Now on my face she cast her eager sight,

And seem'd to view my features with delight,
Then soon resolv'd me from my friends to part;
And ah! too well she prov'd her wily art!
For, near advancing, with a smiling look,
With courteous, soft deportment, thus she spoke.
Sir, knight! if you consent awhile to stay,
And kindly here vouchsafe to pass the day,

275

I'll show you, in the progress of my sport,

Of countless fishes every different sort;

280

Some soft, some hairy, some with scales all bright,

In number more than are the stars of night.

Or if you would a Syren view, whose voice
With tuneful music makes the waves rejoice,

Hence let us pass and reach yon neighbouring shore 285
To which she comes at this accustom'd hour.

Guion, in Spenser, makes much the same answer to Mammon:

Regard of worldly muck doth foully blend,
And low abase the high heroic spright,

That joys for crowns and kingdoms to contend:
Fair shields, gay steeds, bright arms be my delight,
These be the riches fit for an adventurous knight.

Thus Rogero, in Ariosto, in the present book:

la cagion ch'io vesto piastra e maglia, Non è per guadagnar terra ne argento.

B. ii. C. vii.

Spenser, in his description of the riches of Mainmon, visited by. Guion, had undoubtedly an eye upon a similar passage in Boyardo, where that poet describes at large the subterraneous palace of the witch Morgana.

See Orlando Innam. B. ii. C. viii. See likewise Note to Book xix. ver. 272.

As thus she said, the monstrous whale she show'd,
Which seem'd a little island in the flood.

While I, too rashly (which I now lament)
Believ'd her words, and on the monster went;
Rinaldo, Dudon, beckon'd, but in vain;
Not all their cares my rash attempt restrain.
Alcina, with a smile, my steps pursu❜d,
And left the two as on the strand they stood.
The whale, instructed well in her design,
Began to move, and cleave the foamy brine:
Then all too late my folly I deplore,
Soon as I see retreat the lessening shore.
Rinaldo leap'd, t' assist me, in the main,
But scarce escap'd with life to land again;
For then a furious wind was seen to rise,

290

295

300

That swell'd the seas, and troubled all the skies;

His following fortune ne'er attain'd my ear:

Meantime to dissipate my growing fear

Alcina gently strove, as all the day,

305

And next ensuing night, we held our way

Amidst the waves: at length this isle we gain,

O'er most of which Alcina holds her reign;

Which from her sister she unjustly won,

Who claims it, by her father's will, her own;

310

For she alone was born in marriage bed,

The others of incestuous mixture bred.

Ver. 303. His following fortune-] Here Boyardo entirely leaves Astolpho, and Ariosto takes up the story.

Ver. 309.---from her sister-] Logistilla: there were three sisters, Logistilla, Alcina, and Morgana. The allegory here is obvious. Alcina and Morgana represent luxury and lasciviousness; Logistilla, reason or virtue; these are continually at war with each other.

As these are of a fraudful, impious mind,
And prone to every deed of evil kind;
So does the other chastly spend her days,
And all her soul incline to virtue's ways.
Her sisters both conspire against her state;
And many troops have rais'd, with deadly hate,
To drive the virgin wholly from the land,
And have, at times, a hundred castles gain'd.
Nor Logistilla (such her name) had known
By this, the smallest portion here, her own;
But that a gulph her kingdom here defends,

315

320

And there a mountain's ridgy height ascends.

Nor yet Alcina and Morgana cease,

325

Nor let her ev'n possess this part in peace.

As vice and shameful pleasures fill their breast,
The virgin for her virtues they detest.

But to return to what myself befel,

And how I first became a tree, to tell.

350

Alcina gave me nameless charms to taste,

And all on me her ardent passion plac'd:

While in my arms such matchless sweets I press'd,

I seem'd at once of every joy possest;

Of every joy, which fortune's hands bestow

335

So sparingly on mortals here below.

France I forgot, each dearer care beside,

And love alone my amorous thoughts employ'd.
My eyes were fix'd upon her face so fair,

While every wish began, and center'd there.
Her former lovers she esteem'd no more,

340

For many lovers she possess'd before:
I was her joy, was with her night and day,
And all the rest my high commands obey,

Mine was her love, and mine the sovereign sway! 345

But wherefore do I thus inflame the wound

For which, I fear, no cure can e'er be found?
Why recollect my happy hours, and know
That all my former bliss is turn'd to woe?
Too late, alas! I found her wavering mind
In love inconstant as the changing wind!
For scarce two months I held the fairy's grace,
When a new youth was taken to my place.
Rejected then, I join'd the banish'd herd
That lost her love, as others were preferr'd:
Lest these o'er various lands and nations spread,
Should ere divulge the shameful life she led,
Some here, some there, her potent charms restrain
In various forms imprison'd to remain ;

350

855

In beeches, olives, palms, or cedars clos'd;
Or such, as me you here behold expos'd:

360

In fountains some, and some in beasts confin'd,
As suits the wayward fairy's cruel mind.

And you, sir knight, that in ill hour have found,
By ways uncommon, this enchanted ground;
For whom some hapless lover must be spurn'd,
And to a senseless stone or river turn'd;
You shall such pleasures with Alcina find,
To call yourself the happiest of mankind;
But soon the common fate must be your own,
Chang'd to a beast, a fountain, tree, or stone.
Thus have I warn'd you of your dangerous state;
Not that I think you can elude your fate;
But yet, it fits you well inform'd to go,
And part, at least, of her deceits to know.
As different features in the face we find,
So differs too the genius of the mind;

365

370

375

And you, perhaps, some secret have in store
T'escape, what numbers ne'er escap'd before.
Rogero, who Astolpho knew by fame.
The valiant cousin to his beauteous dame,

Much for his strange unheard-of fortune mourn'd,
Whose form was to a senseless myrtle turn'd;

380

And for her sake whose love his bosom fir'd

T'assist the unhappy warrior much desir'd:
But here his power no further aid affords

385

Than kind consoling tears, and friendly words;
Yet, all he can! and now he seeks to know
If he to Logistilla's lands might go,
By any windings over hill or plain,

390

To shun the snares of false Alcina's reign.

A different path there lay (the myrtle said)

Which through rough crags and thorny thickets led,
If to the hill he kept the better hand,

But hard the pass, for there a numerous band

395

Of armed men were plac'd to guard the land.

His thanks Rogero to the myrtle paid,
Then took his leave, and parted from the shade,
Instructed well: his courser, by the rein,

He leads, but dares not press his back again;

400

While various schemes he fashions in his mind,

How safely Logistilla's realms to find.

Firm was his purpose every means to try,
Rather than in Alcina's bondage lie.

And first, he thought again to mount his horse,

405

And spur him through the air a distant course :
But fear soon made him lay that thought aside,
Nor tempt the danger he so lately try'd.