Encountring fiers with fingle fword in hand;

And twixt him and his Lord did like a bulwarke stand.

13.

The proud Dueffa, full of wrathfull spight,
And fiers difdaine to be affronted fo,*
Enforst her purple beaft with all her might,
That stop out of the way to overthroe,
Scorning the let' of fo unequall foe:
But nathemore would that corageous fwayne
To her yeeld paffage gainst his Lord to goe,
But with outrageous strokes did him restraine,
And with his body bard the way atwixt them twaine.

14.

m

Then tooke the angrie witch her golden cup,
Which still fhe bore, replete with magick artes;
Death and defpeyre did many thereof fup,
And fecret poyfon through their inner partes,
Th' eternall bale of heavie wounded harts:
Which, after charmes and some enchauntments said,
She lightly sprinkled on his weaker partes:
Therewith his fturdie corage foon was quayd,"
And all his fences were with fuddein dread difmayd.

And fiers difdaine to be affronted fo.] To be fo encountered or oppofed. Ital. affrontare. So, in" Il Cavaliero della Croce," 1559, cap. x. "Come il Soldano fi partì con l' effercito per affrontarfi co'l Turco." The word is often thus employed by Spenfer. Shakespeare and Milton use it in the fame fenfe. The latter has alfo given the like meaning to the fubftantive affront, in his "Samfon Agon." ver. 531. TODD.

1 Scorning the let.] Scorning the hinderance or obftruction. The verb to "let," meaning to hinder, is from the A. S. latian. The verb to let, i. e. to permit, is from the A. S. lætan. C.

m that corageous fwayne.] Swain is from A. S. fwang, and that from fwingan, to toil, to work; but here it is to be taken in the sense merely of youth, which it fometimes bore: Chaucer, in his "Ryme of Sir Thopas," tells us that he was "a doughty swaine." C.

n

corage foon was quayd.] Spenfer feems to be the only writer who ufes this word; and Richardson doubts whether it is to be taken as a corruption (for the fake of the rhyme) of quailed, or cowed. It feems of the poet's coinage. C.

15.

So downe he fell before the cruell beaft,

Who on his neck his bloody clawes did seize, That life nigh crufht out of his panting breft: No powre he had to stirre, nor will to rize. That when the carefull knight gan well avife, He lightly left the foe with whom he fought, And to the beaft gan turne his enterprise; For wondrous anguifh in his hart it wrought, To fee his loved Squyre into fuch thraldom brought:

16.

And, high advauncing his blood-thirstie blade,
Stroke one of those deformed heades fo fore,
That of his puiffaunce proud enfample made:
His monftrous fcalpe down to his teeth it tore,
And that misformed fhape misfhaped more.
A fea of blood gufht from the gaping wownd,
That her gay garments ftaynd with filthy gore;
And overflowed all the field arownd,

That over fhoes in blood he waded on the grownd.

17.

Thereat he rored for exceeding paine,

That to have heard great horror would have bred;
And scourging th' emptie ayre with his long trayne,
Through great impatience of his grieved hed,
His gorgeous ryder from her loftie sted

Would have caft downe, and trodd in durty myre,
Had not the Gyaunt foone her fuccoured;

Who, all enrag'd with smart and frantick yre, Came hurtling in full fiers, and forft the knight retyre.

18.

The force, which wont in two to be difperft,

• In one alone left hand.] That is, in the one hand which alone was

Which is through rage more ftrong than both were erst;
With which his hideous club aloft he dites,P
And at his foe with furious rigor fmites,
That strongest Oake might feeme to overthrow.
The ftroke upon his fhield fo heavie lites,
That to the ground it doubleth him full low:

What mortall wight could ever beare fo monftrous blow? 19.

And in his fall his fhield, that covered was,

Did loose his vele by chaunce, and open flew; The light whereof, that hevens light did pas, Such blazing brightneffe through the ayer threw, That eye mote not the fame endure to vew. Which when the Gyaunt fpyde with ftaring eye, He downe let fall his arme, and soft withdrew His weapon huge, that heaved was on hye For to have flain the man, that on the ground did lye.

20.

And eke the fruitfull-headed Beast, amazd

At flashing beames of that sunshiny shield,
Became stark blind, and all his fences dazd,
That downe he tumbled on the durtie field,
And feemd himselfe as conquered to yield.
Whom when his maiftreffe proud perceiv'd to fall,
Whiles yet his feeble feet for faintneffe reeld,
Unto the Gyaunt lowdly she gan call;

"O! helpe, Orgoglio; helpe! or els we perish all.”

21.

At her fo pitteous cry was much amoov'd

Her champion ftout; and for to ayde his frend,
Againe his wonted angry weapon proov'd,

left to him; not his left hand, but his hand left.

Church tells us that

the fol. 1611 has "right hand:" this is a mistake, for, like the 4to. 1590, it reads, "In one alone left hand." C.

aloft he dites.] Aloft he prepares, dights. A. S. dihtan. C.

But all in vaine, for he has redd his end

In that bright fhield, and all their forces fpend
Them felves in vaine: for, fince that glauncing fight,
He hath no powre to hurt, nor to defend.

As where th' Almighties lightning brond does light,
It dimmes the dazed eyen, and daunts the fences quight.

22.

Whom when the Prince, to batteill new addrest
And threatning high his dreadfull ftroke, did fee,
His sparkling blade about his head he bleft,
And fmote off quite his left leg by the knee,
That downe he tombled; as an aged tree,
High growing on the top of rocky clift,

Whose hartstrings with keene steele nigh hewen be;
The mightie trunck, halfe rent with ragged rift,
Doth roll adowne the rocks, and fall with fearefull drift.

23.

Or as a Castle, reared high and round,

By fubtile engins and malitious flight
Is undermined from the lowest ground,
And her foundation forst, and feebled quight,
At last downe falles; and with her heaped hight
Her haftie ruine does more heavie make,
And yields it felfe unto the victours might.
Such was this Gyaunts fall, that seemd to shake
The stedfast globe of earth, as it for feare did quake.

24.

The knight, then lightly leaping to the pray,
With mortall steele him smot againe so fore,
That headleffe his unweldy bodie lay,
All wallowd in his owne fowle bloody gore,

Which flowed from his wounds in wondrous store.

a In that bright shield, and all their forces.] So all the editions. It fhould be "his forces;" Orgoglio's. CHURCH.

But, foone as breath out of his brest did pas, That huge great body, which the Gyaunt bore, Was vanifht quite; and of that monftrous mas Was nothing left, but like an emptie blader was. 25.

Whofe grievous fall when falfe Duessa spyde,
Her golden cup she cast unto the ground,
And crowned mitre rudely threw afyde:

Such percing griefe her stubborne hart did wound, That she could not endure that dolefull stound, But leaving all behind her fled away :

The light-foot Squyre her quickly turnd around, And, by hard meanes enforcing her to stay, So brought unto his Lord as his deserved pray.

26.

The roiall Virgin which beheld from farre,
In penfive plight and fad perplexitie,

The whole atchievement of this doubtfull warre,
Came running fast to greet his victorie,
With fober gladneffe and myld modeftie;
And with fweet joyous cheare him thus bespake;
Fayre braunch of nobleffe, flowre of chevalrie,
That with your worth the world amazed make,
How fhall I quite the paynes ye fuffer for my fake?

27..

"And you, fresh budd of vertue springing fast,
Whom these fad eyes faw nigh unto deaths dore,
What hath poore Virgin for fuch perill past
Wherewith you to reward? Accept therefore
My fimple felfe, and service evermore :
And he that high does fit, and all things fee
With equall eye, their merites to restore,
Behold what ye this day have done for mee,
And what I cannot quite requite with ufuree.