¥6 
ment of a. poetical fiction any where, per- 
haps, tobe met with. It is in Canto I. 
of the “¢ Faery Queen.” 
The Red-crofs Knight, or Champion 
ef true Religion,-accompanied by his 
adored Una, is travelling in fearch of 
adventures, when. they meet an armed 
knight, riding full {peed, and continually 
looking behind him, as if he fled irom a 
foe. As he approaches, they defcry in 
him all the marks of the wildeit herror 
and! affricht. The Red-crols Knight 
flopping him, inquires the caufe of his 
dread. He at firfi makes-no anfwer: | 

Si itiES Sqn ees hepa was es DRE adding new 
Fear to his firft amazement, faring wide 
With ftony eyes, and heartlefs hollow hue, 
Aftonifh’d fteod, as one that had efpied 
Infernal faries with their chains untied. 
At length he ftammers out, 
For Goa’s dear love, Sir Knight, do me not 
ftay, 
For, lo! he comes, he comes faft after me. 
He is, however, detained by force, and 
at length recovers himfelf {fo far as to be 
able to tell his ftory; from which we 
fearn, that in company with ancther 
knight, he had fallen in with the curfed 
wight, Defpair; who, by his devilifh 
arts, had. perfuaded his comrade to ftab 
himfelf, and had prefented him with a 
halter for a like fatal purpofe; but that he 
had exerted him(felf fo far as to mount his 
fieed and fly. The night of the Red- 
crofs now refolves to encounter this dan 
gerous fiend; and Trevifan confents to 
fhew him to the cave, provided he may 
then be allowed to depart ; 
For lever had I die, than fee his deadly face. 
The abode of Defpair, with all the 
dreary and terrific. {eenery around it, is 
then painted ; after which follows a*de- 
fcription of the being himfelt: 
That darkfome cave they enter, where they 
find ." 
That curfed man low fitting on the ground, 
Moufing full fadly in his fullen mind ; 
His griefly locks long growen and unbound 
Diforder’d hung about his fhoulders round, 
And hid his face, thro’ which his hollow eyne 
Look’d deadly dull, and ftared as attound ; 
His raw-bone cheeks, thro’ penury and pine, 
Were fhrunk into his jaws, as he did never 
dine. A 
Befide him lay the corfe of his late vic- 
tim, wallewing in blood,. with a rufty 
knife fixed in his breaft. The Red-crofs 
Knight, inflamed with virtuous Indigna- 
tion, threatens revenge on tlt@ wicked au- 
thor of this murder; but the phantom, 
infead of confefling his guilt, beldly 
On the Perfonification of Abjfiraét Ideas in Poetry. 
vindicates the decd, and begins a fubtle 
defence of fuicide. The knight is fome- 
what difconcerted with this unexpected 
turn; however, he replics to the argu- 
ments of Defpair: but tae arttul fiend 
retorts with fo much {kill and force, per- 
fonally attacking his opponent, and a- 
wakening all the ftings of conicience 
within him, that at lengta he is viibly 
difturbed, and his manly powers begin to 
fail. The foe, perceiving his advantage, 
urges him further with a horrible view of 
the pains of hell, awaiting thole who 
continue to accumulate guilty acts; 
when, remarking that his mind was to- 
taily fubdued by this laf aflault, 
He to him raught a dagger tharp and keen, 
And gave it him in hahd: his hand did 
quake, 
And tremble like a leaf of afpin green, 
And troubled blood thro’ his pale face was 
feen 
To come and go with tidings from the 
heart, 
As it a running meffenger had been. 
At laft, refolv’d to work his final fmart, 
He lifted up his hand, that back again did 
ftart. 
At this critical inftant, his Usa, all 
difmayed, interpofes, inatches the wea- 
pon from his hand, upbraids him with 
his want of fortitude, and confoles him 
with the promifes of heavenly pardon. 
The knight mounts: his fteed, and flies 
from the accurfed place. 
In this allegory, a ftriking effect is 
produced, by means the moft imple and 
natural, and ftriétiy conformable to the 
charaéter of the agent. It would have 
been an obvious expedient to have repre- 
fented Defpair as a huge giant, armed 
with a club; and to have imagined a ter- 
rible confli&t between him and the knight ; 
and, to acknowledge the truth, Spenfer 
was likely enough to have adopted fuch 
a fiction. But, in that cafe, the atten- 
tion would have been drawn from the, 
real nature of the paffion, to the type 
under which it was concealed ; and, how-. 
ever the fancy might have been amufed, 
the heart would. certainly have been much 
lefs interefted, It may, mdeed, be faid, 
that, as it is, the fcene is fcarcely at all 
allegorical, and that Defpair is only a 
gloomy fanatic, fuch as real life often ex- 
hibits. But befides the accumulation of 
every charaéteriftical circumftance, and 
the affignment of a local habitation which 
could not belong to a human individual, 
the concluding finza clearly marks out 
the vifionary or fupernatural quality of 
the being. rie 
ic 
