To keepe us out in fcorne, of his owne will, And rather do not ranfack all, and himfelfe

66

kill ?"

IX.

Nay, let us first,” fayd Satyrane, "entreat The man by gentle meanes, to let us in; And afterwardes affray with cruell threat, Ere that we to efforce it doe begin :

Then, if all fayle, we will by force it win, And eke reward the wretch for his mefprife, As may be worthy of his haynous fin." That counfell pleafd: Then Paridell did rife, And to the Castle-gate approcht in quiet wife:

X.

Whereat foft knocking, entrance he defyrd. The good man felfe, which then the porter playd,

Him answered, that all were now retyrd Unto their reft, and all the keyes convayd Unto their Maifter who in bed was layd, That none him durft awake out of his dreme; And therefore them of patience gently prayd. Then Paridell began to chaunge his theme, And threatned him with force and punishment

extreme.

(i. e. having his own will,) to keep us out in fcorne, in contempt of us. All the editions wrongly point thus:

CHURCH.

"To keep us out, in fcorne of &c." X. 2. The good man felfe,] Oxodowóтng, Matt. xxiv. 43. "If the good man of the house had known, &c." UPTON.

XI.

But all in vaine; for nought mote him relent: And now fo long before the wicked faft They wayted, that the night was forward fpent,

And the faire welkin fowly overcaft

Gan blowen up a bitter ftormy blast,
With thowre and hayle fo horrible and dred,
That this faire many were compeld at last
To fly for fuccour to a little shed,

The which befide the gate for fwyne was ordered,

XII.

It fortuned, foone after they were gone, Another Knight, whom tempeft thether brought,

XI. 7. peatedly uses Feaft:

this faire many] Company. Spenfer remany in this fenfe. So Dryden, in his Alexander's

“The many rend the skies with loud applaufe," TODD. XI. 8. To fly for fuccour &c.] If the reader takes any pleasure in feeing how one poet imitates, or rivals, another, he may have an agreeable task in comparing this episode, where this faire company, Satyrane, Paridell, Britomart, and the Squire of Dames, are excluded in a tempeftuous night from 'old Malbecco's castle, with a like difafter in Ariofto, C. xxxii. 65. Where Bradamante (whom Britomart in many circumstances resembles) arriving at the castle of Sir Tristan, battles it with three knights, and afterwards, discovers her fex: Let the reader likewife compare old Lydgates Canterbury Tale, where Polemite and Tideus arrive at the porch of the palace of King Adraftus in a ftormy night. The Hiftorie of Prince Arthur, has the fame kind of adventure, P. ii. B. i. C. 65. “How Sir Triftram and Sir Dipadan came to a lodging where they must just with two knights." UPTON,

XII. 2. Another Knight, whom tempeft &c.] This adventure feems to be copied from a like story in Statius, Theb. i. 406,

Came to that Caftle, and with earnest mone, Like as the reft, late entrance deare befought; But, like fo as the reft, he prayd for nought; For flatly he of entrance was refusd : Sorely thereat he was difpleafd, and thought How to avenge himfelfe fo fore abufd, And evermore the Carle of courtefie accufd. XIII.

But, to avoyde th' intollerable ftowre,

He was compeld to feeke fome refuge neare, And to that fhed, to fhrowd him from the fhowre,

He came, which full of guests he found whyleare,

"liquentia nimbis

"Ora comafque gerens, fubit uno tegmine, cujus
"Fufus humo gelida, partem prior hofpes habebat, &c."

JORTIN.

XII. 4. late entrance deare befought;] Earnestly, dearly, defired admittance; feeing it was fo late in the night. See ftanza 18. CHURCH.

XII. 9. And evermore the Carle of courtefie accufd.] The fenfe muft be, "accufed him of difcourtesy, of rudenefs." And fo he has it, F. Q. vi. iii. 33. JORTIN.

Mr. Church thinks that Spenfer here gave, "And evermore the Carle of difcourtefie accus'd;" making difcourtefie a trifyl lable. Mr. Upton confiders the expreffion as elliptical, after the manner of the Latin idiom, in which, verbs of accufing govern a genitive cafe by an ellipfis of crimine, nomine, causâ, judicio, &c. So, in ftanza 10, "And therefore them of pa tience gently pray'd." And, in ftanza 25, "Then they Malbecco pray'd of courtefy." So that Mr. Upton would explain the paffage thus: They accufed Malbecco of the accufation of acting against the laws of courtefy. But the learned critick feems to prefer the interpretation of the word of as a prepofition, Anglo-Sax. of, from, without: They accufed him to be without courtefy, TODD.

So as he was not let to enter there:

Whereat he gan to wex exceeding wroth, And swore that he would lodge with them yfere

Or them diflodg, all were they liefe or loth; And fo defyde them each, and fo defyde them both.

XIV.

Both were full loth to leave that peedfull tent,
And both full loth in darkeneffe to debate;
Yet both full liefe him lodging to have lent,
And both full liefe his boafting to abate:
But chiefely Paridell his hart did grate
To heare him threaten fo defpightfully,
As if he did a dogge in kenell rate

XIII. 8.

all were they liefe or loth;] That is, were they willing or unwilling, glad or forry. The expreffion occurs again in F. Q. vi. i. 44, and is frequent in our old poets. So Gower, fol. xvi. 2.

"But, be him liefe or be him loth,
"Unto the caftell foorth he goth."

And Chaucer, Kn. Tale, 1839.

"But none of you al be hym lothe or lefe,
"He must go pipin in an ivie lefe."

Again, Merch. Tale, 1177.

"And he obeyith be fhe lefe or lothe." UPTON.

XIII. 9. And so defyde them each,] This is the reading of the first edition, to which the editions of 1751, Upton, and Church, adhere. The fecond omits the word fo; and therefore the first folio, by way of emendation, reads " And them defied each;" making defied a trifyllable. This reading is followed by the other folios, by Hughes, and Tonfon's edition in 1758.

TODD.

XIV. 7. in kenell] So the first edition reads, which thofe of 1751, Upton, and Church, follow. The reft read, "to kenell." TODD.

That durft not barke; and rather had he dy Then, when he was defyde, in coward corner ly.

XV..

Tho, haftily remounting to his fteed,

He forth iffew'd; like as a boyftrous winde, Which in th' earthes hollow caves hath long ben hid

And fhut

up faft within her prifons blind, Makes the huge element, against her kinde, To move and tremble as it were aghaft, Untill that it an iffew forth may finde; Then forth it breakes, and with his furious blaft

Confounds both land and feas, and skyes doth overcaft.

XVI.

Their fteel-hed fpeares they ftrongly coucht,

and met

Together with impetuous rage and forse,
That with the terrour of their fierce affret

XV. 2. He forth issew'd; like as a boyftrous winde, &c.] The character here given of the boisterous Paridel, agrees with what hiftory informs us of the Earl of Weftmorland, whom Paridel, in the hiftorical allufion, reprefents. He is compared to a wind fhut up in the caverns of the earth, and bursting forth (when it finds vent) with noife and earthquakes. The image in Milton is not unlike, where Satan, after Abdiel's encounter, recoils back,

66 as if on earth

"Winds under ground, or waters forcing way, "Sidelong had pushd a mountain from his feat "Half funk with all his pines." UPTON. XVI. 3.

their fierce affret] Rencounter,