Then Zele began to urge her punishment,

And to their Queene for judgement loudly call, Unto Mercilla myld, for Justice gainst the thrall. 50.

But fhe, whofe Princely breft was touched nere
With piteous ruth of her fo wretched plight,
Though plaine fhe faw, by all that she did heare,
That she of death was guiltie found by right,
Yet would not let juft vengeance on her light;
But rather let, in ftead thereof, to fall
Few perling drops from her faire lampes of light;
The which she covering with her purple pall
Would have the paffion hid, and up arose withall.

m But rather, &c.] If the poet had lived to read and examine the notices which, in later times, have been produced to show the unfair treatment which Mary experienced, he might have been led, perhaps, to vindicate her character. His gentle fpirit, however, I conceive, even while apologifing for Elizabeth, undoubtedly felt the force of what Brantôme has afferted, that "No one ever beheld the perfon of Mary without admiration and love, or will read her history without forrow." TODD. Pity and juftice feem, throughout the trial, to maintain a conteft in the mind of Spenfer, and even his Mercilla, at the conclufion, would fain have concealed the grief by which she was overcome.

C.

VOME Clarkes doe doubt in their device-
full art

Whether this heavenly thing whereof
I treat,

To weeten Mercie, be of Justice part,

a Prince Arthur.] It is traditional (whether from the poet himself I never could learn) that Prince Arthur reprefents Sir Philip Sidney; but, were it not for this tradition, I fhould be inclined to believe the Earl of Leicester imaged under this Faery Knight. UPTON. I have introduced this obfervation of Mr. Upton's in his Letter to Gilbert Weft, Efq. in order to inform the reader that the critic, in fumming up his remarks on the prefent Book of this poem, has affigned the character of Arthur, without even naming Sir Philip Sidney, to the Earl of Leicefter. And, in his Preliminary Differtation on the perfons in the "Faerie Queene," he confiders Sir Philip reprefented (rightly, I think) under the Knight of Courtefy. TODD. Spenfer was not always confiftent in the defignation of the perfons fhadowed under various names in the course of his poem, written at intervals, fome of them diftant; but we apprehend that there can be little doubt upon the two points, that Prince Arthur here was meant for Lord Leicester, and that Sir Philip Sidney (Spenfer's early patron) was, as Todd ftates, the Knight of Courtefy. C.

Or drawne forth from her by divine extreate:"
This well I wote, that fure fhe is as great,
And meriteth to have as high a place,

Sith in th' Almighties everlasting feat

She first was bred, and borne of heavenly race;

From thence pour'd down on men by influence of

grace.

2.

For if that Vertue be of so great might

Which from juft verdict will for nothing start,
But to preserve inviolated right

Oft fpilles the principall to fave the part;
So much more, then, is that of powre and art
That feekes to fave the subject of her skill,
Yet never doth from doome of right depart,
As it is greater prayfe to fave then spill,
And better to reforme then to cut off the ill.

3.

Who then can thee, Mercilla, throughly prayfe,
That herein doeft all earthly Princes pas?

What heavenly Muse shall thy great honour rayse
Up to the skies, whence firft deriv'd it was,
And now on earth it felfe enlarged has

From th' utmost brinke of the Armericke shore

Or drawne forth from her by divine extreate.] By divine extraction; as derived from Juftice originally, and a part of her. UPTON. "Extreat" is a word adopted from the French extrait, extraction. TODD. 66 Engl. Parn." 1600, p. 206, omits a whole line here. C. From th' utmost brinke of the Armericke fore.] The commentators have been puzzled by the wrong infertion of the letter r in "Armericke :" if it had been spelt Americke there would have been no difficulty, fince neither Upton nor Church would then have supposed that Armorica, i. e. Bretagne, was intended. We may feel confident that Spenfer had no fuch country in his mind; but, as Todd contends, that he referred to America as the extreme weft, and to the Moluccas as the extreme east. We reproduce the old text mainly on account of the difcordance of opinion. Sir Walter Raleigh, Spenfer's friend, had

Unto the margent of the Molucas?

Those Nations farre thy justice doe adore; But thine owne people do thy mercy prayfe much

more.

4.

Much more it prayfed was of those two knights,
The noble Prince and righteous Artegall,
When they had feene and heard her doome arights
Against Dueffa, damned by them all;

But by her tempred without griefe or gall,
Till ftrong constraint did her thereto enforce :
And yet even then ruing her wilfull fall
With more then needfull naturall remorse,

And yeelding the laft honour to her wretched corfe.d

5.

During all which, thofe knights continu'd there.

Both doing and receiving curtefies

Of that great Ladie, who with goodly chere
Them entertayn'd, fit for their dignities,
Approving dayly to their noble eyes
Royall examples of her mercies rare
And worthie paterns of her clemencies ;
Which till this day mongst many living are,
Who them to their pofterities doe still declare.

6.

Amongst the rest, which in that space befell,

already failed to America, and had named Virginia in compliment to Elizabeth. He had fent fupplies to his new colony in 1592; and in 1596 (the year in which "the second part of the Faery Queen" appeared) he published an account of his voyage to Guiana. C.

And yeelding the last honour to her wretched corfe.] Mary Queen of Scots was buried at Peterborough, and it was not until 1612 that James I. had her body removed to Westminster Abbey. Camden gives the copy of an epitaph upon her, which was at first put up at Peterborough, "but foon after taken away." Edit. Kennett, ii. p. 536. C.

e

There came two Springals of full tender yeares,

Farre thence from forrein land where they did dwell,
To feeke for fuccour of her and her Peares,'
With humble prayers and intreatfull teares;
Sent by their mother, who, a widow, was
Wrapt in
great dolours and in deadly feares
By a ftrong Tyrant, who invaded has

Her land, and flaine her children ruefully, alas!

7.

Her name was Belga; who in former age

A Ladie of great worth and wealth had beene,
And mother of a frutefull heritage,

Even feventeene goodly fonnes; which who had feene

In their first flowre, before this fatal teene

Them overtooke and their faire blossomes blasted,
More happie mother would her surely weene
Then famous Niobe, before she tasted

Latonaes childrens wrath that all her iffue wafted.

8.

But this fell Tyrant, through his tortious powre,
Had left her now but five of all that brood:

There came two Springals.] Young men. The word was by no means uncommon; but in "The Knight of the Burning Peftle," A. ii. Sc. 6, it is fpelt Spring ald. Chaucer and Lord Berners (see Richardson) ufe "Springold" for an engine of war. C.

and her Peares.] So the folios read. Spenfer's own edition reads, "and of her Peares," which fupernumerary fyllable renders the line fo difficult to be pronounced, that I have followed the emendation of the first folio. TODD. The fitnefs of doing fo may, however, be doubted. C.

Sent by their mother.] In the year 1577, the Marquis of Hauree and Adolph Metkerk were deputed by the States of Holland to wait upon Queen Elizabeth, in order to folicit a loan of 1,000,000/. fterling for eight months. See Camden [Edit. Kennett, ii. p. 458]. CHURCH.

b Had left her now but five.] The cruelties which were exercised in the Netherlands by the Duke of Alva, and the schemes which were pursued by the fubfequent Regents to introduce the Romish religion, and to make the King of Spain abfolute, stirred up the Prince of Orange