"But had he beene where earst his armes were lent, | Led with their noife, which through the aire was "Th' enchaunter vaine his errour should not rew; "But thou his errour fhalt, I hope, now proven "trew."
Therewith they gan, both furious and fell,
To thunder blowes, and fierfly to affaile,
Each other bent his enemy to quell;
That with their force they perft both plate and maile,
And made wide furrowes in their fleshes fraile,
That it would pitty any living eie:
Large floods of blood adowne their fides did raile;
But floods of blood could not them fatisfie':
Both hongred after death; both chose to win or die.
So long they fight, and full revenge pursue,
That fainting each, themselves to breathen lett,
And ofte refreshed, battell oft renew.
As when two bores, with rancling malice mett,
Their gory fides fresh bleeding fiercely frett,
Til breathleffe both themselves afide retire,
Where, foming wrath, their cruell tuskes they whett,
And trample the earth, the whiles they may refpire,
Then backe to fight againe, new breathed and
entire.
So fierfly, when these knights had breathed once,
They gan to fight retourne, increasing more
Their puiffant force and cruell rage attonce
With heaped ftrokes more hugely than before,
That with their drery wounds and bloody gore
They both deformed, scarfely could bee known.
By this fad Una, fraught with anguish fore,
thrown, Arriv'd, wher they in erth their fruitles blood had
Whom all fo foone as that proud Sarazin
Efpide, he gan revive the memory
Of his leud lufts and late attempted fin,
And lefte the doubtfull battel hastily,
To catch her, newly offred to his eie;
But Satyrane with ftrokes him turning, staid,
And fternely bad him other business plie,
Then hunt the steps of pure unspotted maid:
Wherewith he al enrag'd these bitter speeches faid;
"O foolish Faeries fonne, what fury mad
"Hath the incenft to haft thy dolefull fate?
"Were it not better I that lady had,
"Then that thou hadst repented it too late?
"Moft fencele ffe man he that himfelfe doth hate
"To love another: lo then for thine ayd
"Here take thy lover's token on thy pate."
So they to fight; the whiles the royall mayd
Fled farre away, of that proud paynim fore afrayd.
But that falfe pilgrim which that leafing told,
Being indeed old Archimage, did stay
In fecret fhadow all this to behold,
And much reioyced in their bloody fray;
And when he saw the damfell passe away,
He left his ftond, and her purfewd apace,
In hope to bring her to her last decay.
But for to tell her lamentable cace,
And eke this battel's end, will need another place.
Hee feedes upon the cooling shade, and bayes
His fweatie forehead in the breathing wynd
Which through the trembling leaves full gentle
playes,
Wherein the chearefull birds of fundrie kynd
Doe chaunt fweet mufick to delight his mynd.
The witch approching gan him fayrely greet,
And with reproch of carclefnes unkind
Upbrayd, for leaving her in place unmeet,
Unkindneffe paft, they gan of folace treat,
And bathe in pleafaunce of the ioyous fhade,
Which shielded them against the boyling heat,
And with greene boughes decking a gloomy glade
About the fountaine like a girlond made,
Whofe bubbling wave did ever freshly well,
Ne ever would through fervent fommer fade;
The facred nymph, which therein wont to dwell
Was out of Dianes favor, as it then befell.
The cause was this: One day when Phoebe fayre,
With all her band, was following the chace,
This nymph, quite tyrd, with heat of fcorching ayt
Satt downe to rest in middest of the race;
The goddeffe wroth gan fowly her difgrace,
And badd the waters, which from her did flow,
Be fuch as fhe her felfe was then in place;
Thenceforth her waters wexed dull and flow,
And all that drinke thereof do faint and feeble
grow.
Hereof this gentle knight unweeting was,
And lying downe upon the fandie graile,
Dronke of the streame, as cleare as chriftall glas:
Eftfoones his manly forces gan to fayle,
And mightie ftrong was turnd to feeble frayle.
His chaunged powres at first themselves not felt,
Till crudled cold his courage gan affayle,
And cheareful blood in fayntnes chill did melt,
With fowle words tempring faire; foure gall with Which like a fever fit through all his bodic fwelte
But ere he could his armour on him dight,
Or get his fhield, his nonftrous enimy
With fturdie steps came stalking in his fight,
An hideous geaunt, horrible and hye,
That with his talneffe feend to threat the skye;
The ground eke groned under him for dreed: His living like faw never living eye,
Ne durft behold; his ftature did exceed
And lightly leapt from underneath the blow:
Yet fo exceeding was the villein's powre,
That with the winde it did him overthrow,
And all his fences foond, that still he lay full
low.
As when that divelifh yron engine, wrought
In deepest hell, and framd by furies skill,
With windy nitre and quick fulphur fraught,
And ramd with bollet rownd, ordaind to kill,
Conceiveth fyre, the heavens it doth fill
With thundring noyse, and all the ayre doth choke
That none can breath, nor fee, nor heare at will,
Through fmouldry cloud of duskish flincking
fmoke,
That th' only breath him daunts who hath escapt the stroke;
So daunted when the geaunt faw the knight,
His heavie hand he heaved up on hye,
And him to duft thought to have battred quight,
The hight of three the talleft fonnes of mortall Untill Dueffa loud to him gan crye,
"O great Orgoglio! greatest under skye, "O hold thy mortall hand for ladies fake; "Hold for my fake, and doe him not to dye, "But vanquifht thine eternall bondslave make, "And me thy worthy meed unto thy leman take."
He hearkned, and did stay from further harmes,
To gayne fo goodly guerdon as the spake;
So willingly the came into his armes,
Who her as willingly to grace did take,
And was poffeffed of his new-found make:
Then up he took the flombred fenceleffe corfe,
And ere he could out of his fwowne awake,
Him to his castle brought, with hastie forse,
And in a dongcon deepe him threw without remorse.
From that day forth Dueffa was his deare,
And highly honourd in his haughtie eye!
He gave her gold and purple pall to weare,
And triple crowne fet on her head full hye,
And her endowd with royall maieftye:
Then for to make her dreaded more of men,
And peoples Martes with awful terror tye,
A monftrous beaft, ybredd in filthy fen,
He chofe,which he had kept long time in darkfom den.
Such one it was as that renowmed fnake
Which great Alcides in Stremona flew,
Long foftred in the filth of Lerna lake,
Whose many heades out-budding ever new,
Did breed him endlcffe labour to fubdew.
But this fame monster much more ugly was;
For feven great heads out of his body grew,
An yron breaft, and back of scaly bras,
And all embrewed in blood his eyes did fhine as,
glas.
His tayle was ftretched out in wondrous length,
That to the hous of hevenly gods it raught,
And with extorted powre and borrow'd strength,
The ever-burning lamps from thence it braught,
And prowdly threw to ground, as things of naught;
At laft fhe chaunced by good hap to meet
A goodly knight, faire marching by the way,
Together with his fquyre, arayed meet:
His glitterand armour fhined far away,
Like glauncing light of Phœbus' brightest ray ;
From top to toe no place appeared bare,
That deadly dint of steele endanger may :
Athwart his breft a bauldrick brave he ware,
That fhind, like twinkling stars, with ftones moft xxx. [pretious rare:
And in the midst thereof one pretious stone
Of wondrous worth, and eke of wondrous mights,
Shapt like a ladies head, exceeding fhone,
Like Hefperus emongst the leffer lights,
And ftrove for to amaze the weaker fights;
Thereby his mortall blade full comely hong
In yvory fheath, ycarv'd with curious flights,
Whofe hilts were burnifht gold, and handle strong
Of mother-perle, and buckled with a golden tong.
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