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That Phoebus golden face it did attaint,

As when a cloud his beames doth over-lay;
And silver Cynthia wexed pale and faynt,

As when her face is staynd with magicke arts constraint.

No magicke arts hereof had any might,
Nor bloody wordes of bold Enchaunters call;
But all that was not such as seemd in sight
Before that shield did fade, and suddeine fall:
And when him list the raskall routes appall,
Men into stones therewith he could transmew,
And stones to dust, and dust to nought at all;
And, when him list the prouder lookes subdew,
He would them gazing blind, or turne to other hew.

Ne let it seeme that credence this exceedes ;
For he that made the same was knowne right well
To have done much more admirable deedes.
It Merlin was, which whylome did excell
All living wightes in might of magicke spell :
Both shield and sword, and armour all he wrought
For this young Prince, when first to armes he fell ;
But, when he dyde, the Faery Queene it brought
To Faerie lond, where yet it may be seene, if sought.
(Stanzas 33-36.)

The idea of the shield is, no doubt, reminiscent of the "shield of faith" of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians,1 and under that aspect it would be representative of the reformed religion, potent against Orgoglio and Duessa (Spain in the person of Philip, and Rome in that of Mary, Queen of Scots)-see Book I. vii. and, at a later date, V. viii. (the fight with the Souldan); but that interpretation does not account for the description, or for the very definite, but obscure, allusion in Stanza 36. I think the poet is here giving expression to his consciousness of the power of his own genius, and that the character of Prince

1 It is to be noticed that this is referred to in the introductory letter to Ralegh, but in connection with the Redcrosse knight, not Prince Arthur. 2 St. 34, "the flying heavens." There is a passage in Greene's writings in which I believe the same writer (under colour of an impersonation) is similarly alluding to the power of his own genius, only in an intentionally bombastic vein :

"I keep my own course still, to palter up something in prose, using mine old posy still, omne tulit punctum: although lately two gentlemen poets made two madmen of Rome beat it out of their paper bucklers, and had it in derision, for that I could not make my verses jet upon the stage in tragical

Arthur throughout is intended to represent that side of it which was concerned with Government and the national life. Bacon, as his acknowledged writings show, was intensely patriotic, and considering the range, representative character, and aspiring nature of his genius, and the thought which he devoted to the affairs and destiny of his country in Church and State, there is nothing very extravagant (though it may seem strange-but we are dealing with a strange personality) in the identification of himself with the legendary national hero. Generally, I think, Prince Arthur is intended to represent the pride and power of England, and the character, intended in the particular" originally for Leicester, is made to serve for individuals in charge of national enterprises. But it also has a more intimate significance.

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It will be observed from the relation in I. ix., quoted above, that Prince Arthur says he has been seeking out the Fairy Queen for "nyne monethes in vain" (15). In Book II. ix. (Alma's house, viz. the body controlled by the mind) occurs the following stanza :

"Certes," (then said the Prince) "I God avow,
That sith I armes and knighthood first did plight,
My whole desire hath beene, and yet is now,
To serve that Queene with al my powre and might.
Seven times the Sunne, with his lamp-burning light,
Hath walkte about the world, and I no lesse,

Sith of that Goddesse I have sought the sight,
Yet no where can her find: such happinesse
Heven doth to me envy, and fortune favourlesse."

(7.)

Lower down, the Prince and Guyon choose each a damsel, who represents, under the allegory, their own several dispositions. In the Prince's case the description is as follows:

"Fayre Sir," said she, halfe in disdaineful wise, "How is it that this mood in me ye blame,

And in your selfe doe not the same advise?

Him ill beseemes anothers fault to name,

buskins, every word filling the mouth with the fa-burden of Bowbell, daring God out of heaven with that atheist Tamburlain, or blaspheming with the mad priest of the Sun."--Introduction to Perimedes, 1588.

That may unwares bee blotted with the same :

Pensive I yeeld I am, and sad in mind,

Through great desire of glory and of fame ;

Ne ought, I weene, are ye therein behynd,

That have three years sought one, yet no where can her find.”

The Prince was inly moved at her speach,
Well weeting trew what she had rashly told;
Yet with faire semblaunt sought to hyde the breach,
Which chaunge of colour did perforce unfold,

Now seeming flaming whott, now stony cold:

Tho, turning soft aside, he did inquyre

What wight she was that Poplar braunch did hold?
It answered was, her name was Prays-desire,
That by well doing sought to honour to aspyre.

(38, 39.) In Guyon's case his disposition is indicated in the beautiful lines:

She answerd nought, but more abasht for shame
Held downe her head, the whiles her lovely face
The flashing blood with blushing did inflame,
And the strong passion mard her modest grace,
That Guyon mervayld at her uncouth cace;
Till Alma him bespake: "Why wonder yee,
Faire Sir, at that which ye so much embrace?
She is the fountaine of your modestee:

You shamefast are, but Shamefastnes it selfe is shee."

(43-)

I think

This I believe to be the author under two aspects, the one eager for public employment and honour, the other in his private relations, as he thought of himself.1 it is also possible, having regard to the extreme candour and "simplicity" of Bacon's self-expression when writing under disguise (as I believe), that in the periods mentioned -I refer to the "nine months" and the "three years "— he is stating what he had actually experienced since his return from France in March 1579, and, in that case, we have the dates of composition of these two books respectively.

1 Compare with this Bacon's defence of his conduct (aet. 25) to his uncle, Lord Burghley, who had taken him to task for pride or presumption: "I find also that such persons as are of nature bashful (as myself is) . . . are often mistaken for proud." (Spedding, Life, i. 59.) Compare also the Sidney sonnet quoted at p. 363.

Prince Arthur is accompanied by the squire, Timias, who is supposed to represent Ralegh. There seems little doubt that a reference to Ralegh is intended under this character in the scene with Belphoebe in Book III. v., if only from the suggestion that the herb by which she heals his wounds may have been "divine Tobacco" (32). The episode in IV. vii., where Belphoebe finds him with Amoret, and turns from him with the words "Is this the faith?" (36), may relate, as is generally supposed, to Ralegh's marriage with Elizabeth Throgmorton in 1592.1 But how under this construction is the appearance of Timias to be accounted for in Book I., which, if the Irish official were the author, was probably completed before he went to Ireland, and in any case before he knew Ralegh, and (what is still more important, whoever be the author) before Ralegh was known to fame? It may be said that the description (see especially the account of the virtues of the Squire's bugle in Canto viii. 3-5) is only the traditional language of romance, but this, as I have already said, is not in this writer's manner, his genius being too objective and practical to be content with writing in the air. The conclusion to which I have come is this that just as under Prince Arthur the writer sees himself idealised as the representative of his nation, so under Timias he sees the aspirant of reality, himself, that is, as he was, waiting for his opportunity and in ready attendance on the State. This accounts for the stress laid on the "mean estate" of Timias in III. v. 44, and for such lines as these, which are quite inappropriate to the personality of Ralegh, or to his circumstances after he had won the favour of the Queen :

But, foolish boy, what bootes thy service bace
To her to whom the hevens doe serve and sew?
Thou, a meane Squyre of meeke and lowly place;
She hevenly borne and of celestiall hew.

(47.)

The explanation which I have suggested for the

1 As to Amoret see Chapter III. The character in this scene seems to be utilised for the special allusion.

Ralegh poems applies, in my belief, equally to the presentment of the character of Timias in the Faerie Queene, namely that it is a vehicle for the expression of the author's own aspirations, and, in the second portion, of his distress at his exclusion from access (as seen in the correspondence summarised in Chapter XV.). Into this he has woven allusions to Ralegh, whose loss of favour synchronised with his own, thereby appearing to plead Ralegh's cause, and at the same time disguising from the general world the appeals on his own behalf to the Queen's feelings. Elizabeth had a great regard for Bacon's father and visited him at Gorhambury. She had been attracted by his son Francis as a child,1 and probably therefore knew more about him than appears on the surface. It is not impossible that these appeals, and their origin, would have been understood by her; but, in any case, on such a question she would naturally preserve silence, and she was certainly not the kind of woman to be much affected by them, especially where matters of State were concerned.

The passages which I have especially in mind in these remarks are in Book IV. Cantos vii. and viii. In the first the Squire incurs Belphoebe's wrath for apparent inconstancy, and falls into a state of despair in which he neglects all knightly service, even regarding "his own deare Lord Prince Arthure" as a stranger2 (43). In Canto viii. "The gentle Squire recovers grace" through the help of the dove, and the interview with Belphoebe, which begins "He her beholding at her feet downe fell" (13), ends with his restoration to favour:

In which he long time afterwards did lead
An happie life with grace and good accord,
Fearlesse of fortunes chaunge or envies dread,
And eke all mindlesse of his own deare Lord
The noble Prince . . .

(18.)

Later he is represented as renewing his service with the Prince. Under this episode the author is evidently

1 Life by Rawley; Spedding, Works, i.

2 The idea presumably is that he had lost interest even in public affairs.

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