Specimens of English literature from the 'Ploughmans crede' to the ...

XXVIII. (B) EDMUND SPENSER. 475116. Shifting, i. e. rapid movement, dancing.118. ?7«soo/e, unsweet, bitter.121. Cf. Virgil, Eel. v. 36, and Job xxxi. 38-40.133. Spoken by poetical licence. Spenser was only twenty-sevenyears old.EmWeme (Glosse). 'Exegi,'&c.; Horace, Carm. iii. 30. ' Grande,' &c.;Ovid, Metam. xv. 871. The latter quotation is not quite correct. Theusual reading is ' Jamque opus,' &c. ; also ignes, not ignis. The motto'Vivitur ingenio,' &c., is paraphrased from Marot's motto.Epilogue.8. A lowly gate, a lowly way, in a humble manner.9. Tityrus. Certainly Chaucer, because he is linked with his contemporaryWilliam Langland, the author of Piers the Plowman. YetSpenser's description of the latter is not accurate, unless we take theword playde in a musical sense, i. e. take it to mean played or piped thestory of the Ploughman. With this interpretation, however, it is strictlyaccurate to define Langland as a pilgrim, who sang of thePloughman.This note is the more necessary, because it is a common mistake tosuppose that Piers the Plowman is the name of an author, whereas itmerely denotes the subject of the ' pilgrim ' Langland's poem.9-1 1. These lines are imitated from Statins, Thebaid xii. 816'Uiue precor, nee tu diuinam Aeneida tenta,Sed longe sequere, et uestigia semper adora.'Merce, non Mercede, Thanks, not Reward (in money) ; it expressesthe poet's object.