of great wit and learning yet of no fo great weight and importaunce, boldly fayth,

66

Exegi monimentum ære perennius,

Quod non imber edax, non aquilo vorax," P &c. Therefore let not be envied, that this Poete in his Epilogue fayth, he hath made a Calendar that fhall endure as long as time, &c. following the enfample of Horace and Ovid in the like.

"Grande opus exegi, quæ nec Iovis ira, nec ignis,
"Nec ferum poterit nec edax abolere vetuftas," &c.

LOE! I have made a Calender for every yeare, That Steele in ftrength, and time in durance, shall outweare ; And if I marked well the starres revolution,

It fhall continewe till the worlds diffolution,

To teach the ruder Shepheard how to feede his sheepe,
And from the falfers fraude his folded flocke to keepe.
Goe, lyttle Calender! thou haft a free paffeporte;
Goe but a lowly gate emong fte the meaner forte:
Dare not to match thy pype with Tityrus his ftyle,
Nor with the Pilgrim that the Ploughman playde awhyle;
But followe them farre off, and their high steppes adore:
The better please, the worse defpife; I aske no more.

г

MERCE NON MERCEDE.

P non aquilo vorax.] We give this citation in the very words of the old impreffions, and E. K. did not alter vorax to impotens, as Todd printed it. In the next quotation, however, E. K. did amend qua, of the 4to. 1579 to quod, and fo it ftands in the fol. 1611.

Loe! I have made.] In modern times these lines have usually been headed" Epilogue;" but fuch is not the cafe in the old editions, which, here and elsewhere, we follow.

The better pleafe, the worse defpife.] The quarto of 1597 altered "defpife" to difpleafe, which the later editions have admitted as the genuine reading. Bathurst, in his tranflation of "The Shepherd's Calendar," gives difplease also as the English reading; but tranflates it, conformably to the older quartos, defpife:

Sperne malos, placeafque bonis." TODD.

THE FAERIE QVEE N E.

DISPOSED INTO TWELUE BOOKS,

FASHIONING

XII. MORALL VERTUES.

LONDON

Printed for William Ponfonbie.

1590.

TO THE MOST MIGH-
TIE AND MAGNIFI
CENT EMPRESSE ELI-
ZABETH, BY THE
GRACE OF GOD QVEENE
OF. ENGLAND, FRANCE
AND IRELAND DE-
FENDER OF THE FAITH

&c

Her most humble

Seruant :

ED. SEPNSER."

a These were the terms, and this the form, of the Dedication of the earliest Edition of the three first books of "The Faerie Queene" in 1590. The Dedication of the fecond and fubfequent impreffions, in fix books, ran thus:

"To the most high mightie and magnificent Empresse, renowmed for pietie vertue and all gracious government, Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, Queene of England, Fraunce and Ireland and of Virginia, Defendour of the Faith &c. her most humble fervaunt, Edmund Spenfer, doth in all humilitie, dedicate, prefent and confecrate these his labours to live with the eternitie of her fame." C.

A LETTER OF THE AUTHORS,

Expounding his whole intention in the course of this worke: which, for that it giveth great light to the Reader, for the better understanding is hereunto annexed.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH, KNIGHT,

LO. WARDEIN OF THE STANNERYES, AND HER MAIESTIES LIEFETENAUNT OF THE COUNTY OF CORNEWAYLL.

IR, knowing how doubtfully all Allegories may be conftrued, and this booke of mine, which I have entituled the Faery Queene, being a continued Allegory, or darke conceit, I haue thought good, afwell for avoyding of gealous opinions and mifconftructions, as alfo for your better light in reading therof, (being fo by you commanded,) to difcover unto you the general intention and meaning, which in the whole course thereof I have fashioned, without expreffing of any particular purposes, or by accidents, therein occafioned. The generall end therefore of all the booke is to fashion a gentleman or noble perfon in vertuous and gentle difcipline: Which for that I conceived fhoulde be most plaufible and pleafing, being coloured with an hiftoricall fiction,

the which the most part of men delight to read, rather for variety of matter then for profite of the enfample, I chofe the historye of King Arthure, as most fitte for the excellency of his perfon, being made famous by many mens former workes, and alfo furthest from the daunger of envy, and fufpition of prefent time. In which I have followed all the antique Poets hiftoricall; first Homere, who in the Perfons of Agamemnon and Ulyffes hath enfampled a good gouernour and a vertuous man, the one in his Ilias, the other in his Odyfeis: then Virgil, whofe like intention was to doe in the person of Aeneas: after him Ariofto comprised them both in his Orlando; and lately Taffo diffevered them again, and formed both parts in two perfons, namely that part which they in Philofophy call Ethice, or vertues of a private man, coloured in his Rinaldo; the other named Politice in his Godfredo. By enfample of which excellente Poets, I labour to pourtraiƐt in Arthure, before he was king, the image of a brave knight, perfected in the twelve private morall vertues, as Aristotle hath devifed; the which is the purpose of these first twelve bookes: which if I finde to be well accepted, I may be perhaps encoraged to frame the other part of polliticke vertues in his perfon, after that hee came to be king.

To fome, I know, this Methode will feeme difpleafaunt, which had rather have good difcipline delivered plainly in way of precepts, or fermoned at large, as they ufe, then thus clowdily enwrapped in Allegoricall devifes. But fuch, me feeme, fhould be fatisfide with the use of these dayes, feeing all things accounted by their showes, and nothing esteemed of, that is not delightfull and pleafing to commune fence. For this caufe is Xenophon preferred before Plato, for that the one, in the exquifite depth of his judgement, formed a Commune welth, fuch as it should be; but the other, in the perfon of Cyrus, and the Perfians, fashioned a governement, fuch as might beft be: So much more profitable and gratious