III. ii. 49 l. 7. a earthen] an earthen 1609. Spenser may have intended to pronounce ‘yearthen’. N. E. D. describes the y-form of ‘earth’ as going down to the sixteenth century, though no y-forms are quoted under ‘earthen’. In Northern dialect, with which Spenser was familiar, ‘a’ takes the place of ‘an’ even before a vowel. If the quartos are right, this is another archaism unfamiliar to 1609.
III. iii. 6 l. 1. auisd] aduis’d 1609. See note on IV. ii. 22.
III. iii. 15 l. 3. 1609 makes ‘businesse’ three syllables, and then seeks to avoid the trisyllabic foot. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.
III. iii. 44 l. 5. See note on I. ii. 29 l. 2.
III. iii. 50 l. 9. See Introduction, p. xviii.
III. iii. 53 l. 3. Evidently an author’s correction; but the reason for the change is obscure.
III. iv. 39 l. 9. sith we no more shall meet] till we againe may meet 1590. Spenser has remembered, or been reminded, that Cymoent is a heathen goddess.
III. iv. 40 l. 6. 1611 modernizes to ‘ielly’d blood’.
III. iv. 59 l. 5. See note on I. v. 7 l. 9.
III. v. Arg. 4. sownd] swound 1609. ‘Sownd’ is one of the rarer spellings of the multiform ‘swound’, ‘swoune’, &c. At VI. i. 34 l. 2 we find ‘sound’ (= swound) in both 1596 and 1609.