Let lewdness none, thy life afford. The Wife's Answer. HUSBAND! if thou wilt pure appear, 1 From accoller, Fr. to embrace. It is often written coll, to distinguish it from the more usual word cull, from cueillir. For servants thine keep tauntings tart: And, when in sport some time I spend, Do thou not sharply reprehend. In angry mood do not molest. "Tis not enough that I love thee, See thou cleave not to many fellows. Use never much abroad to roam, But still keep close with me at home. Thou saidst much, when thou wast a wooer, Now we are coupled, be a doer. Penelope if I shall be, Then be Ulysses unto me. EDMUND SPENSER. From satisfactory information that has lately been procured, it To fret his soul with crosses and with cares, was not very long protracted; since he began to enjoy the advantages of public office at the age of 26, and at 33 was rewarded by an ample and independent fortune, of which he was only deprived by a general and national calamity. Few candidates for court favour, with no better pretensions than great literary merit, have been so successful. Mr. Warton has offered the best excuses that can be alledged for the defects of the "Fairy Queen," ascribing the wildness and irregularity of its plan to Spenser's predilection for Ariosto. But the "Orlando Furioso," though absurd and extravagant, is uniformly amusing. We are enabled to travel to the conclusion of our journey without fatigue, though often bewildered by the windings of the road, and surprised by the abrupt change of our travelling companions; whereas it is scarcely possible to accompany Spenser's allegorical heroes to the end of their excursions. They want flesh and blood; a want for which nothing can compensate. The personification of abstract ideas furnishes the most brilliant images of poetry; but these meteor forms, which startle and delight us when our senses are flurried by passion, must not be submitted to our cool and deliberate examination. A ghost must not be dragged into day-light. Personification protracted into allegory affects a modern reader almost as disagreeably as inspiration continued to madness. This, however, was the fault of the age; and all that genius could do for such a subject has been done by Spenser. His glowing fancy, his unbounded command of language, and his astonishing facility and sweetness of versification, have placed him in the very first rank of English poets. It is hoped that the following specimens, selected from his minor compositions, will be found to be tolerably illustrative of his poetical as well as of his moral character. The three first books of the "Fairy Queen," were printed in quarto, 1590, and again with the three next in 1596. SONNET. MARK, when she smiles with amiable cheer, Unto the fair sun-shine in summer's day, Through the broad world doth spread his goodly ray; At sight whereof, each bird that sits on spray, And every beast that to his den was fled, Comes forth afresh out of their late dismay, And to the light lift up their drooping head. So my storm-beaten heart likewise is cheered With that sun-shine, when cloudy looks are cleared. SONNET. LIKE as the culver, on the bared bough, |