With bitter rage and fell contention,

That all the woods and rockes nigh to that way
Began to quake and tremble with dismay;
And all the aire rebellowed againe,

So dreadfully his hundred tongues did bray:
And evermore those hags them felves did paine
To sharpen him, and their owne curfed tongs did ftraine.
42.

And still among most bitter wordes they spake,
Most shamefull, moft unrighteous, moft untrew,
That they the mildest man alive would make
Forget his patience, and yeeld vengeaunce dew
To her, that fo false fclaunders at him threw :
And more, to make them pierce and wound more deepe,
She with the fting which in her vile tongue grew
Did sharpen them, and in fresh poyson steepe.
Yet he past on, and seem'd of them to take no keepe.
43.

But Talus, hearing her fo lewdly raile,

And fpeake fo ill of him that well deferved,
Would her have chaftiz'd with his yron flaile,
If her Sir Artegall had not preserved,
And him forbidden, who his heast observed:
So much the more at him still did fhe fcold,

And stones did caft; yet he for nought would swerve
From his right course, but still the way did hold

To Faerie Court; where what him fell fhall else be told.

THE

THE SIXTE BOOKE OF

FAERIE QUEENE.

CONTAYNING THE LEGEND OF S. CALIDORE,

OR COURTESIE.

I.

HE waies, through which my weary steps

I guyde

In this delightfull land of Faery,

Are fo exceeding fpacious and wyde,

And fprinckled with such sweet variety

Of all that pleasant is to eare or eye,

That I, nigh ravisht with rare thoughts delight,
My tedious travell doe forget thereby ;

And, when I gin to feele decay of might,

It strength to me fupplies, and chears my dulled fpright.

2.

Such fecret comfort and fuch heavenly pleasures,

Ye facred imps, that on Parnaffo dwell,

And there the keeping have of learnings threafures Which doe all worldly riches farre excell,

Into the mindes of mortall men doe well,"

a Into the mindes of mortall men doe well.] i. e. do pour or make flow: as in "1 Henry IV," A. iii. Sc. 1, where " fwelling heavens" has always hitherto been the corruption, inftead of "welling heavens," an emendation which nobody has been able to difpute: fee Collier's Shakefpeare, 1858, vol. iii. p. 375. C.

And goodly fury into them infuse,

Guyde ye my footing, and conduct me well

In these strange waies where never foote did use, Ne none can find but who was taught them by the Muse.

3.

Revele to me the facred nourfery

Of vertue, which with you doth there remaine,
Where it in filver bowre does hidden ly

From view of men, and wicked worlds difdaine;
Since it at first was by the Gods with paine
Planted in earth, being derived at furst
From heavenly feedes of bounty foveraine,
And by them long with carefull labour nurst,
Till it to ripeneffe grew, and forth to honour burst.

4.

Amongst them all growes not a fayrer flowre
Then is the bloofme of comely courtefie;
Which though it on a lowly stalke doe bowre,
Yet brancheth forth in brave nobilitie,

And fpreds it felfe through all civilitie :

Of which though present age doe plenteous feeme,
Yet, being matcht with plaine Antiquitie,

Ye will them all but fayned fhowes esteeme,
Which carry colours faire that feeble eies misdeeme.

5.

But, in the triall of true curtefie,

Its now so farre from that which then it was,
That it indeed is nought but forgerie,
Fashion'd to please the eies of them that pas,
Which fee not perfect things but in a glas:
Yet is that glaffe so gay, that it can blynd
The wifeft fight to thinke gold that is bras;
But vertues feat is deepe within the mynd,

And not in outward fhows, but inward thoughts defynd.

6.

But where fhall I in all Antiquity

So faire a patterne finde, where may be seene
The goodly praife of Princely curtefie,
As in your felfe, O foveraine Lady Queene?
In whose pure minde, as in a mirrour sheene,
It fhowes, and with her brightnesse doth inflame
The eyes of all which thereon fixed beene,
But meriteth indeede an higher name:
Yet fo from low to high uplifted is your fame."

7.

Then pardon me, most dreaded Soveraine,
That from your felfe I doe this vertue bring,
And to your felfe doe it returne againe.
So from the Ocean all rivers fpring,
And tribute backe repay as to their King:
Right fo from you all goodly vertues well
Into the rest which round about you ring,
Faire Lords and Ladies which about you dwell,
And doe adorne your Court where courtefies excell.

с

b uplifted is your fame.] Jortin suggested that "name" in the preceding line ought to be fame, in order that two lines, immediately following each other, fhould not end with the fame word, and in the fame fenfe. It appears, on the authority of Drayton, in his folio 1611, that it is "name" in the fecond line that ought to be amended to fame. We adopt his correction without hesitation. C.

al goodly vertues well.] Here again, as in the second stanza of this introduction, "well" is to be understood as to pour all virtues flowed from the Queen to her courtiers. C.

F Court, it feemes, men Courtefie doe call,
For that it there moft ufeth to abound;
And well befeemeth that in Princes hall
That vertue should be plentifully found,
Which of all goodly manners is the

ground,

And roote of civill conversation:

Right fo in Faery court it did redound,

Where curteous Knights and Ladies moft did won Of all on earth, and made a matchleffe paragon.

2.

But mongst them all was none more courteous Knight
Then Calidore, beloved over all,

In whom, it feemes, that gentleneffe of spright
And manners mylde were planted naturall

To which he adding comely guize withall

And gracious fpeach, did fteale mens hearts away."

a did fteale mens hearts away.] See 2 Sam. xv. 6: "So Abfalom ftole the hearts of the men of Ifrael." See likewife Spenfer's elegy Aftrophel," by whom he means Sir P. Sidney :"That all mens barts with fecret ravifhment

called "

"He ftole away." UPTON.