And her soft arm lay underneath his head,
And with ambrosial kisses bathe his eyes;
And, whilst he bath'd, with her two crafty spies1
She secretly would search each dainty limb,
And throw into the well sweet rosemaries,
And fragrant violets, and pansies trim;
And ever with sweet nectar she did sprinkle him.
So did she steal his heedless heart away,
And joy'd his love in secret unespied:
But for2 she saw him bent to cruel play,
To hunt the savage beast in forest wide,
Dreadfuls of danger that might him betide
She oft and oft advis'd him to refrain
From chase of greater beasts, whose brutish pride
Might breed him scath unwares: but all in vain;
For who can shun the chance that dest'ny doth
ordain?
Lo! where beyond he lieth languishing,
Deadly engoréd of a great wild boar;
And by his side the goddess grovelling
Makes for him endless moan, and evermore
With her soft garment wipes away the gore
Which stains his snowy skin with hateful hue:
But, when she saw no help might him restore,
Him to a dainty flower5 she did transmew, 6
Which in that cloth was wrought, as if it lively7 grew.
So was that chamber clad in goodly wise:
And round about it many beds were dight,8
As whilome was the antique worldës guise,
Some for untimely ease, some for delight,
As pleased them to use that use it might:
And all was full of damsels and of squires,
Dancing and revelling both day and night,
And swimming deep in sensual desires;
And Cupid still amongst them kindled lustful fires
And all the while sweet Music did divide
Her looser notes with Lydian harmony;
And all the while sweet birds thereto applied
Their dainty lays and dulcet melody,
Aye carolling of love and jollity,
That wonder was to hear their trim consórt.1
Which when those knights beheld, with scornful
They sdeignéd 2 such lascivious disport,
And loath'd the loose demeanour of that wanton sort.3
Thence they were brought to that great Lady's view,
Whom they found sitting on a sumptuous bed
That glist'red all with gold and glorious shew,
As the proud Persian queens accustomed:
She seem'd a woman of great bountyhed
And of rare beauty, saving that askance
Her wanton eyes (ill signs of womanhed)
Did roll too lightly, and too often glance,
Without regard of grace or comely amenance.*
Long work it were, and needless, to devise 5
Their goodly entertainment and great glee:
She causéd them be led in courteous wise
Into a bower, disarméd for to be,
And cheeréd well with wine and spicery:
The Redcross Knight was soon disarméd there;
But the brave Maid would not disarméd be,
But only vented up her umbriëre,7
And so did let her goodly visage to appear.
2 Troubled
at her absence.
8 Praised.
6 The Ogler. 7 Called. The
Prattler. 9 The Jester.
10 The Kisser. 11 The Drinker. 12 The Night
As when fair Cynthia, in darksome night,
Is in a noyous 1 cloud envelopéd,
Where she may find the substance thin and light,
Breaks forth her silver beams, and her bright head
Discovers to the world discomfited; 2
Of the poor traveller that went astray
With thousand blessings she is herried:3
Such was the beauty and the shining ray,
With which fair Britomart gave light unto the day.
And eke those six, which lately with her fought,
Now were disarm'd, and did themselves present
Unto her view, and company unsought;
For they all seeméd courteous and gent,
And all six brethren, born of one parent,
Which had them train'd in all civility,
And goodly taught to tilt and tournament;
Now were they liegemen to this Lady free,
And her knight's-service ought,5 to hold of her in fee.
The first of them by name Gardantè ❝ hight,
A jolly person, and of comely view;
The second was Parlantè,8 a bold knight;
And next to him Jocantè did ensue;
Basciante 10 did himself most courteous shew;
But fierce Bacchantè 11 seem'd too fell and keen;
And yet in arms Noctantè 12 greater grew:
All were fair knights, and goodly well beseen; Reveller. But to fair Britomart they all but shadows been.
For she was full of amiable grace
And manly terror mixéd therewithal
That as the one stirr'd up affections base,
So th' other did men's rash desires appal,
And hold them back that would in error fall:
As he that hath espied a vermeil rose,
To which sharp thorns and briars the way forestall,
Dare not for dread his hardy hand expose,
But, wishing it far off, his idle wish doth lose.
Whom when the Lady saw so fair a wight,
All ignorant of her contráry sex,
(For she her ween'd a fresh and lusty knight,)
She greatly gan enamouréd to wex,1
And with vain thoughts her falsed2 fancy vex:
Her fickle heart conceivéd hasty fire,
Like sparks of fire which fall in slender flex,3
That shortly brent into extreme desire,
And ransack'd all her veins with passion entire.
Eftsoons5 she grew to great impatience,
And into terms of open outrage burst,
That plain discover'd her incontinence;
Ne reck'd she who her meaning did mistrust;
For she was given all to fleshly lust,
And pouréd forth in sensual delight,
That all regard of shame she had discust,7
And meet respect of honour put to flight:
So shameless beauty soon becomes a loathly sight.
Fair ladies, that to love captíved are,
And chaste desires do nourish in your mind,
Let not her fault your sweet affections mar;
Ne blot the bounty of all womankind
'Mongst thousands good, one wanton dame to find:
At sight whereof the people stand aghast;
But the sage wizard tells, as he has redd,1
That it importunes 2 death and doleful drerihed.3
So as they gazéd after her awhile,
Lo! where a grisly foster forth did rush,
Breathing out beastly lust her to defile:
His tireling jade 6 he fiercely forth did push
Through thick and thin, both over bank and bush,
In hope her to attain by hook or crook,
That from his gory sides the blood did gush:
Large were his limbs, and terrible his look,
And in his clownish hand a sharp boar-spear he shook.
Which outrage when those gentle knights did see,
Full of great envy and fell jealousy
They staid not to avise who first should be,
But all spurr'd after, fast as they might fly,
To rescue her from shameful villany.
The Prince and Guyon equally bylives
Herself pursu'd, in hope to win thereby
Most goodly meed, the fairest Dame alive:
But after the foul foster Timias* did strive.
The whiles fair Britomart, whose constant mind
Would not so lightly follow beauty's chase,
Ne9 reck'd of ladies' love, did stay behind;
And them awaited there a certain space,
To weet 10 if they would turn back to that place:
But, when she saw them gone, she forward went
As lay her journey, through that perlous pace,11
*Timias: Prince Arthur's squire, supposed to represent Sir W.
Raleigh.
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