1798. 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
On PERSONIFICATIONS IN POETRY. 
(Continued from page 180.) 
ISDAIN, an affection related to 
Pride, but compounded with defi- 
ance and averfion, is, by Spencer, repre- 
fented under the figure of a fierce giant. 
——-—— he was ftern and terrible by nature, 
And eke of perfon huge and hideous. 
His looks were dreadful, and his fiery eyes 
Like two great beacons, glared far and wide, 
Glancing afkew, as if his enemies 
He fcorned in his overweening pride, 
And ftalking ftately like a crane did ftride 
At every ftep upon the tiptoes high ; 
_ And all the way he went, on every fide 
He gaz’d about, and ftared horribly, 
As if he with his looks would all men ter- 
rify. 
He wore no armour, he for none did care, 
As no whit dreading any living wight, 
But ina jacket, quilted richly-rare 
Upon check laton, he was ftrangely dight ; 
And on his head a roll of linen plight, 
Like to the Moors of Malabar, he wore, 
With which his locks, as black as pitchy.. 
night, 
Were bound about, and voyded from before, 
Andin his hand a mighty iron club he bore. 
BQ wis; 9: 
Of this defeription, the firft'part is na- 
tural, the latter emblematical. The huge 
bulk and terrific appearance of the figure, 
expreis the lofty arid ferocious character 
of this affeétion. _ The prefumptuous 
confidence of a difdainful mind, is de- 
noted by the reje€tion of all defenfive ar- 
mour. He is attired as a Moor, pro- 
bably in allufion tothe charaéter of a 
Mahometan, or Pagan, in the old ro- 
mances, who is generally reprefented as a 
boaftful, arrogant defier. Thus Shak- 
fpeare, combining the idea of a giant and 
a Moor, fays, in Cymbeline, 
a—ner—The gates of monarchs 
Are arch’d fo high, that giants may get 
through, 
And keep their impious turbands on. 
In another place, Spencer makes Di/ 
dain, under the form of a ftern giant, the 
keeper of the gate of Philotime, the daugh- 
terof Mammon. F. Q, ii. 7. ; 
Smollet, in his Ode to Independence, gives 
a fpirited tketch of Difiuin, as the allego- 
rical father of Independence, by a rape 
on the Goddefs Liberty. 
——-——-— A bold favage pafs’d that way, 
Impell’d by deftiny ; his name, Difdain. 
Of ample front the portly chief appear’d, 
The hunted bear fupply’d a fhaggy veit ; 
The drifted fnow hung on his yellow beard ; 
And his broad fhoulders brav’d the furious blaft, 
MONTHLY Mac, No. xxxvun, 
Perfonifications in Poetry, 
261 
The portrait, however, is defective, as 
it dces not give any of the moral features 
of the chara€ter,.but prefents a mere 
favage, undiftinguifhed by any peculiar 
attributes. 
Scorn, which playsa fort of under- 
part to Difdain, as Vanity does to Pride, 
is affociated with it in one of Spenfer’s 
allegories. A proud hard-hearted lady 
falls at length into the hands of Difdain 
and Scern, the firft of whom, as already 
defcribed, leads her, on her palfrey, 
through thick and thin; while the latter, 
following in the reat, in the habit of a 
fool, lafhes her forwards. 
‘¢ But that fame fool, which moft incréas’d 
her pains, 
Was Scorn, who, having in his hand. a whips 
Her therewith yerks; and ftill, when the 
complains, 
The more he laughs, and does her clofely 
quip, 
To fee her fo lament, and bite hertender lip.”® 
ROsewa are 
The fool, under whofe figure Scorn is 
reprefented, was undoubtedly meant to 
be fuch a one as fo often occurs in Shak- 
{peare, and the ancient dramatifts; a 
compound of fantaftic garb and manners, 
and fareaftic fhrewdnefs. His whip is a 
proper emblematical inftrument for in- 
fli€ting thofe ftrokes, which are more 
teazing and painful, than dangerous. 
There is the fame metaphor in Hamlet : 
*¢ For who would bear the whips and fcorns 
o’th time ?” 
Thomfon has employed the perfonified 
figure of Scorn, in his ** Cajile of Indo- 
lence,” in a fimilar manner with Spenfer: 
but has paimted him as a mere natural 
character. 
*¢ The other was a fell defpightful fiend,. 
Hell holds none worfe in baleful bower below : 
By pride,and wit,and rage, and rancour keen’d3 
Of man alike, if good or bad, the foe: 
With nofe upturn’d he always madea fhow 
As if he fmelt fome-naufeous feent; his eye 
Was cold and keen, like blaft from Boreal 
{now ; | 
And taunts he caften forth moft bitterly.” 
Cris. 
Shakefpeare reprefents Scorn alfo under 
a natural attitude : 
—_——_——‘* Tomakeme , 
A fixed figure for the hand of Scorn,. 
To point his flow unmoving fingér at. 
Othello. 
WRATH is drawn with wonderful force 
by Spenfer, as one of the counfellors and 
attendants of Pride. 
zL £nd 
