Through her maine ftrength, in which fhe most doth

truft,

She with her bringes into a fecret Ile,
Where in eternall bondage dye he must,
Or be the vaffall of her pleasures vile,

And in all fhamefull fort him felfe with her defile.

51.

"Me, feely wretch, fhe fo at vauntage caught,
After fhe long in waite for me did lye,
And meant unto her prison to have brought,
Her lothfom pleasure there to fatisfye;
That thousand deathes me lever were to dye
Then breake the vow that to faire Columbell
I plighted have, and yet keepe stedfastly.
As for my name, it mistreth not to tell:"
Call me the Squyre of Dames; that me befeemeth well.
52.

"But that bold knight, whom ye pursuing faw
That Geaunteffe, is not fuch as she seemd,
But a faire virgin that in martial law

And deedes of armes above all Dames is deemd,
And above many knightes is eke esteemd
For her great worth: She Palladine is hight.
She

you from death, you me from dread, redeemd; Ne any may that Monster match in fight,

But she, or such as she, that is so chaste a wight."

53.

"Her well befeemes that Queft," (quoth Satyrane) "But read, thou Squyre of Dames, what vow is this, Which thou upon thy felfe haft lately ta'ne?" "That shall I you recount," (quoth he) "ywis,"

mit mistreth not to tell.] It fignifies not, it needs not; Ital. mestiere, need, occafion. UPTON. Properly," it skilleth not to tell." C.

n That shall I you recount, (quoth be) ywis.] The tale of the Squire of Dames is a [brief] copy of the Hoft's tale in Ariofto, C. xxviii. T. WARTON. "Ywis" is certainly: see this vol. p. 92. C.

So be ye pleafd to pardon all amis.

That gentle Lady whom I love and serve,
After long fuit and wearie fervicis,

Did afke me, how I could her love deserve,

And how she might be fure that I would never fwerve?

54.

"I, glad by any meanes her grace to gaine,
Badd her commaund my life to fave or spill.
Eftfoones fhe badd me, with inceffaunt paine
To wander through the world abroad at will,
And every where, where with my power or skill
I might doe fervice unto gentle Dames,

That I the fame fhould faithfully fulfill;

And at the twelve monethes end should bring their

names

And pledges, as the spoiles of my victorious games.

55.

"So well I to faire Ladies fervice did,

And found fuch favour in their loving hartes,
That ere the yeare his courfe had compaffid,
Thre hundred pledges for my good defartes,
And thrice thre hundred thanks for my good partes,
I with me brought, and did to her present:
Which when she faw, more bent to eke my smartes
Then to reward my trusty true intent,

She

gan for me devise a grievous punishment.

56.

"To weet, that I my traveill should resume,
And with like labour walke the world arownd,
Ne ever to her prefence fhould prefume,
Till I fo many other Dames had fownd,
The which, for all the fuit I could propownd,
Would me refuse their pledges to afford,
But did abide for ever chafte and fownd."

"Ah! gentle Squyre," (quoth he) " tell at one word,

How many

fownd'st thou fuch to put in thy record?"

57.

may

tell

"In deed, Sir knight," (faid he) " one word All that I ever fownd fo wifely stayd, For onely three they were difpofd fo well; yeares I now abrode have ftrayd, "Mote I," (then laughing fayd

yet three

And
To fynd them out."

The knight)" inquire of thee what were those three, The which thy proffred curtefie denayd?

Or ill they feemed fure avizd to bee,

Or brutishly brought up, that nev'r did fashions fee." 58.

"The first which then refused me,” (said hee)
"Certes was but a common Courtifane;
Yet flat refufd to have adoe with mee,
Because I could not give her many a Jane."
(Thereat full hartely laughed Satyrane.)
"The fecond was an holy Nunne to chofe,
Which would not let me be her Chappellane,
Because she knew, fhe fayd, I would disclose
Her counsell, if she should her trust in me repose.
59.

"The third a Damzell was of low degree,

Whom I in countrey cottage fownd by chaunce:
Full litle weened I that chastitee

Had lodging in fo meane a maintenaunce;
Yet was the fayre, and in her countenaunce

• give her many a Jane.] So Chaucer, "Rime of Sir Topas," v. 3242: "That coft many a jane." Many a jane, i.e. " much money." Skinner informs us that jane is a coin of Genoa; and Speght, in his Gloffary to Chaucer, interprets " jane" half-pence of Janua [Genoa]. Chaucer fometimes ufes it as a coin of little value; as, "Dear enough a jane,” “Cl. of Oxenford's Tale," v. 2020, and in other places. Stow has given an account of these half-pence [also called "Gallye halfe pence"] at large, "Survey of London," p. 97, edit. 1599, 4to. T. WARTON.

Dwelt fimple truth in feemely fashion.
Long thus I woo'd her with due obfervaunce,
In hope unto my pleasure to have won ;
But was as far at laft, as when I first begon.
60.

"Safe her, I never any woman found

That chastity did for it selfe embrace,
But were for other caufes firme and found;
Either for want of handsome time and place,
Or elfe for feare of shame and fowle difgrace.'
Thus am I hopelesse ever to attaine
My Ladies love in fuch a desperate cafe,

But all my dayes am like to waste in vaine,

Seeking to match the chafte with th' unchafte Ladies

traine."

61.

"Perdy," (fayd Satyrane)" thou Squyre of Dames,
Great labour fondly haft thou hent in hand,
Το get small thankes, and therewith many blames,
That may emongst Alcides labours stand."
Thence backe returning to the former land,
Where late he left the Beast he overcame,
He found him not; for he had broke his band,
And was returnd againe unto his Dame,
To tell what tydings of fayre Florimell became.

"I am of his

P Or else for feare of fhame and fowle difgrace.] In Marston's copy of the 4to. 1590 fome perfon had written in the margin, mind;" which Marfton fatirically fubfcribed quis non? In the next stanza the letter k had dropped out in the word "backe." C.

This gentle Damzell, whom I write upon,
Should plonged be in fuch affliction
Without all hope of comfort or reliefe ;

That fure, I weene, the hardest hart of ftone
Would hardly finde to aggravate her griefe ;
For mifery craves rather mercy then repriefe.

2.

But that accurfed Hag, her hofteffe late,
Had fo enranckled her malitious hart,
That she defyrd th' abridgement of her fate,
Or long enlargement of her painefull smart.
Now when the Beaft, which by her wicked art
Late foorth fhe fent, fhe backe retourning spyde
Tyde with her golden girdle; it a part

a

Tyde with her golden girdle.] So the first edition reads; the reft