262. 
And him befides rides fierte vevenging Wrath, 
Upon a lion, loth for to be led; 
Saad in his hand a burning brand he hath, 
The which he brandifheth about his head ; 
His eyes did hurl forth fparkles fiery red, 
And ftared ftern on all that him beheld, 
As athes pale of hue, and feeming dead 5 
And on his dagger ftill his hand he held, 
Trembling through hafty rage when choler in 
him fwell’d. 
His ruffian raiment all was ftain’d with blood 
Which he had fpilt, and all to rags y’rent. 
F.Q. 
In this defcription there is nothing 
properly emblematical, but the lion on. 
which Wrath is. mounted, and the flam- 
ing brand which he holds; and thefe are 
{ymbols fo obvious as to need no remark. 
The {parkling of his eyes refembles that 
of Turnus. 
His agitur furiis; totoque ardentis ab ore 
Scintille abfiftunt: oculis micat zcribus 
ignis. En. xii. 
Such furies urge him ;, while his glowing face 
Parts fparkles round, and flafh his flery eyes. 
Tn another part of the ‘* Fatry Queen,**~ 
a fimilar perfonage is introduced, whom 
the poet calls Furor, and paints as a 
man abfolutely frantic with rage. The 
defcription is ftrong and natural; but I 
Shall quote nothing from it except the. 
following picture of the madman bound 
by Sir Guyon, which has all the vivid 
colouring peculiar to this great matter. 
With hundred iron chains he did him bind, 
And hundred knots, that did him fore con- 
ftrain 5 
Yer his great iron teeth he fill did grind, 
And grimly gnafh, threatning revenge in 
vain : 
His burning eyne, which bloody ftreaks. did 
ftain, 
Stared full wide, and threw forth fparks of fire, 
And more for rank defpight, than for great 
pain, 
Shak’d his long locks, colour’d like copper 
wire, 
And bit his tawny beard, to thew his raging 
ire. F.Q. ii, 4. 
Even this, however, is little more than 
an amplification of a very noble pailage 
in Virgil. 
— 

Furor impius.intus 
Seva fedens fuper arma, & centum vinctus 
ahegis 
Po& tergum nodis, fremet horridus ore 
cruento. GER. Wille 

ee Within remains 
 Imprifen’d fury, bound in brazen chains 5 
High on a trophy rais’d cf ufelefs arms 
We fits, and threats the world with Van 
aigi Ms. 
On the Perfonification 
' pleature. 
Foe. 
In moft of the exmmples.of mixed per- 
fonifications hitherto adduced, the emble- 
matical action is made fufficiently con- 
gruous with the natural, and the fancied. 
Being is employed in a manner agreeable 
to the character with which he is im- 
preffed. But in the following pitture 
Spenter is not equally correct. 
GrieF, all in fable forrowfully clad, 
Down hanging his dull head with heavy 
cheer, 
Yet inly being more than feeming fad; 
A pair of pincers in his hand he had, 
With which he pinched peopte to the heart. 
F. Q. iii. 12. 
The three firft lines in this defcription, 
reprefent a man overwhehned with for- 
row ;' but fuch an affection ts paffive, not 
agtive; it is therefore an incongruity toe 
paint him at the fame time as a tormentor 
of others. 
The allegory of Care, bythe fame 
poet, (F. Q. iv. 5.) has been much ad- 
mired, as, indeed, from the ftrength of 
its.imagery, it well deferyes to be; yet 
it is not free from the defect above men- 
tioned. Care is reprefented asa black— 
{mith by trade; and a minute deicription: 
of him under this character, may vie with 
the beft figures of the Flemifh fchool, fer 
accuracy and force of painting; It is, 
indeed, nature in fuch a drefs, as to pro- 
duce fenfations rather of loathing than 
At the clofe, it 1s faid, thst 
he worked night and day, 
But to. fmall purpofe iron wedges made: 
Thofe be unquiet thoughts that careful minds 
invade. 
_ Here is a breach in tie perfonification;, 
for though a toil-worn mechanic may be 
a proper reprefentative for Care, yet iron 
wedges have no afhnity with unquiet 
thoughts. The fame inconfiftency ap- 
pears in the progrefs of the allegory. 
‘Fhat the fleep of Siv Scudamore fhould be 
broken by the hammering of the black- 
fmithand his fix workmen, is very natu- 
ral; but they are made to act quite out of 
character, when the men rap him on the 
head-piece with their hammers as foon as 
he falls into flumber, and the mafter 
pinches him on the fide with his red-hot 
tongs. By a fimilar confution of the l= 
teral and allegorical fenfe, the bellows. 
are faid to be fizhs, blown by the wind of 
penfivenefs. 
Spenfer, ia another book, with pro- 
pricty, makes Care a watchman at the 
entrance of the houfe of Riches. 
Before the door fat felf-confuming Care, 
Day and night keeping wary watch and ward, 
FO. Fe 
