XXXIII.

Next came fresh Aprill, full of luftyhed,
And wanton as a kid whofe horne new buds:
Upon a Bull he rode, the fame which led
Europa floting through th' Argolick fluds:
His hornes were gilden all with golden studs,
And garnished with garlonds goodly dight
Of all the faireft flowres and freshest buds
Which th' earth brings forth; and wet he
feem'd in fight

With waves, through which he waded for his
Loves delight.

XXXIV.

Then came faire May, the fayrest Mayd on ground,

Deckt all with dainties of her seasons pryde, And throwing flowres out of her lap around: Upon two Brethrens fhoulders fhe did ride, The Twinnes of Leda; which on eyther fide Supported her like to their foveraine queene: Lord! how all creatures laught when her they fpide,

And leapt and daunc't as they had ravisht beene!

And Cupid felfe about her fluttred all in greene.

XXXV.

And after her came iolly Iune, arrayd

XXXV. 1.

iolly fune,] That is,

All in greene leaves, as he a player were; Yet in his time he wrought as well as playd,

That by his plough-yrons mote right well appeare:

Upon a Crab he rode, that him did beare With crooked crawling fteps an uncouth pafe,

And backward yode, as bargemen wont to fare

Bending their force contrary to their face; Like that ungracious crew which faines demureft grace.

handfome June. So Milton, in his Sonnet to the Nightingale, defcribes the Hours:

"Thou with fresh hope the lover's heart doft fill,
"While the jolly Hours lead on propitious May."

TODD.

XXXV. 2. All in greene leaves, as he a player were;] This is an allufion perhaps to fome particular character, which had appeared on the stage, in Spenfer's time, arrayed in green leaves. The Hiftory of the English Stage has not furnished me with any example in point. And, I believe, this paffage in Spenfer has not been noticed by those commentators on Shakspeare, who have minutely examined, and faithfully delivered to us, fo many curious anecdotes of the old English drama. TODD.

XXXV. 4. all the editions.

mote right well appeare ;] So But I could wish to have read thus: "mote well appeare." CHURCH.

Yrons is here contracted into a monofyllable, as it also is by Milton. Spenfer often thus converts diffyllables into monofyllables. Mr. Church's propofed reading is aukward.

TODD.

XXXV. 9. Like that ungracious crew which faines demureft grace.] He feems here to have intended a fatirical ftroke

XXXVI.

Then came hot Iuly boyling like to fire,
That all his garments he had cast away :

against the Puritans who were a prevailing party in the age of queen Elizabeth; and, indeed, our author, from his profeffion, had fomne reafon to declare himself their enemy, as poetry was what they particularly ftigmatifed, and bitterly inveighed againft. In the year 1579, one Stephen Goffon wrote a pamphlet, with this title, "The School of Abufe, containing a pleafaunt invective against poets, pipers, plaiers, jesters, and fuch-like caterpillers of a commonwealth." I think, in one of the abfurd books of this kind, there is a chapter "Of the Vanity of wearing cork-heeled fhoes!" This was foon followed by many others of the fame kind. But the most ridiculous treatife of this fort was one written many years afterwards by W. Prynne; as a specimen of which, I fhall beg leave to entertain the reader with its title-page. "Hiftriomaflix, the Players Scourge, or Actors Tragedie, divided into two parts; wherein it is largely evidenced by divers arguments, by the concurring authorities, and refolutions of fundry texts of Scripture; of the whole primitive church, both under the law and gospel; of fifty-five fynods and councils, of feventy-one fathers, and Christian writers, before the year of our Lord 1200; of above one hundred and fifty foraigne and domeftick protestant and popish authors fince; of forty heathen philosophers, hiftorians, poets; of many heathen, many Christian nations, republicks, emperors, princes, magiftrates; of fundry apoftolical, canonical, imperial constitutions, and of our own English ftatutes, magi❤ strates, universities, writers, preachers.-That popular stage. playes (the very pompes of the devil, which we renounce in Baptifme, if we believe the fathers,) are finfull, heathenish, lewd, ungodly fpectacles, and moft pernicious corruptions; condemned in all ages as intolerable mifchiefes, to churches, to republicks, the manners, mindes, and foules of men and that the profeffion of play-poets, of ftage-players, together with penning, acting, and frequenting of stage-playes, are unlawfull, infamous, and mifbefeeming Chriftians: all pretences to the contrary are here likewife fully answered; and the unlawfullness of acting, of beholding academical enterludes, briefly difcuffed; befides fundry other particulars concerning dancing, dicing, health-drinking, &c." London, 1633.

A

T. WARTON.

Upon a Lyon raging yet with ire

He boldly rode, and made him to obay:
(It was the beast that whylome did forray
The Némæan forreft, till th' Amphytrionide
Him flew, and with his hide did him array :)
Behinde his backe a fithe, and by his fide

Under his belt he bore a fickle circling wide.

XXXVII.

The fixt was Auguft, being rich arrayd

In garment all of gold downe to the ground: Yet rode he not, but led a lovely Mayd

XXXVI. 6. The Némæan forrest,] I would reject Hughes's reading, "Th' Nemæan forest.'

Indeed there was no neceffity of this elifion, unless Spenfer had written Nemæean; for Nemaan, with a diphthong, is plainly mifprinted for Nemean. Nemeus occurs often: In Virgil, Æn. viii. 295.

" vaftum Nemea fub rupe leonem."

In Prudentius, Adv. Sym. 1. 1.

"Concubitus -"

"Nemea fub pelle fovere

Nemea occurs in Statius, Sylv. lib. i. 3. v. 6. “Nemees frondentis Alumnus." This place was fometimes called Neμos, and fometimes Nepalos, but never Nepalos. But, if Spenfer had really by mistake written Nemaan, he would not have fcrupled to have made the fecond fyllable, though a diphthong, fhort; for he frequently violates the accents of proper names, &c. In the Introduction to the fifth Book of F. Q. he writes,

"Into the great Nemaan lions grove." T. WARTON. So, in his Muiopotmos, he places the accent on the fecond fyllable, edit. 1590.

"When the Naméan conqueft he did win."

However, I agree with Mr. Warton and Mr. Church that the accent, in this paffage of the F. Q., fhould be laid on the first fyllable; as in Shakipeare's Hamlet, cited by Mr. Church: "As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.'

And alfo in Drayton's Polyolbion, S. xvii.

"The Nemean lyon's hyde,

Mr. Upton prefers "Th' Nemuan." TODD.

Forth by the lilly hand, the which was cround With eares of corne, and full her hand was found:

That was the righteous Virgin, which of old Liv'd here on earth, and plenty made abound; But, after Wrong was lov'd and Iuftice folde, She left th' unrighteous world, and was to heaven extold,

XXXVIII.

Next him September marched eeke on foote;
Yet was he heavy laden with the spoyle
Of harvests riches, which he made his boot,
And him enricht with bounty of the foyle;
In his one hand, as fit for harvests toyle,
He held a knife-hook; and in th' other hand
A Paire of Waights, with which he did affoyle

XXXVII. 4,

the which was cround With eares of corne, and full her hand was found:] That is, And her hand was found full of eares of corn. See the figure of Virgo in Hyginus: he is there pictured with three eares of corne in her right hand. UPTON. XXXVII. 5. and full her hand was found :] Alluding to Pf. cxxix. 7. "Whereof the mower filleth not his hand," CHURCH.

XXXVII. 6.

the righteous Virgin &c.] Aftræa.

So, in Mother Hubberds Tale :

"It was the month in which the righteous Maide,

"That for difdaine of finfull world's upbraide

"Fled back to heav'n whence he was firft conceived,

"Into her filver bowre the Sunne received ;--"

See alfo F. Q. v. i. 2.

CHURCH.

XXXVIII. 7. A Paire of Waights,] Intending the fign Libra. See alfo F. Q. v. ii. 45. TODD.

Ibid.

affoyle] Determine. CHURCH.