1

Had them surprised. At last avising 1 right
Her goodly personage and glorious hue,

Which they so much mistook, they took delight

In their first error, and yet still anew

With wonder of her beauty fed their hungry view:

16 Yet note their hungry view be satisfied,

But, seeing, still the more desired to see,
And ever firmly fixèd did abide

In contemplation of divinitee:

But most they marvelled at her chivalree

And noble prowess, which they had approved,3
That much they fained to know who she mote 5 be;
Yet none of all them her thereof amoved;

Yet every one her liked, and every one her loved.

The lady of the castle soon appeared and kindly welcomed the warriors.

17 Now, when of meats and drinks they had their fill, Purpose was moved by that gentle dame

Unto those knights adventurous, to tell
Of deeds of arms which unto them became,7
And every one his kindred and his name.

18 So long these knights discoursèd diversely Of strange affairs, and noble hardiment,8

1 Avising, contemplating.

2 Note, could not.

8 Approved, proved.

4 Fained, desired.

5 Mote, might.

6 Amoved, i.e. questioned.

7

Became, happened.

8 Hardiment, bold deeds,

Which they had passed with mickle jeopardy,
That now the humid night was far forth spent,
And heavenly lamps were halfendeale 1 ybrent 2:
Which th' old man seeing well, who too long
thought

3

Every discourse, and every argument,

Which by the hours he measurèd, besought

VI.

Amoret and the Garden of Venus.

Scudamour, whom Britomart was about to meet, was the husband of the beautiful Amoret. Amoret was the daughter of Chrysogonee and the twin sister of Belphoebe. Soon after the birth of these children, Chrysogonee fell asleep in a forest; and the goddesses Venus and Diana happening along just then, took each a child from the sleeping mother.

I UP they them took, each one a babe uptook,
And with them carried to be fostered:
Dame Phoebe1 to a nymph her babe betook
To be upbrought in perfect maidenhead,2
And, of herself, her name Belphoebe read3:
But Venus hers thence far away conveyed,
To be upbrought in goodly womanhead;

And, in her little Love's stead which was strayed,
Her Amoretta called, to comfort her dismayed.5

2 She brought her to her joyous paradise

Where most she wonnes, when she on earth does dwell :

So fair a place as nature can devise:

1 Phabe, Diana, the goddess of the moon; the maiden goddess devoted to the chase.

2 Maidenhead, maidenhood.
8 And, of herself, her name Bel-
5 Dismayed, dejected.

phæbe read, i.e. called her Belphoebe, after herself.

4 In her little Love's stead, etc., i.e. in the place of Cupid who had run away from his mother.

6 Wonnes, dwells.

Whether in Paphos,1 or Cytheron hill,2
Or it in Gnidus 3 be, I wote not well;
But well I wote by trial, that this same
All other pleasant places doth excel,
And called is, by her lost lover's name,

The garden of Adonis,5 far renowmed by fame.

3 There is continual spring, and harvest there
Continual, both meeting at one time:

For both the boughs do laughing blossoms bear,
And with fresh colors deck the wanton prime,
And eke attonce the heavy trees they climb,
Which seem to labour under their fruits' load:
The whiles the joyous birds make their pastime
Among the shady leaves, their sweet abode,
And their true loves without suspicion tell abroad.

4 Right in the middest of that paradise

There stood a stately mount, on whose round top
A gloomy grove of myrtle trees did rise,
Whose shady boughs sharp steel did never lop,
Nor wicked beasts their tender buds did crop,
But like a garland compassèd the height,
And from their fruitful sides sweet gum did drop,

1 Paphos, a city on the island of Cyprus, which contained a celebrated temple of Venus.

2 Cytheron hill, refers to the town of Cythera in Crete, or to the island of Cythera, where Venus was said to have first landed.

3 Gnidus, a Doric city in Caria

celebrated for its statue of Venus,
the work of Praxiteles.
4 Wote, know.

5 Adonis, a youth of extraordinary beauty beloved by Venus, and by her changed into an anemone.

6 Wanton prime, luxuriant spring.

7 Eke attonce, also together.

That all the ground, with precious dew bedight,1

Threw forth most dainty odours and most sweet delight.

5 And in the thickest covert of that shade
There was a pleasant arbour, not by art
But of the trees' own inclination made,
Which knitting their rank 2 branches part to part,
With wanton ivy-twine entrailed athwart,3
And eglantine and caprifole 5 among,

Fashioned above within their inmost part,

6

That nether Phoebus' beams could through them throng,

Nor Æolus' sharp blast could work them any wrong.

6 And all about grew every sort of flow'r,

To which sad lovers were transformed of yore ;
Fresh Hyacinthus,8 Phoebus' paramour

And dearest love;

Foolish Narcisse,9 that likes the wat'ry shore ;
Sad Amaranthus,10 made a flow'r but late,
Sad Amaranthus, in whose purple gore

1 Bedight, covered.

2 Rank, luxuriant.

3 Entrailed athwart, twisted

across.

Eglantine, wild rose. 5 Caprifole, woodbine.

6 Phœbus, Apollo, the sun-god. "Eolus, the ruler of the winds. 8 Hyacinthus, a youth beloved by Apollo and accidentally killed

by him. The hyacinth was fabled to have sprung from his blood.

9 Narcisse, Narcissus, a beautiful youth who fell in love with his own reflection as seen in a fountain. He was changed to the flower Narcissus.

10 Amaranthus, amaranth, which signifies unfading. Among the ancients this flower was the symbol of immortality.