appears in the Furioso. This, indeed, is not the only case in which Ariosto has forgot the difference of colouring which he had given to his copy of Boiardo’s picture. Had Boiardo, for instance, dispatched Astolpho to the moon, in search of his own wits as well as Orlando’s, he might have been considered as most appropriately selected for such a mission; but this employment appears rather an undeserved satire upon the sober-minded Astolpho of the Furioso. It is rather a curious circumstance that Boiardo should have chosen an English prince as the most perfect representative of the Gascon; and seems to confirm what I have maintained in my introduction to the Innamorato, respecting Boiardo’s having been indebted to previous romances for many of his characters. The individuality, indeed, which distinguishes these would lead us to suppose that these romancers drew from story; and the half-lights which have reached us tend to confirm the supposition. Thus Orlando (as I have said in my notes to the first canto) is to be found in the Latin chronicles of the middle ages, under the names of Rutlandus and Ruitlandus. Renaud de Montauban, or Riualdo di Mont’ Albano, we learn also, from early story, was a border Castellain, and his character tallies with his situation in society.
Ork, physeter, &c.
Stanza xxxvi. line 8.
The ork (orca) as mentioned here and afterwards in canto viii, is some ideal sea-monster. In a future canto an ork (orco) is described as a Cyclops.
I have the authority of Motteux, who, “though his name offends a British ear,” is an admirable master of English, for the word physeter.
There we beheld a mighty whale, &c.
Stanza xxxvii. line 1.
Every thing in Ariosto, as before said, is construed into some secret sense. The fishes, described in a preceding stanza, are
