And after him the proud Dueffa came,
High mounted on her many-headed beast,
And every Head with fiery tongue did flame,
And every head was crowned on his creaft,
And bloody mouthed with late cruel feast.
That when the Knight beheld his mighty fhield
Upon his manly arm he foon addrest,
And at him fiercely flew, with courage filld,
And eager greedinefs through every member thrilld.
VII.
Therewith the Giant buckled him to fight,
Inflam'd with fcornful wrath and high difdain:
And lifting up his dreadful club on height,
All arm'd with ragged fnubs and knotty grain,
Him thought at first encountred to have flain.
But wife and wary was that noble peer,
And lightly leaping from fo monftrous main,
Did fair avoid the violence him nere;
It booted nought, to think fuch thunderbolts to bear:
VIII.
Ne fhame he thought to fhun fo hideous might.
The idle ftroke, enforcing furious way,
Miffing the mark of his misaymed fight,
Did fall to ground, and with his heavy sway,
So deeply dinted in the driven clay,
That three yards deep a furrow up did throw:
The fad earth wounded with fo fore affay,
Did groan full grievous underneath the blow,
Andtremblingwithftrangefear,didlike an earthquakeshow:
As when almighty Jove, in wrathful mood,
To wreak the guilt of mortal fins is bent,
Hurls forth his thundring dart with deadly feud,
Enrold in flames, and fmouldring dreriment;
Through riven clouds and molten firmament,
The fierce threeforked engine making way,
Both lofty towres and highest trees hath rent,
And all that might his angry paffage stay,
And shooting in the earth, cafts up a mount of clay :
His boyftrous club, fo buried in the ground,
He could not rearen up again fo light,
But that the Knight him at advantage found:
And whiles he ftrove his cumbred club to quight
Out of the earth, with biade all burning bright
He fmote off his left arm, which like a block
Did fall to ground, depriv'd of native might;
Large ftreams of blood out of the trunked ftock
Fourth gushed, like fresh water ftream from riven rock.
XI.
Difmayed with fo defperate deadly wound,
And eke impatient of unwonted pain,
He loudly bray'd with beastly yelling found,
That all the fields rebellowed again;
As great a noyfe, as when in Cymbrian plain
An herd of bulls, whom kindly rage doth fting,
Do for the milky mothers want complain,
And fill the fields with troublous bellowing,
The neighbour woods around with hollow murmur ring.
XII.
That when his dear Duefja heard, and faw
The evil ftound that dangerd her estate,
Unto his aid the haftily did draw
Her dreadful beaft; who fwoln with blood of late,
Came ramping forth with proud prefumptuous gaite,
And threatened all his heads like flaming brands.
But him the Squire made quickly to retreat,
Encountring fierce with fingle sword in hand,
And twixt him and his Lord did like a bulwark ftand.
XIII.
The proud Dueffa full of wrathful fpight,
And fierce difdain to be affronted fo,
Enforct her purple beaft with all her might
That stop out of the way to overthrow,
Scorning the let of fo unequal foe:
But nathemore would that courageous fwain
To her yield paffage, gainft his Lord to go,
But with outrageous ftrokes did him reftrain,
And with his body bar'd the way atwixt them twain.
Then took the angry Witch her golden cup,
Which still fhe bore, replete with magick arts;
Death and defpair did many thereof fup,
And fecret poyfon through their inward parts,
Th' eternal bale of heavy wounded hearts;
Which, after charms and fome enchantments faid,
She lightly fprinkled on his weaker parts;
Therewith his sturdy courage foon was quaid,
And all his fenfes were with fuddain dread difmay'd.
XV.
So down he fell before the cruel beast,
Who on his neck his bloody claws did feize,
That life nigh crufht out of his panting breast:
No powre he had to ftir, nor will to rife.
That when the careful Knight 'gan well avise,
He lightly left the foe with whom he fought,
And to the beaft 'gan turn his enterprise;
For, wondrous anguifh in his heart it wrought,
To fee his loved Squire into fuch thraldom brought.
XVI.
And high advancing his blood-thirsty blade,
Strook one of thofe deformed heads fo fore,
That of his puiffance proud enfample made;
His monstrous fcalp down to his teeth it tore,
And that misformed fhape misfhaped more:
A fea of blood gusht from the gaping wound,
That her gay garments ftain'd with filthy gore,
And overflowed all the field around;
Tnat over shoes in blood he waded on the ground.
XVII.
Thereat he roared for exceeding pain,
That to have heard, great horror would have bred And scourging th' empty air with his long train, Through great impatience of his grieved head, His gorgeous rider from her lofty sted
Would have caft down and trod in dirty mire, Had not the Giant foon her fuccoured; Who all enrag'd with fmart and frantick ire, Came hurtling in full fierce, and forct the Knight retire.
The force, which wont in two to be difperft,
In one alone left hand he now unites,
Which is through rage more ftrong than both were erft;
With which his hideous club aloft he dites,
And at his foe with furious rigour fmites,
That strongest Oak might feem to overthrow:
The stroke upon his fhield fo heavy lites,
That to the ground it doubleth him full low.
What mortal wight could ever bear fo monftrous blow?
XIX.
And in his fall, his fhield that cover'd was,
Did loose his veil by chance, and open flew :
The light whereof, that heavens light did pafs,
Such blazing brightness through the ayer threw,
That eye mote not the fame endure to view.
Which when the Giant fpide with ftaring eye,
He down let fall his arm, and foft with-drew
His weapon huge, that heaved was on high
For to have flain the man, that on the ground did lye.
XX.
And eke the fruitful-headed beast, amaz'd
At flashing beams of that funfhiny shield,
Became ftark blind, and all his fenfes daz'd,
That down he tumbled on the dirty field,
And feem'd himself as conquered to yield.
Whom when his mistress proud perceiv'd to fall,
Whiles yet his feeble feet for faintnefs reel'd,
Unto the Giant loudly fhe 'gan call,
O help Orgoglio, help, or elfe we perith all.
XXI.
At her fo pitious cry was much amov'd
Her champion ftout, and for to ayd his friend,
Again his wonted angry weapon prov'd;
But all in vain: for he has read his end
In that bright fhield, and all their forces fpend
Themfelves in vain: for, fince that glauncing fight,
He hath no powre to hurt, nor to defend;
As, where th' Almighty's lightning brond does light,
It dims the dazed eyen, and daunts the fenfes quight.
Whom when the Prince to battle new addreft,
And threatning high his dreadful stroke did fee,
His fparkling blade about his head he bleft,
And Imote off quite his right leg by the knee,
That down he tumbled; as an aged tree,
High growing on the top of rocky clift,
Whofe heart-strings with keen fteel nigh hewen be,
The mighty trunk half rent, with ragged rift
Doth roll adown the rocks, and fall with fearful drift.
XXIII.
Or as a castle reared high and round,
By fubtile engines and malicious flight
Is undermined from the loweft ground,
And her foundation forct, and feebled quight,
At laft down falls, and with her heaped height
Her hafty ruine does more heavy make,
And yields itself unto the victors might;
Such was this Giants fall, that feem'd to fhake The stedfaft globe of earth, as it for fear did quake. XXIV.
The Knight, then lightly leaping to the prey,
With mortal fteel him fmote again fo fore;
That headless his unwieldy body lay,
All wallow'd in his own foul bloody gore,
Which flowed from his wounds in wondrous ftore;
But foon as breath out of his breast did pass,
That huge great body which the Giant bore,
Was vanifht quite, and of that monstrous mafs
Was nothing left, but like an empty bladder was.
XXV.
Whofe grievous fall when falfe Duessa fpide,
Her golden cup fhe caft unto the ground,
And crowned mitre rudely threw aside;
Such piercing grief her ftubborn heart did wound,
That he could not endure that doleful stound,
But leaving all behind her, fled away :
The light-foot Squire her quickly turn'd around,
And by hard means enforcing her to stay,
So brought unto his Lord, as his deferved prey.
VOL. I.
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