XLVIII.

1 Truly. ? Shed.

Pity.

+ Destruction.

• Omen.

" Dreaded.

7 Pursuit.

8 Labour.

Which words when Paridell had heard, his hue
Gan greatly change, and seem'd dismay'd to be;
Then said; Fair Sir, how may I ween it true,
That ye do tell in such uncertainty?

Or speak ye of report, or did ye see

Just cause of dread, that makes ye doubt so sore?
For perdie1 else how might it ever be,

That ever hand should dare for to engore

Her noble blood! The heavens such cruelty abhore.'

XLIX.

'These eyes did see that they will ever rues
T' have seen,' quoth he, 'whenas a monstrous beast
The palfrey whereon she did travel slew,
And of his bowels made his bloody feast:
Which speaking token showeth at the least
Her certain loss, if not her sure decay:4
Besides, that more suspicion increast,
I found her golden girdle cast astray,
Distain'd with dirt and blood, as relic of the prey.'

L.

'Ah me!' said Paridell, the signs be sad;

And, but God turn the same to good soothsay,5
That lady's safety is sore to be dradd:6

Yet will I not forsake my forward way,
Till trial do more certain truth bewray.'
Fair Sir,' quoth he, well may it you succeed!
Ne long shall Satyrane behind you stay;
But to the rest, which in this quest7 proceed,
My labour add, and be partaker of their speed.'

LI.

'Ye noble knights,' said then the Squire of Dames,
'Well may ye speed in so praiseworthy pain!
But sith the sun now gins to slake his beams

In dewy vapours of the western main,

And loose the team out of his weary wain,
Might not mislike you also to abate

Your zealous haste, till morrow next again

Both light of heaven and strength of men relate:11 Bring Which if ye please, to yonder castle turn your gate.'

LII.

That counsel pleased well; so all yfere
Forth marchéd to a castle them before;
Where soon arriving they restrainéd were
Of ready entrance, which ought evermore
To errant knights be common: wondrous sore
Thereat displeas'd they were, till that young Squire
Gan them inform the cause why that same door
Was shut to all which lodging did desire:

back. 2 Way.

3 Together.

4

The which to let you weet1 will farther time require. Know.

CANTO IX.

Malbecco will no strange knights host,

For peevish jealousy:

Paridell jousts with Britomart:

Both show their ancestry.

I.

REDOUBTED knights, and honourable dames,

To whom I level all my labours' end,

Right sore I fear lest with unworthy blames

5 Enter. tain.

• Direet.

8 Disgrace.

This odious argument7 my rhymes should shend,8 Subject.
Or aught your goodly patience offend,
Whiles of a wanton lady I do write,

Which with her loose incontinence doth blend
The shining glory of your sov'reign light;
And knighthood foul defaced by a faithless knight.

9 Dim.

II.

1 Contrast.

2 Perceived.

3 Together.

4 Nor.

5 Err.

• Know.

• Churl.

8 Vile.

9 Wealth.

10 Married.

11 Good

ness.

12 Tistes.

But never let th' ensample of the bad
Offend the good: for good, by paragone1

Of evil, may more notably be rad;2

As white seems fairer match'd with black attone:3
Ne all are shamed by the fault of one:
For lo! in heaven, whereas all goodness is
Amongst the angels, a whole legíon

Of wicked sprites did fall from happy bliss;
What wonder then if one, of women all, did miss?5

III.

Then listen, lordings, if ye list to weet
The cause why Satyrane and Paridell
Might not be entertain'd, as seeméd meet,

Into that castle, as that Squire does tell.

Therein a canker'd crabbed carle7 does dwell,
That has no skill of court nor courtesy,

Ne cares what men say of him ill or well:
For all his days he drowns in privity,
Yet has full large to live and spend at liberty.

IV.

'But all his mind is set on mucky pelf,

To hoard up heaps of evil-gotten mass,9

For which he others wrongs, and wrecks himself:
Yet he is linked 10 to a lovely lass,

Whose beauty doth her bounty 11 far surpass:
The which to him both far unequal years
And also far unlike conditions 12 has;

For she does joy to play amongst her peers,

And to be free from hard restraint and jealous fears.

V.

'But he is old, and witheréd like hay,
Unfit fair lady's service to supply;

The privy guilt whereof makes him alway

Suspect her truth, and keep continual spy
Upon her with his other1 blinkéd2 eye;
Ne3 suff'reth he resort of living wight

Approach to her, ne keep her company,

1 Left eye.

2 Dim.

3 Nor.

4

But in close bower her mews from all men's sight Secludes. Depriv'd of kindly joy and natural delight.

VI.

Malbecco he, and Hellenore she hight;5
Unfitly yok'd together in one team.
That is the cause why never any knight
Is suffer'd here to enter, but he seem
Such as no doubt of him he need misdeem.'
Thereat Sir Satyrane gan smile, and say;

Extremely mad the man I surely deem

That weens, with watch and hard restraint, to stay A woman's will which is dispos'd to go astray.

VII.

In vain he fears that which he cannot shun:
For who wotes7 not, that woman's subtilties
Can guilen Argus, when she list misdone??
It is not iron bands, nor hundred eyes,
Nor brazen walls, nor many wakeful spies,
That can withhold her wilful-wand'ring feet;
But fast goodwill, with gentle courtesies,
And timely service to her pleasures meet,

• Is called.

• Unless.

7 Knows.

8 Deceive.

9 Pleases to do

wrong.

May her perhaps contain 10 that else would algates 11 10 Restrain fleet.'12

VIII.

'Then is he not more mad,' said Paridell,
"That hath himself unto such service sold,
In doleful thraldom all his days to dwell?
For sure a fool I do him firmly hold,

That loves his fetters, though they were of gold.
But why do we devise of others' ill,

11 At all events.

12 Flit, flee.

Also

: Inso lence.

" Master.

• Sky.

5 Com

pany.

Whiles thus we suffer this same dotard old
To keep us out in scorn, of his own will,
And rather do not ransack all, and himself kill?'

IX.

'Nay, let us first,' said Satyrane, entreat
The man by gentle means, to let us in;
And afterwards affray with cruel threat,
Ere that we to efforce it do begin:

As

Then, if all fail, we will by force it win,
And eke1 reward the wretch for his mesprise,2
be worthy of his heinous sin.'
That counsel pleas'd: then Paridell did rise,
And to the castle-gate approach'd in quiet wise:

may

X.

Whereat soft knocking, entrance he desir'd.
The good man3 self, which then the porter play'd,
Him answered, that all were now retir'd

Unto their rest, and all the keys convey'd
Unto their master who in bed was laid,
That none him durst awake out of his dream;
And therefore them of patience gently pray'd.
Then Paridell began to change his theme,
And threaten'd him with force and punishment ex-
treme.

XI.

But all in vain; for naught might him relent:
And now so long before the wicket fast

They waited, that the night was forward spent,
And the fair welkin foully overcast

Gan blowen up a bitter stormy blast,
With shower and hail so horrible and dread,
That this fair many5 were compell'd at last
To fly for succour to a little shed,

The which beside the gate for swine was ordered.