Then in the last canto of this book Grantorto is slain and Irena freed. But as Artegall proceeds to the Faerie Court he is reviled by two ill-favoured hags, named Envy and Detraction.

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'Thereto the Blatant Beast, by them set on,

At him began aloud to barke and bay

With bitter rage and fell contention,

That all the woods and rockes nigh to that way
Began to quake and tremble with dismay; .
And all the aire rebellowéd againe,

So dreadfully his hundred tongues did bray :

And evermore those hags them selves did paine

To sharpen him, and their owne curséd tongs did straine."

The Blatant Beast is Slander, and Spenser, who associates the quality of Justice, in opposing itself to the enemies of Peace, with surface suggestions of the work of his old friend Arthur, Lord Grey, in Ireland, remembers now that evil tongues maligned him. Yet Artegall passed on, regardless of the stings of Envy and Detraction,

"he for nought would swerve

From his right course, but still the way did hold

To Faerie Court; where what him fell shall else be told."

The Sixth Book

Is of Sir Calidore, the Knight of Courtsey, whose name describes his quality as a beautiful gift. He meets Artegall, who tells of his achieved adventure. Sir Calidore tells of the adventure on which he is boundthe quest of the Blatant Beast. That beast is Slander, the quality most opposite to Courtesy, born of Cerberus and fell Chimæra, sent into the world to be the plague and scourge of wretched men.

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'Sayd Artegall, I such a beast did see,

The which did seem a thousand tongues to have,
That all in spight and malice did agree,

With which he bayd and loudly barkt at me.

That is the Beast which Calidore pursues. "Now God you speed," quoth then Sir Artegall, "For ye have much adoe to deale withall." So both took goodly leave and parted severall.

Sir Calidore presently found a comely squire tied to a tree, suffering from the evil custom established by a disdainful knight, named Crudor, in a castle that commanded a close pass near by. The castle belonged to a lady named Briana, who loved Crudor, but he-

"Refuséd hath to yeeld her love againe,

Untill a mantle she for him doe fynd,

With beards of knights, and locks of ladies lyned."

A strong seneschal, named Maleffort, had been put in the castle to work spitefully this wicked will. The squire, coming that way with a fair damsel, his belovéd dear, was set upon, and bound to the tree, and chase was given to his lady. While they spoke her cries were heard, as she was being haled by her yellow hair. Calidore interfered, and, said the carle,

"Art thou the caytive that defyest me?

And for this Mayd, whose party thou dost take,
Wilt give thy beard, though it but little bee?

Yet shall it not her lockes for ransome fro me free."

But Calidore beat on the Seneschal till he recoiled, and followed when he fled. Calidore cleft the head of Maleffort as he was passing through the castle gate, so that—

"The carcasse, tumbling downe within the dore,
Did choke the entrance with a lump of sin."

Then Calidore slew within the castle, and was reproached by the Lady with threat of a better knight, who would avenge his violence. Calidore answered that the shame and the just punishment were with those who defamed both noble arms and gentle courtesy. Let her, therefore, for dread of shame, forego the evil custom, and show, instead, mild courtesy to all who pass. Briana raged and threatened. Calidore said he would wait for her avenger. A dwarf was sent for Crudor, who came full of disdain. At the first strong rush both knights were unhorsed. Calidore leapt lightly to his feet, and seeing his adversary still in swoon, he would not hurt him though he might; "for shame he weend a sleeping wight to wound." They fought on foot. Crudor was overcome, and spared on condition that he broke the discourteous custom,

gave aid everywhere to ladies, and at once married Briana without dower. Briana rejoiced now, ceased from reviling, and gave her castle to Calidore, who gave it to the squire and his damsel for recompense of all their former wrong.

In the second canto Calidore finds Tristram of Lyonesse, a youth of seventeen, in a woodman's jacket, killing an armed knight. A Lady beside them stands, alone on foot, in foul array. That knight, riding through a wood with his lady behind him, had seen another knight with his lady beside him and his armour off, disporting in the shade. He had attacked and wounded sorely that unarmed knight, seeking to take his lady from him, but she had escaped into the wood. The discourteous knight then refused to his own lady a seat on his horse, and, in his dudgeon, made her walk beside him, urging her with blows. Tristram had seen that and had interfered. The angry knight attacked the youth, who slew him by throwing one of two darts that he carried for use against wild beasts. When Calidore heard Tristram's story of himself, he assented to the youth's wish to pass from woodland sport to manly deeds of arms, and, as a step to knighthood, made Tristram his squire. But he could not be taken on the present quest, because Calidore was bound by vow to the Faerie Queene, that in its achievement he should bring no creature to his aid. Tristram's first duty was to raise the lady on the steed of her own dead knight, and conduct her on the way she wished to go. Calidore then went his own way alone. It brought him to the knight who had been wounded, and his lady--named Priscilla-who had hidden from the fray, and now lamented over him. Calidore told her the fate of their assailant, and then, making a bier of his hollow shield, helped her to carry the knight to a neighbouring castle.

The third canto tells how they remained till next day in the castle, which was that of the young knight's father. The father was named Aldus; the son, Aladine. Aladine had slipped into the wood to meet Priscilla, whose father, against her consent, had wished to wed her to a greater man than a knight's son. Aladine in the morning was revived, and Calidore undertook safe conduct of the lady to her father in a manner that would free her from all blame. To do that he went by the way where the knight lay whom Tristram slew. He cut off the knight's head and took it, with the lady, to her father's house, where it was shown as the head of a discourteous knight, who was carrying her away by outrageous force. There are two or three of these little tricks upon truth in the story of Sir Calidore, showing that even Spenser gave some slight assent to the old doctrine, that all is fair in love and war, But times have changed. What gentleman would now

bring an errant damsel to her father, with a gory head in his hand to show that all was as it should be?

Calidore proceeded on his quest and came upon another couple in the forest, innocently happy in each other, the knight with his armour off. He courteously excused himself for coming upon them so rudely, and was kindly received. While he talked with the knight, Sir Calepine, the lady, who was named Serena, wandered off to gather flowers for a garland.

"All sodainely out of the forrest nere,

The Blatant Beast forth rushing unaware,

Caught her, thus loosely wandering here and there,
And in his wide great mouth away her bore."

Calidore

Though innocent, she gave an opportunity for Slander. followed so closely on the monster, who knew him for his mortal foe, that he dropped Serena from his jaws, and she was found by Sir Calepine, "having both sides through grypt with grisley wounds."

Calepine set Serena on his horse and walked beside, supporting her, in hope to find some hospitable place of shelter. He came to a stream, and did not know where he should find the ford. A scornful knight, Sir Turpine, came by with his lady, Blandina, who was fair spoken, but not sincere. Sir Turpine crossed and mocked. Sir Calepine, with difficulty, brought Serena to the other bank. There he defied Sir Turpine, who paid no heed to the defiance and rode on to his castle, near by. Sir Calepine followed to the castle, and with courteous words, asked shelter for the wounded lady. They were rudely shut out, and Calepine laid Serena to sleep under a bush, covered with cold, and wrapt in wretchedness. They went forward in the morning, and Sir Turpine, following, attacked Calepine with his lance. Sir Calepine fought on foot, and was sorely wounded in the shoulder. Still Turpine chased him savagely about the field.

Serena cried for help, and in the fourth canto “a salvage man which in those woods did wonne," of gentle birth, but without use of speech, rushed on Sir Turpine. The savage was, by magic art, made from his birth invulnerable. He fastened like a tiger upon Turpine, gripped his shield, till Sir Turpine, dropping shield and spear, shrieked and escaped by speed of his horse from swift pursuit. The wild man, who could only make his meaning known by signs, showed pity for Calepine and Serena, took them to his den in the woods, sought healing herbs, and cured the knight, but could not cure the wound made by the Blatant Beast.

One day Calepine went unarmed into the woods, to take the air and

hear the thrush's song, when he saw a bear with a screaming child in its jaws. He followed swiftly, the lighter for having put off his armour. The bear, hard pressed, let the child drop and turned on his pursuer. Calepine thrust a large, rough stone into his throat, grappled with him, and killed him. He took up the babe, loosened its swathings, found it was unhurt. But, when he wished to return, he had no marks to guide him through the wood, and could not find his way back to Serena, who was in the den of the wild man. He reached the open country, and found, on the border of the wood, a lady lamenting. She was happy in all things but the want of a child to inherit castle and lands, that otherwise would go at their death to the giant Cormorant. Here was the child wanted. The lady took it home, and added to her husband's happiness by making him believe it was her own. Again here is the notion that all's fair in love. Calepine would not accept the lady's offer of rest in her castle, but continued his search for Serena.

At the beginning of the fifth canto, the gentleness of the savage is ascribed to the fact that he was born of noble blood, "as ye may know when time shall be to tell the same." But that time was to come in the unwritten part of the poem. The Savage sought to find Sir Calepine, and showed by signs that he shared the distress of Serena. Then, at her wish, he set her on her lover's horse, put on himself the armour of Sir Calepine, taking all but the sword, which the knight himself had hidden, and they left the wood, the Savage faithfully serving the wounded lady.

On the way they met two errant knights, Prince Arthur and his squire, young Timias. Timias-restored to the favour of Belphœbe, though still subject to unjust detraction—bore himself so well and wisely that he dwelt in her sovereign liking evermore. But he had three mighty enemies who sought his overthrow

"The first of these by name was called Despetto,

Exceeding all the rest in powre and hight;

The second, not so strong but wise, Decetto;

The third, nor strong nor wise, but spightfullest, Defetto.'

These set the Blatant Beast on Timias, who forced him to turn and fly; but before he turned, when Timias, heedless, thought himself secure, the Beast bit him with his impure tooth. Still Timias pursued and battled with his enemies, who sought to close about him—

"But most of all Defetto him annoyde,

Creeping behind him still to have destroyde ;