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54.

But gentle Sleepe envyde him any rest:
In ftead thereof fad forow and difdaine
Of his hard hap did vexe his noble brest,
And thousand Fancies bett his ydle brayne

With their light wings, the fights of femblants vaine.
Oft did he wish that Lady faire mote bee

His Faery Queene, for whom he did complaine, Or that his Faery Queene were fuch as shee; And ever hafty Night he blamed bitterlie.

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55.

Night! thou foule Mother of annoyaunce fad,
Sifter of heavie death, and nourse of woe,

Which waft begot in heaven, but for thy bad
And brutish shape thrust downe to hell below,
Where, by the grim floud of Cocytus flow,
Thy dwelling is in Herebus black hous,
(Black Herebus, thy husband, is the foe
Of all the Gods,) where thou ungratious
Halfe of thy dayes doeft lead in horrour hideous.
56.

"What had th' eternall Maker need of thee
The world in his continuall courfe to keepe,
That doest all thinges deface, ne lettest see
The beautie of his worke? Indeed, in fleepe
The flouthfull body that doth love to steep
His luftleffe limbes, and drowne his bafer mind,
Doth praise thee oft, and oft from Stygian deepe
Calles thee his goddesse, in his errour blind,
And great Dame Natures handmaide chearing every

kind.

57.

"But well I wote, that to an heavy hart

Thou art the roote and nourfe of bitter cares,

Breeder of new, renewer of old smarts:

m

In stead of reft thou lendest rayling teares ;'
In ftead of fleepe thou fendeft troublous feares
And dreadfull vifions, in the which alive
The dreary image of fad death appeares :
So from the wearie fpirit thou doest drive
Defired reft, and men of happineffe deprive.
58.

"Under thy mantle black there hidden lye
Light-fhonning thefte, and traiterous intent,
Abhorred bloodfhed, and vile felony,
Shamefull deceipt, and daunger imminent,
Fowle horror, and eke hellish dreriment:
All these, I wote, in thy protection bee,
And light doe fhonne for feare of being fhent;
For light ylike is loth'd of them and thee;
And all that lewdneffe love doe hate the light to fee.
59.

"For day discovers all dishoneft wayes,

And fheweth each thing as it is in deed:
The prayfes of high God he faire displayes,
And his large bountie rightly doth areed:
Dayes dearest children be the blessed feed"
Which darknesse shall subdue and heaven win:
Truth is his daughter; he her first did breed
Most sacred virgin without spot of finne.
Our life is day, but death with darknesse doth begin.
60.

"O! when will day then turne to me againe,

m thou lendeft rayling teares.] Tears trickling down. See the note on raile, F. Q. i. vi. 43. [vol. i. p. 279.] TODD.

n

Dayes dearest children be the bleffed feed.] This is the emendation of the fecond edition, to which every subsequent one has adhered. The first reads,

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We adopt the change (which may have been Spenfer's), as an improvement both of the meaning and metre: the line as it flood originally was harsh and uncouth. C.

And bring with him his long expected light?
O Titan! haft to reare thy joyous waine;
Speed thee to fpred abroad thy beames bright,
And chace away this too long lingring night;
Chace her away, from whence fhe came, to hell:
She, fhe it is, that hath me done despight:
There let her with the damned fpirits dwell,

And yield her rowme to day that can it governe well."

61.

Thus did the Prince that wearie night outweare
In restleffe anguish and unquiet paine;

And earely, ere the morrow did upreare
His deawy head out of the Ocean maine,
He up arofe, as halfe in great difdaine,

And clombe unto his fteed. So forth he went
With heavy looke and lumpish pace, that plaine
In him bewraid great grudge and maltalent:°
His steed eke feemd t' apply his fteps to his intent.

great grudge and maltalent.] Ill-will, or spleen. So Sorrow is defcribed tearing her hair, in Chaucer's "Rom. R.” 330:—

"As fhe that had it all to rent

"For angre and for male talent."

So malenthalenté, in old French, fignifies an ill-minded perfon. See Cotgrave's Dict. in V. TODD. The word alfo occurs, as Richardfon fhows, in "The Merchants Second Tale," imputed to Chaucer; but Chaucer and Spenser seem the only writers in whose works it has been yet found. C.

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way

I.

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ONDER it is to fee in diverfe mindes

How diverfly love doth his

play,

pageaunts

And fhewes his powre in variable kindes :
The bafer wit, whofe ydle thoughts al-

Are wont to cleave unto the lowly clay,
It stirreth up to fenfuall defire,

And in lewd flouth to waft his careleffe day;
But in brave sprite it kindles goodly fire,
That to all high defert and honour doth aspire.

2.

Ne fuffereth it uncomely idleneffe

In his free thought to build her fluggish neft,
Ne fuffereth it thought of ungentleneffe
Ever to creepe into his noble breft;

But to the highest and the worthieft

and reareth out of found.] "Sownd" is one of the various old and arbitrary forms of woon: here the rhyme required it. C.

Lifteth it up that els would lowly fall:

It lettes not fall, it lettes it not to rest;

It lettes not scarfe this Prince to breath at all, But to his first poursuit him forward still doth call.

3.

Who long time wandred through the forest wyde
To finde fome iffue thence; till that at laft
He met a Dwarfe that seemed terrifyde
With fome late perill which he hardly paft,
Or other accident which him aghast;
Of whom he asked, whence he lately came,
And whether now he traveiled fo faft?

For fore he swat, and, ronning through that same Thicke forest, was befcracht and both his feet nigh lame.

4.

Panting for breath, and almost out of hart,

The Dwarfe him anfwerd; "Sir, ill mote I stay
To tell the fame: I lately did depart

From Faery court, where I have many a day
Served a gentle Lady of great fway

And high accompt through out all Elfin land,
Who lately left the fame, and tooke this way.
Her now I feeke; and if ye understand

Which way the fared hath, good Sir, tell out of hand."

5.

"What mister wight," (faide he)" and how arayd?”

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Royally clad" (quoth he) " in cloth of gold,

As meetest may befeeme a noble mayd :

Her faire lockes in rich circlet be enrold,

A fayrer wight did never Sunne behold;

And on a Palfrey rydes more white then snow,
Yet fhe her felfe is whiter manifold.

b till that at last.] So the 4tos. 1590 and 1596. The folios read, "till at the laft." CHURCH.

What mister wight.] What manner of perfon: fee this vol. p. 9. C.

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