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XIX.

The Wifard could no longer bear her bord,
But bursting forth in laughter, to her faid;
Glaucé, what needs this coulorable word,
To cloke the caufe, that hath it felf bewrayd?
Ne ye fair Britomartis, thus arrayd,

More hidden are, than fun in cloudy veil;
Whom thy good fortune, having fate obeyd,
Hath hither brought for fuccour to appeale :
The which the powres to thee are pleased to reveale.
XX.

The doubtful maid, feeing her felf defcryde,
Was all abafht, and her pure ivory
Into a clear carnation fuddain dyde;
As fair Aurora rifing haftily,

Doth by her blufhing tell, that fhe did ly
All night in old Tithonus frozen bed,
Whereof fhe feems afhamed inwardly.

But her old Nurfe was nought difheartened,
But vantage made of that, which Merlin had ared.

XXI.

1

And faid, fith then thou knoweft all our grief,
(For what doft not thou know?) of grace I pray,
Pity our plaint and yield us meet relief.
With that, the Prophet ftill awhile did stay,
And then his fpirit thus 'gan forth difplay;
Most noble virgin, that by fatal lore

Haft learn'd to love, let no whit thee dismay
The hard begin, that meets thee in the dore,
And with fharp fits thy tender heart oppreffeth fore.
XXII.

For fo must all things excellent begin,

And eke enrooted deep must be that tree,
Whose big embodied branches fhall not lin,
Till they to heavens height forth ftretched be.
For from thy womb a famous progeny
Shall fpring out of the ancient Trojan blood,
Which fhall revive the fleeping memory

Of those fame antique peers, the heavens brood, Which Greek and Afian rivers ftain'd with their blood.

XXIII.

Renowned Kings, and facred Emperors,

Thy fruitful ofspring, fhall from thee defcend;
Brave captains, and moft mighty warriors,
That fhall their conquefts through all lands extend,
And their decayed kingdoms all amend:
The feeble Britons, broken with long war,
They fhall uprear and mightily defend

Against their foreign foe, that comes from far,
Till univerfal peace compound all civil jar.
XXIV.

It was not, Britomart, thy wandring eye,

Glauncing unwares in charmed looking-glafs,
But the straight courfe of heavenly destiny,
Led with eternal providence, that has
Guided thy glaunce, to bring his will to pass:
Ne is thy fate, ne is thy fortune ill,

To love the prowest Knight, that ever was.
Therefore fubmit thy ways unto his will,
And do by all due means thy deftiny fulfill.
XXV.

But read, faid Glaucé, thou magician

What means fhall fhe out-feek, or what ways take?
How fhall fhe know, how fhail fhe find the man?
Or what needs her to toil, fith fates can make
Way for themselves, their purpose to partake?)
Then Merlin thus; Indeed the fates are firm,

And may not shrink, though all the world do fhake:
Yet ought mens good endeavours them confirm,
And guide the heavenly causes to their constant term.
XXVI.

The man, whom heavens have ordain'd to be
The spouse of Britomart, is Arthegal:
He wonneth in the land of Fayërie,
Yet is no Fairy born, ne fib at all
To Elfes, but fprung of feed tereftriall,
And whilome by falfe Fairies ftoln away,
Whiles yet in infant cradle he did crall ;
Ne other to himself is known this day,
But that he by an Elf was gotten of a Fay,

XXVII.

But footh he is the fon of Gorlois,

And brother unto Cador Cornish king,
And for his warlike feats renowned is,

From where the day out of the fea doth spring,
Until the closure of the evening.

From thence, him firmly bound with faithful band,
To this his native foil thou back fhalt bring,
Strongly to aid his country, to withstand

The powre of foreign Paynims, which invade thy land.
XXVIII.

Great aid thereto his mighty puissance,

And dreaded name, fhall give in that fad day :
Where alfo proof of thy prow valiance

Thou then fhalt make, t'encreafe thy Lovers prey:
Long time ye both in arms fhall bear great fway,
Till thy wombs burden thee from them do call,
And his laft fate him from thee take away,
Too rathe cut off by practice criminall

Of fecret foes, that him shall make in mischief fall.
XXIX.

Where thee yet fhall he leave, for memory,
Of his late puiffance, his image dead,
That living him in all activity

To thee fhall reprefent. He from the head
Of his coufin Conftantius without dread

Shall take the crown, that was his fathers right,
And therewith crown himself in th' others ftead:
Then fhall he iffue forth with dreadful might,
Against his Saxon foes in bloody field to fight,
XXX.

Like as a Lyon, that in drowfie cave

Hath long time flept, himself fo fhall he shake;
And coming forth, fhall fpread his banner brave
Over the troubled fouth, that it fhall make
The warlike Mertians for fear to quake:

Thrice fhall he fight with them, and twice fhall win,
But the third time fhall fair accordance make:
And if he then with victory can lin,

He shall his days with peace bring to his earthly Inn.

XXXI.

His fon, hight Vortipore, fhall him fucceed
In kingdom, but not in felicity:

Yet fhall he long time war with happy speed,
And with great honour many battles try:
But at the last, to th' importunity
Of froward fortune fhall be forft to yield.
But his fon Malgo fhall full mightily

Avenge his fathers lofs, with fpear and fhield,
And his proud foes difcomfit in victorious field.
XXXII.

Behold the man, and tell me Britomart,
If ay more goodly creature thou didst fee;
How like a Giant in each manly part
Bears he himself with portly majeftee,
That one of th'old Heroës seems to be:
He the fix Islands comprovinciall
In antient times unto great Britannee,
Shall to the fame reduce, and to him call
Their fundry kings to do their homage severall.
XXXIII.

All which his fon Careticus awhile

Shall well defend, and Saxons powre suppress,
Untill a ftranger King from unknown foil
Arriving, him with multitude oppress;
Great Gormond, having with huge mightiness
Ireland fubdued, and therein fixt his throne,
Like a swift Otter, fell through emptiness,
Shall overswim the fea with many one
Of his Norveyfes, to affift the Britons fone.
XXXIV.

He in his fury all fhall over-run,

And holy church with faithless hands deface, That thy fad people utterly fordone, Shall to the utmost mountains fly apace, Was never fo great wafte in any place, Nor fo foul outrage done by living men; For all thy cities they fhall fack and rafe, And the green grafs that groweth, they fhall bren, That even the wild beaft fhall die in ftarved den.

XXXV.

Whiles thus the Britons do in languor pine,
Proud Etheldred fhall from the north arife,
Serving th' ambitious will of Auguftine;
And paffing Dee with hardy enterprise,
Shall back repulse the valiant Brockwell twice,
And Bangor with maffacred martyrs fill;
But the third time fhall rue his foolhardife:
For Cadwan, pitying his peoples ill,

Shall ftoutly him defeat, and thousand Saxons kill.
XXXVI.

But after him, Cadwallin mightily

On his fon Edwin all thofe wrongs fhall wreak; Ne fhall avail the wicked forcery

Of falle Pellite, his purposes to break,
But him fhall flay, and on a gallows bleak
Shall give th'enchaunter his unhappy hire:
Then fhall the Britons, late difmayd and weak,
From their long vaffalage 'gin to refpire,
And on their Paynim foes avenge their rankled ire.
XXXVII.

Ne fhall he yet his wrath fo mitigate,
Till both the fons of Edwin he have flain,
Offrick and Ofrick, twins unfortunate,
Both flain in battle upon Layburn plain,
Together with the King of Louthiane,
Hight Adin, and the King of Orkeny,
Both joint partakers of the fatal pain :
But Penda, fearful of like deftiny,

Shall yield himself his liege-man, and fwear fealty.
XXXVIII.

Him fhall he make his fatal inftrument,

T' afflict the other Saxons unfubdu'd; He marching forth with fury infolent Against the good King Ofwald, who indu'd With heavenly powre, and by Angels resku'd, All holding croffes in their hands on high, Shall him defeat withouten blood imbru'd Of which, that field for endless memory, Shall Heavenfield be call'd to all posterity.

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