Her to rebuke for being loose and light: She turnd her bote about, and from them rowed quite. XVII. That was the wanton Phædria, which late Whom nought regarding they kept on their gate, And all her vaine allurements did forfake; When them the wary Boteman thus befpake; "Here now behoveth us well to avyse, And of our safety good heede to take; For here before a perlous paffage lyes, Where many Mermayds haunt making false melodies: XVIII. "But by the way there is a great Quickfand, And a Whirlepoole of hidden ieopardy; Therefore, Sir Palmer, keepe an even hand; For twixt them both the narrow way doth ly.' Scarfe had he faide, when hard at hand they spy XVI. 8. wite,] Blame. See the note on witen, Shep. Cal. May. TODD. XVII. 2. him] Not the Palmer, but Sir Guyon. See C. vi. ft. 19. CHURCH. XVIII. 4. For twixt them both the narrow way doth ly.] Inter utrumque tene: medio tutiffimus. Our Kuight is to keep the golden mediocrity, between the quickfand and whirlpool. UPTON. That Quickfand nigh with water covered; But by the checked wave they did defcry It plaine, and by the fea difcoloured: It called was the Quickefand of Unthrifty hed. XIX. They, paffing by, a goodly fhip did fee Herfelfe had ronne into that hazardize ; Whose mariners and merchants with much Labour'd in vaine to have recur'd their prize, And the rich wares to fave from pitteous fpoyle; .. But neither toyle nor traveill might her backe recoyle. XX. On th' other fide they fee that perilous Poole, That called was the Whirlepoole of Decay ; In which full many had with hapleffe doole XVIII. 6. nigh with water covered;] That is, almoft covered with water. So Spenfer's own editions read; but the folios and Hughes place a comma after nigh, which fpoils the fenfe. CHURCH. XVIII. 7. the checked wave] The poet ufes checked for checquer'd, as the context thows. TODD. XIX. 9. might her backe recoyle.] Might caufe her to recoyle or come back. Fr. reculer. Ital. riculare, G. Douglas has reculis bakwart, recoils, goes back, or gives ground. UPTON. Beene funcke, of whom no memorie did ftay: To draw their bote within the utmoft bound Of his wide labyrinth, and then to have them dround. XXI. But th' heedful Boteman ftrongly forth did ftretch His brawnie armes, and all his bodie ftraine, That th' utmost fandy breach they shortly fetch, Whiles the dredd daunger does behind re- Suddeine they fee from midst of all the maine XX. 8. their bote] So Spenfer's first edition reads, which the editions of 1751, of Church, Upton, and Tonfon's in 1758, follow. The reft read, "the boat." TODD. th' heedful Boteman] XXI. 1. The firft edition reads "th' earnest Boteman," to which Mr. Church alone adheres. The fecond reads "th' heedfull," an epithet feemingly more appropriate in this place; and therefore admitted, as the poet's emendation, into every other edition. TopD.. XXI. 3. · Sundy breach they shortly fetch,] So all the editions. I think it should be beach, that is, they fetch or pafs by the extreme part of that fandy BEACH or Quickfand. CHURCH. What is made by the breaking in of the fea, they call a breach. None of the books read beach. They fetch, that is, they come up to, arrive at. UPTON. To fwell above the measure of his guife, As threatning to devoure all that his powre despise. XXII. The waves come rolling, and the billowes rore Or wrathfull Neptune did them drive before reare. Eftfoones they faw an hideous hoaft arrayd Of huge fea-monfters, fuch as living fence dif i Such as dame Nature felfe mote feare to fee, Or fhame, that ever fhould fo fowle defects From her moft cunning hand escaped bee; All dreadfull pourtraicts of deformitee : Spring-headed hydres; and fea-shouldring whales ; XXIII. 2. Such as Dame Nature felfe mote feare to fee, Or fhame, &c.] Compare Boyardo, Orl. Innam. p. 143; Berni, L. ii. C. 13. ft. 58, 59, 60. From Boyardo, Ariofto took what he says of the Witch Alcina, C. vi. ft. 36, 37. UPTON. CHURCH. › XXIII. 3. Or fhame,] Be ashamed. So, in F. Q. ii. i. 20, and again F. Q. v. iv. 24. XXIII. 6. Spring-headed hydres ;] That is, hydras. with Great whirlpooles, which all fishes make to Alee ; Bright fcolopendraes arm'd with filver fcales; Mighty monoceros with immeasured tayles; XXIV. The dreadful fifh, that hath deferv'd the name Of Death, and like him lookes in dreadfull hew; head's fpringing or budding forth from their bodies. See Gefner, p. 459. XXIII. 6. UPTON. fea-fhouldring whales ;] Whales that shouldered on the feas before them. UPTON. XXIII. 7. Great whirlpooles,] The whirlpoole is a large fish of the whale kind, that spouts out water at the top of his head, Lat. phyfeter. CHURCH. See Skinner: " Whirlpoole ab Anglis dictus cetus balana eft-Videtur a vorticibus, quos turbinis inftar in aqua excitare, nomen habere-Nec alius puto pifcis eft ille quem horlopole vocitant Angli, &c." In Job xli. 1. leviathan is rendered, in the margin, a whale or a whirlpool. UPTON. XXIII. 8. Bright Scolopendraes arm'd with filver Scales ;] The fcolopendra, a fifh unknown to our feas, takes its name from a land-infect or worm called the centipes, which has two rows of legs reaching from the head to the tail. The fcolopendra is mentioned by Elian in his Hiftory of Animals, and by most naturalifts placed among the cetaceous fishes. See the Catalogue of Oppian's Fishes, at the end of Jones's poetical translation of the Halieuticks, 8vo. Oxford, 1722. TODD. XXIII. 9. Mighty monoceros with immeasured tayles;] I would read, "Mighty monocerofes with immeafur'd tayles:" So, in F. Q. ii. x. 8. "As far exceeded men in their immeafur'd mights." JORTIN. The verfe is immeafured. "Tis not agreeable to Spenfer's manner, to fay monocerofes.-This fea-fill the Greeks called Moronépws, the Sea-unicorn. But, to know what fish Spenfer meant, you must turn to Gefner, p. 208. UPTON. XXIV. 1. The dreadful fish, &c.] The Mors, or Morfz, described by Olaus Wormius and Gefner. UPTON. |