XVI.

"Fayr Sir," faid then the Palmer fuppliaunt, "For knighthoods love doe not fo fowle a

deed,

Ne blame your

honor with fo fhamefull vaunt Of vile revenge: To fpoile the dead of weed Is facrilege, and doth all finnes exceed: But leave thefe relicks of his living might To decke his herce, and trap his tomb-blacke fteed."

"What herce or fteed," faid he, "fhould he have dight,:

But be entombed in the raven or the kight?"

XVI. 3. Ne blame your honor] Caft not blame or reproach on your honour. Fr. blamer. Ital. biafimare, à Lat. blafphemare, βλασφημέιν. UPTON.

XVI. 4.

of weed] Of raiment. We generally find the word used in the plural number. Thus, in Milton's Comus, the Spirit takes "the weeds and likeness of a fwain, &c." Again, in Allegro, we have "weeds of peace." See alfo Par. Reg. B. i. 314. So we now fay, a widow's

weeds." TODD.

66

XVI. 7. To decke his herce, and trap his tombe-blacke fteede.] The horses of the dead Knights were decked out with black trappings, and with their armour; and thus walked in folemn proceffion to the tomb, where their arms and knightly honours were hung up: hence he fays, "tomb-black." Herfe is used for the tomb. The Sarazin replies, "What herce or fteed should he have prepared for him, but be entombed in the raven or the kight?" Entombed, confidering the retorted repetition, is very elegant: "Talk not to me of tombs; he fhall have no other tomb but the ravenous birds of the air,"

UPTON.

XVI. 9. But be entombed in the raven &c.] Gorgias Leontinus called vulturs living fepulchres, γύπες ἔμψυχοι τάφοι for which he incurred the cenfure of Longinus; whether justly or no I fhall not fay. JORTIN.

XVII.

With that, rude hand upon his fhield he laid,
And th' other brother gan his helme unlace;
Both fiercely bent to have him difaraid :
Till that they spyde where towards them did
pace

An armed Knight, of bold and bounteous grace,

Whofe Squire bore after him an heben launce And coverd fhield: Well kend him fo far space

Th' Enchaunter by his armes and amenaunce, When under him he faw his Lybian fteed to praunce;

XVIII.

And to those brethren fayd; "Rife, rife bylive, And unto batteil doe yourselves addreffe ; For yonder comes the proweft Knight alive,

XVII. 6.

an heben launce

And coverd fhield:] See F. Q. i. vii. 33, and 37.
CHURCH.

XVII. 8. amenaunce,] Carriage, behaviour. Fr. amener, Ital. ammannare. See alfo F. Q. ii. ix. 5,

XVIII. 3.

UPTON.

his Lybian feed] His Arabian

the proweft Knight] The bravest Knight. Proweft is the fuperlative of prow, which, Mr. Upton obferves, comes originally from probus. See Menage, vv. prou and prouefe. The word is ufually written in old French, preux. And thus alfo in the old English Hift. of K. Arthur, Ch. xx. “Duke Richarde of Normandye was taken there, which was one of the Douse Peres of Fraunce, and a ryghte noble and a worthy Knyght, preu and hardy," Again, fol. xlvii. "He is prue and valyaunte." TODD.

Prince Arthur, flowre of grace and nobileffe, That hath to Paynim Knights wrought gret diftreffe,

And thousand Sarʼzins fowly donne to dye.” That word fo deepe did in their harts impreffe,

That both eftfoones upftarted furiously, And gan themselves prepare to batteill greedily.

XIX.

But fiers Pyrochles, lacking his owne sword, The want thereof now greatly gan to plaine, And Archimage befought, him that afford Which he had brought for Braggadochio vaine.

"So would I," faid th' Enchaunter, "glad and faine

Beteeme to you this fword, you to defend, Or ought that els your honour might main

taine;

XVIII. 4.

and nobileffe,] From the Italian, nobilezza. The French word, noblesse, is of two fyllables.

UPTON.

XIX. 6. Beteeme to you] That is, give, deliver, to you, as Shakspeare ufes the word in Midf. Night Dream: "Belike for want of rain, which I could well . "Beteem them from the tempeft of mine eyes."

UPTON.

Ibid. this word] The fword, which he intended for Braggadochio. See F. Q. ii. iii. 17, 18. It is rightly printed "this fword" in Spenfer's own editions; but erroneously in the folios, "his." UPTON.

But that this weapons powre I well have kend To be contrary to the worke which ye intend:

XX.

"For that fame Knights owne fword this is,

of

yore

Which Merlin made by his almightie art

XX. 1. this is, of yore] So I point the paffage with Mr. Church. All other editions place a comma after yore, but no stop after is. Mr. Upton, however, acknowledges that the pointing, now adopted, is to be preferred.

TODD.

XX. 2. Which Merlin made] The Enchanter Merlin is here faid to have made Prince Arthur's fword. Heroes of old had their arms made by enchantment and fupernatural power: The arms of Achilles and of Eneas were made by Vulcan. But, as our poet mentions the fword in particular, I would ob ferve that the fword of Hannibal was enchanted. See Sil. Ital. i. 429. Virgil, defcribing the fword of Turnus, fays, it was made by Vulcan for Daunus, the father of Turnus, and tinged hiffing hot in the Stygian lake. So Spenfer:

"And feven times dipped in the bitter wave
"Of hellish Styx-"

Valerius Flaccus likewife bears teftimony to the virtues and efficacy of the Stygian waters, L. vii. 364.

"Prima Hecate Stygiis duratam fontibus harpen
"Intulit."

And this explains and illustrates Ariosto, C. xix. 84.
"L'Ufbergo fuo di tempra era fi duro,
"Che non li potean contra le percoffe,
"E per incanto al fuoco de l'inferno

"Cotto e temprato à l'acqua fu d' Averno.” Merlin befide mixt the metal with medawart; that is, with the wort or herb called medica, concerning which fee Virgil, Georg. i. 215. It availed againft enchantments, and for this reafon was used by Merlin. Nothing is more ufual in romance writers than to read of heroes made invulnerable by enchantments; and of fwords, by more powerful enchanters fo framed, as to prevail over even enchanted heroes. Don Quixote tells Sancho, that he will endeavour to procure a fword, fuperiour to all enchantments: fortune, he fays, may provide him such

For that his Nourfling, when he knighthood

fwore,

Therewith to doen his foes eternall fmart.
The metall first he mixt with medæwart,
That no enchauntment from his dint might
fave;

Then it in flames of Aetna wrought apart, And seven times dipped in the bitter wave Of hellish Styx, which hidden vertue to it gave.

XXI.

"The vertue is, that nether steele nor stone

a one as that of Amadis de Gaul, who named himself Knight of the burning fword: which sword could cut asunder whatever it undertook, and could refist all enchantments. So Bafifarda, the fword of Ruggiero, is defcribed by Berni, Orl. Innam. L. ii. C. xvii. 13. See also Ariofto, C, xli. 83. So the sword is described, which the king of Arabia fent to Cambufcan, Chaucer, p. 61. edit. Urr. And fo the fword of Michael is described, Par. Loft, B. vi. 320.

This fword for its virtues was named Morddure: It bit hard and sharp; from mordre to bite, and dur, hard; or from the Ital. mordere, to bite or wound, and duramente, cruelly, hardly. From this very quality Orlando's fword had its name; and was called Durenda, as Turpin writes in his Hiftory of Charles the Great, chap. xxi. " Durenda interpretatur durus ictus." Hence Boyardo and Ariofto have called their heroes fword, Durlindana. I cannot help obferving how defignedly Spenfer here omits to follow either that filly romance called the Hiftory of Prince Arthur, which gives a long and ridiculous account of his fword, Excalibur, that is, cut fteel; or even of Jeffrey of Monmouth, who fays, his fword's name was Caliburn, L. ix. C. iv. Compare Drayton's Polyolbion, p. 61. However, as 'tis certain Spenfer had read both the romance of Prince Arthur, and Jeffrey of Monmouth's British hiftory, fo it is as certain that he altered many things, and made their stories submit to the economy of his poem. UPTON.