1.

HAT man is he, that boafts of fleshly might

And vaine affuraunce of mortality,

Which, all fo foone as it doth come to
fight

Against fpirituall foes, yields by and by,
Or from the fielde moft cowardly doth fly!
Ne let the man afcribe it to his skill,
That thorough grace hath gained victory :
If any ftrength we have, it is to ill;

But all the good is Gods, both power and eke will.

2.

By that which lately hapned Una faw

That this her knight was feeble, and too faint;
And all his finewes woxen weake and raw,
Through long enprisonment, and hard constraint,
Which he endured in his late restraint,

That yet he was unfitt for bloody fight.
Therefore, to cherish him with diets daint,

She caft to bring him where he chearen might," Till he recovered had his late decayed plight.

3.

There was an auncient house nor far away,
Renowmd throughout the world for facred lore
And pure unspotted life: fo well, they say,
It governd was, and guided evermore,
Through wifedome of a matrone grave and hore;
Whose onely joy was to relieve the needes

Of wretched foules, and helpe the helpeleffe pore:
All night she spent in bidding of her bedes,
And all the day in doing good, and godly deedes.

4.

Dame Cælia men did her call, as thought

From heaven to come, or thether to arise;
The mother of three daughters, well upbrought
In goodly thewes, and godly exercise :
The eldest two, most sober, chaft, and wife,
Fidelia and Speranza, virgins were ;

Though spousd, yet wanting wedlocks folemnize;
But faire Chariffa to a lovely fereb

Was lincked, and by him had many pledges dere.

5.

Arrived there, the dore they find fast lockt;

For it was warely watched night and day,

For feare of many foes; but, when they knockt,
The Porter opened unto them ftreight way.

where be chearen might.] To" cheer," or "chear," is generally ufed as a tranfitive verb, and we do not recollect any other instance where it occurs in a neuter sense. Upton fuggests that these "diets daint” of the poet are the ἑστιάσεις λόγων καλῶν of Plato, which Cicero tranflates epulæ fermonum bonorum. C.

b But faire Chariffa to a lovely fere.] Fere is here employed for bufband, as in Chaucer it is used for wife. See "Tr. and Cr." B. iv. 791, edit. Urr. TODD. It also means a companion, or associate, in the general sense of those words, from A. S. fera. C.

He was an aged fyre, all hory gray,

With lookes full lowly caft, and gate full flow,
Wont on a staffe his feeble fteps to stay,

Hight Humilta. They paffe in, ftouping low

For ftreight and narrow was the way which he did show.

6.

Each goodly thing is hardeft to begin;

But, entred in, a fpatious court they fee,

Both plaine and pleasaunt to be walked in;
Where them does meete a francklin faire and free,
And entertaines with comely courteous glee;
His name was Zele, that him right well became :
For in his fpeaches and behaveour hee

Did labour lively to expreffe the fame,

And gladly did them guide, till to the Hall they came.

7.

There fayrely them receives a gentle Squyre,
Of myld demeanure and rare courtesee,
Right cleanly clad in comely fad attyre;
In word and deede that fhewd great modeftee,
And knew his good to all of each degree,
Hight Reverence. He them with speaches meet
Does faire entreat; no courting nicetee,
But fimple, trew, and eke unfained sweet,

Where them does meete a francklin faire and free.] “A francklin ” is a perfon of fome distinction in our ancient history. He makes a confpicuous figure in Chaucer; and his manners bespeak his wealth. Mr. Tyrwhitt cites, from Fortefcue de Leg. Angl. c. 29, the following defcription of a franklain: "Pater familias-magnis ditatus poffeffionibus:" and the learned critic adds, that the franklin "is claffed with, but after, the Miles and Armiger; and is diftinguished from the libere tenentes and Valecti; though, as it should seem, the only real diftinction between him and other Freeholders confifted in the largeness of his eftate." Tyrwhitt's "Chaucer," 2nd. edit. vol. ii. p. 402. The wealthiness of this country gentleman is also marked by a circumstance in Shakespeare," K. Henry IV." P. i. A. ii. Sc. 1, "There's a franklin in the wild of Kent, hath brought three hundred marks with him in gold." TODD.

As might become a Squyre fo great perfons to greet.

8.

And afterwardes them to his Dame he leades,
That aged Dame, the Lady of the place,
Who all this while was bufy at her beades;
Which doen, she up arose with feemely grace,
And toward them full matronely did pace.
Where, when that fairest Una she beheld,
Whom well she knew to fpring from hevenly race,
Her heart with joy unwonted inly fweld,
As feeling wondrous comfort in her weaker eld:

9.

And, her embracing, faid; "O happy earth,
Whereon thy innocent feet doe ever tread!
Moft vertuous virgin, borne of hevenly berth,
That, to redeeme thy woefull parents head
From tyrans rage and ever-dying dread,
Haft wandred through the world now long a day,
Yett ceaffeft not thy weary foles to lead ;

What grace hath thee now hether brought this way Or doen thy feeble feet unweeting hether stray?

10.

"Straunge thing it is an errant knight to fee
Here in this place; or any other wight,
That hether turnes his fteps. So few there bee,
That chose the narrow path, or feeke the right:
All keepe the broad high way, and take delight
With many rather for to goe aftray,

And be partakers of their evill plight,

dfo great perfons to greet.] Todd tells us that "the fecond folio," i. e. that of 1611, reads perfons fo great to greet; and he goes on to argue in favour of the original text, as we have printed it. It is all labour thrown away; for the folio 1611, like the 4tos. 1590 and 1596, has "fo great perfons to greet." C.

Then with a few to walke the rightest way.
O foolish men! why haft ye to your own decay?"

II.

"Thy felfe to fee, and tyred limbes to rest,

O matrone fage," (quoth fhe) "I hether came;
And this good knight his way with me addrest,
Ledd with thy prayses, and broad-blazed fame,
That up to heven is blowne." The auncient Dame
Him goodly greeted in her modest guyse,

And enterteynd them both, as best became,
With all the court'fies that she could devyfe,
Ne wanted ought to fhew her bounteous or wife.

12.

Thus as they gan of fondrie thinges devise,
Loe! two most goodly virgins came in place,
Ylinked arme in arme in lovely wife:

With countenance demure, and modeft grace,
They numbred even steps and equall pace;
Of which the eldeft, that Fidelia hight,

Like funny beames threw from her christall face
That could have dazd the rafh beholders fight,
And round about her head did shine like hevens light.
13.

She was araied all in lilly white,

And in her right hand bore a cup of gold,
With wine and water fild up to the hight,
In which a Serpent did himselfe enfold,
That horrour made to all that did behold;

But she no whitt did chaunge her constant mood:
And in her other hand she fast did hold

A booke, that was both fignd and seald with blood; Wherein darke things were writt, hard to be understood.

14.

Her younger fifter, that Speranza hight,

Was clad in blew, that her befeemed well;