But wote thou this, thou hardy _Titanesse_, xxxiii

That not the worth of any liuing wight

May challenge ought in Heauens interesse;

Much lesse the Title of old _Titans_ Right:

For, we by Conquest of our soueraine might,

And by eternall doome of Fates decree,

Haue wonne the Empire of the Heauens bright;

Which to our selues we hold, and to whom wee

Shall worthy deeme partakers of our blisse to bee.

Then ceasse thy idle claime thou foolish gerle, xxxiv

And seeke by grace and goodnesse to obtaine

That place from which by folly _Titan_ fell;

There-to thou maist perhaps, if so thou faine

Haue _Ioue_ thy gratious Lord and Soueraigne.

So, hauing said, she thus to him replide;

Ceasse _Saturnes_ sonne, to seeke by proffers vaine

Of idle hopes t’allure mee to thy side,

For to betray my Right, before I haue it tride.

But thee, O _Ioue_, no equall Iudge I deeme xxxv

Of my desert, or of my dewfull Right;

That in thine owne behalfe maist partiall seeme:

But to the highest him, that is behight

Father of Gods and men by equall might;

To weet, the God of Nature, I appeale.

There-at _Ioue_ wexed wroth, and in his spright

Did inly grudge, yet did it well conceale;

And bade _Dan Phœbus_ Scribe her Appellation seale.

Eftsoones the time and place appointed were, xxxvi

Where all, both heauenly Powers, and earthly wights,

Before great Natures presence should appeare,

For triall of their Titles and best Rights:

That was, to weet, vpon the highest hights

Of _Arlo-hill_ (Who knowes not _Arlo-hill_?)

That is the highest head (in all mens sights)

Of my old father _Mole_, whom Shepheards quill

Renowmed hath with hymnes fit for a rurall skill.

And, were it not ill fitting for this file, xxxvii

To sing of hilles and woods, mongst warres and Knights,

I would abate the sternenesse of my stile,

Mongst these sterne stounds to mingle soft delights;

And tell how _Arlo_ through _Dianaes_ spights

(Beeing of old the best and fairest Hill

That was in all this holy-Islands hights)

Was made the most vnpleasant, and most ill.

Meane while, O _Clio_, lend _Calliope_ thy quill.

Whylome, when _IRELAND_ florished in fame xxxviii

Of wealths[613] and goodnesse, far aboue the rest

Of all that beare the _British_ Islands name,

The Gods then vs’d (for pleasure and for rest)

Oft to resort there-to, when seem’d them best:

But none of all there-in more pleasure found,

Then _Cynthia_; that is soueraine Queene profest

Of woods and forrests, which therein abound,

Sprinkled with wholsom waters, more then most on ground.

But mongst them all, as fittest for her game, xxxix

Either for chace of beasts with hound or boawe,

Or for to shroude in shade from _Phœbus_ flame,

Or bathe in fountaines that doe freshly flowe,

Or from high hilles, or from the dales belowe,

She chose this _Arlo_; where shee did resort

With all her Nymphes enranged on a rowe,

With whom the woody Gods did oft consort:

For, with the Nymphes, the Satyres loue to play and sport.

Amongst the which, there was a Nymph that hight xl

_Molanna_; daughter of old father _Mole_,

And sister vnto _Mulla_, faire and bright:

Vnto whose bed false _Bregog_ whylome stole,

That Shepheard _Colin_ dearely did condole,

And made her lucklesse loues well knowne to be.

But this _Molanna_ were she not so shole,

Were no lesse faire and beautifull then shee:

Yet as she is, a fairer flood may no man see.

For, first, she springs out of two marble Rocks, xli

On which, a groue of Oakes high mounted growes,

That as a girlond seemes to deck the locks

Of som faire Bride, brought forth with pompous showes

Out of her bowre, that many flowers strowes:

So, through the flowry Dales she tumbling downe,

Through many woods, and shady coverts flowes

(That on each side her siluer channell crowne)

Till to the Plaine she come, whose Valleyes shee doth drowne.

In her sweet streames, _Diana_ vsed oft xlii

(After her sweatie chace and toilesome play)

To bathe her selfe; and after, on the soft

And downy grasse, her dainty limbes to lay

In couert shade, where none behold her may:

For, much she hated sight of liuing eye.

Foolish God _Faunus_, though full many a day

He saw her clad, yet longed foolishly

To see her naked mongst her Nymphes in priuity.

No way he found to compasse his desire, xliii

But to corrupt _Molanna_, this her maid,

Her to discouer for some secret hire:

So, her with flattering words he first assaid;

And after, pleasing gifts for her purvaid,

Queene-apples, and red Cherries from the tree,

With which he her allured and betraid,

To tell what time he might her Lady see

When she her selfe did bathe, that he might secret bee.

There-to hee promist, if shee would him pleasure xliv

With this small boone, to quit her with a better;

To weet, that where-as shee had out of measure

Long lov’d the _Fanchin_, who by nought did set her,

That he would vndertake, for this to get her

To be his Loue, and of him liked well:

Besides all which, he vow’d to be her debter

For many moe good turnes then he would tell;

The least of which, this little pleasure should excell.

The simple maid did yield to him anone; xlv

And eft him placed where he close might view

That neuer any saw, saue onely one;

Who, for his hire to so foole-hardy dew,

Was of his hounds devour’d in Hunters hew.

Tho, as her manner was on sunny day,

_Diana_, with her Nymphes about her, drew

To this sweet spring; where, doffing her array,

She bath’d her louely limbes, for _Ioue_ a likely pray.

There _Faunus_ saw that pleased much his eye, xlvi

And made his hart to tickle in his brest,

That for great ioy of some-what he did spy,

He could him not containe in silent rest;

But breaking forth in laughter, loud profest

His foolish thought. A foolish _Faune_ indeed,

That couldst not hold thy selfe so hidden blest,

But wouldest needs thine owne conceit areed.

Babblers vnworthy been of so diuine a meed.

The Goddesse, all abashed with that noise, xlvii

In haste forth started from the guilty brooke;

And running straight where-as she heard his voice,

Enclos’d the bush about, and there him tooke,

Like darred Larke; not daring vp to looke

On her whose sight before so much he sought.

Thence, forth they drew him by the hornes, and shooke

Nigh all to peeces, that they left him nought;

And then into the open light they forth him brought.

Like as an huswife, that with busie care xlviii

Thinks of her Dairie to make wondrous gaine,

Finding where-as some wicked beast vnware

That breakes into her Dayr’house, there doth draine

Her creaming pannes, and frustrate all her paine;

Hath in some snare or gin set close behind,

Entrapped him, and caught into her traine,

Then thinkes what punishment were best assign’d,

And thousand deathes deuiseth in her vengefull mind:

So did _Diana_ and her maydens all xlix

Vse silly _Faunus_, now within their baile:

They mocke and scorne him, and him foule miscall;

Some by the nose him pluckt, some by the taile,

And by his goatish beard some did him haile:

Yet he (poore soule) with patience all did beare;

For, nought against their wils might countervaile:

Ne ought he said what euer he did heare;

But hanging downe his head, did like a Mome appeare.

At length, when they had flouted him their fill, l

They gan to cast what penaunce him to giue.

Some would haue gelt him, but that same would spill

The Wood-gods breed, which must for euer liue:

Others would through the riuer him haue driue,

And ducked deepe: but that seem’d penaunce light;

But most agreed and did this sentence giue,

Him in Deares skin to clad; and in that plight,

To hunt him with their hounds, him selfe saue how hee might.

But _Cynthia’s_ selfe, more angry then the rest, li

Thought not enough, to punish him in sport,

And of her shame to make a gamesome iest;

But gan examine him in straighter sort,

Which of her Nymphes, or other close consort,

Him thither brought, and her to him betraid?

He, much affeard, to her confessed short,

That ’twas _Molanna_ which her so bewraid.

Then all attonce their hands vpon _Molanna_ laid.

But him (according as they had decreed) lii

With a Deeres-skin they couered, and then chast

With all their hounds that after him did speed;

But he more speedy, from them fled more fast

Then any Deere: so sore him dread aghast.

They after follow’d all with shrill out-cry,

Shouting as they the heauens would haue brast:

That all the woods and dales where he did flie,

Did ring againe, and loud reeccho to the skie.

So they him follow’d till they weary were; liii

When, back returning to _Molann’_ againe,

They, by commaund’ment of _Diana_, there

Her whelm’d with stones. Yet _Faunus_ (for her paine)

Of her beloued _Fanchin_ did obtaine,

That her he would receiue vnto his bed.

So now her waues passe through a pleasant Plaine,

Till with the _Fanchin_ she her selfe doe wed,

And (both combin’d) themselues in one faire riuer spred.

Nath’lesse, _Diana_, full of indignation, liv

Thence-forth abandond her delicious brooke;

In whose sweet streame, before that bad occasion,

So much delight to bathe her limbes she tooke:

Ne onely her, but also quite forsooke

All those faire forrests about _Arlo_ hid,

And all that Mountaine, which doth over-looke

The richest champian[614] that may else be rid,

And the faire _Shure_, in which are thousand Salmons bred.

Them all, and all that she so deare did way, lv

Thence-forth she left; and parting from the place,

There-on an heauy haplesse curse did lay,

To weet, that Wolues, where she was wont to space,

Should harbour’d be, and all those Woods deface,

And Thieues should rob and spoile that Coast around.

Since which, those Woods, and all that goodly Chase,

Doth to this day with Wolues and Thieues abound:

Which too-too true that lands in-dwellers since haue found.

FOOTNOTES:

[608] vii 4 th’empire _1609_: _corr. 1611_

[609] x 1 That] Tho _Hughes. Upton_

[610] xxii 9 hot] her _Hughes_

[611] xxv 9 thou _om. Hughes_

[612] xxix 5 _Procustes_ _1609_

[613] xxxviii 2 wealth _Hughes &c._

Canto VII.

[Illustration:

_Pealing, from_ Ioue, _to_ Natur’s _Bar,

bold_ Alteration _pleades

Large Euidence: but_ Nature _soone

her righteous Doome areads_.

]

Ah! whither doost thou now thou greater Muse i

Me from these woods and pleasing forrests bring?

And my fraile spirit (that dooth oft refuse

This too high flight, vnfit for her weake wing)

Lift vp aloft, to tell of heauens King

(Thy soueraine Sire) his fortunate successe,

And victory, in bigger noates to sing,

Which he obtain’d against that _Titanesse_,

That him of heauens Empire sought to dispossesse.

Yet sith I needs must follow thy behest, ii

Doe thou my weaker wit with skill inspire,

Fit for this turne; and in my feeble[615] brest

Kindle fresh sparks of that immortall fire,

Which learned minds inflameth with desire

Of heauenly things: for, who but thou alone,

That art yborne of heauen and heauenly Sire,

Can tell things doen in heauen so long ygone;

So farre past memory of man that may be knowne.

Now, at the time that was before agreed, iii

The Gods assembled all on _Arlo_ hill;

As well those that are sprung of heauenly seed,

As those that all the other world doe fill,

And rule both sea and land vnto their will:

Onely th’infernall Powers might not appeare;

Aswell for horror of their count’naunce ill,

As for th’vnruly fiends which they did feare;

Yet _Pluto_ and _Proserpina_ were present there.

And thither also came all other creatures, iv

What-euer life or motion doe retaine,

According to their sundry kinds of features;

That _Arlo_ scarsly could them all containe;

So full they filled euery[616] hill and Plaine:

And had not _Natures_ Sergeant (that is _Order_)

Them well disposed by his busie paine,

And raunged farre abroad in euery border,

They would haue caused much confusion and disorder.

Then forth issewed (great goddesse) great dame _Nature_, v

With goodly port and gracious Maiesty;

Being far greater and more tall of stature

Then any of the gods or Powers on hie:

Yet certes by her face and physnomy,

Whether she man or woman inly were,

That could not any creature well descry:

For, with a veile that wimpled euery where,

Her head and face was hid, that mote to none appeare.

That some doe say was so by skill deuized, vi

To hide the terror of her vncouth hew,

From mortall eyes that should be sore agrized;

For that her face did like a Lion shew,

That eye of wight could not indure to view:

But others tell that it so beautious was,

And round about such beames of splendor threw,

That it the Sunne a thousand times did pass,

Ne could be seene, but like an image in a glass.

That well may seemen true: for, well I weene vii

That this same day, when she on _Arlo_ sat,

Her garment was so bright and wondrous sheene,

That my fraile wit cannot deuize to what

It to compare, nor finde like stuffe to that,

As those three sacred _Saints_, though else most wise,

Yet on mount _Thabor_ quite their wits forgat,

When they[617] their glorious Lord in strange disguise

Transfigur’d sawe; his garments so did daze their eyes.

In a fayre Plaine vpon an equall Hill, viii

She placed was in a pauilion;

Not such as[618] Craftes-men by their idle skill

Are wont for Princes states to fashion:

But th’earth her self of her owne motion,

Out of her fruitfull bosome made to growe

Most dainty trees; that, shooting vp anon,

Did seeme to bow their bloosming heads full lowe,

For homage vnto her, and like a throne did shew[619].

So hard[620] it is for any liuing wight, ix

All her array and vestiments to tell,

That old _Dan Geffrey_ (in whose gentle spright

The pure well head of Poesie did dwell)

In his _Foules parley_ durst not with it mel,

But it transferd to _Alane_, who he thought

Had in his _Plaint of kindes_[621] describ’d it well:

Which who will read set forth so as it ought,

Go seek he out that _Alane_ where he may be sought.

And all the earth far vnderneath her feete x

Was dight with flowres, that voluntary grew

Out of the ground, and sent forth odours sweet;

Tenne thousand mores[622] of sundry sent and hew,

That might delight the smell, or please the view:

The which, the Nymphes, from all the brooks thereby

Had gathered, which[623] they at her foot-stoole threw;

That richer seem’d then any tapestry,

That Princes bowres adorne with painted imagery.

And _Mole_ himselfe, to honour her the more, xi

Did deck himself in freshest faire attire,

And his high head, that seemeth alwaies hore

With hardned frosts of former winters ire,

He with an Oaken girlond now did tire,

As if the loue of some new Nymph late seene,

Had in him kindled youthfull fresh desire,

And made him change his gray attire to greene;

Ah gentle _Mole_! such ioyance hath thee well beseene.

Was neuer[624] so great ioyance since the day, xii

That all the gods whylome assembled were,

On _Hæmus_ hill in their diuine array,

To celebrate the solemne bridall cheare,

Twixt _Peleus_[625], and dame _Thetis_ pointed there;

Where _Phœbus_ self, that god of Poets hight,

They say did sing the spousall hymne full cleere,

That all the gods were rauisht with delight

Of his celestiall song, and Musicks wondrous might.

This great Grandmother of all creatures bred xiii

Great _Nature_, euer young yet full of eld,

Still moouing, yet vnmoued from her sted;

Vnseene of any, yet of all beheld;

Thus sitting in her throne as I haue teld,

Before her came dame _Mutabilitie_;

And being lowe before her presence feld,

With meek obaysance and humilitie,

Thus gan her plaintif Plea, with words to amplifie;

To thee O greatest goddesse, onely great, xiv

An humble suppliant loe, I lowely fly

Seeking for Right, which I of thee entreat;

Who Right to all dost deale indifferently,

Damning all Wrong and tortious Iniurie,

Which any of thy creatures doe to other

(Oppressing them with power, vnequally)

Sith of them all thou art the equall mother,

And knittest each to each[626], as brother vnto brother.

To thee therefore of this same _Ioue_ I plaine, xv

And of his fellow gods that faine to be,

That challenge to themselues the whole worlds raign;

Of which, the greatest part is due to me,

And heauen it selfe by heritage in Fee:

For, heauen and earth I both alike do deeme,

Sith heauen and earth are both alike to thee;

And, gods no more then men thou doest esteeme[627]:

For, euen the gods to thee, as men to gods do seeme.

Then weigh, O soueraigne goddesse, by what right xvi

These gods do claime the worlds whole souerainty;

And that is onely dew vnto thy[628] might

Arrogate to themselues ambitiously:

As for the gods owne principality,

Which _Ioue_ vsurpes vniustly; that to be

My heritage, _Ioue’s_ self cannot deny,

From my great Grandsire _Titan_, vnto mee,

Deriv’d by dew descent; as is well knowen to thee.

Yet mauger _Ioue_, and all his gods beside, xvii

I doe possesse the worlds most regiment;

As, if ye please it into parts diuide,

And euery parts inholders to conuent,

Shall to your eyes appeare incontinent.

And first, the Earth (great mother of vs all)

That only seems vnmov’d and permanent,

And vnto _Mutability_ not thrall;

Yet is she chang’d in part, and eeke in generall.

For, all that from her springs, and is ybredde, xviii

How-euer fayre it flourish for a time,

Yet see we soone decay; and, being dead,

To turne again vnto their earthly slime:

Yet, out of their decay and mortall crime,

We daily see new creatures to arize;

And of their Winter spring another Prime,

Vnlike in forme, and chang’d by strange disguise:

So turne they still about, and change in restlesse wise.

As for her tenants; that is, man and beasts, xix

The beasts we daily see massacred dy,

As thralls and vassalls vnto mens beheasts:

And men themselues doe change continually,

From youth to eld, from wealth to pouerty,

From good to bad, from bad to worst of all.

Ne doe their bodies only flit and fly:

But eeke their minds (which they immortall call)

Still change and vary thoughts, as new occasions fall.

Ne is the water in more constant case; xx

Whether those same on high, or these belowe.

For, th’Ocean moueth stil, from place to place;

And euery Riuer still doth ebbe and flowe:

Ne any Lake, that seems most still and slowe,

Ne Poole so small, that can his smoothnesse holde,

When any winde doth vnder heauen blowe;

With which, the clouds are also tost and roll’d;

Now like great Hills; and, streight, like sluces, them vnfold.

So likewise are all watry liuing wights xxi

Still tost, and turned, with continuall change,

Neuer abyding in their stedfast plights.

The fish, still floting, doe at randon range,

And neuer rest; but euermore exchange

Their dwelling places, as the streames them carrie:

Ne haue the watry foules a certaine grange,

Wherein to rest, ne in one stead do tarry;

But flitting still doe flie, and still their places vary.

Next is the Ayre: which who feeles not by sense xxii

(For, of all sense it is the middle meane)

To flit still? and, with subtill influence

Of his thin spirit, all creatures to maintaine,

In state of life? O weake life! that does leane

On thing so tickle as th’vnsteady ayre;

Which euery howre is chang’d, and altred cleane

With euery blast that bloweth fowle or faire:

The faire doth it prolong; the fowle doth it impaire.

Therein the changes infinite beholde, xxiii

Which to her creatures euery minute chaunce;

Now, boyling hot: streight, friezing deadly cold:

Now, faire sun-shine, that makes all skip and daunce:

Streight, bitter storms and balefull countenance,

That makes them all to shiuer and to shake:

Rayne, hayle, and snowe do pay them sad penance,

And dreadfull thunder-claps (that make them quake)

With flames and flashing lights that thousand changes make.

Last is the fire: which, though it liue for euer, xxiv

Ne can be quenched quite; yet, euery day,

Wee see his parts, so soone as they do seuer,

To lose their heat, and shortly to decay;

So, makes himself his owne consuming pray.

Ne any liuing creatures doth he breed:

But all, that are of others bredd, doth slay;

And, with their death, his cruell life dooth feed;

Nought leaning, but their barren ashes, without seede.

Thus, all these fower (the which the ground-work bee xxv

Of all the world, and of all liuing wights)

To thousand sorts of _Change_ we subiect see:

Yet are they chang’d (by other wondrous slights)

Into themselues, and lose their natiue mights;

The Fire to Aire, and th’Ayre to Water sheere,

And Water into Earth: yet Water fights

With Fire, and Aire with Earth approaching neere:

Yet all are in one body, and as one appeare.

So, in them all raignes _Mutabilitie_; xxvi

How-euer these, that Gods themselues do call,

Of them doe claime the rule and souerainty:

As, _Vesta_, of the fire æthereall;

_Vulcan_, of this, with vs so vsuall;

_Ops_, of the earth; and _Iuno_ of the Ayre;

_Neptune_, of Seas; and Nymphes, of Riuers all.

For, all those Riuers to me subiect are:

And all the rest, which they vsurp, be all my share.

Which to approuen true, as I haue told, xxvii

Vouchsafe, O goddesse, to thy presence call

The rest which doe the world in being hold:

As, times and seasons of the yeare that fall:

Of all the which, demand in generall,

Or iudge thy selfe, by verdit of thine eye,

Whether to me they are not subiect all.

_Nature_ did yeeld thereto; and by-and-by,

Bade _Order_ call them all, before her Maiesty.

So, forth issew’d the Seasons of the yeare; xxviii

First, lusty _Spring_, all dight in leaues of flowres

That freshly budded and new bloosmes did beare

(In which a thousand birds had built their bowres

That sweetly sung, to call forth Paramours):

And in his hand a iauelin he did beare,

And on his head (as fit for warlike stoures)

A guilt engrauen morion he did weare;

That as some did him loue, so others did him feare.

Then came the iolly _Sommer_, being dight xxix

In a thin silken cassock coloured greene,

That was vnlyned all, to be more light:

And on his head a girlond well beseene

He wore, from which as he had chauffed been

The sweat did drop; and in his hand he bore

A boawe and shaftes, as he in forrest greene

Had hunted late the Libbard or the Bore,

And now would bathe his limbes, with labor heated sore.

Then came the _Autumne_ all in yellow clad, xxx

As though he ioyed in his plentious store,

Laden with fruits that made him laugh, full glad

That he had banisht hunger, which to-fore

Had by the belly oft him pinched sore.

Vpon his head a wreath that was enrold

With eares of corne, of euery sort he bore:

And in his hand a sickle he did holde,

To reape the ripened fruits the which the earth had yold.

Lastly, came _Winter_ cloathed all in frize, xxxi

Chattering his teeth for cold that did him chill,

Whil’st on his hoary beard his breath did freese;

And the dull drops that from his purpled bill

As from a limbeck did adown distill.

In his right hand a tipped staffe he held,

With which his feeble steps he stayed still:

For, he was faint with cold, and weak with eld;

That scarse his loosed limbes he hable was to weld.

These, marching softly, thus in order went, xxxii

And after them, the Monthes all riding came;

First, sturdy _March_ with brows full sternly bent,

And armed strongly, rode vpon a Ram,

The same which ouer _Hellespontus_ swam:

Yet in his hand a spade he also hent,

And in a bag all sorts of seeds ysame,

Which on the earth he strowed as he went,

And fild her womb with fruitfull hope of nourishment.

Next came fresh _Aprill_ full of lustyhed, xxxiii

And wanton as a Kid whose horne new buds:

Vpon a Bull he rode, the same which led

_Europa_ floting through th’ _Argolick_ fluds:

His homes were gilden all with golden studs

And garnished with garlonds goodly dight

Of all the fairest flowres and freshest buds

Which th’earth brings forth, and wet he seem’d in sight

With waues, through which he waded for his loues delight.

Then came faire _May_, the fayrest mayd on ground, xxxiv

Deckt all with dainties of her seasons pryde,

And throwing flowres out of her lap around:

Vpon two brethrens shoulders she did ride,

The twinnes of _Leda_; which on eyther side

Supported her like to their soueraine Queene.

Lord! how all creatures laught, when her they spide,

And leapt and daunc’t as they had rauisht beene!

And _Cupid_ selfe about her fluttred all in greene.

And after her, came iolly _Iune_, arrayd xxxv

All in greene leaues, as he a Player were;

Yet in his time, he wrought as well as playd,

That by his plough-yrons mote right well appeare:

Vpon a Crab he rode, that him did beare

With crooked crawling steps an vncouth pase,

And backward yode, as Bargemen wont to fare

Bending their force contrary to their face,

Like that vngracious crew which faines demurest grace.

Then came hot _Iuly_ boyling like to fire, xxxvi

That all his garments he had cast away:

Vpon a Lyon raging yet with ire

He boldly rode and made him to obay:

It was the beast that whylome did forray

The Nemæan forrest, till th’_Amphytrionide_

Him slew, and with his hide did him array;

Behinde his back a sithe, and by his side

Vnder his belt he bore a sickle circling wide.

The sixt was _August_, being rich arrayd xxxvii

In garment all of gold downe to the ground:

Yet rode he not, but led a louely Mayd

Forth by the lilly hand, the which was cround

With eares of corne, and full her hand was found;

That was the righteous Virgin, which of old

Liv’d here on earth, and plenty made abound;

But, after Wrong was lov’d and Iustice solde,

She left th’vnrighteous world and was to heauen extold.

Next him, _September_ marched eeke on foote; xxxviii

Yet was he heauy laden with the spoyle

Of haruests riches, which he made his boot,

And him enricht with bounty of the soyle:

In his one hand, as fit for haruests toyle,

He held a knife-hook; and in th’other hand

A paire of waights, with which he did assoyle

Both more and lesse, where it in doubt did stand,

And equall gaue to each as Iustice duly scann’d.

Then came _October_ full of merry glee: xxxix

For, yet his noule was totty of the must,

Which he was treading in the wine-fats see,

And of the ioyous oyle, whose gentle gust

Made him so frollick and so full of lust:

Vpon a dreadfull Scorpion he did ride,

The same which by _Dianaes_ doom vniust

Slew great _Orion_: and eeke by his side

He had his ploughing share, and coulter ready tyde.

Next was _Nouember_, he full[629] grosse and fat, xl

As fed with lard, and that right well might seeme;

For, he had been a fatting hogs of late,

That yet his browes with sweat, did reek and steem,

And yet the season was full sharp and breem;

In planting eeke he took no small delight:

Whereon he rode, not easie was to deeme;

For it a dreadfull _Centaure_ was in sight,

The seed of _Saturne_, and faire _Nais_, _Chiron_ hight.

And after him, came next the chill _December_: xli

Yet he through merry feasting which he made,

And great bonfires, did not the cold remember;

His Sauiours birth his mind so much did glad:

Vpon a shaggy-bearded Goat he rode,

The same wherewith _Dan Ioue_ in tender yeares,

They say, was nourisht by th’_Idæan_[630] mayd;

And in his hand a broad deepe boawle he beares;

Of which, he freely drinks an health to all his peeres.

Then came old _Ianuary_, wrapped well xlii

In many weeds to keep the cold away;

Yet did he quake and quiuer like to quell,

And blowe his nayles to warme them if he may:

For, they were numbd with holding all the day

An hatchet keene, with which he felled wood,

And from the trees did lop the needlesse spray:

Vpon an huge great Earth-pot steane he stood;

From whose wide mouth, there flowed forth the Romane floud.

And lastly, came cold _February_, sitting xliii

In an old wagon, for he could not ride;

Drawne of two fishes for the season fitting,

Which through the flood before did softly slyde

And swim away: yet had he by his side

His plough and harnesse fit to till the ground,

And tooles to prune the trees, before the pride

Of hasting Prime did make them burgein round:

So past the twelue Months forth, and their dew places found.

And after these, there came the _Day_, and _Night_, xliv

Riding together both with equall pase,

Th’one on a Palfrey blacke, the other white;

But _Night_ had couered her vncomely face

With a blacke veile, and held in hand a mace,

On top whereof the moon and stars were pight,

And sleep and darknesse round about did trace:

But _Day_ did beare, vpon his scepters hight,

The goodly Sun, encompast all with beames bright.

Then came the _Howres_, faire daughters of high _Ioue_, xlv

And timely _Night_, the which were all endewed

With wondrous beauty fit to kindle loue;

But they were Virgins all, and loue eschewed,

That might forslack the charge to them fore-shewed

By mighty _Ioue_; who did them Porters make

Of heauens gate (whence all the gods issued)

Which they did dayly watch, and nightly wake

By euen turnes, ne euer did their charge forsake.

And after all came _Life_, and lastly _Death_; xlvi

_Death_ with most grim and griesly visage seene,

Yet is he nought but parting of the breath;

Ne ought to see, but like a shade to weene,

Vnbodied, vnsoul’d, vnheard, vnseene.

But _Life_ was like a faire young lusty boy,

Such as they faine _Dan Cupid_ to haue beene,

Full of delightfull health and liuely ioy,

Deckt all with flowres, and wings of gold fit to employ.

When these were past, thus gan the _Titanesse_; xlvii

Lo, mighty mother, now be iudge and say,

Whether in all thy creatures more or lesse

_CHANGE_ doth not raign and beare the greatest sway:

For, who sees not, that _Time_ on all doth pray?

But _Times_ do change and moue continually.

So nothing here long standeth in one stay:

Wherefore, this lower world who can deny

But to be subiect still to _Mutabilitie_?

Then thus gan _Ioue_; Right true it is, that these xlviii

And all things else that vnder heauen dwell

Are chaung’d of _Time_, who doth them all disseise

Of being: But, who is it (to me tell)

That _Time_ himselfe doth moue and still compell

To keepe his course? Is not that namely wee

Which poure that vertue from our heauenly cell,

That moues them all, and makes them changed be?

So them we gods doe rule, and in them also thee.

To whom, thus _Mutability_: The things xlix

Which we see not how they are mov’d and swayd,

Ye may attribute to your selues as Kings,

And say they by your secret powre are made:

But what we see not, who shall vs perswade?

But were they so, as ye them faine to be,

Mov’d by your might, and ordred by your ayde;

Yet what if[631] I can proue, that euen yee

Your selues are likewise chang’d, and subiect vnto mee?

And first, concerning her that is the first, l

Euen you faire _Cynthia_, whom so much ye make

_Ioues_ dearest darling, she was bred and nurst

On _Cynthus_ hill, whence she her name did take:

Then is she mortall borne, how-so ye crake;

Besides, her face and countenance euery day

We changed see, and sundry forms partake,

Now hornd, now round, now bright, now brown and gray:

So that _as changefull as the Moone_ men vse to say.

Next, _Mercury_, who though he lesse appeare li

To change his hew, and alwayes seeme as one;

Yet, he his course doth altar euery yeare,

And is of late far out of order gone:

So _Venus_ eeke, that goodly Paragone,

Though faire all night, yet is she darke all day;

And _Phœbus_ self, who lightsome is alone,

Yet is he oft eclipsed by the way,

And fills the darkned world with terror and dismay.

Now _Mars_ that valiant man is changed most: lii

For, he some times so far runs out of square,

That he his way doth seem quite to haue lost,

And cleane without his vsuall sphere to fare;

That euen these Star-gazers stonisht are

At sight thereof, and damne their lying bookes:

So likewise, grim Sir _Saturne_ oft doth spare

His sterne aspect, and calme his crabbed lookes:

So many turning cranks these haue, so many crookes.

But you _Dan Ioue_, that only constant are, liii

And King of all the rest, as ye do clame,

Are you not subiect eeke to this misfare?

Then let me aske you this withouten blame,

Where were ye borne? some say in _Crete_ by name,

Others in _Thebes_, and others other-where;

But wheresoeuer they comment the same,

They all consent that ye begotten were,

And borne here in this world, ne other can appeare.

Then are ye mortall borne, and thrall to me, liv

Vnlesse the kingdome of the sky yee make

Immortall, and vnchangeable to bee;

Besides, that power and vertue which ye spake,

That ye here worke, doth many changes take,

And your owne natures change: for, each of you

That vertue haue, or this, or that to make,

Is checkt and changed from his nature trew,

By others opposition or obliquid view.

Besides, the sundry motions of your Spheares, lv

So sundry waies and fashions as clerkes faine,

Some in short space, and some in longer yeares;

What is the same but alteration plaine?

Onely the starrie skie doth still remaine:

Yet do the Starres and Signes therein still moue,

And euen it self is mov’d, as wizards saine[632].

But all that moueth, doth mutation loue:

Therefore both you and them to me I subiect proue.

Then since within this wide great _Vniuerse_ lvi

Nothing doth firme and permanent appeare,

But all things tost and turned by transuerse:

What then should let, but I aloft should reare

My Trophee, and from all, the triumph beare?

Now iudge then (O thou greatest goddesse trew!)

According as thy selfe doest see and heare,

And vnto me addoom that is my dew;

That is the rule of all, all being rul’d by you.

So hauing ended, silence long ensewed, lvii

Ne _Nature_ to or fro spake for a space,

But with firme eyes affixt, the ground still viewed.

Meane while, all creatures, looking in her face,

Expecting th’end of this so doubtfull case,

Did hang in long suspence what would ensew,

To whether side should fall the soueraigne place:

At length, she looking vp with chearefull view,

The silence brake, and gaue her doome in speeches few.

I well consider all that ye have sayd, lviii

And find that all things stedfastnes doe hate

And changed be: yet being rightly wayd

They are not changed from their first estate;

But by their change their being doe dilate:

And turning to themselues at length againe,

Doe worke their owne perfection so by fate:

Then ouer them Change doth not rule and raigne;

But they raigne ouer change, and doe their states maintaine.

Cease therefore daughter further to aspire, lix

And thee content thus to be rul’d by me:

For thy decay thou seekst by thy desire;

But time shall come that all shall changed bee,

And from thenceforth, none no more change shall see.

So was the _Titaness_ put downe and whist,

And _Ioue_ confirm’d in his imperiall see.

Then was that whole assembly quite dismist,

And _Natur’s_ selfe did vanish, whither no man wist.

FOOTNOTES:

[614] liv 8 champain _1611_

[615] ii 3 feeble] sable _1609_: _corr. Hughes_

[616] iv 5 euery _1609_

[617] vii 8 they] they _1609_

[618] viii 3 as] ar _1609_

[619] 9 showe _1611_

[620] ix 1 hard] heard _1609_: _corr. 1611_

[621] 7 _kindes_] _kinde Morris after Upton_

[622] x 4 mores] more _Hughes &c._

[623] 7 which _om. Hughes &c._

[624] xii 1 neuer _1609_

[625] 5 _Pelene_ _1609_: _corr. 1611_

[626] xiv 9 to’each _1609_: _corr. 1611_

[627] xv 8 esteeeme _1609_

[628] xvi 3 thy] my _1611_

[629] xl i full _bis_ _1609_

[630] xli 7 _Iæan_ _1609_, _1611_: _corr. Upton_

[631] xlix 8 if] If _1609_

[632] lv 7 saine] faine _1611_

_The VIII. Canto, vnperfite._

When I bethinke me on that speech whyleare, i

Of _Mutability_, and well it way:

Me seemes, that though she all vnworthy were

Of the Heav’ns Rule; yet very sooth to say,

In all things else she beares the greatest sway.

Which makes me loath this state of life so tickle,

And loue of things so vaine to cast away;

Whose flowring pride, so fading and so fickle,

Short _Time_ shall soon cut down with his consuming sickle.

Then gin I thinke on that which Nature sayd, ii

Of that same time when no more _Change_ shall be,

But stedfast rest of all things firmely stayd

Vpon the pillours of Eternity,

That is contrayr to _Mutabilitie_:

For, all that moueth, doth in _Change_ delight:

But thence-forth all shall rest eternally

With Him that is the God of Sabbaoth[633] hight:

O that great Sabbaoth God[634], graunt me that Sabaoths sight.

FOOTNOTES:

[633] ii 8 Sabaoth _1611_

[634] 9 Sabaoth God _1611_ Sabbath’s sight _conj. Church_

_FINIS._

A

Letter[635] of the Authors expounding his

_whole intention in the course of this worke: which_ for that it giueth

great light to the Reader, for the better vnderstanding is hereunto

annexed.

_To the Right noble, and Valorous, Sir Walter_ Raleigh knight, Lo.

Wardein of the Stanneryes, and her Maiesties liefetenaunt of the County

of Cornewayll.

_Sir knowing how doubtfully all Allegories may be construed, and this

booke of mine, which I haue entituled the Faery Queene, being a continued

Allegory, or darke conceit, I haue thought good as well for auoyding of

gealous opinions and misconstructions, as also for your better light

in reading therof (being so by you commanded,) to discouer vnto you

the general intention and meaning, which in the whole course thereof

I haue fashioned, without expressing of any particular purposes or

by-accidents[636] therein occasioned. The generall end therefore of

all the booke is to fashion a gentleman or noble person in vertuous

and gentle discipline: Which for that I conceiued shoulde be most

plausible and pleasing, being coloured with an historicall fiction,

the which the most part of men delight to read, rather for variety of

matter, then for profite of the ensample: I chose the historye of king

Arthure, as most fitte for the excellency of his person, being made

famous by many mens former workes, and also furthest from the daunger

of enuy, and suspition of present time. In which I haue followed all

the antique Poets historicall, first Homere, who in the Persons of

Agamemnon and Vlysses hath ensampled a good gouernour 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 Aeneas: after him Ariosto

comprised them both in his Orlando: and lately Tasso disseuered them

againe, and formed both parts in two persons, namely that part which

they in Philosophy call Ethice, or vertues of a priuate man, coloured

in his Rinaldo: The other named Politice in his Godfredo. By ensample

of which excellente Poets, I labour to pourtraict in Arthure, before he

was king, the image of a braue knight, perfected in the twelue priuate

morall vertues, as Aristotle hath deuised, the which is the purpose of

these first twelue bookes: which if I finde to be well accepted, I may

be perhaps encoraged, to frame the other part of polliticke vertues in

his person, after that hee came to be king. To some I know this Methode

will seeme displeasaunt, which had rather haue good discipline deliuered

plainly in way of precepts, or sermoned at large, as they vse, then thus

clowdily enwrapped in Allegoricall deuises. But such, me seeme, should

be satisfide with the vse of these dayes, seeing all things accounted

by their showes, and nothing esteemed of, that is not delightfull and

pleasing to commune sence. For this cause is Xenophon preferred before

Plato, for that the one in the exquisite depth of his iudgement, formed

a Commune welth such as it should be, but the other in the person of

Cyrus and the Persians fashioned a gouernement such as might best be: So

much more profitable and gratious is doctrine by ensample, then by rule.

So haue I laboured to doe in the person of Arthure: whome I conceiue

after his long education by Timon, to whom he was by Merlin deliuered

to be brought vp, so soone as he was borne of the Lady Igrayne, to haue

seene in a dream or vision the Faery Queen, with whose excellent beauty

rauished, he awaking resolued to seeke her out, and so being by Merlin

armed, and by Timon throughly instructed, he went to seeke her forth in

Faerye land. In that Faery Queene I meane glory in my generall intention,

but in my particular I conceiue the most excellent and glorious person

of our soueraine the Queene, and her kingdoms in Faery land. And yet in

some places els, I doe otherwise shadow her. For considering she 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[637] in Belphœbe, fashioning her name according to your owne

excellent conceipt of Cynthia, (Phœbe and Cynthia being both names of

Diana.) So in the person of Prince Arthure I sette forth magnificence in

particular, which vertue for that (according to Aristotle and the rest)

it is the perfection of all the rest, and conteineth in it them all,

therefore in the whole course I mention the deedes of Arthure applyable

to that vertue, which I write of in that booke. But of the xii. other

vertues, I make xii. other knights the patrones, for the more variety

of the history: Of which these three bookes contayn three, The first of

the knight of the Redcrosse, in whome I expresse Holynes: The seconde of

Sir Guyon, in whome I sette forth Temperaunce; The third of Britomartis

a Lady knight, in whome I picture Chastity. But because the beginning of

the whole worke seemeth abrupte and as depending vpon other antecedents,

it needs that ye know the occasion of these three knights seuerall

aduentures. For the Methode of a Poet historical is not such, as of an

Historiographer. For an Historiographer discourseth of offayres orderly

as they were donne, accounting as well the times as the actions, but

a Poet thrusteth into the middest, euen where it most concerneth him,

and there recoursing to the thinges forepaste, and diuining of thinges

to come, maketh a pleasing Analysis of all. The beginning therefore of

my history, if it were to be told by an Historiographer should be the

twelfth booke, which is the last, where I deuise that the Faery Queene

kept her Annuall feaste xii. dayes, vppon which xii. seuerall dayes, the

occasions of the xii. seuerall aduentures hapned, which being vndertaken

by xii. seuerall knights, are in these xii books seuerally handled and

discoursed. The first was this. In the beginning of the feast, there

presented him selfe a tall clownishe younge man, who falling before the

Queen of Faries desired a boone (as the manner then was) which during

that feast she might not refuse: which was that hee might haue the

atchieuement of any adventure, which during that feaste should happen,

that being graunted, he rested him on the floore, vnfitte through[638]

his rusticity for a better place. Soone after entred a faire Ladye 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. Shee falling before the Queene of Faeries, complayned that

her father and mother an ancient King and Queene, had bene by an huge

dragon many years shut up in a brasen Castle, who thence suffred them

not to yssew: and therefore besought the Faery Queene to assygne her some

one of her knights to take on him that exployt. Presently that clownish

person vpstarting, desired that aduenture: whereat the Queene much

wondering, and the Lady much gainesaying, yet he earnestly importuned

his desire. In the end the Lady told him that vnlesse that armour which

she brought, would serue him (that is the armour of a Christian man

specified by Saint Paul v. Ephes.) that he could not succeed in that

enterprise, which being forthwith put vpon him with dewe furnitures

thereunto, he seemed the goodliest man in al that company, and was well

liked of the Lady. And eftesoones taking on him knighthood, and mounting

on that straunge Courser, he went forth with her on that aduenture: where

beginneth the first booke, vz._

A gentle knight was pricking on the playne. &c.

_The second day ther came in a Palmer bearing an Infant with

bloody hands, whose Parents he complained to haue bene slayn by an

Enchaunteresse called Acrasia: and therfore craued of the Faery Queene,

to appoint him some knight, to performe that aduenture, which being

assigned to Sir Guyon, he presently went forth with that same Palmer:

which is the beginning of the second booke and the whole subiect 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 grieuous torment, because she

would not yield him the pleasure of her body. Whereupon Sir Scudamour

the louer of that Lady presently tooke on him that aduenture. But being

vnable to performe it by reason of the hard Enchauntments, after long

sorrow, in the end met with Britomartis, who succoured him, and reskewed

his loue._

_But by occasion hereof, many other aduentures are intermedled, but

rather as Accidents, then intendments. As the loue of Britomart, the

ouerthrow of Marinell, the misery of Florimell, the vertuousnes of

Belphœbe, the lasciuiousnes of Hellenora, and many the like._

_Thus much Sir, I haue briefly ouerronne 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 al the discourse,

which otherwise may happily seeme tedious and confused. So humbly crauing

the continuaunce of your honorable fauour towards me, and th’ eternall

establishment of your happines, I humbly take leaue._

_23. Ianuary. 1589._

Yours most humbly affectionate.

Ed. Spenser.

FOOTNOTES:

[635] A Letter, &c.] _Om._ _1596 Bodl._

[636] l. 16 _by accidents_ _1590_

[637] l. 16 _ezpresse_ _1590_

[638] l. 43 _through_ _1590_

COMMENDATORY VERSES

¶ A Vision vpon this conceipt of the _Faery Queene_.

Me thought I saw the graue, where _Laura_ lay,

Within that Temple, where the vestall flame

Was wont to burne, and passing by that way,

To see that buried dust of liuing fame,

Whose tombe faire loue, and fairer vertue kept,

All suddenly I saw the Faery Queene:

At whose approch the soule of _Petrarke_ wept,

And from thenceforth those graces were not seene.

For they this Queene attended, in whose steed

Obliuion laid him downe on _Lauras_ herse:

Hereat the hardest stones were seene to bleed,

And grones of buried ghostes the heauens did perse.

Where _Homers_ spright did tremble all for griefe,

And curst th’accesse of that celestiall theife.

Another of the same.

_The prayse of meaner wits this worke like profit brings,

As doth the Cuckoes song delight when_ Philumena _sings.

If thou hast formed right true vertues face herein:

Vertue her selfe can best discerne, to whom they written bin.

If thou hast beautie praysd, let her sole lookes diuine

Iudge if ought therein be amis, and mend it by her eine.

If Chastitie want ought, or Temperance her dew,

Behold her Princely mind aright, and write thy Queene anew.

Meane while she shall perceiue, how farre her vertues sore

Aboue the reach of all that liue, or such as wrote of yore:

And thereby will excuse and fauour thy good will:

Whose vertue can not be exprest, but by an Angels quill.

Of me no lines are lou’d, nor letters are of price,

Of all which speake our English tongue, but those of thy deuice._

W. R.

To the learned Shepheard.

_Collyn I see by thy new taken taske,

some sacred fury bath enricht thy braynes,

That leades thy muse in haughtie verse to maske,

and loath the layes that longs to lowly swaynes.

That lifts thy notes from Shepheardes vnto kings,

So like the liuely Larke that mounting sings._

_Thy louely Rosolinde seemes now forlorne,

and all thy gentle flockes forgotten quight,

Thy chaunged hart now holdes thy pypes in scorne,

those prety pypes that did thy mates delight.

Those trustie mates, that loued thee so well,

Whom thou gau’st mirth: as they gaue thee the bell._

_Yet as thou earst with thy sweete roundelayes,

didst stirre to glee our laddes in homely bowers:

So moughtst thou now in these refyned layes,

delight the dainty eares of higher powers.

And so mought they in their deepe skanning skill

Alow and grace our Collyns flowing quill._

_And fare befall that_ Faerie Queene _of thine,

in whose faire eyes loue linckt with vertue sits.

Enfusing by those bewties fiers deuyne,

such high conceites into thy humble wits,

As raised hath poore pastors oaten reede,

From rusticke tunes, to chaunt heroique deedes._

_So mought thy_ Redcrosse knight _with happy hand

victorious be in that faire Ilands right:

Which thou doest vaile in Type of Faery land

Elyzas blessed field, that_ Albion _hight.

That shieldes her friends, and warres her mightie foes,

Yet still with people, peace, and plentie flowes._

_But (iolly Shepheard) though with pleasing style,

thou feast the humour of the Courtly traine;

Let not conceipt thy setled sence beguile,

ne daunted be through enuy or disdaine.

Subiect thy dome to her Empyring spright,

From whence thy Muse, and all the world takes light._

Hobynoll.

Fayre _Thamis_[639] streams, that from _Ludds_ stately towns,

Runst paying tribute to the Ocean seas,

Let all thy Nymphes and Syrens of renowne

Be silent, whyle this Bryttane _Orpheus_ playes:

Nere thy sweet bankes, there liues that sacred crowne,

Whose hand strowes Palme and neuer-dying bayes,

Let all at once, with thy soft murmuring sowne

Present her with this worthy Poets prayes.

For he hath taught hye drifts in shepeherdes weedes,

And deepe conceites now singes in _Faeries_ deedes.

R. S.

_Graue Muses march in triumph and with prayses.

Our Goddesse here hath giuen you leaue to land:

And biddes this rare dispenser of your graces

Bow downe his brow vnto her sacred hand.

Desertes findes dew in that most princely doome.

In whose sweete brest are all the Muses bredde:

So did that great_ Augustus _erst in Roome

With leaues of fame adorne his Poets hedde.

Faire be the guerdon of your_ Faery Queene,

_Euen of the fairest that the world hath seene._

H. B.

When stout _Achilles_ heard of _Helens_ rape

And what reuenge the States of Greece deuisd:

Thinking by sleight the fatall warres to scape,

In womans weedes him selfe he then disguisde:

But this deuise _Vlysses_ soone did spy,

And brought him forth, the chaunce of warre to try.

When _Spencer_ saw the fame was spredd so large,

Through Faery land of their renowned Queene:

Loth that his Muse should take so great a charge.

As in such haughty matter to be seene,

To seeme a shepeheard then he made his choice,

But _Sydney_ heard him sing, and knew his voice.

And as _Vlysses_ brought faire _Thetis_ sonne

From his retyred life to menage armes:

So _Spencer_ was by _Sidneys_ speaches wonne,

To blaze her fame not fearing future harmes:

For well he knew, his Muse would soone be tyred

In her high praise, that all the world admired.

Yet as _Achilles_ in those warlike frayes,

Did win the palme from all the _Grecian_ Peeres:

So _Spencer_ now to his immortall prayse,

Hath wonne the Laurell quite from all his feres.

What though his taske exceed a humaine witt,

He is excus’d, sith _Sidney_ thought it fitt.

W. L.

_To looke upon a worke of rare deuise

The which a workman setteth out to view,

And not to yield it the deserued prise,

That vnto such a workmanship is dew[640],

Doth either proue the iudgement to be naught

Or els doth shew a mind with enuy fraught._

_To labour to commend a peece of worke,

Which no man goes about to discommend,

Would raise a iealous doubt that there did lurke,

Some secret doubt, whereto the prayse did tend.

For when men know the goodnes of the wyne,

T’is needlesse for the hoast to haue a sygne._

_Thus then to shew my iudgement to be such

As can discerne of colours blacke, and white,

As alls to free my minde from enuies tuch,

That neuer giues to any man his right,

I here pronounce this[641] workmanship is such,

As that no pen can set it forth too much._

_And thus I hang a garland at the dore,

Not for to shew the goodnes of the ware:

But such hath beene the custome heretofore,

And customes very hardly broken are.

And when your tast shall tell you this is trew,

Then looke you giue your hoast his vtmost dew._

Ignoto.

FOOTNOTES:

[639] Fayre _Thamis._ &c.] _This poem and those that follow are

omitted in 1596 Bodl._

[640] l. 17 _dew._ _1590_

[641] l. 30 _this_ _1590_

DEDICATORY SONNETS

_To the right honourable Sir_ Christopher Hatton, Lord high Chauncelor of

England. &c.

Those prudent heads, that with theire counsels wise

Whylom the Pillours of th’earth did sustaine,

And taught ambitious _Rome_ to tyrannise,

And in the neck of all the world to rayne,

Oft from those graue affaires were wont abstaine,

With the sweet Lady Muses for to play:

So _Ennius_ the elder Africane,

So _Maro_ oft did _Cæsars_ cares allay.

So you great Lord, that with your counsell sway

The burdeine of this kingdom mightily,

With like delightes sometimes may eke delay,

The[642] rugged brow of carefull Policy:

And to these ydle rymes lend litle space,

Which for their titles sake may find more grace.

_To the right honourable the Lo. Burleigh Lo. high Threasurer of England._

To you right noble Lord, whose carefull brest

To menage of most graue affaires is bent,

And on whose mightie shoulders most doth rest

The burdein of this kingdomes gouernement,

As the wide compasse of the firmament,

On _Atlas_ mighty shoulders is vpstayd;

Vnfitly I these ydle rimes present,

The labor of lost time, and wit vnstayd:

Yet if their deeper sence be inly wayd,

And the dim vele, with which from comune vew

Their fairer parts are hid, aside be layd.

Perhaps not vaine they may appeare to you.

Such as they be, vouchsafe them to receaue,

And wipe their faults out of your censure graue.

E. S.

_To the right Honourable the Earle of Oxenford_, Lord high Chamberlayne

of England. &c.

Receiue most Noble Lord in gentle gree,

The vnripe fruit of an vnready wit:

Which by thy countenaunce doth craue to bee

Defended from foule Enuies poisnous bit.

Which so to doe may thee right well besit,

Sith th’antique glory of thine auncestry

Vnder a shady vele is therein writ,

And eke thine owne long liuing memory,

Succeeding them in true nobility:

And also for the loue, which thou doest beare

To th’_Heliconian_ ymps, and they to thee,

They vnto thee, and thou to them most deare:

Deare as thou art vnto thy selfe, so loue

That loues and honours thee, as doth behoue.

_To the right honourable the Earle of_ Northumberland.

_The sacred Muses haue made alwaies clame

To be the Nourses of nobility.

And Registres of euerlasting fame,

To all that armes professe and cheualry.

Then by like right the noble Progeny,

Which them succeed in fame and worth, are tyde

T’embrace the seruice of sweete Poetry,

By whose endeuours they are glorifide,

And eke from all, of whom it is enuide,

To patronize the authour of their praise,

Which giues them life, that els would soone haue dide,

And crownes their ashes with immortall baies.

To thee therefore right noble Lord I send

This present of my paines, it to defend._

_To the right honourable the Earle of Cumberland._

Redoubted Lord, in whose corageous mind

The flowre of cheualry now bloosming faire,

Doth promise fruite worthy the noble kind,

Which of their praises haue left you the haire;

To you this humble present I prepare,

For loue of vertue and of Martiall praise,

To which though nobly ye inclined are,

As goodlie well ye shew’d in late assaies,

Yet braue ensample of long passed daies,

In which trew honor yee may fashiond see,

To like desire of honor may ye raise,

And fill your mind with magnanimitee.

Receiue it Lord therefore as it was ment,

For honor of your name and high descent.

E. S.

_To the most honourable and excellent Lo. the Earle_ of Essex. Great

Maister of the Horse to her Highnesse, and knight of the Noble order of

the Garter. &c.

_Magnificke Lord, whose vertues excellent

Doe merit a most famous Poets witt.

To be thy liuing praises instrument,

Yet doe not sdeigne, to let thy name be writt

In this base Poeme, for thee far vnfitt.

Nought is thy worth disparaged thereby,

But when my Muse, whose fethers nothing flitt

Doe yet but flagg, and lowly learne to fly

With bolder wing shall dare alofte to sty

To the last praises of this Faery Queene,

Then shall it make more famous memory

Of thine Heroicke parts, such as they beene:

Till then vouchsafe thy noble countenaunce,

To these first labours needed furtheraunce[643]._

To the right Honourable the Earle of _Ormond and Ossory_.

Receiue most noble Lord a simple taste

Of the wilde fruit, which saluage soyl hath bred,

Which being through long wars left almost waste,

With brutish barbarisme is ouerspredd:

And in so faire a land, as may be redd,

Not one _Parnassus_, nor one _Helicone_

Left for sweete Muses to be harboured,

But where thy selfe hast thy braue mansione;

There in deede dwel faire Graces many one.

And gentle Nymphes, delights of learned wits,

And in thy person without Paragone

All goodly bountie and true honour sits,

Such therefore, as that wasted soyl doth yield,

Receiue dear Lord in worth, the fruit of barren field.

_To the right honourable the Lo. Ch. Howard, Lo. high Admiral_ of

England, knight of the noble order of the Garter, and one of her

Maiesties priuie Counsel. &c.

_And ye, braue Lord, whose goodly personage,

And noble deeds each other garnishing,

Make you ensample to the present age,

Of th’old Heroes, whose famous ofspring

The antique Poets wont so much to sing,

In this same Pageaunt haue a worthy place,

Sith those huge castles of Castilian king,

That vainly threatned kingdomes to displace,

Like flying doues ye did before you chace;

And that proud people woxen insolent

Through many victories, didst first deface:

Thy praises euerlasting monument

Is in this verse engrauen semblably,

That it may liue to all posterity._

_To the right honourable the Lord of Hunsdon, high Chamberlaine to her

Maiesty._

Renowmed Lord, that for your worthinesse

And noble deeds haue your deserued place,

High in the fauour of that Emperesse[644],

The worlds sole glory and her sexes grace,

Here eke of right haue you a worthie place,

Both for your nearnes to that Faerie Queene,

And for your owne high merit in like cace,

Of which, apparaunt proofe was to be seene,

When that tumultuous rage and fearfull deene

Of Northerne rebels ye did pacify,

And their disloiall powre defaced clene,

The record of enduring memory.

Liue Lord for euer in this lasting verse,

That all posteritie thy honour may reherse.

E. S.

To the most renowmed and valiant Lord, the Lord Grey of Wilton, knight of

the Noble order of the Garter, &c.

Most Noble Lord the pillor of my life,

And Patrone of my Muses pupillage,

Through whose large bountie poured on me rife,

In the first season of my feeble age,

I now doe liue, bound yours by vassalage:

Sith nothing euer may redeeme, nor reaue

Out of your endlesse debt so sure a gage,

Vouchsafe in worth this small guift to receaue,

Which in your noble hands for pledge I leaue,

Of all the rest, that I am tyde t’account:

Rude rymes, the which a rustick Muse did weaue

In sauadge soyle, far from Parnasso mount,

And roughly wrought in an vnlearned Loome:

The which vouchsafe dear Lord your fauorable doome.

_To the right honourable the Lord of Buckhurst, one of her Maiesties

priuie Counsell._

In vain I thinke right honourable Lord,

By this rude rime to memorize thy name;

Whose learned Muse hath writ her owne record,

In golden verse, worthy immortal fame:

Thou much more fit (were leasure to the same)

Thy gracious Souerains[645] praises to compile.

And her imperiall Maiestie to frame,

In loftie numbers and heroicke stile.

But sith thou maist not so, giue leaue a while

To baser wit his power therein to spend,

Whose grosse defaults thy daintie pen may file,

And vnaduised ouersights amend.

But euermore vouchsafe it to maintaine

Against vile Zoilus backbitings vaine.

_To the right honourable Sir Fr. Walsingham knight, principall Secretary

to her Maiesty, and of her honourable priuy Counsell._

That Mantuane Poetes incompared spirit,

Whose girland now is set in highest place,

Had not _Mecænas_ for his worthy merit,

It first aduaunst to great _Augustus_ grace,

Might long perhaps haue lien in silence bace,

Ne bene so much admir’d of later age.

This lowly Muse, that learns like steps to trace,

Flies for like aide vnto your Patronage;

That are the great _Mecenas_ of this age,

As wel to al that ciuil artes professe

As those that are inspird with Martial rage,

And craues protection of her feeblenesse:

Which if ye yield, perhaps ye may her rayse

In bigger tunes to sound your liuing prayse.

E. S.

_To the right noble Lord and most valiaunt Captaine_, Sir Iohn Norris

knight, Lord president of Mounster.

Who euer gaue more honourable prize

To the sweet Muse, then did the Martiall crew;

That their braue deeds she might immortalize

In her shril tromp, and sound their praises dew?

Who then ought more to fauour her, then you

Moste noble Lord, the honor of this age,

And Precedent of all that armes ensue?

Whose warlike prowesse and manly courage,

Tempred with reason and aduizement sage

Hath fild sad Belgicke with victorious spoile,

In _Fraunce_ and _Ireland_ left a famous gage,

And lately shakt the Lusitanian soile.

Sith then each where thou hast dispredd thy fame,

Loue him, that hath eternized your name.

E. S.

_To the right noble and valorous knight, Sir Walter Raleigh_, Lo. Wardein

of the Stanneryes, and lieftenaunt of Cornewaile.

_To thee that art the summers Nightingale,

Thy soueraine Goddesses most deare delight,

Why doe I send this rusticke Madrigale,

That may thy tunefull eare vnseason quite?

Thou onely fit this Argument to write,

In whose high thoughts Pleasure hath built her bowre,

And dainty loue learnd sweetly to endite.

My rimes I know vnsauory and sowre,

To tast the streames, that like a golden showre

Flow from thy fruitfull head, of thy loues praise,

Fitter perhaps to thonder Martiall stowre,

When so thee list thy lofty Muse to raise:

Yet till that thou thy Poeme wilt make knowne,

Let thy faire Cinthias praises bee thus rudely showne._

E. S.

_To the right honourable and most vertuous Lady, the Countesse of

Penbroke._

Remembraunce of that most Heroicke spirit,

The heuens pride, the glory of our daies,

Which now triumpheth through immortall merit

Of his braue vertues, crownd with lasting baies,

Of heuenlie blis and euerlasting praies;

Who first my Muse did lift out of the flore,

To sing his sweet delights in lowlie laies;

Bids me most noble Lady to adore

His goodly image liuing euermore,

In the diuine resemblaunce of your face;

Which with your vertues ye embellish more,

And natiue beauty deck with heuenlie grace:

For his, and for your owne especial sake,

Vouchsafe from him this token in good worth to take.

E. S.

To the most vertuous, and beautifull Lady, _the Lady Carew_.

Ne may I, without blot of endlesse blame,

You fairest Lady leaue out of this place,

But with remembraunce of your gracious name,

Wherewith that courtly garlond most ye grace,

And deck the world, adorne these verses base:

Not that these few lines can in them comprise

Those glorious ornaments of heuenly grace,

Wherewith ye triumph ouer feeble eyes,

And in subdued harts do tyranyse:

For thereunto doth need a golden quill,

And siluer leaues, them rightly to deuise,

But to make humble present of good will:

Which whenas timely meanes it purchase may,

In ampler wise it selfe will forth display.

E. S.

To all the gratious and beautifull Ladies in the Court.

_The Chian Peincter, when he was requirde

To pourtraict_ Venus _in her perfect hew,

To make his worke more absolute, desird

Of all the fairest Maides to haue the vew.

Much more me needs to draw the semblant trew,

Of beauties Queene, the worlds sole wonderment,

To sharpe my sence with sundry beauties vew,

And steale from each some part of ornament.

If all the world to seeke I ouerwent,

A fairer crew yet no where could I see,

Then that braue court doth to mine eie present,

That the worlds pride seemes gathered there to bee.

Of each a part I stole by cunning thefte:

Forgiue it me faire Dames, sith lesse ye haue not lefte._

E. S.

FOOTNOTES:

[642] l. 12 The] he _1590_

[643] l. 33 _furtheraunce_, _1590_

[644] l. 5 Emperesse, _1590_

[645] l. 8 Souerain _1590_

FINIS.

CRITICAL APPENDIX.

DEDICATION. In _1590_ the Dedication runs simply:--‘To the most mightie

and magnificent empresse Elizabeth, by the grace of God Queene of

England, France and Ireland Defender of the Faith &c. Her most humble

Seruant: _Ed. Spenser_.’ The words ‘and of Virginia’ and ‘to liue with

the eternitie of her fame’, added in _1596_, give evidence of the growing

importance of the colony and of the increased self-confidence of the poet.

I. i. Arg. 3. _entrappe_] _entrape_ _1596_. In the matter of double

letters I attach little weight to the evidence of either quarto. I

cannot believe (_e.g._) that a scholar like Spenser could have written

‘oportunitie’ (I. ii. 41 l. 7); so with ‘entrape’ here, and ‘mishapen’ at

I. vi. 8 l. 7.

I. i. 2 l. 1. But] And _1590_. The reading of _1596_ brings out finely

the contrast between the ‘jolly’ appearance of the Knight and his

dedicated purpose.

I. i. 5 l. 1. So pure an innocent] and innocent _1590_: an Innocent

_1609_. _1596_ makes ‘innocent’ substantive: and so _1609_ took it, as

the capital shows.

I. i. 9 l. 6. sweete bleeding] sweet, bleeding _1609_. But Morris is

probably right in regarding ‘sweete’ as an adverb to ‘bleeding’.

I. i. 15 l. 6. poisonous] poisnous _1590_. _1596_ is less shy of

trisyllabic feet than _1590_, and both than _F. E._; and the second part

of _F. Q._ than the first. Other trisyllabic feet left full in _1596_

but elided or contracted in _1590_ will be found at I. iv. 37 l. 6; II.

ix. 17 l. 4; II. x. 34 l. 1; III. viii. 46 l. 9; cf. also III. ix. 48

l. 6. (_Per contra_ III. viii. 49 l. 1; III. xi. 28 l. 8.) Elisions are

proposed by _F. E._ but ignored by _1596_ at I. xii. 32 l. 5, II. vii. 54

l. 8.

_1609_ elides vowels left open in the quartos, _e.g._ at II. ix. 52 l. 9;

III. v. 50 l. 8; III. vii. 5 l. I. Cf. also II. viii. 3 l. 8; II. xii. 27

l. 4, for its avoidance of trisyllabic feet.

I. i. 15 l. 7. shapes] Morris reports ‘shape _1596_’: not so in Bodl. or

B. M. copies. But ‘shape,’ in _1609_.

I. i. 20 l. 4. vildly] vilely _1609_. The omission of ‘d’ marks the

seventeenth-century editor.

I. i. 21 l. 5. spring] ebbe _1590 &c._: _corr. F. E._ to auale] t’auale

_1590_: _corr. F. E._ A good example of the relation of _1596_ to _F.

E._ The first correction is ignored, the second accepted. But the

second correction is obvious, being required by the metre; it must have

been made independently. And this is generally the case when _1596_

and _F. E._ agree. For the significance of this ignoring of _F. E._

see Introduction, p. xvii. Excluding ambiguous instances, I have noted

forty-eight places in which _1596_ thus ignores _F. E._; fifty-four

in which they agree. But of these fifty-four only six at most are

significant, the rest being obvious corrections. These are I. vi. 26 l.

5; I. vii. 37 l. 8; I. vii. 43 l. 5; I. vii. 47 l. 3; I. ix. Arg. 2; I.

ix. 9 l. 5. Whatever be the explanation in these instances--and it will

be noted that they all come close together--they do not invalidate the

conclusion maintained in the Introduction, p. xvii, which is based on the

negative instances.

I. i. 31 l. 6. you] thee _1590_. The plural pronoun is more courteous

than the singular. There is a similar change of ‘thy’ to ‘your’ in I. ii.

22 l. 5.

I. i. 48 l. 9. with _om. 1596, 1609_. One of the instances that show how

little use _1609_ made of _1590_. See further on I. ii. 29 l. 2.

I. ii. 11 ll. 3 and 4. One of several instances in which the punctuation

of _1609_ brings out the true meaning or construction. See Introduction,

p. xvii.

I. ii. 27 l. 9. so dainty] so, Dainty _1609_. The editor of _1609_ wishes

to show that Spenser is quoting the proverb ‘Quae rara, cara’. The

quartos probably intend the same meaning.

I. ii. 29 l. 2. shade him] shade _1596_: shadow _1609_. On the

significance of this for the relations of _1590_ and _1609_ see

Introduction, p. xviii. Other instances in which _1609_ ignores _1590_,

supplying by conjecture a word or syllable that has been omitted in

_1596_, are I. vi. 26 l. 9 as a tyrans law _1590_, as tyrans law _1596_,

as proud tyrans law _1609_; II. v. 8 l. 7 hurtle _1590_, hurle _1596_,

hurlen _1609_; II. vi. 29 l. 2 importune _1590_, importance 1596,

important _1609_; II. x. 51 l. 7 Both in his armes, and crowne _1590_,

Both in armes, and crowne _1596_, In armes, and eke in crowne _1609_; II.

xii. 52 l. 9 Or _Eden_ selfe, if ought _1590_, Of Eden, if ought _1596_,

Or Eden, if that ought _1609_; III. iii. 44 l. 5 foure hundreth yeares

shalbe supplide _1590_, foure hundreth shalbe supplide _1596_, foure

hundreth shall be full supplide _1609_; III. vii. 45 l. 1 the good Sir

_Satyrane_ gan wake _1590_, good Sir _Satyrane_ gan wake _1596_, good Sir

_Satyrane_ gan awake _1609_; III. ix. 13 l. 9 And so defide them each

_1590_, And defide them each _1596_, And them defied each _1609_; III.

xi. 26 l. 7 and with imperious sway _1590_, and imperious sway _1596_,

and his imperious sway _1609_.

_1609_ ignores not only the text of _1590_, but _F. E._, in favour of

conjecture, as at II. viii. 25 l. 1 Which those same foes, that stand

hereby _1590_, _1596_, same _corr. to_ his cruell _F. E._, Which those

same foes that doen awaite hereby _1609_.

I. iii. 32 l. 9. Who told her all that fell in iourney as she went] told,

_1609_. The meaning wanted is, ‘Who told all that befell her’; and so

_1609_ takes the line, as its punctuation shows. It is not impossible

to get this meaning out of the line as it stands; but the order is

excessively contorted, and I have suggested ‘all that her fell’.

I. iii. 36 l. 7. morning] mourning _1590_. The words are, of course, the

same; and I now prefer _1590_, for though Spenser uses ‘morne’ he would

scarcely employ so ambiguous a spelling in the participle.

I. iii. 38 l. 7. the] that _F. E. referring probably to this line_. As

the references in _F. E._ are to pages only, it is sometimes impossible

to identify them with certainty when they concern words like ‘the’ and

‘that’. See again on II. xii. 1 l. 6.

I. iii. 41 l. 9. swerd] sword _1609_. It is ‘swerd’ in all our copies of

_1590_, _1596_.

I. iv. 16 l. 3. hurtlen] hurlen _1609_. _1609_ makes the same change at

I. iv. 40 l. 1 and II. v. 8 l. 7, as if ‘hurtle’ were unfamiliar. Yet it

has ‘hurtling’ in I. viii. 17, IV. iv. 29; and ‘hurtle’ in II. vii. 42.

I. iv. 23 l. 5. seldome] seeldome _1590_, sildom _1609_. See

Introduction, p. v.

I. iv. 23 l. 7. dry dropsie. Upton’s conjecture, ‘dire dropsie’ (‘dirus

hydrops’), is worth noticing.

I. v. 7 l. 9. helmets hewen] hewen helmets _1590_. This is one of those

slight changes of order, made here for the sake of grammar, but more

often for the sake of rhythm, which reveal the poet’s own hand in _1596_

more conclusively than more conspicuous alterations. Others are recorded

at II. i. 18 l. 6; II. iii. 38 l. 4; II. v. 5 l. 9; II. vi. 3 l. 6; II.

vi. 12 l. 9; III. ii. 8 l. 5; III. ii. 30 l. 5; III. iv. 59 l. 5; III. v.

40 l. 4; III. xi. 4 ll. 4 and 9; III. xi. 22 l. 8.

I. v. 10 l. 6. Doest] Doost _1609 passim_. See Introduction, p. v.

I. v. 17 l. 5. can] gan _1590_. ‘Can’ (in the sense of ‘did’) and ‘gan’

are easily confused, and difficult to pronounce between.

I. v. 23 l. 8. _Nightes_ children] _Nights_ drad children _1609_. On the

significance of this variant see Introduction, p. xviii. Other instances

in which _1609_ fails to recognize syllabic _-es_ are I. x. 34 l. 8; III.

vi. 6 l. 5; III. x. 46 l. 6.

I. v. 26 l. 6. am] ame _1590_. This is the one eye-rhyme of _1590_ that

is generally avoided in _1596_. Otherwise, so far as I have compared them

in this respect, there is little or no difference; both are excessively

addicted to eye-rhyme. The current heresy on this subject is expressed by

Puttenham (1589):--‘It is somewhat more tollerable to help the rime by

false orthographie then to leaue an vnpleasant dissonance to the eare by

keeping trewe orthographie and loosing the rime.’ (_The Arte of English

Poesie_, Bk. II. ch. ix.)

I. v. 38 l. 6. cliffs] clifts _1590 &c.: corr. F. E._ There is the same

correction in I. ix. 34 l. 6. Together they suggest that Spenser meant at

first to change ‘clift’ to ‘cliff’ throughout; but found that it would

impair the rhyme, _e.g._ in I. viii. 22 l. 5.

I. v. 45 l. 4. On the _1609_ ‘woundez’ see Introduction, p. xviii.

I. vi. 23 l. 8. noursled] nousled _1590_. This change is systematically

made in _1596_, which uses ‘nousle’ in a different senses = nuzzle; cf.

IV. xi. 32 l. 8. There is the same difference between the first quarto of

_S. C._ and later quartos.

I. vi. 26 l. 5. fierce and fell] swifte and cruell _1590: corr. F. E._ In

_Malone 615_ these words are on a slip of paper, probably cut (says Mr.

Bliss) from _1596_ and pasted over the original copy.

I. vi. 37 l. 9. hath] had _Grosart_: not so in any of our copies.

I. vi. 47 l. 8. to] two _1596_, _1609_. Morris assigns ‘two’ to _1611_;

but it is in all our copies of _1596_ and _1609_.

I. vii. 37 l. 7. trample] amble _1590_. One of those changes of words

which reveal Spenser’s hand clearly in _1596_. A steed so spirited would

not amble.

I. viii. 11 ll. 5-9. Closely imitated in 2 _Tamburlaine_ iv. 3. Cf.

Introduction, p. xi.

I. viii. 21 l. 5. their] his _Grosart_, adopting a suggestion by Church.

But ‘their’ may mean ‘_Orgoglio’s_ and _Duessa’s_’.

I. viii. 33 l. 5. sits] fits _1596_, _1609_. But ‘sits’ = _sied_, as in

I. i. 30 l. 9.

I. viii. 44 l. 4. delight] dislike _conj. J. Jortin_. As ‘delight’ is

repeated by parablepsy from l. 3, the form of the word is not much of a

guide in emendation. Others suggest ‘despight’.

I. ix. 32 l. 7. nor for gold nor glee] nor for gold nor fee _conj.

Church_; cf. I. x. 43 l. 6. But the alliteration, if not the sense,

favours ‘glee’. Cf. VI. v. 39 l. 3; VI. vii. 49 l. 9.

I. ix. 42 l. 7. Morris reports ‘hold’ as in _1590_: not so in any of our

copies.

I. ix. 53 l. 1. feeble] seely _1596_: silly _1609_. I do not think that

Spenser would have tolerated a combination like ‘seely, fleshly’; and

comparison with I. vii. 6 l. 5 and I. vii. 11 l. 8, where ‘fraile’ and

‘feeble’ occur together in lines which this line was meant to recall,

convinces me that ‘seely’ (= feelie) is a misprint for ‘feeble’.

I. x. 7 l. 8. simple true] simple, trew _Morris_. But see note on I. i. 9

l. 6.

I. x. 20 l. 5. See Introduction, p. xviii.

I. x. 27 l. 6. The correction in _1596_ (_v._ footnote) was apparently

made to avoid the ambiguity of ‘salt water sore’.

I. x. 52 l. 1. since] sith _1609_. See Introduction, p. vi.

I. x. 62 l. 9. As for loose loues are vaine] As for loose loues they are

vaine _1590_. The reading of _1596_ eases the metre, and V. iii. 22 ll.

5 and 6 shows an exactly parallel construction. But the main reason for

preferring _1596_ is the proximity of 62 l. 4 and 62 l. 8, which are

certainly author’s corrections. See Introduction, p. xvii.

I. xi. 3. See Introduction, p. xvi.

I. xi. 26 l. 6. swinged] singed _1609_. The quartos are right. The form

‘swinge’ is wide-spread in modern dialect. Webster quotes the noun

‘swinge’ (= a singe) from Beaumont and Fletcher.

I. xi. 37 l. 2. yelded] yelled _1609_. Though I have hesitated to change

the reading of the quartos, it is probably a misprint. Spenser elsewhere

has ‘yell’. The nearest parallel to ‘yeld’ is ‘befeld’ = befallen, IV.

iii. 50 l. 3. The true reading may, after all, be ‘yelped’.

I. xi. 41 l. 4. Nor _1609_: For _1590_, _1596_. I am no longer sure that

Spenser did not write ‘For’. There is a very similar confusion in V. vi.

26 ll. 5 and 6.

I. xi. 51 ll. 7 and 8. The original punctuation makes l. 8 refer to the

lark.

I. xii. 7 l. 3. sung] song _1590_. Here _1596_ forgoes the eye-rhyme to

avoid ambiguity.

I. xii. 17 l. 1. that] the _1596_, _1609_. The change may be Spenser’s,

but cf. 21 l. 7 where ‘the’ of _1596_ is probably wrong and occurs in the

same line with a word in which _1596_ is certainly wrong.

I. xii. 17 l. 4. note] no’te _1609_, _1611_. Morris reports ‘no’te

_1596_’: not so in Bodl. or B. M. copies.

I. xii. 28 l. 7. her] his _1596_, _1609_. The change may be Spenser’s.

Having personified truth as _Una_, he may have felt an objection to

personifying it here. But the misprint is not uncommon: cf. 40 l. 9.

I. xii. 34 l. 3. improuided] vnprouided _Todd &c._: not so in any of the

copies examined.

I. xii. 38 l. 3. frankincense] frankencense _1596_, _1609_. The spelling

‘encens’ was not yet quite extinct, and I now incline to think that the

more archaic form was deliberately introduced in _1596_. Cf. note on

‘vpsidowne’ at II. vii. 4 l. 8.

II. i. 1 l. 7. caytiues hands] caytiue _1609_. ‘Caytiue bands’ has been

conjectured, but perhaps needlessly.

II. i. 18 l. 6. did he] he did _1590_. See note on I. v. 7 l. 9. This

transposition seems designed to get another alliteration in ‘d’.

II. i. 34 l. 6. Grosart reports ‘steady _1590_’: not so in our copies.

II. i. 58 l. 4. fry] fryze _sugg. Church_. As a contrast is wanted to

‘melt’ in l. 3, there is much to be said for Church’s ‘fryze’ (_i.e._

freeze). (The spelling actually suggested by Church is ‘frieze’, as in

II. i. 42 l. 3, or ‘frize’, as in VI. x. 33 l. 9; but neither of these

would so readily be corrupted.)

II. ii. 7 l. 7. chace] pray _sugg. Collier_. This is the first of those

substitutions discussed in Introduction, p. viii.

II. ii. 21 l. 1. cald] calth _1596_, _1609_. Changes of tense like this

are not uncommon in _1596_, but here ‘calth’ seems an error due to the

following ‘forth’.

II. i. 34 l. 9. thought their] though ther _1590_. _1590_ seems to be

simply a wrong division of ‘thought her’, which we should perhaps read.

II. ii. 42 l. 6. make] hold _conj. edd._ See Introduction, p. viii.

II. ii. 44 l. 4. introld] entrold _1590_: enrold _conj. edd._ ‘Enrold’ is

more obvious than convincing: it is typographically improbable, and it

makes poor sense. The problem is complicated by the ambiguous rhyme with

‘world’ and ‘told’, for which, however, cf. I. xi. 27 ll. 1, 3 ‘world’ =

‘extold’. I am not convinced that Spenser did not coin ‘introld’, though

I do not know what he meant by it.

II. iii. 4 l. 5. A pleasing vaine of glory vaine did find] A pleasing

vaine of glory he did find _1590_. It is natural to regard the

second ‘vaine’ as a mere printer’s repetition of the first. But the

collocation of ‘glory’ and ‘vaine’ appears in two other descriptions of

_Braggadocchio_, _viz._ III. viii. 11 ll. 8 and 9; IV. iv. 14 l. 5. And

the play on words is quite Spenserian; cf. I. iv. 6 l. 6 array ... arras;

II. i. 37 l. 9 leaue ... leaue; II. ii. 12 l. 3 fairely fare.

II. iii. 10 l. 1. On the spelling of _Braggadocchio_ see Introduction,

p. vi. In the second volume of _1596_ we find _cc_ in IV. ii. 4; IV. iv.

14; IV. iv. 20; _c_ in IV. iv. 8; IV. iv. 10; IV. v. 23; IV. v. 26; and

always in V. iii.

II. iii. 20 l. 5. their haire on end does reare] does vnto them affeare

_1590_: vnto _corr. to_ greatly _F. E._ It seems as if Spenser originally

wrote ‘appeare’, forgot this when he made _F. E._, and in turn forgot _F.

E._ when he corrected the copy for _1596_; or knowingly changed his mind

twice.

II. iii. 28 l. 7. play] sport _conj. ed._ See Introduction, p. viii. I do

not wish to _read_ ‘sport’ in the text, as the form of the footnote might

imply. This substitution does not seem to have been noticed by previous

editors.

II. iii. 38 l. 4. haue I] I haue _1590_. See note on I. v. 7 l. 9.

II. iii. 45 l. 4. one] on _1590_, _1596_. For the converse misprint cf.

II. i. 31 l. 4.

II. iii. 46 l. 9. erne] yerne _1609_. These two words are regularly

interchanged in _1609_, in accordance with modern usage. Cf. VI. vii. 15

l. 9.

II. iv. 17 ll. 6, 8, 9. A striking instance of author’s correction in

_1596_. Spenser seems to have shrunk from the forms ‘trech’, ‘ketch.’

II. iv. 35. This is the stanza quoted by Fraunce in 1588. See

Introduction, p. xi.

II. iv. 41 l. 8. A hexameter in the eighth line. It might be corrected

by omitting ‘is sonne’; but for this there is no authority. See

Introduction, p. vii.

II. v. 5 l. 9. do not much me faile] doe me not much fayl _1590_. See

note on I. v. 7 l. 9.

II. v. 8 l. 7. hurtle] hurle, _1596_; hurlen _1609_. See notes on I. ii.

29 l. 2 and I. iv. 16 l. 3.

II. v. 12 ll. 8 and 9. A very difficult passage. The meaning wanted seems

to be, ‘Do not think that it is thy force but the unjust doom of fortune

that has thus laid me low.’ This meaning comes more easily if we read

‘but’ for ‘by’: a conjecture in which I find that I was anticipated by

a friend of Jortin’s. But no good meaning can be got out of ‘maugre her

spight’ without taking ‘maugre’ in the sense of ‘curse on’, or the like,

which it never bears outside _F. Q._, if there. The nearest parallels are

III. iv. 39 l. 8; III. v. 7 l. 5; VI. iv. 40 l. 3. See Introduction, p.

ix.

II. v. 19 l. 7. do] garre _1590_. A very interesting change. Had it been

objected to ‘garre’ that it was peculiar to Northern dialect? I believe

that several changes in _1596_ were made to meet such criticisms. Spenser

uses ‘garre’ in _S. C._, but not elsewhere in _F. Q._

II. v. 29 l. 5. pricking] prickling _1590_. The quartos differ repeatedly

over this particular letter--cf. II. i. 31 l. 2; II. vi. 18 l. 7; II. xi.

13 l. 5; II. xii. 30 l. 6 (where _1590_ is certainly right). Here usage

favours _1596_, but sound _1590_.

II. v. 31 l. 5. See note on II. iii. 20 l. 5.

II. vi. 3 l. 4. that nigh her breth was gone,] as merry as Pope Ione,

_1590_. The earlier reading was apparently thought too colloquial.

II. vi. 3 l. 6. might to her] to her might _1590_. See note on I. v. 7

l. 9. The authenticity of the transposition here is made probable by the

proximity of l. 4.

II. vi. 5 l. 6. cut away. We should perhaps read ‘cut a way’; cf. II.

viii. 5 l. 9.

II. vi. 12 l. 9. See note on I. v. 7 l. 9.

II. vi. 14 l. 9. loud] loue _1590_. The reading of _1596_ is supported by

the proximity of II. vi. 12 l. 9.

II. vi. 18 l. 7. griesly] griesy _1590_. On the variants see note on

II. v. 29 l. 5. ‘Griesy’ is here explained as ‘sluggish’. But we find

griesie’, I. ix. 35 l. 4 (but ‘griesly’ _1611_); ‘grysie’, II. xi. 12 l.

3 and III. xii. 19 l. 2; ‘gryesy’, III. i. 67 l. 7. These are all one

word, and the meaning is always ‘squalid’, ‘hideous’.

II. vi. 29 l. 2. importune] importance _1596_: important _1609_. See note

on I. ii. 29 l. 2.

II. vi. 42 l. 4. steept] stept _1590_ should have been recorded in

footnote.

II. vii. 4 l. 8. vpsidowne] vpside downe _1590_. The original form, as

I learn from Sir James Murray, was ‘upsodown’ or ‘upsadown’; ‘upsidown’

became current in the second quarter of the sixteenth century;

‘upside-down’ appears first in Coverdale. By the last decade of the

century ‘upsodown’ was obsolete, ‘upsidown’ archaic, ‘upside-down’ or

‘upset-down’ current. There is little doubt that here, as at I. xii. 38

l. 3, Spenser deliberately returned in _1596_ to the more archaic form.

II. vii. 40 l. 5. that] the _1590 &c._: _corr. F. E._ _F. E._ might refer

to 43 l. 2. See note on I. iii. 38 l. 7. The earlier stanza is quoted

with ‘the’ in _England’s Parnassus_ (1600). But the quotation is full of

mistakes and has no authority.

II. vii. 52 l. 6. With which] Which with _1590_, _1596_: Which-with

_1609_. At IV. vii. 25 l. 1 ‘Which’ is ‘With’ in _1596_.

II. viii. 3 l. 8. Come hither, come hither] Come hither, hither _1609_.

But the trisyllabic foot is probably genuine, and expresses agitation.

See note on I. i. 15 l.

II. viii. 25 l. 1. See note on I. ii. 29 l. 2.

II. viii. 29 l. 7. vpreare] vpheaue _MS. corr. in Malone 615_. See

Introduction, p. viii. Kitchin speaks of these MS. corrections as

‘co-temporary’; and a note in the Bodleian catalogue ascribes them to

Lord Burleigh. But most of them are in a hand much later than 1600.

II. viii. 40 l. 4. so wisely as it ought] so well, as he it ought _1590_.

_1596_ means, ‘As wisely as it ought to be used.’ For the construction

cf. II. viii. 32 l. 4; VII. vii. 9 l. 8. But _1590_ gives an excellent

meaning, ‘As well as he who owned it’; and it is hard to see why Spenser

changed it. This is one of the few corrections that I suspect of being

editorial. Cf. II. x. 49 l. 8. A converse confusion of the two meanings

of ‘ought’ is shown by the variants on VI. viii. 50 l. 4.

II. viii. 44 l. 8. no more] not thore _1590_. ‘Thore’, if not a misprint

(and it does not look like one), was probably meant for ‘there’, as ‘tho’

= then, rather than for ‘through’ (‘thorough’). In either case Spenser

felt it licentious.

II. viii. 48 l. 8. Prince _Arthur_ _1609_: Sir _Guyon_ _1590_, _1596_.

See Introduction, p. xviii.

II. ix. 7 ll. 5 and 6. The time is shortened to agree with I. ix. 15. Cf.

also II. ix. 38.

II. ix. 9 l. 1. weete] wote _1590 &c._ Not an imperfect rhyme, but a

misprint; for the form is wrong.

II. ix. 17 l. 4. perilous] perlous _1590_. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

II. ix. 21 l. 1. them] him _1590_. It is ‘them’ in _England’s Parnassus_.

See note on II. vii. 40 l. 5.

II. ix. 35 l. 3. idly] idle _1609_ should have been recorded in the

footnote.

II. ix. 38 l. 2. mood] word _1590 &c._ Collier credits Drayton with the

emendation (see on 49 l. 4 below); but Morris seems to have first adopted

it. There is a similar misprint of ‘word’ for ‘wood’ in _1590_ at III.

xii. 7 l. 8.

II. ix. 38 l. 9. twelue moneths] three years _1590_. See note on II. ix.

7 above.

II. ix. 49 l. 4. reason] season _Drayton_ (_teste Collier_). Collier

professed to have a copy of the _1611_ folio that had belonged to Drayton

and had corrections in his hand. On questions of this nature no weight

can be attached to Collier’s unverified statements, and I am not aware

that this statement has been verified. The corrections with which he

credits Drayton are often ingenious, but not more ingenious than those

which he puts forward as his own.

II. ix. 52 l. 9. the house] th’house _1609_. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

II. x. 6 l. 6. safeties sake] safety _1590_. 7 l. 7. liued then] liueden

_1590_. Either of these corrections might be editorial; but by their

proximity they support each other.

II. x. 15 l. 9. munifience] munificence _1590_, _1609_. Spenser certainly

means ‘fortification’, and has either coined a noun from munify +

ence, or applied ‘munificence’ in this unexampled sense. The reading

‘munifience’ is found only in _1596_.

II. x. 24 l. 9. _F. E._ shows that _Seuith_ was printed in some copies of

_1590_. Church, Upton, and Todd all had copies in which the missing words

were supplied.

II. x. 34 l. 1. _Riuallo_] _Riuall’_ _1590_. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

II. x. 43 l. 1. _Sisillus_] Sifillus _1590 &c._ We should perhaps read

_Sisilius_ with Geoffrey of Monmouth (_Historia Britonum_, Lib. III, §

13: in § 14 he spells it _Sisillius_).

II. x. 67 l. 2. _Ambrose_] _Ambrise_ _1596_, _1609_. Geoffrey of Monmouth

(_Historia Britonum_, Lib. VI) supports _1590_.

II. x. 49 1. 8. defrayd] did defray _1596_, _1609_. Here at least the

printer of _1596_ is seen to have assumed the editor. He betrays himself

by losing the rhyme-scheme, rhyming line 8 with lines 2, 4, 5, 7 instead

of 6, 9. See note on II. viii. 40 l. 4.

II. x. 51 l. 7. See note on I. ii. 29 l. 2.

II. x. 67 l. 2. _Ambrose_] _Ambrise_ _1596_, _1609_. Geoffrey of Monmouth

(_Historia Britonum_, Lib. VI) supports _1590_.

II. xi. 10 l. 2. dessignment] assignment _1590_. It is the proximity of

the indubitable author’s correction in 9 l. 9 that decides in favour of

_1596_.

II. xi. 11 l. 4. dismayd] mismayd _conj. Jortin_. Jortin’s ‘mismayd’

(_i. e._ mismade, miscreated) gives a good meaning, and the misprint is

paralleled at III. ix. 7 l. 3 disdonne _1590_, misdonne _1596_. Others

think that ‘dismayd’ may bear the same meaning.

II. xi. 13 l. 5. assayled] assayed _1590_. See note on II. v. 29 l. 5.

II. xi. 21 l. 8. their] there _1609_. I should now prefer to read ‘there’

in all such cases.

II. xii. 1 l. 4. Formerly] ‘Formally’ is a conjecture of my own, and

should have been indicated as such in the footnote. It was suggested by

II. xii. 81 l. 5, where ‘formally’ = _secundum artem_. ‘Firmëly’ has been

proposed; but that is impossible. The text may be sound.

II. xii. 1 l. 6. Others take _F. E._ to refer to l. 1. See note on I.

iii. 38 l. 7.

II. xii. 23 l. 9. Upton, Todd, &c., keep _Monoceros_, scanning

‘immeasúrëd’, which is without example. The reading adopted by Child was

originally suggested by Jortin.

II. xii. 27 l. 4. sea the resounding] sea resounding _1609_. See note on

I. i. 15 l. 6.

II. xii. 30 l. 6. pleasaunt] peasaunt _1596_. See note on II. v. 29 l. 5.

II. xii. 39 l. 8. vpstarting] vpstaring _1590_. I. ix. 22 l. 3 and VI.

xi. 27 l. 4 favour _1590_.

II. xii. 43 l. 5. Nought feard their force] they _conj. ed._ This

correction gives the desired meaning, ‘They had no fear of force.’ Those

who defend the text take ‘feard’ to mean ‘frightened’, and ‘their’ to

refer to the beasts. (I find that my conjecture has been anticipated by

Church and others.)

II. xii. 52 l. 9. See note on I. ii. 29 l. 2.

III. i. 47 l. 7. which] that _1590_. The correction is due to ‘that’ in

l. 8.

III. i. 56 l. 8. _Basciomani_] _Bascimano_ _1590_. In Spenser’s day the

correct form was _basciamano_ or _basciamani_, the latter not being

plural of the former, but an independent formation of verb stem + plural

noun, like Fr. _porte-montres_. Ordinarily it would be fair to credit

Spenser with a knowledge of the right Italian form. Yet in this place

the _Bascimano_ of _1590_ has clearly been corrected: a fresh corruption

in an author’s correction is not highly probable; and I am accordingly

disposed to think that Spenser really coined _Basciomani_ as a

substantival use of the phrase _bascio le mani_. Cf. the familiar Spanish

_bezo los manos_.

III. ii. 4 l. 1. _Guyon_] _Redcrosse MS. corr. in Malone 615._ See

Introduction, p. vii.

III. ii. 8 l. 5. Which I to proue] Which to proue, I _1590_. See note on

I. v. 7 l. 9.

III. ii. 30 l. 5. in her warme bed her dight] her in her warme bed dighte

_1590_. See note on I. v. 7 l. 9.

III. ii. 49 l. 7. a earthen] an earthen _1609_. Spenser may have intended

to pronounce ‘yearthen’. N. E. D. describes the _y_-form of ‘earth’ as

going down to the sixteenth century, though no _y_-forms are quoted under

‘earthen’. In Northern dialect, with which Spenser was familiar, ‘a’

takes the place of ‘an’ even before a vowel. If the quartos are right,

this is another archaism unfamiliar to _1609_.

III. iii. 6 l. 1. auisd] aduis’d _1609_. See note on IV. ii. 22.

III. iii. 15 l. 3. _1609_ makes ‘businesse’ three syllables, and then

seeks to avoid the trisyllabic foot. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

III. iii. 44 l. 5. See note on I. ii. 29 l. 2.

III. iii. 50 l. 9. See Introduction, p. xviii.

III. iii. 53 l. 3. Evidently an author’s correction; but the reason for

the change is obscure.

III. iv. 39 l. 9. sith we no more shall meet] till we againe may meet

_1590_. Spenser has remembered, or been reminded, that _Cymoent_ is a

heathen goddess.

III. iv. 40 l. 6. _1611_ modernizes to ‘ielly’d blood’.

III. iv. 59 l. 5. See note on I. v. 7 l. 9.

III. v. Arg. 4. _sownd_] _swound_ _1609_. ‘Sownd’ is one of the rarer

spellings of the multiform ‘swound’, ‘swoune’, &c. At VI. i. 34 l. 2 we

find ‘sound’ (= swound) in both _1596_ and _1609_.

III. v. 5 l. 5. A] And _1596_, _1609_. ‘And’, though defensible, is

probably due to ‘And’ in l. 6.

III. v. 37 l. 6. follow] followd _1590_ should have been recorded in

footnote.

III. v. 40 l. 4. their loues sweet teene] their sweet loues teene _1590_.

Spenser transposed, either for rhythm, or to bring out the oxymoron

‘sweet teene’. Cf. note on I. v. 7 l. 9.

III. v. 50 l. 8. To him, and to all] To him and all _1609_. See note on

I. i. 15 l. 6.

III. V. 51 l. 9. to] it _1611_.

III. v. 52 l. 6. The punctuation of the quartos connects ‘admire’ with

‘In gentle Ladies brest’; but this leaves ‘and bounteous race’ without

construction.

III. v. 53 l. 3. Realmes] Reames _1590_. So in V. vii. 23 ll. 6, 8, 9

‘realme’ rhymes with ‘extreame’ and ‘dreame’.

III. vi. 6 l. 5. his beames] his hot beames _1609_. See on I. v. 23 l. 8

and Introduction, p. xvii.

III. vi. 12 l. 2. The rhyme is imperfect, but I find no authority for

reading ‘aspect’.

III. vi. 26 l. 4. both farre and nere _om. 1590_. _1596_ here completes a

line left imperfect in _1590_, which makes it possible than Spenser may

have intended to complete other broken lines, such as II. iii. 26 l. 9;

II. viii. 55 l. 9.

III. vi. 39 l. 1. _1611_ reads ‘and all’, to avoid the trisyllabic foot.

See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

III. vi. 40 l. 6. See Introduction, p. viii.

III. vi. 45 l. 4. See Introduction, p. xviii.

III. vii. 5 l. I. the tops] th’tops _1609_. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

III. vii. 9 l. 3. two] to _conj. Hughes_. Morris reports ‘to’ from

_1596_: not so in copies examined. See also I. vi. 47 l. 8 and note there.

III. vii. 13 l. 6. had] hath _1590_. The notes of Todd and Morris imply

that some copies of _1596_ also read ‘hath’. If so, it should be adopted

as the better reading.

III. vii. 22 l. 4. Monstrous mishapt] Monstrous, mishapt _1590_. Cf. I.

i. 9 l. 6; 1. x. 7 l. 8.

III. vii. 32 l. 7. muchell] much ill _1611_, puzzled by the archaism.

III. vii. 34 l. 2. See Introduction, p. vii.

III. vii. 45 l. I. See note on I. ii. 29 l. 2.

III. vii. 48 l. 4. Spenser has remembered, or been reminded, that

_Ollyphant_ reappears in III. xi.

III. viii. 30 l. 3. frory] frowy _1590_, _1596_. The reading of _1609_ is

established by comparison with III. viii. 35 l. 2. ‘Frowie’ occurs in _S.

C._ (_July_ III); but it means ‘musty’.

III. viii. 46 l. 9. vnworthy] vnworthy’ _1590_. 49 l. 2 T’haue] To haue

_1590_. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

III. ix. 13 l. 9. See note on I. ii. 29 l. 2.

III. ix. 20 l. 9. persant] persent _1609_: present _1611_.

III. ix. 48 l. 6. to sea] to the sea _1596_--perhaps rightly: cf. note on

I. i. 15 l. 6.

III. x. 41 l. 7. Morris reports ‘wild forest _1609_’: not so in any of

the copies examined.

III. x. 46 l. 6. th’Earthes] the Earthes _1609_. See note on I. v. 23 l.

8 and Introduction, p. xviii.

III. xi. 4 ll. 4 and 9. These two transpositions support each other, the

first being made for grammar, the second for rhythm. See note on I. v. 7

l. 9.

III. xi. 12 l. 1. singultes] singulfes _1590_, _1596_. This word occurs

again in _F. Q._ V. vi. 13, _Colin Clout_ 168, _Tears of the Muses_ 232;

and in all four places is spelt with ‘f’ in the original editions. We

must suppose, either that the printers made the same mistake four times,

or that Spenser misspelt a word with whose Latin form he must have been

quite familiar. Neither alternative is acceptable; but I find the second

incredible.

III. xi. 19 l. 9. death] life _conj. Jortin_. Jortin’s emendation gives

the sense required; yet Spenser was capable of writing ‘death’. Cf.

Introduction, p. ix.

III. xi 22 l. 8. See note on I. v. 7 l. 9.

III. xi. 23 l. 2. Inglorious, beastlike _1611_, to avoid the trisyllabic

foot. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

III. xi. 26 1. 7. See note on I. ii. 29 l. 2.

III. xi. 39 l. 8. Stag _conj. Jortin_: Hag _1590 &c._ In support of

Jortin’s emendation Upton quotes Natalis Comes, _Mythologia_, iv. 10

‘Fertur hic deus [_i.e._ Apollo] in varias formas ob amores fuisse

mutatus, in leonem, in _cervum_, in accipitrem’. As the chapter deals

with Apollo, and mentions Hyacinth, Coronis, &c., it is clear that

Spenser had been reading it, and Jortin’s emendation is irresistible.

(Spenser would have written ‘an Hag’, not ‘a Hag’.)

III. xi. 47 l. 9. heauen bright] heauens hight _conj. Church_. But

identical rhymes are not infrequent in this particular place in a stanza.

Yet the possibility of parablepsy lowers the authority of the quartos in

such cases. The printers would be peculiarly liable to this error in this

place if, in Spenser’s manuscript, the Alexandrine overflowed into the

eighth line of the stanza. (Church spells ‘heuens’, following _1590_).

III. xii. 12 l. 6. wingyheeld] winged heeld _1590_. The change seems to

have been made for euphony. See note on I. v. 7 l. 9.

III. xii. 18 l. 8. hony-lady. ‘Hony-laden’ is a tempting suggestion of

Upton’s, and Morris adopts it.

III. xii. 26 l. 7. with that Damozell] by the Damozell _1590_. According

to _1596_ the Damozell is _Amoret_, according to _1590 Britomart_.

III. xii. 27 l. 3. and bore all away] nothing did remaine _1590_. A

striking change, designed to remove the imperfect rhyme. l. 8. It] In

_1611_.

III. xii. 29 l. 1. wandering] wondering _1611_.

III. xii. 34 l. 4. her] him _1590_, _1596_. Comparison with the variants

in stanza 42 suggests some oblivion in Spenser’s mind of the sex of his

Championess.

III. xii. 43 to 45. On these stanzas see Introduction, p. xvi.

IV. ii. 22 l. 7. aduizing] auising _1609_. For ‘aduize’ = observe cf.

II. ix. 38 l. 3. Similarly we find ‘adward’ _1596_, but ‘award’ _1609_;

conversely ‘dis-auentrous’ _1596_, ‘disaduentrous’ _1609_. Todd quotes

from Sir T. More, ‘Whoso well aduise her visage, &c.’

IV. iii. 43 l. 5. quite age] quiet-age _Morris_. Morris’s reading

(originally suggested to Jortin by a friend) is very plausible, though

the word does not occur elsewhere in _F. Q._

IV. iv. 1 l. 4. minds] lines _16(11)-12-13_. Morris reports ‘liues

_1609_’: not so in genuine copies examined. See Bibliographical Note.

IV. iv. 2 l. 3. als] els _1596_. I now think that _1596_ is right.

The proposition illustrated is twofold:--(1) ‘For enmitie, that of

no ill proceeds, But of occasion, with th’occasion ends’; (2) ‘And

friendship, which a faint affection breeds Without regard of good, dyes

like ill grounded seeds’. Reading ‘As als’ we have two illustrations

of this twofold proposition. Reading ‘As els’ we have an independent

illustration of each of its parts. For ‘As els’ cf. the second letter to

Harvey:--‘For, why a Gods name, may not we, as else the Greeks, &c.’

IV. iv. 8 l. 2. _Ferrau_] _Ferrat_ _1596_. Called _Ferraugh_ in IV. ii.

4; Ferraù in Ariosto, O. F. i. 14. Spenser mentions _Ferragh_ as an Irish

name in the ‘_Vue_’.

IV. iv. 17 l. 4. maiden-headed] satyr-headed _conj. Church_, referring to

III. vii. 30 l. 6. In the Bodleian copy of Church’s edition is a note by

Mr. G. L. Way, the former owner: ‘Perhaps _Maidenheaded Shield_ may mean

“the shield of him who was one of the Knights of Maidenhead”--see st. 22.’

IV. iv. 24 l. 1. beamlike] Upton reports that one of his quartos had

‘brauelike’, the other ‘beamlike’.

IV. v. 4 l. 4. _Lemno_] _Lemnos_ _16(11)-12-13_.

IV. v. 5 l. 5; 6 l. 1. According to Upton and Todd some copies of _1596_

here err with _1609_.

IV. v. 35 l. 4. vnpared] prepared _16(11)-12-13_.

IV. v. 40 l. 7. wheresoeuer] whersoere _16(11)-12-13_.

IV. vi. 24 l. 8. his _om. 1609_. But see note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

IV. vi. 33 l. 6. ranging] raging _16(11)-12-13_.

IV. vi. 46 l. 5. who] whom _16(11)-12-13_. Morris reports ‘whom _1609_’:

not so in genuine copies examined.

IV. vii. 12 I. l. caytiue] captiue _conj. Collier_. But Spenser used the

adj. ‘caytiue’ in this sense in I. vii. 19 l. 3; I. ix. 11 l. 9.

IV. vii. 32 l. 7. oft] eft _conj. Hughes_, to improve the rhyme.

IV. viii. 1 l. 9. infixed] infected _16(11)-12-13_.

IV. viii. 64 l. 1. this] his _16(11)-12-13_. Morris reports ‘his _1609_’:

not so in genuine copies examined.

IV. ix. 11 l. 9. The conjecture ‘them’, approved by Church, was

originally made by Hughes.

IV. ix. 17 l 7. bequest] request _16(11)-12-13_.

IV. x. 8 l. 8. Upton reports that one of his quartos had ‘_his_’, the

other ‘_this_’.

IV. x. 23 ll. 2, 8. The words ‘ghesse’ and ‘bee’ are transposed in all

copies examined except _4^o Art. Seld. S. 22_ in the Bodleian and _C.

12. h. 17, 18_ in the British Museum. The correction was evidently

made as the sheets went through the press. See Introduction, p. xix.

_16(11)-12-13_ reads ‘I ghesse’.

IV. x. 27 l. 1. _Hyllus_ _1596_: _Hylus_ _1609_. Spenser evidently means

_Hylas_. There was a Hyllus, son of Hercules and Deianeira; but it is

unlikely that Spenser confused the two, for he has _Hylas_ rightly in a

similar context, III. xii. 7.

IV. x. 35 ll. 5, 6.

Else would the waters ouerflow the lands,

And fire deuoure the ayre, and hell them quight.

In this difficult passage two lines of interpretation are offered:--(1)

taking ‘hell’ as sb. and ‘quight’ as vb., ‘And hell requite them,’ _i.e._

punish the elements by reducing all to chaos: (2) taking ‘hell’ as vb.

and ‘quight’ as advb., ‘And cover them (_i.e._ the lands) quite.’ The

second explanation involves a difficult parenthesis of ‘And fire deuoure

the ayre’: ‘hell’ does not occur elsewhere in _F. Q._ as a verb, even in

the form ‘hele’, though ‘vnhele’ = uncover is found in II. xii. 64 l. 8;

hence it has been proposed to read ‘mell’ = confuse. But the first line

of interpretation seems the more satisfactory.

IV. xi. 4 l. 6. seuen] three _Malone 616_ and _G. 11557_ in B. M. All

other copies of _1596_ ‘seuen’. This is another instance of correction at

press. See above on IV. x. 23. _1609_ reads ‘three’. I cannot say which

reading represents the poet’s second thought.

IV. xi. 17 l. 6. times] age _Todd_. But see Introduction, p. viii.

IV. xi. 34 l. 5. Grant] Guant _1596_, _1609_: _corr. Child_. ‘Grant’ is

for Granta, _i.e._ the Cam, as Upton noted.

IV. xi. 52 l. 7. but] both _conj. edd._ The text is sound. Floods and

fountains, though originally all derived from ocean, are yet akin to sky

and sun.

IV. xii. 13 ll. 1, 2. For the significance of these variants see

Introduction, p. xix.

IV. xii. 23 l. 9. That no old sore it was _16(11)-12-13_.

V. Proem 2 l. 2. at earst] as earst _16(11)-12-13_. But cf. _S. C. Dec._

105, where there is the same contrast between ‘first’ and ‘at earst’.

Also _F. Q._ VI. iii. 8 l. 7; 39 l. 1.

V. Proem 2 l. 9. degendered] degenerd _16(11)-12-13_.

V. Proem 7 l. 8. thirtie] thirteen _conj. Child_. Child’s ‘thirteen’ is

said to be astronomically correct, or nearly so, for Spenser’s date.

V. Proem 9 l. 4. ne], no _16(11)-12-13_.

V. Proem 11 l. 2. stead] place _1596_. On this substitution see

Introduction, p. viii. This is the only correction of this nature in

_1609_, and I have accepted it for reasons given in Introduction, p. xix.

V. ii. Arg. 3. _Munera_] _Momera_ _1596_, _1609_: _corr. Hughes_. As a

rule I do not accept such corrections in proper names. But this is a

printer’s not an author’s error.

V. ii. 11 l. 4. Who] Tho _conj. Church_: When _Morris_. But such changes

of construction are not uncommon when a clause intervenes as here.

V. ii. 46 l. 9. way] lay _1609_. But identical rhymes, especially of

homonyms, are not uncommon in this part of the stanza. See, however, note

on III. xi. 47 l. 9.

V. iii. 11 ll. 7, 9. Th’other ... th’other _1596_, _1609_. Erroneous

apostrophation occurs again at V. vi. 19 l. 3. Cf. also note on V. v. 18

l. 4.

V. iii. 19 l. 1. the azure] th’azure _1609_. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

V. iv. 1 l. 3. Had neede haue] Had neede of _16(11)-12-13_.

V. iv. 22 l. 2. pinnoed] pinniond _16(11)-12-13_.

V. iv. 36 l. 8. Ere long their Queene her selfe, halfe like a man] selfe

halfe, _1596_: self, arm’d _1609_. _1609_ may be right; ‘halfe’ in _1596_

may have been repeated by parablepsy from ‘selfe’: the punctuation of

_1596_ points to that.

V. iv. 37 l. 1. neare] newe _conj. Church_. 3 so few] to feare _conj.

Collier_. Imperfect rhymes are not rare in _F. Q._, but scarcely in

this form; here there is no assonance. Nor does this seem to be one of

the ‘substitutions’ discussed in Introduction, p. viii. Of conjectures,

Church’s is the best.

V. iv. 37 l. 6. there] their _16(11)-12-13_.

V. iv. 39 l. 3. So cruell doale amongst her maides diuide] ... doile ...

dauide _1596_. There are two words ‘dole’ in Spenser, (_a_) portion,

(_b_) mourning. This is (_a_): for the phrase cf. Shakespeare, 2 _Hen.

IV_, 1. i. 169, ‘That in the dole of blows your son might drop.’ Spenser

does not elsewhere use ‘dole’ in sense (_a_); in sense (_b_) it is

common in _F. Q._, and is spelt ‘dole’ or ‘doole’. The spelling ‘doile’

(Fr. _deuil_) belonged rather to sense (_b_), but no sixteenth century

instance is quoted in N. E. D. It is not impossible that Spenser wrote

‘doile’ in sense (_a_), intending a play upon the two meanings. But more

probably ‘a’ and ‘i’ have simply been interchanged, as _1609_ takes it.

(_1596_ generally has ‘deuide’; but ‘diuide’ also occurs.)

V. iv. 48 l. 7. yesterday] yeester day _1596_. Morris keeps ‘yeester’;

but Spenser has ‘yester’ elsewhere, and a misprint is probable. The

latter part of this canto, as these notes show, is unusually full of such

difficulties.

V. v. 18 l. 4. to’a] The apostrophation shows synezesis, though the vowel

is not omitted.

V. v. 38 l. 8. And, though (vnlike)] And, though vnlike _1596_. The

meaning is, ‘And even if (as is unlikely) they should last, &c.’

V. vi. 5 ll. 6, 7.

For houres but dayes; for weekes, that passed were,

She told but moneths _1596_, _1609_.

Church would transpose ‘houres’ and ‘dayes’, ‘weekes’ and ‘moneths’.

Spenser may have meant that she reckoned in months instead of weeks to

make the time look shorter; _e.g._ said three months instead of twelve

weeks, dwelling on the numeral and wilfully ignoring the noun. But

this is one of those subtleties in which we feel the difference between

Spenser and Shakespeare. See Introduction, p. ix.

V. vi. 16 l. 7. That this is things compacte] thing _conj. Church_.

Others defend ‘things’ as genitive. Church’s conjecture is preferable to

that. But there is no real objection to taking ‘things’ as nom. pl.

V. vi. 19 l. 3. the euen-tide] th’euen-tide _1596_. See note on V. iii.

11.

V. vi. 25 l. 9. nights] Knight’s _conj. Church_. This conjecture, like

others of Church’s, is rather plausible to common sense than convincingly

Spenserian.

V. vi. 26 l. 5. Ne lesse] Sense requires ‘Ne more’; but see note on II.

v. 12.

V. vi. 29 l. 2. armed] arm’d _1596_. See note on V. iii. 11.

V. vi. 33 l. 7. auenge] reuenge _16(11)-12-13_. Morris and Grosart report

‘reuenge _1609_’: not so in genuine copies examined.

V. vii. 6 l. 9. her] From stanza 15 it appears that ‘her’ should have

been ‘his’. But the mistake may be Spenser’s.

V. vii. 13 l. 5. to robe] to be _16(11)-12-13_.

V. vii. 23 l. 6. See note on III. v. 53 l. 3.

V. viii. 40 l. 6. knowen] knowne _1596_. _1596_ might be upheld by

comparison with VI. iv. 36, where ‘vnknowne’ = ‘showen’ = ‘blowen’ =

‘sowen’. But these are at the end of lines, where the number of syllables

is indifferent.

V. ix. 21 l. 1. knights] knight _16(11)-12-13_.

V. ix. 44 l. 1. appose] oppose _1609_. Mr. Chapman has pointed out to

me a parallel use of ‘appose’ in Drayton (p. 44, l. 4 of the Oxford

edition):--

Against these folkes that think them selues so wise,

I thus appose my force of reason wholly.

V. x. 3 l. 6. _Armericke_] _Americke conj. Todd_. Todd’s conjecture is

highly probable. Otherwise we must take _Armericke_ to mean Armoric,

_i.e._ of Brittany.

V. x. 6 l. 4. See note on I. i. 15 l. 6.

V. x. 18 l. 8. fastnesse] safenesse _16(11)-12-13_.

V. x. 23 l. 4. threating] threatening _16(11)-12-13_.

V. x. 24 l. 5. farewell open field] well fare _conj. edd._ needlessly:

‘farewell’ here = welcome.

V. xi. 5 l. 9. have riue] not riue _16(11)-12-13_.

V. xi. 40 l. 6 is a very effective tetrameter as it stands. The reading

of _16(11)-12-13_ is not, I think, authentic.

V. xi. 41 l. 6. Upton’s correction had already been made in Hughes’s

second edition.

V. xi. 54 l. 9. corruptfull] corrupted _16(11)-12-13_. Morris and Grosart

report ‘corrupted _1609_’: not so in genuine copies examined.

V. xi. 61 l. 7. meed] hyre _conj. Church_. But see Introduction, p. viii.

The reading ‘meed’ in this stanza makes the rhyme-scheme _ababbcacc_.

V. xi. 61 l. 8. froward] forward _1596_. The sense requires ‘froward’.

For the distinction between the two words cf. II. ii. 38; and for a

similar confusion between them VI. x. 24 1. 7.

V. xii. 14 l. 8. steale] steele _1609_. But ‘steale’ here = handle.

VI. Proem 6 l. 9. name] fame _edd._ See note on V. ii. 46 l. 9.

VI. i. 8 l. 7. wretched] wicked _16(11)-12-13_.

VI. i. 37 l. 5. pot-shares] pot-shards _16(11)-12-13_.

VI. i. 34 l. 2. For ‘sound’ = swound cf. III. v. Arg.

VI. ii. 3 ll. 3, 4. ‘Eyes’ and ‘eares’ ought of course to have been

transposed. But there is no evidence that the error is not Spenser’s.

And this must raise a doubt as to whether the printer is responsible for

‘euery act and deed, that he did say’ in l. 2.

VI. ii. 39 l. 2. implements] ornaments _1609_. This change looks less

like a printer’s error than an editorial improvement.

VI. iii. 12 l. 7. saue] salue _16(11)-12-13_.

VI. iii. 21 l. 8. default] assault _conj. Collier_. See note on V. ii. 46

l. 9. But Collier is very likely right here. The chance of parablepsy,

always present in such cases, is here unusually strong with ‘assault’ > <

‘default’.

VI. iii. 23 l. 2. _Serena_] _Cristina_ _1596 Bodl._ All the B. M. copies

‘_Serena_’. A striking instance of correction made during the printing of

the sheets. See Introduction, p. xix.

VI. iii. 24 l. 5. in vaine _om. 16(11)-12-13_. These words, which make

the line a hexameter, are not omitted in any of the genuine _1609_ copies

examined. See Bibliographical Note.

VI. iii. 35 l. 3. Which] That _1596 Bodl._ The four B. M. copies have the

superior reading ‘Which’. The change was evidently made at press to avoid

the repetition of ‘that’.

VI. iii. 37 l. 9. did for her] for her did _1596 Bodl._ Again the four B.

M. copies have the superior reading: change made at press for euphony.

Mr. Ostler points out that the corrections in stanzas 23, 35, and 37 all

occur in the outer forme of signature B b, which explains the agreement

of the B. M. copies. Had the corrections been on both sides of the sheet,

there would probably (he thinks) have been a further dispersal of various

readings.

VI. iii. 42 ll. 4, 7. The rhyme-words have been transposed in _1596_.

VI. iv. 4 l. 7. stroke] strokes _1609_ should have been recorded in the

footnote.

VI. iv. 16 l. 8. hurts] hurt _16(11)-12-13_. The latter reading is

more grammatical, but is not found in any of the genuine _1609_ copies

examined.

VI. v. Arg. 1. _Matilda_] _Serena_ _corr. Hughes rightly_. The confusion

is due to the _Matilde_ of Canto iv; but it is Spenser’s own.

VI. v. 39 l. 3. full gladly they did take in glee] gree _1609_. The

reading of _1609_ is supported by V. vi. 21 l. 7. On the other hand, the

alliteration favours ‘glee’; and we find ‘nor for gold nor glee’ in I.

ix. 32 l. 7.

VI. vi. Arg. 3. _He_ refers to _Arthur_; but no emendation is possible.

VI. vi. 4 l. 4. Of] In _16(11)-12-13_.

VI. vi. 16 l. 1. the] th’ _1596_. See note on V. iii. 11.

VI. vii. 3 l. 7. armed] arm’d _1596_. See note on V. iii. 11.

VI. vii. 15 l. 9. yearned] earned _1609_. See note on II. iii. 46 l. 9.

VI. vii. 49 l. 9. Words] Swords _conj. Church_. The sense, as often,

favours Church’s conjecture; but the alliteration favours the text.

VI. viii. 50 l. 4. what they ought] what shee ought _1609_, taking

‘ought’ = owned. For the converse see note on II. viii. 40 l. 4.

VI. ix. 28 l. 6. the heauens] th’heauens _1596_, _1609_. See note on V.

iii. 11.

VI. x. 2 l. 9. in] on _1596_. Spenser is apparently thinking of the Latin

proverb ‘in portu nauigare’; yet it does not mean exactly what he desires

to convey here. In Terence, _Andria_, i. 3. 22 ego in portu nauigo = I am

out of danger: Spenser means ‘never reaching the land’. Possibly _1596_

is right, and we have here a nautical phrase that has been lost.

VI. x. 24 l. 7. froward] forward _1596_, _1609_: _corr. 16(11)-12-13_.

The reading ‘froward’, though not found in any of the genuine _1609_

copies examined, is clearly right, as is shown by the Gloss on _S. C._

for _April_, where the Graces are thus described:--‘And Boccace saith,

that they be painted naked ... the one hauing her backe toward us, and

her face fromwarde, as proceeding from us; the other two toward us, &c.’

VI. x. 36 l. 6. And hewing off his head, it presented _1596_, _1609_:

(he) it presented _edd._ Though Spenser is not above this kind of bad

rhyme, I do not find that he ever accents ‘présented’.

VI. x. 44. The reading and punctuation of _1609_ (which makes a long

parenthesis of ll. 3-7) are, of course, much more logical; but not

therefore more Spenserian.

VI. xii. 12 l. 8. loos] praise _1609_. We may have here an authentic

after-thought of Spenser’s. He may, on reflection, have disliked the

collocation of ‘losse’ and ‘loos’. If so, this line should be added to

the instances cited in the Introduction, p. xviii. But it is equally

probable that the editor of _1609_, failing to recognize the obsolescent

‘loos’--which nevertheless occurs in Puttenham--took it for a printer’s

repetition of ‘losse’, and corrected accordingly.

VI. xii. 41 l. 3. clearest _1596_, _1609_: cleanest _Hughes_. Hughes’s

conjecture, though not supported by any of the old copies examined, is

nevertheless very probably right; for the stanza is carelessly printed in

_1596_, as the variants recorded in the footnotes show. But Spenser has

too many imperfect rhymes to allow us to consider the emendation certain.

VII. vi. 38 l. 2. wealths] wealth _Hughes &c._ The plural may be defended

as = different kinds of wealth; but the misprint is easy.

VII. vii. 9 l. 7. _kindes_] _kinde_ _Morris after Upton_; and so Chaucer

calls it in the _Parlement of Foules_ 316.

VII. vii. 10 l. 4. mores] more _Hughes_. Upton defends ‘mores’, as =

roots, plants; and most editions, and the N. E. D., accept this. Nor

did ‘mores’ offend the editor of _16(11)-12-13_; so that it is probably

right, though I do not find that ‘more’ elsewhere ever means anything but

root, or stock.

VII. vii. 28 l. 3. did _om. 16(11)-12-13_.

VII. viii. 1 l. 7. to cast] and cast _16(11)-12-13_.

VII. viii. 2 l. 9. Church’s conjecture (made also by Upton) makes Spenser

distinguish between Sabaoth = hosts and Sabbath = rest. The distinction

exists in Hebrew; but it seems to spoil the point of the stanza to

suppose that Spenser drew it here. No inference can be based on the

varying spellings of ‘Sabaoth’ in _1609_, _16(11)-12-13_.

Of the Letter to Raleigh, Commendatory Verses, and Dedicatory Sonnets,

only the verses by W. R. and Hobynoll are found in _1596 Bodl._, or

in Mr. Cannan’s _1609_, where they are printed in their original

position at the end of Book III. The rest of this additional matter

is here reproduced from _1590 Bodl._, with which _C. 12. h. 17_ of B.

M. agrees. It was evidently thrown together in some haste; there are

several dislocations and omissions in the other B. M. copy of _1590_.

The Bodleian folios omit the last two sonnets; the verses by W. R. and

Hobynoll they print twice over.

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, OXFORD

BY VIVIAN RIDLER

PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

* * * * *

Transcriber’s note

Minor punctuation and formatting errors have been changed without notice.

The following Printer errors have been changed.

CHANGED FROM TO

Page 160 “Nemœan” “Nemæan”

Page 182 “Artegale” “Artegall”

Page 189 “Florimele” “Florimell”

Page 197 “Philtera” “Philtra”

All other inconsistencies are as in the original.