Duke of Guise. In Mercilla we find again the Maiden Queen Elizabeth; the Soldan, who envies her power and tries to seduce her knights, is Philip of Spain, urged to this by his wife Adicia, probably the Roman Catholic religion. The "chariot high" of the Soldan is the Armada, and the mode of its destruction answers admirably to the common belief that the Armada was supernaturally scattered. ("Flavit Jehovah et dissipati sunt," was the medal struck at the time.) Poor Mary of Scots is again before us as the traitorous Duessa on trial. Paredel and Blandamour, the Earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland, are also here. The Lady Belge is the country of the Netherlands with its seventeen territories; its tyrant is Philip the Second; his father, the old Giant Geryon, is Charles the Fifth, and his "three bodies' power in one combined," refers to the union in that prince of the three sovereignties of Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany. "Geryoneo" is the house of Austria generally, and Belge's noble husband is Charles the Bold, the last Duke of Burgundy. Malengen is Guile. The "Dreadful Monster," the image of Geryon, is the Inquisition. The two youths sent by the "widow" with promises to Mercilla, are the Marquis of Havré, and Adolph Meetkercke, deputed to Elizabeth by the United Provinces in 1577; and Prince Arthur, for the nonce, represents the famous Earl of Leicester, who was appointed in 1585 as captain-general of the forces in the Netherlands. Burbon is Henry the Fourth of France, Fleurdelis is the French crown, and his throwing away his shield is his change of religion in the year 1593. Sergis, according to some, is Sir Francis Walsingham, and according to others, some unknown adviser of Lord Grey. And the Blatant Beast who opposes Sir Artegal in his attempts to subdue Irena, is Scandal, or as some more mildly render it, Public Opinion, and whose charges are precisely the same as those brought against Grey for having done the work of Justice in suppressing the Irish rebellion. The Sixth Book contains the Legend of Courtesy. Sir Philip Sidney is Sir Calidore; Colin Clout is the Poet himself; the Country Lass, Elizabeth, is his wife; Pastorella is Frances Walsingham, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, and wife of Sir Philip Sidney. The old shepherd, Melibee, is Sir Francis himself, who in 1590 died miserably poor; Serena is Sir Walter Raleigh's (Timias) wife. The Salvage man mentioned, may represent the heir of Lord Savage, who was, according to Spenser himself, in his "View of Ireland," "a poor gentle man of very mean condition;" and the episode of an infant saved from a bear, and delivered to the wife of Sir Bruin, to be brought up as their son, is said to allude to the noble family of the MacMahons, descended from the Fitzursulas. Mirabella, the "Free Lady," followed by a "fool" in the sixth Canto, is supposed to refer to Spenser's "Mistress," Rosalind, who jilted him and married another, the "fool" namely. We shall have more to say of this in our Life of the poet. The work of Courtesy is complete in the destruction of the "Blatant Beast." The Seventh Book, or the Legend of Constancy, left unfinished, has no proper story at all, and whatever recondite allusions it contains will be best explained in notes. Of the Eighth Book, or Mutability, we have only two stanzas remaining. We have thus sought to explain a few of the recondite allusions, as well as the general designs, of this enormous mythical poem. To have eliminated the whole purpose, or cast light upon a tithe of the three-piled mystical, classical, personal, and historical references, or typologies, contained in it, would have required, even had such a thing been possible, a volume of commentary larger than the text. We are sorry to find that none of Spenser's commentators, such as Upton, Spence, Todd, Warton, Hurd, Christopher North, or even George L. Craik, one of the last and most enthusiastic of the number, have fully explained the meanings, or elucidated the general progress, of this the most delightful and most tantalising poem in the English tongue. All we intended in the preceding remarks, we trust we have effected,¿.e., we have supplied a few hints preparatory to an understanding of "The Faerie Queene.' We have now to state what has been done in the preparation of the text of this edition. It is not easy to explain why in the case of Shakespeare, Wyatt, Surrey, and other poets of the same age as Spenser, the text should have been purged of the antiquated spelling of all our common words, and the modern spelling substituted, while in the case of Spenser, every edition which has been hitherto published, preserves the peculiarities of 99 66 an ancient period. To this fact we are inclined to attribute the limited number of the readers and admirers of Spenser. Among the learned, to whom the presentation of an antique page forms no barrier, but acts often as a zest, there are few poems in our language more admired than "The Faerie Queene;" but to the general reader, the old spelling is felt to be so repulsive as to make the work appear a sealed book. The use of redundant vowels, as in "meete," "beene," "auncient,' "dide," owne," for meet, been, ancient, did, own; the use of "i" for j, as "ioy," "iar," for joy, jar; of "y" for i, as "yron," "soyle," "tyde," "prayse," for iron, soil, tide, praise; of contractions such as "hart," "els," for heart, else, and many others which occur in the work, have had the effect of repelling many modern readers, while it cannot be contended that the merit of the poem depends on these peculiarities. But it is of importance to state, that beyond this change no other has been made. on the text; no obsolete words have been displaced by their modern synonyms—they are all retained, and are explained on the margin, so that their meaning can be ascertained without interrupting the reader's progress. It will be observed, that to suit the measure and also to suit the rhythm, the author often arbitrarily changes the spelling. In all such cases no alteration has been made. We have only sought, in short, to clear away the rust which obscures the medal, but have regarded as sacred the medal itself, as it passed from the hands of the great artist. The explanations given in the margin have been carefully collated with the glossaries appended to other editions of Spenser, and will be found, we believe, accurate, and sufficiently complete to elucidate what is abstruse to the general reader. To the admirers of Spenser, we look for approval in the effort now for the first time made to facilitate the perusal of the works of this illustrious author, and thus confer on the many the gratification which the few have hitherto enjoyed. If needful in any measure to justify the alterations made, we can point to the example of the able editors of Shakespeare's Dramatic and Poetical Works, who, with one consent, have adopted the course we have considered it justice to our author to follow. CONTENTS. PAGE A LETTER OF THE AUTHOR'S TO SIR WALTER RALEIGH, 3 7 |