Faire virgin to redeeme her deare
Brings Arthure to the fight:
Who slayes thethat Gyaunt, wounds the beast,
And strips Duessa quight.
[1]
AYAy me, how many perils doe enfold
The righteous man, to make him daily fall,fall?
Were not that heauenlyheavenly grace doth him vpholduphold,
And stedfast truth acquite him out of all:all.
Her louelove is firme, her care continuall,
So oft as he thorough his own foolish pride,
Or weaknes is to sinfull bands made thrall:
Els should this Redcrosse knight in bands hauehave dyde,
For whose deliuerãcedeliuerancedeliverãcedeliverance she this Prince doth thether guyd.
[2]
They sadly traueildtraveild thus, vntilluntill they came
Nigh to a castle builded strong and hye:
Then cryde the Dwarfe, lo yonder is the same,
In which my Lord my liege doth lucklesse ly,
Thrall to that Gyaunts hatefull tyranny:
Therefore, deare Sir, your mightie powres assay.
The noble knight alighted by and by
From loftie steed, and badd the Ladie stay,
To see what end of fight should him
befall that day.
[3]
So with his Squirethe Squire, th’admirer of his might,
He marched forth towardes that castle wall;
Whose gates he fownd fast shutt, ne liuingliving wight
To warde the same, nor answere commers call.
Then tooke that Squire an horne of bugle small,
Which hong adowne his side in twisted gold,
And tasselles gay. Wyde wonders ouerover all
Of that same hornes great vertues weren told,
Which had approuedapproved bene in vsesuses manifold.
[4]
Was neuernever wight, that heard that shrilling sownd,
But trembling feare did feel in eueryevery vaine;
Three miles it might be easy heard arownd,
And Ecchoes three aunswerd it selfe againe:
No false enchauntment, nor deceiptfull traine
Might once abide the terror of that blast,
But presently was void and wholly vaine:
No gate so strong, no locke so firme and fast,
But with that percing noise flew open
quite, or brast.
[5]
The same before the Geaunts gate he
blew,
That all the castle quaked from the grownd,
And eueryevery dore of freewill open flew:
The Gyaunt selfe dismaied with that sownd,
Where he with his Duessa dalliaunce fownd,fownd.fownd)
In hast came rushing forth from inner bowre,
With staring countenance sterne, as one astownd,
And staggering steps, to weet, what suddein stowre,
Had wrought that horror strange, and
dar’d his dreaded powre.
[6]
And after him the proud Duessa came,
High mounted on her many headed beast,
And eueryevery head with fyrie tongue did flame,
And eueryevery head was crowned on his creast,
And bloody mouthed with late cruell feast.
That when the knight beheld, his mightie shild
VponUpon his manly arme he soone addrest,
And at him fiersly flew, with corage fild,
And eger greedinesse through eueryevery member thrild.
[7]
Therewith the Gyant buckled him to
fight,
Inflamd with scornefull wrath and high disdaine,
And lifting vpup his dreadfull club on hight,
All armd with ragged snubbes and knottie graine,
Him thought at first encounter to hauehave slaine.
But
wiſewise
wiſtwist
and wary was that noble Pere,
And lightly leaping from so monstrous maine,
Did fayre auoideavoide the violence him nere;
It booted nought, to thinke, such
thunderbolts to beare.
[8]
Ne shame he thought to shonne so
hideous might:might,
The ydle stroke, enforcing furious way,
Missing the marke of his misaymed sight
Did fall to ground, and with his heauyheavy sway
So deepely dinted in the driuendriven clay,
That three yardes deepe a furrow vpup did throw:
The sad earth wounded with so sore assay,
Did grone full grieuousgrievous
vnderneathunderneath the blow,
And trembling with strange feare, did
like an erthquake show.
[9]
As when almightie
IoueJove in wrathfull mood,
To wreake the guilt of mortall sins is bent,
Hurles forth his thundring dart with deadly food,
Enrold in flames, and smouldring dreriment,
Through riuenriven cloudes and molten firmament;
The fiers threeforked engin making way,
Both loftie towres and highest trees hath rent,
And all that might his angry passage stay,
And shooting in the earth, castes vpup a mount of clay.
[10]
His boystrous club, so buried in the
grownd,
He could not rearen vpup againe so light,
But that the knight him at aduantageadvantage fownd,
And whiles he strouestrove his combred clubbe to quight,
Out of the earth, with blade all burning bright
He smott offof his left arme, which like a block
Did fall to ground, depriu’ddepriv’d of natiuenative might;
Large streames of blood out of the truncked stock
Forth gushed, like fresh water streame
from riuenriven rocke.
[11]
Dismayed with so desperate deadly
wound,
And eke impatient of vnwontedunwonted payne,
He lowdly brayd with beastly yelling sownd,
That all the fieldes rebellowed againe,againe;
As great a noyse, as when in Cymbrian plaine
An heard of Bulles, whom kindly rage doth sting,
Doe for the milky mothers want complaine,
And fill the fieldes with troublous bellowing,
The neighbor woods arownd with hollow murmur ringmurmuring.
[12]
That when his deare Duessa heard, and saw
The euillevill stownd, that daungerd her estate,
VntoUnto his aide she hastily did draw
Her dreadfull beast, who swolne with blood of late
Came ramping forth with proud presũpteouspresumpteous gate,
And threatned all his heades like flaming brandes.
But him the Squire made quickly to retrate,
Encountring fiers with single sword in hand,
And twixt him and his Lord did like a
bulwarke stand.
[13]
The proud Duessa full of wrathfull spight,
And fiers disdaine, to be affronted so,
Enforst her purple beast with all her might
That stop out of the way to ouerthroeoverthroe,
Scorning the let of so vnequallunequall foe:
But nathemore would that corageous swayne
To her yeeld passage, gainst his Lord to goe,
But with outrageous strokes did him restraine,
And with his body bard the way atwixt
them twaine.
[14]
Then tooke the angrie witch her golden
cup,
Which still she bore, replete with magick artes;
Death and despeyre did many thereof sup,
And secret poyson through their inner partes,
Th’eternall bale of heauieheavie wounded harts;
Which after charmes and some enchauntments said,
She lightly sprinkled on his weaker partes;
Therewith his sturdie corage soone was quayd,
And all his sences were with suddein
dread
diſmayd.dismayd.
diſmayddismayd
diſmaid.dismaid.
[15]
So downe he fell before the cruellcrnellcruell beast,
Who on his neck his bloody clawes did seize,
That life nighnight crusht out of his panting brest:
No powre he had to stirre, nor will to rize.
That when the carefull knight gan well auiseavise,
He lightly left the foe, with whom he fought,
And to the beast gan turne his enterprise;
For wondrous anguish in his hart it wrought,
To see his louedloved Squyre into such thraldom brought.
[16]
And high aduauncingadvauncing his blood-thirstie blade,
Stroke one of those deformed heades so sore,
That of his puissaunce proud ensample made;
His monstrous scalpe downe to his teeth it tore,
And that misformed shape misshaped more:
A sea of blood gusht from the gaping wownd,
That her gay garments staynd with filthy gore,
And ouerflowedoverflowed all the field arownd;
That ouerover shoes in blood he waded on the grownd.
[17]
Thereat he rored for exceedingexcecding paine,
That to hauehave heard, great horror would hauehave bred,
And scourging th’emptie ayre with his long trayne,
Through great impatience of his grieuedgrieved hed
His gorgeous ryder from her loftie sted
Would hauehave cast downe, and trodd in durty myre,
Had not the Gyaunt soone her succoured;
Who all enrag’d with smart and frantick yre,
Came hurtling in full fiers, and forst
the knight retyre.
[18]
The force, which wont in two to be
disperst,
In one alone left hand he now vnitesunites,
Which is through rage more strong 1590.bk1.I.viii.18.3. then: thanthenthan both were erst;
With which his hideous club aloft he dites,
And at his foe with furious rigor smites,
That strongest Oake might seeme to ouerthrowoverthrow:
The stroke vponupon his shield so heauieheavie lites,
That to the ground it doubleth him full low
What mortall wight could euerever beare so monstrous blow?
[19]
And in his fall his shield, that coueredcovered was,
Did loose his vele by chaunce, and open flew:
The light whereof, that heuens light did pas,
Such blazing brightnesse through the ayer threw,
That eye mote not the same endure to vew.
Which when the Gyaunt spyde with staring eye,
He downe let fall his arme, and soft withdrew
His weapon huge, that heauedheaved was on hye,
For to hauehave slain the man, that on the ground did lye.
[20]
And eke the fruitfull-headed beast,
amazd
At flashing beames of that sunshiny shield,
Became stark blind, and all his sences dazd
That downe he tumbled on the durtie field,
And seemd himselfe as conquered to yield.
Whom when his maistresse proud perceiu’dperceiv’d to fall,
Whiles yet his feeble feet for faintnesse reeld,
VntoUnto the Gyaunt lowdly she gan call,
O helpe Orgoglio, helpe, or els we perish all.
[21]
At her so pitteous cry was much amoou’damoov’d,
Her champion stout, and for to ayde his frend,
Againe his wonted angry weapon proou’dproov’d:
But all in vaine: for he has redd his end
In that bright shield, and all their forces spend
Them seluesselves in vaine: for since that glauncing
sight,
He hath no poure to hurt, nor to defend;
As where th’Almighties lightning brond does light,
It dimmes the dazed eyen, and daunts
the sences quight.
[22]
Whom when the Prince, to batteill new
addrest,
And threatning high his dreadfull stroke did see,
His sparkling blade about his head he blest,
And smote off quite his right leg by the knee,
That downe he tombled; as an aged tree,
High growing on the top of rocky clift,
Whose hartstrings with keene steele nigh hewen be,
The mightie trunck halfe rent, with ragged rift
Doth roll adowne the rocks, and fall
with fearefull drift.
[23]
Or as a Castle reared high and
round,
By subtile engins and malitious slight
Is vnderminedundermined from the lowest ground,
And her foundation forst, and feebled quight,
At last downe falles, and with her heaped hight
Her haſtieHer
hastie
HerhaſtieHerhastie
ruine does more heauieheavie make,
And yields it selfe vntounto the victours might;
Such was this Gyaunts fall, that seemd to shake
The stedfast globe of earth, as it for
feare did quake.
[24]
The knight then lightly leaping to the
pray,
With mortall steele him smot againe so sore,
That headlesse his vnweldyunweldy bodie lay,
All wallowd in his owne fowle bloody gore,
Which flowed from his wounds in wondrous
ſtore.store.
ſtore,store,
ſtore:store:
But soone as breath out of herhis brest did pas,
That huge great body, which the Gyaunt bore,
Was vanisht quite, and of that monstrous mas
Was nothing left, but like an emptie
blader was.
[25]
Whose grieuousgrievous fall, when false Duessa spyde,
Her golden cup she cast vntounto the ground,
And crowned mitre rudely threw asyde;
Such percing griefe her stubborne hart did wound,
That she could not endure that dolefull stound,
But leauingleaving all behind her, fled away:
The light-foot Squyre her quickly turnd around,
And by hard meanes enforcing her to stay,
So brought vntounto his Lord, as his deserueddeserved pray.
[26]
The roiall Virgin, which beheld from
farre,
In pensiuepensive plight, and sad perplexitie,
The whole atchieuementatchievement of this doubtfull warre,
Came running fast to greet his victorie,
With sober gladnesse, and myld modestie,
And with sweet ioyousjoyous cheare him thus bespake;
Fayre braunch of noblesse, flowre of chevalrie,
That with your worth the world amazed make,
How shall I quite the paynes, ye
suffer for my sake?
[27]
And you fresh budd of vertue springing
fast,
Whom these sad eyes saw nigh vntounto deaths dore,
What hath poore Virgin for such perill past,
Wherewith you to reward? Accept therefore
My simple selfe, and seruiceservice
euermoreevermore:
And he that high does sit, and all things see
With equall eyeeyes, their merites to restore,
Behold what ye this day hauehave done for mee,
And what I cannot quite, requite with vsureeusuree.
[28]
But sith the heauensheavens, and your faire handeling
HaueHave made you master of the field this day,
Your fortune maister eke with gouerninggoverning,
And well begonne end all so well, I pray,
Ne let that wicked woman scape away;
For she it is, that did my Lord bethrall,
My dearest Lord, and deepe in dongeon lay,
Where he his better dayes hath wasted all.
O heare, how piteous he to you for ayd
does call.
[29]
Forthwith he gauegave in charge vntounto his Squyre,
That scarlot whore to keepen carefully;
Whyles he himselfe with greedie great desyre
Into the Castle entred forcibly,forcibly.forcibly;
Where liuingliving creature none he did espye;
Then gan he lowdly through the house to call:
But no man car’d to answere to his crye.
There raignd a solemne silence ouerover all,
Nor voice was heard, nor wight was
seene in bowre or hall.
[30]
At last with creeping crooked pace
forth came
AnAnd old old man, with beard as white as snow,
That on a staffe his feeble steps did frame,
And guyde his wearie gate both 1590.bk1.I.viii.30.4. too: totooto and fro;
For his eye sight him fayled long ygo,
And on his arme a bounch of keyes he bore,
The which vnusedunused rust did ouergrowovergrow:
Those were the keyes of eueryevery inner dore,
But he could not them vseuse, but kept them still in store.
[31]
But very vncouthuncouth sight was to behold,
How he did fashion his vntowarduntoward pace,
For as he forward mooudmoovd his footing old,
So backward still was turnd his wrincled face,
VnlikeUnlike to men, who euerever as they trace,
Both feet and face one way are wont to lead.
This was the auncient keeper of that place,
And foster father of the Gyaunt dead;
His name Ignaro did his nature right aread.
[32]
His reuerendreverend heares and holy grauiteegravitee
The knight much honord, as beseemed well,
And gently askt, where all the people bee,
Which in that stately building wont to dwell.
Who answerd him full soft, he could not tell.
Againe he askt, where that same knight was layd,
Whom great
Orgoglio with his puissaunce
fell
Had made his caytiuecaytive thrall; againe he sayde,
He could not tell: ne euerever other answere made.
[33]
Then asked he, which way he in might
pas:
He could not tell, againe he answered.
Thereat the courteous knight displeased was,
And said, Old syre, it seemes thou hast not red
How ill it
ſitssits
fits with that same siluersilver hed,
In vaine to mocke, or mockt in vaine to bee:
But if thou be, as thou art pourtrahed
With natures pen, in ages grauegrave degree,
Aread in grauergraver wise, what I demaund of thee.
[34]
His answere likewise was, he could not
tell.
Whose sencelesse speach, and doted ignorance
When as the noble Prince had marked well,
He ghest his nature by his countenance,
And calmd his wrath with goodly temperance.
Then to him stepping, from his arme did reach
Those keyes, and made himselfe free enterance.
Each dore he opened without any breach;
There was no barre to stop, nor foe
him to empeach.
[35]
There all within full rich arayd he
found,
With royall arras and resplendent gold,gold.
And did with store of euery
thing abound,
That greatest Princes presence might behold.
But all the floore (too filthy to be told)
With blood of guiltlesse babes, and innocents trew,
Which there were slaine, as sheepe out of the fold,
Defiled was, that dreadfull was to vew,
And sacred ashes ouerover it was strowed new.
[36]
And there beside of marble stone was
built
An Altare, caru’dcarv’d with cunning ymagery,
On which trew Christians blood was often spilt,
And holy Martyres often doen to dye,
With cruell malice and strong tyranny:
Whose blessed sprites from vnderneathunderneath the stone
To God for vengeance cryde continually,
And with great griefe were often heard to grone,
That hardest heart would bleede, to
heare their piteous mone.
[37]
Through eueryevery rowme he sought, and euerieeverie bowr,
But no where could he find that wofull thrall:
At last he came vntounto an yron doore,
That fast was lockt, but key found not at all
Emongst that bounch, to open it withall;
But in the same a little grate was pight,
Through which he sent his voyce, and lowd did call
With all his powre, to weet, if liuingliving wight
Were housed therewithin, whom he
enlargen might.
[38]
Therewith an hollow, dreary, murmuring
voyce
These pitteous plaintes and dolours did resound;
O who is that, which bringes me happy choyce
Of death, that here lye dying eueryevery stound,
Yet liuelive perforce in balefull darkenesse bound?
For now three Moones hauehave
chãgedchanged thrice their hew,
And hauehave beene thrice hid vnderneathunderneath the ground,
Since I the heauensheavens chearefull face did vew,
O welcome thou, that doest of death
bring tydings trew.
[39]
Which whẽwhen that Champion heard, with percing point
Of pitty deare his hart was thrilled sore,
And trembling horrour ran through eueryevery
ioyntjoynt,
For ruth of gentle knight so fowle forlore:
Which shaking off, he rent that yron dore,
With furious force, and indignation fell;
Where entred in, his foot could find no flore,
But all a deepe descent, as darke as hell,
That breathed euerever forth a filthie banefull smell.
[40]
But nether darkenesse fowle, nor
filthy bands,
Nor noyous smell his purpose could withhold,
(Entire affection hateth nicer hands)
But that with constant zele, and corage bold,
After long paines and labors manifold,
He found the meanes that Prisoner vpup to reare;
Whose feeble thighes, vnhableunhable to vpholduphold
His pined corse, him scarse to light could beare,
A ruefull spectacle of death and
ghastly drere.
[41]
His sad dull eies deepe sunck in
hollow pits,
Could not endure th’vnwontedunwonted sunne to view;
His bare thin cheekes for want of better bits,
And empty sides deceiueddeceived of their dew,
Could make a stony hart his hap to rew;
His rawbone armes, whose mighty brawned bowrs
Were wont to riuerive steele plates,
andplates, plates, & helmets hew,
Were clene consum’d, and all his vitall powres
Decayd, and al his flesh shronk vpup like withered flowres.
[42]
Whome when his Lady saw, to him she
ran
With hasty ioyjoy: to see him made her glad,
And sad to view his visage pale and wan,
Who earst in flowres of freshest youth was clad.
Tho when her well of teares she wasted had,
She said, Ah dearest Lord, what euillevill starre
On you hath frownd, and pourd his influence bad,
That of your selfe ye thus berobbed arre,
And this misseeming hew your mãlymanly looks doth marre?
[43]
But welcome now my Lord, in wele or
woe,
Whose presence I
hauehave
kauekave
lackt too long a day;
And fyeſiesiefie on Fortune mine auowedavowed foe,
Whose wrathful wreakes them seluesselves doe now alay,alay.
And for these wronges shall treble penaunce pay
Of treble good: good growes of euilsevils priefe.
The chearelesse man, whom sorow did dismay,
Had no delight to treaten of his griefe;
His long endured famine needed more
reliefe.
[44]
Faire Lady, then said that victorious
knight,
The things, that grieuousgrievous were to doe, or beare,
Them to renew, I wote, breeds no delight;
Best musicke breeds delight in loathing eare:
But th’only good, that growes of passed feare,
Is to be wise, and ware of like agein.
This daies ensample hath this lesson deare
Deepe written in my heart with yron pen,
That blisse may not abide in state of
mortall men.
[45]
Henceforth Sir knight, take to you
wonted strength,
And maister these mishaps with patient might;
Loe wher your foe lies stretcht in monstrous length,
And loe that wicked woman in your sight,
The roote of all your care, and wretched plight,
Now in your powre, to let her liuelive, or die.
To doe her die (qd.quoth
VnaUna) were despight,
And shame t’auengeavenge so weake an enimy;
But spoile her of her scarlot robe,
and let her fly.
[46]
So as she bad, that witch they
disaraid,
And robd of roiall robes, and purple pall,
And ornaments that richly were displaid;
Ne spared they to strip her naked all.
Then when they had despoyld her tire and call,
Such as she was, their eies might her behold,
That her misshaped parts did them appall,
A loathly, wrinckled hag, ill fauouredfavoured, old,
Whose secret filth good manners
biddeth not be told.told,
[47]
Her crafty head was altogether
bald,
And as in hate of honorable eld,
Was ouergrowneovergrowne with scurfe and filthy scald;
Her teeth out of her rotten gummes were feld,
And her sowre breath abhominably smeld;
Her dried dugs, lyke bladders lacking wind,
Hong downe, and filthy matter from them weld;
Her wrizled skin as rough, as maple rind,
So scabby was, that would hauehave loathd all womankind.
[48]
Her neather parts, the shame of all
her kind,
My chaster Muse for shame doth blush to write;writewrite:
But at her rompe she growing had behind
A foxes taile, with dong all fowly dight;
And eke her feete most monstrous were in sight;
For one of them was like an Eagles claw,
With griping talaunts armd to greedy fight,
The other like a beares vneuenuneven paw:
More vglyugly shape yet neuernever
liuingliving creature saw.
[49]
Which when the knights beheld, amazd
they were,
And wondred at so fowle deformed wight.
Such then (said VnaUna) as she seemeth here,
Such is the face of falshood, such the sight
Of fowle Duessa, when her borrowed light
Is laid away, and counterfesaunce knowne.
Thus when they had the witch disrobed quight,
And all her filthy feature open showne,
They let her goe at will, and wander
waies vnknowneunknowne.
[50]
Shee flying fast from heauensheavens hated face,
And from the world that her discouereddiscovered wide,
Fled to the wastfull wildernesse apace,
From liuingliving eies her open shame to hide,
And lurkt in rocks and cauescaves long vnespideunespide.
But that faire crew of knights, and VnaUna faire
Did in that castle afterwards abide,
To rest them seluesselves, and weary powres repaire,
Where store they fownd of al, that
dainty was and rare.
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;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}