For whose dear sake she found such way t' escape
The Pagan's hand, nor fear'd in such a shape,
T'encounter death to follow him she lov'd---
Hail, spotless soul! for purest faith approv'd,
Whose act has shown how dear thy plighted spouse
By thee was held, how dear thy virgin vows:
Fair Chastity, on earth now little heard,
By thee to life and blooming years preferr'd.
Go, blessed soul! depart in peace to Heaven!
So to my feeble Muse such aid be given,
As may with every grace the song adorn,
And give thy name to ages yet unborn!

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Go hence in peace to Heaven, and leave behind
Thy bright example still to womankind!

At this stupendous deed, from purest skies On earth the great Creator bent his eyes, And said---Thy virtue merits more renown, Than hers whose death robb'd Tarquin of his crown:

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So Homer, who is all wonderful, and the father of all poetical wonders, speaks of Dolon, whose head was cut off by Diomed. Mr. Pope's translation is admirable.

"The head, yet speaking, mutter'd as it fell."

See Upton's Notes on Spenser.

Il. X. 10.

Ver. 180. Hail, spotless soul!] On this passage Mr. Upton observes, that Ariosto, in admiration of the chastity and martyrdom of Isabella, breaks out into a most elegant apostrophe, which Spenser copies in his address to Florimel, when she is in prison tempted by Proteus.

Eternal thraldom was to her more lief

Than loss of chastity, or 'change of love......

Most virtuous virgin, glory be thy meed,

And crown of heavenly praise with saints above...

But yet, what so my feeble muse can fraine

Shall be t' advance.........

Fairy Queen, B. iii. C. viii. St. 42.

Henceforth I mean for ever for thy sake,
Amidst my Saints a great decree to make,
Which by th' inviolable stream I swear,
To every future age thy praise shall bear :
Let every maid that holds thy name be blest
With genius, beauty, virtue, o'er the rest
Of woman's sex, but most the prize obtain
For chastity and faith without a stain ;
While Pindus, Helicon, Parnassus' hill
Sound Isabella, Isabella still.

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Th' Almighty spoke, the air was hush'd around, 205 Smooth spread the waves o'er ocean's vast profound, To the third Heaven the virgin-soul withdrew, And in the arms of her Zerbino flew,

Ver. 197. Which by th' inviolable stream I swear.] Ruscelli, the Italian commentator, takes great pains to clear Ariosto from censure, for having introduced the Supreme Being, on this occasion, taking an oath like Jupiter in the Iliad or Eneid; though I fear that such passage can be defended by no argument adduced in its justi fication, but that it must in general be acknowledged, that Ariosto, like the rest of his countrymen, often introduces the fictions of poetry on the most solemn occasions. But a heavier charge may be here brought against the poet for making the Almighty approve the ac. tion of Lucretia, and thereby giving a sanction to suicide. This passage the Italian commentator has candidly confessed to be a gross breach of propriety and decorum.

Ver. 199. Let every maid that holds thy name, &c.] By this extra. vagant prophecy on all who bear the name of Isabella, the poet is said to make an eulogium on the duchess of Mantua, the daughter of Hercules duke of Ferrara, and wife of Ferrando king of Naples; the wife of Ferdinando king of Spain, to whose wisdom is attributed chiefly the discovery .of the new world by Columbus; the wife of Frederick, king of Naples; the wife of Ubaldo, duke of Urbino; but more especially a daughter of the king of Hungary, who was canonized by pope Gregory IX. for the sanctity of her life; all these ladies bore the name of Isabella.

Porcacchi.

Ver. 207. To the third Heaven---] Ariosto here follows the fiction of some of the ancient poets, who taught that those lovers, who had

While, left behind, this second Brusus stood,

Abash'd, confounded, stain'd with guiltless blood; 210
Who now, the wine's o'er-mastering fumes dispell'd,
Curs'd his dire rashness, and with grief beheld
The breathless body of the murder'd maid,
And ponder'd how t' appease her angry shade:
Since to her mortal part he death could give,
He hopes to make her name immortal live.

For this intent, the place where late she dwelt,
Where her fair form his brutal fury felt,

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Ife chang'd, or built anew, with spacious room
Enlarg'd, converting to a stately tomb.

220

From various parts around him, far and near,
Artists he found for favour or for fear:

Six thousand men, with ceaseless labour, wrought

Huge massy stones, from neighbouring quarries brought; With those he bade the stately' building rise`

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been constant, were after death received into the third Heaven, the region of Venus, the goddess of love.

Porcacchi.

Ver. 209. Brusus---] Brusus, surnamed without mercy, a character in the romances of the Round-Table. He is largely spoken of by Alamanni, in his poetical romance of Girone il Cortese; and is mentioned by Pulci in his Morgante, Canto xiii. who calls him Brusus without pity.

Ver. 230. By Adrian on the banks of Tyber rais'd--] The poet means the noble castle of St. Angelo at Rome, built by Pope

Close to the sepulchre a tower was join'd,

The spacious dwelling for himself design'd.

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A narrow bridge, scarce two feet wide, he made,
Fair stretch'd in length, which o'er the stream he laid
That ran beneath, and scarce the bridge supply'd
Space for two steeds abreast to cross the tide,
Or, meeting, pass: nor plac'd from end to end
Was rail or fence the stranger to defend.
Baptiz'd or Pagan, all that travel here,

He will'd henceforth should buy their passage dear, 240
For with their spoils, t' atone the virgin's doom,
He vow'd a thousand trophies at her tomb.
Ten days beheld the bridge complete; but more
Requir'd to raise the sepulchre and tower:

Adrian VI. on the river Tyber. This building was afterwards enlarged by several successive Popes, till Pius V. put the finishing hand to it.

Ver. 233. A narrow bridge--] This fiction of Rodomont's bridge is truly in the spirit of romance. We often read of knights meeting with such adventures: in the old romance of Morte Arthur, Sir Launcelot encounters a churl who defended a passage over a river.

"On the third day he rode over a great long bridge, and there started upon him suddenly a passing foul churl, and he smote his horse on the nose, that he turned about, and asked him why he rode over that bridge without his license? and he struck at him with a mighty great club full of pins of iron. Then Sir Launcelot drew his sword, and put the stroke back, and clove his head unto the navel." Morte Arthur, Part. i. C. cxi.

Spenser has a passage similar to this of Ariosto, where a bridge of this kind is described, and a combat ensues between Sir Arthegal and a Saracén.

Here beyond,

A cursed cruel Saracen doth wonne,

That keeps a bridge's passage by strong hand,
And many Errant Knights hath there foredonne.

Fairy Queen, B. v. C. ii. St. 4.

Yet well the work advanc'd, and on the height
A watch was plac'd to note each coming knight;
And oft as near the bridge a warrior drew,
The horn to Rodomont a signal blew.
Sudden he arm'd him for the course, and stood
Now here, now there on either side the flood.
Whene'er a warrior reach'd the fatal tower,
The king of Algiers took the adverse shore:
The slender bridge the dangerous list supply'd,
'There if the steed but little swerv'd aside,
Prone in the river's headlong depth he fell:
No fight, for peril, could such fight excel.
Thus often risk'd, the Saracen believ'd
Whene'er he fell, the rushing stream receiv'd
In draughts compell'd, would purify his soul
For sins committed through th' inflaming bowl;
As if from water certain cure was brought

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For wrongs, which wine by hand or tongue had wrought.

Few days elaps'd, ere numerous knight were led,

For Spain and Italy that path to tread.

The thirst of fame, to some more dear than life,
Brought many knights to prove the dangerous strife,
While all who hop'd the victor's meed to gain,
Resign'd their arms, and numbers there were slain.
Of vanquish'd Pagans that the course had run,
He kept their spoils alone, and armour won.
Of these the names on tablets fairly trac❜d,
And hung on high the polish'd marble grac❜d:
But every Christian close in durance pent
He held, design'd for Afric to be sent.

The work proceeding, on a certain day,
The mad Orlando thither bent his way.

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