Henry the Eighth." (But perhaps Steevens is confusing that unhappy Queen's marriage with her coronation. She rode through the streets to be crowned, "sitting in her hair.")

1. 25. entrayled (Old French) = intertwined. Spenser uses the word several times, as in Faerie Queene, II. iii. 27. In V. v. 2 he has "trayled."

26. flasket. A dim. from flask, from the same root as flagon. The word is still in use in Cornwall amongst the fishermen for the vessel with which the fish are transferred from the "seine" to the "tuck-net." See Murray's Guide to Cornwall.

Comp, the picture of Proserpine and her girl friends gathering flowers in the meadows of Enna, Ovid, Fast. iv. 429-42; and Europa with hers, .Mosch. ii. 33 et seq.

2. 27. feateously = neatly, cleverly. From Old French faictis = Lat. factitius. See Chaucer, Prol. 157, Ed. Morris:

"Full fetys was hire cloke."

Comp. Foot it featly' (Temp. I. ii. 380).

28. on hye in haste. So hie thee haste thee,

29. Comp. Lycid. 135 et seq.

33. store. Comp. L'Alleg, 121: "Store of ladies."

34. posy. This word is very commonly used for a verse or motto inscribed on a ring; as in the Merchant of Venice, V. i. 147, where Gratiano speaks of

And generally for a legend, as in Webster's Northward Ho, III. ii.: "I'll have you make twelve posies for a dozen of cheese-trenches." (Cf. Massinger's Old Law, II. i.) As flowers had their language once in Western Europe (see Hamlet, IV. v. 175; Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, I. ii., &c.), as they have still in the East, it has been conjectured that the word posy was applied also to a nosegay as being significant and, so to speak, mottocontaining. Others, regarding the nosegay in the same way, have derived its name from pensée, a thought, But neither of these derivations is quite satisfactory.

37. [What is meant by With that?]

Swans were a very familiar sight on the Thames in Spenser's time, and before and after it. "Paulus Jovius, who died in 1552, describing the Thames, says: "This river abounds in swans, swimming in flocks; the sight of whom and their noise are vastly agree. able to the fleets that meet them in their course.' (Knight's Cyclop. of London.)

38. Lee stream. This word, in various forms, occurs as a river-name in England (in Hertfordshire), in Ireland, in France, and other parts of Europe. Like nearly all European river-names, it is a Keltic word. We do not know of its occurring elsewhere than here as a

45. nor nothing neare. In Old English, one negative does not neutralize, but strengthens another in the same sentence. See Piers Ploughman, Prol. 30, Shakspere passim, &c. As late as Goldsmith we have instances of this double negative.

48. to when brought near to, ie. in comparison with. So Ben Jonson:

"All that they did was piety to this."

Hamlet, I. ii. 140: "Hyperion to a satyr." Comp. Greek рós.

49. least.. plumes

=

that they might soil their fair plumes in the least degree, i.e. that they might not soil them; and so, for fear that they might soil them. So in Latin ne is

used without ut, in Greek un without "va. With the virtually negative force of least comp. that of Latin minime.

2. 55. Eftsoones soon after, immediately. Eft = aft, a word still used in a special sense by sailors, properly = behind, and so following; it is, in fact, the positive of after. The s in eftsoons was originally a genitive case-sign. So the s in else, unawares, needs. In the words once, twice, thrice, modern spelling has substituted c: in Piers Ploughman we have onis, elles, &c.

their fill. Here an adverbial phrase of degree. So perhaps " a hundred fold" in Milton's Sonnet "Avenge, O Lord."

56. all in haste= altogether in haste, in great haste. Comp. Il Pens. 33:

The adverb alle occurs in Chaucer, &c.

58. they stood amazed still. Here the pred. is they stood still; amazed serves for an adverb of manner. [In what other way might the sentence be analysed?]

60. them seem'd. So me thinks, him thought, him were lever (Chaucer's Frank. Tate), &c. In all these, and such cases, the pronoun is the Old English dative, the verb is impersonal. So, too, is to be explained "if you please." At a later time these various verbs were used personally, and the nominative of the pronoun replaced the dative.

62. heavenly borne = heavenly by birth, and so in meaning heaven-born. Analytically, borne is a quasi-adverb defining heavenly, which is part of the pred.

63. Teeme. See Hymn on Nat. 18; Midsummer Night's Dream, V. i. 391; Romeo and Juliet, I. iv. 57. It is cognate with the verb teem.

the air."

Ovid (Metam. x. 708) describes Venus as "yoking her swans and so traversing

65. Observe the word-play.

3. 76. goodly. Observe what a favourite word this is with our older writers.

78. [What part of speech is that here?]

79. Virgil (Georg. iv. 317) calls this vale "Peneus' Tempe."

Tempes shore =

the shore of, i.e. consisting of, Tempe. Tempe was the shore. Comp. Gray's Long Story:

"In Britain's isle, no matter where,

An ancient pile of building stands."

So 'Siloa's brook," Paradise Lost, i. 11. Shore is often used of the banks of a river by our old writers. See Il Pens. 75; Faerie Queene:

"Besides the fruitful shore of muddy Nile;" &c.

80. Spenser seems here to invert the course of the Peneus. In fact, it rises in Thessaly. See Atlas.

83. while = time. It is still used for a space of time.

85. trim. L'All. 75.

92. See the personification in the beginning of Adonais.

93. bower

=

chamber; radically, something built, not connected with bough. In Beowulf, and in the older romances, it is used especially of a lady's chamber or room, boudoir. Tennyson uses it rightly in his Godiva :

=

95. of out of, from. So James iv. 1. Bacon, Ess. 51: "The even carriage between, two factions proceedeth not alwaies of moderation, but of a truenesse to a man's selfe, with end to make use of both." (Apud Bible Word-Book.) Will. of Palerne (E. E. Text S.), 1139: "For she bade brought hem of bale bothe they seide," &c.

your loues couplement the union or marriage of your loves. Couple in the sense

of to join in marriage occurs frequently in the Elizabethan and other writers; e. g. in King John, III. i. 228: "Married in league, coupled, and linked." As a substantive in Paradise Lost, iv. 339:

"As beseems

Fair couple link'd in happy nuptial league."

Armado, in Love's Labour Lost (V. ii. 537), addresses the King and Princess as "a most royal couplement." Some editions mistakenly read complement in this present passage.

3. 99. All Loues dislike all dislike felt towards love. The so-called possessive case is here used objectively with regard to the substantive on which it depends. The use of the possessive pronouns," says Marsh, "and of the inflected possessive case of nouns and pronouns was, until a comparatively recent period, very much more extensive than at present, and they were employed in many cases where the preposition with the objective now takes their place." Comp. King's rebels, King's traitors (Paston Letters), Senecaes translation (Lodge), Sins poison, Graces antidote (Fuller).

100. assoile = etymologically absolve.

[What is the meaning?]

101. accord. Here used transitively. So in Sidney's Arcadia: "Her hands accordea the lute's music to the voice; her panting heart danced to the music."

102. wait upon

=

attend. Comp. Psalm cxxiii. 2: "So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God." Psalm xxv. 3.

bord table. See As You Like It, V. iv. 147:

"Wedding is great Juno's crown-
O blessed bond of board and bed."

Comedy of Errors, III. ii. 17, and V. i. 62, where Adriana says husband":

"In bed he slept not for my urging it;

At board he fed not for my urging it."

105. Comp. Psalm cxxvii. 5.

4. 110. to her =

according to, in accordance with her. So Paradise Lost, i. 550:

"

Ib.

112. neighbour = neighbouring. So Comus, 484: "Some neighbour woodman.' 576: "Some neighbour villager." Love's Labour Lost, V. ii. 66 94: A neighbour thicket." Hamlet, III. iv. 212: "Neighbour room."

119. in his flood. We should rather say on. So in Faerie Queene: "In fresh summer's day," &c.

121. shend: Ang.-Sax. "scendan, to confound, shame, shend, reproach, revile, spurn" (Bosworth). Chaucer's Man of Lawes Tale:

"But verrayly thou wolt his body schende."

Persoun's Tale: "He schendeth all that he doth." Faerie Queene, passim.

P

4. 122, enranged, Comp. arranged. See Faerie Queene:

"As fair Diana, in fresh summer's day,

Beholds her nymphs enranged in shady wood."

127. See Spenser's Life.

129. [What is meant by sourse here?]

132. When the order of the Knights Templar was suppressed in Edward the Second's reign, their London estate on the bank of the Thames was given over to the Knights of St. John; by these it was leased to the students of the Common Law, who not finding a home at Cambridge or Oxford were at that time in want of a habitation. At the Dissolution of the Religious Orders this arrangement was continued by the Crown, at least for some two-thirds of the estate; the third--what should have been the Outer Temple– -was bestowed on a favourite. At a later time, in the reign of James I., the property was given to the lawyers. 135. whilom, an old dat.

byde

=

abide. Comp. bate, abate; maze, amaze; mend, amend; σkaiрw, ȧσkaiρw; σπαίρω, ἀσπαίρω; στάχυς, ἄσταχυς; στεροπή, αστεροπή; stella, ἀστήρ. Comp. also wake, awake; vouch, avouch; wait, await; verus, aver; down, adown; base, abase; but, abut; chief, achieve; Fr. droit, adroit. Comp. further, sperare, espérer; spatium, espace; spiritus, esprit; species, espèce.

137. The mansion here spoken of stood in the gardens of what should have been the Outer Temple. It covered the ground where Essex Street now is. The two pillars which still stand at the bottom of Essex Street-those between which you pass in order to reach the river at the Temple Pier-belonged to some part or appurtenance of it. In this " stately place" the Earl of Leicester was living in 1580; one of Spenser's letters to his friend Harvey in that year is dated from it. Leicester is the " great Lord" mentioned in l. 140. He died in the autumn of 1588. After him the Earl of Essex occupied the house. It was from and in it that, in 1601, he attempted that rash insurrection against the Queen's advisers which involved him in ruin.

next whereunto. It was on the upper or western side of the Temple; not, as might seem from Spenser's description, on the lower.

66

139. wont. This word, as used here and often elsewhere in older English, is, in fact, the pret. of the old verb won, Ang.-Sax. wunian; Dan. wonen; G. wohnen, to dwell, persist, continue" (Wedgewood). So in Waller's lines:

"The eagle's fate and mine are one,

Which on the shaft that made him die

Espy'd a feather of his own,

Wherewith he wont to soar so high."

And so in 1 Henry VI. I. ii. 14:

"Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear."

Comp. the disuse of use in the sense of am accustomed," while used is common enough. This pret. came to be used itself as a quasi-present; so ought-dare-durst-mind-wot-ought-can-may-memini-oida. (See Latham.)

"Through power of that, his cunning thieveries

He wonts to work that none the same espies."-Faerie Queene.

But much more commonly wont is a part., with this peculiarity, that it is used only predicatively, never attributively. We say, "he was wont to be vigorous," but cannot speak of "his wont vigour." To pass on to a third sense, wont is sometimes a subst. The word wonted, which is used in the inverse way to wont the part.-i.e. is always an attributive, and not predicative-is perhaps an adj. derived from this subst. customary; but it may be a

part. formed from the secondary verb wont. Spenser has also an adj. wontless Hymne in Honour of Beautie:

"What wontlesse fury dost thou now inspire

4. 140.

Into my feeble breast when full of thee?"

"Of all English writers Spenser shows himself most independent of the laws of position." (Marsh.)

freendles. The privative termination les is more correctly spelt, as here, with only one s. It is quite distinct from the word less. It is a modernised form of Ang.-Sax. -leas Thus friendless

=

Ang.-Sax. freondleas.

141. fits. So Faerie Queene, II. ii. 11:

where it is expressed:

"Here fits not tell." Comp. Sidney's Arcad.,

"How evil fits it me to have such a son."

In methinks, them seemed, &c. the it is omitted, as here.

146. Observe the alliteration.

147. See in Knight or Lingard an account of Essex's expedition against Spain in 1596. There are contemporary accounts by Camden, Stowe, Strype, Raleigh. It was a splendid feat of arms. Macaulay calls it, in his Essay on Bacon, "The most brilliant military exploit that was achieved on the Continent by English arms during the long interval which elapsed between the battle of Agincourt and that of Blenheim." There is a contemporary ballad on it given in Percy's Reliques from the Editor's "Folio MS." entitled "The Winning of Cales,"

i.e. of Cadiz.

148. Hercules two pillors: i.e. Calpe on the European, Abyla on the African coast, at the Fretum Gaditanum, our Straits of Gibraltar. This name for these facing projections is found first in Pindar (Olymp. 3, 77; Nem. 3, 35), who calls them variously the σrnλaí and the Kioves of Hercules. They were said to have been erected by Hercules to mark the limit of his westward wanderings.

5. 154. Does he mean that Devereux "promises " he shall be heureux?

"Few noblemen of his age were more courted by poets [than was Robert, Earl of Essex]. From Spenser to the lowest rhymer he was the subject of numerous sonnets or popular ballads. I will not except Sidney. I could produce evidence to prove that he scarce ever went out of England, or even left London, on the most frivolous enterprise without a pastoral in his praise, or a panegyric in metre, which were sold or sung in the streets.' (Warton.)

=

158. Thy wide Alarmes the wide alarms excited by you. So the Wycliffite translation of Gen. ix. 2: 66 And youre feer and youre trembling be upon all the beestis of the earth." Comp. the current version. See above on 1. 99. So in Latin, as Ovid. Her. v. 149-50:

Ipse repertor opis vaccas pavisse Phereas
Fertur, et a nostro saucius igne fuit."

So in Greek, as in Aristotle's Ode to Arete:

σοῖς δὲ πόθοις ̓Αχιλλεὺς Αἴας τ' Αίδαο δόμους ἦλθον. Alarmes orig. a French cry = "to arms." Alarum is the tional syllable in it having sprung perhaps from the full sound of the r. vv. 2408-9 (Ed. Skeat):

same word, the addiComp. in Havelok,

"And smot him thoru the rith arum;

Therof was ful litel harum."

159. muse a poet; as in Faerie Queene, IV. xi. 34 ; Lycid. 19. Shaksp. Sonn. 21:

"So is it not with me as with that muse,
Stirred by a painted beauty to his verse."