For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead, as living, ever him adored:

Upon his shield the like was also scored,

For sovereign hope which in his help he had. Right faithful true he was in deed and word; But of his cheer did seem too solemn sad; Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.

10 Upon a great adventure he was bound,

That greatest Gloriana to him gave,

(That greatest glorious Queen of Fairyland)
To win him worship, and her grace to have,
Which of all earthly things he most did crave:
And ever as he rode his heart did yearn
To prove his puissance in battle brave
Upon his foe, and his new force to learn
Upon his foe, a Dragon horrible and stern.

11. A lovely Lady rode him fair beside,

Upon a lowly ass more white than snow;
Yet she much whiter; but the same did hide
Under a veil, that wimpled was full low;
And over all a black stole she did throw.
As one that inly mourned; so was she sad,
And heavy sat upon her palfry slow;

Seemed in heart some hidden care she had;
And by her, in a line, a milk-white lamb she lad.

12. So pure and innocent, as that same lamb,
She was in life and every virtuous lore;
And by descent from Royal lineage came
Of ancient Kings and Queens, that had of yore
Their sceptres stretched from East to Western shore,
And all the world in their subjection held;

Till that infernal fiend with foul uprore

Forwasted all their land, and them expelled; Whom to avenge she had this Knight from far compelled.

13. The second day there came in a palmer bearing an infant with bloody hands, whose parents he complained to have been slain by an enchantress called Acrasia; and therefore he craved of the Faerie Queen to appoint him some knight to perform that adventure. This being assigned to Sir Guyon or Temperance, he presently went forth with that same palmer. This forms the beginning and, indeed, the whole subject of the Second Book.

Caedmon was a monk in Whitby, and died about 680. He was originally a cow-herd. His poem the Paraphrase is one of the chief Anglo-Saxon poems that have come down to us. The Paraphrase contained various Bible histories, such as that of the fall of man, some passages in which have been thought to bear considerable resemblance to Milton's description of the same event.

palmer, spent all his days in visiting holy places with a consecrated palm-branch in his hand. He lived on alms as he travelled.

"His sandals were with travel tore,
Staff, budget, bottle, scrap he wore;

The faded palm-branch in his hand

Showed pilgrim from the Holy Land."

pricking, spurring his horse: yclad, clad: jolly, Fr. joli, handsome: jousts, tournaments: cheer, visage, mien: sad, grave: ydrad, dreaded worship (worthiness), esteem: pu-iss-ance, power: silver shield, the legend was that when Arviragus was converted, he received "a shield of silver white," with a cross on it.

"These arms were used through all Britain'

For a common sign each man to know his nation
From enemies; which now we call certain

Saint George's arms."

Gloriana or Glory is the Faerie Queen. Queen Elizabeth is present to the poet's mind under this name, and her kingdom is Fairy Land.

a veil, that wimpled, a veil and wimple were the same thing. Here it is meant that the veil covered the person of Una as well as her face.

1. So forth she comes, and to her coach does climb,
Adornéd all with gold and girlonds gay,
That seemed as fresh as Flora in her prime;

And strove to match, in royal rich array,
Great Juno's golden car; the which, they say,
The gods stand gazing on, when she does ride
To Jove's high house through heaven's brass-paved

way,

Drawn of fair peacocks, that excel in pride,
And full of Argus eyes their tails dispredden wide.

2. But this was drawn of six unequal beasts,

On which her six sage counsellors did ride,
Taught to obey their bestial behests,
With like conditions to their kinds applied;
Of which the first, that all the rest did guide,
Was sluggish Idleness, the nurse of Sin;
Upon a slothful Ass he chose to ride,
Arrayed in habit black and amis thin;
Like to an holy monk, the service to begin.

3. And in his hand his portesse still he bare,

That much was worn, but therein little read;
For of devotion he had little care,

Still drowned in sleep and most of his days dead:
Scarce could he once uphold his heavy head,
To looken whether it were night or day.

May seem the wain was very evil led,

When such an one had guiding of the way, That knew not whether right he went, or else astray.

4. Gluttony rode by the side of Idleness on "a filthy swine;" next came Impurity, Avarice, Envy, and Wrath riding on a lion. Satan, with a "smarting whip" in his hand, lashes on the team as often as Sloth is disposed to allow it to come to a stand in the mire.

AVARICE.

5. And greedy Avarice by him did ride,
Upon a camel loaden all with gold:
Two iron coffers hung on either side
With precious metal full as they might hold;
And in his lap an heap of coin he told;
For of his wicked pelf his God he made,
And unto hell himself for money sold:
Accursed usury was all his trade,

And right and wrong alike in equal balance weighed. 6. His life was nigh unto death's door yplaced;

placed
And threadbare coat and cobbled shoes he ware;
Nor scarce good morsel all his life did taste,
But both from back and belly still did spare,
To fill his bags and riches to compare;
Yet child nor kinsman living had he none
To leave them to; but thorough daily care
To get, and nightly fear to lose his own,
He led a wretched life, unto himself unknown.
7. Most wretched wight, whom nothing might suffice;
Whose greedy lust did lack in greatest store;
Whose need had end, but no end covetise;
Whose wealth was want, whose plenty made him poor;
Who had enough, yet wishéd ever more:

A vile disease: and eke in foot and hand
A grievous gout tormented him full sore,

That well he could not touch, nor go, nor stand;
Such one was Avarice, the fourth of this fair band.

ENVY.

8. And next to him malicious Envy rode

Upon a ravenous wolf, and still did chaw