Both more and leffe, where it in doubt did

ftand,

And equall gave to each as Iuftice duly scann❜d.

XXXIX.

Then came October full of merry glee;

For yet his noule was totty of the must, Which he was treading in the wine-fats fee, And of the ioyous oyle, whofe gentle guft Made him fo frollick and fo full of luft: Upon a dreadfull Scorpion he did ride, The fame which by Dianaes doom uniuft

XXXIX. 2.

noule] Noddle. Germ. nol,

nal, caput, the crown or top of the head. jobbernol or gabbernol. UPTON.

Ibid.

in the Shep. Cal. Feb.

Hereof nol in

totty] Wavering. So,

"Or fiker thy head very TOTTIE is,

"So on thy corbe shoulder it lies amiffe." CHURCH. There is an appofite illuftration of this expreffion in Chaucer, Reves Tale, edit. Tyrwhitt, v. 4251.

66

My hed is TOTTIE of my fwink to night,

"That maketh me that I go nat aright." TODD.

XXXIX. 3.

in the wine-fats fee.] See, or

fea, is, by a kind of a catachrefis, used for the liquour in the vats. UPTON.

XXXIX. 7. by Dianaes doom uniuft &c.] Why unjuft? fince Orion had provoked her by attempting to ravish her. But, according to fome authors, he did nothing that deferved punithment. JORTIN.

Dacier fays (Horace, B. III. Ode IV.) that fome are of opinion that Diana flew Orion because he would force her to play with him at quoits; and others, because he attempted to ravish the Nymph Opis. Be that as it may; I am fully perfwaded that our poet, who never gives the leaft countenance to an immorality which is univerfally condemned throughout his whole Poem, and more particularly in the Legend of Britomartis, did not believe that Orion made any attempt upon

Slew great Orion; and eeke by his si He had his ploughing-share and coulter tyde.

XL.

Next was November; he full groffe and As fed with lard, and that night well feeme;

For he had been a fatting hogs of lat That yet his browes with fweat did re fteen,

the season was full fharp

And yet
breem;

In planting eeke he took no small delig
Whereon he rode, not eafie was to dee
For it a dreadfull Centaure was in figh

the person of Diana; and that he thought Orion did n that deserved punishment. CHURCH.

Orion was a famous hunter, in love with Aurora; morning, as hunters generally are: Diana, out of a womanish jealousy because she was not the fole object care and love, fent a fcorpion that killed him. He therefore was unjuft. UPTON.

XL. 1.

Next was November; he full groffe and fat
As fed with lard, and that right well might feer
For he had been a fatting hogs of late-
And after him came next the chill December ;
Yet he through merry feafting which he made,
In defcribing thefe figures, Spenfer feems to have remem
fome circumftances in Chaucer's picture of Janus, or JANU
Frank. Tule, v. 2808. edit. Urr.

"Janus fit by the fire with double berde,
"And drinketh of his bugle horne the wine;
"Before him stant brawn of the tuskid swine,
"And nowil [i. e. Christmas] fingeth every luftie ma

T. WARTO

The feed of Saturne and faire Nais, Chiron

hight.

XLI.

And after him came next the chill December: Yet he, through merry feafting which he made And great bonfires, did not the cold remember;

His Saviours birth his mind fo much did glad: Upon a fhaggy-bearded Goat he rode,

The fame wherewith Dan Iove in tender

yeares,

They fay, was nourisht by th' Iæan Mayd; And in his hand a broad deepe bowle he beares,

Of which he freely drinks an health to all his

peeres.

XLII.

Then came old Ianuary, wrapped well

XL. 9. The feed of Saturne &c.] He was fon of Saturn and Philyra, daughter of Oceanus. JORTIN.

See my note, F. Q. iii. xi. 43. CHURCH.

XLI. 7.

by the Iæan Mayd;] What does he mean by the Iwan Mayd? The mythologists (Hyginus and Eratofthenes) inform us that Capricornus was made a conftellation, because he was educated with Jupiter: and, when Jupiter affumed the throne of heaven, he placed Capricorn and the goat his fofter-mother among the stars. Capricorn is called Caper in the verfes defcribing the names of the Zodiack: hence perhaps Spenfer, in the hurry of a poet, took the goat that nourished Jupiter for the goat that was nourished with Jupiter:

"Naïs Amalthea, Cretæâ nobilis Idâ,

"Dicitur in filvis occuluiffe Jovem."

So that "Iacan Mayd" is probably an errour of the prefs for “Idean Mayd." UPTON.

In many weeds to keep the cold away;
Yet did he quake and quiver like to quell,
And blowe his nayles to warme them if he
may;

For they were numbd with holding all the day
An hatchet keene, with which he felled wood
And from the trees did lop the needleffe fpray:
Upon an huge great Earth-pot Steane he
ftood,

3

From whofe wide mouth there flowed forth the Romane Flood.

XLIII.

And lastly came cold February, fitting
In an old wagon, for he could not ride,
Drawne of two Fishes for the feafon fitting,
Which through the flood before did foftly
flyde

And swim away; yet had he by his fide
His plough and harnesse fit to till the ground,

XLII. 3.

die; or to be ftarved. UPTON.

like to quell,] Like to

XLH. 8. Upon an huge great Earth-pot Steane he flood, From whofe wide mouth there flowed forth the Romane Flood.] Earth-pot Steane, viz. Amphora: fo the constellation is named in the well-known verses that mention the twelve figns of the Zodiack: by Eratofthenes called voxón, by Ovid and Manilius, Urua. Spenfer's fpelling steane is agreeable to the Belgic word fteen, a fteen-pot. Aquarius is painted pouring out from his fteen-pot or urn, a flood, xúσis udáτwy, effufo aquæ, which Spenfer calls the Roman Flood: not to be confounded with the conftellation called by various names, viz. ò moraμòs, Fluvius, Oceanus, Nilus, Eridanus, Padus, &c. UPTON.

And tooles to prune the trees, before the pride Of hafting Prime did make them burgein round.

So past the Twelve Months forth, and their dew places found.

XLIV.

And after these there came the Day and Night,
Riding together both with equall pase;
Th' one on a palfrey blacke, the other white:
But Night had covered her uncomely face
With a blacke veile, and held in hand a mace,
On top whereof the moon and stars were
pight,

And Sleep and Darkneffe round about did

trace:

But Day did beare upon his scepters hight The goodly fun encompast all with beamës bright.

XLV.

Then came the Howres, faire daughters of high

Iove

XLIII. 7.

Of hafting Prime &c.] preffion in a very beautiful paffage in Lover's Progrefs, A. iv. S. i.

"I'll gather all the pride of Spring to deck him, &c."

TODD. XLIII. 8. burgein] Fr. bourgeonner, to burgeon, spring forth, or bud. UPTON. XLV. 1. the Howres,] Spenfer fays they were daughters of Jupiter and Night, i. e. of day and night. Our poet has a mythology of his own: Hefiod fays, of Jupiter and Themis, Theog. ver. 900,"They were porters of Heaven's