XLVIII.

So did he fay but I with Murmur foft,
That none might hear the Sorrow of my Heart,
Yet inly groaning deep, and fighing oft,
Befought her to grant Eafe unto my Smart,
And to my Wound her gracious Help impart.
Whilft thus I fpake, behold with happy Eye
I spy'd, where at the Idol's Feet apart
A Bevy of fair Damfels clofe did lie,

Waiting when-as the Anthem fhould be fung on high,
XLIX.

The first of them did feem of riper Years,
And graver Countenance than all the reft;
Yet all the rest were eke her equal Peers,
Yet unto her obeyed all the beft;

Her Name was Womanhood, that the expreft
By her fad Semblant and Demeanure wife :
For ftedfaft ftill her Eyes did fixed reft,
Ne rov'd at random after Gazer's Guife,
Whofe 'luring Baits oft-times do heedlefs Hearts entice.
L.,

And next to her fate goodly Shamefac'dness; Ne ever durft her Eyes from ground up-rear, Ne ever once did look up from her Defs, As if fome Blame of Evil fhe did fear, That in her Cheeks made Rofes oft appear: And her against fweet Chearfulness was plac'd, Whofe Eyes like twinkling Stars in Evening clear, Were deck'd with Smiles, that all fad Humours chac'd. And darted forth Delights, the which her goodly grac'd.

LI.

And next to her fate fober Modefty,

Holding her Hand upon her gentle Heart;
And her against fate comely Courtely,
That unto every Perfon knew her Part;
And her before was feated over-thwart
Soft Silence, and fubmifs Obedience,
Both link'd together never to difpart,
Both Gifts of God not gotten but from thence,
Girlonds of his Saints against their Foes Offence,

LII.

Thus fate they all around in feemly rate:
And in the midst of them a goodly Maid,
Even in the Lap of Womanhood there fate,
The which was all in lilly White array'd,
With filver Streams amongst the Linen ftray'd;
Like to the Morn, when firft her fhining Face
Hath to the gloomy World it felf bewray'd:
That fame was faireft Amoret in place,

Shining with Beauty's Light, and heavenly Vertue's Grace.
LIII.

Whom foon as I beheld, my Heart 'gan throb,
And wade in Doubt what beft were to be done :
For Sacrilege me feem'd the Church to rob;
And Folly feem'd to leave the thing undone,
Which with fo ftrong Attempt I had begun.
Tho, fhaking off all Doubt and shamefac'd Fear,
Which Lady's Love I heard had never won
'Mongft Men of Worth, I to her stepped near,
And by the lilly Hand her labour'd up to rear.

LIV.

Thereat that formoft Matron me did blame,
And sharp rebuke, for being over-bold;
Saying it was to Knight unfeemly Shame,
Upon a reclufe Virgin to lay hold,
That unto Venus' Services was fold.
To whom I thus; Nay but it fitteth beft,
For Cupid's Man with Venus' Maid to hold:
For ill your Goddefs' Services are dreft
By Virgins, and her Sacrifices let to reft.

LV.

With that my Shield I forth to her did fhow,
Which all that while I closely had conceal'd;
On which when Cupid, with his killing Bow
And cruel Shafts emblafon'd the beheld,
At fight thereof she was with Terror quell'd,
And faid no more: but I which all that while,
The Pledge of Faith, her Hand engaged held,
Like wary Hind within the weedy Soil,

For no Intreaty would forgo fo glorious Spoil.

Ma

LVI.

LVI.

And evermore upon the Goddess' Face
Mine Eye was fix'd, for fear of her Offence:
Whom when I faw with amiable Grace

To laugh on me, and favour my Pretence,
I was embolden'd with more Confidence;
And nought for Nicenefs, nor for Envy fparing,
In prefence of them all forth led her thence,
All looking on, and like aftonish'd staring,
Yet to lay hand on her, not one of all them daring.
LVII.

She often pray'd, and often me befought,
Sometime with tender Tears to let her go,
Sometime with witching Smiles: but yet for nought,
That ever the to me could fay or do,

Could the her wifhed Freedom from me woo;
But forth I led her through the Temple-gate,
By which I hardly paft with much ado:
But that fame Lady which me friended late
In Entrance, did me alfo friend in my Retreat.
LVIII.

No lefs did Danger threaten me with Dread,
When-as he faw me, maugre all his Pow'r,
That glorious Spoil of Beauty with me lead,
Than Cerberus, when Orpheus did recour
His Leman from the Stygian Prince's Bow'r i
But evermore my Shield did me defend,
Against the Storm of every dreadful Stour:
Thus fafely with my Love I thence did wend.
So ended he his Tale, where I this Canto end.

R

Marinel's former Wound is beal'd,
He comes to Proteus' Hall,

*****

Where Thamis doth the Medway wed,
And feafts the Sea-Gods all.

I.

UT ah for Pity! that I have thus long
Left a fair Lady languishing in Pain:
Now weal-away, that I have done fuch Wrong,
To let fair Florimel in Bands remain,

In Bands of Love, and in fad Thraldom's Chain;
From which, unless fome heavenly Power her free
By Mirade, not yet appearing plain,

She lenger yet is like captiv'd to be:

That ev'n to think thereof, it inly pities me.

Here need you to remember how erewhile
Unlovely Proteus, mifling to his Mind
That Virgin's Love to win by Wit or Wile,
Her threw into a Dungeon deep and blind,
And there in Chains her cruelly did bind,
In hope thereby her to his Bent to draw:
For when as neither Gifts nor Graces kind,
Her conftant Mind could move at all he faw,
He thought her to compel by Cruelty and Awe.
III.

Deep in the Bottom of an huge great Rock
The Dungeon was, in which her bound he left,
That neither iron Bars, nor brazen Lock
Did need to guard from Force, or fecret Theft
Of all her Lovers, which would her have reft.
For wall'd it was with Waves, which rag'd and roar'd
As they the Cliff in pieces would have cleft:
Befides, ten thoufand Monsters foul abhor'd
Did wait about it, gaping griefly, all begor'd.

IV.

IV:

And in the midft thereof did Horror dwell,
And Darkness drad, that never viewed Day;
Like to the baleful Houfe of lowest Hell,
In which old Styx her aged Bones alway
(Old Styx, the Grandame of the Gods) doth lay.
There did this luckless Maid three Months abide,
Ne ever Evening faw, ne Morning's Ray,

Ne ever from the Day the Night defcry'd,
But thought it all one Night, that did no Hours divide.
V.

And all this was for Love of Marinel,

Who her defpis'd (ah! who would her defpife?)
And Womens Love did from his Heart expel.
And all thofe Joys that weak Mankind entice.'
Nath'lefs, his Pride full dearly he did prife;
For of a Woman's Hand it was ywroke,
That of the Wound he yet in Languor lies,
Ne can be cured of that cruel Stroke,

Which Britomart him gave, when he did her provoke,
VI.

Yet far and near the Nymph his Mother fought,
And many Salves did to his Sore apply,
And many Herbs did ufe: but when-as nought
She faw could eafe his rankling Malady,
At laft, to Tryphon the for Help did hie
(This Tryphon is the Sea-gods Surgeon hight)
Whom the befought to find fome Remedy:
And for his Pains, a Whistle him behight,
That of a Fithes Shell was wrought with rare Delight,
VII.

So well that Leach did hark to her Requeft,
And did fo well employ his careful Pain,
That in fhort fpace his Hurts he had redreft,
And him reftor'd to healthful State again:
In which he long time after did remain

There with the Nymph his Mother, like her Thrall;
Who fore against his Will did him retain,
For fear of Peril, which to him mote fall,
Through his too ventrous Prowess proved over all.