IV.

"Then this, Sir Salvage Knight," quoth he, areede;

"Or doe you here within this forrest wonne, "(That feemeth well to anfwere to your weede) "Or have ye it for some occafion donne? "That rather feemes, fith knowen armes ye "fhonne."

"This other day," fayd he, "a ftranger knight "Shame and dishonour hath unto me donne, "On whom I waite to wreake that foul defpight, "Whenever he this way fhall paffe by day of "night."

Whom without perill he cannot invade :
With fuch fell greedines he her affayled,
That though the mounted were, yet he her made
To give him ground, (fo much his force pre-
vayled)

And shun his mightie strokes, gainst which no armes avayled.

XIII.

So as they courfed here and there, it chauust
That in her wheeling round, behind her creft
So forely he her strooke, that thence it glaunft
Adowne her backe, the which it fairely bleft
From foule mifchaunce; ne did it ever rest,
Till on her horfe's hinder parts it fell,
Where byting deepe, fo deadly it impreft,
That quite it chynd his backe behind the fell,
And to alight on foote her algates did compell.

XIV.

Like as the lightning brond from riven skie,
Throwne out by angry love in his vengeance,
With dreadfull force falls on fome steeple hie,
Which battring downe, it on the church doth
glance,

And teares it all with terrible mischance:
Yet the no whit difmayd her fteed forfooke,
And cafting from her that enchaunted lance,
Unto her fword and fhield her foone betooke,
And therewithall at him right furiously the
ftrooke.

XV.

So furiously she ftrooke in her first heat,

Whiles with long fight on foot he breathleffe

was,

That the him forced backward to retreat,
And yeeld unto her weapon way to pas;
Whole raging rigour neither steele nor bras
Could stay, but to the tender flesh it went,
And pour'd the purple bloud forth on the gras,
That all his mayle yriv'd and plates yrent,
Shew'd all his bodie hare unto the cruell dent.
XVI.

At length whenas he faw her haftie heat
Abate, and panting breath begin to fayle,
He through long fufferance growing now more
great,

Rofe in his ftrength, and gan her fresh affayle,
Heaping huge ftrokes as thicke as showre of hayle,
And lafhing dreadfully at every part,

As if he thought her foule to difentrayle.
Ah! cruell hand, and thrise more cruell hart!
That workft fuch wrecke on her to whom thou
dearest art.

"Till on a day, as through a defert wyld "We travelled, both wearie of the way, "We did alight, and fate in shadow myld, "Where feareleffe I to fleepe me downe did lay; "But whenas I did out of fleepe abray, "I found her not where I her left whyleare, "But thought fhe wandred was, or gone aftray; "I cal'd her loud, I fought her farre and neare, "But no where could her find, nor tydings of her "heare."

XLI.

So well he woo'd her, and fo well he wrought her
With faire entreatie and fweet blandifhment,
That at the length unto a bay he brought her,
So as fhe to his fpeeches was content
To lende an eare, and foftly to relent.

At last, through many vowes which forth he pour'd,

And many othes, fhe yeelded her confent
To be his love, and take him for her lord,
Till they with mariage might finish that accord.

XLII.

Tho when they had long time there taken reft,
Sir Artegall (who all this while was bound
Upon an hard adventure yet in queft)
Fit time or him thence to depart it found,
To follow that which he did long propound,
And unto her his congé came to take;
But her there-with ful fore difpleafd he found,
And loth to leave her late betrothed make,
Her dearest love full loth fo thortly to forfake.

XLIII.

Yet he with ftrong perfwafions her affwaged,
And wonne her will to fuffer him depart;
For which his faith with her he faft engaged,
And thoufand vowes from bottome of his hart,
That all fo foone as he by wit or art

Could that atchieve wherete he did afpire,
He unto her would speedily revert ;

No longer face thereto he did defire,

Forth on his way to which he was ybent;
Ne wight him to attend, or way to guide,
As whylome was the custome ancient
Mongft knights, when on adventures they did
ride,

Save that the algates him awhile accompanide.

XLV.

And by the way the fundry purpose found
Of this or that the time for to delay,
And of the perills whereto he was bound,
The feare whereof feem'd much her to affray;
But all the did was but to weare out day.
Full oftentimes the leave of him did take,
And eft againe deviz'd fomewhat to say
Which the forgot, whereby excufe to make;
So loth she was his companie for to forfake.

XLVI.

At last, when all her speeches she had spent,
And new occafion fayld her more to find,
She left him to his fortune's government,
And backe returned with right heavie mind
To Scudamour, whom he had left behind;
With whom she went to feck faire Amoret,
Her fecond care, though in another kind;
For vertue's onely fake, which doth beget
True love and faithfull friendship, the by her did
fet.

XLVII.

Backe to that defert forrest they retyred, Where forie Britomart had loft her late;

pire.

XLIV.

With which the for the prefent was appeased,
And yeelded leave, however malcontent
She inly were, and in her mind displeased.
So early on the morrow next he went

Where they might tydings get of her eftate;
Yet found they none: but by what hapleffe fate,
Or hard misfortune, fhe was thence convayd,
And ftolne away from her beloved mate,
Were long to tell; therefore I here will stay
Untill another tyde, that I it finish may.