Regard of worldly mucke doth fowly blend,

And low abase the high heroicke spright,

That ioyes for crownes and kingdomes to contend; Faire shields, gay steedes, bright armes, be my delight;

Those be the riches fit for an advent'rous knight."

XI.

"Vaine glorious Elfe," saide he, "doest not thou weet,

That money can thy wantes at will supply?

Shields, steeds, and armes, and all things for thee meet,

It can purvay in twinckling of an eye;

And crownes and kingdomes to thee multiply.
Doe not I kings create, and throw the crowne
Sometimes to him that low in dust doth ly,

And him that raignd into his rowme thrust downe, And whom I lust do heape with glory and renowne?"

XII.

"All otherwise," saide he, "I riches read,
And deeme them roote of all disquietnesse;

First got with guile, and then preserv'd with dread,
And after spent with pride and lavishnesse,
Leaving behind them griefe and heavinesse:
Infinite mischiefes of them doe arize;

Strife and debate, bloodshed and bitternesse,
Outrageous wrong and hellish covetize,
That noble heart, in great dishonour, doth despize.

XIII.

"Ne thine be Kingdomes, ne the scepters thine; But realmes and rules thou doest both confound, And loyall truth to treason doest incline: Witnesse the guiltlesse blood pourd oft on ground;

The crowned often slaine; the slayer cround;
The sacred diademe in peeces rent,

And purple robe gored with many a wound,
Castles surprizd, great cities sackt and brent:

So mak'st thou kings, and gaynest wrongfull government!

XIV.

"Long were to tell the troublous stormes that tosse
The private state, and make the life unsweet:
Who swelling sayles in Caspian sea doth crosse,
And in frayle wood on Adrian gulf doth fleet,
Doth not, I weene, so many evils meet."

Then Mammon wexing wroth: "And why then," sayd,

"Are mortall men so fond and undiscreet

So evill thing to seeke unto their ayd;

And having not, complaine, and having it, upbrayd?"

XIX.

"Me list not," said the Elfin Knight, “ receave Thing offred, till I know it well be gott; Ne wote I but thou didst these goods bereave From rightfull owner by unrighteous lott, Or that blood-guiltinesse or guile them blott." "Perdy," quoth he, "yet never eie did vew, Ne tong did tell, ne hand these handled not; But safe I have them kept in secret mew From hevens sight and powre of al which them poursew."

XX.

"What secret place," quoth he, "

can safely hold So huge a masse, and hide from heavens eie?

Or where hast thou thy wonne, that so much gold Thou canst preserve from wrong and robbery?"

"Come thou," quoth he, "and see." So by and by Through that thick covert he him led, and fownd A darksome way, which no man could descry, That deep descended through the hollow grownd, And was with dread and horror compassed arownd.

XXI.

At length they came into a larger space,
That strecht itselfe into an ample playne;
Through which a beaten broad high way did trace
That streight did lead to Plutoes griesly rayne:
By that wayes side there sate infernall Payne,
And fast beside him sat tumultuous Strife;
The one in hand an yron whip did strayne,
The other brandished a bloody knife;

And both did gnash their teeth, and both did threten
Life.

XXII.

On th other side in one consórt there sate
Cruell Revenge, and rancorous Despight,
Disloyall Treason, and hart-burning Hate;
But gnawing Gealosy, out of their sight
Sitting alone, his bitter lips did bight;
And trembling Feare still to and fro did fly,
And found no place wher safe he shroud him might:
Lamenting Sorrow did in darknes lye;

And Shame his ugly face did hide from living eye.

XXIII.

And over them sad Horror with grim hew
Did alwaies sore, beating his yron wings;
And after him owles and night-ravens flew,
The hatefull messengers of heavy things,

Of death and dolor telling sad tidings;
Whiles sad Celeno, sitting on a clifte,
A song of bale and bitter sorrow sings,
That hart of flint a sonder could have rifte;
Which having ended, after him she flyeth swifte.

XXIV.

All these before the gates of Pluto lay;
By whom they passing spake unto them nought;
But th' Elfin Knight with wonder all the way
Did feed his eyes, and fild his inner thought.
At last him to a litle dore he brought,
That to the gate of hell, which gaped wide,
Was next adiogning, ne them parted ought:
Betwixt them both was but a litle stride,

That did the house of Richesse from hell-mouth divide.

XXV.

Before the dore sat selfe-consuming Care,
Day and night keeping wary watch and ward,
For feare least Force or Fraud should unaware
Breake in, and spoile the treasure there in gard:
Ne would he suffer Sleepe once thether-ward
Approch, albe his drowsy den were next;
For next to Death is Sleepe to be compard;
Therefore his house is unto his annext:

Here Sleepe, there Richesse, and Hel-gate them both betwext.

XXVI.

So soone as Mammon there arrivd, the dore
To him did open, and affoorded way:

Him followed eke Sir Guyon evermore;

Ne darknesse him, ne daunger might dismay.

Soone as he entred was, the dore streight way Did shutt, and from behind it forth there lept An ugly feend, more fowle than dismall day; The which with monstrous stalke behind him stept, And ever as he went dew watch upon him kept.

XXVIII.

That houses forme within was rude and strong,
Lyke an huge cave hewne out of rocky clifte,
From whose rough vaut the ragged breaches hong
Embost with massy gold of glorious guifte,
And with rich metall loaded every rifte,
That heavy ruine they did seeme to threatt;

And over them Arachne high did lifte

Her cunning web, and spred her subtile nett, Enwrapped in fowle smoke and clouds more black then iett.

XXIX.

Both roofe, and floore, and walls, were all of gold,
But overgrown with dust and old decay,

And hid in darknes, that none could behold
The hew thereof: for vew of cherefull day
Did never in that house it selfe display,
But a faint shadow of uncertein light;

Such as a lamp, whose life does fade away;
Or as the moone, cloathed with clowdy night,

Does shew to him that walks in feare, and sad affright.

XXX.

In all that rowme was nothing to be seene
But huge great yron chests, and coffers strong,
All bard with double bends, that none could weene
Them to efforce by violence or wrong;