Ver. 11, etc.] These verses are hinted from

the following of Chaucer, Book II. :

'Tho beheld I fields and plains,
Now hills, and now mountains,
Now valeis, and now forestes,
And now unneth great bestes,
Now rivers, now citees,

Now towns, now great trees,

P.

Now shippes sayling in the see.' Ver. 27. High on a rock of Ice, etc.] Chaucer's third book of Fame:

'It stood upon so high a rock,
Higher standeth none in Spayne-
What manner stone this rock was,
For it was like a lymed glass,
But that it shone full more clere;
But of what congeled matere
It was, I niste redily;
But at the last espied I,

And found that it was every dele,
A rock of ise, and not of stele.'
Ver. 31. Inscriptions here, etc.]
'Tho saw I all the hill y-grave
With famous folkes names fele,
That had been in much wele
And her fames wide y-blow;
But well unneth might I know,
Any letters for to rede
Ther names by, for out of drede
They weren almost off-thawen so,
That of the letters one or two
Were molte away of every name,
So unfamous was woxe her fame;
But men said, what may ever last.' P.
Nor was the work impair'd, etc.]

Ver. 41.

'Tho gan That they were molte away for heate, And not away with stormes beate.'

I in myne harte cast,

Ver. 45.

Yet part no injuries, etc.].
For on that other side I sey
Of that hill which northward ley,
How it was written full of names
Of folke, that had afore great fames,
Of old time, and yet they were
As fresh as men had written hem there

The self day, or that houre
That I on hem gan to poure:
But well I wiste what it made;
It was conserved with the shade
(All the writing that I sye)

Of the castle that stoode on high,
And stood eke in so cold a place,
That heate might it not deface.' P.

Ver. 132.

The wall in lustre, etc.]

'It shone lighter than a glass,
And made well more than it was,
As kind thing of Fame is.'
Ver. 179. Six pompous columns, etc.]
'From the dees many a pillere,

Of metal that shone not full clere, etc.
Upon a pillere saw I stonde
That was of lede and iron fine,
Him of the sect Saturnine,

The Ebraicke Josephus the old, etc.
Upon an iron piller strong,

That painted was all endlong,
With tygers blood in every place,
The Tholosan that hight Stace,

That bare of Thebes up the name, etc.' P.
Ver. 182]

'Full wonder hye on a pillere

Of iron, he the great Omer,

And with him Dares and Titus, etc.' P.
Ver. 196, etc.]

'There saw I stand on a pillere

That was of tinned iron cleere,

The Latin Poet Virgyle,

That hath bore up of a great while

The fame of pius Eneas:

And next him on a pillere was
Of copper, Venus clerke Ovide,
That hath sowen wondrous wide
The great God of Love's fame-

Tho saw I on a pillere by
Of iron wrought full sternly,
The great Poet Dan Lucan,
That on his shoulders bore up then
As hye as that I might see,
The fame of Julius and Pompee.

And next him on a pillere stode
Of sulphur, like as he were wode,
Dan Claudian, sothe for to tell,

That bare up all the fame of hell, etc,' P. Ver. 224. Pleas'd with Alcaus' manly rage t' infuse The softer spirit of the Sapphic Muse.] This expresses the mix'd character of the odes of Horace: the second of these verses alludes to that line of his,

'Spiritum Graiæ tenuein camœnæ.'

As another which follows, to

'Exegi monumentum ære perennius.' The action of the Doves hints at a passage in the fourth ode of his third book,

'Me fabulosæ Vulture in Appulo
Altricis extra limen Apuliæ,

Ludo fatigatumque somno,

Fronde nova puerum palumbes
Texêre; mirum quod foret omnibus-
Ut tuto ab atris corpore viperis

Dormirem et ursis; ut premerer sacro

Lauroque collataque myrto,

Non sine Diis animosus infans.'
Which may be thus englished:

'While yet a child, I chanc'd to stray,
And in a desert sleeping lay;
The savage race withdrew, nor dar'd
To touch the Muses future bard;
But Cytherea's gentle dove

Myrtles and Bays around me spread,
And crown'd your infant Poet's head,
Sacred to Music and to Love.' P.
Ver. 259. Scarce seem'd her stature, etc.]
'Methought that she was so lite,
That the length of a cubite
Was longer than she seemed be;
But thus soone in a while she,
Her selfe tho wonderly straight,
That with her feet she the earth reight,
And with head she touchyd heaven-' P.
Ver. 270. Beneath, in order rang'd, etc.]

'I heard about her throne y-sung
That all the palays walls rung,
So sung the mighty Muse, she
That cleped is Calliope,

And her seven sisters eke-' P.
Ver. 276. Around these wonders, etc.]
'I heard a noise approchen blive,

That far'd as bees done in a hive,
Against her time of out flying;
Right such a manere murmuring,
For all the world it seemed me.
Tho gan I look about and see
That there came entring into th' hall,
A right great company withal;
And that of sundry regions,
Of all kind of conditions,-etc.' P.
Ver. 294. Some she disgrac'd, etc.]

And some of them she granted sone,
And some she warned well and fair,
And some she granted the contrair-
Right as her sister dame Fortune
Is wont to serve in commune.' P.
Ver. 318. ... the good and just, etc.]
'Tho came the third companye,
And gan up to the dees to hye,
And down on knees they fell anone,
And saiden: We ben everichone
Folke that han full truely
Deserved Fame right-fully,
And prayen you it might be knowe
Right as it is, and forth blowe.

I grant, quoth she, for now me list
That your good works shall be wist.
And yet ye shall have better loos,
Right in despite of all your foos,
Than worthy is, and that anone.
Let now (quoth she) thy trump gone-
And certes all the breath that went
Out of his trump's mouth smel'd
As men a pot of baume held

Among a basket full of roses-' P.
Ver. 328, 338. ...behold another croud, etc.-
From the black trumpet's rusty, etc.]
'Therewithal there came anone
Another huge companye,

Of good folke

What did this Eolus, but he
Tooke out his trump of brass,

That fouler than the devil was:
And gan this trump for to blowe,
As all the world should overthrowe.
Throughout every regione
Went this foul trumpet's soune,
Swift as a pellet out of a gunne,
When fire is in the powder runne.
And such a smoke gan out wende,

Out of the foul trumpet's ende-etc.' P.
Ver. 356. Then came the smallest, etc.]
'I saw anone the fifth route,
That to this lady gan loute,

And downe on knees anone to fall,
And to her they besoughten all,
To hiden their good works eke?
And said, they yeve not a leke
For no fame ne such renowne;
For they for contemplacyoune,
And Goddes love had it wrought,
Ne of fame would they ought.

What, quoth she, and be ye wood?
And ween ye for to do good,
And for to have it of no fame?
Have ye despite to have my name?
Nay ye shall lien everichone:
Blowe thy trump, and that anone
(Quoth she) thou Eolus, I hote,
And ring these folkes workes by rote,
That all the world may of it heare;
And he gan blow their loos so cleare,
In his golden clarioune,

Through the World went the soune,
All so kindly, and eke so soft,

That their fame was blown aloft.' P.

Ver. 378. Next these a youthful train, etc.] The Reader might compare these twenty-eight lines following, which contain the same matter, with eighty-four of Chaucer, beginning thus: