XXVII.

Quit from that danger forth their courfe they kept;

And as they went they heard a ruefull cry
Of one that wayld and pittifully wept,
That through the fea th' refounding plaints
did fly:

At laft they in an Ifland did efpy

A feemely Maiden, fitting by the shore, That with great forrow and fad agony Seemed fome great misfortune to deplore, And lowd to them for fuccour called evermore.

XXVIII.

Which Guyon hearing, ftreight his Palmer bad
To ftere the bote towards that dolefull Mayd,
That he might know and eafe her forrow fad:
Who, him avizing better, to him fayd;
"Faire Sir, be not difpleafd if disobayd:
For ill it were to hearken to her

For the is inly nothing ill apayd;
But onely womanish fine forgery,

cry;

XXVII. 4. That through the fea th' refounding &c.] Every edition, except both the poet's own, read "That through the fea refounding &c." Spenfer's two editions read "the refounding &c." Mr. Upton therefore, in his note, agrees to the elifion which I have admitted; and adds that, though he had followed the firft folio in rejecting the, he questioned its authority in this place, and wished that he had printed it otherwife. TODD.

XXVIII. 7. For she is inly nothing ill apayd;] So Chaucer, in the Merchants Tale:

"I pray you that you be not ill apaid:"

That is, diffatisfied. UPTON.

Your ftubborne hart t'affect with fraile infir

mity:

XXIX.

"To which when the your courage hath inclind Through foolish pitty, then her guilefull bayt She will embosome deeper in your mind, And for your ruine at the last awayt." The Knight was ruled, and the Boteman ftrayt

Held on his courfe with stayed ftedfastneffe, Ne ever shroncke, ne ever fought to bayt His tyred armes for toylefome wearineffe; But with his oares did fweepe the watry wilderneffe.

XXX.

And now they nigh approched to the sted Whereas thofe Mermayds dwelt: It was a ftill

And calmy bay, on th' one fide sheltered
With the brode fhadow of an hoarie hill;
On th' other fide an high rocke toured still,
That twixt them both a pleasaunt port they
made,

And did like an halfe theatre fulfill:

XXIX. 7.

ne ever fought to bayt

His tyred armes] To bayt here fignifies to rest. So Milton ufes the word, Par. L. B. xii. 1. And Mr. Richardfon obferves, in a note on that paffage, that a hawk is faid to bate when he ftoops in the midst of his flight. Bate, Fr. batre, s'abatre, to stoop. CHURCH.

XXX.7. And did like an halfe theatre fulfill:] That is,

There those five Sifters had continuall trade, And ufd to bath themselves in that deceiptfull fhade.

XXXI.

They were faire Ladies, till they fondly striv'd With th' Heliconian Maides for maystery; Of whom they over-comen were depriv'd

And did fulfill, or compleat, the whole, like to an amphitheatre. This is taken from the famous bay of Naples, described by Virgil, Æn. i. 163. imitated by Taffo, C. xv. 42. Fulfill is not to be altered, but explained. Job xxxix. 2. "Canft thou number the months that they fulfill?" i. e. compleat. UPTON.

XXXI. 1. They were faire Ladies, &c.] It is plain by this and by what follows, that Spenfer defigned here to describe the Mermaids as Sirens. He has done it contrary to mythology: for the Sirens were not part women and part fishes, as Spenfer and other moderns have imagined, but part women and part birds. They were the daughters of one of the Muses, as fome relate. We learn from the emperor Julian that they contended with the Mufes, but that the Mufes overcame them, took their wings away, and adorned themfelves with them as with trophies, and in token of their victory, Epift. xli. JORTIN.

By the Sirens are imaged fenfual pleafures; hence Spenfer makes their number five: but the poets and mythologists as to their number vary. I refer the curious reader to the Schol. on Hom. Od. p. ver. 39; to Hyginus in Præfat. Ex Acheloo et Melpomene Sirenes, &c. and Fab. cxli; to Natalis Comes, Lib. vii. Cap. xiii; and to Barnes, Eurip. Helen. ver. 166. But should you ask, why did not Spenfer follow rather the ancient poets and mythologifts, than the moderns in making them Mermaids? My answer is, Spenfer has mythology of his own: nor would he leave his brethren the romance-writers, where merely authority is to be put against authority. Boccace has. given a fanction to this description, Geneal. Deorum, Lib. vii. Cap. 20. Let me add our old poets, as Gower, Fol. x. 2, and Chaucer, Rom. of the Rofe, ver. 680. Voffius has followed it too, "Sirenes dicebantur tria marina monstra, quorum unumquodque, ut Horatii verbis utar, Definit in pifcem mulier formofa fuperne." See Voffius, Etymolog. in V. Sirenes.

UPTON.

Of their proud beautie, and th' one moyity Transform'd to fish for their bold furquedry; But th' upper halfe their hew retayned ftill, And their sweet skill in wonted melody; Which ever after they abufd to ill,

T'allure weake traveillers, whom gotten they did kill.

XXXII.

So now to Guyon, as he paffed by,

Their pleasaunt tunes they sweetly thus applyde ;

"O thou fayre fonne of gentle Faëry,
That art in mightie armes moft magnifyde
Above all Knights that ever batteill tryde,
O turne thy rudder hetherward awhile:
Here may thy ftorme-bett veffell fafely ryde;
This is the Port of reft from troublous toyle,

XXXI. 5.

their bold furquedry;] Pride. See

the note on furquedry, F. Q. v. ii. 30. TODD.

XXXI. 6. But th' upper halfe their hew retayned still,

And their Sweet skill] That is, And they retained their sweet skill: They is often omitted in Spenfer: 'tis elliptically expreffed. See Ovid, Met. v. 563.

"Virginei vultus et vox humana remanfit."

UPTON.

XXXII. 3. O thou fayre fonne &c.] This fong of the Mermaids is copied from Homer, Od. p. 184. where the Sirens fay to Ulyffes:

Δεῦρ ̓ ἄγ ̓ ἰὼν πολύαιν Οδυσσεν, μέγα κῦδος ̓Αχαιῶν,

Νῆα κατάφησιν, ἵνα νωίτερην ὅπ ̓ ἀκάσης.

XXXII. 8. This is the Port of reft &c.] Perhaps he bor

rowed this from Taffo, C. xv. 63.

"Questo è il porto del mondo, e qui il ristoro

"De le fue noie, e quel piacer fi fente" UPTON,

The worldes fweet In from paine and wearifome

turmoyle."

XXXIII.

With that the rolling fea, refounding foft,
In his big base them fitly anfwered;
And on the rocke the waves breaking aloft
A folemne meane unto them measured;
The whiles sweet zephyrus lowd whifteled
His treble, a ftraunge kinde of harmony;
Which Guyons fenfes foftly tickeled,
That he the Boteman bad row eafily,

And let him heare fome part of their rare me

lody.

XXXIV.

But him the Palmer from that vanity
With temperate advice discounfelled,
That they it past, and shortly gan defcry
The land to which their course they levelled;
When fuddeinly a groffe fog over fpred

XXXIII. 1. With that &c.] This is very beautiful, and is Spenfer's own invention, as far as I know. JORTIN.

A fimilar idea occurs in a fubfequent work, viz. Partheneia Sacra, printed in 1633. See p. 8. "Thofe water-works, conduits, and aquaducts, which yet you might heare to make a gentle murmur throughout, affording an apt BASE for the birds to defcant on. TODD.

XXXIV. 5. When fuddeinly a groffe fog over Spred &c.] "Tis plain that during the whole voyage of this Knight, and his fober conductor, our poet had in view the voyage of Ulyffes; especially the xiith book of Homer's Odyfey, where the wife hero meets with the adventures of the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis; foon after follows his fhipwreck, and his arrival at the inland of Calypfo. Compare Virgil, En. i. 92. UPTON.