PROTHALAMION:

OR,

A SPOUSALL VERSE,

MADE BY

EDM. SPENSER.

In honour of the double marriage of the two honorable and vertuous ladies, the Ladie Elizabeth, and the Ladie Katherine Somerfet, daughters to the right honorable the Earle of Worcefter, and efpoufed to the two worthie gentlemen, M. Henry Gilford and M. William Peter, Efquyers.

PROTHALAMION

OR,

A SPOUSALL VERSE.

CALME was the day, and through the trem

bling ayre

Sweete-breathing Zephyrus did foftly play
A gentle fpirit, that lightly did delay
Hot Titans beames, which then did glyfter
fayre ;

5

When I, (whom [whofe] fullein care,
Through difcontent of my long fruitleffe stay
In princes court, and expectation vayne
Of idle hopes, which still doe fly away,
Like empty fhadows, did afflict my brayne,)
Walkt forth to eafe my payne
Along the shoare of filver ftreaming Themmes;
Whofe rutty bank, the which his river hemmes,

Ver. 3.

10

delay] Temper or mitigate, as in F. Q. ii. ix. 30. “But to delay the heat." Hughes, however, rejects the old word, and reads ullay; to which unjuftifiable alteration the modern editions also conform. Delay is repeatedly used in this fenfe by Spenfer. Thus again, in his Sonnet to Sir Chr. Hatton, ver. 11. "May eke delay the rugged brow &c." Where fee the note. TODD.

Ver. 12. Whofe rutty bank,] That is, whofe bank full of roots, &c. rootie, an old English adjective. See Cotgrave's Fr. and Eng. Dict. TODD.

Was paynted all with variable flowers,

And all the meades adornd with dainty gemmes, Fit to decke maydens bowres,

And crowne their paramours

Against the brydale-day, which is not long: Sweet Themmes! runne foftly, till I end fong,

15

my

There, in a meadow, by the rivers fide,
A flocke of Nymphes I chaunced to espy,
All lovely daughters of the Flood thereby,
With goodly greenish locks, all loose untyde,
As each had bene a bryde;

And each one had a little wicker basket,
Made of fine twigs, entrayled curiously,

20

25

In which they gathered flowers to fill their flasket,

And with fine fingers cropt full feateously

Ver, 17.

which is not long :] That is,

approaching, near at band. See F. Q. iv. iv. 12.

T. WARTON.

Ver. 22. With goodly greenish locks, all loofe untyde,

As each had bene a bryde;] This cuftom appears to have been usual in this country even at the beginning of the eighteenth century. For thus Nahum Tate writes, (ftrangely enough indeed as to the comparison,) in his Injur'd Love, &c. a tragedy, 1707. "Untie your folded thoughts, and let them dangle loofe as a bride's hair!" TODD.

Ver. 27.

with fine fingers] With elegant or taper fingers. So Exceffe is defcribed fqueezing, into her cup, the

fappy liquour of ripe fruit

" with daintie breach

"Of her fine fingers."

The tender ftalkes on hye.

Of every fort, which in that meadow grew,
They gathered fome; the violet, pallid blew, so
The little dazie, that at evening clofes,

The virgin lillie, and the primrose trew,
With ftore of vermeil rofes,

To deck their bridegroomes pofies

Against the brydale-day, which was not long : Sweet Themmes ! runne foftly, till I end my fong.

With that I saw two Swannes of goodly hewe Come foftly fwimming downe along the lee; Two fairer birds I yet did never fee;

36

The fnow, which doth the top of Pindus ftrew, Did never whiter fhew,

Nor Jove himfelfe, when he a fwan would be For love of Leda, whiter did appeare;

Yet Leda was (they fay) as white as he,

41

Yet not fo white as thefe, nor nothing near; 45 So purely white they were,

And thus Abr. Fraunce defcribes Phillis, in his Second part of the Countele of Pembrokes Yoychurch, 1591. Sign. G. 4.

Her "cheeks all white-red, with fnow and purple adorned, "And pure flesh fwelling with quick veynes fpeedily moving, "And fuch FINE fingers as were moft like to the fingers "Of Tithonus wife &c." TODD.

66

Ver. 37. With that I saw two Swannes &c.] See Hughes's remark on this fiction, in his Effay on Allegor. Poetry, vol. ii. p. xv. It is probable, as Mr. Warton alfo thinks, that Spenfer, in this defcription, had his eye fometimes on Leland's Cygnca Cantio. TODD.