into her pregnant bofome, forth fhe brought The fruitfull vine; whofe liquor blouddy red, Having the mindes of men with fury fraught, Mote in them ftirre up old rebellious thought To make new warre against the gods againe Such is the powre of that fame fruit, that nought

The fell contagion may thereof restraine, Ne within reasons rule her madding mood con

taine.

XII.

There did the warlike Maide herselfe repose, Under the wings of Ifis all that night;

XII. 1. There did the warlike Maide herfelfe repose,

Under the wings &c.] That is, under the protection of Ifis. "Tis a Hebrew phrafe; and frequently ufed by the Pfalmift. Our poet certainly had in view the story told by Geoff. of Monmouth, that Brutus had a vision in the temple of Diana, and that the goddess foretold his fuccefs. Geoffry fays, Brutus laid himself down " upon a harts skin, which he had fpread before the altar:" this was according to ancient fuperflition; fee the commentators on Virgil, vii. 88. “Pellibus incubuit ftratis." In like manner Britomart has a vifion figuring the future glory of Britain, ft. 13. The Scarlet robe, and crown of gold, are the dress of the British Kings and Queens, ft. 14. The tempeft, and outrageous flames, image her troubles; which are put an end to by the crocodile, (ft. 15.) imaging Arthegal. The crocodile is the guardian Genius of the place, and among the Egyptians, according to their facred emblems, reprefented Providence. Then follows,

"That of his game the foone enwombed grew

"And forth did bring a lion :"

meaning a British King. See ft. 23. This is no new invention

And with fweete reft her heavy eyes did

clofe,

After that long daies toile and weary plight: Where whileft her earthly parts with foft delight

Of fenceleffe sleepe did deeply drowned lie, There did appeare unto her heavenly spright A wondrous vifion, which did close implie The course of all her fortune and pofteritie.

XIII.

Her feem'd, as she was doing facrifize
To Ifis, deckt with mitre on her hed
And linnen stole after thofe prieftës guize,
All fodainely the faw transfigured

Her linnen ftole to robe of scarlet red,
And moone-like mitre to a crowne of gold;
That even the herfelfe much wondered

of our poet; for the mothers of Alexander the Great, and of Auguftus Cæfar, were both enwombed of a dragon; fo likewise the mother of Scipio: fee Milton, Par. L. ix. 509. UPTON. XII. 8. implie] Wrap up.

XIII. 5.

CHURCH. to robe] The second and third folios, and Hughes's first edition, read " to be." CHURCH.

fcarlet red.] See F. Q.

Ibid. i. ii. 13. "A goodly Lady clad in scarlot red;" but the allufion there is to the fearlet Whore mentioned in the Revelations. Compare Napier's Notes on the Revelations of St. John, 4to. 1593, p. 209. “As al red coullours betoken bloudfhead in the Scriptures, and SKARLET is a more glorious red than simple red: So betokeneth it this Romaine kingdom not onely fimplie to be bloodthirftie, but euen to glorie in their bloodthead and murthers." TODD.