V.'-2:if7(fMJ'?^X'-Mi-}M--:''MMiS'MS Minn H^ ffl T WEMOniAL UtBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY ENGLISH COLLECTION THE GIFT OF JAMES MORGAN HART PROFESSOR OF FINGIJSH f\,as5^ao ki' ^c\U%\if OLIN LIBRARY - CIRCULAtlOH DATE DUE PRINTED IN U.S. A Cornell university Library PR 2358.A4L77 1896 Britomart, from BOOKS III. Van^^^^^^^^^ "^""'■,924 013 124 924 The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013124924 SPENSER'S BRITOMART FROM BOOKS m, IV, AND V OF THE FAERY QUEENE EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY MARY E. LITCHFIELD Boston, U.S.A., and London GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1896 6 E.V, piyBbisHeRS BosTOAi. New York. Chicago /\tlaWta. DALLA5. CbLUiiBUs. San FtvvNCljCo'L frc&enled LONDON to ~A^ .^i THE. AX H E NX. U/*\ PRESS "^'OL- 4r,-43UljV Copyright, 1896 By MARY E. LITCHFIELD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PREFACE. •-n..i-* Except to the special student of literature, Britomart, the most charming of Spenser's heroines, is almost unknown. Indeed, she has for long years been wan- dering in the mazes of the poet's fairy-land, well-nigh lost to view. And yet no story in the Faery Queene is so romantic and none has such a strong human inter- est as that which tells of the " lady knight." As we read of her adventures we are reminded of Rosalind in the forest of Arden. In this little book the scattered portions of Spenser's interesting narrative have been taken out and re-united. It has been necessary to omit stanzas and occasionally lines from the parts selected, but the language of the poet has in no instance been tampered with. In the case of writers like Dante and Milton, the attempt to take out and re-unite scattered portions would be an evident impertinence. With Spenser, however, a genius whose constructive ability did not enable him to make of a long poem an artistic whole, the proceeding seems justifiable. The text is that of the best editions, but the spelling has been modernized except where the modern spelling would iv PREFACE. change the sound of the word. In the elucidation of difficult passages the highest authorities have been con- sulted. The notes, however, contain only such infor- mation as is necessary to the intelligent study of the poem. In order that this study may prove a delight rather than a task, the notes have been placed at the bottom of the page, and have been so arranged that any portion of the narrative may be read by itself. Except for a few suggestions, there has been no attempt at tracing the allegory. INTRODUCTION. -S-3S-I- Since every piece of literature is in a way the prod- uct of the age in which it is written, we must, if we would rightly estimate the poetry of Spenser, consider the circumstances amid which the poet lived and the events and movements that left their impress upon his character. And since Spenser's poetry has an important — though not the most important — place in the literature of the i6th century in England, it is well, before studying his works, to seek to know the causes that led to the unparalleled literary activity of the Elizabethan Age. During the century that preceded the birth of Spen- ser, great events followed one another in quick succes- sion : in 1453 Constantinople was taken by the Turks, and through the Greek scholars that fled to Italy the culture of Greece was carried into Western Europe ; about 147s Caxton set up his printing-press in Eng- land ; Columbus discovered the New World in 1492 ; in 1 5 17 Luther attacked the doctrine of indulgences ; in 1534 Henry VIII declared himself head of the Eng- lish church. However, not until the reign of Elizabeth, with its long years of internal peace, did the conditions resulting from these events find adequate expression in English literature. Caxton fortunately set up his VI INTRODUCTION. printing-press just as the New Learning was making its way, bringing from Italy an enthusiasm for the classics and awakening among English scholars an interest in the study of the Bible in the original tongues. In the religious disturbances that darkened the reigns of Edward VI and Mary, the light of the New Learning seemed in danger of being quenched ; but, with the coming of Elizabeth, herself a lover of Greek and Latin literature, the classics regained their supremacy, and the grammar schools, recently established, spread the love of learning among the people. A spirit of inquiry in regard to natural phenomena was abroad in Elizabeth's time. The Copernican sys- tem was revolutionizing men's ideas in regard to the relations of the heavenly bodies, and, before many years, Francis Bacon was to give to the study of natural science an impulse such as it had never before received in England. In the province of religion old barriers were swept aside and new forces were given full play. When Henry VIII threw off his allegiance to Rome and declared himself head of the English church, the national consciousness was no doubt quickened ; but the event that did most during his reign toward devel- oping the moral and religious sentiment of the nation was the translation of the Bible into English. In a few years the Bible, known already through the teachings of the clergy, became the one book of the mass of the people ; the images of the Hebrew writers were in every mind, their phrases on every tongue. More than Homer to the Greek was the Bible to the Englishman; INTRODUCTION. vii for from it he gained that moral strength, that realiza- tion of his individual worth as the child of God, which made him battle with a stout heart against the dreaded power of Catholic Spain, and which, later, enabled him to resist successfully the tyranny of his own rulers. The translation of the Bible exercised an influence upon the development of English literature ; and the influence was in part owing to the time at which the translation was made ; that is, it was made just when the language was ripe for it. Not until the i6th century were the various elements that go to make up the English tongue thoroughly assimilated. While to-day the language of Chaucer needs to be studied, the speech of the i6th century, freed from its peculiar- ities in spelling, may easily be read by a person of ordi- nary intelligence ; in fact, it is practically modern English. By the wide and rapid diffusion of the Bible, the people as a whole, even those speaking peculiar dialects, became familiar with a body of writings expressed in the literary medium of the period. Con- sequently the 16th-century writers when employing the current tongue could appeal to persons of vari- ous social conditions. This is one reason why the literature of the Elizabethan Age is the literature, not of a class, but of a nation. While the influences just mentioned quickened the moral perceptions and refined the literary instincts of the people, the discovery of the New World awoke in them a sudden consciousness of their own force, and led them to realize in a slight degree the part they were destined to play on the great stage of the world. Up to the viii INTRODUCTION. beginning of the i6th century Englishmen had been obliged to acknowledge that their small island had little weight in the affairs of Europe. She had heretofore looked to Rome for spiritual guidance and to Italy and France for inspiration and teaching in literary matters. Now at last she was to take her true place in the onward march of the nations. The discovery of America and the subsequent explorations of daring navigators sailing under English colors had given to England even more truly than to Castile and Leon a " New World." The spirit of the Vikings that had slumbered for centuries in their descendants awoke, and England felt her real power — the power of the conqueror and the colonizer; the power which was to make that " little body with a mighty heart" the greatest civilizing force of modern times. As we consider these facts we begin to see why the man of the Elizabethan Age differed in many respects both from his predecessors and from his descendants. We can now account for his unruly passions, his lively imagination, his religious intolerance, and his love of adventure. We do not wonder that the finer spirits of the time were inspired by lofty and generous ideals. Fortunate, indeed, was the genius whose lot was cast in this remarkable century; if not heir of all the ages that have stored up their wealth for the 19th-century man, he was the possessor of a rich inheritance. If the genius were a Spenser, he looked beyond the material universe, out upon vast realms of the imagina- tion peopled with those airy nothings to which the poet alone can. give a local habitation and a name. INT.RODUCTION. ix And yet, the poet is, after all, born into the hard, actual world, — . . . the world Of all of us, — the place where in the end, We find our happiness, or not at all ; and he, like the commonest mortal, must grapple with facts, and gain strength and insight through experience. Edmund Spenser was born in London near the Tower, sometime between 1549 and 1554. 1552 is the date usually fixed upon, and this makes him six years old when Elizabeth came to the throne. He was evi- dently of good family, though his parents must have been in moderate circumstances. He was a pupil in the grammar school established by the Merchant Tay- lors' Company, and when sixteen or seventeen left school for the university of Cambridge. In 1573 he became B.A., and in 1576 left the university with the degree of M.A. His friendship with Gabriel Harvey, a fellow-student, had an important influence upon his future life, since Harvey introduced him to Sir Philip Sidney, who made him known to his uncle, the Earl of Leicester. After a short stay in the north of England, where he is supposed to have wooed unsuccessfully a certain fair Rosalind, the poet settled in London. In 1579 his first printed book, the "Shepherd's Calendar," was published. This production was dedicated to Sid- ney. In 1580 Spenser went to Ireland as secretary to Arthur, Lord Grey de Wilton. Since he was staying at Lord Leicester's house just before this event, it is probable that he obtained the position through Leices- ter's influence. Lord Grey was recalled in 1582, and X INTRODUCTION. Spenser returned to England with him. In 1586 a large estate at Kilcolman, not far from the city of Cork, was granted Spenser by the queen ; and it was in his new home that he composed the first three books of the Faery Queene. Sir Walter Raleigh, whose friend- ship he had gained during his former visit to Ireland, thought so highly of the work that he persuaded Spen- ser to accompany him to England that he might present him to the queen. Elizabeth received the poet with marked favor, and granted him a pension of fifty pounds a year. The three books were published in 1590 with an explanatory letter addressed to Raleigh. In -1591 a collection of Spenser's shorter poems appeared. In 1594 the poet married a "countrey lasse " named Eliz- abeth, and in honor of the occasion wrote his celebrated Epithalamion. A second edition of the first three books of the Faery Qiieetie was printed in 1596,' together with the next three books. Spenser was in London at this time. After his return to Ireland, in 1598, the Tyrone Rebellion broke out, and the castle of Kilcolman was sacked and burnt. The poet was obliged to flee with his family, and in the hurry and confusion one of the children was left to perish in the flames. Spenser managed to reach England, but died three months later, in January, 1599. His body lies beside that of Chaucer in Westminster Abbey. In the Prothalamion, written when he was a little over forty, the poet speaks of his birthplace as . merry London, my most kindly nurse, That to me gave this life's first, native source ; and in the same poem he alludes to INTRODUCTION. xi . . . the shore of silver-streaming Thames ; Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems, Was painted all with variable flowers, And all the meads adorned with dainty gems Fit to deck maidens' bowers. It is interesting to picture Spenser as a boy in Lon- don — that strange London of the i6th century, with its filth and its splendor, its Puritanism and its license, its hatred of popery and its stanch loyalty to the queen, — above all, with its daring hopes and its world- wide interests. We see the schoolboy playing on the " rutty " banks of the river, or dodging as he runs from school to avoid the frequent holes and the heaps of filth that make the streets anything but ways of pleas- antness. Now he gazes at the stuffed monkeys and par- rots, the tomahawks and the Indian ornaments exposed to view in some shop. A live red man even may meet his gaze, for Indians were occasionally brought to Lon- don in those days. We see him listening breathless as some returned mariner tells the knot of boys gathered about him of Eldorados more wonderful than Mexico and Peru, of lands where the rivers run gold and the rocks are full of diamonds. At another time we see the future poet, of fairy-land cheering on a street fight or following with the crowd that escorts an unfortunate victim to the stocks or to the gallows. Perhaps the boy's attention is arrested by a passing courtier, the willing cynosure of admiring eyes, fantastically arrayed as a Spanish grandee or as a French beau of the period. The plays given in the court-yards of the inns are sure to have aroused Spenser's enthusiasm ; and tucked in xii INTRODUCTION. among his burly elders he doubtless watched with keen delight the crude performances of the early Elizabethan stage. After the play would come the walk home in the quick coming darkness of the winter afternoon, the flaring light of the linkboy's torch making well-known objects strangely unfamiliar. But, above all, the shows! — processions, pageants, masks, mummeries, morality plays ; every kind of spectacle that could delight the eyes of man might be seen in or near the London of Spenser's day. The queen never moved but in a show. The most trifling occasion was celebrated by allegorical representations. The vices and virtues became as familiar to the sight as they are in all ages to the inner consciousness of the people. The Mask of Cupid that Britomart witnesses in Busirane's castle is only a court mask of Spenser's time that has found its way into fairy-land. If the imagination of the future poet was fed by the sights and sounds of the city, it fnust have been nour- ished by books as well. Stories from every land and every age found their way to the printing-presses of London : Italian poems, French romances, Spanish tales, and classical mythologies. Spenser read of the gods of Greece ; and in the early red of the morning he saw Aurora coming to rejoice the slumbering world. He pored over Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Morte d'Art/mr till in the clouds of sunset he could dis- tinguish the shining spears and the crimson banners of the knights of the Round Table. With these romantic tales were mingled Scripture narratives ; and back of all, — a dark, deep undercurrent, — whispers INTRODUCTION. xiii of popish plots and stories of Spanish cruelty. It is no wonder that the Faery Qiieene is at the first glance a strange medley ; that Christian knights and fair ladies as they wander in Spenser's fairy-land meet with sor- cerers and dragons, with Saracens and Amazons; while the vices and virtues personified live on terms of inti- macy with the thinly disguised characters of the poet's own time. Little is known of Spenser's life at Cambridge. It is known, however, that the university was at that time represented to the authorities in London as being in a state of dangerous excitement. Religious controversies were rife, and the more subtle doctrines of the various Puritanical sects were eagerly discussed. Gabriel Har- vey, Spenser's college friend, in a letter written to the poet a short time after the latter had left Cambridge, says : " Every day spawns new opinions : heresy in divinity, in philosophy, in humanity, in manners, grounded upon hearsay; doctors contemn'd ; the devil not so hated as t\it pope ; many invectives but no amend- ment." However, in spite of the prevailing interest in religious controversies, the poet must have found at the university much that would tend to develop the intel- lectual side of his nature ; and if he was, as some main- tain, the most learned of the English poets after Milton (Gray should come first, probably), he owed much of his knowledge to the opportunities enjoyed at Cambridge. Certainly he possessed more than a cursory knowledge of Plato and Aristotle, and his acquaintance with the literatures of Greece, Rome, and Italy was wide if not accurate. In the poets and chroniclers of his own tongue xiv INTRODUCTION. he was deeply read, and Chaucer was his master, beloved and imitated. In addition to his intellectual gains, Spenser, while at the university, made friends whose sympathy and interest were a constant encouragement and stimulus. A few years after leaving Cambridge the poet counted among his friends not only Edward Kirk and Gabriel Harvey, university men, but also Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Lord Grey; while Lord Leicester and Queen Elizabeth herself were among his patrons. It is important to consider his relations with the aris- tocracy, since these relations must have broadened his outlook and have added to his knowledge of men and of affairs; while the atmosphere of the court which sur- rounded him for short intervals several times during the course of his life doubtless quickened his perceptions and refined his tastes. In Sidney, Raleigh, and Grey he saw living examples of the knightly heroes whose valor and generosity had filled his boyish soul with admiration ; and in the brilliant spectacles at court and at Lord Leicester's house he witnessed scenes that needed only the transmuting touch of genius to become worthy of fairy-land itself. The rapid development of his powers was doubtless due in part to his association with these cultivated men of the court and to the knowl- edge that their warm appreciation was sure to greet his best efforts. But if Spenser saw and profited by the better side of court life, he was not blind to the baser elements that went to make up that brilliant society. The following lines are from his poem, Colin Clout's Come Home Again : INTRODUCTION. xv For, sooth to say, it is no sort of life, For shepherd fit to lead in that same place, Where each one seeks with malice, and with strife. To thrust down other into foul disgrace, Himself to raise : and he doth soonest rise That best can handle his deceitful wit In subtle shifts, and finest sleights devise. In his satire, Prosopopoia, or Mother Hubbard 's Tale, Spenser makes us aware that his experience at court was not altogether a happy one : Most miserable man, whom wicked fate Hath brought to Court, to sue for had ywist,^ That few have found, and many one hath missed ! Full little knowest thou, that hast not tried. What hell it is in suing long to bide : To lose good days, that might be better spent ; To waste long nights in pensive discontent ; To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow ; To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow ; To have thy Princes' grace, yet want her Peers'; To have thy asking, yet wait many years ; To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares ; To eat thy heart through comfortless despairs ; To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run, To spend, to give, to want, to be undone. Unhappy wight, born to disastrous end. That doth his life in so long tendance spend. The years spent in Ireland — except for short visits to London, the last eighteen years of his life — must have seemed to the poet a period of exile. Taking into con- sideration the difficulty of communication in his time, he was doubtless farther from London, for him the cen- 1 Had ywist, had I known ; that is, vain regret. xvi INTRODUCTION. tre of the social and intellectual world, than is to-day the Englishman living in New Zealand. Ireland in the 1 6th century was peopled by barbarous, turbulent peo- ple — Catholics for the most part — who were, for suf- ficiently good reasons, bitterly opposed to English rule. Spenser speaks of the " good Lord Grey," whom he portrays in the Faery Qiieene as A^rtegall, the knight of Justice, as "most gentle, "affable, loving, and temper- ate"; "always known to be a most just, sincere, godly, and right noble man, far from sternness, far from unrighteousness"; and yet, he admits that the Lord- Deputy left a terrible name behind him in Ireland. Church 1 says of Spenser's patron : " He was certainly a man of severe and unshrinking sense of duty, and like many great Englishmen of the time, so resolute in carrying it out to the end, that it reached, when he thought it necessary, to the point of ferocity." Were Spenser merely the gentle dreamer that some critics conceive him to be, he would, while with Lord Grey, have shut his eyes so far as he could to the barbarous scenes of English rule (or misrule), and have taken refuge in the more attractive world of the imagination. Instead of this, we find him some years later writing his "View of the Present State of Ireland," in which he proposes a plan for the reformation of the rebellious island. Like our greatest English writers, — Shakes- peare, Milton, and Chaucer, — Spenser was, notwith- standing his poetic genius, a practical, clear-headed Eng- lishman, with enough of hardness to enable him to hold his own among the ruling spirits of a turbulent age. 1 Spenser, by R. W. Church, in the English Men of Letters Series. INTRODUCTION. xvii Kilcolman, Spenser's home, was near the hill of Aharlo, a great fastness in the Desmond Rebellion, and to the north stretched a wild country, half forest, half bog. Here, except for short visits to London, the poet lived in retirement. He did, it is true, make occa- sional trips to Dublin, where he had a small circle of English friends who sympathized to a certain degree with his literary tastes. Painful as this banishment may have been for the man Spenser, the poet could hardly have found a place better calculated to develop his peculiar genius. A painter of contemporary man- ners like Pope would have suffered intellectual starva- tion amid these hills and bogs ; but the man who was to create the fairy-land of Gloriana and then lose him- self in its interminable mazes needed to be where out- ward things would not distract his mind. Bunyan wrote his allegory in Bedford jail; Milton saw the wonders of heaven and hell after his eyes were closed to the actual world; and Spenser, forgetting the loneliness of his position, could transform the scenes of violence and dis- order, whose echoes reached him, into glorious knightly achievements, and could people the wild solitudes of Kilcolman with the varied creations of his fertile imag- ination. Speaking of the Faery Queenc, Church says : " The realities of the Irish wars and of Irish social and political life gave a real subject, gave body and form to the allegory. . . . There in visible fact were the vices and falsehoods which Arthur and his companions were to quell and punish. . . . The allegory bodies forth the life of man in all conditions and at all times. But Spenser could never have seen in England such a strong xviii INTRODUCTION. and perfect image of the allegory itself — with the wild wanderings of its personages, its daily chances of battle and danger, its hairbreadth escapes, its strange encoun- ters, its prevailing anarchy and violence, its normal absence of law and order — as he had continually and customarily before him in Ireland." While we learn from the biographies of Spenser a good deal about the circumstances of the poet's life, we find in them little regarding his personal character. We know that he had the artist's feeling for beauty and that he was a seeker after the ideal. We know, too, that he loved his country and admired his queen, — for we cannot consider his extravagant expressions in regard to Elizabeth as mere adulation, — and that he felt the most cordial hatred for the pope, the Spaniard, and all whom he looked upon as England's enemies. From the Epithalamion we infer that he was able to invest those dearest to him with something of that ideal beauty which was always seeking expression in his writings. Perhaps, however, the most admirable trait that has been preserved for us is his chivalric constancy in friendship. Living as he did in an age of patronage, an age in which the struggling genius must look to those high in rank for the means that should enable him to prosecute his work, Spenser might easily, in the struggle for existence, have forgotten to be grateful. Eager for his own advancement, he might have sought always the favor of those whose smiles would insure success. This was not the case with the poet. Although his friend and patron, Lord Grey de Wilton, was recalled from Ireland to England and censured by the home gov- INTRODUCTION. xix ernment for his unsuccessful though strenuous efforts at ruling the turbulent island that had been placed under his control, Spenser, in his View of the Present State of Ireland, heartily commended the administration of the Lord-Deputy. Besides, he introduced him into the Faery Queene as Artegall, the knight of Justice. Earlier in his career, when writing the Shepherd' s Cal- endar, the poet chose as the pattern of a true Christian pastor his former patron. Archbishop Grindal, — whom he denominated Algrind, — although at that very time the bishop was suffering under the displeasure of the court. One familiar with the jealousies and intrigues of Elizabeth's court will realize that the course pursued by Spenser in the instances referred to gives evidence not only of constancy in friendship but of high moral courage as well. Besides the Faery Qiieene, Spenser wrote : the Shep- herd 's Calendar, a collection of pastoral poems, one for each month in the year; Prosopopoia, or Mother Hub- bard's Tale, a satirical fable; Colin Clout's Come Home Again, a fanciful account of the poet's trip to England with Raleigh and of his presentation to the queen ; Astrophel, a Pastoral Elegy tipon the Death of the most Noble and Valorous Knight, Sir Philip Sidney ; Pro- thalamion, or a Spousal Verse ; Epithalamion, a poem celebrating the poet's own marriage ; four Hymns in honor of Love, Beauty, Heavenly Love, and Heavenly Beauty ; and numerous other poems, among them a large number of sonnets. In addition to these poetical works, he left behind him the prose treatise. View of the Present State of Ireland, and several letters. XX INTRODUCTION. The poet who can write interesting narratives, keen satires, fanciful allegories, and lyrics of marvellous beauty is certainly not a one-sided genius. At the same time Spenser has, with the exception of Britomart, created no living character; and on occasions Britomart, even, becomes shadowy, unsubstantial. The author of the Faery Queene lacks dramatic power and is wanting also in the constructive ability that goes to the making of great epics. He is, too, devoid of passion, unless an absorbing love for the good and the beautiful may be counted as passion. Not once in all his poems does he, like Shakespeare, touch those chords that awaken an echo in the deepest recesses of the human heart ; nor does he, like Wordsworth, find a new and hidden beauty in the " meanest flower that blows." And yet Milton calls him "a better teacher than Scotus or Aquinas," and Wordsworth in his Prelude says : And that gentle Bard, Chosen by the muses for their page of State, Sweet Spenser, moving through his clouded heaven With the moon's beauty and the moon's soft pace, I called him Brother, Englishman, and Friend. Brother and friend he has in truth been to his fellow- craftsmen from his own time to ours, — and master as well. His title, "the poets' poet," is no empty phrase. When he began to write England had for a hundred and fifty years been without a great poet. Chaucer with his archaic forms could no longer serve as teacher and inspirer, and the verse-makers, lacking an English model, looked to Italy for instruction in INTRODUCTION. xxi their art. Spenser revealed to his contemporaries the capacities of the English tongue. A master of poetic form, and sensitive to the subtlest harmonies of lan- guage, he taught the writers of the i6th century how- to use the resources at their command ; and echoes of his melodious phrases may be detected in some of the latest productions of English literature. The Spenserian stanza — the stanza of the Faery Queene — still remains one of the chief forms of English verse. However, it is not simply because of his artistic qualities that Spenser has exercised an important influence upon the development of English poetry. His characteristic charm lies in the fact that better than any other poet of his nation he knows how to communicate to his readers the joy that comes from the contemplation of ideal beauty. His poetry, it is true, does not cause that ecstatic thrill which is akin to pain; rather it gives a calm and serene happiness, the result of long com- panionship with what is pure and high. "The noblest mind the best contentment has," Spenser tells us. In the Faery Queene life is represented as a conflict in which the good are often hard pressed. Still, we are not troubled; for the eternal forces are at work and the victory is sure. As we read, the sense of earthly limi- tations passes away, and we find ourselves in a new world where we gladly linger, charmed and detained by the long swell of the Spenserian stanza. Lowell has called this world, "the land of pure heart's ease, where no ache or sorrow of spirit can enter." Spenser is, as we have seen, peculiarly the represent- ative of his own age in its higher aspects. As in the xxii INTRODUCTION. more realistic of the Elizabethan dramatists we see pictured the actual life of the time, so in Spenser we find the beliefs, the dreams, the ideals of his contempo- raries. The cultivated men of his day read Plato and Aristotle, and enjoyed Homer, Virgil, Boccaccio, and Ariosto ; and we find reproduced in Spenser's poems the thoughts and images of these writers. Their own past had likewise its charm for the men of Elizabeth's court ; and Spenser, an avowed disciple of Chaucer, steeped himself in old chronicles and romances, and found an irresistible attraction in the forms of a rapidly decaying feudalism. Spenser is the poet of the Renais- sance with its love of learning, its feeling for the artistic in form and color, its new delight in life, its faith in the possibilities of human achievement. At the same time he never forgets that life is a struggle ; and under- neath his most glowing pictures may be found the noble aims and the high ideals of the Puritan. As we read his poetry, the past, touched with a glory not its own, lives once more in our imagination ; and we gain the culture that comes through sympathy with interests remote from those of to-day. Our ears, trained by a skilled musician, learn to trace with delight the hitherto unsuspected harmonies of the great masters of verse. But more than this is won if the poet accomplishes his purpose ; for in his letter to Raleigh he says, speaking of the Faery Queene : "The generall end, therefore, of] all the booke is to fashion a gentleman or noble person I in vertuous and gentle discipline"; and surely^ must gain in virtue and in magnanimity if we associate with the generous and noble spirit of Spenser. INTRODUCTION. xxiii In his letter to Sir Walter Raleigh (which follows this chapter), Spenser tells the purpose and the plan of the Faery Queene. The plan, however, was never car- ried out ; for but six of the twelve books proposed, and fragments of a seventh, were given to the world. Of these books, the first " containing the Legend of the Knight of the Red Cross, or of Holiness," is the most perfect in form, and as a narrative the most complete. The interest, however, depends largely upon the alle- gory underlying the poem. The second book, which contains "The Legend of Sir Guyon, or of Temperance," though less artistic than the first, has passages of sur- passing beauty and possesses some interest as a narra- tive. In both these books, however, the characters are abstractions. The third book, " containing the Legend of Britomartis, or of Chastity," introduces a clearly defined character; for Britomart, while she represents an abstract quality, is herself a woman with the graces and the failings of her sex. Indeed, as he sees her searching for her unknown lover, accompanied by the gentle Amoret, the reader cannot fail to be reminded of Shakespeare's Rosalind and her faithful cousin, Celia. The story of Britomart's adventures is continued through the fourth book, containing the " Legend of Cambel and Triamond, or of Friendship," and the fifth which contains the "Legend of Artegall, or of Justice." In reading the three books, however, it is difficult to keep Britomart in view, so numerous are the characters introduced and so confusing the account of their adven- tures. Of course the careful student of Spenser will read the entire Faery Queene, will trace the underlying xxiv INTRODUCTION. allegories, will seek the sources from which the poet derived many of his ideas and images, and will look up allusions to the events and the personages of the time. The general student of English literature, however, may find in the narrative here presented a production especially calculated to arouse his interest and to stim- ulate him to the further study of the poet. The poem has a peculiar value in connection with the study of the institutions of Chivalry; and on this account it may be classed with Chaucer's Knightes Tale, with Scott's romantic poems, and with Tennyson's Idylls of the King. The stanza employed in the Faery Queene should be carefully examined. While it is said to be a modifica- tion of the Italian "ottava rima," it differs sufficiently from the Italian stanza to be considered Spenser's own creation. It will be noticed that the first eight lines consist each of five, and the ninth line of six iambic feet ; and it will be observed that irregularities in metre are occasionally introduced for the sake of emphasis, or to break the monotony of the rythm. Mr. Corson in his Primer of English Verse has an excellent article on the Spenserian stanza. Some attention should be paid to Spenser's peculiar use of language. He was for some reason attracted by the older rather than the newer forms of his day. Such old forms as ydrad for dreaded, yclad for clad, and yold for yielded occur frequently; he uses ne with not — the double negative ; while old words not to be found in Shakespeare and other writers only a few years younger than himself, are at times employed by him. INTRODUCTION. XXV It is said that his vocabulary, notwithstanding his occa- sional use of foreign idioms, is more Germanic than that of any other great English poet. It must be con- fessed that he sometimes uses language arbitrarily, twisting the meaning of a word, or altering the form or the accent to suit his artistic purposes. For this reason the philologist looks a little askance at his productions. The student will do well to consult Mr. Frederic I. Carpenter's Outline Guide to the Study of Spenser, where he will find lists of books that may be used with advantage. The following works will be found useful : complete works of Spenser edited by Grosart ; the Globe edition of Spenser edited by Morris, with a memoir by Hales; Professor Child's edition of Spenser's poems ; Books I and II of the Faery Queene edited by Kitchin ; Book I of the Faery Qiceene edited by Per- cival ; Selections from Spenser by Professor Gummere, in the Athenaeum Press series (announced) ; Spenser by R. W. Church, in the English Men of Letters series ; Green's History of the English People; Taine's History of English Literature ; Brooke's Primer of English Literature; Corson's Primer, of English Verse; Dow- den's Transcripts and Studies ; Craik's Spenser and His Poetry ; and Lowell's Among My Books, 2d series (Vol. IV of the Riverside edition of his writings). xxvi INTRODUCTION. A LETTER of the Authors expounding his whole inten- tion in the course of this worke ^ ; which, for that it giveth great light to the reader, for the better under- standing is hereunto annexed. To THE Right Noble and Valorous SIR WALTER RALEIGH, KNIGHT, Lo : Wardein of the Stanneries,"^ and her majesties lieutenaunt of the countie of Cornewayll. Sir, Knowing how doubtfully all Allegories may be construed, and this booke of mine, which I have entituled The Faery Queene, being a continued AUegorie, or darke conceit,^ I have thought good, as well for avoyding of jealous* opinions and misconstructions, as also for your better light in read- ing thereof, (being so, by you commanded) to discover unto you the generall intention and meaning, which in the whole course thereof I have fashioned, without expressing of any particular purposes, or by-accidents therein occasioned. The generall end therefore of all the booke, is to fashioiu a- gentleman or noble person in ve rt uous anj ^gentle discipline^ Which for that I conceived shoulde be most plausible and pleasing, beeing coloured with an historicall fiction, the 1 This worke. The letter served as an introduction to the first three books of the Faery Queene. 2 Stanneries, stannaries, tin mines or tin works. 8 Darke conceit, mysterious or obscure conception or design, * Jealous, suspicious. INTRODUCTION. xxvii which the most part of men delight to read, rather for vari- etie of matter than for profit of the ensample : I chose the historic of king Arthure, as most fit for the excellencie of his person, beeing made famous by many mens former workes, and also furthest from the danger of envie,' and suspicion of present time. In which I have followed all the antique poets historicall: first Homer, who in the persons of Agamemnon and Ulysses hath ensampled^ a good governour and a vertuous man, the one in his Ilias, the other in his Odysseis : then Virgil, whose like intention was to doe in the person of yEneas : after him Ariosto comprised them both I in his Orlando : and lately Tasso dissevered them againe, and formed both parts in two persons, namely, that part which they in philosophy call Ethice, or vertues of a private man, coloured in his Rinaldo : the other named PoKtice, in his Godfredo. By ensample of which excellent Poets, I laboure to pourtraict in Arthure, before he was king, the image of a brave knight, perfected in the twelve private morall vertues, as Aristotle hath devised : which if I find to be well accepted, I may be perhaps encoraged to frame the other part of pollitike vertues in his person, after he came to bee king. To some I know this Methode will seem displeasant, which had rather have good discipline delivered plainly in way of precepts, or sermoned at large, as they use, then^ thus clowdily enwrapped in Allegoricall devises. But such, mee seeme, should be satisfied with the use of these dayes, seeing all things accounted by their showes, and nothing esteemed of, that is not delightfull and pleasing to common sense. For this cause is Xenophon preferred before Plato, for that the one, in the exquisite depth of his judgement, 1 Envie, ill will, hatred. ^ Ensampled, given an example of. 8 Then, than. xxviii INTRODUCTION. formed a Commune-wealth, such as it should be ; but the other, in the person of Cyrus and the Persians, fashioned a government, such as might best be : So much more profitable and gracious is doctrine by ensample then by rule. So have I laboured to do in the person of Arthure : whom I conceive, after his long education by Timon (to whom he was by Mer- lin delivered to be brought up, so soone as he was borne of the Lady Igrayne) to have seen in a dreame or vision the Faerie Queene, with whose excellent beautie ravished, hee awaking, resolved to seek her out : and so, being by Merlin armed, and by Timon throughly instructed, he went to seeke her forth in Faery land. In that Faery Queene I mean I Glory in my generall intention : but in my particular I con- ceive the most excellent and glorious person of our sover- aine the Queene, and her kingdome in Faery land. And yet, in some places else, I doe otherwise shadow ^ her. For considering shee beareth two persons, the one of a most royall Queene or Empresse, the other of a most vertuous and beautifull lady, this latter part in some places I doe expresse in Belphoebe, fashioning her name according to your owne excellent conceipt of Cynthia,'' (Phoebe and Cyn- thia being both names of Diana.) So in the person of Prince Arthure I sette forth magnificence in particular, which ver- tue, for that (according to Aristotle and the rest) it is the perfection of all the rest, and containeth in it them all, there- fore in the whole course I mention the deeds of Arthure^ appliable to the vertue, which I write of in that booke. /But of the twelve other vertues I make XII other knights the patrons, for the more varietie of the historic : Of which these three bookes containe three. The first, of the Knight of the Red crosse, in whom I expresse Holinesse : the sec- ond of Sir Guyon, in whome I set foorth Temperance : the 1 Shadow, represent typically. 2 Cynthia, an allusion to Sir Walter Raleigh's poem " Cynthia.'' INTRODUCTION. xxix third of Britomartis, a Lady knight, in whom I picture Chas- titie. But because the beginning of the whole worke seem- eth abrupt and as depending upon other antecedents, it needs that yee know the occasion of these three knights severall adventures. For the Methode of a Poet historical! is not such as of an Historiographer. For an Historiographer dis- courseth of affaires orderly as they were done, accounting as well the times as the actions ; but a Poet thrusteth into the middest, even where it most concerneth him, and there recoursing to the things forepast, and divining of things to come, maketh a pleasing analysis of all. The beginning therefore of my historic, if it were to be told by an Histori- ographer, should be the twelfth booke, which is the last ; where I devise that the Faery Queene kept her annuall feast twelve dales ; uppon which twelve severall dayes, the occa- sions of the twelve severall adventures hapned, which being undertaken by XH severall knights, are in these twelve books severally handled and discoursed. The first was this. In the beginning of the feast, there presented him selfe a tall clownish younge man, who falling before the Queene of Faeries desired a boone (as the man- ner then was) which during that feast she might not refuse : which was that hee might have the atchievement of any adventure, which during that feast should happen ; that being granted, he rested him selfe on the floore, unfit through his rusticitie for a better place. Soone after entred a faire Ladie in mourning weedes,^ riding on a white Asse, with a dwarfe behind her leading a warlike steed, that bore the Armes of a knight, and his speare in the dwarfes hand. She falling before the Queene of Faeries, complayned that her father and mother, an ancient King and Queene, had bene by an huge dragon many yeers shut up in a brazen Castle, who thence suffered them not to issew : and therefore 1 Weedes, garments. XXX INTRODUCTION. besought the Faery Queene to assigne her some one of her knights to take on him that exployt. Presently^ that clown- ish person upstarting, desired that adventure ; whereat the Queene much wondering, and the Lady much gaine-saying, yet he earnestly importuned his desire. In the end the Lady told him, that unlesse that armour which she brought would serve him (that is, the armour of a Christian man specified by Saint Paul, V. Ephes.) that he could not suc- ceed in that enterprise : which being forth with put upon him with due furnitures thereunto, he seemed the goodliest man in al that company, and wa5 well liked of the Lady. And eftesoones^ taking on him knighthood, and mounting on that straunge Courser, he went forth with her on that adventure : where beginneth the first booke, viz. , A gentle knight was pricking on the playne, etc. The second day there came in a Palmer bearing an Infant with bloody hands, whose Parents he complained to have bene slaine by an enchauntresse called Acrasia : and there- fore craved of the Faery Queene, to appoint him some knight to performe that adventure, which being assigned to Sir Guyon, he presently went foorth with the same Palmer: which is the beginning of the second booke and the whole subject thereof. The third day there came in a Groome,^ who complained before the Faery Queene, that a vile Enchaunter, called Busirane, had in hand a most faire Lady, called Amoretta, whom he kept in most grevious torment. Whereupon Sir Scudamour, the lover of that Lady, presently tooke on him that adventure. But beeing unable to per- forme it by reason of the hard Enchauntments, after long 1 Presently, immediately. 2 Eftesoones, immediately. ^ Groome, servant. INTRODUCTION. xxxi sorrow, in the end met with Britomartis, who succoured him, and reskewed his love. But by occasion Iiereof, many other adventures are inter- medled ; but rather as accidents then intendments. As the love of Britomart, the overthrow of Marinell, the miserie of Florimell, the vertuousness of Belphoebe ; and many the like. Thus much, Sir, I have briefly-over-run to direct your understanding to the wel-head of the History, that from thence gathering the whole intention of the conceit, ye may as in a handfull gripe all the discourse, which otherwise may happely seem tedious and confused. So humbly craving the continuance of your honourable favour towards me, and th' eternall establishment of your happines, I humbly take leave. Yours most humbly affectionate, Edm. Spenser. 23 Januarie, 1589. BRITOMART.'*^'?''"'^^^'-/^""'' 1 It falls me^ here to write of chastity, That fairest virtue far above the rest : For which what needs me fetch from Faery ^ Foreign ensamples it to have expressed ? Sith^ it is shrined in my sovereign's breast, | ^^^j^j^ W^Lv.^ ,-3/ To seek her lover, (love far sought, alas ! ) I Whose image she had seen in Venus' looking-glass. X -^ 8 Full of disdainful wrath, he fierce uprose For to revenge that foul reproachful shame, And, snatching his bright sword, began to close With her on foot, and stoutly forward came ; Die rather would he then ^ endure that same. Which when his palmer ^ saw, he gan to fear His toward * peril, and untoward ^ blame. Which by that new rencounter he should rear^ ; For death sat on the point of that enchanted spear : 9 And hasting towards him gan fair persuade Not to provoke misfortune, nor to ween^ His spear's default to mend with cruel blade ; For by his mighty science he had seen The secret virtue of that weapon keen. That mortal puissance mote * not withstond : Nothing on earth mote always happy ^ been ! Great hazard were it, and adventure fond,i° To lose long-gotten honour with one evil bond." 1 Fett, fetch. 6 Untoward, troublesome, vexa- 2 Then, than ; this form occurs tious. frequently in the poem. 6 Rear, raise, bring upon him- 8 Palmer, a wandering religjous self, votary. Palms were sometimes '' Ween, think, carried by a palmer, as a sign that 8 Mote, might, he had been to the Holy Land. s jfappy, successful. * Toward, near at hand. 1" Fond, foolish. ^^ Hond, act. BRITOMART. 9 10 By such good means he him discounselled ^ From prosecuting his revenging rage : And eke ^ the prince like treaty handelM,^ His wrathful will with reason to assuage ; And laid the blame, not to his carriage, But to his starting steed that swarved aside, And to the ill purveyance of his page, That had his furnitures * not firmly tied : So is his angry corage ^ fairly pacified. 1 1 Thus reconcilement was between them knit, \ Through goodl y"femperanc^') and affection^hastej) And either vowed with all their power and wit To let not other's honour be defaced Of friend or foe, whoever it embaste,^ Ne arms to bear against the other's side : In which accord ^ the prince was also placed, And with that golden chain of concord tied : So goodly all agreed, they forth yfere ^ did ride. /w»^ x-vJma 12 O, goodly usage of those dntique times, I '^IkW^ In which the sword was servant unto right ! | When not for malice and contentious crimes, But all for praise, and proof of manly might, The martial brood accustomed to fight : Then honour was the meed of victory, And yet the vanquished had no despite^ : 1 Discounselled, dissuaded. " Corage, heart. 2 Eke, likewise. ^ Emhaste, insulted. 8 Like treaty handeled, used the ' Accord, agreement, same argument. * Yfere, together. ^ Furnitures, equipment. ^ Despite, malice, hatred. 10 THE FAERY QUEEJVE. Let later age that noble use envy/ IfyiMAl! Vile rancour to avoidand cruel surquedry ! ^ [ M^ Long they thus travellM in friendly wise, Through countries waste, and eke well edified, ^ Seeking adventurers hard, to exercise Their puissance, whilom* full dernly^ tried. At length they came into a forest wide. Whose hideous horror and sad trembling sound Full grisly ^ seemed : therein they long did ride. Yet tract '' of living creature none they found, Save bears, lions, and bulls, which roamed them around. 14 All suddenly out of the thickest brush. Upon a milk-white palfrey all alone, A goodly lady did foreby^ them rush. Whose face did seem as clear as crystal stone. And eke, through fear, as white as whales bone : Her garments all were wrought of beaten gold. And all her steed with tinsel trappings shone. Which fled so fast that nothing mote him hold. And scarce them leisure gave her passing to behold. I 5 Still as she fled her eye she backward threw. As fearing evil that pursued her fast ; And her fair yellow locks behind her flew. Loosely dispersed with puff of every blast : All as a blazing star doth far outcast 1 Envy, emulate. ' Dernly, sadly, severely. 2 Surquedry, insolence. ^ Grisly, terrible. ' Edified, built. ' Tract, trace. * Whilom, formerly. * Foreby, by. f BRITOMART.X 11 His hairy beams, and flaming locks dispread, At sight whereof the people stand aghast ; But the sage wizard tells, as he has read. That it importunes^ death and doleful dreryhed.^ 1 6 So as they gazM after her awhile, Lo ! where a grisly^ foster* forth did rush, His tireling jade^ he fiercely forth did push Through thick and thin, both over bank and bush, In hope" her to attain by hook or crook, That^ from his gory sides the blood did gush : Large were his limbs, and terrible his look, And in his clownish^hand a sharp boar-spear he shook; WiVma"^ 'Pwwyi Which outrage when those gentle''' knights did see. Full of great envy and fell jealousy,^ They stayed not to avise^ who first should be, But all spurred after, fast as they mote fly. To rescue her from shameful villainy. The prince and Guyon equally bylive^^ Herself pursued, in hope to win thereby Most goodly meed, the fairest dame alive : But after the foul foster Timias did strive. 1 Importunes, portends. '^ Dreryhed, sorrow. » Grisly, frightful, dreadful. * Foster, forester. ^ Tyreling jade, hackney? 6 That, so that. '' Gentle, high-born, noble. * Great envy and fell jealousy. Prof. Child remarlcs that both envy and jealousy are here used in the sense of indignation. Fell means fierce. " Avise, consider. 10 Bylive, quickly. 12 THE FAERY QUEENE. 1 8 The whiles fair Britomart, whose constant mind Would not so lightly follow beauty's chase, Ne recked of ladies' love, did stay behind ; And them awaited there a certain space, To weet^ if they would turn back to that place : But, when she saw them gone, she forward went. As lay her journey, through that perlous pace,^ With steadfast courage and stout hardiment^; Ne evil thing she feared, ne evil thing she meant. 19 At last, as nigh out of the wood she came, A stately castle far away she spied. To which her steps directly she did frame. That castle was most goodly edified,* And placed for pleasure nigh that forest side : But fair before the gate a spacious plain, Mantled with green, itself did spreaden wide. On which she saw six knights, that did darrayne^ Fierce battle against one with cruel might and main. 20 Mainly^ they all attonce upon him laid, And sore beset on every side around. That nigh he breathless grew, yet nought dismayed, Ne ever to them yielded foot of ground, All had he'' lost much blood through many a wound ; But stoutly dealt his blows, and every way, To which he turned in his wrathful stound,^ 1 Weet, know, learn. 6 Darrayne, wage. 2 Perlous face, perilous pass. ^ Mainly, strongly. ' Hardiment, boldness. ' All had he, although he had. * Edified, built. 8 Stound, moment, mood. BKITOMART. 13 Made them recoil, and fly from dread decay/ That none of all the six before him durst assay ^r 21 Like dastard curs, that, having at a bay The salvage 3 beast embossed* in weary chase, Dare not adventure on the stubborn prey, Ne^ bite before, but roam from place to place To get a snatch when turned is his face. In such distress and doubtful jeopardy When Britomart him saw, she ran apace® Unto his rescue, and with earnest cry Bade those same six forbear that single enemy. 22 But to her cry they list not'' lenden ear, Ne aught the more their mighty strokes surcease ^ ; But, gathering him round about more near. Their direful rancour rather did increase ; Till that she rushing through the thickest preasse^ Perforce disparted their compacted gyre,i° And soon compelled to hearken unto peace : Tho^i gan she mildly of them to inquire The cause of their dissention and outrageous ire. 23 Whereto that single knight did answer frame : "These six would me enforce, by odds of might, To change my liefe,^ and love another dame ; 1 Decay, destruction. " ^ Apace, quickly. 2 Before him durst assay, dared ' List not, cared not to. attack him in front. ^ Surcease, cause to cease. 3 Salvage, wild. ^ Preasse, crowd. * Embossed, tired out. 1" Gyre, circle. ^ Ne, nor. ^^ Tho, then. 12 Liefe, love. 1 ^ 14 r//E FAERY QUEENE. That death me liefer ^ were then such despite,^ \So unto wrong to yield my wrested right : ,:^,^ For I love one, the truest one on ground, Y* "a^ Ne list me^ change ; she th' Errant Damsel* hight^; For whose dear sake full many a bitter stound^ I have endured, and tasted many a bloody wound." 24 "Certes,'"' said she, " then been ye six to blame. To ween^ your wrong by force to justify : For knight to leave his lady were great shame That faithful is ; and better were to die. All loss is less, and less the infamy. Than loss of love to him that loves but one : Ne may love be compelled by maistery^; For, soon as maistery comes, sweet love anon Taketh his nimble wings, and soon away is gone." 25 Then spake one of those six : " There dwelleth here Within this castle wall a lady fair, Whose sovereign beauty hath no living pere ^" ; • Thereto so bounteous and so debonaire,^-' That never any mote ^^ with her compare : 1 Liefer, preferable. "... on his breast a bloody cross he 2 That death me liefer were then bore, sueh despite, i.e. I would rather die '^'"= ^^^^ remembrance of his dying than do what I should so scorn to do. 5 Hight, is called. 8 Ne list me, nor do I desire to. * Stound, peril. * Errant Damsel, i.e. Una, the ' Certes, certainly, heroine of the first book of the ^ lyign, think. "Faery Queene." This "single ' v^aw/^rj/, superior power, knight " is her champion, and he '" Pere, peer, is called the Redcross knight be- ^1 Debonaire, gracious, cause : 12 Mote, may. BRITOMART. 15 She hath ordained this la\V, which we approve, That every knight which doth this way repair, In case he have no lady nor no love, Shall do unto her service, never to remove : 26 "But if he have a lady or a love. Then must he her forego with foul defame,^ Or else with us by dint^ of sword approve^ That she is fairer than our fairest dame ; As did this knight, before ye hither came." "Perdy,"* said Britomart, "the choice is hard ! But what reward had he that overcame?" " He should advanced be to high regard," Said they, " and have our lady's love for his reward. 27 "Therefore aread,^ sir, if thou have a love." " Love have I sure," quoth she, " but lady none ; Yet will I not fro mine own love remove, Ne to your lady will I service done,^ But wreak your wrongs wrought to this knight alone. And prove his cause." With that, her mortal '^ spear She mightily aventred ^ towards one. And down him smote ere well aware he weare^ ; Then to the next she rode, and down the next did bear. 28 Ne did she stay till three on ground she laid, That 1" none of them himself could rear again : 1 Defame, dishonor. ^ Done, do. 2 Dint, stroke. ' Mortal, death-giving. 3 Approve, prove. ^ Aventred, aimed. * Perdy, truly. ' Weare, were. '" Aread, declare. ^^ That, so that. 16 THE FAERY QUEENE. The fourth was by that other knight dismayed, All were he^ weary of his former pain ; That now there do but two of six remain ; Which two did yield before she did them smite, ft" Ah !" said she then, "now may ye all see plain, JiThat truth is strong, and true love most of might, luliat for his trusty servants doth so strongly fight." 29 "Too well we see," said they, "and prove too well Our faulty weakness, and your matchless might : Forthy,^ fair sir, yours be the damosel. Which by her own law to your lot doth light. And we your liegemen faith unto you plight." So underneath her feet their swords they mard,^ And, after, her besought, well as they might. To enter in and reap the due reward : She granted ; and then in they all together far'd.* 30 Long were it to describe the goodly frame And stately port of Castle Joyeous,^ (For so that castle hight^ by common name), Where they were entertained with courteous And comely glee of many gracious Fair ladies, and of many a gentle knight ; Who, through a chamber long and spacious, Eftsoones'' them brought unto their lady's sight. That of them cleep^d^ was the Lady of Delight. 1 All were he, although he was. pronounced as two syllables. The 2 Forthy, therefore. same is true of gracious and * Mard, debased. spacious. ^ Fared, went. ^ Higi,t, was called. ^ Joyeous ; the final syllable is '' Eftsoones, speedily. * Cleeped, called. BRITOMART. 17 31 But, for to tell the sumptuous array Of that great chamber, should be labour lost ; For living wit, I ween, cannot display The royal riches and exceeding cost Of every pillar and of every post. Which all of purest bullion framed were. And with great pearls and precious stones embossed 1; That the bright glister of their beames clear Did sparkle forth great light, and glorious did appear. 32 These stranger knights, through passing, forth were led Into an inner room, whose royalty And rich purveyance^ might uneath^ be read*; Mote^ prince's place beseem so decked to be. Which stately manner whenas they did see. The image of superfluous riotize,^ Exceeding much the state of mean' degree. They greatly wond'red whence so sumptuous guise Might be maintained, and each gan diversely devise.^ 33 The walls were round about apparelled With costly cloths of Arras and of Toure^; ■ In which with cunning hand was portrayed The love of Venus and her paramour, i" 1 Embossed, ornamented with * Riotize, extravagance, raised work. ' ^''««' moderate. 2 Purveyance, furniture. ^ Devise, imagine. 3 Uneath, with difficulty. ° Cloths of Arras and of Toure * Read, imagined. ( Tours), tapestry woven at these 6 Mote, might. places. ^^ Paramour, lover. 18 THE FAERY QUEENS. The fair Adonis,^ turned to a flow'r ; A work of rare device and wondrous wit. First did it show the bitter baleful stour,^ Which her essayed with many a fervent fit, When first her tender heart was with his beauty smit : 34 Lo ! where beyond^ he lieth languishing, Deadly engor^d of a great wild boar ; And by his side the goddess grovelling Makes for him endless moan, and evermore With her soft ^rment wipes away the gore Which stains his snowy skin with hateful hue : But, when she saw no help might him restore. Him to a dainty flower she did transmew,* Which in that cloth was wrought, as if it lively grew. 35 And all the while sweet music did divide Her looser notes with Lydian harmony^; And all the while sweet birds thereto applied Their dainty lays and dulcet melody. Aye carrolling of love and jollity, That wonder was to hear their trim consort.® 36 Thence they were brought to that great lady's view, Whom they found sitting on a sumptuous bed 1 Adinis, a beautiful youth be- ^ stour, distress, loved of Venus, who was killed ' Beyond, at a distance, while hunting a wild boar. The • Transmew, change, flower Adonis autumnalis — the ^Lydian harmony; Lydian pheasant's eye — was said to have music was said to be of a soft and sprung from his blood. voluptuous character. ^ Trim consort, pleasing concert. BRITOMART. 19 That glist'red all with gold and glorious shew, As the proud Persian queens accustomed. She seemed a woman of great bountihead^ And of rare beauty, saving that askance Her wanton eyes (ill signs of womanhead) ^L^ t)id roll too lightly, and t oo otten glance ]. ' Wit hout regard of grac e nr romply ampmnnr-P 3-3 37 Long work it were, and needless, to devise^ Their goodly entertainment and great glee : She causM them be led in courteous wise Into a bow'r, disarmed for to be. And cheered well with wine and spicery : The Redcross knight was soon disarmed there ; But the brave maid would not disarmed be, But only vented up her umbriere,* And so did let her goodly visage to appear. 38 As when fair Cynthia,^ in darksome night, Is in a noyous^ cloud enveloped. Where she may find the substance thin and light. Breaks forth her silver beams, and her bright head Discovers to the world discomfited,'^ Of the poor traveller that went astray With thousand blessings she is heri^d^; Such was the beauty and the shining ray With which fair Britomart gave light unto the day. 1 Bountihead, goodness, gener- ^ Cynthia, the same as Diana, osity- '^^ goddess of the moon. 2 Atnenaunce, behavior. ^ Noyous, annoying, disagree- 3 Devise, describe. able. * Vented up her umbriere, raised "^ Discomfited, dejected, her visor. ° Heried, praised. 20 THE FAERY QUEENE. 39 And eke ^ those six, which lately with her fought, Now were disarmed, and did themselves present Unto her view, and company^ unsought; For they all seemed courteous and gent,^ And all six brethren, born of one parent, Which had them trained in all civility. And goodly taught to tilt and tournament ; Now were they liegemen to this lady free, And her knight's service ought,* to hold of her in fee.^ 40 The first of them by name Gardant^^ hight, A jolly '^ person, and of comely view ; The second was Parlante, a bold knight ; And next to him Jocante did ensue ^; Basciant^ did himself most courteous shew ; But fierce Bacchant^ seemed too fell ^ and keen ; And yet in arms Noctant^ greater grew : All were fair knights, and goodly well beseen^"; But to fair Britomart they all but shadows been. ' Eke, likewise. to hold her land as a stipend for ^ Comfatiy, become her com- service performed, — the land so panions. held being called a fief. ^ Gent, noble. 6 Gardante means a gazer or * And her knight's service ought ogler ; Parlanti, a prattler ; Joc- (owed), i.e. they held land of her ant^, a jester ; Bascianti, one who on condition that they should kisses ; Bacchante, a drinker of perform for her some noble or wine ; and Noctante, a. reveller by military service — such service night. being usually performed on horse- ' Jolly, handsome. back. 8 Ensue, follow. ^ To hold of her in fee ; that is, ' Fell, fierce. "> Beseen, appearing. BRITOMAKT. 21 41 For she was full of amiable grace And manly terror mixed therewithal ; That as the one stirred up affections base, So th' other did men's rash desires appal, And hold them back that would in error fall : As he that hath espied a vermeil rose, To which sharp thorns and breres ^ the way forestall, Dare not for dread his hardy hand expose. But, wishing it far off, his idle wish doth lose. 42 Supper was shortly dight,^ and down they sat ; Where they were served with all sumptuous fare. Whiles fruitful Ceres ^ and Lyseus * fat Poured out their plenty, without spight ^ or spare ; Nought wanted there that dainty was and rare : After the meal was over, the knights and ladies amused themselves in various ways : — 43 Some fell to dance ; some fell to hazardry® ; Some to make love ; some to make merriment ; As diverse wits to diverse things apply. 44 High time it seemM then for every wight Them to betake unto their kindly rest : Eftsoones" long waxen torches weren light 1 Breres briars. * Lyteus, a surname given to 2 Vight, prepared. Bacchus. 8 Ceres, the goddess of corn and ^ Sftght, grudge, tillage. * Hazardry, gaming. ' Eftsoones, immediately. 22 THE FAERY QUEENE. Unto their bow'rs ^ to guiden every guest : Tho,^ when the Britoness saw all the rest Avoided ^ quite, she gan herself despoil,* And safe commit to her soft feathered nest ; Where through long watch, and late day's weary toil. She soundly slept, and careful thoughts did quite assoil.^ Before long, the warlike maiden waked to find herself in danger. There was a noise, — 45 And the whole family, therewith adread,® Rashly''^ out of their roused couches sprong. And to the troubled chamber all in arms did throng. 46 And those six knights, that lady's champions. And eke the Redcross knight ran to the stound,^ Half armed and half unarmed, with them attons^ : Where when confusMly they came, they found Their lady lying on the senseless ground : On th' other side they saw the war-like maid All in her snow-white smock, with locks unbound, Threat'ning the point of her avenging blade ; That with so troublous terror they were all disfnayed. 47 About their lady first they flocked around ; Whom having laid in comfortable couch. Shortly they reared out of her frozen swownd^* ; 1 Bowers, chambers. 6 Adread, frightened. 2 Tho, then. 7 Rashly, hastily. 3 Avoided, departed. 8 stound, alarm. * Despoil, unclothe. 9 Attons, together. 6 Assoil, put off. 10 Swownd, swoon. BRITOMART. 23 And afterwards they gani with foul reproach To stir up strife, and troublous contecke^ broach : But, by ensample of the last day's loss,^ None of them rashly durst to her* approach, Ne in so glorious spoil themselves emboss ^ : Her succoured eke the champion of the bloody cross. ^ 48 But one of those six knights, Gardante hight," Drew out a deadly bow and arrow keen. Which forth he sent with felonous despite^ And fell intent against the virgin sheen** : The mortal ^^ steel stayed not till it was seen To gore her side ; yet was the wound not deep, But lightly ras^d^^ her soft silken skin. That ^2 drops of purple blood thereout did weep, Which did her lily smock with stains of vermeiP^ steep. 49 Wherewith enraged she fiercely at them flew. And with her flaming sword about her laid. That none of them foul mischief could eschew, i* But with her dreadful strokes were all dismayed : Here, there, and everywhere, about her swayed Her wrathful steel, that none mote^^ it abide; 1 Gan, began. ' Hight, called. 2 Contecke, contention. ^ Despite, malice, hatred. 3 By ensample of the last day's ' Sheen, radiant, fair. loss, i.e. warned by the unfortunate '" Mortal, deadly, experience of the preceding day. ^^ Rased, rubbed, grazed. ^ Her, i.e. Britomart. '^ That, so that. 5 Emboss, fatigue. l" Vermeil, vermillion. 6 Champion of the bloody cross, 1* Eshew, escape from, the Redcross knight. 1^ Mote, might. 24 THE FAERY QUEENE. And eke^ the Redcross knight gave her good aid, Aye joining foot to foot, and side to side; That in short space their foes they have quite terrified. 50 Tho^ whenas all were put to shameful flight, The noble Britomartis her arrayed, And her bright arms about her body digihtg : For nothing woul3~she lenger* there be stayed, "Where so" looie life and so ungentle trade^ Was used of knights and ladies seeming gent® : So, early, ere the gross earth's gryesy "' shade Was all dispersed out of the firmament. They took their steeds, and forth upon their journey went. 1 Eke, also. * Ungentle trade, ignoble con- 2 Tho, then. duct. 2 Dight, disposed. * Gent, high-bred. * Lenger, longer. ' Gryesy, moist, foggy. II. Britomart and the Redc7'oss knight joicrney on together. Going back in his iiarrative^- the poet tells how the maiden sees in a magic lookifig- glass the image of Art-hegall, and how she falls in love with the unknown knight. \ Here have I cause in men just blame to find, That in their proper praise ^ too partial be, And not indifferent ^ to woman kind, To whom no share in arms and chivalry They do impart, ne maken memory Of their brave gests ^ and prowess martial : Scarce do they spare to one, or two, or three. Room in their writtes*; yet the same writing small Does all their deeds deface, and dims their glories all. ■2 But by record of antique times I find That women wont in wars to bear most sway. And to all great exploits themselves inclined. Of which they still the girlond ^ bore away ; Till envious men, fearing their rule's decay,^ Gan coin strait'' laws to curb their liberty : Yet, sith* they warlike arms have laid away, 1 In their proper praise, i.e. in ^ Girlond, garland. praising themselves. " ^ Their rule's decay, i.e. the 2 Indifferent, impartial. decline of their own authority. » Gests, deeds. ' Strait, strict, rigorous. * Writtes, writings. * Sith, since. 26 THE FAERY QUEE/VE. They have excelled in arts and policy, That 1 now we foolish men that praise gin ^ eke t' envy.^ 3 Of warlike puissance in ages spent,* Be thou,^ fair Britomart, whose praise I write ; But of all wisdom be thou precedent, sovereign Queen,^ whose praise I would endite,^ Endite I would as duty doth excite ; But ah ! my rhymes too rude and rugged are, When in^ so high an object they do light, And, striving fit to make, I fear do mar : Thyself thy praises tell, and make them knowen far. 4 She, travelling with Guyon,^ by the way Of sundry things fair purpose i" gan to find,^^ T' abridge their journey long and ling'ring day : Mongst which it fell into that Faery's ^ mind To ask this Briton maid what uncouth ^^ wind Brought her into those parts, and what inquest i* Made her dissemble her disguised kind^^ : Fair lady she him seemed, like lady dressed, ■ But fairest knight alive, when armed was her breast. 1 That, so that. » Guyon ; this is a mistake ; it 2 Gin, begin. should be the Redcross knight. 3 Envy, begrudge. , 1° Purpose, discourse. * Spent, passed. n Gan tofaid, i.e. did find. 5 Be thou, i.e. be thou precedent 12 Faery's, i.e. Faery knight's ; or example. Faery because he served the Faery * O sovereign Queen; Elizabeth, Queen. of course, is here referred to. i^ Uncouth, strange. ' Endite, indite. w Inquest, quest or adventure. 8 In, i.e. on. 15 Kind, sex. BRITOMART. 27 5 Thereat she sighing softly had no pow'r To speak awhile, ne ready answer make ; But with heart-thrilling throbs and bitter stour.i As if she had a fever fit, did quake. And every dainty limb with horror shake ; And ever and anon the rosy red Flashed through her face, as it had been a flake ^ Of lightning through bright heaven fulmined^ : At last, the passion past, she thus him answered : 6 " Fair sir, I let you weet,* that from the hour I taken was from nurse's tender pap, I have been trained up in warlike stour,^ To tossen spear and shield, and to affrap® The warlike rider to his most mishap ; Sithence '' I loathed have my life to lead, As ladies wont, in pleasure's wanton lap, To finger the fine needle and nice ^ thread ; Me lever were ^ with point of foeman's spear be dead. 7 "All my delight on deeds of arms is set, To hunt out perils and adventures hard. By sea, by land, whereso they may be met. Only for honour and for high regard. Without respect of richesse or reward : For such intent into these parts I came, ' Stour, struggles. ^ In warlike stour, amid the din 2 Flake, flash. of war, amid warlike scenes. 3 Fulmined, the same as ful- ^ Affrap, strike. minated ; to fulminate is to thun- ' Sithence, since, der, or to hurl lightning. ^ Nice, delicate. * Let you weet, inform you. ' Me lever were, I would rather. 28 THE FAERY QUEENE. Withouten compass or withouten card,^ Far fro my native soil, that is by name The Greater Britain,^ here to seek for praise and fame. 8 " Fame blazed hath, that here in Faery-lond Do many famous knights and ladies won,^ And many strange adventures to be fond,* Of which great worth and worship ^ may be won : Which to prove, I this voyage have begun. But mote I weet of you,® right courteous knight, Tidings of one that hath unto me done Late foul dishonour and reproachful spite. The which I seek to wreak,'' and Arthegall ** he hight.9" 9 The word gone out she back again would call. As her repenting so to have missaid,!" But that he, it uptaking ere the fall,ii Her shortly answered : " Fair martial maid, Certes i- ye misavised '^ been t' upbraid A gentle i* knight with so unknightly blame : 1 Card, chart. ' Wreak, revenge. 2 Greater Britain. Church says ' Arthegall ; it has seemed best that this means Wales, and is so to follow the original and keep called to distinguish it from Lesser the two forms, Arthegall and Arte- Brittany in France. Fairy Land gall. is Ensjl and proper. Hillard. ^ Hight, is called. 2 Won, dwell. i" Missaid, said wrongly. * Fond, found. " Ere the fall, i.e. before the * Worth and worship, distinc- words had fallen from her mouth, tion and honor. 12 Certes, certainly. ^ Mote I weet of you, may I learn 1? Misavised, inconsiderate, of you. 11 Gentle, noble. BRITOMART. 29 For, weeti ye well, of all that ever played At tilt or tourney, or like warlike game, The noble Arthegall hath ever borne the name.^ 10 "Forthy^ great wonder were it, if such shame Should ever enter in his bounteous * thought, Or ever do that mote deserven blame ^: The noble corage^ never weeneth'' aught That may unworthy of itself be thought. Therefore, fair damsel, be ye well aware. Lest that too far ye have your sorrow sought ^ : You and your country both I wish welfare. And honour both ; for each of other worthy are." 1 1 The royal maid woxe ^ inly wondrous glad, To hear her love so highly magnified ; And joyed that ever she affixed had Her heart on knight so goodly glorified. However finely ^° she it feigned to hide. 1 2 But to occasion him to further talk, To feed her humour with his pleasing style. Her list ^^ in stryfull ^^ terms with him to balk,^^ 1 Weet, know. ^ Lest that too far ye have your '^ Name, i.e. of "gentle knight." sorrow sought, i.e. lest you have 8 Forthy, therefore. cause to repent of your rashness * Bounteous, good, noble. in seeking to avenge an imaginary 5 Or ever do that mote deserven wrong. blame, i.e. or if he should ever do ' Woxe, became. that for which he might deserve ^^ Finely, skilfully. blame. ^^ Her list, it pleased her. ^ Corage, heart. ^^ Stryfull, contentious. ' Weeneth, thinketh. '^ Balk, deal in cross-purposes. 30 THE FAERY QUEENE. And thus replied : " However, sir, ye file Your courteous tongue his praises to compyle,^ It ill beseems a knight of gentle sort, Such as ye have him boasted, to beguile A simple maid, and work so heinous tort,^ In shame of knighthood, as I largely^ can report. 1 3 " Let be therefore my vengeance to dissuade. And read,* where I that faytour^ false may find." " Ah ! but if reason fair might you persuade To slake your wrath, and mollify your mind," Said he, " perhaps ye should it better find : For hardy thing it is, to ween by might That man to hard conditions® to bind ; Or ever hope to match in equal fight. Whose prowess' paragon "^ saw never living wight. 14 "Ne^ soothlich^ is it easy for to read^" Where now on earth, or how, he may be found ; For he ne wonneth^^ in one certain stead,^^ lU. But restless walketh all the world around. Aye doing things that to his fame redound. Defending ladies' cause and orphans' right, Whereso he hears that any doth confound Them comfortless, through tyranny or might ; So is his sovereign honour raised to heaven's height 1 Comfyle, heap up. ' Whose prowess' paragon, 1 2 Tori, wrong. the like of whose prowess. ^ Largely, i.e. with full particu- * Ne, nor. lars. ' Soothlich, truly. * Read, declare. '" Read, declare, say. ^ Faytour, deceiver. ^' Ne wonneth, dwells not. ^ Conditions ; pronounce con-di- ^^ Stead, place. BRITOMART. 31 1 5 His feeling words her feeble sense much pleased, And softly sunk into her molten heart : Heart that is inly hurt is greatly eased With hope of thing that may allegge ^ his smart ; For pleasing words are like to magic art, That doth the charmed snake in slumber lay : Such secret ease felt gentle Britomart, Yet list the same efforce with feigned gainsay^: — So discord oft in music makes the sweeter lay : — 1 6 And said : " Sir knight, these idle terms ^ forbear ; And, sith* it is uneath^ to find his haunt. Tell me some marks by which he may appear, If chance I him encounter paravaunt^; For perdy,'' one shall other slay, or daunt : What shape, what shield, what arms, what steed, what stead,^ And whatso else his person most may vaunt." All which the Redcross knight to point aread,^ And him in every part before her fashioned. 17 Yet him in every part before she knew. However list her now her knowledge feign,^" Sith him whilom ^^ in Britain she did view, 1 Allegge, allay. 2 Yet list the same efforce with feigned gainsay, i.e. yet it pleased her to restrain this feeling and assume, instead, an air of opposi- tion. 3 Idle terms, foolish remarks. * Sith, since. 6 Uneath, hard. 11 Whilom,, ^ Paravaunt, peradventure. ' Perdy, truly. ^ Stead, place. ' To point aread, exactly de- scribed. 1^ However list her now her knowledge feign, i.e. notwithstand- ing the fact that now she chose to conceal her knowledge, formerly. 32 The faery queene. To her revealed in a mirror plain ; Whereof did grow her first engraff ^d ^ pain, Whose root and stalk so bitter yet did taste, That, but the fruit more sweetness did ^ contain. Her wretched days in dolour^ she mote* waste, And yield, the prey of love, to loathsome death at 1 8 By strange occasion she did him behold, And much more strangely gan^ to love his sight. As it in books hath written been of old. In Deheubarth, that now South- Wales is hight.^ What time King Ryence reigned and dealed right. The great magician Merlin had devised. By his deep science and hell-dreaded might, A looking-glass, right wondrously aguised,'' Whose virtues through the wide world soon were solemnized.^ 19 It virtue^ had to show in perfect sight Whatever thing was in the world contained. Betwixt the lowest earth and heaven's height. So that ^^ it to the looker appertained : Whatever foe had wrought, or friend had feigned. Therein discovered ^^ was, ne aught mote pass.^^ Ne aught in secret from the same remained ; 1 Engraffed, deeply fixed. 8 Solemnized, celebrated. ^ Did, i.e. should. 9 Virtue, power. ' Dolour, grief. 10 So that, provided that. ^ Mote, must. " Discovered, revealed, dis- ^ Gan, began. played. " Hight, called. 12 Ne aught mote pass, i.e. nothing ' Aguised, fashioned. could escape notice. BRITOMART. Forthy^ it round and hollow shaped was, Like to the world itself, and seemed a world of glass. 20 Who wonders not, that reads ^ so wondrous work ? But who does wonder, that has read the tow'r Wherein th' Egyptian Phao ^ long did lurk From all men's view, that none might her discoure. Yet she might all men view out of her bow'r ? Great Ptolomaee^ it for his leman's^ sake Ybuilded all of glass, by magic pow'r. And also it impregnable did make ; Yet, when his love was false, he with a peaze "^ it brake. 2 1 Such was the glassy globe that Merlin made, And gave unto King R yence for his guard,^ That never foes his kingdom might invade. But he it knew at home before he hard^ Tidings thereof, and so them still 1° debarred : It was a famous present for a prince, And worthy work of infinite reward. That treasons could bewray.^^ and foes convince 12 ; Happy this realm, had it remained ever since ! 1 Forthy, therefore. 2 Reads, reads of. 3 The tow'r wherein tK E^^yptian Phao, etc. The tower alluded to Is probably the Pharos of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Spenser had evi- dently read some mediaeval-legend that confused matters. (From Prof. Child's note.) * Discoure, discover. 5 Ptolomcee, Ptolemy. ^ Leman's, love's. ' Peaze, blow. 8 Guard, protection. ' Hard, heard. 1" Still, always. '1 Bewray, reveal. 12 Convince, conquer. 34 THE FAERY QUEENE. 22 One day it fortuned fair Britomart. Into her father's closet ^ to repair ; For nothing he from her reserved apart, Being his only daughter and his heir ; Where when she had espied that mirror fair. Herself awhile therein she viewed in vain : Tho,2 her avising ^ of the virtues rare Which thereof spoken were, she gan again Her to bethink of that mote* to herself pertain. 23} But as it falleth,^ in the gentlest hearts Imperious Love hath highest set his throne, And tyrannizeth in the bitter smarts Of them, that to him buxom ^ are and prone : So thought this maid (as maidens use to done'^) Whom fortune for her husband would allot ; 24 Eftsoones^ there was presented to her eye A comely knight, all armed in complete wise. Through whose bright ventail,® lifted up on high, His manly face, that did his foes agrise ^^ And friends to terms of gentle truce entize," Looked forth, as Phoebus' ^ face out of the east ' Closet, small room for retire- ' Use to done, i.e. are in the ment. habit of doing. ^ Tho, then. ^ Eftsoones, immediately. ^ Avising, bethinking. ^ Ventail, the part of the helmet * Of that viote, of that which which could be lifted up, — the might. beaver. ^ Falleth, happeneth. i" Agfise, terrify. ^ Buxom, yielding. 11 Entize, entice. 12 Phmbiis, Apollo, the sun god. BRITOMART. 35 Betwixt two shady mountains doth arise : Portly 1 his person was, and much increased Through his heroic grace and honorable gest.^ 25 His crest was covered with a couchant'* hound, And all his armour seemed of antique mould. But wondrous massy and assurM sound, And round about yfretted * all with gold. In which there written was, with cyphers^ old, Achilles arms^ which ArthegaW' did win : And on his shield enveloped sevenfold He bore a crownM little ermilin,* That decked the azure field ^ with her fair pouldred ^^ skin. 26 The damsel well did view his personage. And lik^d well ; ne further fast'ned not.^^ But went her way ; ne her urrguilty age Did ween, unwares, that her unlucky lot Lay hidden in the bottom of the pot : Of hurt unwist ^ most danger doth redound But the false archer, which that arrow shot 1 Portly, stately. 2 Cest, carriage. 3 Couchant, lying down with the head raised. ^ Yfretted, ornamented with raised work. ^ Cyphers, characters. * Achilles' arms. Achilles is the hero of Homer's " lUad." His arms were forged by the god Hephaestus or Vulcan. 12 Unwist, ' Arthegall (Arthur's peer) is meant for Arthur, Lord Grey of Wilton, and the arms seem to be devised in allusion to his name. Upton. 8 Ermilin, ermine. ^ Field, surface of the escutch. eon. 1" Pouldred, spotted. ^1 Ne further fas f ned not, i.e. her thoughts dwelt no more upon it. unknown. 36 THE FAERY QUEENE. So slyly that she did not feel the wound, Did smile full smoothly at her weetless ^ woful stound.2 27 Thenceforth the feather in her lofty crest, Ruffed ^ of love, gan lowly to availe * ; And her proud portance ^ and her princely gest,^ With which she erst '' triumphed, now did quail : Sad, solemn, sour,^ and full of fancies frail. She woxe^ ; yet wist i** she nether how, nor why ; She wist not, silly maid, what she did ail. Yet wist she was not well at ease, perdy ^^ ; Yet thought it was not love, but some melancholy. 28 So soon as night had with her pallid hue Defaced the beauty of the shining sky. And reft ^, from men the world's desired view. She with her nurse adown to sleep did lie ; But sleep full far away from her did fly : Instead thereof sad sighs and sorrows deep Kept watch and ward about her warily. That nought she did but wail, and often steep Her dainty couch with tears which closely ^^ she did weep. 1 Weetless, unconscious. ' Erst, formerly. 2 Stound, plight. * Sour, peevish. ^ Ruffed, ruffled. ' Woxe, grew. * Availe, sink. 1" Wist, knew. ^ Portance, port, carriage. ^^ Perdy, truly. ^ Gest, bearing. 12 j^^p^ taken away. ^' Closely, secretly. BRITOMART. 37 29 And if that any drop of slumb'ring rest Did chance to still ^ into her weary sprite,^ When feeble nature felt herself oppressed, Straightway with dreams, and with fantastic sight Of dreadful things, the same was put to flight ; That oft out of her bed she did astart, As one with view of ghastly fiends affright : Tho gan ^ she to renew her former smart, And think of that fair visage written in her heart. 30 One night, when she was tossed with such unrest. Her aged nurse, whose name was Glauce hight,* Feeling her leap out of her loathed nest. Betwixt her feeble arms her quickly keight,^ And down again her in her warm bed dight ® : "Ah ! my dear daughter, ah ! my dearest dread,^ What uncouth^ fit," said she, "what evil plight. Hath thee oppressed, and with sad drearyhead^ Changed thy lively cheer, i° and living made thee dead ? 31" For not of nought these sudden ghastly fears All night afflict thy natural repose ; And all the day, whenas thine equal peers Their fit disports with fair delight do chose,^^ Thou in dull corners dost thyself inclose ; 1 Still, drop. ^ Dight, placed. 2 Sprite, spirit, mind. ' Dread, one highly revered. 2 Tho gan, then began. ^ Uncouth, strange. * Hight, called. ^ Drearyhead, sorrow. * Keight, caught. '" Cheer, countenance. 11 Chose, choose. 38 THE FAERY QUEENE. Ne tastest prince's pleasures, ne dost spread Abroad thy fresh youth's fairest flow'r, but lose Both leaf and fruit, both too untimely shed, As one in wilful bale^ forever buried. 32 "The time that mortal men their weary cares Do lay away, and all wild beasts do rest. And every river eke ^ his course forbears, Then doth this wicked evil thee infest. And rive ^ with thousand throbs thy thrilled * breast : Like an huge ^tn' ^ of deep engulfed grief, Sorrow is heapM in thy hollow chest. Whence forth it breaks in sighs and anguish rife, As smoke and sulphur mingled with confused strife. 33 "Ay me ! how much I fear lest love it be ! But if that love it be, as sure I read^ By knowen signs and passions which I see, Be it worthy of thy race and royal seed,'' Then I avow, by this most sacred head Of my dear foster child, to ease thy grief And win thy will. Therefore away do dread * ; For death nor danger from thy due relief Shall me debar ; tell me, therefore, my liefest lief ^!" 34 So having said, her twixt her armes twain She straitly^** strained, and colled ^^ tenderly; 1 Bale, sorrow. ^ Read, declare. 2 Eke, likewise. ' Seed, race. ^ Rive, rend. ^ Away do dread, i.e. fear not. * Thrilled, pierced. ' Liefist lief, dearest dear. 5 Aitna, a volcano in Sicily. l" Straitly, closely. 11 Colled, clasped about the neck. BRITOMART. 39 And every trembling joint and every vein Sire Softly felt, and rubbed busily, To3q^^ the frozen cold avvay to fly ; And her fair dewy eyes with kisses dear She oft did bathe, and oft again did dry : And ever her importuned not to fear To let the secret of her heart to her appear. 35 The damsel paused ; and then thus fearfully : "Ah ! nurse, what needeth thee to eke^ my pain? Is not enough that I alone do die, But it must doubled be with death of twain ? For nought for me but death there doth remain !" "Oh daughter dear/' said she, "despair no whit : For never sore but might a salve obtain : That blinded god, which hath ye blindly smit, Another arrow hath your lover's heart to hit." 36 " But mine is not," quoth she, "like other wound ; For which ^ no reason can find remedy." ^^ . "Was never such, but mote* the like be found," U -^ Said she ^ ; " and though no reason may apply 1 ^.^ Salve to your sore, yet love can higher stye ^ I ^ vf^ Then^ reason's reach, and oft hath wonders done." J*y^ " But neither god of love nor god of sky Can do," said she, " that which cannot be done." "Things oft impossible," quoth she, "seem, ere begun." 1 Do, make. * Mote, might. 2 Eke, increase. ^ She, i.e. Glauce. 3 For which, i.e. my wound is ^ Stye, mount, one for which, etc. ' Then, than. 40 THE FAERY QUEENE. 37 "These idle words," said she, "do not assuage My stubborn smart, but more annoyance breed : For no, no usual fire, no usual rage It is, O nurse, which on my life doth feed. And sucks the blood which from my heart doth bleed. But since thy faithful zeal lets me not hide My crime, (if crime it be,) I will it read.^ Nor prince nor peer it is, whose love hath gryde ^ My feeble breast of late, and launched ^ this wound wide : 38 Nor man it is, nor other living wight ; For then some hope I might unto me draw ; But th' only shade and semblant * of a knight, . Whose shape or person yet I never saw, I .^ j Hath me subjected to love's cruel law : Ji'vww^ The same one day, as me misfortune led, J I in my father's wondrous mirror saw, And, pleased with that seeming goodlihead,^ Unwares the hidden hook with bait I swallowed. 39 " Sithens ® it hath infixed faster hold Within my bleeding bowels, and so sore Now rankleth in this same frail fleshly mould, That all mine entrails flow with pois'nous gore, And th' ulcer groweth daily more and more ; Ne can my running sore find remedy. Other then my hard fortune to deplore, . 1 Read, declare. * Semblant, appearance. '^ Gryde, pierced. ^ Goodlihead, goodliness. ' Launched, pierced as with a ^ Sithens, since that time, lance. r. <\ BRITOMART. 41 And languish as the leaf fall'n from the tree, Till death make one end of my days and misery ! " 40 "Daughter," said she, "what need ye be dismayed? Or why make ye such monster of your mind ? Of much more uncouth ^ thing I was afraid ; But this affection nothing strange I find ; For who with reason can you aye reprove To love the semblant pleasing most your mind, , And yield your heart whence ye cannot remove ijjT^ No guilt in you, but in the tyranny of love. \ The nurse mentioned some who had loved wrongly, and then said : — 41 " But thine, my dear, (well fare thy heart, my dear !) Though strange beginning had, yet fix^d is On one that worthy may perhaps appear ; And certes seems bestowed not amiss : Joy thereof have thou and eternal bliss ! " With that, upleaning on her elbow weak. Her alabaster breast she soft did kiss, Which all that while she felt to pant and quake. As it an earthquake were : at last she^ thus bespake : The maiden declared that she had less comfort than those who loved wrongly; for,— » '^ 42 " Short end of sorrows they thereby did find ; So was their fortune good, though wicked were their mind. > Uncouth, strange. ^ She, i.e. Britomart. .ffi. 42 THE FAERY QUEENE. 43 " But wicked fortune mine, though mind be good, Can have no end nor hope of my desire. But feed on shadows whiles I die for food. And like a shadow wex,i whiles with entire Affection I do languish and expire. I, fonder then Cephisus' foolish child,^ Who, having viewed in a fountain shere ^ xj- His face, was_with_the love thereofjbeguiled ; \y \, fohHer^Jove_a_shade7the body far exiled." 44 " Nought like," quoth she ; "for that same wretched boy Was of himself the idle paramour, ^li^J^*^^ Both love and lover, without hope of joy ; tj //(4Lc/- For which he faded to a wat'ry flower. a Aufi'^'^ ^^^ better fortune thine, and better hour,* a Which lov'st the shadow of a warlike knight ; No shadow, but a body hath in pow'r^ : That"Body, wheresoever that it light, May Teafried be by cyphers,^'orby^magic might. 45 " But if thou may with reason yet repress The growing evil, ere it strength have got. And thee abandoned wholly do possess ; Against it strongly strive, and yield thee not Till thou in open field adown be smott : 1 Wex, wax, become. ^ Shere, clear. ^ Cephisus^ foolish child, i.e. Nar- * Hour, i.e. lot. cissus, who fell in love with his * No shadow, but a body hath in own image reflected in a pool, and pow'r, i.e. there is no shadow that pined away till he was changed has not a body belonging to it. into the flower that bears his ^ Cyphers, characters ; here name. magic characters BRITOMART. 43 But if the passion mayster^ thy frail might, So that needs love or death must be thy lot, Then I avow to thee, by wrong or right. To compass thy desire, and find that loved knight." 46 Her cheerful words much cheered the feeble sprite 2 ^hin^i'- Of the sick virgin, that her down she laid -^ ^Lt h'c l( In her warm bed to sleep, if that she might ; yiA^- And the old woman carefully displayed ^ " The clothes about her round with busy aid ; So that at last a little creeping sleep Surprised her sense. She,* therewith well apayed,^ The drunken lamp down in the oil did steep. And sate her by to watch, and sate her by to weep. 47 Early, the morrow next, before that day His joyous face did to the world reveal, They both uprose and took their ready way Unto the church, their prayers to appele,^ With great devotion, and with little zeal : For the fair damsel from the holy herse^ Her love-sick heart to other thoughts did steal ; And that old dame said many an idle verse Out of her daughter's heart fond^ fancies to reverse.* 1 Mayster, master. ^ Appele, i.e. to prefer, to make. 2 Sprite, spirit. ' Herse, rehearsal (of the ser- 8 Displayed, spread. vice). 1 She, i.e. Glauce. ' Fond, foohsh. 6 Apayed, satisfied. ' Reverse, cause to depart. 44 THE FAERY QUEENE. 48 Returned home, the royal infant ^ fell Into her former fit ; for why ? no pow'r Nor guidance of herself in her did dwell. But th' aged nurse,^ her calling to her bow'r,^ Had gathered rue, and savin, and the flow'r Of camphora,* and calamint,^ and dill ; All which she in an earthen pot did pour. And to the brim with coltwood^ did it fill, And many drops of milk and blood through it did spill. 49 Then, taking thrice three hairs from off her head. Them trebly braided in a threefold lace. And round about the pot's mouth bound the thread ; And, after having whispered a space Certain sad '' words with hollow voice and base,^ She to the virgin said, thrice said she it : " Come, daughter, come ; come, spit upon my face ; Spit thrice upon me, thrice upon me spit ; Th' uneven number for this business is most fit." 50 That said, her round about she from her turned. She turned her contrary to the sun ; Thrice she her turned contrary, and returned ^ Infant, the same as infanta ; ' Bower, chamber. a title given in Spain and Portugal * Camphora, camphor, to all the children of the king ^ Calamint, a. book name for except the eldest. plants of the genus calamintha. 2 But th' aged nurse, etc. The ^ Coltwood, an old name for classic poets, especially Theocritus dittany, a plant of the mint and Virgil, have supplied Spenser family, with the various processes of ' Sad, weighty, earnest. Glauce's incantation. Hillard. * Base, low. BRITOMART. 45 All contrary ; for she the right did shun ; And ever what she did was straight ^ undone. So thought she to undo her daughter's love : But love, that is in gentle breast begun, No idle charms so lightly may remove ; That well can witness, who by trial it does prove. 5 1 Ne aught it mote the noble maid avail, Ne slake the fury of her cruel flame. But that she still did waste, and still did wail. That, through long languor and heart-burning brame ^ She shortly like a pined ^ ghost became Which long hath waited by the Stygian strond.* That when old Glauce saw, for fear lest blame Of her miscarriage^ should in her be fond,^ She wist "' not how t' amend, nor how it to withstond. 1 Straight, immediately. ing to Greek mythology. Over 2 Brame, desire. this river the dead must go to ^ Pined, tormented. reach their final habitation. * Stygian Strond, the strand or ^ Miscarriage, i.e. sad condition, shore of the Styx, the principal ^ Fond, found. river of the lower world, accord- ' Wist, knew. 46 III. Britomart and her nurse Glauci visit Merlin who tells them of Artegall and of the future. They set out for Faeryland in the hope of meeting Artegall. 1 Most sacred fire, that burnest mightily In living breasts, ykindled first above Amongst th' eternal spheres and lamping ^ sky. And thence poured into men, which men call love ; Not that same which doth base affections move, But that sweet fit^ that doth true beauty love, IAnd chooseth virtue for his dearest dame. Whence spring all noble deeds and never-dying fame : 2 Well did antiquity a god thee deem. That over mortal minds hast so great might, To order them as best to thee doth seem. And all their actions to direct aright : The fatal ^ purpose of divine foresight Thou dost effect in destined descents. Through deep impression of thy secret might, And stirredst up th' heroes high intents, Which the late world* admires for wondrous moni- ments.^ * The late world, i.e. men in late ' Lamping, shining. times. ^ Fit, passion. » Moniments, monuments, re- ^ Fatal, foreordained. minders. BRITOMART. 47 But thy dread darts in none do triumph more, Ne braver proof in any of thy pow'r Show'dst thou, than in this royal maid of yore, Making her seek an unknown paramour,^ From the world's end, through many a bitter stowre.^ 4 Begin then, O my dearest sacred dame. Daughter of Phoebus and of Memory, That dost ennoble with immortal name The warlike worthies, from antiquity, In thy great volume of eternity ; Begin, O Clio,^ and recount from hence My glorious sovereign's goodly ancestry, Till that by due degrees, and long protense * Thou have it lastly brought unto her excellence. 5 Full many ways within her troubled mind Old Glauc^ cast^ to cure this lady's grief ; Full many ways she sought, but none could find. Nor herbs, nor charms, nor counsel that is chief And choicest med'cine for sick heart's relief: Forthy^ great care she took,' and greater fear. Lest that it should her turn to foul repriefe ^ And sore reproach, whenso her father dear Should of his dearest daughter's hard misfortune hear. * Protense, extension. 1 Paramour, lover. ^ Cast, planned. 2 Stowre, peril. ^ Forthy, therefore. 5 Clio, the muse of history ; ' Great care she took, i.e. she more commonly spoken of as the felt great concern, daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. - ^ Repriefe, reproof. 48 THE FAERY QUEENE. 6 At last she her avised.^ that he which made That mirror, wherein the sick damosel So strangely viewed her strange lover's shade, To weet, the learned Merlin, well could tell Under what coast of heaven the man did dwell. And by what means his love might best be wrought^: For, though beyond the Afric IsmaeP Or th' Indian Peru he were, she thought Him forth through infinite endeavour to have sought. 7 Forthwith themselves disguising both in strange And base attire, that none might them bewray,* To Maridunum, that is now by change Of name Cayr-Merdin ^ called, they took their way : There the wise Merlin whilom® wont (they say) To make his wonne,^ low underneath the ground In a deep delve,^ far from the view of day. That of no living wight he mote^ be found, Whenso he counselled with his sprites encompassed round. 8 And, if thou ever happen that same way To travel, go to see that dreadful place : It is an hideous hollow cave (they say) Under a rock that lies a little space ^ Avised, bethought. * Bewray, discover. 2 Wrought, produced, effected ; ° Cayr-Merdin, i.e. the city of a peculiar use of the word. Merdin or Merlin, is Caermarthen, ' Afric Ismail, i.e. the northern in South Wales. Prof. Child, part of Africa, inhabited by Moors ^ Whilom, formerly, and others, supposed to be the ' Woniie, dwelling, descendants of Ishmael. ^ Delve, dell. ^ Mote, might. BRITOMART. 49 From the swift Barry, tumbling down apace \ Amongst the woody hills of Dynevowre : But dare thou not, I charge, in any case. To enter into that same baleful bow'r,i For fear the cruel fiends should thee unwares devour : V 3 9 But, standing high aloft, low lay thine ear. And there such ghastly noise of iron chains And brazen caudrons^ thou shalt rumbling hear. Which thousand sprites with long enduring pains Do toss, that it will stun thy feeble brains ; And oftentimes great groans, and grievous stownds. When too huge toil and labour them constrains ; And oftentimes loud strokes and ringing sounds From under that deep rock most horribly re- bounds. lo The cause, some say, is this: a little while Before that Merlin died, he did intend A brazen wall in compass to compile* About Cairmardin, and did it commend Unto these sprites to bring to perfect end : During which work the Lady of the Lake, Whom long he loved, for him in haste did send ; Who, thereby forced his workmen to forsake. Them bound, till his return, their labour not to slake.^ ' Stownds, times ; here may be i5(!OT(?r, chamber. noises. 2 Caudrons, caldrons. ' Compile, construct. 5 Slake, slaclten. so THE FAERY QUEENE. 1 1 In the meantime, through that false lady's traine ^ He was surprised, and buried under bier, Ne ever to his work returned again^: Natheless those fiends may not their work forbear. So greatly his commandement they fear, But there do toil and travail day and night. Until that brazen wall they up do rear : For Merlin had in magic more insight Than ever him before or after living wight : 12 For he by words could call out of the sky Both sun and moon, and make them him obey ; The land to sea, and sea to mainland dry. And darksome night he eke could turn to day ; Huge hosts of men he could alone dismay, And hosts of men of meanest things could frame, Whenso him list his enemies to fray^: That to this day for terror of his fame. The fiends do quake when any him to them does name. 13 They, here arriving, stayed awhile without, Ne durst adventure rashly in to wend. But of their first intent gan make new doubt. For dread of danger, which it might portend : Until the hardy maid (with love to friend) First entering, the dreadful mage* there found Deep busied 'bout work of wondrous end, 1 Traine, artifice. " Vivien " in tlie " Idylls of the ^ He was surprised, and buried King." under bier, etc. See Malory's ^ E'ray, terrify. " Morte d'Arthur " and Tennyson's * Mage, magician. BRITOMART. 51 And writing strange characters in the ground, With which the stubborn fiends he to his service bound. 14 He nought was moved at their entrance bold, For of their coming well he wist ^ afore ; Yet list them bid ^ their business to unfold, As if ought in this world in secret store Were from him hidden, or unknown of yore. Then Glauce thus : " Let not it thee offend. That we thus rashly through thy darksome door Unwares have pressed ; for either fatal end,^ Or other mighty cause, us two did hether send." 1 5 He bade tell on ; and then she thus began : " Now have three moons with borrowed brother's light Thrice shin^d fair, and thrice seemed dim and wan, Sith* a sore evil, which this virgin bright Tormenteth and doth plunge in doleful plight, First rooting took ; but what thing it mote ^ be. Or whence it sprong, I cannot read® aright : But this I read, that, but if remedy Thou her afford, full shortly I her dead shall see." 16 Therewith th' enchanter softly gan to smile At her smooth speeches, weeting^ inly well 1 Wist, knew. " Sith, since. 2 Yet list them bid, i.e. Yet it ^ Mote, may. pleased him to bid tliem. ^ Read, declare. 3 Fatal end, some purpose of ' But if, unless, the Fates. ^ Weeting, knowing. 52 THE FAERY QUEENE. That she to him dissembled womanish guile, And to her said : " Beldame, by that ye tell. More need of leech-craft ^ hath your damosel, Then of my skill : who help may have elsewhere. In vain seeks wonders out of magic spell." Th' old woman woxe^ half blank those words to hear ; And yet was loath to let her purpose plain appear ; 17 And to him said: "If any leech's skill, Or other learned means, could have redressed This my dear daughter's deep-engraffed ^ ill, Certes I should be loath thee to molest : But this sad evil, which doth her infest. Doth course of natural cause far exceed. And housed is within her hollow breast, That either seems some cursed witch's deed. Or evil sprite,* that in her doth such torment breed." 18 The wizard could no longer bear her bord,^ But, bursting forth in laughter, to her said : " Glauce, what needs this colourable ^ word To cloke the cause that hath itself bewrayed ■* .■" Ne ye, fair Britomartis, thus arrayed. More hidden are then sun in cloudy vele^; Whom thy good fortune, having fate obeyed, ^ Leech-craft, physician's skill. ^ Boyd, trifling. 2 Woxe, became. 8 Colourable, specious. ' Deep-engraffed, deeply fixed. ' Bewrayed, betrayed, revealed. * Sprite, spirit. * Vele, veil. BRITOMART. S3 Hath hether brought for succour to appeal ; The which the pow'rs to thee are pleased to reveal." 19 The doubtfuP maid, seeing herself descried, Was all abashed, and her pure ivory Into a clear carnation sudden dyed ; But her old nurse was nought disheartened. But vantage made of that which Merlin had aread^; 20 And said : " Sith then thou knowest all our grief, (For what dost not thou know ?) of grace I pray, Pity our plaint, and yield us meet ^ relief ! " With that the prophet still awhile did stay, And then his spirit thus gan forth display : " Most noble virgin, that by fatal lore Hast learned to love, let no whit thee dismay The hard begin that meets thee in the door, And with sharp fits thy tender heart oppresseth sore: 21 "For so must all things excellent begin ; And eke enrooted deep must be that tree, Whose big embodied branches shall not lin* Till, they to heaven's height forth stretched be. ' For from thy womb a famous progeny Shall spring out of the ancient Trojan blood, ^ 1 Doubtful, fearful, apprehen- ^ Troja7i blood ; Brutus, the give. mythical founder of Britain, was 2 Aread, declared. the great-grandson of j^neas of 3 Meet, fit. Troy. * Lin, stop. 54 THE FAERY QUEENE. Which shall revive the sleeping memory Of those same antique peers, the heaven's brood, Which Greek and Asian rivers stained with their blood. 22 "Renowmed^ kings, and sacred emperors, Thy fruitful offspring, shall from thee descend ; Brave captains, and most mighty warriors. That shall their conquests through all lands extend, And their decayed kingdoms shall amend : The feeble Britons, broken with long war. They shall uprear, and mightily defend Against their foreign foe that comes from far. Till universal peace compound all civil jar. 23 " iLffiasjiol^Eritqmart, thy wand'ring eye X- Glancing unwares in charmed looking-glass, jTy But the straight course of heavenly destiny, ^ Led with eternal Providence, that has Guided thy glance, to bring His will to pass: Ne is thy fate, ne is thy fortune ill. To love the prowest ^ knight that ever was : Therefore submit thy ways unto His will. And do, by all due means, thy destiny fulfill." 24 "But read," 3 said Glauce, "thou magician,* What means shall she out-seek, or what ways take .■• How shall she know, how shall she find the man .■" Or what needs her to toil, sith Fates can make ' Renowmed, renowned. * Magician ; last syllable pro- ■■^ Prowest, most valiant. nounced as two syllables. 5 Read, declare. BRITOMART. 55 Way for themselves, their purpose to pertake i? " Then Merlin thus : " Indeed the Fates are firm, And may not shrink, though all the world do shake : Yet ought men's good endeavours them confirm, And guide the heavenly causes to their constant term.^ " The man whom heavens have ordained to be The spouse of Britomart, is Arthegall : ' He wonneth ^ in the land of Faery, Yet is no faery born, ne sib * at all To elfes, but sprong of seed terrestrial, And whilom by false faeries stol'n away, Whiles yet in infant cradle he did crawl ; 26 " But sooth ^ he is the son of Gorloi's,^ And brother unto Cador, Cornish king ; And for his warlike feats renowmed is. From where the day out of the sea doth spring, Until the closure of the evening : From thence him, firmly bound with faithful band, To this his native soil thou back shalt bring. Strongly to aid his country to withstand The pow'r of foreign paynims "' which invade thy land. 1 Pertake, partake ; a peculiar ^ Woitneth, dwelleth. use of the word; seems here to '^ Sib, kinsman, signify carry otit. ^ Sooth, truly. 2 Constajit ter7n, fixed conclu- ^ C(7?-/(7/j, the Duke of Cornwall, sion. ^ Paynims, pagans, infidels. 56 THE FAERY QUEEATE. Merlin then told Britomart something of the mythical history of the Britons and of their unsuccessful struggle against the Saxons ; con- cluding as follows : — 27 "Then woe, and woe, and everlasting woe, Be to the Briton babe that shall be born To live in thraldom of his father's foe ! Late king, now captive ; late lord, now forlorn ; The world's reproach ; the cruel victor's scorn ; Banished from princely bow'r to wasteful wood ! O, who shall help me to lament and mourn The royal seed,^ the antique Trojan^ blood. Whose empire lenger here than ever any stood !" 28 The damsel was full deep empassion^d \\-^ Both for his grief and for her people's sake, P*" t,j>^' Whose future woes so plain he fashioned ; Ti^H'* And, sighing sore, at length him thus bespake : "Ah ! but will heaven's fury never slake. Nor vengeance huge relent itself at last ? Will not long misery late mercy make. But shall their name for ever be defaced, And quite from off the earth their memory be raste ^ ? " 29 "Nay, but the term," said he, "is limited. That in this thraldom Britons shall abide ; And the just revolution measured That they as strangers shall be notified*: For twice four hundred years shall be supplied, 1 Seed, race. ^ Raste, erased. 2 Trojan, refers to Trojan set- '^Notified, marked, tlement of Britain. ^Supplied, fulfilled. BRITOMART. S7 Ere they to former rule restored shall be, /l-idi. And their importune ^ fates all satisfied : I JL/ Yet, during this their most obscurity, ^^^ Their beams shall oft break forth, that men them | fair may see. 30 " For Rhodorick,^ whose surname shall be Great, Shall of himself a brave ensample show. That Saxon kings his friendship shall intreat ; And Howell Dha^ shall goodly well indew The salvage* minds with skill of just and true : Then Griffyth Conan^ also shall uprear His dreaded head, and the old sparks renew Of native courage, that his foes shall fear Lest back again the kingdom he from them should bear. 31 "Ne shall the Saxons selves all peaceably Enjoy the crown, which they from Britons won First ill, and after ruled wickedly : For, ere two hundred years be full outrun. There shall a raven,^ far from rising sun, With his wide wings upon them fiercely fly. And bid his faithless chickens^ overrun The fruitful plains, and with fell cruelty In their avenge tread down the vicjior's surquedry.^ '^Importune, troublesome. ^ Grijfyth Conan died in 11 36. ^ Roderick the Great began to ^ Raven, i.e. the leader of the reign in Wales in 843. Danes. 3 ffowell Dha died about 948. ' Faithless chickens, i.e. his hea- * Salvage, wild, woodland. then brood. ' Sitrquedry, insolence. 58 THE FAERY QUEENE. 32 " Yet shall a third both these and thine subdue : There shall a lion ^ from the sea-board wood Of Neustria^ come roaring, with a crew Of hungry whelps, his battailous^ bold brood. Whose claws were newly dipped in cruddy* blood. That from the Daniske^ tyrant's head shall rend Th' usurped crown, as if that he were wood,^ And the spoil of the country conquered Amongst his young ones shall divide with bounty- head. '^ 33 "Tho,^ when the term is full accomplishid, There shall a spark of fire, which hath longwhile Been in his ashes raked up and hid. Be freshly kindled in the fruitful isle Of Mona,^ where it lurked in exile 1°; Which shall break forth into bright burning flame, And reach into the house that bears the style Of royal majesty and sovereign name : So shall the Briton blood their crown again reclaim. ^^ ^ There shall a lion, etc. This ^^ There shall a spark, etc. is William of Normandy. Llewellyn, the last of the native ^ Neustria was the ancient name Welsh princes, made an unsuc- of the northwest part of France. cessful resistance to Edward I., Hillard. and was defeated and slain. Ed- ' Battailous, eager for battle. ward soon after created his own » Cruddy, curdled. infant son Prince of Wales. Hil- ^ Daniske, Danish. lard. ^ Wood, mad. n So shall the Briton blood their ' Bounty head, generosity. crown again reclaim. By the ac- * Tho, then. cession of Henry of Richmond to ' Mona, the island now called the crown. Henry, descended from Anglesey. the Tudors, was born in Mona, now called Anglesey. Upton. BRITOMART. 59 34 " Thenceforth eternal union sha ll b e made Between th e n ations different afore, And sacred peace shall lovingly persuade The warlike minds to learn her goodly lore, And civil arms to exercise no more : Then shall a royal virgin reign, which shall Stretch her white rod over the Belgic shore, And the great Castle smite so sore withal. That it shall make him shake, and shortly learn to falP: 35 " But yet the end is not — " There Merlin stayed, As overcomen of the spirit's pow'r. Or other ghastly spectacle dismayed. That secretly he saw, yet note discoure^: Which sudden fit and half ecstatic stoure^ When the two fearful women saw, they grew Greatly confused in behaviour : At last, the fury past, to former hue He turned again, and cheerful looks as erst* did show. 36 Then, when themselves they well instructed had Of all that needed them to be inquired. They both, conceiving hope of comfort glad, With lighter hearts unto their home retired ; 1 Then shall u. royal virgin ^ Note discoure, might not dis- reign, etc. This is Queen Eliza- close, beth, who assisted the Belgian ^ Stoure, paroxysm, provinces, and shook the power of * Erst, at first, the king of Castile. Prof. Child. 60 THE FAERY QUEENE. Where they in secret counsel close ^ conspired, How to effect so hard an enterprize, And to possess the purpose they desired : Now this, now that, twixt them they did devise. And diverse plots did frame to mask in strange disguise. 3/ At last the nurse in her fool-hardy wit Conceived a bold device, and thus bespake : " Daughter, I deem that counsel aye most fit, That of the time doth due advantage take : Ye see that good King Uther^ now doth make Strong war upon the paynim brethren, hight* Octa and Oza, whom he lately brake Beside Cayr Verolame* in victorious fight, That now all Brittany doth burn in armes bright. 38 "That therefore nought our passage may impeach,^ Let us in feigned arms ourselves disguise. And ourweak hands (need makes good scholars) teach The dreadful spear and shield to exercise : Ne certes,^ daughter, that same warlike wise, I ween,'^ would you mis-seem^; for ye been tall And large of limb t' achieve an hard emprise^; Ne ought ye want but skill, which practice small Will bring, and shortly make you a maid martial. ^ Close, secretly. 5 Impeach, prevent. 2 Uther, a Welsh king who ^ Ne certes, nor certainly, lived just before Arthur. ' Ween, think. ' Hight, called. * Mis-seem, misbecome. * Cayr Verolame, i.e. the city of ' Emprise, undertaking. Verulam. BSITOMAR T. 61 39 " And, sooth, 1 it ought your courage much inflame To hear so often, in that royal house. From whence to none inferior ye came. Bards tell of many women valorous, Which have full many feats adventurous Performed, in paragon^ of proudest men : The bold Bunduca,^ whose victorious Exploits made Rome to quake ; stout Guendolen * ; Renowmed Martia ^ ; and redoubted Emmilen^; — 40 "And, that which more then all the rest may sway, Late days' ensample, which these eyes beheld : In this last field before Menevia,^ Which Uther with those foreign Pagans held, I saw a Saxon virgin, ^ the which felled Great Ulfin^ thrice upon the bloody plain ; And, had not Carados^*' her hand withheld From rash revenge, she had him surely slain ; Yet Carados himself from her escaped with pain." 41 "Ah! read," 11 quoth Britomart, "how is she highti2?" "Fair Angela," quoth she, "men do her call, ' Sooth, truly. * Emmilen. Who Emmilen is, 2 Paragon, rivalry. is uncertain. Prof. Cliild. 3 Btinduca, B o a d i c e a, who ' Menevia, St. David's, a very headed a revolt against the Ro- old episcopal city in Wales. mans. She died 62 a.d. ^ A Saxon virgin. This Saxon » Guendolen, wife of Locrine, virgin is, I believe, entirely of a fabulous king of ancient Britain. Spenser's own feigning. Upton. 6 Martia, the lawgiver men- ^ Ulfin, \ names taken from tioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's " Carados, S old Welsh stories, history. " Read, tell. 12 Hight, called. 62 THE FAERY QUEENE. No whit less fair then terrible in fight : She hath the leading of a martial And mighty people, dreaded more then all The other Saxons, which do, for her sake And love, t hemselves of her nam e Ans[les call. . Therefore, fai r infant, her e n sample make Un to thyself, and equal courage to thee take." 42 Her hearty words so deep into the mind Of the young damsel sunk, that great desire Of warlike arms in her forthwith they tined,^ And generous stout courage did inspire. That she resolved, unweeting^ to her sire, Advent'rous knighthood on herself to don ; And counselled with her nurse her maid's attire To turn into a massy habergeon^; And bade her all things put in readiness anon. 43 Th' old woman nought that needed did omit ; But all things did conveniently purvey. It fortuned (so time their turn did fit) A band of Britons, riding on forray Few days before, had gotten a great prey Of Saxon goods ; amongst the which was seen A goodly armour, and full rich array. Which longed to Angela, the Saxon queen, All fretted round with gold, and goodly well beseen.* 44 The same, with all the other ornaments. King Ryence caused to be hanged high ' Titled, kindled. ^ Habergeon, coat of mail. ^ Unmeeting, unknown. * Beseen, appearing. L^ BRn'OMART. 63 ,1^ In his chief church, for endless moniments ^ Of his success and gladful victory : Of which herself avising ^ readily, In th' evening late old Glauc^ thether led Fair Britomart, and, that same armoury Down taking, her therein apparelled Well as she might, and with brave ^ baldric* gar- nishM. 45 Beside those arms there stood a mighty spear, Which Bladud^ made by magic art of yore, And used the same in battle aye to bear ; Sith® which it had been here preserved in store, For his great virtues" proved long afore : For never wight so fast in selP could sit, But him perforce unto the ground it bore : Both spear she took and shield which hung by it ; Both spear and shield of great pow'r, for her pur- pose fit. _46 Thus when she had the virgin all arrayed, Another harness which did hang thereby About herself she dight,^ that the young maid She might in equal arms accompany, 1 Moniiiit'nts, monuments, re- * Sith, since. minders. ' His great virtues, its great 2 Avising, bethinking. powers, properties. Since Brito- 8 Brave, handsome. mart is the knight of Chastity, the * Baldric, a broad belt worn sword, must represent the power over one shoulder. of maidenly purity. s Bladud, a legendary king of ^ Sell, saddle. England who was said to have ' Dight, disposed, built the city of Bath. 64 THE FAERY QUEENS. And as her squire attend her carefully : Tho^ to their ready steeds they clomb^ full light ; And through back ways, that none might them espy, Covered with secret cloud of silent night, Themselves they forth conveyed, and passed for- ward right. 47 Ne rested they, till that to Faery-lond They came, as Merlin them directed late : Where, meeting with this Redcross knight, she fond^ Of diverse things discourses to dilate, But most of Arthegall and his estate. At last their ways so fell that they mote part : Then each to other, well affectionate. Friendship professed with unfeigned heart : The Redcross knight diverst*; but forth rode Britomart. 1 Tho, then. ^ Fond, found. ^ Clomb, climbed. * JDiverst, turned off. IV. Britomari encounters Marinell. After his defeat, Marinell is carried by his mother to her chamber in the bottom of the sea. 1 Where is the antique glory now become, Tliat wiiilom wont in women to appear ? Where be the brave achievements done by some ? Where be the battles, where the shield and spear. And all the conquests which them high did rear. That matter made for famous poets' verse. And boastful men so oft abashed to hear ? Been they all dead, and laid in doleful hearse ^ ? Or doen ^ they only sleep, and shall again reverse ^ ? 2 If they be dead, then woe is me therefore ; But if they sleep, O let them soon awake ! For all too long I burn with envy * sore To hear the warlike feats which Homer spake Of bold Penthesilee,^ which made a lake Of Greekish blood so oft in Trojan plain ; But when I read, how stout Deborah strake ^ Hearse, tomb. ^ Penthesilee, Penthesilea, a 2 Doen, do. queen of the Amazons who came 3 Reverse, return. to fight for Troy and was slain by * £nvy, emulation. Achilles. She is not mentioned by Homer. 66 THE FAERY QUEENE. Proud Sisera,^ and how Camill'^ hath slain The huge Orsilochus, I swell with great disdain.^ 3 Yet these, and all that else hath puissance, Cairnot with noble Britomart compare, As well for glory of great^riance^* As for pure chastity and virtue rare,__, That all her goodly deeds do well declare. Weir worthy stock, from which the branches sprong That in late years so fair a blossom bare. As thee, O Queen, the matter of my song. Whose lignage from this lady I derive along ! 4 Who when, through speeches with the Redcross knight. She learned had th' estate of Arthegall, And in each point herself informed aright, A friendly league of love perpetual She with him bound, and congd^ took withal. Then he forth on his journey did proceed. To seek adventures which mote him befall. And win him worship through his warlike deed. Which always of his pains he made the chiefest meed. 1 How stout Deborah strake ^ Camilla, in Virgil's Mne\A ; a proud Sisera. Deborah prophe- virgin warrior who slew Orsilo- sied that Sisera, a leader against chus while fighting for Turnus the Israelites, should be slain by against the Trojans. a woman. He was, however, * Disdain, scorn for the deeds killed by Jael, the wife of Heber, of men (?). who drove a tent-peg into his * Valiance, valor, temple. ^ Conge, leave. BRITOMART. 67 5 But Britomart kept on her former course, Ne ever doft her arms ; but all the way Grew pensive through that amorous discourse, By which the Redcross knight did erst^ display Her lover's shape and chivalrous array : A thousand thoughts she fashioned in her mind ; And in her feigning fancy did portray Him, such as fittest she for love could find. Wise, warlike, personable,^ courteous, and kind. 6 With such self-pleasing thoughts her wound she fed, And thought so to beguile her grievous smart ; But so her smart was much more grievous bred, And the deep wound more deep engored her heart, That nought but death her dolour^ mote depart.* So forth she rode, without repose or rest, Searching all lands and each remotest part, Following the guidance of her blinded guest,^ Till that to the sea-coast at length she her addressed. 7 There she alighted from her light-foot beast. And, sitting down upon the rocky shore. Bade her old .squire unlace her lofty crest : Tho,^ having viewed a while the surges hoar That gainst the craggy clifts did loudly roar, And in their raging surquedry^ disdained^ That the fast earth affronted^ them so sore, 1 Erst, first. « Tho, then. 2 Personable, handsome. ' Surqtiedry, insolence. ^ Dolour, grief. * Disdained, felt contempt for * Depart, remove. the fact that the fast earth, etc. (?). '^ Blinded guest, i.e. love. ^Affronted, confronted. 68 THE FAERY QUEENE. And their devouring covetise^ restrained ; Thereat she sighed deep, and after thus complained : 8 " Huge sea of sorrow and tempestuous grief, Wherein my feeble bark is tossed long, Far from the hoped haven of relief. Why do thy cruel billows beat so strong, And thy moist mountains each on others throng, Threat'ning to swallow up my fearful life ? O, do thy cruel wrath and spiteful wrong At length allay, and stint ^ thy stormy strife. Which in these troubled bowels^ reigns and rageth rife ! 9 " For else my feeble vessel, crazed and cracked Through thy strong buffets and outrageous blows. Cannot endure, but needs it must be wracked On the rough rocks, or on the sandy shallows. The whiles that Love it steers, and Fortune rows : Love, my lewd* pilot, hath a restless mind ; And Fortune, boatswain, no assurance^ knows ; But sail withouten stars gainst tide' and wind : How can they other do, sith both are bold and blind ! lo "Thou god of winds, that reignest in the seas, That reignest also in the continent,® At last blow up some gentle gale of ease, The which may bring my ship, ere it be rent, ^ Covetise, covetousness. ^ Lewd, ignorant. ^ Stint, stop. ^ Assurance, steadiness. ^ Bowels, used sometimes as ''In the continent, i.e. on heart, i.e. the seat of feeling. land. BRJTOMART. 69 Unto the gladsome port of her intent ! Then, when I shall myself in safety see, A table, for eternal moniment Of thy great grace and my great jeopardy, Great Neptune, I avow to hallow unto thee M " liW QPAAh 1 1 Then sighing softly sore, and inly deep, She shut up all her plaint in privy grief ; (For her great courage would not let her weep ;) ], i/a^ Till that old Glauce gan with sharp repriefe^ ^^^ Her to restrain, and give her good relief ^ Through hope of those which Merlin had her told Should of her name and nation^ be chief. And fetch their being from the sacred mould Of her immortal womb, to be in heaven enrolled. 12 Thus as she her recomforted, she spied Where far away one, all in armour bright, With hasty gallop towards her did ride : Her dolour soon she ceased, and on her dight* Her helmet, to her courser mounting light : Her former sorrow into sudden wrath (Both cousin^ passions of distroubled sprite®) 1 A table, etc. It was the cus- ^ Repriefe, reproof, torn among the Romans for any ^ Nation, pronounced as a word one who escaped shipwreck to of three syllables, express his gratitude by hanging * Dight, put. up, in the temple of Neptune, a ^ Cousin, kindred, tablet or picture representing the * Distroubled sprite, disturbed circumstances of his danger and mind, escape. Hillard. 70 THE FAERY QUEENE. Converting, forth she beats the dusty path : Love and despite ^ at once her courage kindled hath. 13 As when a foggy mist hath overcast The face of heaven and the clear air engroste,^ The world in darkness dwells ; till that at last The wat'ry southwind, from the seaboard coast Upblowing, doth disperse the vapour lo'ste,^ And pours itself forth in a stormy show'r ; So the fair Britomart, having disclos'te* Her cloudy care into a wrathful stowre,^ The mist of grief dissolved did into vengeance pour. 14 Eftsoones,^ her goodly shield addressing'^ fair, That mortal spear she in her hand did take, And unto battle did herself prepare. The knight, approaching, sternly her bespake: " Sir knight, that dost thy voyage rashly make By this forbidden way^ in my despite,^ Ne dost by others' death ensample take, I read^" thee soon retire, whiles thou hast might. Lest afterwards it be too late to take thy flight." ' Despite, contemptuous defi- ^ Eftsoones, at once, ance. "^ .(^^i/?'^^^??/.^, adjusting. ^ Engroste, made thick. ' Forbidde7i way, forbidden be- ' Lo'ste, dissolved. cause the knight allows no one to ^ Disclo'ste, developed, trans- pass, muted. ^ In my despite, in defiance or ^ Stowre, fury. contempt of me. 1" Read, advise. BRITOMART. 71 I 5 Ythrilled with deep disdain of his proud threat, She shortly thus : " Fly they, that need to fly ; Words fearen^ babes: I mean not thee entreat To pass ; but maugre^ thee will pass or die :" Ne lenger stayed for th' other to reply, But with sharp spear the rest made dearly known. Strongly the strange knight ran, and sturdily Struck her full on the breast, that made her down Decline her head, and touch her crouper with her crown. 1 6 But she again him in the shield did smite With so fierce fury and great puissance. That, through his three-square scutcheon piercing quite And through his mailed hauberk, by mischance The wicked steel through his left side did glance : Him so transfixed she before her bore Beyond his croup, the length of all her lance ; Till, sadly soucing ^ on the sandy shore. He tumbled on* an heap, and wallowed in his gore. t7 Like as the sacred ox that careless stands With gilden horns and flow'ry girlonds crowned, Proud of his dying honour and dear^ bands. Whiles th' altars fume with frankincense around. All suddenly with mortal stroke astound Doth grovelling fall, and with his streaming gore 1 Fearen, frighten. ' On, i.e. in. 2 Maifre, in spite of. ^ Dear, i.e. bands that are to 8 Sadly soucing, falling heavily. cost him dear. 72 THE FAERY QUEENE. Distains^ the pillars and the holy ground, And the fair flow'rs that deckM him afore : So fell proud Marinell upon the precious shore. 1 8 The martial maid stayed not him to lament, But forward rode, and kept her ready^ way Along the strond ; which, as she over-went, She saw bestrowed all with rich array Of pearls and precious stones of great assay,^ And all the gravel mixed with golden ore: Whereat she wond'red much, but would not stay For gold, or pearls, or precious stones, an hour. But them despised all, for* all was in her pow'r. 19 Whiles thus he lay in deadly 'stonishment, Tidings hereof came to his mother's ear ; His mother was the black-browed Cymoent, The daughter of great Nereus,^ which did bear This warlike son unto an earthly peer. The famous Dumarin ; . . . 20 She, of his father, Marinell did name ; And in a rocky cave as wight forlorn Long time she fost'red up, till he became A mighty man at arms, and mickle*" fame Did get through great adventures by him done : ' Distains, stains. * For, notwithstanding. 2 Ready, speedy. 5 Nereus, an ancient sea-god. ^ Assay, value. '^ Mickle, much. BRITOMART. 73 For never man he suffered by that same Rich strond to travel, whereas he did wonne,i But that he must do battle with the sea-nymph's son. 21 An hundred knights of honourable name He had subdued, and them his vassals made: That through all Faery-lond ^ his noble fame Now blazed was, and fear did all invade, That none durst passen through that perilous glade : And, to advance his name and glory more, Her sea-god sire she dearly ^ did persuade T' endow her son with treasure and rich store 'Bove all the sons that were of earthly wombs ybore. 22 The god did grant his daughter's dear demand, To doen his nephew* in all riches flow^: Eftsoones his heaped waves he did command Out of their hollow bosom forth to throw All the huge treasure, which the sea below Had in his greedy gulf devoured deep. And him enriched through the overthrow And wrecks of many wretches, which did weep And often wail their wealth which he from them did keep. 23 Shortly upon that shore there heaped was Exceeding riches and all precious things, 1 Wonne, dwell. * Nephew, grandson. ^ Land, land, ^ To doen, etc., to cause his ' Dearly, with earnestness. grandson to abound in riches. 74 THE FAERY QUEENE. The spoil of all the world ; that it did pass The wealth of th' East, and pomp of Persian kings : Gold, amber, ivory, pearls, owches,^ rings, And all that else was precious and dear. The sea unto him voluntary brings ; That shortly he a great lord did appear. As was in all the lond of Faery, or elsewhere. 24 Thereto ^ he was a doughty dreaded knight. Tried often to the scath ^ of many dear,* That none in equal arms him matchen might : The which his mother seeing gan to fear Lest his too haughty hardiness might rear^ Some hard mishap in hazard of his life : Forthy^ she oft him counselled to forbear The bloody battle, and to stir up strife,^ But after all his war to rest his weary knife : 25 And, for his more assurance,^ she inquired One day of Proteus ^ by his mighty spell (For Proteus was with prophesy inspired) Her dear son's destiny to her to tell. And the sad end of her sweet Marinell : Who, through foresight of his eternal skill. Bade her from womankind to keep him well ; ' Owches, jewels. ' And to stir up strife, i.e. to ^ Thereto, besides. forbear stirring up strife. ' Scath, harm. 8 j\^ore assurance, greater secu- * Dear, dearly. rity. ^ Rear, raise, i.e. cause. ^ Proteus, a sea-god who as- ^ Forthy, therefore. suraed different shapes at will. BRITOMART. 75 For of a woman he should have much ill ; A virgin strange and stout ^ him should dismay or kill. 26 Forthy she gave him warning every day The love of women not to entertain ; A lesson too too^ hard for living clay, From love in course of nature to refrain ! Yet he his mother's lore did well retain, And ever from fair ladies' love did fly ; Yet many ladies fair did oft complain. That they for love of him would algates^ die; Die whoso list for him, he was love's enemy. 27 But ah ! who can deceive his destiny, Or ween* by warning to avoid his fate .■' That, when he sleeps in most security And safest seems, him soonest doth amate,^ And findeth due effect or soon or late ; So feeble is the pow'r of fleshly arm ! His mother bade him women's love to hate, For she of woman's force did fear no harm ; So weening to have armed him, she did quite disarm 28 This was that woman, this the deadly wound. That Proteus prophesied should him dismay; The which his mother vainly did expound To be heart-wounding love, which should assay '^ Stout, brave. * Ween, think, imagine. 2 Too too, exceedingly. ' Amate, confound. 3 Algates, by all means, absolutely. 76 THE FAERY QUEENE. To bring her son unto his last decay.^ So tickle^ be the terms of mortal state And full of subtile^ sophisms, which do play With double senses, and with false debate, T' approve* the unknown purpose of eternal fate. 29 Too true the famous Marinell it found ; Who, through late trial, on that wealthy strond^ Inglorious now lies in senseless swownd,^ Through heavy stroke of Britomartis bond.'' Which when his mother dear did understond, And heavy tidings heard, whereas^ she played Amongst her wat'ry sisters by a pond. Gathering sweet daffadillies, to have made Gay girlonds from the sun their foreheads fair to shade, 30 Eftsoones both flow'rs and girlonds far away She flung, and her fair dewy locks yrent : To sorrow huge she turned her former play. And gamesome mirth to grievous dreriment^: She threw herself down on the continent, 1*' Ne word did speak, but lay as in a swowne. Whiles all her sisters did for her lament With yelling outcries, and with shrieking sowne^^; And every one did tear her girlond from her crown. ' Decay, ruin, destruction. ^ Swownd, swoon. '^ Tickle, unstable. ' Hand, hand. ' Subtile, subtle. ^ Whereas, where. * Approve, prove. ' Dreriment, sorrow. ^ Strond, strand. i" Continent, land. 11 Sowne, sound. BRITOMART. 77 3 1 Soon as she up out of her deadly fit Arose, she bade her charet to be brought ; And all her sisters, that with her did sit. Bade eke^ attonce^ their charets to be sought : Tho,3 full of bitter grief and pensive thought, She to her waggon clomb*; clomb all the rest. And forth together went, with sorrow fraught ^i The waves obedient to their behest Them yielded ready passage, and their rage sur- ceased.^ 32 Great Neptune stood amazed at their sight. While on his broad round back they softly slid, And eke himself mourned at their mournful plight. Yet wist' not what their wailing meant, yet did. For great compassion of their sorrow, bid His mighty waters to them buxom ^ be : Eftsoones^ the roaring billows still abid,^" And all the grisly ^^ monsters of the sea Stood gaping at their gate,^ and wond'red them to see. 33 A team of dolphins raunged^^ in array Drew the smooth charet of sad Cymoent: They were all taught by Triton to obey 1 Eke, likewise. * Buxom, yielding. 2 Attonce, at once. ^ Eftsoones, immediately. 8 Tho, then. ' " A bid, abode. * Clomb, climbed. i' Grisly, frightful. 5 Fi-aught, filled. ^^ Gate, procedure. ^ Surceased, ended. ^^ Raunged in array, arranged ' Wist, knew. in proper order. 78 THE FAERY QUEENE. To the long reins at her commandement : As swift as swallows on the waves they went, That their broad flaggy fins no foam did rear, Ne bubbling rowndell ^ they behind them sent ; The rest of other fishes drawen were, Which with their finny oars the swelling sea did shear. 34 Soon as they been arrived upon the brim Of the rich strond, their charets they forlore,^ And let their team^d^ fishes softly swim Along the margent* of the foamy shore, Lest they their fins should bruise, and surbate ^ sore Their tender feet upon the stony ground : And coming to the place, where all in gore And cruddy® blood enwallow^d ^ they found The luckless Marinell lying in deadly swownd, 35 His mother swooned thrice, and the third time Could scarce recovered be out of her pain ; Had she not been devoid of mortal slime, She should not then have been re-lived^ again : But, soon as life recovered had the reign, She made so piteous moan and dear wayment,^ That the hard rocks could scarce from tears refrain : ' Rowndell, globule. ^ Cruddy, curdled. 2 Forlore, left. ' Enwallowed, rolling in. ' Teamed, yoked as in a team. * Re-lived, revived. * Margent, margin. ' Dear wayment, heartfelt 1am- ^ Surbate, batter. entation. BRITOMART. 79 And all her sister nymphs with one consent Supplied her sobbing breaches ^ with sad com- plement. ^ 36 "Dear image of myself," she said, "that is The wretched son of wretched mother born, Is this thine high advancement ? O ! is this Th' immortal name, with which thee, yet unborn, Thy grandsire Nereus promised to adorn ? Now liest thou of life and honour reft^; Now liest thou a lump of earth forlorn ; Ne of thy late life memory is left ; Ne can thy irrevocable destiny be wefte* ! 37 "Fond^ Proteus, father of false prophecies! And they more fond that credit to thee give ! Not this the work of woman's hand ywis,^ That so deep wound through these dear members drive. I feared love ; but they that love do live ; But they that die do neither love nor hate : Nathless to thee thy folly I forgive ; And to myself, and to accurst fate. The guilt I do ascribe : dear wisdom bought too late ! 38 "O ! what avails it of immortal seed" To be ybred and never born to die .-' 1 Sobbing breaches, i.e. the in- ^ Reft, bereft, tervals of her sobbing. ^ Wefte, avoided. 2 Complement, accessory, sup- ^ Fond, foolish, plement. * Ywis, surely. ''Seed, race. 80 THE FAERY QUEENE. Far better I it deem to die with speed, Then ^ waste in woe and wailful ^ misery : Who dies, the utmost dolour doth abye^; But who that lives is left to wail his loss : So life is loss, and death felicity : Sad life worse than glad death ; and greater cross To see friend's grave, then dead the grave self to engross.* 39 " But if the heavens did his day envy,^ And my short bliss malign,^ yet mote they well Thus much afford me, ere that he did die. That the dim eyes of my dear Marinell I mote''^ have closed, and him bed^ farewell, Sith other offices for mother meet They would not grant Yet, maulgre ^ them, farewell, my sweetest sweet ! Farewell, my sweetest son, sith we no more shall meet ! " 40 Thus when they all had sorrowed their fill, They softly gan to search his grisly^" wound : And, that they might him handle more at will. They him disarmed ; and, spreading on the ground Their watchet^^ mantles fringed with silver round. They softly wiped away the jelly blood ^ Then, than. 6 Malign, begrudge. ^ Wailful, mournful. ' Mote, might. ' Abye, endure. * Bed, bade. * Engross, occupy. ' Maulgre, in spite of. ^ Envy, begrudge. ^^ Grisly, dreadful. 1' Watchet, pale blue. BRJTOMART. 81 From th' orifice ; which, having well upbound, They poured in sovereign balm and nectar good, Good both for earthly med'cine and for heavenly food. 41 Tho,i when the lily-handed Liagore (This Liagore whilom ^ had learned skill In leech's^ craft, by great Apollo's lore,* Sith her whilom upon high Pindus hill^ He loved,) .... . . Did feel his pulse, she knew there stayed still Some little life his feeble sprites ^ among ; Which to his mother told, despair she from her flung. 42 Tho, up him taking in their tender hands. They easily unto her charett ^ bear : Her team at her commandment quiet stands, Whiles they the corse ^ into the waggon rear. And strow with flow'rs the lamentable beare^: Then all the rest into their coaches clim,^" And through the brackish waves their passage shear ^^ ; Upon great Neptune's neck they softly swim. And to her wat'ry chamber swiftly carry him. 1 Tho, then. in Thessaly, the seat of the 2 Whilom, formerly. muses. ' Leech's, physician's. '' Sprites, spirits. '^ Apollo's lore ; Apollo and his ' C/5ar^ff, chariot, son ^sculapius were revered as ' Corse, body. the chief gods of healing. ^ Beare, bier. 5 Pindus hill, a lofty mountain i" Clim, climb. ^' Shear, cut. 82 THE FAERY QUEENS. 43 Deep in the bottom of the sea, her bow'r^ Is built of hollow billows heaped high, Like to thick clouds that threat a stormy show'r, And vauted^ all within like to the sky, In which the gods do dwell eternally : There they him laid in easy couch well dight,^ And sent in haste for Tryphon,* to apply Salve to his wounds, and medicines of might : For Tryphon of sea-gods the sovereign leech is hight.^ 44 The whiles the nymphs sit all about him round, Lamenting his mishap and heavy plight ; And oft his mother, viewing his wide wound, CursM the hand that did so deadly smite Her dearest son, her dearest heart's delight : But none of all those curses overtook The warlike maid, th' ensample of that might ^ ; But fairly well she thrived, and well did brook Her noble deeds,^ ne her right course for ought forsook. 45 Yet did false Archimage^ her still pursue, To bring to pass his mischievous intent, ' Bower, chamber, dwelling. had in the overthrow of Marinell 2 Vauted, vaulted. given a specimen of her power. ^ Dight, arranged. ^ And well did brook her noble * Tryphon. There is no leech deeds, i.e. she did not suffer in of the sea-gods in classical myth- consequence of her noble deeds, ology. Hillard. 8 Archimage, or Archimago, a ^ Hight, called. wicked enchanter described in the * The warlike maid, th' ensample first book of the " Faery Queene," of that might, i.e. Britomart, who the chief enemy of the Redcross knight and Una. BRITOMART. 83 Now that he had her singled from the crew Of courteous knights, the prince and faery gent,^ Whom late in chase of beauty excellent She left, pursuing that same foster^ strong ; Of whose foul outrage they impatient, And full of fiery zeal, him followed long, To rescue her^ from shame, and to revenge her wrong. rescue of the lady " upon a milk- ' The prince and faery gent, white palfrey." i.e. Prince Arthur and the noble ^ Foster, forester, faery, or faery knight, Sir Guyon, ' Her, i.e. the lady pursued by who left Britomart to go to the the forester. V. The Night at Malbecco's Castle. Satyrane and Paridell, two of Gloriana's champions, found them- selves on a dark and stormy night outside the castle of a man known as Malbecco. As admittance was not readily granted, Paridell wished to force an entrance. 1 " Nay, let us first," said Satyrane, " entreat The man, by gentle means, to let us in ; And afterwards affray ^ with cruel threat. Ere that we to efforce ^ it do begin : Then, if all fail, we will by force it win, And eke ^ reward the wretch for his mesprise,* As may be worthy of his heinous sin." That counsel pleased : then Paridell did rise. And to the castle-gate approached in quiet wise : 2 Whereat soft knocking, entrance he desired. The good man self, which then the porter played, Him answered, that all were now retired Unto their rest, and all the keys conveyed Unto their master who in bed was laid. That none him durst awake out of his dream; And therefore them of patience gently prayed. Then Paridell began to change his theme, And threat'ned him with force and punishment extreme. 1 Affray, frighten. 8 j^/^g^ ^^^ 2 Efforce, force. * Mesprise, contempt. BRITOMART. 85 But all in vain ; for nought mote him relent i; And now so long before the wicket fast They waited, that the night was forward spent, And the fair welkin ^ foully overcast Gan blowen up a bitter stormy blast. With show'r and hail so horrible and dread. That this fair many^ were compelled at last To fly for succour to a little shed, The which beside the gate for swine was ordered. It fortuned,* soon after they were gone. Another knight, whom tempest thether brought. Came to that castle, and with earnest moan. Like as the rest, late entrance dear^ besought; But, like so as the rest, he prayed for nought; For flatly he of entrance was refused : Sorely thereat he was displeased, and thought How to avenge himself so sore abused, And evermore the carle ^ of courtesy accused J But, to avoid th' intolerable stowre,^ He was compelled to seek some refuge near. And to that shed, to shroud him from the show'r. He came, which full of guests he found whilere,^ So as he was not let i° to enter there : 1 Mote him relent, could soften ^ Carle, churl. him. "^ Of courtesy accused, i.e. ac- 2 Welkin, sky. cused of lack of courtesy. 3 Many, company. ^ Stowre, storm. * Fortuned, happened. ' Whilere, before (him). ^ Dear, earnestly. i" Let, allowed. 86 THE FAERY QUEENE. Whereat he gan to wex^ exceeding wroth, And swore that he would lodge with them yfere,^ Or them dislodge, all were they lief or loath ^; And so defied them each, and so defied them both. 6 Both were full loath to leave that needful tent,* And both full loath in darkness to debate; Yet both full lief him lodging to have lent, And both full lief his boasting to abate : But chiefly Paridell his heart did grate ^ To hear him threaten so despitefully. As if he did a dog in kennel rate That durst not bark; and rather had he die Then, when he was defied, in coward corner lie. 7 Tho,^ hastily remounting to his steed. He forth issued ; like as a boistrous wind, Which in th' earth's hollow caves hath long been hid And shut up fast within her prisons blind. Makes the huge element,^ against her kind,^ To move and tremble as it were aghast, Until that it an issue forth may find ; Then forth it breaks, and with his ^ furious blast Confounds both land and seas, and skies doth over- cast. 1 Wex, wax, grow. ^ fho, then. 2 Yfere, together. ' The huge elemeni,i.e.\hsea.r\.h.. ^ All were they lief or loath, ' Kind, nature. i.e. whether they were willing or ' His. Its did not come into unwilling. general use until after Spenser's * Tent, shelter. time. Even Shakespeare uses his ^ Grate, fret. for its in many cases. BKITOMART. 87 8 Their steel-head spears they strongly couched, and met Together with impetuous rage and force, That with the terror of their fierce affret ^ They rudely drove to ground both man and horse. That each awhile lay like a senseless corse. But Paridell, sore bruised with the blow. Could not arise, the counterchange to scorse^ ; Till that young squire him reared from below; Then drew he his bright sword, and gan about him throw. 9 But Satyrane, forth stepping, did them stay, And with fair treaty pacified their ire : Then, when they were accorded ^ from the fray. Against that castle's lord they gan conspire, To heap on him due vengeance for his hire. They been agreed, and to the gates they go To burn the same with unquenchable fire. And that uncourteous carle, their common foe, To do foul death to die,* or wrap in grievous woe. lo Malbecco seeing them resolved indeed To flame the gates, and hearing them to call For fire in earnest, ran with fearful speed. And, to them calling from the castle wall. Besought them humbly him to bear with all, As ignorant of servants' bad abuse And slack attendance unto strangers' call. ^ Affret, encounter. * To do foul death to die, i.e. to 2 Seorse, exchange, give back. cause him to die a foul death. 5 Accorded, made to agree. 88 THE FAEKY QUEENE. The knights were willing all things to excuse, Though nought believed, and entrance late did not refuse. 1 1 They been ybrought into a comely bow'r,^ And served of all things that mote needful be ; Yet secretly their host did on them low'r. And welcomed more for fear than charitee ; But they dissembled what they did not see,^ And welcomed themselves. Each gan undight ^ Their garments wet, and weary armour free, To dry themselves by Vulcan's * flaming light, And eke^ their lately bruisM parts to bring in plight.^ 12 And eke that stranger knight amongst the rest Was for like need enforced to disarray : Tho,^ whenas vailed was her lofty crest, ^ Her golden locks, that were in trammels ^ gay Upbounden, did themselves adown display. And raught i° unto her heels ; like sunny beams, That in a cloud their light did long time stay, Their vapour vaded,^! show their golden gleams. And through the persant ^ air shoot forth their azure streams. 1 Bower, room. ' Tho, then. "^ But they dissembled, etc., i.e. ^ Whenas vailed was her lofty they appeared as though they had crest, i.e. when her helmet was been hospitably received. doffed. ^Undight, to put off. ^ Trammels, braids. ^ Vulcan, the god of fire. l" Raught, reached. ^ Eke, also. ^i Vaded, dissipated. ^ Plight, order. 12 Persant, sharp, clear. BRITOMART. 89 1 3 She also doft her heavy haberieon,i Which the fair feature of her limbs did hide ; And her well-plighted ^ frock, which she did won ^ To tuck about her short when she did ride, She low let fall, that flowed from her lank side Down to her foot with careless modestee. Then of them all she plainly was espied To be a womanwight, unwist to be. The fairest womanwight that ever eye did see. 14 Like as Bellona,* being late returned From slaughter of the giants conquerM, — Where proud Encelade,^ whose wide nostrils burned ' With breathed flames like to a furnace red, Transfixed with her spear, down tumbled dead From top of Hemus® by him heaped high, — Hath loosed her helmet from her lofty head, And her Gorgonian shield ^ gins to untie From her left arm, to rest in glorious victory. 15 Which whenas they beheld, they smitten were With great amazement at so wondrous sight ; And each on other, and they all on her. Stood gazing ; as if sudden great affright 1 Haberieon, habergeon, coat of ^ Encelade, Enceladus, the giant mail. buried under Mount Aetna. ^ Well-plighted, yi^-io\A&A.. ^ Hemus, Haemus ; ancient 3 Did won, did use. name of the Balkan mountains. * Bellona, the goddess of war ; ' Gorgonian shield, Minerva's here stands for Minerva. shield which bore the fatal Gor- gon's head. 90 THE FAERY QUEENE. Had them surprised. At last avising ^ right Her goodly personage and glorious hue, Which they so much mistook, they took delight In their first error, and yet still anew With wonder of her beauty fed their hungry view : 1 6 Yet note 2 their hungry view be satisfied. But, seeing, still the more desired to see. And ever firmly fixed did abide In contemplation of divinitee : But most they marvelled at her chivalree And noble prowess, which they had approved,^ That much they fained* to know who she mote ^ be; Yet none of all them her thereof amoved^ ; Yet every one her liked, and every one her loved. The lady of the castle soon appeared and kindly welcomed the warriors. 17 Now, when of meats and drinks they had their fill, Purpose was mov^d by that gentle dame Unto those knights adventurous, to tell Of deeds of arms which unto them became,^ And every one his kindred and his name. 18 So long these knights discoursM diversely Of strange affairs, and noble hardiment,^ 1 Avising, contemplating. 6 Mote, might. 2 Note, could not. 6 Amoved, i.e. questioned. 3 Approved, proved. ' Became, happened. < Pained, desired. » Hardiment, bold deeds. BRITOMART. 91 Which they had passed with mickle jeopardy, That now the humid night was far forth spent, And heavenly lamps were halfendeale^ ybrent^: Which th' old man ^ seeing well, who too long thought Every discourse, and every argument, , Which by the hours he measured, besought Them go to rest. So all unto their bow'rs * were brought. 1 Halfendeale, the half part. ^ XK old man, i.e. Malbecco, ' Ybrent, burned. the host. * Bowers, chambers. VI. Anioret and the Garden of Venus. Scudamour, whom Britomart was about to meet, was the husband of the beautiful Amoret. Amoret .was the daughter of Chrysogonee and the twin sister of Belphcebe. Soon after the birth of these children, Chrysogonee fell asleep in a forest ; and the goddesses Venus and Diana happening along just then, took each a child from the sleeping mother. 1 Up they them took, each one a babe uptook, And with them carried to be fostered : Dame Phoebe^ to a nymph her babe betook To be upbrought in perfect maidenhead,^ And, of herself, her name Belphcebe read^: But Venus hers thence far away conveyed, To be upbrought in goodly womanhead ; And, in her little Love's stead which was strayed,* Her Amoretta called, to comfort her dismayed.^ 2 She brought her to her joyous paradise Where most she wonnes,® when she on earth does dwell : So fair a place as nature can devise : 1 Fhcebe, Diana, the goddess of phcebe read, i.e. called her Bel- the moon ; the maiden goddess phoebe, after herself, devoted to the chase. 4/k her little Love's stead, etc., "^Maidenhead, maidenhood. i.e. in the place of Cupid who had ^ And, of herself, her name Bel- run away from his mother. ^ Dismayed, dejected. ^ Wonnes, dwells. BRITOMART. 93 Whether in Paphos,^ or Cytheron hill,^ Or it in Gnidus ^ be, I wote * not well ; But well I wote by trial, that this same All other pleasant places doth excel, And called is, by her lost lover's name. The garden of Adonis,^ far renowmed by fame. 3 There is continual spring, and harvest there Continual, both meeting at one time : For both the boughs do laughing blossoms bear. And with fresh colors deck the wanton prime,^ And eke attonce ^ the heavy trees they climb. Which seem to labour under their fruits' load : The whiles the joyous birds make their pastime Among the shady leaves, their sweet abode, And their true loves without suspicion tell abroad. 4 Right in the middest of that paradise There stood a stately mount, on whose round top A gloomy grove of myrtle trees d_id rise, Whose shady boughs sharp steel did never lop. Nor wicked beasts their tender buds did crop. But like a garland compassed the height. And from their fruitful sides sweet gum did drop, 1 Paphos, a city on the island celebrated for its statue of Venus, of Cyprus, which contained a cele- the work of Praxiteles. brated temple of Venus. * Wote, know. 2 Cytheron hill, refers to the ^ Adonis, a youth of extraordin- town of Cythera in Crete, or to ary beauty beloved by Venus, and the island of Cythera, where Venus by her changed into an anemone, was said to have first landed. ^ Wanton prime, luxuriant 3 Gnidus, a Doric city in Caria spring. ' Eke attonce, also together. 94 THE FAERY QUEENE. That all the ground, with precious dew bedight,^ Threw forth most dainty odours and most sweet delight. 5 And in the thickest covert of that shade There was a pleasant arbour, not by art But of the trees' own inclination made, Which knitting their rank ^ branches part to part, With wanton ivy-twine entrailed athwart,^ And eglantine * and caprif ole ^ among. Fashioned above within their inmost part. That nether Phoebus'^ beams could through them throng. Nor .^olus' '' sharp blast could work them any wrong. 6 And all about grew every sort of flow'r, To which sad lovers were transformed of yore ; Fresh Hyacinthus,^ Phoebus' paramour And dearest love ; Foolish Narcisse,^ that likes the wat'ry shore ; Sad Amaranthus,^" made a flow'r but late, Sad Amaranthus, in whose purple gore 1 Bedight, covered. by him. The hyacinth was fabled 2 Rank, luxuriant. to have sprung from his blood. ^ Entrailed athwart, twisted ^ Narcisse, Narcissus, a beauti- across. ful youth who fell in love with his * Eglantine, wild rose. own reflection as seen in a foun- 5 Caprifole, woodbine. tain. He was changed to the 6 Phabus, Apollo, the sun-god. flower Narcissus. ' ALolus, the ruler of the winds. i" Amaranthus, amaranth, ' Hyacinthus, a youth beloved which signifies unfading. Among by Apollo and accidentally killed the ancients this flower was the symbol of immortality. BRnVMART. 95 Meseems I see Amintas' wretched fate/ To whom sweet poets' verse hath given endless date. Hether great Venus brought this' infant fair, The younger daughter of Chrysogonee, And unto Psyche ^ with great trust and care Committed her, yfostered to be. And trained up in true feminitee^: Who no less carefully her tendered* Than her own daughter Pleasure, to whom she Made her companion, and her lessonM^ In all the lore of love and goodly womanhead. In which when she to perfect ripeness grew. Of grace and beauty noble paragon. She brought her forth into the worldes view. To be th' ensample of true love alone. And loadstar of all chaste affection ^ To all fair ladies that do live on ground. "^ ^^' '>>" court she came ; where many one UHjcl her goodly 'haviour, and found -^''eeble heart wide launchM' with love's cruel ■*■ Wound. 1 Amintas' ■wretched fate. This ^ Feminitee, womanhood, is supposed to allude to the un- * Tendered, cared for. timely fate of Sir Philip Sidney. ^ Lessoned, taught. Hillard. ^ Affection, pronounced as word 2 Psyche (breath or soul) ; a of four syllables, maiden beloved by Cupid and ' Launched, pierced, made immortal by Jupiter. 96 THE FAERY QUEENE. 9 But she to none of them her love did cast, Save to the noble knight, Sir Scudamore, To whom her loving heart she linkM fast In faithful love, t' abide for evermore ; And for his dearest sake endured sore, Sore trouble of an heinous enemy, Who her would forced have to have forlore ^ Her former love and steadfast loyalty, As ye may elsewhere read that rueful history. 1 Forlore, abandoned. 1 VII. After separating from Satyrane, Britomart meets Scudamour, the husband of Ainoret. Together they proceed to the house of the enchanter Busyrane. 1 O HATEFUL hellish snake ! what fury first Brought thee from baleful house of Prosperine,^ Where in her bosom she thee long hath nurst, And fost'red up with bitter milk of tine^; Foul Jealousy ! that turnest love divine To joyless dread, and mak'st the loving heart With hateful thoughts to languish and to pine, And feed itself with self-consuming smart. Of all the passions in the mind thou vilest art ! 2 O let him far be banished away, And in his stead let Love forever dwell ! Sweet Love, that doth his golden wings embay ^ In blessM nectar and pure pleasure's well. Untroubled of vile fear or bitter fell.* And ye, fair ladies, that your kingdoms make In th' hearts of men, them govern wisely well. And of fair Britomart ensample take. That was as true in love as turtle ^ to her make.^ ^Proserpine, Proserpina, the ^Tine,'vioe. daughter of Ceres, who was car- ' Embay, bathe, ried down to Hades by Pluto to '^ Fell, gall. be his bride. ^ Turtle, turtle-dove. ' Make, mate. 98 THE FAERY QUEENE. 3 Who, with Sir Satyrane, as erst ^ ye read, Forth riding from Malbecco's hostless^ house, Far off espied a young man, the which fled From an huge giant, that with hideous And hateful outrage long him chased thus ; It was that Ollyphant,^ the brother dear Of that Argant^ vile and vicious,* From whom the Squire of Dames was reft ^ whilere ^ ; This all as bad as she, and worse, if worse ought were. 4 Whom when as Britomart beheld behind The fearful boy so greedily pursue, She was emmov^d ' in her noble mind T' employ her puissance to his rescue. And prickM ^ fiercely forward where she did him view. 5 Ne^ was Sir Satyrane her far behind. But with like fierceness did ensue i" the chase ; Whom when the giant saw, he soon resigned His former suit,ii and from them fled apace : 1 Erst, first, formerly. 6 Whilere, formerly. 2 Hostless, inhospitable. ' Emmoved, moved. ' It was that Ollyphant, etc. » Pricked, rode fast, using This refers to an incident related spurs, in Book III, Canto VII. 9 Ne, nor. * Vicious, pronounced as a %vord i" Ensue, follow, of three syllables. u Resigned his former suit, i.e. Reft, torn away. gave up his former pursuit. BRITOMART. 99 They after both, and boldly bade him base.^ And each did strive the other to outgo ; But he them both outran a wondrous space, For he was long, and swift as any roe, And now made better speed t' escape his feared foe. 6 It was not Satyrane, whom he did fear. But Britomart, the flow'r of chastity ; For he the pow'r of chaste hands might not bear. But always did their dread encounter fly : And now so fast his feet he did apply, That he has gotten to a forest near. Where he is shrouded in security. The wood they enter, and search everywhere ; They searched diversely ; so both divided were. 7 Fair Britomart so long him followed. That she at last came to a fountain sheer,^ By which there lay a knight all wallowM ^ Upon the grassy ground, and by him near His haberieon,* his helmet, and his spear : A little off, his shield was rudely thrown. On which the winged boy ^ in colours clear Depeincted'^ was, full easy to be known. And he thereby, wherever it in field was shown. 8 His face upon the ground did grovelling he. As if he had been slumb'ring in the shade ; ^ Bade him base, i.e. began in ^ Haberieon, habergeon, coat of their turn to pursue the giant. mail, '^ Sheer, clear. * Winged boy, Cupid. * Wallowed, rolled about as in ^ Depeincted, depicted, por- mire. trayed. iOO THE FAERY QUEENE. That! the brave maid would not for courtesy Out of his quiet slumber him abrade,^ Nor seem too suddenly him to invade : Still as she stood, she heard with grievous throb Him groan, as if his heart were pieces made, And with most painful pangs to sigh and sob. That pity did the virgin's heart of patience rob. 9 At last forth breaking into bitter plaints He said : " O sovereign Lord, that sit'st on high And reign'st in bliss amongst thy blessed saints, How suff 'rest thou such shameful cruelty. So long unwreakfed ^ of thine enemy ! Or hast thou. Lord, of good men's cause no heed ? Or doth thy justice sleep and silent lie ? What booteth then the good and righteous deed. If goodness find no grace, nor righteousness no meed ! 10 "If good find grace, and righteousness reward, Why then is Amoret in caytive* band, Sith that more bounteous^ creature never far'd^ On foot upon the face of living land ! Or if that heavenly justice may withstand The wrongful outrage of unrighteous men. Why then is Busyrane with wicked hand Suff'red, these seven months day,^ in secret den My lady and my Love so cruelly to pen ? 1 That, so that, for that reason. » Caytive, captive. 2 Abrade, rouse. ^ Bounteous, virtuous. 8 Uniureaked, unavenged. ^ Fared, walked. ' Day, time. BRITOMART. 101 1 1 " My lady and my love is cruelly penned In doleful darkness from the view of day, Whilst deadly torments do her chaste breast rend, And the sharp steel doth rive^ her heart in tway,^ — All for° she Scudamore* will not denay.^ Yet thou, vile man, vile Scudamore, art sound, Ne canst her aid, ne canst her foe dismay ; Unworthy wretch to tread upon the ground. For whom so fair a lady feels so sore a wound." 12 There an huge heap of singulfes^ did oppress His struggling soul, and swelling throbs empeach^ His falt'ring tongue with pangs of dreariness,* Choking the remnant of his plaintife speech. As if his days were come to their last reach. Which when she heard, and saw the ghastly fit Threat'ning into his life to make a breach, Both with great ruth^ and terror she was smit. Fearing lest from her cage the weary soul would flit. 13 Tho, stooping down, she him amovM light ; Who, therewith somewhat starting, up gan look, And seeing him behind a stranger knight, 1 Rive, rend. bearing the Shield of Divine Love 2 In tway, in two. (scudo d'amore) for their arms. ^ For, because. Prof. Child. * Scudamore. It has seemed ^ Denay, deny, i.e. to prove false best to follow the original, and to. spell this name sometimes Scuda- ^ Singulfes, for singults, sobs, more, and at other times Scuda- ' Empeach, hinder, mour. — The family of Scudamore ' Dreariness, sorrow, derived this surname from their ^ Ruth, pity. 102 THE FAERY QUEENE. Whereas no living creature he mistook,^ With great indignance he that sight forsook,^ And, down again himself disdainfully Abj eating,^ th' earth with his fair forehead strook: Which the bold virgin seeing, gan apply Fit med'cine to his grief, and spake thus courtesly * : 14 "Ah! gentle knight, whose deep-conceivfed^ grief Well seems t' exceed the pow'r of patience, Yet, if that heavenly grace some good relief You send, submit you to high Providence ; And ever in your noble heart prepense,® That all the sorrow in the world is less Then virtue's might and value's '^ confidence : For who nill^ bide the burden of distress. Must not here think to live ; for life is wretchedness. 15" Therefore, fair sir, do comfort to you take, And freely read^ what wicked felon so Hath outraged you, and thralled^" your gentle make.^^ Perhaps this hand may help to ease your woe, And wreak your sorrow on your cruel foe ; At least it fair endeavour will apply." Those feeling words so near the quick did go. That up his head he rearM easily : And, leaning on his elbow, these few words let fly : 1 Whereas no living creature, eXc, ^Deep-conceived, deep-felt, where he wrongly supposed that ^ Prepense, consider, there was no living creature. ' Value 's, valor's. 2 Forsook, turned from. * ]\i'iii^ will not. 2 Abjecting, casting. ^ Read, explain. » Courtesly, courteously. i" Thralled, enslaved. 11 Make, mate. BRITOMART. 103 1 6 "What boots it plain that cannot be redressed,^ And sow vain sorrow in a fruitless ear ^ ; Sith pow'r of hand, nor skill of learned breast, Ne worldly price, cannot redeem my dear Out of her thraldom and continual fear ! For he, the tyrant, which her hath in ward By strong enchantments and black magic lear,^ Hath in a dungeon deep her close embarred,* And many dreadful fiends hath pointed^ to her guard. 1 7 " There he tormenteth her most terribly. And day and night afflicts with mortal pain, Because to yield him love she doth deny, Once to me yold,^ not to be yold again : But yet by torture he would her constrain Love to conceive in her disdainful breast ; Till so she do, she must in doole '' remain, Ne may by living means be thence relest ^ : What boots it then to plain that cannot be re- dressed ! " 1 8 With this sad hersaP of his heavy stress ^^ The warlike damsel was empassioned ^^ sore. And said : " Sir knight, your cause is nothing less ^ What boots it plain of, etc., i.e. * Embarred, shut in. What is the use of complaining of . ^ Pointed, appointed, what cannot be helped. ^ Yold, yielded. 2 And sow vain sorrow, etc., i.e. ' Doole, grief, and tell my sorrow to one who ' Relest, released, cannot help me. ^ Hersal, rehearsal. ^ Lear, lore. '" Stress, distress. 1^ Empassioned, moved. 104 THE FAERY QUEENE. Then is your sorrow, certes/ if not more ; For nothing so much pity doth implore As gentle lady's helpless misery : But yet, if please ye listen to my lore,^ I will, with proof of last extremity,^ Deliver her fro thence, or with her for you die." 19 "Ah! gentlest knight alive," said .Scudamore, " What huge heroic magnanimity Dwells in thy bounteous breast ? what couldst thou more, If she were thine, and thou as now am I ? O spare thy happy days, and them apply To better boot * ; but let me die that ought ; More is more loss ; one is enough to die ! " " Life is not lost," said she, "for which is bought Endless renowm, that more then death is to be sought." 20 Thus she at length persuaded him to rise. And with her wend to see what new success Mote ^ him befall upon new enterprize : His arms, which he had vowed to disprofess,^ She gathered up and did about him dress,'' And his forwandred ® steed unto him got : So forth they both yf ere ^ make their progress, 1 Certes, certainly. 5 Mote, might. 2 Lore, advice. 6 Disprofess, renounce. ^ With proof of last extremity, "^ Dress, dispose. i.e. with a supreme effort. ^ Forwandred, strayed away. * Boot, advantage. s Yfere, together. BRITOMART. 105 And march, not past the mountenance of a shot,^ Till they arrived whereas ^ their purpose they did plot. 21 There they, dismounting, drew their weapons bold. And stoutly came unto the castle gate, Whereas no gate they found them to withhold. Nor ward ^ to wait at morn and evening -late ; But in the porch, that did them sore amate,* A flaming fire ymixt with smouldry smoke And stinking sulphur, that with grisly ^ hate And dreadful horror did all entrance choke, Enforced them their forward footing to revoke.^ 22 Greatly thereat was Britomart dismayed, Ne in that stownd ^ wist ^ how herself to bear ; For danger vain it were to have assayed That cruel element, which all things fear, Ne none can suffer to approachen near : And, turning back to Scudamour, thus said : " What monstrous enmity provoke we here ? Foolhardy as th' Earth's children,^ the which made Battle against the gods, so we a god invade. 23 " Danger without discretion to attempt. Inglorious, beast-like, is : therefore. Sir Knight, 1 The mountenance of a shot, i.e. ^ Revoke, draw back, the distance of a bow-shot. ' Stownd, exigency. 2 Whereas, where. ^ Wist, knew. 3 Ward, guard. ^ Th' Earth's children, i.e. the ^ Amate, daunt. Giants and the Titans, the off- 5 Grisly, terrible. spring of Uranus and Ge (earth). 106 THE FAERY QUEENE. Aread ^ what course of you is safest dempt,^ And how we with our foe may come to fight." " This is," quoth he, " the dolorous despite,^ Which erst * to you I plained ^ : for neither may This fire be quenched by any wit or might, Ne yet by any means removed away ; So mighty be th' enchantments which the same do stay.® 24 " What is there else but cease these fruitless pains, And leave me to my former languishing ! Fair Amoret must dwell in wicked chains. And Scudamore here die with sorrowing ! " " Perdy,'' not so," said she; "for shameful thing It were t' abandon noble chevisance,^ For show of peril, without venturing : Rather, let try extremities of chance Then enterprised praise for dread to disavance."® 25 Therewith resolved to prove her utmost might. Her ample shield she threw before her face. And her sword's point directing forward right Assailed the flame ; the which eftsoons ^^ gave place, And did itself divide with equal space. That through she passM, as a thunderbolt Pierceth the yielding air, and doth displace 1 Aread, declare. ^ Plained, lamented. 2 Dempt, deemed. * Stay, maintain. ^ Dolorous despite, grievous vex- " Perdy, truly. ation. ^ Chevisance, enterprise. * Erst, first. ^ Disavance, retreat from. 1" Eftsoons, immediately. BRITOMART. 107 The soaring clouds into sad^ show'rs ymolt ^j So to her yold^ the flames, and did their force revolt.* 26 Whom whenas Scudamour saw past the fire Safe and untouched, he likewise gan assay With greedy will and envious desire, And bade the stubborn flames to yield him way : But cruel Mulciber ^ would not obey His threatful pride, but did the more augment His mighty rage, and with imperious sway Him forced, maulgre ^ his fierceness, to relent, And back retire all scorched and pitifully brent.^ 27 With huge impatience he inly swelt,^ More for great sorrow that he could not pass Then for the burning torment which he felt ; That with fell woodness ^ he eflierc^d ^<' was. And, wilfully him throwing on the grass. Did beat and bounce his head and breast full sore : The whiles the championess now entered has The utmost i^ room, and passed the foremost door ; The utmost room abounding with all precious store : 28 For, round about, the walls yclothed were With goodly arras ^^ of great majesty, 1 Sad, heavy. ^ Maulgre, in spite of. 2 Ymolt, melted. ' Brent, burned. " Yold, yielded. ^ Swell, died. * Revolt, turn back. ' Fell woodness, fierce madness. 5 Mulciber, a surname given to ^^ Effierced, enraged. Vulcan, the god of fire who pre- ^' Utmost, outermost, sided over the working of metals. ^^ Arras, tapestry. 108 THE FAERY QUEENE. Woven with gold and silk so close and near That the rich metal lurked privily, As feigning to be hid from envious ^ eye ; Yet here, and there, and everywhere, unwares, It showed itself and shone unwillingly ; Like to a discoloured^ snake, whose hidden snares^ Through the green grass his long bright burnished back declares. 29 And in those tapets * weren fashioned Many fair portraits, and many a fair feat ; And all of love, and all of lustyhed, ^ As seemed by their semblant,® did entreat "' : And eke ^ all Cupid's wars they did repeat. And cruel battles, which he whilom ^ fought Gainst all the gods to make his empire great ; Besides the huge massacres, which he wrought On mighty kings and kesars^° into thraldom brought. 30 Ne 11 did he spare (so cruel was the elf) His own dear mother, (ah ! why should he so .') Ne did he spare sometime to prick himself, That he might taste the sweet consuming woe. Which he had wrought to many others moe.^ ^ Envious, malignant, mischie- ^ Semblant, appearance. vous. '' Entreat, treat. ^ Discoloured, party-colored. * Eke, also. ^ Snares, i.e. coils. ^ Whilom, formerly. * Tapets, tapestries. i" Kesars, emperors. ^ Lustyhed, lustfulness. i' N'e, nor. 1^ Moe, more. BRITOMART. 109 31 Kings, queens, lords, ladies, knights, and damsels gent,i Were heaped together with the vulgar sort, And mingled with the rascal rabblement,^ Without respect of person or of port,^ To show Dan * Cupid's pow'r and great effort : And round about a border was entrailed ^ Of broken bows and arrows shivered short ; And a long bloody river through them railed,^ So lively, and so like, that living sense it failed.^ 32 And at the upper end of that fair rowme^ There was an altar built of precious stone Of passing ^ value and of great renowme,^" On which there stood an image all alone Of massy gold, which with his own light shone ; And wings it had with sundry colours dight,ii More sundry colours then the proud pavone ^ Bears in his boasted fan, or Iris ^^ bright, When her discoloured bow she spreads through heaven's height. 33 Blindfold he was ; and in his cruel fist A mortal ^* bow and arrows keen did hold, 1 Gent, noble. ' Failed, deceived. '' Rascal rabblement, common * Rowme, room, rabble. ^ Passing, surpassing. ^ Port, carriage, bearing. i" Renowme, renown. * Dan, equivalent to master or ^l Dight, adorned, sir. ^^ Pavone, peacock. ^ Entrailed, entwined. 1^ Iris, the goddess of the rain- ^ Railed, rolled. bow. 1* Mortal, death-giving. 110 THE FAERY QUEENE. With which he shot at random when him list,^ Some headed with sad^ lead, some with pure gold ; (Ah ! man, beware how thou those darts behold !) A wounded dragon under him did lie. Whose hideous tail his left foot did enfold. And with a shaft was shot through either eye. That no man forth might draw, ne no man remedy. 34 And underneath his feet was written thus : Unto the victor of the gods this be , And all the people in that ample house Did to that image bow their humble knee, And oft committed foul idolatree. That wondrous sight fair Britomart amazed, Ne seeing could her wonder satisfy. But ever more and more upon it gazed. The whiles the passing brightness her frail senses dazed. 35 Tho,^ as she backward cast her busy eye To search each secret of that goodly stead,* Over the door thus written she did spy : Be bold. She oft and oft it over read. Yet could not find what sense it figured : But whatso were therein or writ or meant. She was no whit thereby discouraged From prosecuting of her iirst intent. But forward with bold steps into the next room went. 1 When him list, i.e. when he ^ Sad, heavy, desired. s Xho, then. * Stead, place. BRITOMART. Ill 36 Much fairer then the former was that room. And richlier, by many parts ^ arrayed ; For not with arras made in painful loom, But with pure gold, it all was overlaid, Wrought with wild antics ^ which their follies played In the rich metal, as they living were : A thousand monstrous forms therein were made. Such as false Love doth oft upon him wear ; For Love in thousand monstrous forms doth oft appear. 37 And, all about, the glist'ring walls were hong With warlike spoils and with victorious praise Of mighty conquerors and captains strong. Which were whilom captived in their days To cruel Love, and wrought their own decays^: Their swerds * and spears were broke, and hauberks ^ rent. And their proud girlonds of triumphant bays Trodden in dust with fury insolent, To show the victor's might and merciless intent. 38 The warlike maid, beholding earnestly The goodly ordinance ® of this rich place. Did greatly wonder ; ne could satisfy Her greedy eyes with gazing a long space : But more she marvelled that no footing's trace Nor wight appeared, but wasteful emptiness 1 By many farts, i.e. by many ' Swerds, swords, times. ^ Hauberks, coats of mail. ''■ Antics, fantastic figures. " Ordinance, orderly arrange- ' Decays, ruins. ment. 112 THE FAERY QUEENE. And solemn silence over all that place : Strange thing it seemed, that none was to possess So rich purveyance/ ne them keep with carefulness. 39 And, as she looked about, she did behold How over that same door was likewise writ. Be bold, Be bold, and everywhere. Be bold ; That much she mused, yet could not construe it By any riddling skill or common wit. At last she spied at that room's upper end Another iron door, on which was writ, Be not too bold , whereto though she did bend Her earnest mind, yet wist^ not what it might intend. 40 Thus she there waited until eventide, Yet living creature none she saw appear. And now sad^ shadows gan the world to hide From mortal view, and wrap in darkness drear ; Yet nould she d'off * her weary arms, for fear Of secret danger, ne let sleep oppress Her heavy eyes with nature's burden dear. But drew herself aside in sickerness,^ And her well pointed weapons did about her dress.^ 1 Purveyance, furniture. * Nould she d'off, i.e. she would ''■ Wist, knew. not take off. ^ Sad, heavy. ^ Sickerness, safety. ^ Dress, dispose. VIII. Britomart witnesses the Mask of Cupid and frees Amoret from the power of the enchanter. 1 Tho, whenas cheerless night ycovered had Fair heaven with an universal cloud, That 1 every wight dismayed with darkness sad ^ In silence and in sleep themselves did shroud, She heard a shrilling trumpet sound aloud. Sign of nigh battaill, or got victory : Nought therewith daunted was her courage proud. But rather stirred to cruel enmity. Expecting ever when some foe she might descry. 2 With that, an hideous storm of wind arose, With dreadful thunder and lightning atwixt, And an earthquake, as if it straight would lose ^ The world's foundations from his centre fixed : A direful stench of smoke and sulphur mixed Ensued,* whose noyance ^ filled the fearful stead ^ From the fourth hour of night until the sixt ; Yet the bold Britoness was nought ydread,^ Though much emmoved,^ but steadfast still pers6- ver^d. 1 That, so that. ^ Noyance, annoyance. 2 Sad, heavy. ^ Stead, place. 2 Lose, loosen. ' Ydread, terrified. ^ Ensued, followed. * Emmoved, moved. 114 THE FAERY QUEENE. 3 All suddenly a stormy whirlwind blew Throughout the house, that clapped every door, With which that iron wicket open flew. As it with mighty levers had been tore ; And forth issued, as on the ready floor Of some theatre, a grave personage. That in his hand a branch of laurel bore, With comely haviour ^ and count'nance sage, Yclad in costly garments fit for tragic stage. 4 Proceeding to the midst he still did stand, As if in mind he somewhat had to say ; And to the vulgar^ beck'ning with his hand, In sign of silence, as to hear a play,^ By lively actions * he gan bewray ^ Some argument^ of matter passionM^; Which done, he back retired soft away. And, passing by, his name discovered. Ease, on his robe in golden letters ciphered. ^ 5 The noble maid, still standing, all this viewed. And marvelled at his strange intendiment ^ : With that a joyous fellowship issued ' Haviour, behavior. 2 Vtdgar, common people. * Actions, pronounced as a word 5 As to hear a play. In Eliza- of three syllables. bath's time each act of a tragedy ^ Bewray, disclose. was usually preceded by a dumb ^ Argument, subject. show in which the argument of ' Passioned, represented. the act was given. The play acted ^ Ciphered, written in occult before the king in Shakespeare's characters. " Hamlet " is preceded by a dumb ' Intendiment, meaning. show. BRITOMART. 115 Of minstrels making goodly merriment, With wanton bards, and rhymers impudent ; All which together sang full cheerfully A lay of love's delight with sweet concent ^ : After whom marched a jolly company, In manner of a mask,^ enranged ^ orderly. 6 The whiles a most delicious harmony In full strange notes was sweetly heard to sound, That the rare sweetness of the melody The feeble senses wholly did confound. And the frail soul in deep delight nigh drowned : And, when it ceased, shrill trumpets loud did bray. That their report did far away rebound ; And, when they ceased, it gan again to play, The whiles the maskers marched forth in trim array. 7 The first was Fancy,* like a lovely boy Of rare aspect and beauty without peer, Matchable either to that imp ^ of Troy, Whom Jove did love and chose his cup to bear ^ ; Or that same dainty lad, which was so dear To great Alcides,^ that, whenas he died. He wailed womanlike with many a tear. And every wood and every valley wide He filled with Hylas' name; the nymphs eke^ " Hylas " cried. * Fancy, capricious love. 1 Concent, harmony. ^ Imp, child, youth. 2 Mask, a dramatic and musical ^ That imp of Troy, etc., Gany- production, such as Milton's mede. " Comus." ' Alcides, Hercules. 2 Enranged, arranged. ^ Eke, likewise. 116 THE FAERY QUEENE. 8 His garment nether was of silk nor say,^ But painted plumes in goodly order dight,^ Like as the sunburnt Indians do array Their tawny bodies, in their proudest plight : As those, same plumes, so seemed he vain and light. That by his gait might easily appear ; For still he fared ^ as dancing in delight, And in his hand a windy fan did bear. That in the idle air he moved, still here and there. 9 And him beside marched amorous Desire, Who seemed of riper years than th' other swain. Yet was that other swain this elder's sire. And gave him being, common to them twain : His garment was disguisM very vain, And his embrodered bonnet * sat awry : Twixt both his hands few sparks he close ^ did strain. Which still he blew and kindled busily, That soon they life conceived, and forth in flames did fly. lo Next after him went Doubt, who was yclad In a discoloured ^ coat of strange disguise, That at his back a broad capuccio "' had, And sleeves dependant ^ Albanes^-wise ® ; He looked askew with his mistrustful eyes, 1 Say, satin. 6 Discoloured, party-colored. 2 Dight, disposed. ' Capuccio, hood. ' Fared, passed along. 8 Dependant, hanging down. * Bonnet, cap. ' Albanesi-wise, Albanian fash- " Close, secretly. ion. BRITOMART. 117 And nicely ^ trod, as thorns lay in his way, Or that the floor to shrink he did avise ^ ; And on a broken reed he still did stay His feeble steps, which shrunk when hard thereon he lay. 1 1 With him went Danger, clothed in ragged weed ^ Made of bear's skin, that him more dreadful made ; Yet his own face was dreadful, ne did need Strange * horror to deform his grisly ^ shade : A net in th' one hand, and a rusty blade In th' other was ; this mischief, that mishap ; With th' one his .foes he threatened to invade, With th' other he his friends meant to enwrap® : For whom he could not kill he practised ^ to entrap. 12 Next him was Fear, all armed from top to toe, Yet thought himself not safe enough thereby. But feared each shadow moving to or fro ; And, his own arms when glittering he did spy Or clashing heard, he fast away did fly. As ashes pale of hue, and winged heeled ; And evermore on Danger fixed his eye, Gainst whom he always bent a brazen shield. Which his right hand unarmed fearfully^ did wield. 13 With him went Hope in rank, a handsome maid, Of cheerful look and lovely to behold ; 1 Nicely, carefully. ' Grisly, dreadful. "^ Avise, perceive. ^ Enwrap, involve in difficulty. ' Weed, garment. ' Practised, plotted. * Strange, foreign, or borrowed. * Fearfully, with fear. 118 THE FAERY QUEENE. In silken samite ^ she was light arrayed, And her fair locks were woven up in gold : She always smiled, and in her hand did hold An holy-water-sprinkle, dipt in deowe,^ With which she sprinkled favours manifold On whom she list, and did great liking sheowe,^ Great liking unto many, but true love to feowe.* 14 And after them Dissemblance^ and Suspect® Marched in one rank, yet an unequal pair ; For she was gentle and of mild aspect. Courteous to all and seeming debonair,^ Goodly adornM and exceeding fair ; Yet was that all but painted and purloined. And her bright brows were decked with borrowed hair ; Her deeds were forged, and her words false coined. And always in her hand two clews ^ of silk she twined : 1 5 But he was foul, ill favourM, and grim. Under his eyebrows looking still ^ askance ; And ever, as Dissemblance laughed on him. He low'red on her with dangerous eye-glance, Showing his nature in his countenance ; His rolling eyes did never rest in place, ' Samite, silk stuff sometimes ^ Dissemblance, dissimulation, inwrought with gold. ^ Suspect, suspicion. '^ Deowe, dew. ' Debonair, gracious. ^ Sheowe, show. 8 Clews, balls. * Feowe, few. ' Still, always. BRITOMART. 119 But walked ^ each where for fear of hid mischance, Holding a lattice still before his face, Through which he still did peep as forward he did pace. 1 6 Next him went Grief and Fury matched yfere^ ; Grief all in sable sorrowfully clad, Down hanging his dull head with heavy cheer,^ Yet inly being more then seeming sad : A pair of pincers in his hand he had, With which he pinched people to the heart. That from thenceforth a wretched life they lad,* In wilful languor and consuming smart. Dying each day with inward wounds of dolour's dart. 17 But Fury was full ill apparallM In rags, that naked nigh she did appear. With ghastly looks and dreadful drearihead ^ ; For from her back her garments she did tear, And from her head oft rent her snarled hair : In her right hand a firebrand she did toss About her head, still roaming here and there ; As a dismayed deer in chase embossed,^ Forgetful of his safety, hath his right way lost. 1 8 After them went Displeasure and Pleasance '^ ; He looking lumpish ^ and full sullen sad, 1 Walked, rolled. ^ Drearihead, sorrow. 2 Yfere, together. ^ Embossed, hard pressed. ^ Cheer, coutenance. ' Pleasance, pleasure. * Lad, led. ' Lumpish, heavy, melancholy. 120 THE FAERY QUEENE. And hanging down his heavy countenance ; She cheerful, fresh, and full of joyance glad, As if no sorrow she ne felt ne drad ^ ; That evil matchM pair they seemed to be : An angry wasp th' one in a vial had, Th' other in hers an honey-laden bee. Thus marchM these six couples forth in fair degree.^ 19 After all these there marched a most fair dame,^ Led of two grysie* villeins^; th' one Despite,^ The other clep^d ^ Cruelty by name : She doleful lady, like a dreary sprite Called by strong charms out of eternal night. Had death's own image figured in her face. Full of sad signs, fearful to living sight ; Yet in that horror showed a seemly grace. And with her feeble feet did move a comely pace. 20 Her breast all naked, as net ^ ivory Without adorn of gold or silver bright Wherewith the craftsman wonts it beautify,^ Of her due honour was despoilM quite ; And a wide wound therein (O rueful sight !) Entrenched deep with knife accursed keen, Yet freshly bleeding forth her fainting sprite, i" 1 Drad, dreaded. 6 Despite, malice, spite. 2 Degree, step. ' Cleped, called. ' A most fair dame, i.e. Amoret, ^ Net, pure. the wife of Scudamore. « Wonts it beautify, i.e. is accus- ' Grysie, squalid. tomed to beautify it. ' Villeins, base-born or inferior 1° Sprite, spirit. persons. BRITOMART. 121 (The work of cruel hand) was to be seen, That dyed in sanguine ^ red her skin all snowy clean : 2 1 At that wide orifice her trembling heart Was drawn forth, and in silver basin laid, Quite through transfixed with a deadly dart. And in her blood yet steaming fresh embayed.^ And those two villeins which her steps upstayed, When her weak feet could scarcely her sustain, And fading vital powers gan to fade. Her forward still with torture did constrain, And evermore increased her consuming pain. 22 Next after her, the wingM god^ himself Came riding on a lion ravenous. Taught to obey the menage * of that elf That man and beast with pow'r imperious Subdueth to his kingdom tyrannous : His blindfold eyes he bade awhile unbind, That his proud spoil of that same dolorous Fair dame he might behold in perfect kind ^ ; Which seen, he much rejoiced in his cruel mind. 23 Of which full proud, himself uprearing high. He looked round about with stern disdain. And did survey his goodly company ; And, marshalling the evil-ordered train. With that the darts which his right hand did strain 1 Sanguine, the color of blood. * Menage, manege, horseinan- 2 Embayed, bathed. ship. ? Winged god, Cupid. ^ Inperfei:tkind,i.e.viit\\]itxiect distinctness. 122 THE FAERY QUEENE. Full dreadfully he shook, that all did quake, And clapped on high his coloured winges twain, That all his many ^ it afraid did make : Tho, blinding him again, his way he forth did take. 24 Behind him was Reproach, Repentance, Shame ; Reproach the first. Shame next, Repent behind : Repentance feeble, sorrowful, and lame ; Reproach despiteful, careless, and unkind ; Shame most ill-favoured, bestial, and blind : Shame low'red. Repentance sighed, Reproach did scold ; Reproach sharp stings, Repentance whips entwined. Shame burning brond-irons in her hands did hold : All three to each unlike, yet all made in one mould. 25 And after them a rude confused rout Of persons flocked, whose names is hard to read ^ : Amongst them was stern Strife ; and Anger stout ^ ; Unquiet Care ; and fond Unthriftyhead * ; Lewd Loss of Time ; and Sorrow seeming dead ; Inconstant Change ; and false Disloyality ; Consuming Riotise ^ ; and guilty Dread Of heavenly vengeance ; faint Infirmity ; Vile Poverty ; and, lastly, Death with infamy. 1 Many, company. •» Fond Unthriftyhead, foolish ^ Read, tell. thriftlessness. ' Stout, dauntless. ^ Riotise, riotousness, BRirOMART. 123 26 There were full many moe ^ like maladies, Whose names and natures I note readen ^ well ; So many moe, as there be fantasies In wavering women's wit, that none can tell, Or pains in love, or punishments in hell : All which, disguised, marched in masking-wise About the chamber by the damosel ; And then returned, having marched thrise. Into the inner room from whence they first did rise.^ 27 So soon as they were in, the door straightway Fast locked, driven with that stormy blast Which first it opened, and bore all away. Then the brave maid, which all this while was plast ^ In secret shade, and saw both first and last, Issued forth and went unto the door To enter in, but found it lockM fast : In vain she thought with rigorous uproar For to efforce,^ when charms had closed it afore. 28 Where force might not avail, there sleights and art She cast^ to use, both fit for hard emprise'': Forthy ^ from that same room not to depart Till morrow next she did herself avise,^ When that same mask again should forth arise. The morrow next appeared with joyous cheer. Calling men to their daily exercise : 1 Moe, more. ^ Efforce, force. 2 Note readen, cannot tell. ^ Cast, planned. ' Rise, come forth. ' Emfrise, undertaking. * Plast, placed. ^ Forthy, therefore. ' Avise, bethink. 124 THE FAERY QUEENE. Then she, asTnorrow fresh, herself did rear Out of her secret stand that day for to outwear.^ 29 All that day she outwore in wandering And gazing on that chamber's ornament. Till that again the second evening Her covered with her sable vestiment, Wherewith the world's fair beauty she hath blent ^ : Then, when the second watch ^ was almost past, That brazen door flew open, and in went Bold Britomart, as she had late forecast,* Neither of idle shows nor of false charms aghast. 30 So soon as she was entered, round about She cast her eyes to see what was become Of all those persons which she saw without. But lo ! they straight were vanished all and some^ ; Ne living wight she saw in all that room, Save that same woful lady ; both whose hands Were bounden fast, that did her ill become,^ And her small waist girt round with iron bands Unto a brazen pillar, by the which she stands. 3 1 And, her before, the vile enchanter sate, Figuring strange characters of his art ; With living blood he those characters wrate,^ 1 Outwear, pass. ^ All and some, i.e. one and all. 2 Blent, obscured. ^ xhat did her ill become, i.e. 5 The second watch began at such treatment was unworthy of nine and ended at twelve. her. * Forecast, previously deter- ' Wrate, wrote, mined. BRITOMART. 125 Dreadfully dropping from her dying heart, Seeming transfixed with a cruel dart ; And all perforce to make her him to love. Ah ! who can love the worker of her smart ! A thousand charms he formerly did prove ^ ; Yet thousand charms could not her steadfast heart remove. 32 Soon as that virgin knight he saw in place, His wicked books in haste he overthrew. Not caring his long labours to deface^; And, fiercely running to that lady true, A murd'rous knife out of his pocket drew. The which he thought, for villainous despite. In her tormented body to imbrue ^ : But the stout * damsel, to him leaping light. His cursed hand witheld, and maister^d his might. 33 From her, to whom his fury first he meant, The wicked weapon rashly he did wrest,^ And, turning to herself ^ his fell intent, Unwares it strooke into her snowy chest. That little drops empurpled her fair breast. Exceeding wroth therewith the virgin grew, Albe '' the wound were nothing deep impressed. And fiercely forth her mortal blade she drew, To give him the reward for such vile outrage due. 1 Did prove, made trial of. * Stout, valiant, undaunted. 2 Not caring, etc., i.e. not caring ^ Rashly he did wrest, quickly for the fact that he might destroy he turned aside. the result of his long labors. ^ Herself, i.e. Britomart. 8 Imbrue, moisten. ' Albe, although. 126 THE FAERY QUEENE. 34 So mightily she smote him, that to ground He fell half dead ; next stroke him should have slain, Had not the lady, which by him stood bound, Dernly ^ unto her called to abstain From doing him to die ^ ; for else her pain Should be remediless ; sith ^ none but he Which wrought it could the same recure again. Therewith she stayed her hand, loath stayed to be ; For life she him envied,* and longed revenge to see : 35 And to him said : "Thou wicked man, whose meed For so huge mischief and vile villainy Is death, or if that ought do death exceed ; Be sure that nought may save thee from to die But if ^ that thou this dame do presently Restore unto her health and former state ; This do, and live ; else die undoubtedly." He, glad of life, that looked for death but late. Did yield himself right willing to prolong his date : 36 And, rising up, gan straight to overlook ^ Those cursed leaves, his charms back to reverse. Full dreadful things out of that baleful book He read, and measured many a sad^ verse. That horror gan the virgin's heart to perse,^ And her fair locks up stared ^ stiff on end. Hearing him those same bloody lines rehearse ; ' Dernly, sadly. ' But if, unless. ^ Doing him to die, causing him " Overlook, look over, to die. ' Sad, i.e. of great import. ^ Sith, since. ' Perse, pierce. * Envied, grudged. ' Up stared, stood up. BRITOMART. 127 And, all the while he read, she did extend Her swordhigh over him, if ought he did offend.^ 37 Anon she gan perceive the house to quake, And all the doors to rattle round about ; Yet all that did not her dismayed make. Nor slack her threatful hand for danger's doubt,^ But still with steadfast eye and courage stout Abode, to weet ^ what end would come of all : At last that mighty chain, which round about Her * tender waist was wound, adown gan fall, And that great brazen pillar broke in pieces small. 38 The cruel steel, which thrilled^ her dying heart. Fell softly forth, as of his own accord ; And the wide wound, which lately did dispart ® Her bleeding breast and riven bowels gored, Was closed up, as it had not been bored ; And every part to safety full sound. As she were never hurt, was soon restored : Tho,'^ when she felt herself to be unbound And perfect whole, prostrate she fell unto the ground ; 39 Before fair Britomart she fell prostrate. Saying : " Ah ! noble knight, what worthy meed Can wretched lady, quit from woful state, Yield you in lieu of this your gracious deed ? 1 If ought he did offend, i.e. in * Her ; this refers, of course, to case he should do any harm. the lady, Amoret. 2 Danger 's doubt, apprehension ' Thrilled, pierced, of danger. * Dispart, divide. 8 Weet, know. ' Tho, then. 128 THE FAERY QUEENE. Your virtue self her own reward shall breed, Even immortal praise and glory wide, Which I, your vassal, by your prowess freed, Shall through the world make to be notified,^ And goodly well advance that goodly well was tried." ^ 40 But Britomart uprearing her from ground. Said : " Gentle dame, reward enough I ween,^ For many labours more then I have found, This, that in safety now I have you seen, And mean * of your deliverance have been : Henceforth, fair lady, comfort to you take, And put away remembrance of late teen ^ ; Instead thereof, know that your loving make^ Hath no less grief endurM for your gentle sake." 41 She much was cheered to hear him mentioned,'' Whom of all living wights she lov^d best. Then laid the noble championess strong bond ^ Upon th' enchanter which had her distressed So sore, and with foul outrages oppressed : With that great chain, wherewith not long ygoe He bound that piteous lady prisoner now relest, Himself she bound, more worthy to be so. And captive with her led to wretchedness and woe. 1 Notified, proclaimed. ^ Mean, means. 2 And goodly well advance, etc., ^ Teen, sorrow. i.e. and do my best to extol the ' Make, mate. valor which was so well tried. ' Mentioned ; the second syllable 8 Ween, think. pronounced as two syllables. * Hond, hand. BRITOMART. Yl