Speaking of Arthegal's fword.

For of moft perfect metal it was made,-
And was of no lefs vertue, than of fame.
For there no fubftance was fo firm and hard,
But it would pierce or cleave, where-so it came,

So Milton, Par. Loft, VI. 320.

-but the fword

Of Michael from the armory of God

Was giv'n him temper'd fo, that neither keen
Nor folid might refift that edge.

STAN Z. XII,

Arthegal is attended by Talus :

made of iron mould,

Immoveable, refiftlefs, without end.

Concerning this man of iron, or rather of brass,
Túλws xxx, see Apollonius, IV. -

Sith then, faid he, ye both the dead deny,
And both the living lady claim your right,
Let both the dead and living equally
Divided be betwixt you here in fight, &c.

Copied from Solomon's judgment, 1 Kings iii. 16.

CANTO II. 27.

Thereafter all that mucky pelf he took,
The fpoil of people's evil-gotten good,

The which her fire had fcrap'd by hook and crook, And, burning all to afhes, pour'd it down the brook. Alluding to Deuteron. ix. 21. And I took your fin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and ftamped it, and ground it very fmall, even until it was as fmall as duft: and I caft the dust thereof into the brook that defcended out of the mount.

C A N T о III. 25.

As when the daughter of Thaumantes fair, &c.

Thaumantias Iris: the daughter of Thaumas, not Thaumantes.

Fit for fuch ladies, and fuch lovely knights.

Methinks it would be better to give the Ladies the epithet; and to read,

Fit for fuch lovely ladies, and fuch knights.

VI. XII. 34.

And therein shut

up his blafphemous tongue,

For never more defaming gentle knight,
Or any lovely lady doing wrong.

So

So Fol. Ed. 1679. In Hughes' Edit.

Or unto lovely lady doing wrong.

CANTO v. 25.

But vertuous women wifely understand That they were born to base humility, Unless the heavens them lift to lawful fovereignty.

Compare Milton, Par. Loft, IX. 232. The last line was inferted on account of Queen Elizabeth.

Radigund fays to Clarinda :

Say and do all that may thereto prevail;
Leave nought unpromis'd that may him persuade;
Life, freedom, grace, and gifts of great avail,
With which the Gods themselves are milder made.

He that compares this with En. IV. 424. &c. will be inclined to think that Spenfer had Virgil's Dido in view.

I, foror, atque bostem fupplex adfare fuperbum, &c.

That gifts can pacifie even the Gods, was a proverb amongst the Heathen. Euripides, Med. 964.

་

πείθειν δῶρα καὶ θεὸς, λόγω.

muneribus enim vel deos fletti fama eft. So Man makes God, in his own image.

CANTO

CANTO VII. 2.

Well therefore did the antique world invent
That Juftice was a God of fovereign grace,
And altars unto him, and temples lent,
And heavenly honours in the highest place;
Calling him great Ofiris, of the race

Of th' old Ægyptian kings, that whilom were;
With feigned colours fhading a true case:
For, that Ofiris, whilft he lived here,
The jufteft man alive, and trueft did appear.

In Plutarch, De Ifid. p. 355. Ofiris is called μέγας βασιλεὺς εὐεργέτης. Magnus rex beneficus, Baσιλεύοντα δὲ Οσιριν Αιγυπτίας μὲν εὐθὺς ἀπόρα βία καὶ θηριώδες ἀπαλλάξαι, καρπές τε δείξαντα, καὶ νόμος θέμενον αὐτοῖς, καὶ θεὶς δείξαντα τιμᾷν· ὅσερον δὲ γῆν πᾶσαν ἡμερέμενον ἐπελθεῖν. Jam Ofirin regno inito ftatim Ægyptios inopi et belluina victus ratione folviffe, cum et fruges iis oftenderet, et leges poneret, et deorum cultum præciperet. Postmodo univerfam obivisse terram hominefque manfuetos redegiffe. P. 356. Ὁ γὰρ Όσιρις ἀγαθοποιός. Eft enim Ofiris beneficus.

STANZ. IV.

Britomartis enters the temple of Ifis: There the received was in goodly wife Of many priests, that duly did attend,

All

All clad in linen robes, with filver hem'd ;
And on their heads, with long locks comely kem❜d,
They wore rich mitres..

The Priests of Ifis wore ita λwvénv μávnv, veftem tantummodo lineam, fays Herodot. II. 37. and hence are called Linigeri by many writers. Their heads were clofe fhaved, though Spenfer gives them long locks.

I BID,

To fhew that Ifis does the moon portend;
Like as Ofiris fignifies the fun.

So Plutarch, De Ifid. p. 372.

STANZ. VI.

The image of Ifis was

-clothed all in garments made of line.

She is called Linigera by Ovid, and by others.

STANZ. VIII, &c.

Britomartis fleeps in the temple of Ifis, and has vifions of what fhould befall her. It was not unufual for those who confulted the Gods, to fleep in their temples; where, as we are informed, they ufed to have their fortunes told them.

Virgil,

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