CONTENTS.

VOL. II.

BOOK I.

THE LEGEND OF THE KNIGHT OF THE RED CROSSE; OR OF

THE FIRST BOOK OF

THE FAERIE QUEENE

CONTAYNING THE LEGEND OF THE KNIGHT OF THE RED CROSSE, OR OF HOLINESSE.

I.

! GOODLY golden chayne, wherewith yfereb

The vertues linked are in lovely

wize;

And noble mindes of yore allyed

were,

In brave poursuitt of chevalrous

a The knights knitt friendly bands.] So the edit. 1590; but fubfequently "hands was corrupted to bands, and fo Todd and others have printed. That "hands" is right, we have the evidence of Spenser himself, in St. 18 of this Canto, where it is faid,

C.

"And eke, as pledges firme, right hands together joynd." baberewith yfere.] In company, together. Ufed by Chaucer and G.

That none did others fafety defpize,
Nor aid envy to him in need that stands;
But friendly each did others praise devize,
How to advaunce with favourable hands,

As this good Prince redeemd the Redcroffe knight from bands.

2.

Who when their powres, empayrd through labor long,
With dew repaft they had recured well,

And that weake captive wight now wexed ftrong,
Them lift no lenger there at leasure dwell,
But forward fare as their adventures fell:
But, ere they parted, Una faire befought

That ftraunger knight his name and nation tell;
Least so great good, as he for her had wrought,
Should die unknown, and buried be in thankles
thought.

3.

"Faire virgin," (faid the Prince,) "yee me require
A thing without the compas of my witt ;
For both the lignage, and the certein Sire,

с

From which I fprong, from mee are hidden yitt;
For all fo foone as life did me admitt

Into this world, and fhewed hevens light,

From mother's pap I taken was unfitt,
And streight deliver'd to a Fary knight,

To be upbrought in gentle thewes and martiall might.

Douglas. See alfo F. Q. ii. i. 35; ii. ix. 2; iii. vii. 48, &c. So in fere, in company. UPTON. In the fifth line of this Stanza “safety" is, as in many other places and poets, a trifyllable. In the next line "envy" must, as then usual, be accented on the second syllable. C.

and the certein Sire.] A fingular inftance of a modern compofitor's confufion of the long and ƒ: Todd printed fire for " Sire;" but in this mistake he has not been followed. C.

To be upbrought in gentle thewes.] In gentle endowments, qualifi cations, or habits. C.