All
falsehood
and deception.
Spenser - Faerie Queene - 1
LIKE HESPERUS, the evening star.
Cf.
Phosphorus, the morning star.
268. The dragon couchant was also the crest of Arthur's father, Uther,
surnamed on this account Pen-dragon. The description in this stanza is
imitated from Tasso's description of the helmet of the Sultan in _Jerusalem
Delivered_, ix, 25, which in turn follows Vergil's _AEneid_, vii, 785 _seq. _
280. GREENE SELINIS, a town in Sicily.
284. HIS WARLIKE SHIELD. Spenser here follows closely the description of
the shield of the magician Atlante in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, ii, 55.
300. SILVER CYNTHIA, the moon. It was popularly supposed that magicians and
witches had power to cause eclipses of the moon.
304.
All falsehood and deception. Truth and Wisdom are symbolized (Upton).
306. WHEN HIM LIST, when it pleased him. _Him_ is dative.
314. IT MERLIN WAS. Ambrose Merlin, the prince of enchanters, son of the
nun Matilda, and an incubus, "half-angel and half-man. " He made, in
addition to Prince Arthur's armor and weapons, the Round Table for one
hundred and fifty knights at Carduel, the magic fountain of love, and built
Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain. He died spellbound by the sorceress Vivien
in a hollow oak. See Tennyson's _Idylls of the King_.
326. DID TRAMPLE AS THE AIRE, curveted as lightly as the air.
335. AND FOR HER HUMOUR, etc. , and to suit her (sad) mood framed fitting
conversation.
268. The dragon couchant was also the crest of Arthur's father, Uther,
surnamed on this account Pen-dragon. The description in this stanza is
imitated from Tasso's description of the helmet of the Sultan in _Jerusalem
Delivered_, ix, 25, which in turn follows Vergil's _AEneid_, vii, 785 _seq. _
280. GREENE SELINIS, a town in Sicily.
284. HIS WARLIKE SHIELD. Spenser here follows closely the description of
the shield of the magician Atlante in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, ii, 55.
300. SILVER CYNTHIA, the moon. It was popularly supposed that magicians and
witches had power to cause eclipses of the moon.
304.
All falsehood and deception. Truth and Wisdom are symbolized (Upton).
306. WHEN HIM LIST, when it pleased him. _Him_ is dative.
314. IT MERLIN WAS. Ambrose Merlin, the prince of enchanters, son of the
nun Matilda, and an incubus, "half-angel and half-man. " He made, in
addition to Prince Arthur's armor and weapons, the Round Table for one
hundred and fifty knights at Carduel, the magic fountain of love, and built
Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain. He died spellbound by the sorceress Vivien
in a hollow oak. See Tennyson's _Idylls of the King_.
326. DID TRAMPLE AS THE AIRE, curveted as lightly as the air.
335. AND FOR HER HUMOUR, etc. , and to suit her (sad) mood framed fitting
conversation.
