Since which, with fondrie fpoiles fhe hath been

ranfacked.

XXIV.

Let Scaldis tell, and let tell Hania,

And let the marfh of Efthambruges tell, What colour were their waters that fame day, And all the moore twixt Elverfham and Dell, With blood of Henalois which therein fell. How oft that day did fad Brunchildis fee

The

greene fhield dyde in dolorous vermell? That not fcuith guiridh it mote feeme to bee, But rather y fcuith gogh, figne of fad crueltee.

XXIV. 8. That not fcuith guiridh &c.] In the collations prefixed to the edition of 1751, it is obferved that the collator's copy of the first edition wanted the Welch words. Mr. Upton alfo relates that he had two copies of the first edition, in one of which neither the Welch words exifted, nor the clofe of the stanza figne of fad crueltce; in the other, thefe omiffions were fupplied. Mr. Church appears to have poffeffed two copies of 1590, in neither of which was there any deficiency. His account exactly correfponds with the edition of 1590 now before me; which reads precifely thus:

"That not Seuith guiridh he mote feeme to bee.

"But rather y Scuith gogh, figne of fad crueltee." In the Errata to this copy we are directed to read, in the former of the lines, Scuith inftead of Seuith. The fecond edition rightly alters he to it in the fame line, but has not converted the period into a comma at the end of the line, which it ought to have done. To account fatisfactorily for the variations of the copies which I have mentioned, is beyond my power. Perhaps the poet's manufcript had not been in thefe lines filled up, when his copy was fent to the prefs; and feveral sheets might have been worked off, before he recollected the omiffions. TODD.

XXIV. 9. But rather &c.] The fenfe is, Infomuch that it might then not fo properly have been called "scuith guiridh," green fhield, as "y fcuith gogh," The red fhield. CHURCH.

XXV.

His fonne king Leill, by fathers labour long,
Enioyd an heritage of lasting peace,

And built Cairleill, and built Cairleon ftrong.
Next Huddibras his realme did not encrease,
But taught the Land from wearie wars to cease.
Whofe footsteps Bladud following, in artes
Exceld at Athens all the learned preace,
From whence he brought them to these falvage
parts,

And with fweet science mollifide their stubborne

harts.

XXVI.

Enfample of his wondrous faculty,

Behold the boyling bathes at Cairbadon,
Which feeth with fecret fire eternally,

And in their entrailles, full of quick brimstón.
Nourish the flames which they are warmd

upon,

XXV. 3. And built Cairleill and built Cairleon ftrong.] "Leill the fon of Brute Greenshield, being a lover of peace, builded Carleile, and repaired Carleon." Stowe, p. 14, and fee Rofs, p. 22, and Holinfhed, p. 12. Should we not therefore read, "And built Carleil, and rebuilt Cairleon ftrōng."

Pronounce Cairleon as of two fyllables. UPTON.

XXV. 4. But taught the land &c.] Lud or Lud Huddibras compofed the troubles which had arifen in the latter part of his father's reign, and then applied himself to beautify Britain. See Sammes's Brit. p. 163. CHURCH.

XXV. 9. And with fweet science mollifide &c.] Ovid, "Adde quòd ingenuas didiciffe fidelitèr artes

"Emollit mores, nec finit effe feros." JORTIN. XXVI. 2. Cairbadon,] So Hardyng:

"Cair Bladud fo that nowe is Bathe I rede." CHURCH.

That to their people wealth they forth do well,
And health to every forreyne nation:

Yet he at laft, contending to excell

XXVI. 6. That to their people wealth they forth do well,] Forth do well, i. e. pour forth. Spenfer, among the Errata, has written their for her. The old poets write her, and not their; following the Anglo-Sax. hiɲa, heɲe, illorum. Urry, in his edition of Chaucer, (very unwarrantably) changes the old English her, i. e. their, into ther; and hem into them; for which he is cenfured by Dr. Hickes in his Sax. Gram. p. 29. I have obferved that, in fome paffages in his Shepherd's Calendar, Spenfer ufes her for their; but he thought it too antique for his epick poem. There are other paffages, however, where her is printed for their, as it seems to me. Thus, F. Q. ii. vii. 7. "And thefe rich heapes of wealth doest hide apart, "From the world's eye and from her right ufance ?" From their right ufance; to be referred to heapes of wealth. Again, F. Q. iii. xii. 31.

"And all perforce to make her him to love,

"Ah! who can love the worker of her smart?"

Spenfer loves to introduce general fentences, and general obfervations. Her in the first line feems to have caught the printer's eye; and to have occafioned the received reading; which appears not fo much after Spenfer's manner, as the following,

"Ah! who can love the worker of their smart ?" Again, F. Q. ii. ii. 28.

"But her two other fifters standing by

"Her lowd gainfaid, and both her champions bad
"Purfew "

-

So the first edition reads; but others read, "their champions."

UPTON.

Her for their was not confined to poetry. In An Expofycion vpon the v. vi. vii. chapters of Mathewe, 12mo. bl. without date, in my poffeffion, the following paffage occurs in fol. xii. "Chryfte here in his fyrst farmone begynneth to restore the lawe of the ten commaundementes to her ryght vnderstandinge.”

TODD.

XXVI. 8. Yet he &c.] Bladud ftudied magick; and, attempting to fly to the upper regions of the air, fell upon the temple of Apollo, and was dashed to pieces. Geoffry of Mon. B. ii. C. 10. See also the Mir, for Mag. fol. 30. 2, where 'tis

The reach of men, through flight into fond mif

chief fell.

XXVII.

Next him king Leyr in happie peace long raynd,
But had no iffue male him to fucceed,
But three faire daughters, which were well
uptraind

In all that feemed fitt for kingly feed ;
Mongst whom his Realme he equally decreed
To have divided: Tho, when feeble age
Nigh to his utmost date he faw proceed,
He cald his daughters, and with speeches fage
Inquyrd, which of them moft did love her pa-
rentage.

XXVIII.

The eldest Gonorill gan to proteft,

That fhe much more than her owne life him

lov'd;

And Regan greater love to him profest

Then all the world, whenever it were proov'd;

mentioned that he studied at Athens, and brought with him from thence fome learned men, whom he settled at Stamford in Lincolnshire, and there built a college. See Drayton, Polyolb. p. 112, and Selden's notes. Compare F. Q. iv. xi. 35. UPTON.

XXVII. 9. her parentage.] All the editions read "her parentage." I have corrected it, from the Errata, "their parentage." CHURCH.

Perhaps the direction, in the lift of Errata, might be rather intended for the preceding stanza, viz. " their people," instead of "her people;" for both ftanzas are in the fame page of the original edition. The editions of 1751 and of Mr. Upton conform to this opinion. TODD..

But Cordeill faid fhe lov'd him as behoov'd: Whofe fimple anfwere, wanting colours fayre To paint it forth, him to displeasaunce moov'd, That in his crown he counted her no hayre, But twixt the other twain his Kingdom whole did shayre.

XXIX.

So wedded th' one to Maglan king of Scottes, And th' other to the king of Cambria,

And twixt them fhayrd his Realme by equall lottes;

But, without dowre, the wife Cordelia
Was fent to Aganip of Celtica:

Their aged fyre, thus eafed of his crowne,
A private life ledd in Albania

With Gonorill, long had in great renowne, That nought him griev'd to beene from rule depofed downe.

XXX.

But true it is that, when the oyle is spent,
The light goes out, and weeke is throwne

away;

So, when he had refignd his regiment,

His daughter gan despise his drouping day, And wearie wax of his continuall stay :

XXIX. 5.

Aganip] Aganippus king of France, who, upon hearing of Cordelia's beauty, (according to Geoffry of Monmouth,) or rather wisdom and goodness, (as Robert of Gloucester says,) fent and demanded her in marriage without any portion. CHURCH.