Ah! faireft Lady-Knight, faid Paridell,
Pardon (I pray) my heedlefs over-fight,
Who had forgot, that whylome I heard tell
From aged Mnemon; for my wits been light.
Indeed he said, if I remember right,
That of the antique Trojan stock, there grew
Another plant, that raught to wondrous height,
And far abroad his mighty branches threw,
Into the utmost angle of the world he knew.
XLVIII.
For that fame Brute (whom much he did advance
In all his fpeech) was Sylvius his fon,
Whom having flain, through luckless arrows glance,
He fled for fear of that he had mifdone,
Or else for fhame, fo foul reproach to fhone;
And with him led to fea a youthly train,
Where weary wandring they long time did wonne,
And many fortunes prov'd in th'Ocean main,
And great adventures found, that now were long to fayn.
XLIX.
At laft by fatal course they driven were
Into an Inland fpacious and broad,
The furtheft north that did to them appear:
And (after reft they feeking far abroad)
Found it the fitteft foil for their abode;
Fruitful of all things fit for living food,
But wholly wafte, and void of peoples trode,
Save an huge nation of the Giants brood,
That fed on living flesh, and drunk mens vital blood.
Whom he through weary wars and labours long,
Subdu'd with lofs of many Britons bold:
In which, the great Goëmagot of ftrong
Corineus, and Coulin of Debon old
Were overthrown, and laid on th'earth full cold,
Which quaked under their fo hideous mafs:
A famous hiftory to be enrold
In everlasting monuments of brafs,
That all the antique worthies merits far did pafs.
His work, great Troynouant, his work is eke
Fair Lincoln, both renowned far away,
That who from east to west will end-long feek,
Cannot two fairer cities find this day,
Except Cleopolis: fo heard I fay
Old Mnemon. Therefore fir, I greet you well
Your country kin, and you entirely pray
Of pardon for the ftrife which late befell
Betwixt us both unknown. So ended Paridell.
LII.
But all the while that he these fpeeches spent,
Upon his lips hung fair Dame Hellenore,
With vigilant regard, and due attent,
Fashioning worlds of fancies evermore
In her frail wit, that now her quite forlore:
The whiles, unwares away her wandring eye
And greedy ears, her weak heart from her bore:
Which he perceiving, ever privily
In fpeaking, many falfe belgards at her let fly.
LIII.
So long these Knights difcourfed diversly,
Of strange affairs, and noble hardiment,
Which they had paft with mickle jeopardy,
That now the humid night was farforth spent,
And heavenly lamps were halfendeal ybrent:
Which th'old man feeing well (who too long thought
Every discourse and every argument,
Which by the hours he measured) befought
Them go to reft. So all unto their bowrs were brought.
Paridell rapeth Hellenore:
Malbecco her pursues:
Finds emong ft Satyrs, whence with him
To turn he doth refuse.
The morrow next, fo foon as Phabus lamp
Bewrayed had the world with early light,
And fresh Aurora had the fhady damp
Out of the goodly heaven amoved quight,
Fair Britomart and that fame Fairy Knight
Uprofe, forth on their journey for to wend:
But Paridell complain'd, that his late fight
With Britomart, fo fore did him offend,
That ride he could not, till his hurts he did amend.
So forth they far'd; but he behind them ftayd,
Maulgre his hoft, who grudged grievously
To house a gueft, that would be needs obey'd,
And of his own him left not liberty:
(Might, wanting measure, moveth furquedry.)
Two things he feared, but the third was death;
That fierce young mans unruly maistery;
His money, which he lov'd as living breath;
And his fair wife, whom honeft long he kept uneath.
III.
But patience perforce: he muft aby
What fortune and his fate on him will lay:
Fond is the fear that finds no remedy;
Yet warily he watcheth every way,
By which he feareth evil happen may :
So th'evil thinks by watching to prevent;
Ne doth he fuffer her, nor night, nor day,
Out of his fight her felf once to abfent
So doth he punish her, and eke himfelf torment.
But Paridell kept better watch than he,
A fit occafion for his turn to find:
Falfe Love, why do men say, thou canst not fee,
And in their foolish fancy feign thee blind,
That with thy charms the sharpeft fight dost bind,
And to thy will abufe? Thou walkeft free,
And feeft every fecret of the mind;
Thou feeft all, yet none at all fees thee;
All that is by the working of thy Deity.
So perfect in that art was Paridell,
That he Malbecco's halfen eye did while :
His halfen eye he wiled wondrous well,
And Hellenor's both eyes did eke beguile,
Both eyes and heart attonce, during the while
That he there fojourned his wounds to heal;
That Cupid felf it feeing, clofe did fmile,
To weet how he her love away did steal,
And bade, that none their joyous treafon fhould reveal.
VI.
The learned Lover loft no time nor tide,
That least advantage mote to him afford,
Yet bore fo fair a fail, that none espide
His fecret drift, till he her laid abord.
When-fo in open place, and common bord,
He fortun'd her to meet, with common speech
He courted her, yet baited every word,
That his ungentle hoft n'ote him appeach
Of vile ungentleness, or hofpitages breach.
VII.
But when apart (if ever her apart)
He found, then his falfe engins fast he plide,
And all the fleights unbofom'd in his heart;
He figh'd, he fob'd, he swound, he perdy dide,
And caft himself on ground her fast beside :
Tho when again he him bethought to live,
He wept, and waild, and falfe laments belide,
Saying, but if the mercy would him give,
That he note algates dye, yet did his death forgive.
And other-whiles with amorous delights,
And pleafing toys he would her entertain,
Now finging fweetly, to furprise her sprights,
Now making lays of love and Lovers pain,
Branfles, ballads, virelays, and verses vain;
Oft purposes, oft riddles he devis'd,
And thoufands like, which flowed in his brain,
With which he fed her fancy and entis'd
To take to his new love, and leave her old despis'd.
IX.
And every where he might, and every while
He did her fervice dutiful, and fu'd
At hand with humble pride, and pleafing guile,
So clofely yet, that none but fhe it view'd,
Who well perceived all, and all indu'd.
Thus finely did he his falfe nets diffpred,
With which he many weak hearts had fubdu'd
Of yore, and many had ylike mifled:
What wonder then, if the were likewife carried?
No fort fo fenfible, no walls fo ftrong,
But that continual battery will rive,
Or daily fiege through difpurveyance long,
And lack of refcues will to parly drive;
And piece, that unto parly ear will give,
Will shortly yield it felf, and will be made
The vaffal of the victors will bylive:
That ftratagem had oftentimes affay'd
This crafty paramour, and now it plain difplay'd.
XI.
For though his trains he her intrapped hath,
That the her love and heart hath wholly fold
To him, without regard of gain, or fcath,
Or care of credit, or of husband old,
Whom the hath vow'd to dub a fair cuckold.
Nought wants but time and place, which fhortly the
Devized hath, and to her Lover told.
It pleased well. So well they both agree;
So ready ripe to ill, ill womens counfels be.
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