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For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had.
Right faithfull, true he was in deede and word;
But of his cheere2 did seeme too solemne sad; 3
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.+

Upon a great adventure he was bond,5
That greatest Gloriana to him gave,
(That greatest glorious Queene of Faery lond)
To winne him worshippe, and her grace to have,
Which of all earthly things he most did crave:
And ever, as he rode, his hart did earne
To prove his puissances in battell brave
Upon his foe, and his new force to learne ;9
Upon his foe, a dragon1o horrible and stearne.

A lovely ladie11 rode him faire beside,
Upon a lowly asse more white then snow;
Yet she much whiter; but the same did hide
Under a vele, that wimpled 12 was full low;
And over all a blacke stole 13 shee did throw,
As one that inly mournd; so was she sad,
And heavie sate upon her palfrey slow;
Seeméd in heart some hidden care she had;
And by her in a line a milke-white lambe she lad.

So pure and innocent, as that same lambe,
She was in life and every vertuous lore;
And by descent from royall lynage1+ came
Of ancient kinges and queenes, that had of yore
Their scepters stretcht from east to westerne shore,
And all the world in their subjection held;
Till that infernal feend, with foule uprore,

Forwasted 15 all their land, and them expeld;

Whom to avenge, she had this knight from far compeld.16

For soveraine, &c.-On account of the supreme hope, &c. tenance, appearance.

3

Sad-grave, not, mournful.

5 Bond-bound. 6 Gloriana-Glory-the "Faery Queen."

8

2

4

Cheere-counYdrad-dreaded.

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9 Puissance-(three syllables here)--power. Learne-in its old sense-teach, show, manifest. 10 Dragon-this is intended to represent Error. 11 Lovely ladie -this is Una, or Truth, the representative of the one true church. 12 Wimpled -plaited or folded over. 13 Stole-a long robe or garment. 15 Forwasted-i. e. forth wasted, thoroughly laid waste. Latin compellare, to address-called on.

14

16

Lynage-lineage. Compeld-from the

S

Behind her farre away a dwarfe did lag,
That lasie seemd, in being ever last,
Or weariéd with bearing of her bag

Of needments1 at his backe. Thus as they past,
The day with cloudes was suddeine overcast,
And angry Iove2 an hideous storme of raine
Did poure into his lemans3 lap so fast,

That everie wight to shroud it did constrain;

And this faire couple eke to shroud themselves were fain.5

Enforst to seeke some covert nigh at hand,
A shadie grove not farr away they spede,
That promist ayde the tempest to withstand;
Whose loftie trees, yclad with sommers pride,
Did spred so broad, that heavens light did hide,
Not perceable with power of any starr;
And all within were pathes and alleies wide,
With footing worne, and leading inward farr:
Faire harbour that them seems; so in they entred ar.

And foorth they passe, with pleasure forward led,
Joying to heare the birdes sweete harmony,
Which therein shrouded from the tempest dred,
Seemed in their song to scorne the cruell sky.
Much can they praise the trees so straight and hy,
The sayling Pine, the Cedar proud and tall,
The vine-propp Elme, the Poplar never dry,
The builder Oake, sole king of forrests all,
The Aspine good for staves, the Cypresse funerall;

The Laurell, meed of mightie conquerours
And poets sage; the Firre that weepeth still;
The Willow, worne of forlorne paramours,9
The Eugh10 obedient to the benders will,

1 Needments-necessaries. 2 Jove--the air or atmosphere is frequently so named in the Classics. 3 Leman-from the Anglo-Saxon leof, loved, and man,

one-a loved one, sweetheart. 4 Shroud-shelter. 5 Fain-glad. 6 Not perce

able, &c.-"It was an ancient superstition" says Warton, "that stars had a malign influence on trees. Hence Milton, in Arcades :'--

Under the shady roof

Of branching elm star-proof."

7 Much can they praise-i. e. much they praise. 8 Vine-propp Elme-i. e. the Elm that props up and supports the vine. 9 Forlorne paramours-forsaken

10

lovers. Eugh-yew.

4

8

The Birch for shafts, the Sallow for the mill,
The Mirrhe sweete-bleeding in the bitter wound,
The warlike2 Beech, the Ash for nothing ill,
The fruitful Olive, and the Platane3 round,

The carver Holme,+ the Maple seldom inward sound.
Led with delight, they thus beguile the way,
Untill the blustring storme is overblowne;
When, weening5 to returne, whence they did stray,
They cannot find that path, which first was showne,
But wander too and fro in waies unknowne,
Furthest from end then, when they neerest weene,
That makes them doubt their wits be not their own;
So many pathes, so many turnings seene,

That which of them to take in diverse doubt they been.

THE HOUSE OF SLEEP.6

8

HE, making speedy way though spersed ayre,
And through the world of waters wide and deepe,
To Morpheus house9 doth hastily repaire;
Amid the bowels of the earth full steepe
And low, where dawning day doth never peepe,
His dwelling is; there Tethys10 his wet bed
Doth ever wash, and Cynthia still doth steepe
In silver deaw his ever-drouping hed,

Whiles sad Night over him her mantle black doth spred;

Whose double gates he findeth locked fast;
The one faire'l framed of burnisht yvory,
The other all with silver overcast ;

And watchful dogges before them farre doe lye,

2

Warlike

1 Sweet-bleeding, &c.-in allusion to the healing virtues of myrrh. Beech-war chariots used to be made of beech. 3 Platane-the plane tree. Holme--the holm oak. 5 Weening-imagining, thinking.

9

6 "Faerie Queen," Bk. i, Canto 1. "What can be more solitary, more shut up in itself, than his description of the House of Sleep? It is as if the honey dew of slumber' had settled on his pen in writing these lines:" Hazlitt. 7 He-a sprite sent on a mission by Archimago, or Fraud, the enchanter. Spersed-dispersed. Morpheus house-in the Classical writers, Somnus and not Morpheus is the God of Sleep, the latter being one of the children of Somnus. 10 Tethys the mythological wife of the ocean; here put for the ocean itself. 11 The one faire, &c.-Homer and Virgil represent the gates of Sleep's palace, as made of ivory and horn respectively, the former for false, and the latter for true dreams.

1

Watching to banish Care their enimy,
Who oft is wont to trouble gentle Sleepe.
By them the sprite doth passe in quietly,

And unto Morpheus comes, whom drownéd deepe
In drowsie fit he findes; of nothing he takes keepe.

And more to lull him in his slumber soft,

A trickling streame from high rock tumbling downe,
And ever drizling raine upon the loft,

Mixt with a murmuring winde, much like the sowne1
Of swarming bees, did cast him in a swowne.2
No other noyse, nor peoples troublous cryes,
As still are wont to annoy the walled towne,
Might there be heard: but carelesse Quiet lyes
Wrapt in eternall silence, farre from enimyes.

UNA AND THE LION.3

ONE day, nigh wearie of the yrkesome way,
From her unhastie beast she did alight;
And on the grasse her dainty limbs did lay
In secrete shadow, far from all men's sight;
From her fayre head her fillet she undight,+
And layd her stole aside: her angels face,
As the great eye of heaven, shyned bright,
And made a sunshine5 in the shady place:
Did never mortal eye behold such heavenly grace.
It fortunéd, out of the thickest wood
A ramping lyon rushéd suddeinly,
Hunting full greedy after salvage blood;
Soone as the royall virgin he did spy,
With gaping mouth at her ran greedily,
To have attonces devourd her tender corse:
But to the pray when as he drew more ny,

2

Sowne-sound. Swowne-swoon.

3Faerie Queen," Bk. i, Canto 3.

"What a picture!" says Professor Wilson, in reference to this passage. "We have seen it painted, and beautifully too, by colours on canvas; but never nearly so beautiful as here in the light of words." Blackwood's Magazine, Nov. 1834.

4 Undight-loosened, untied. 5 And made a sunshine, &c.-"A line," says the writer just quoted, "of itself sufficient to make the whole world in love with Truth."

6

7 Salvage-savage. Ran-i. e, he ran; the ellipsis of the personal pronoun is very common in the old writers. See another instance in the last line e of this stanza. 8 Attonce-at once.

3

His bloody rage aswagéd with remorse,

And, with the sight amazed, forgat his furious forse.

Instead thereof he kist her weary feet,
And lickt her lilly hands with fawning tong;
As he her wronged innocence did weet.1
O how can beautie maister the most strong,
And simple truth subdue avenging wrong!
Whose yielded pride and proud submission,
Still dreading death, when she had marked long,
Her heart gan melt in great compassion;
And drizling teares did shed for pure affection.

"The lyon, lord of everie beast in field,"
Quoth she, "his princely puissance doth abate,
And mightie proud to humble weake does yield,
Forgetfull of the hungry rage, which late
Him prickt, in pittie of my sad estate:—
But he, my lyon, and my noble lord,2
How does he find in cruell hart to hate
Her, that him loved, and ever most adord

As the god of my life? why hath he me abhord ?"

Redounding tears did choke th' end of her plaint,
Which softly ecchoed from the neighbour wood;
And, sad to see her sorrowfull constraint,
The kingly beast upon her gazing stood;
With pittie calmd, downe fell his angry mood.
At last, in close hart shutting up her payne,
Arose the virgin borne of heavenly brood,
And to her snowy palfrey+ got agayne,

To seeke her strayéd champion if she might attayne.

The lyon would not leave her desolate,
But with her went along, as a strong gard
Of her chast person, and a faythfull mate
Of her sad troubles and misfortunes hard :

2 My noble lord

1 Weet-from the Anglo-Saxon wit-an, to know-recognise. -the Red-Cross Knight, from whom Una had been separated by Archimago's devices. Redounding-from the Latin redundare, to flow over-abounding. 4 Palfrey-from the French par le frein, by the bridle-a lady's horse, led by the squire. The word here refers to the ass before named.

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