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of which we may very well say, in the poet's own words, on a like occasion, B. v. C. xi. st. 31.

Such loathly matter were small lust to speak, or think.

The third fault in the Allegories of Spenser's own invention is, that they are sometimes stretched to such a degree, that they appear extravagant rather than great; and that he is sometimes so minute, in pointing out every par ticular of its vastness to you, that the object is in danger of becoming ridiculous, instead of being admirable. This is not common iu Spenser; the strongest instance of the few I can remember, is in his description of the dragon, killed by the knight of the red cross, in the last Canto of his first Book, The tail of this dragon, he tells you, wanted but very little of being three furlongs in length; the blood, that gushes from his wound, is enough to drive a water-mill; and his roar, is like that of a hun dred hungry lyons, B. i. xi. st. 11, 22, 37.

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The fourth class of faults in Spenser's Allegories consists of such as arise from their not being well invented. The reader will easily, I believe, allow me here, the three following postulata, That, in introducing Allegories, one should Consider whether the thing is fit to be re

presented as a person, or not. Secondly; that, if you choose to represent it as a human personage, it should not be represented with any thing inconsistent with the human form or nature. And thirdly; that, when it is repres sented as a man, you should not make it perform any action, which no man in his senses would do.

Spenser seems to have erred against the first of these maxims, in those lines in his description of the cave of Despair, B. iv. C. v. st. 38.

They for nought would from their worke
refraine,

Ne let his speeches come unto their eare:
And eke the breathfull bellowes blew amaine,
Like to the northren winde, that none could
heare:

Those Pensiveness did move; and Sighes the bellows weare.'

Was a poet to say that sighs are 'the bellows that blow up the fire of love,' that would be only a metaphor: a a poor one indeed; but not at all improper but here they are realised, or rather metamorphorsed into bellows; which I could never persuade myself to think any way proper. Spenser is perhaps guilty of the same sort of fault, in making Gifts, or Munera, a woman, B. v. C. ii. st. 9, 10, &c.: though that may be only a misnomer; for, if he had called her Bri

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bery, one should not have the same objection But the grossest instance in him of this kind, is in the ninth Canto of the Second Book, where he turns the human body into a castle; the tongue into the porter that keeps the gate; and the -teeth, into two aad thirty warders dressed in white: See 21 to the end of the canto. Spenser seems to have erred against the second of these maxims, in representing the rigid execution of the laws under the character of a man all made

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* of a man all made up of iron;] It is doubtfull whe. ther this idea be wholly of Spenser's invention, or bor. rowed partly from the ancients; for they speak of one Talus, (or rather Talo,) a severe law-giver in Crete. Τον ΤΑΛΩ, τον χαλκόν της Κρήτης περιπόλον, Lucian, tom. i. p. 804. ed. Blaeu. They might call him The brasen guardian of Crete,' because he secured tem by his laws, affixed in the most puolick places, on plates of brass; but whether they had any idea of this Talus, as a brasen man, I know not. SPENCE.

The character of exccating justice, attributed by the pcet to Talus, is agreeable to that which he bears in ancient story; nor has Spenser greatly varied from antiquity in the make of this wonderful man; for he is there said to be formed of brass; and, by our author, of iron See Plato, in Mince, Plat. Opp. vol. 1. p. 230. ed. Serran

Νομοφύλακι γαρ αύτω [Ραδαμάνθω] εχεηλο ὁ Μίνως κατα ατν' τα δε κατα την αλλην Κρήτην τω ΤΑΛΩ, 0 γας ΤΑΛΩΣ τρις περιπει το ενιαυς κατα τας κωμας, φυλάτίων της νομώς εν αύλαις εν χαλκοις γραμμαλειούς εχων γεγραμμενος· ὅθεν ΧΑΛΚΟΥΣ εκληθη

As to the circumstance of Talis traversing the isle of Crete, it exactly corresponds with what Spenser says afterwards of 'his iron man, who did the same in lerne, F. Q. v. vii. 26. Plato has told us, that Talus was denominated brasen, on ac. count of his carrying the laws about him, written in brasen ta bles; but Apollonius informs us, that he was actually made of brass, and invulnerable, Argon. L. iv. ver. 1645.

up of iron, B. v. C. i. st. 12; and Bribery, (or *the lady Munera, before mentioned,) as a woman

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γυνα

τέλυκλο

Αλλ' ήτοι το μεν αλλο δέμας, καὶ
ΧαλκειΘ, καὶ αρρηκῖος ὑπαι δε δι εσκε τενονλος
Συριγξ άιμαλοεσσα καλα σφυρον αυλας ὁ τηνγε
Λεπλος μην ζώης είχε πειραία καὶ θανατοιο.

Apollonius likewise takes notice of his circuiting Crete three times a year, ib. ver. 1648.

Τρις περι χαλκείοις Κρήτην ποσι δινευοντα.

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Apollodorus will farther illustrate this matter. Ελευθερ - αναχθεντες [Αργοναύλαι] κωλυονίαι Κρήτη προσίσχει · ὑπὸ ΤΑΛΩ· τέλον οι μεν τω χαλκς γενες είναι λέγ γεσιν· ὁι δε ὑπο Ηφαις Μινω δοθηναι· ὃς ην ΚΑΛΚΟΥΣ ΑΝΗΡ οι δε Ταυρον αυτον λεγουσιν. Είχε δε φλέβα μιαν απο αυχένος καταλείνεσαν αχει σφυ ρων κατα δε το δερμα της φλεβος ηλος διήριςο χαλ κους. Οι ὁ ΤΑΛΩΣ τρις έκατης ημερας την νησον περιτροχάζων ετηρει.

Bibliothec. b. i. c. 26. This

marvellous swiftness of Talus is likewise referred to by our author, F. 2. v. 1. 10. And is alluded to by Catullus, in his Ode to Camerius, where he tells him that he should not be able to pursue him, Car, Ivi.

"Non Custos si ego fingar ille Cretum." Orpheus, or rather Onamacritus, calls Talus, in his Argonauticks, v. 1348. Χαλκείον τριγιγαλία, • The brasen triple. giant. The circumstance of Talus's iron fail is added from our author's imagination. T. WARTON.

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Justice is attended with power sufficient to execute her righteous doom. The moral is apparent; and the moral should lead us to understand the fable; which yet seems to me to have been misunderstood. Who is ignorant of the history of Talus, mentioned by. Plato, Apollonius Rhodius, &c. and by almost all the mythologists? But Spenser's Talus is not the Cretan Talus; though imaged from him. He was a judge; this is an executioner. He was said to have been a brasen man; imaging the laws which were engraven in brasen tables. - Nec verba minacia fixo Ære legebantur, Ov. Met. i. 91,

ΤΟΣ. ΙΧ.

with golden hands, and silver feet, B. v. C. ii. st. 10: and against the third, where he describes Desire, as holding coals of fire in his hands and blowing them up into a flame, B. iii. C. xii. st. 91: which last particular is some degrees worse than Ariosto's bringing in Discord, in his Orlando Furioso, with a flint and steel, to strike fire in the face of Pride, C. xviii. st. 34.

The fifth sort of faults is when the allegorical personages, though well invented, are not well marked out. There are many instances of this in Spenser, which are but too apt to put one in mind of the fancifulness and whims of *Ripa and Venius. Thus, in one Canto, Doubt is repre

These laws he is said to have carried about with him, when he went his circuit in Crete, and partly from his severity, and partly from the tables of brass which he carried about with

him, he was called a brasen man, ὅθεν χαλκᾶς ἐκλὴθος

says Plato in Minos. But how properly does Spenser depart from ancient mythology, having a mythology of his own Spenser's Talus is no judge; therefore not a brasen man: but he is an executioner, an IRON man, imaging his unfeeling and rigid character. UPTON.

* Ripa and Venius.] Ripa was the author of an Italian work, entitled Iconologia, which has been translated into English and six other languages; and has been, it seems, thought a good model! Amongst his odd figures, Flattery is represented by a lady with a flute in her hand, and a stag at her feet; because stags are said to love musick so, as to suffer themselves to be taken if you play to them on a flute. Beauty, by a naked lady, with a globe and compasses in her hand, and her head in a cloud; because, the true idea of beauty is hard to be conceived. Fraud, by a woman with two different faces and heads, with two hearts in one hand and a mask in the other, &c. &c. These surely are instances of improper and unnatural allegories; and I might be able perhaps to give ten times as many of the same kind, was I to consult all the strange figures he has given us in this work,

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