life; as much, at least, as the plain descrip-
tions in Homer, which corresponded to the
simplicity of manners then subsisting in
Greece. Spenser, in the address of the
Shepherd's Kalendar, to Sir Philip Sydney,
couples his patron's learning with his skill in
chivalry; a topic of panegyric, which would
sound very odd in a modern dedication,
" To
especially before a set of pastorals.
the noble and virtuous gentleman, most
worthy of all titles, both of Learning and
Chivalrie, Master Philip Sydney."

Go, little booke; thyself present,
As child whose parent is unkent,
To him that is the president
Of noblenesse and chivalrie*.

*Before the Shepherd's Kalendar. The gallantries of civilised chivalry, in particular, were never carried to a higher pitch than in the Queen's Court: of which, says our author, describing the manners of that court,

Ne any there doth brave or valiant seeme,
Unless that some gay mistresse badge he weare.

COLIN CLOUT'S COME HOME.

Nor is it sufficiently considered, that a popular practice of Spenser's age contributed, in a considerable degree, to make him an allegorical Poet. We should remember, that in this age allegory was applied as the subject and foundation of public shews and spectacles, which were exhibited with a magnificence superior to that of former times. The virtues and vices, distinguished by their respective emblematical types, were frequently personified and represented by living actors. These figures bore a chief part in furnishing what they called pageaunts*;

Spenser himself wrote a set of Pageaunts, which were descriptions of these feigned representations.

Cervantes, whose aim was to expose the abuses of imagination, seems to have left us a burlesque on pageantries which he probably considered as an appendage of romance, partaking, in great measure, of the same chimerical spirit. This ridicule was perfectly consistent with the general plan and purpose of his comic history. See the masque at Chamacho's wedding, where Cupid, Interest, Poetry, and Liberality, are the personages. A castle is represented, called the Castle of Discretion,

which were then the principal species of entertainment, and were shewn, not only in private, or upon the stage, but very often in the open streets for solemnising public occasions, or celebrating any grand event. As a proof of what is here mentioned, I refer the reader to Hollinshed's * Description of the Shew of Manhood and Desert, exhibited at Norwich, before Queen Elizabeth; and more particularly to that historian's account of a Turney † performed by Fulke Grevile,

which Cupid attacks with his arrows; but Interest throws a purse at it, when it immediately falls to pieces, &c. D. Quixotte, b. ii. ch. 3. But under due regulation, and -proper contrivance, they were a beautiful and useful spectacle.

:

"And to keep that shew companie, (but yet furre off) stoode the shewe of Manhode and Desart; as first to be presented and that shewe was as well furnished as the other men all, saving one boy called Beautie, for which Manhood, Favour, and Desart, did strive, (or should have contended;) but good Fortune (as victor of all conquests) was to come in and overthrow Manhood, &c." HOLLINSHED'S CHRON. V. iii. p. 1297. + Exhibited before the Queen at Westminster, ibid. p. 1317. et seq.

the Lords Arundell and Windsor, and Sir Philip Sydney, who are feigned to be the children of Desire, attempting to win the Fortress of Beauty. In the composition of the last spectacle, no small share of poetical invention appears.

In the mean time, I do not deny that Spenser was, in great measure, tempted by the Orlando Furioso to write an allegorical poem. Yet it must still be acknowledged, that Spenser's peculiar mode of allegorising seems to have been dictated by those spectacles, rather than by the fictions of Ariosto. In fact, Ariosto's species of allegory does not so properly consist in impersonating the virtues, vices, and affections of the mind, as in the adumbration of moral doctrine*, under

It is observed by Plutarch, that "Allegory is that, in which one thing is related and another understood." Thus Ariosto relates the adventures of Orlando, Rogero, Bradamante, &c. by which is understood the conquest of

the actions of men and women. On this plan Spenser's allegories are sometimes formed: as in the first book where the Red-crosse Knight or a True Christian, defeats the wiles of Archimago, or the Devil, &c. &c. These indeed are fictitious personages; but he proves himself a much more ingenious allegorist, where his imagination bodies forth unsubstantial things, turns them to shape, and marks out the nature, powers, and effects, of that which is ideal and abstracted, by visible and external symbols; as in his delineations of Fear, Despair, Fancy, Envy, and the like. Ariosto gives us but few symbolical beings of this

the passions, the importance of virtue, and other moral doctrines; on which account we may call the Orlando a moral poem; but can we call the Fairy Queen, upon the whole, a moral poem? is it not equally an historical or political poem? For though it be, according to it's author's words, an allegory or dark conceit, yet that which is couched or understood under this allegory is the history, and intrigues, of Queen Elizabeth's courtiers; which however are introduced with a moral design.