He nought forgott how he whilome had sworne, In cafe he could that monftrous beast destroy, Unto his Faery Queene backe to retourne; The which he shortly did, and Una left to mourne.

42.

Now, ftrike your failes, yee jolly Mariners,
For we be come unto a quiet rode,

Where we must land fome of our paffengers,
And light this weary veffell of her lode :
Here she a while may make her safe abode,
Till fhe repaired have her tackles spent,
And wants supplide. And then againe abroad
On the long voiage whereto fhe is bent:

Well may she speede, and fairely finish her intent!

IGHT well I wote, moft mighty Soveraine,
That all this famous antique history
Of fome th' aboundance of an ydle braine
Will judged be, and painted forgery,
Rather then matter of juft memory;

Sith none that breatheth living aire does know
Where is that happy land of Faery,

Which I fo much doe vaunt, yet no where fhow,
But vouch antiquities, which no body can know.

2.

But let that man with better fence advize,
That of the world leaft part to us is red;
And daily how through hardy enterprize
Many great Regions are difcovered,
Which to late age were never mentioned.
Who ever heard of th' Indian Peru?
Or who in venturous veffell measured

The Amazon huge river, now found trew?

a The Amazon buge river.] So the errata at the end of the 4to. 1590; but it may be doubted whether Spenfer did not write "The

Or fruitfullest Virginia who did ever vew?

3.

Yet all these were, when no man did them know,
Yet have from wifeft ages hidden beene;

And later times thinges more unknowne shall show. Why then should witleffe man so much misweene, That nothing is but that which he hath feene? What if within the Moones fayre fhining fpheare, What if in every other starre unseene

Of other worldes he happily fhould heare,

He wonder would much more; yet fuch to fome appeare.

4.

Of faery lond yet if he more inquyre,

By certein fignes, here sett in sondrie place,

He

may it fynd; ne let him then admyre,
But yield his fence to bee too blunt and bace,
That no'te without an hound fine footing trace.
And thou, O fayreft Princeffe" under fky!
In this fayre mirrhour maist behold thy face,
And thine owne realmes in lond of Faery,
And in this antique ymage thy great auncestry.

5.

The which O! pardon me thus to enfold

In covert vele, and wrap in fhadowes light,

Amazons huge river," as indeed it ftands in the folio 1611. In the first edit. the text is "The Amarons huge river." C.

And thou, O fayreft Princeffe.] Nobody feems to have remarked that in the edit. 1590" thou" is mifprinted then. We note it particularly, because precifely the fame error occurs in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," A. v. Sc. 1, where Olivia fays, " Then cam'it in fmiling," instead of "Thou cam'ft in smiling ;" an error corrected in the MS. notes of the folio 1632. See Collier's "Shakefp." edit. 1858, vol. ii. p. 722. The blunder in the original impreffion of Spenfer's "Faerie Queene" was corrected afterwards. C.

and wrap in fhadowes light.] So the old copies; the prepofition to being understood before" wrap." Nevertheless, Todd, without notice, printed the participle wrapt; an error in which he has been followed by other modern editors. Profeffor Child, however, in his impreffion, Bofton, 1855, has rejected the fuppofed improvement. C.

That feeble eyes your glory may behold,
Which ells could not endure thofe beames bright,
But would bee dazled with exceeding light.
O! pardon, and vouchfafe with patient eare
The brave adventures of this faery knight,
The good Sir Guyon, gratioufly to heare;

In whom great rule of Temp'raunce goodly doth appeare.

To beene departed out of Eden landes,
To serve againe his foveraine Elfin Queene,
His artes he moves, and out of caytives handes
Himfelfe he frees by fecret meanes unfeene;
His fhackles emptie lefte, himselfe escaped cleene.

2.

And forth he fares, full of malicious mynd,

To worken mischiefe, and avenging woe,
Where ever he that godly knight may fynd,
His onely hart fore, and his onely foe;

a That conning Architect of cancred guyle.] Gregory Nazianzen, it may be observed, denominates, in his tragedy of " Chriftus Patiens," the old Dragon ayxuλourns, fraudis artifex; whence perhaps Spenser's architect of guyle, applied to the fame deceiver, as Milton's artificer of fraud alfo is, " Par. L." B. iv. 121. TODD.