Uppon two ftubborne oakes, which stand so neare That way betwixt them none appeares in fight; The Engin, fiercely flying forth, doth teare Th' one from the earth, and through the aire doth beare; The other it with force doth overthrow Uppon one fide, and from his rootes doth reare: So did the Championeffe those two there ftrow, And to their fire their carcaffes left to bestow. OUGHT is on earth more facred or divine, For th' hevens themselves, whence mortal men implore Right in their wrongs, are rul'd by righteous lore Therewith containes his heavenly Common-weale: 2. Well therefore did the antique world invent Of th' old Ægyptian Kings that whylome were: The jufteft man alive and trueft did appeare. 3. His wife was Ifis; whom they likewise made Did enter in, ne would that night depart; 4. There she received was in goodly wize Of many Priefts, which duely did attend All clad in linnen robes with filver hemd; And on their heads, with long locks' comely kemd, For that they both like race in equall justice runne. 5. The Championesse them greeting, as she could, All clad in linnen robes with filver bemd; And on their beads, with long locks, &c.] Spenfer never thinks himself tied down to exactness in minute defcriptions: he has an allegory and a mythology of his own, and takes from others juft as fuits his fcheme. It is very well known that the Egyptian priests wore linen robes, and were bald, quite contrary to what Spenfer fays. See Juven. Sat. vi. 533. "Qui grege linigere circumdatus, et grege CALVO." But Spenfer does not carry you to Egypt; you ftand upon allegorical and fairy ground. He will drefs therefore the priests of Juftice, like the priests of Him, the affeffors of whose throne Justice and Judgment are. See Pfalm lxxxix. 14; xcvii. 2. In the prophet Ezekiel, though it is faid, "the priests fhall be clothed with linen garments:" yet it is ordered, "they fhall not have their beads." The original command feems to intend that a diftinction fhould be kept up between the Jewish and Egyptian priests, even in their drefs. See Levit. xxi. 5. UPTON. Whofe goodly building when she did behould, Thence forth unto the Idoll they her brought; So well as could with cunning hand be wrought, That with her wreathed taile her middle did enfold. 7. One foote was fet uppon the Crocodile, And on the ground the other faft did ftand; 8. To which the Idoll, as it were inclining, b That with her wreathed taile, &c.] So all the editions. It fhould be" his wreathed," &c. See Sts. 15, 16. CHURCH. We leave the text unaltered, with the obfervation only, that "her" and his were frequently confounded by old printers, owing to the fact that "her" was then often spelt bir. C. By outward fhew her inward fence defining: By this the day with dampe was overcast, And joyous light the house of Jove forfooke; Which when she saw her helmet she unlaste, And by the altars fide her felfe to flumber plafte. 9. For other beds the Priefts there ufed none, But on their mother Earths deare lap did lie, And continence of life; that, all forgon, IO. 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 flaine By thundring Jove 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: II. And of their vitall bloud, the which was fhed e inward fence defining.] Spenfer here uses the word in the Latin fenfe, fignifying, from defigno, as Mr. Church has obferved. Some editions read defining. TODD. No old impreffion has defining. C. |