For them who in soft indolence the while
And flumb'ring peace enjoy the luscious spoil,
And as they view around the careful bees
Forefpent with labour and inceffant toil,
With the sweet contraft learn themselves to please,
And heighten by compare the luxury of ease.
Ungen'rous man! quoth then the Fairy knight,
That can rejoice to fee another's wo!
And thou unworthy of that glory bright
Wherewith the gods have deck'd thy princely brow,
That doth on floth and gluttony bestow
The hardearn'd fruits of industry and pain,
And to the dogs the lab'rer's morfel throw,
Unmindful of the hand that fow'd the grain,
The poor earthtrodden root of all thy greatness vain.
Oh! foul abuse of facred Majefly,
That boafteth her fair felf from heav'n yfprong!
Where are the marks of thy divinity?
Truth, mercy, justice steady, bold and ftrong,
To aid the meek and curb oppreffive wrong?
Where is the care and love of publick good
That to the people's father doth belong?
Where the vicegerent of that bounteous God
Who bids difpenfe to all what he for all beflow'd?
Dwell' thou not rather, like the prince of hell,
In Pandemonium, full of ugly fiends?
Diffimulation, Difcord, Malice fell,
Reckless Ambition, that right onward wends
Tho' his wild march o'erthrow both fame and friends, And virtue and his country, crooked Guile
Obliquely creeping to his treach'rous ends,
And Flatt'ry, curs'd affaffin! who the while [fmile.
He holds the murd'rous knife can fawn, and kifs, and
XXXIX.
Then 'gan he strait unvail the mirrour bright
The which fair Una† gave him heretofore
Ere he as yet with Paynim ‡ foe to fight
For foreign land had left his native fhore:
This in his careful breaft he always bore,
And on it oft' would caft his wary eye,
For it by magick framed was of yore,
So that no falfehood mote it well abye,
But it was plainly feen or fearfully did fly.
This on that gay affembly did he turn,
And faw confounded quite the gaudy scene,
Saw the clofe fire that inwardly did burn
And waste the throbbing heart with secret teen ||, 355
Una in Spenfer reprefents Truth. See B. i. Fairy Queen. ✰ Heathen, the ufual enemy of Knighterrants in Spenfer. | Pain, anguith.
Saw base Dependence in the haughty mien
Of lords and princes, faw the magick chain
That each did wear but deem'd he wore unfeen,
The whiles with count'naunce glad he hid his pain
And homage did require from each poor lowly fwain.
And tho' to that old mage they louted down
Yet did they dearly wish for his decay;
Als trembled he, and aye upon the throne
Of his great lord his tott'ring steps did stay,
And oft' behind him skulk'd for great difmay; 365
Als shook the throne, when fo the villain crew
That underneath opprefs'd and grov'lling lay
Impatient of the grievous burthen grew,
And loudly for redress and liberty did fue.
There mote he likewife fee a ribbald train
Of dauncers, broid'rers, flaves of luxury,
Who caft o'er all thofe lords and ladies vain
A veil of femblaunce fair and richest dye,
That none their inward bafeness mote defcry:
But nought was hidden from that mirrour bright, 375 Which when false Archimago 'gan espy
He feared for himself, and warn'd the knight
From fo detefted place to maken speedy flight.
So on he paffed till he comen hath
To a small river that full flow did glide,
As it uneath mote find its wat'ry path
For ftones and rubbish that did choke its tide;
So lay the mould'ring piles on ev'ry fide
Seem'd there a goodly city once had been,
Albeit now fallen were her royal pride,
Yet mote her auncient greatness ftill be seen,
Still from her ruins prov'd the world's imperial queen.
For the rich spoil of all the continents,
The boaft of art and nature, there was brought,
Corinthian brafs, Egyptian monuments,
With hieroglyphick sculptures all inwrought,
And Parian marbles by Greek artists taught
To counterfeit the forms of heroes old,
And fet before the eye of fober Thought
Lycurgus, Homer, and Alcides bold:
All these and many more that may not here be told.
There in the middest of a ruin'd pile
That feem'd a theatre of circuit vaft
Where thousands might be feated, he crewhile
Discover'd hath an uncouth trophy plac'd;
Seem'd a huge heap of stone together caft
In nice diforder and wild fymmetry,
Urns, broken freezes, ftatucs half defac'd,
And pedestals with antick imagery
Embofs'd, and pillars huge of coftly porphyry. 405
Aloft on this strange bafis was ypight*
With girlonds gay adorn'd a golden chair
In which aye fmiling with felf-bred delight
In carelefs pride reclin'd a lady fair,
And to foft mufick lent her idle ear,
The which with pleasure so did her enthral
That for aught elfe fhe had but little care,
For wealth, or fame, or honour feminal,
Or gentle Love, fole king of pleasures natural.
XLVII.
Als by her fide in richest robes array'd
An eunuch fat, of vifage pale and dead,
Unfeemly paramour for royal maid!
Yet him the courted oft' and honoured,
And oft' would by her place in princely stedt,
Tho' from the dregs of earth he springen were, 420
And oft' with regal crowns fhe deck'd his head,
And oft' to footh her vain and foolish ear
She bade him the great names of mighty Kesars ‡ bear.
XLVIII.
Thereto herself a pompous title bore,
For fhe was vain of her great aunceftry,
But vainer ftill of that prodigious fore
Of arts and learning which the vaunts to lie
In the rich archives of her treafury:
+ Seat or place. + Emperours.
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