sound which a mind that has been nourished upon musical thoughts can produce by a just and harmonious arrangement of the pauses of this measure.' (Preface to The Revolt of Islam.)

THE KNIGHT OF THE REDCROSS.

(From The Faery Queen, Book I., Canto i.)

1. A gentle Knight was pricking on the plain,
Yclad in mighty arms and silver shield,
Wherein old dints of deep wounds did remain
The cruel marks of many a bloody field;
Yet arms till that time did he never wield:
His
angry steed did chide his foaming bit,
As much disdaining to the curb to yield :
Full jolly knight he seemed, and fair did sit,
As one for knightly justs and fierce encounters fit.

2. And on his breast a bloody cross he bore,
The dear remembrance of his dying Lord,
For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead as living ever him adored:

Upon his shield the like was also scored,

For sovereign hope, which in his help he had :
Right faithful true he was in deed and word,
But of his cheer did seem too solemn sad;
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.

NOTES.

1. A gentle Knight. The Knight of the Redcross is a personification of holiness, representing the Christian in arms against the enemies of the faith. More particularly, he is a representative Englishman of Spenser's time, zealous for the doctrines of the Reformers, and hostile to the Church of Rome.-Yclad, shews the old prefix of the p.part. ge reduced to y. Cf. 2, ‘ydrad' (dreaded). The knight is clad in 'the armour of a Christian man specified by Saint Paul,' Ephes. vi. 13—17.—Old dints. The same armour had been battered by foes ever since the Christian

religion was published.—Jolly, Fr.

joli, handsome, and thus excellent, capable. Justs, or 'jousts,' encounters on horseback with lances, as in tournaments.

2. And dead &c. That is: ' and (though He was) dead, ever adored Him as (always) living.'- -Right faithful true, right faithful and true, or right faithfully true. Cf. (below) 'solemn sad.' Tautology in both cases. 'Right' is adv. Compare 'full' above: 'full jolly.'-Cheer, countenance, aspect. -Solemn sad, solemnly grave. 'Sad' is lit. set, settled, fixed, hence heavy, serious, melancholy, grave.

COMBAT

BETWEEN THE REDCROSS KNIGHT AND A SARACEN.

(From The Faery Queen, Book I., Canto ii.)

15. The knight of the Redcross, when him he spied Spurring so hot with rage dispiteous,

Gan fairly couch his spear and towards ride: Soon meet they both, both fell and furious, That daunted with their forces hideous, Their steeds do stagger, and amazèd stand, And eke themselves, too rudely rigorous, Astonied with the stroke of their own hand, Do back rebut, and each to other yieldeth land.

16. As when two rams, stirred with ambitious pride,
Fight for the rule of the rich-fleecèd flock,
Their horned fronts so fierce on either side
Do meet that with the terror of the shock
Astonied both stand senseless as a block,
Forgetful of the hanging victory:

So stood these twain, unmovèd as a rock,
Both staring fierce, and holding idely
The broken relics of their former cruelty.

17. The Sarazin, sore daunted with the buff,

Snatcheth his sword, and fiercely to him flies;
Who well it wards and quiteth cuff with cuff:
Each other's equal puissance envíes,
And through their iron sides with cruel spies
Does seek to pierce; repining courage yields
No foot to foe. The flashing fier flies,

As from a forge, out of their burning shields,
And streams of purple blood new dyes the verdant fields.

18. Curse on that Cross,' quoth then the Sarazin,

'That keeps thy body from the bitter fit;

Dead long ago I wot thou haddest bin,
Had not that charm from thee forwarnèd it:
But yet I warn thee now assurèd sit,

8. Who, when they heard that piteous strainèd voice,
In haste forsook their rural merriment,
And ran towards the far rebounded noise,
To weet what wight so loudly did lament.
Unto the place they come incontinent :
Whom when the raging Saracen espied,
A rude, misshapen, monstrous rabblement,
Whose like he never saw, he durst not bide,
But got his ready steed, and fast away gan ride.

9. The wild wood gods, arrived in the place,
There find the virgin doleful desolate,
With ruffled garments and fair blubbered face,
As her outrageous foe had left her late,
And trembling yet through fear of former hate :
All stand amazèd at so uncouth sight,
And gin to pity her unhappy state ;
All stand astonied at her beauty bright,

In their rude eyes unworthy of so woeful plight.

10. She, more amazed, in double dread doth dwell,
And every tender part for fear does shake:
As when a greedy wolf, through hunger fell,
A silly lamb far from the flock does take,
Of whom he means his bloody feast to make,
A lion spies fast running towards him,
The innocent prey in haste he does forsake,
Which, quit from death, yet quakes in every limb
With change of fear to see the lion look so grim.

11. Such fearful fit assayed her trembling heart;
Ne word to speak, ne joint to move she had :
The salvage nation feel her secret smart,
And read her sorrow in her countenance sad;
Their frowning foreheads with rough horns yclad
And rustic horror all aside do lay ;

And, gently grinning, shew a semblance glad
To comfort her, and, fear to put away,

Their backward bent knees teach her humbly to obey.

intens.) and wæran (ward, defend).

-Rigour, stiffness, a firm blow. -Outrageous, extraordinary: from outrage (Eng. and Fr.), from Fr. outre, Lat, ultra (beyond). For the loss of 7, cf. 'haughty' (19).Share, piece sheared or cut off.It, the Saracen's sword, not already mentioned, but implied in 'he smit.' Cf. 19 (4).--Blame, harm, hurt.Blest, delivered, left safe. 19. Who, the Redcross Knight. Native, innate, inborn.--Virtue, valour; lit. manliness, for Lat. virtus

comes from vir (man).--Eftsoones, soon after, forthwith. Eft' = aft, after. The genitive termination appears in es: cf. unawares, forwards, &c.- -Haughty, from Fr.haut (high), Lat. altus. Spenser has the shorter form 'haught,' which he spells also hault (the O. Fr. form).- -Making mark, taking aim.-Mother earth. The earth was regarded, in the Greek mythology, as the producer and nourisher of all.-Grudging ghost, spirit or soul grumbling or unwilling to leave the body.

Observe the melody, and consider especially the effect of the frequent alliteration and of the alexandrine closing each stanza.

UNA AMONG THE SATYRS.

(From The Faery Queen, Book I., Canto vi.)

[UNA represents Truth, or the true Reformed Church. She accompanied the Redcross Knight when he set out upon his adventures, but has been separated from him; and while now seeking him anxiously, she is overtaken by a fierce Saracen, named Sansloy (without law, lawless).]

6. The piteous maiden, careful, comfortless,
Does throw out thrilling shrieks and shrieking cries,
The last vain help of women's great distress,
And with loud plaints importuneth the skies,
That molten stars do drop like weeping eyes,
And Phoebus flying so most shameful sight,
His blushing face in foggy cloud implies,
And hides for shame. What wit of mortal wight
Can now devise to quit a thrall from such a plight?

7. Eternal providence exceeding thought,
Where none appears, can make herself a way:
A wondrous way it for this lady wrought,
From lion's claws to pluck the gripèd prey.
Her shrill outcries and shrieks so loud did bray
That all the woods and forests did resound:
A troop of Fauns and Satyrs far away
Within the wood were dancing in a round,
Whiles old Sylvanus slept in shady arbour sound:

8. Who, when they heard that piteous strainèd voice,
In haste forsook their rural merriment,
And ran towards the far rebounded noise,
To weet what wight so loudly did lament.
Unto the place they come incontinent:
Whom when the raging Saracen espied,
A rude, misshapen, monstrous rabblement,
Whose like he never saw, he durst not bide,
But got his ready steed, and fast away gan ride.

9. The wild wood gods, arrived in the place,
There find the virgin doleful desolate,

With ruffled garments and fair blubbered face,
As her outrageous foe had left her late,
And trembling yet through fear of former hate:
All stand amazèd at so uncouth sight,
And gin to pity her unhappy state;
All stand astonied at her beauty bright,

In their rude eyes unworthy of so woeful plight.

10. She, more amazed, in double dread doth dwell,
And every tender part for fear does shake:
As when a greedy wolf, through hunger fell,
A silly lamb far from the flock does take,
Of whom he means his bloody feast to make,
A lion spies fast running towards him,
The innocent prey in haste he does forsake,
Which, quit from death, yet quakes in every
With change of fear to see the lion look so grim.

limb

11. Such fearful fit assayed her trembling heart;
Ne word to speak, ne joint to move she had :
The salvage nation feel her secret smart,
And read her sorrow in her countenance sad;
Their frowning foreheads with rough horns yclad
And rustic horror all aside do lay;

And, gently grinning, shew a semblance glad
To comfort her, and, fear to put away,

Their backward bent knees teach her humbly to obey.