Page:Spencer - The Shepheardes Calender, conteining twelue æglogues proportionable to the twelue monethes, 1586.djvu/34

 | March, -

Ouer went, ouergone, \ ~. Algae, to leffen or affwage,

‘To quell, to abate. . Welken,sthe.skie.

epee ch bi:d yf{cth to be counted the meffenper, and as iewere, the foreruss.

ner of {pring. ,

~ Flor the Goddeffe of flowres,but indeede(as faith Tacitus) a famous harlot, which with , the abufe of her body hauing gotten great riches, made the people of Rome her heyres who in remembraunce of fo great beneficence,appointed ayeerely feaft forthe memoria} of her,calling her,not as fhe was,nor as fome doethinke, Andronica,. but Fkra: making her ~ the Goddeffe of all flowres, and doing yeerely to her folemne facrifice.

Maras bowre,that is the pleafaunt fielde, or rather the Maye bufhes. Maia is a Goddeffe and the mother of Mercurie,in honour of whome the moneth of Maye is ofher name fo cal led,as fayth Macrobius. : 2 Neen

Lettice,the name of fome country laffe, ° ort:

Afcaunce,as kewe or aiquint. For thy, therefore,

Lethe, ts alakein hell, which the Poeis call the lake of forgerfulneffe. Fer Lethe fionifi- eth forgetfulneffe.Wherein the foules being dipped, dyd forgette the cares of this former life.So that by our fleeping in Leche lake,he meaneth hee: was almoft forgotten and out of knowledge, byreafon of Winters hardneffe,when all pleafures as it were, ecpe and weare out ofminde. Ae |

Affotte.to dote. }

‘ a fomber, ro breakKe Louesflomber, to exercife the delightes of Loue and wanton eafures, : P Winges of Purple, {ois he faigned of the Poetes. For als,he imitateth Virgils verfe. “i ESt mili namque don pater,eft ininflaneusrca Orc.

Adell, ahole inthe ground. é’

Spell,isa kinde ofverfe or charme,that in elder.times they vfed often to fay ouer enery thing, that they would haue preferued, as the Nightfpell for theeues, and the Woodfpel, And heerehence I thinke is named the Gods fpell or worde.. And fo faith Chaucer, Lilte- neth Lordinges to my fpell. ; Et

Gange, g0¢. _ An Yuie todde,a thicke bufhe.

Swaine, aboyet For fois he defcribed of the Poetes, to bee a boye. f. alwaies frefhe and luftie: blind/olded,becaufe he maketh no difference of Perfonages, with divers coloured

winges, f, full of fying fancies: with bow and arrow, thatis with eenree of beautie,which pticketh asaforked arrow. Heis fidalfo tohaue thafies, fome leaden,fome golden:that tsyboth pleaiure for the gratious and loued, andforrowefar the loue chat is. difdainedor. forfaken. But who lilt more at large to behold Cupids colours and furniture, let hym read eyther Propertius,or Mofthus his Tdyluonef wandring loue,being new moft excellently tranflatedinto Latine by the finguler learned man Angelus Politianus : whiche worke I. haue feeneamongeft other of this Poses doinges, verye well tranflated alfo into Eng- ith Rymes,

Wirableandwighte, Quickeand deliuer. — « eth

Inthe beele,is verie Poetically {poken,and not without fpecial iudgement.For I remem= ber, chat in Homer it is fayde'of Thetis, that fheeteoke heryoung babe Achilles beyng new= ly-borne, andholding him bytheheele, dipped him in the Riuer of Szyx. Phe vertue where= of is, to defend and keeépe the bodyes wathed thercin from anymortall wound. So Achilles. beevng wathed all ouct, faue onely Kisheele, by whiche hysmorher held, was in the reft inuulnerable:therefore.byPeris was feyned to. bee fhorte with a peyfoned arrowe inthe heele,whiles he was bufie about the marying of Polyxena in the temple of Apello, Whiche myfticall fable Eujtatkius vnfolding. faith: that by wounding the heele,. is meant luftfull loue,For from the hecle(as fay the beft phificions) to the privie partes there paffe certaine veines and flender finnewes, as alfo the like come from the head, and are carried like hile pypes behinde the eares: fo that (as fayth Hipocrates) ifthofe veines there bee cuta funder,

the partic ftraight becommerh cold and vafruitfull, Which seafon our Poet well wei enn ’ - ay Ma.

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