But Avon marched in more stately path, Proud of his adamants with which he fhines And glifters wide, as als of wondrous Bath, And Briftow faire, which on his waves he builded hath. XXXII. And there came Stoure with terrible aspéct, Bearing his fixe deformed heads on hye, That doth his courfe through Blandford plains direct, And washeth Winborne meades in feafon drye. Next him went Wylibourne with paffage flye, That of his wylineffe his name doth take, And of himselfe doth name the fhire thereby : And Mole, that like a noufling mole doth make His way ftill under ground till Thames he overtake. XXXIII. Then came the Rother, decked all with woods Like a wood-god, and flowing faft to Rhy; And Sture, that parteth with his pleasant floods ny, The Eafterne Saxons from the Southerne And Clare and Harwitch both doth beautify: Him follow'd Yar, foft washing Norwitch wall, And with him brought a prefent ioyfully Of his owne fish unto their Festivall, Whofe like none else could fhew, the which they ruffins call. XXXIV. Next thefe the plenteous Oufe came far from land, By many a city and by many a towne, And many rivers taking under-hand Into his waters, as he paffeth downe, (The Cle, the Were, the Guant, the Sture, the Rowne,) Thence doth by Huntingdon and Cambridge flit, My mother Cambridge, whom as with a crowne He doth adorne, and is adorn'd of it With many a gentle Mufe and many a learned Wit. XXXV. And after him the fatall Welland went, That if old fawes prove true (which God forbid !) XXXIV. 5. or Cam. UPTON. XXXV. 1. And after him the fatal the Guant,] The Grant, Welland went, Fatal, i. e. appointed by the Fates to fome end or purpose. So Ovid, Met. xv. 54. "Fatalia fluminis ora." This paffage has been explained by Anthony Wood, Hiftor. et Antiq. Oxon. p. 165. "Old faws. Merlini nempe vaticinium, qui fic ante fæcula complura prædixerat: Shall drowne all Holland with his excrement, And shall fee Stamford, though now homely hid, Then shine in learning more then ever did beames. And next to him the Nene downe foftly flid; And bounteous Trent, that in himfelfe enfeames Both thirty forts of fish and thirty fundry ftreames. XXXVI. Next these came Tyne, along whofe ftony bancke That Romaine monarch built a brasen wall, • Doctrinæ ftudium, quod nunc viget ad vada boum [i. e. Tempore venturo celebrabitur ad vada Saxi:' [i. e. quod fignificat Stoneford i. e. vadum Saxi." But this is a trite fubject. UPTON. XXXV. 3. Holland] The Welland rifes in Rutlandshire, and, paffing by Stamford, runs into Lincolnshire, and empties itself into the fea near the south-east part of the county, which is called Holland. CHURCH. XXXV. 7. downe foftly fid;] So, in Tho. Campion's "Himne in praife of Neptune," printed in Davifon's Poet. Rapfodie, edit. 1611. p. 183. "To whom the riuers tribute pay, "Downe the high mountaines fiding." TODD. XXXV. 8. enfeames] Mr. Upton interprets this word, upon no juft grounds, fattens. The word perhaps was formed from the old French verb enfemencer, to furnish with feed. TODD. XXXVI. 2. a brafen wall,] Meaning the famous Picts wall, called by the Britons Gual-Sever, or Which mote the feebled Britons strongly flancke Against the Picts that fwarmed over all, Which yet thereof Gualfever they doe call: And Twede, the limit betwixt Logris land And Albany: And Eden, though but small, Yet often ftainde with bloud of many à band Of Scots and English both, that tyned on his ftrand. XXXVII. Then came those fixe fad Brethren, like forlorne, That whilome were, as antique fathers tell, Mur-Sever, i. e. the wall of Severus, built across the island from Solway Frith to Tinmouth. Brafen, in the poetick style, means firm and strong; and fo Homer often ufes it. Both Homer and Spenfer call the heavens brasen, from their firmnefs and ftability. UPTON. XXXVI. 6. betwixt Logris land That is, betwixt England and CHURCH. And Albany:] Scotland. See F. Q. ii. x. 13. XXXVI. 9. ― that tyned on his strand.]. I think tyned is ufed here for extended, and in F. Q. iv. vii. 30. ; CHURCH. Tyned, i. e, that were killed. If, tyna, tynde, perdidi. See G. Douglas, Gloff. in V. Tyne, and Junius. UPTON. The compiler of the Gloffary to G. Douglas interprets tyne, to lofe; and tynt, loft; and likewife adds, that Skinner is miftaken who renders tynt, fhut up. This affertion, however, feems too hafty: For, fee Lye's Saxon Dict. in V. Tynan, which is rendered" fimplicitèr, claudere;" in illustration of which a phrafe is added, correfponding to the interpretation of died, "Extremum diem claufit."TODD. XXXVII. 2. fathers] So all the editions. I once thought it should be fables, but now rather fuppofe he means the monkish writers, CHURCH. Sixe valiant Knights of one faire nymphe yborne, Which did in noble deedes of armes excell, And wonned there where now Yorke people dwell; Still Ure, fwift Werfe, and Oze the most of High Swale, unquiet Nide, and troublous All whom a Scythian king, that Humber hight, Slew cruelly, and in the river drowned quite : XXXVIII. But paft not long, ere Brutus warlicke fonne Locrinus them aveng'd, and the fame date, Which the proud Humber unto them had donne, By equall dome repayd on his owne pate: For in the felfe fame river, where he late Had drenched them, he drowned him againe; And nam'd the river of his wretched fate; Whofe bad condition yet it doth retaine, Oft toffed with his ftormes which therein still remaine. XXXIX. These after came the ftony fhallow Lone, XXXVIII. 4. on his owne pate:] Com pare Pfalm vii. 17. "His wickedness fhall fall on his own pate." TODD. |