Chapter XIX: Canto VII (3)

VI. iii. 35 l. 3. Which] That _1596 Bodl._ The four B. M. copies have the superior reading ‘Which’. The change was evidently made at press to avoid the repetition of ‘that’.

VI. iii. 37 l. 9. did for her] for her did _1596 Bodl._ Again the four B. M. copies have the superior reading: change made at press for euphony. Mr. Ostler points out that the corrections in stanzas 23, 35, and 37 all occur in the outer forme of signature B b, which explains the agreement of the B. M. copies. Had the corrections been on both sides of the sheet, there would probably (he thinks) have been a further dispersal of various readings.

VI. iii. 42 ll. 4, 7. The rhyme-words have been transposed in _1596_.

VI. iv. 4 l. 7. stroke] strokes _1609_ should have been recorded in the footnote.

VI. iv. 16 l. 8. hurts] hurt _16(11)-12-13_. The latter reading is more grammatical, but is not found in any of the genuine _1609_ copies examined.

VI. v. Arg. 1. _Matilda_] _Serena_ _corr. Hughes rightly_. The confusion is due to the _Matilde_ of Canto iv; but it is Spenser’s own.

VI. v. 39 l. 3. full gladly they did take in glee] gree _1609_. The reading of _1609_ is supported by V. vi. 21 l. 7. On the other hand, the alliteration favours ‘glee’; and we find ‘nor for gold nor glee’ in I. ix. 32 l. 7.

VI. vi. Arg. 3. _He_ refers to _Arthur_; but no emendation is possible.

VI. vi. 4 l. 4. Of] In _16(11)-12-13_.

VI. vi. 16 l. 1. the] th’ _1596_. See note on V. iii. 11.

VI. vii. 3 l. 7. armed] arm’d _1596_. See note on V. iii. 11.

VI. vii. 15 l. 9. yearned] earned _1609_. See note on II. iii. 46 l. 9.

VI. vii. 49 l. 9. Words] Swords _conj. Church_. The sense, as often, favours Church’s conjecture; but the alliteration favours the text.

VI. viii. 50 l. 4. what they ought] what shee ought _1609_, taking ‘ought’ = owned. For the converse see note on II. viii. 40 l. 4.

VI. ix. 28 l. 6. the heauens] th’heauens _1596_, _1609_. See note on V. iii. 11.

VI. x. 2 l. 9. in] on _1596_. Spenser is apparently thinking of the Latin proverb ‘in portu nauigare’; yet it does not mean exactly what he desires to convey here. In Terence, _Andria_, i. 3. 22 ego in portu nauigo = I am out of danger: Spenser means ‘never reaching the land’. Possibly _1596_ is right, and we have here a nautical phrase that has been lost.

VI. x. 24 l. 7. froward] forward _1596_, _1609_: _corr. 16(11)-12-13_. The reading ‘froward’, though not found in any of the genuine _1609_ copies examined, is clearly right, as is shown by the Gloss on _S. C._ for _April_, where the Graces are thus described:--‘And Boccace saith, that they be painted naked ... the one hauing her backe toward us, and her face fromwarde, as proceeding from us; the other two toward us, &c.’

VI. x. 36 l. 6. And hewing off his head, it presented _1596_, _1609_: (he) it presented _edd._ Though Spenser is not above this kind of bad rhyme, I do not find that he ever accents ‘présented’.

VI. x. 44. The reading and punctuation of _1609_ (which makes a long parenthesis of ll. 3-7) are, of course, much more logical; but not therefore more Spenserian.

VI. xii. 12 l. 8. loos] praise _1609_. We may have here an authentic after-thought of Spenser’s. He may, on reflection, have disliked the collocation of ‘losse’ and ‘loos’. If so, this line should be added to the instances cited in the Introduction, p. xviii. But it is equally probable that the editor of _1609_, failing to recognize the obsolescent ‘loos’--which nevertheless occurs in Puttenham--took it for a printer’s repetition of ‘losse’, and corrected accordingly.

VI. xii. 41 l. 3. clearest _1596_, _1609_: cleanest _Hughes_. Hughes’s conjecture, though not supported by any of the old copies examined, is nevertheless very probably right; for the stanza is carelessly printed in _1596_, as the variants recorded in the footnotes show. But Spenser has too many imperfect rhymes to allow us to consider the emendation certain.

VII. vi. 38 l. 2. wealths] wealth _Hughes &c._ The plural may be defended as = different kinds of wealth; but the misprint is easy.

VII. vii. 9 l. 7. _kindes_] _kinde_ _Morris after Upton_; and so Chaucer calls it in the _Parlement of Foules_ 316.

VII. vii. 10 l. 4. mores] more _Hughes_. Upton defends ‘mores’, as = roots, plants; and most editions, and the N. E. D., accept this. Nor did ‘mores’ offend the editor of _16(11)-12-13_; so that it is probably right, though I do not find that ‘more’ elsewhere ever means anything but root, or stock.

VII. vii. 28 l. 3. did _om. 16(11)-12-13_.

VII. viii. 1 l. 7. to cast] and cast _16(11)-12-13_.

VII. viii. 2 l. 9. Church’s conjecture (made also by Upton) makes Spenser distinguish between Sabaoth = hosts and Sabbath = rest. The distinction exists in Hebrew; but it seems to spoil the point of the stanza to suppose that Spenser drew it here. No inference can be based on the varying spellings of ‘Sabaoth’ in _1609_, _16(11)-12-13_.

Of the Letter to Raleigh, Commendatory Verses, and Dedicatory Sonnets, only the verses by W. R. and Hobynoll are found in _1596 Bodl._, or in Mr. Cannan’s _1609_, where they are printed in their original position at the end of Book III. The rest of this additional matter is here reproduced from _1590 Bodl._, with which _C. 12. h. 17_ of B. M. agrees. It was evidently thrown together in some haste; there are several dislocations and omissions in the other B. M. copy of _1590_. The Bodleian folios omit the last two sonnets; the verses by W. R. and Hobynoll they print twice over.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD
BY VIVIAN RIDLER
PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

* * * * *

Transcriber’s note

Minor punctuation and formatting errors have been changed without notice. The following Printer errors have been changed.

CHANGED FROM TO

Page 160 “Nemœan” “Nemæan” Page 182 “Artegale” “Artegall” Page 189 “Florimele” “Florimell” Page 197 “Philtera” “Philtra”

All other inconsistencies are as in the original.