d by Jesuit refugees.

181. NILUS. Pliny believed that the mud of the Nile had the power of
breeding living creatures like mice. _Hist. Nat._ ix, 84. So Shakespeare,
_Antony and Cleopatra_, II, vii, 29.

199. GENTLE SHEPHEARD. In this pastoral simile, Spenser imitates Homer's
_Iliad_, ii, 469, and xvii, 641, and Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, xiv, 109.

208. THUS ILL BESTEDD. There is a similar combat in the old romance _Guy of
Warwick_, ix, between the hero and a man-eating dragon.

217. HER SCATTRED BROOD. The poet here follows a belief as old as Pliny
that the young of serpents fed on their mother's blood. In this entire
passage the details are too revolting for modern taste.

232. THE WHICH THEM NURST. The antecedent of _which_ is _her_. In the
sixteenth century _the_ was frequently placed before _which_, which was
also the equivalent of _who_. Cf. the Lord's Prayer.

234. HE SHOULD CONTEND, he should have had to contend.

237. BORNE UNDER HAPPY STARRE. Belief in astrology was once common, and
Spenser being a Pythagorean would hold the doctrine of the influence of the
stars on human destiny.

239. THAT ARMORIE, the armor of the Christian warrior. _Ephesians_, vi, 13.

243. THAT LIKE SUCCEED IT MAY, that like successful adventures may succeed
it. The word order is inverted for the sake of the rhyme.

250. TO FREND, as his friend.

254. AN AGED SIRE, the false enchanter, Archimago, or Hypocrisy, who is
supposed to represent Pope Sixtus V or King Philip II of Spain. In general
he stands for false religion or the Church of Rome. The character and
adventure are taken from _Orlando Furioso_, ii, 12, in which there is a
hypocritical hermit. The Knight at first takes Archimago to be a palmer,
and inquires for the foreign news.

295. TAKE UP YOUR IN, take lodging.

301. A LITTLE WYDE, a little way off.

315. AN AVE-MARY, Hail Mary, a prayer to the Virgin. Cf. _Luke_, i, 28.

317. THE SAD HUMOUR, the heavy moisture, or "slombring deaw."

318. MORPHEUS, the son of Somnus and god of sleep and dreams, who sprinkled
the dew of sleep on the brow of mortals from his horn or wings or from a
bough dipped in Lethe.

323. HIS MAGICK BOOKES AND ARTES. Monks engaged in scientific
investigation, such as Friar Roger Bacon, were popularly supposed to use
cabalistic books, and to make compacts with the Devil by means of
necromancy, or the black art, as in st. xxxvii. Before the close of the
century Marlowe's _Doctor Faustus_