II.

After the Paynim brethren conquer'd were, The Briton Prince recov'ring his ftolne fword, And Guyon his loft shield, they both yfere Forth paffed on their way in fayre accord, Till him the Prince with gentle court did bord;

"Sir Knight, mote I of you this court'sy read, To weet why on your shield, fo goodly scord, Beare ye the picture of that Ladies head? Full lively is the femblaunt, though the subftance dead."

86

III.

Fayre Sir," fayd he, " if in that picture dead Such life ye read, and vertue in vaine shew; What mote ye weene, if the trew lively-head Of that most glorious vifage ye did vew! But yf the beauty of her mind ye knew, That is, her bounty, and imperiall powre, Thousand times fairer then her mortall hew, O! how great wonder would your thoughts devoure,

And infinite defire into your spirite poure

II. 9. Full lively &c.] That is, the features are highly animated, though the substance of which the picture is made is inanimate. Mr. Hearne, in his Gloff. to Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle, obferves, that the word semblant was very properly used of Ladies with very fine faces. Hence, says he, Robert of Brunne, in his Chronicle, speaking of king Arthur's queen; "Of body was scho avenant, [comely,]

"Faire countenance with fuete femblant." CHURCH,

IV.

"She is the mighty Queene of Faëry,

Whofe faire retraitt I in my fhield doe beare; Shee is the flowre of grace and chastity, Throughout the world renowmed far and

neare,

My Life, my Liege, my Soveraine, my Deare,

Whofe glory fhineth as the morning starre, And with her light the earth enlumines cleare; Far reach her mercies, and her praises farre, As well in ftate of peace, as puiffaunce in warre."

V.

“Thrife happy man," faid then the Briton Knight,

"Whom gracious lott and thy great valiaunce Have made thee foldier of that Princeffe

bright,

Which with her bounty and glad countenance
Doth bleffe her fervaunts, and them high
advaunce!

How may ftraunge Knight hope ever to aspire,
By faithfull fervice and meete amenaunce,

IV. 2.

IV. 7.

retraitt] Picture, portrait. Ital. ritratto. CHURCH.

enlumines] Chaucer's word.

See the note on enmoved, F. Q. i. ix. 48. TODD.

V.3. Have made thee foldier] This is the more perfpicuous reading of Spenfer's own editions, which the folios have converted into " a foldier;" but have misled no subsequent editor, except Hughes. TODD.

Unto fuch bliffe? fufficient were that hire For loffe of thousand lives, to die at her defire."

Said Guyon, great,

VI.

"Noble Lord, what meed fo

Or grace of earthly Prince fo foveraine,
But by your wondrous worth and warlike feat
Ye well may hope, and easely attaine?
But were your will her fold to entertaine,
And numbred be mongst Knights of May-
denhed,

Great guerdon, well I wote, fhould you remaine,

And in her favor high bee reckoned,

As Arthegall and Sophy now beene honored."

VII.

"Certes," then faid the Prince,

"I God avow,

That fith I armes and knighthood first did plight,

My whole defire hath beene, and yet is now, To ferve that Queene with al my powre and

might.

VI. 5. But were your will her fold to entertaine,] To receive her pay. Fr. folde, a foldier's pay. CHURCH.

VI. 9. Arthegall and Sophy] Arthegall and Sophy are mentioned here, to raise a curiofity of further inquiry in the reader; which curiofity the poet intended to answer hereafter: Arthegall we fhall read of often; and Sophy I make no doubt was intended to be the hero of fome other book in this poem ; he was the fon of king Gulicke of Northwales. See Drayton's Polyolbion, Song xxiv. UPTON.

Now hath the funne with his lamp-burning

light

Walkt round about the world, and I no leffe, Sith of that Goddeffe I have fought the fight, Yet no where can her find: fuch happineffe Heven doth to me envý and fortune favourleffe."

VIII.

"Fortune, the foe of famous chevifaunce,

VII. 5. Now hath the funne &c.] This is the reading of Spenfer's fecond edition, and of the folios. One year is paft, fays Prince Arthur, fince I have been seeking the Faerie Queene. That this is the true reading, appears plain from F. Q. i. ix. 15. The poet's first edition reads,

"Seven times the funne with his lamp-burning light.
"Hath walkt about the world, and I no leffe,

"Sith of that Goddeffe &c." UPTON.

The Prince is told afterwards, that he has been three years in pursuit of the Faerie Queene, ft. 38, according to the first edition; twelve months, according to the fecond. In the prefent paffage, the reading of Spenfer's fecond edition best agrees with what the Prince fays, F. Q. i. ix. 15. "Nyne months I feek in vaine &c." But I cannot think the alteration was made by our poet. And I no leffe feems improper, unless the fun had more revolutions than one. The reader will please to take notice, that Spenfer always fpeaks of the heavenly bodies according to the fyftem of Ptolomy, who fuppofed the fun to revolve round the earth in the space of year. CHURCH.

I think with Mr. Upton, that the fecond edition presents the true reading. Tonfon's edition of 1758 alfo follows it. TODD. VIII. 1. Fortune, the foe of famous chevifaunce,] Chevi Launce is enterprife, from the Fr. chevifaunce. See note on F. Q. iii. xi. 24. The fentiment expreffed in this line resembles the following paffage, as Mr. Upton has noticed in Seneca's Herc. Fur. ver. 523.

"O Fortuna, viris invidia fortibus,

Quàm non æqua bonis præmia dividis !"

And in Statius, Theb. x. 384.

"Invida Fata piis, et Fors ingentibus aufis

"Rara comes."

And in Sidney's Arcadia, p. 102, "Lady, how falls it out

Seldom," faid Guyon,. "yields to vertue aide,

But in her way throwes mifchiefe and mifchaunce,

Whereby her courfe is ftopt and paffage ftaid. But you, faire Sir, be not herewith difmaid, But conftant keepe the way in which ye stand; Which were it not that I am els delaid With hard adventure, which I have in hand, I labour would to guide you through al Fary land."

IX.

"Gramercy Sir," faid he; " but mote I weete What ftraunge adventure doe ye now purfew? Perhaps my fuccour or advizement meete

that you, in whom all virtue fhines, will take the patronage of Fortune, the only rebellious handmaid against virtue." Probably there may be here an allusion alfo to a popular ballad, entitled Fortune my foe; to which Shakspeare has certainly alluded in the Merry Wives of Windfor, and of which Mr. Malone has printed, in a note on the paffage, the first stanza, A. iii. S. iii. This ballad is mentioned in Chettle's Kind harts dreame, 1592; and is hinted at in Gabriel Hervey's Foure Letters, of the fame date. The old ballad of The most cruel Murther of Edw. V. &c. is directed to be fung to the tune of Fortune my foe. Sir Robert Naunton, in his Fragmenta Regalia, thus alfo affords a proper comment on Spenfer's verfe, where he speaks of the brave Raleigh: "Thofe that he relyed on, began to take this his fuddain favour for an allarum, and to be fenfible of their own fupplantation, and to project his, which made him shortly after fing, Fortune my foe, &c." TODD.

IX. 1. but mote I weete] So the edition of 1751, Tonfon's edition of 1758, and Upton's, rightly read. The reft follow Spenfer's own editions, which, by a manifest errour of the prefs, give wote. TODD.