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That you may still unsully'd keep my name,
Nor with suspicion wrong my spotless fame!
Struck with the vision, Sacripant amaz'd
On fair Angelica in rapture gaz'd :

Not with such joy a mother views again

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Her darling offspring, deem'd in battle slain,

Who saw the troops without him home return'd,

And long his loss with tears maternal mourn'd.
The lover now advanc'd with eager pace,
To clasp his fair one with a warm embrace:
While she, far distant from her native seat,
Refus'd not thus her faithful knight to meet,

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With whom she hop'd ere long her ancient realms to

greet.

Then all her story she at full express'd,

Ev'n from the day, when urg'd by her request,

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He parted, succours in the east to gain
From fam'd Gradasso king of Sericane:
How great Orlando did her steps attend,
And safe from danger and mischance defend;
While, as she from her birth had kept unstain'd
Her virgin fame, he still that fame maintain❜d.
This might be true, but one discreet and wise,
Would scarcely credit such a fond surmise:
Yet Sacripant with ease the maid believ'd,
For mighty Love had long his sense deceiv'd:
Love, what we see, can from our sight remove,

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And things invisible are seen by Love.

Ver. 385.-when urg'd by her request,] Alluding to a passage in Boyardo.

What though Anglante's knight so long forbore

To seize the blest occasion in his power:

(Thus to himself in secret spoke the knight)

Shall I so coldly fortune's gifts requite?

Or e'er repent I slighted beauty's charms
When the glad hour had giv'n them to my arms!
No-let me crop the fresh, the morning rose,
Whose budding leaves untainted sweets disclose.
Midst all disguise, full well the fair approve
The soft, the pleasing violence of love.
Then let no forg'd complaints my soul affright,
Nor threatenings rob me of the wish'd delight.
He said; and for the soft attack prepar'd:
But soon a loud and sudden noise was heard:
The noise, resounding from the neighbouring grove,
Compell'd the knight to quit his task of love:
His ready helmet on his head he plac'd;

His other parts in shining steel were cas'd:
Again with curbing bit his steed he rein'd,
Remounted swiftly and his lance regain'd.
Now, issuing from the wood, a knight is seen
Of warlike semblance and commanding mien:
Of dazzling white the furniture he wears,
And in his casque a snowy plume he bears.
But Sacripant, whom amorous thoughts employ,
Defrauded of his love and promis'd joy,

Beholds th' intruding champion from afar

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With haughty looks, and eyes that menace war.
Approaching nearer he defies his force,

And hopes to hurl him headlong from his horse:

Ver. 398.---Anglante's knight-] Orlando, lord of Anglante.

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With threatening words the stranger makes return,
With equal confidence and equal scorn:

At once he spoke, and to the combat press'd,

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His courser spurr'd and plac'd his lance in rest:
King Sacripant return'd with equal speed;

And each on each impell'd his rapid steed.
Not bulls or lions thus the battle wage

With teeth and horns, in mutual blood and rage,

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As fought these eager warriors in the field:
Each forceful javelin pierc'd the other's shield
With hideous crash; the dreadful clangors rise,
Swell from the vales, and echo to the skies!

Through either's breast had pierc'd the pointed wood, 440
But the well-temper'd plates the force withstood,
The fiery coursers, long to battle bred,

Like butting rams, encounter'd head to head.
The stranger's with the shock began to reel,
But soon recover'd with the goring steel;
While on the ground the Pagan's breathless fell,
A beast that, living, serv'd his master well.

The knight unknown, beholding on the mead
His foe lie crush'd beneath the slaughter'd steed,
And deeming here no further glory due,
Resolv'd no more the contest to renew;
But turning swift, again pursu'd his way,
And left the fierce Circassian where he lay.
As when, the thunder o'er, the ether clears,
Slow rising from the stroke the hind appears,
Where stretch'd he lay all senseless on the plain,
Where fast beside him lay his oxen slain;
And see the pine, that once had rais'd in air
Its stately branches, now of honours bare:

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So rose the Pagan from the fatal place,
His mistress present at the dire disgrace.
He sigh'd full deeply from his inmost heart,
Not for a wounded limb, or outward smart;
But shame alone his tortur'd bosom tore,
A shame like this he ne'er confess'd before;
And more he sorrow'd, when the damsel freed
His limbs encumber'd from the murder'd steed;
Long time he silent stood with downcast look,
Till first Angelica the silence broke.

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She thus began: Let not my lord bemoan His courser's fatal error, not his own;

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For him had grassy mead been fitter far,

Or stalls with grain surcharg'd, than feats of war!
Yet little praise awaits yon haughty knight,

Nor can he justly glory in his might;

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For he, methinks, may well be said to yield,

Who first forsakes the fight and flies the field.

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With words like these the drooping king she chear'd,
When from the woods a messenger appear'd;
Tir'd with a length of way he seem'd to ride,
His crooked horn and wallet at his side:
When now, approaching to the Pagan knight,
He ask'd if he had seen, with buckler white,
And snowy plumage o'er his crest display'd,
A warrior passing through the forest shadę.
To whom thus Sacripant in brief again;

The knight you seek has stretch'd me on the plain :
But now he parted hence; to him I owe
My sham'd defeat, nor yet my victor know.
I shall not, since you wish me to reveal,
(Reply'd the messenger) your foe conceal:

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Know then, the fall you suffer'd in the fight,
A gallant virgin gave, unmatch'd in might,
Of fame for deeds of arms, of greater fame
For beauteous form, and Bradamant her name.

He said; and turn'd his courser from the place:
The Saracen, o'erwhelm'd with new disgrace,
All mute with conscious shame, dejected stood,
While o'er his features flush'd the mantling blood;
Till to the damsel's steed the knight address'd
His silent steps, and now the saddle press'd;
Then plac'd the fair Angelica behind,
Resolv'd some more secure retreat to find.

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Ere far they rode, they heard a trampling sound, That all the forest seem'd to shake around:

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They look, and soon a stately steed behold,
Whose costly trappings shine with burnish'd gold;
He leaps the steepy mounds, and crossing floods,
And bends before his way the crashing woods.
Unless the mingled houghs, with dusky shade,
Deceive my erring sight (exclaim'd the maid)

I see Bayardo in yon gallant horse,

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That through the woodland breaks his sounding course: One palfrey could but ill two riders bear,

And fortune sends him to relieve our care.

King Sacripant, alighting on the plain,

Drew near, and thought secure to seize the rein;

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Ver. 512.-Bayardo-] Many wonders are told in the romances of this horse. It is said that he was found by Malagigi in a grotto, together with a suit of armour and the sword Fusberta, all under the guard of a horrible serpent, and that by his magic art he got possession of, and gave them to Rinaldo. See Innamoramento di Rinaldo, C. iv.

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