They rudely drove to ground both man and
horfe,

That each awhile lay like a fenceleffe corfe.
But Paridell fore brused with the blow
Could not arife, the counterchaunge to fcorfe;
Till that young Squyré him reared from

below;

Then drew he his bright fword, and

him throw.

XVII.

gan about

But Satyrane forth stepping did them stay,"
And with faire treaty pacifide their yre:
Then, when they were accorded from the
fray,

Against that Castles Lord they gan conspire,
To heape on him dew vengeaunce for his hire.
They beene agreed, and to the gates they goe
To burn the fame with unquenchable fire,
And that uncurteous Carle, their commune
foe,

To doe fowle death to die, or wrap in grievous

woe.

XVIII.

Malbecco feeing them refolvd in deed

hafty meeting, &c. See alfo F. Q. iv. ii. 15, iv. iii. 6. Affrettare, Ital. To haften, to be in a fret and hafte. Berni, Orl. Innam. L. ii. C. xiv. ft. 5.

"E commincia à ferir con tanta fretta." UPTON. XVI. 7. Could not arife, the counterchaunge to fcorfe;] Render il contracombio, to be even with him, to give him like for like; faire un contrechange. UPTON.

To flame the gates, and hearing them to call For fire in earneft, ran with fearfull speed, And, to them calling from the caftle wall, Befought them humbly him to beare withall, As ignorant of fervants bad abufe

And flacke attendaunce unto ftraungers call. The Knights were willing all things to excufe, Though nought belev'd, and entraunce late did not refufe.

XIX.

They beene ybrought into a comely bowre,
And fervd of all things that mote needfull bee;
Yet fecretly their hofte did on them lowre,
And welcomde more for feare then charitee;
But they diffembled what they did not fee,
And welcomed themselves. Each
gan undight
Their garments wett, and weary armour free,

and hearing them to call

XVIII. 2. For fire in earneft,] How were they, in fo wet a night, to procure fire? and to whom did they call for it? Surely not to Malbecco's fervants. The poet has informed us of no other habitation in the neighbourhood of this castle. TODD.

XIX. 5. But &c.] I fhould think they diffembled what they did fee, or what they would not fee. JORTIN.

To diffemble is to pretend that not to be which is indeed, (fo he uses the word F. Q. iii. i. 50.) and our poet had spoken properly, if he had faid they diffembled what they did fee: But to diffemble fignifies alfo to take no notice of. And I should fuppofe that Spenfer here ufes it in this latter fenfe, which is equally proper. What they did not fee, was Malbecco's hof pitality; that they diffembled, or, took no notice of; but welcomed themselves; that is, they behaved with the same ease and cheerfulness as if they had been welcome. CHURCH,

To dry themselves by Vulcanes flaming light, And eke their lately bruzed parts to bring in plight.

And eke that straunger Knight emongst the rest
Was for like need enforst to disaray:
Tho, whenas vailed was her lofty crest,
Her golden locks, that were in tramells gay
Upbounden, did themselves adowne display

XX. 3. Tho, whenas vailed] All the editions thus read, except Hughes, who gives veiled. Either fpelling alters the fenfe. It fhould be either valed, or when avaled, that is, pulled off, laid down. So Drayton ufes vale for stoop: "To vale unto their pride," Polyolb. p. 195. CHURCH.

XX. 4. Her golden lockes, that were in tramels gay
Upbounden, did themfelves adowne display,

1021.

And raught unto her heeles.] So Chaucer, Rom. R.

"Her treffes yellow, and long ftraughten,
"Unto her heeles downe they raughten."

And in the fame poem, 1218.

"Her haire downe to her heeles went."

Our author again expreffes himself in the fame manner, fpeaking of a robe, F. Q. v. v. 2.

"When the lift, it raught

"Down to her lowest heele."

Alfo, in F. Q. iv. i. 13.

"Her golden lockes that were upbound

"Still in a knott, unto her heeles downe traced."

This mention of golden hair puts me in mind of a correction which Mr. Upton has made in the following verfe of Chaucer, Affemble of Fowles, v. 267.

"Her gilded heris with a golden thread

"Iboundin were."

Mr. Upton fuppofes that here is a tranfpofition occafioned by the transcriber's hafte, and that we should apply gilded to threde, and goldin to heris, viz.

"Her goldin heris with a gilded threde
"Ibounden were.'

And raught unto her heeles; like funny beames,

That in a cloud their light did long time stay, Their vapour vaded, fhewe their golden gleames,

And through the perfant aire shoote forth their azure ftreames.

The alteration appears at first fight to be very juft; but it is perhaps unneceffary, if we confider, that gilte, or gilded, is often ufed by Chaucer, and applied to hair.

Thus, Leg. of Good Women, v. 230.

"His GILT here was ycrounid with a fon."

And in the fame poem, v. 249.

"Hide Abfolon thy GILTE treffis clere."

We have here gilded hair, ib. v. 390.

"Difchevilid with her bright GILDID here."

XX. 6.
Met. xiv. 767.

T. WARTON.

like funny beames &c.] Ovid,

"talifque adparuit illi,

"Qualis ubi oppofitas nitidiffima folis imago

"Evicit nubes, nullâque obftante reluxit."

This fimile in Ovid is fo very picturefque and pleafing, that it is no wonder to find it imitated. Taffo had it in view de scribing Armida, who hid, or vainly strove to hide, her golden locks under a veil. C. iv. 29. The difcovery of Britomartis is exactly the fame with the difcovery of Bradamante, who taking off her helmet let her golden locks fall loosely on her fhoulders, and plainly fhowed both by her hair and by her beauteous face that she was a virgin-knight, Ariosto, C. xxxii. 80. Compare the fimile in F. Q. iii. i. 43. UPTON.

XX. 8. Their vapour vaded,] So all the editions: Quære "The vapour vaded." That is, the vapour being difpers'd. CHURCH.

XX. 9. And through the perfant aire] That is, And piercing through the air. The Gloffaries to the editions of Hughes and of 1751 fay, Perfant is used for pierced. CHURCH.

Perfant is piercing; and is fo ufed by Chaucer, from the Fr. See Rom. R. 2089. UPTON.

XXI.

Shee alfo dofte her heavy haberieon,
Which the faire feature of her limbs did hyde;
And her well-plighted frock, which she did won
To tucke about her fhort when the did ryde,
Shee low let fall, that flowd from her lanck
fyde

Downe to her foot with careleffe modeftee.
Then of them all the plainly was efpyde
To be a woman-wight, unwift to bee,
The fairest woman-wight that ever eie did fee.

XXII.

Like as Bellona (being late returnd

XXI. 3.

her well-plighted frock,] Her well-folded

frock. So, in Chaucer's Court of Love, v. 1441. "And with a trewlove, plited many a folde, "She fmote ine through the very heart, &e."

Compare alfo Milton's Hift. of Eng. B. ii. "She [Boadicea] wore a plighted garment of divers colours." TODD.

Ibid.

She did won] She used, woN

for wont the last letter is dropt for the rhyme's fake.

CHURCH.

XXI. 8. a woman-wight,] Inftead of " womanwight," if I had the authority of any book, I would have printed it, "woman-knight." UPTON.

Mr. Upton's obfervation is fupported by the first line of ft. 47. "Ah! fairest LADY-knight." TODD.

XXI. 1.

Bellona] The fecond and all the later editions read Minerva. It is generally agreed that Pallas, Bellona, and Minerva, are one and the fame perfon. So Chaucer, p. 430. ed. Ụrr.

"O thou fiers God of armis Mars the rede

"With The [Thee] Bellona, Pallas full of grace,

"Be prefent

So in the Shep. Cal. October.

"With queint Bellona in her equipage.'

"

Where our poet's friend E. K. puts this interpretation upon