And clash their shields, and shake their swerds on hy,
That with their sfturre they troubled all the traine;
Till that great Queene, upon eternall paine
Of high displeasure that enfewen might,
Commaunded them their fury to refraine;
And, if that either to that shield had right,
In equall lifts they should the morrow next it fight.

4I.

"Ah dearest Dame," qd. then the Paynim bold, "Pardon the error of enraged wight,

Whome great griefe made forgett the raines to hold Of reafons rule, to fee this recreaunt knight, No knight, but treachour full of false despight And shameful treafon, who through guile hath slayn The proweft knight that ever field did fight, Even ftout Sansfoy, (O who can then refrayn?) Whose shield he beares renverft, the more to heap disdayn.

42.

"And, to augment the glorie of his guile,
His dearest love, the faire Fideffa, loe!
Is there poffeffed of the traytour vile;
Who reapes the harvest sowen by his foe,
Sowen in bloodie field, and bought with woe:
That brothers hand shall dearely well requight,
So be, O Queene! you equall favour fhowe."
Him litle answerd th' angry Elfin knight;
He never meant with words, but fwords, to plead his right:
43.

But threw his gauntlet, as a facred pledg

His caufe in combat the next day to try:

feems properly to mean to prepare for battle; and the word is employed in this fenfe by Shakespeare: fee" Henry VI. Pt. 3." A. ii. Sc. 2, edit. Collier, 1858, iv. 143. The probable etymology is the Norm. Fr. dareigner; but Spenfer fometimes ufes the word with a confiderable degree of license. "Hurtlen," in the preceding line, has been explained in a previous note to this Canto, p. 231. C.

So been they parted both, with harts on edg
To be aveng'd each on his enimy.

That night they pas in joy and jollity,

Feafting and courting both in bowre and hall;
For Steward was exceffive Gluttony,

That of his plenty poured forth to all:

Which doen, the Chamberlain, Slowth, did to reft them call.

44.

Now whenas darksome night had all displayd
Her coleblacke curtein over brightest skye;
The warlike youthes, on dayntie couches layd,
Did chace away fweet fleepe from sluggish eye,
To mufe on meanes of hoped victory.

But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace
Arrested all that courtly company,

Uprofe Dueffa from her refting place,

And to the Paynims lodging comes with filent pace.
45.

Whom broad awake fhe findes, in troublous fitt,
Fore-cafting how his foe he might annoy;
And him amoves with fpeaches feeming fitt:
"Ah deare Sansjoy, next dearest to Sansfoy,
Cause of my new griefe, cause of my new joy;
Joyous to fee his ymage in mine eye,
And greevd to thinke how foe did him destroy,
That was the flowre of grace and chevalrye;
Lo! his Fideffa, to thy fecret faith I flye."

46.

With gentle wordes he can her fayrely greet,

And bad fay on the secrete of her hart:

Then, fighing foft; "I learne that litle sweet
Oft tempred is," (quoth fhe,) "with muchell fmart: d

a muchell fmart.] The adjective mochel, from the Sax. mochel, moche, that is, much, is often used by Gower and Chaucer. See Gloff. Tyr

For fince my breft was launcht with lovely dart
Of deare Sansfoy, I never joyed howre,

But in eternall woes my weaker hart

Have wafted, loving him with all my powre, And for his fake have felt full many an heavie ftowre.

47.

"At last, when perils all I weened past,
And hop'd to reape the crop of all my care,
Into new woes unweeting I was caft

By this false faytor, who unworthie ware
His worthie shield, whom he with guilefull snare
Entrapped flew, and brought to shamefull grave:
Me, filly maid, away with him he bare,

And ever fince hath kept in darksom cave,
For that I would not yeeld that to Sansfoy I gave.

48.

"But fince faire Sunne hath sperst that lowring clowd, And to my loathed life now fhewes fome light, Under your beames I will me fafely shrowd From dreaded storme of his disdainfull spight: th' inheritance belonges by right

To

you

Of brothers prayse, to you eke longes his love.
Let not his love, let not his restleffe spright,
Be unreveng'd, that calles to you above

From wandring Stygian fhores, where it doth endlesse

move."

49.

Thereto faid he, "Faire Dame, be nought dismaid For forrowes paft; their griefe is with them gone : Ne yet of present perill be affraid,

For needleffe feare did never vantage none;

And helplesse hap it booteth not to mone.

whitt's "Chaucer." And fee again, F. Q. i. vi. 20, " muchell fame." But, in his "Shep. Cal." July, v. 16, he writes mickle, the Scottish word for much, and indeed pronounced by the Scots muckle. TODD.

Dead is Sansfoy, his vitall paines are past,

Though greeved ghoft for vengeance deep do grone : He lives that shall him pay his dewties last, And guiltie Elfin blood shall sacrifice in haft."

50.

"O! but I feare the fickle freakes," (quoth shee) "Of fortune false, and oddes of armes in field."

'Why, dame," (quoth he)" what oddes can ever bee, Where both doe fight alike, to win or yield?"

"Yea, but," (quoth fhe) " he beares a charmed shield, And eke enchaunted armes, that none can perce; Ne none can wound the man that does them wield." "Charmd or enchaunted," (anfwerd he then ferce) "I no whitt reck; ne you the like need to reherce. 51.

"But, faire Fideffa, fithens fortunes guile,
Or enimies powre, hath now captived you,
Returne from whence ye came, and rest a while,
Till morrow next that I the Elfe fubdew,
And with Sansfoyes dead dowry you endew."

Ay me! that is a double death," (she said) "With proud foes fight my forrow to renew : Where ever yet I be, my fecret aide

Shall follow you." So, paffing forth, she him obaid.

dead dowry you endew.] For endow, the rhyme requiring endew, as Mr. Upton obferves. In other places the poet ufes endew for clothe, invest. See F. Q. iii. viii. 40, v. iii. 20. The word before us may vindicate the tranflation of the Bible from a fuppofed mifprint with which Dr. Johnson charges it: fee Gen. xxx. 20. "And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry." TODD.

And is with childe of glorious great inCan never reft, untill it forth have brought

Th' eternall brood of glorie excellent. Such reftleffe paffion did all night torment The flaming corage of that Faery knight, Devizing how that doughtie turnament With greatest honour he atchieven might: Still did he wake, and still did watch for dawning light.

2.

At laft, the golden Orientall gate"

a At last, the golden Orientall gate, &c.] Spenfer, as Dr. Jortin obferves, here plainly alludes to Pfal. xix. 5.-" In them hath he fet a tabernacle for the fun; which cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a giant to run his courfe." But our author has ftrangely inverted the circumftances. The Pfalmift alludes to the Jewish cuftom of the bridegroom being conducted from his chamber at midnight, with folemn pomp, and preceded by a numerous train of torches. This is the illuftration of the admirable Dr. Jackfon, a theologist in the reign of James I: and without it the comparison is of no force or propriety. T. WARTON.