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XXXII.

And more, I grant to thy great misery

Gracious respect, thy wife fhall back be fent:
And that vile Knight, whoever that he be,
Which hath thy Lady reft, and knighthood fhent,
By Sanglamort my fword, whofe deadly dent
The blood hath of fo many thoufands fhed,
I fwear, ere long fhall dearly it repent;

Ne he twixt heaven and earth fhall hide his head, But foon he shall be found, and fhortly doen be dead. XXXIII.

The foolish man thereat woxe wondrous blith,
As if the word so spoken were half done,
And humbly thanked him a thousand fith,
That had from death to life him newly won.
Tho forth the boafter marching, brave begun
His stolen fteed to thunder furiously,

As if he heaven and hell would over run,
And all the world confound with cruelty,
That much Malbecco joyed in his jollity.
XXXIV.

Thus long they three together travelled,

Through many a wood, and many an uncouth way,
To feek his wife, that was far wandered,

But those two fought nought but the prefent prey.
To weet the treasure, which he did bewray,
On which their eyes and hearts were wholly fet,
With purpose how they might it beft betray;
For fith the hour that firft he did them let

The fame behold, there-with their keen defires were whet.
XXXV.
It fortuned as they together far'd,

They fpide where Paridell came pricking faft
Upon the plain, the which himfelf prepar'd
To giust with that brave ftranger Knight a cast,
As on adventure by the way he past:
Alone he rode without his paragone;
For having filcht her bells, her up he caft
To the wide world, and let her fly alone,
He n'ould be clog'd. So had he ferved many one.

XXXVI.

The gentle Lady, loofe at random left,

The green-wood long did walk, and wander wide At wild adventure, like a forlorn weft,

Till on a day the Satyrs her efpide

Straying alone withouten groom or guide:
Her up they took, and with them home her led,
With them as housewife ever to abide,

To milk their Goats, and make them cheese and bread, And every one as common good her handeled. XXXVII.

That shortly fhe Malbecco has forgot,

And eke Sir Paridell, all were he dear;
Who from her went to feek another lot,
And now (by fortune) was arrived here,
Where those two guilers with Malbecco were:
Soon as the old man faw Sir Paridell,
He fainted, and was almost dead with fear,
Ne word he had to fpeak, his grief to tell,
But to him louted low, and greeted goodly well.
XXXVIII.

And after asked him for Hellenore,

I take no keep of her, faid Paridell :
She wonneth in the foreft there before.
So forth he rode, as his adventure fell;
The whiles the boafter from his lofty fell
Feign'd to alight, fomething amifs to mend ;
But the fresh fwain would not his leifure dwell,
But went his way; whom when he paffed kend,
He up remounted light, and after feign'd to wend.
XXXIX.

Perdy nay, faid Malbecco, fhall ye not:
But let him pafs as lightly as he came :
For little good of him is to be got,
And mickle peril to be put to fhame.
But let us go to feek my deareft Dame,
Whom he hath left in yonder foreft wild :
For of her fafety in great doubt I am,
Left falvage beafts her perfon have defpoil'd :
Then all the world is loft, and we in vain have toil'd.

XL.

They all agree, and forward them addrest:
Ah! but faid crafty Trompart, weet ye well,
That yonder in that wafteful wilderness

Huge monsters haunt, and many dangers dwell
Dragons, and Minotaurs, and fiends of hell,
And many wild wood-men, which rob and rend
All travellers; therefore advise ye well,
Before ye enterprise that way to wend :
One may his journey bring too foon to evil end.
XLI.

Malbecco ftopt in great astonishment,

And with pale eyes faft fixed on the rest,
Their counsel crav'd, in danger imminent.
Said Trompart, You that are the most oppreft
With burden of great treasure, I think best
Here for to stay in fafety behind;

My Lord and I will fearch the wide forest.
That counsel pleafed not Malbecco's mind;
For he was much affraid, himfelf alone to find.
XLII.

Then is it beft, faid he, that ye do leave
Your treasure here in fome fecurity,
Either faft clofed in fome hollow grave,
Or buried in the ground from jeopardy,
Till we return again in fafëty :
As for us two, left doubt of us ye have,
Hence far away we will blindfolded lye,
Ne privy be unto your treasures grave.

It pleased: fo he did, then they march forward brave.
XLIII.

Now when amid the thickeft woods they were,
They heard a noife of many bagpipes fhrill,
And fhrieking hububs them approaching near,
Which all the foreft did with horrour fill:
That dreadful found the boafters heart did thrill,
With fuch amazement, that in hafte he fled,
Ne ever looked back for good or ill,

And after him eke fearful Trompert sped;

The old man could not fly, but fell to ground half dead. VOL. I.

I i

XLIV.

Yet afterwards, clofe creeping as he might,
He in a bush did hide his fearful head:
The jolly Satyrs, full of fresh delight,

Came dancing forth, and with them nimbly led
Fair Hellencre, with girlonds all befpred,
Whom their May-lady they had newly made:
She proud of that new honour, which they read,
And of their lovely fellowship full glad,
Danc'd lively, and her face did with a Laurel fhade.
XLV.

The filly man that in the thicket lay,

Saw all this goodly fport, and grieved fore,
Yet durft he not againft it do or fay,

But did his heart with bitter thoughts engore,
To fee th'unkindness of his Hellenore.
All day they danced with great luftihed,
And with their horned feet the green grafs wore,
The whiles their Goats upon the brouzes fed,
Till drooping Phabus 'gan to hide his golden head.
XLVI.

Tho up they 'gan their merry pipes to trufs,
And all their goodly herds did gather round;
But every Satyr firft did give a bufs

To Hellenore: fo buffes did abound.
Now 'gan the humid vapour fhed the ground
With pearly dew, and the earths gloomy fhade
Did dim the brightness of the welkin round
That every bird and beaft awarned made

To fhroud themselves, whiles fleep their fenfes did invade.
XLVII.

Which when Malbecco faw, out of the bufh
Upon his hands and feet he crept full light,
And like a Goat emongst the Goats did rufh,
That through the help of his fair horns on height,
And mifty damp of misconceiving night,
And eke through likeness of his goatifh beard,
He did the better counterfeit aright:

So home he marcht emongst the horned herd,
That none of all the Satyrs him efpide or heard.

XLVIII.

At night, when all they went to fleep, he viewd,
Where-as his lovely Wife emongst them lay,
Embraced of a Satyr rough and rude,

Who all the night did mind his joyous play:
Nine times he heard him come aloft ere day,
That all his heart with jealoufie did fwell;
But yet that nights enfample did bewray,

That not for nought his Wife them lov'd fo well, When one fo oft a night did ring his matins bell. XLIX.

So closely as he could, he to them crept,
When weary of their sport to
of their sport to fleep they fell;
And to his Wife, that now full foundly flept,
He whisper'd in her ear, and did her tell,
That it was he, which by her fide did dwell,
And therefore pray'd her wake, to hear him plain.
As one out of a dream not waked well,

She turnd her, and returned back again :
Yet her for to awake he did the more constrain.
L.

At laft with irkfome trouble she abraid;
And then perceiving that it was indeed
Her old Malbecco, which did her upbraid,
With loofeness of her love, and loathly deed,
She was aftonifht with exceeding dreed,
And would have wakt the Satyr by her fide;
But he her prayd, for mercy, or for meed,
To fave his life, ne let him be defcride,
But harken to his lore, and all his counsel hide.
LI.

Tho 'gan he her perfuade, to leave that lewd

And loathfome life, of God and man abhord,
And home return, where all fhould be renewd
With perfect peace, and bands of fresh accord,
And the receiv'd again to bed and bord,
As if no trespass ever had been done :
But fhe it all refufed at one word,

And by no means would to his will be won,

But chofe emongst the jolly Satyrs still to wonne.

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