For life must life, and blood must blood, repay. For he that once hath missed the right way, XLIV. "Then doe no further goe, no further stray; Feare, sicknesse, age, losse, labour, sorrow, strife, All which, and thousands mo,3 do make a loathsome life.. XLV. "Thou, wretched man, of death hast greatest need, If in true ballaunce thou wilt weigh thy state; For never Knight, that dared warlike deed, More luckless dissaventures 4 did amate 5 : Witnes the dungeon deepe, wherein of late Thy life shutt up for death so oft did call ; And though good lucke prolonged hath thy date, Yet death then would the like mishaps forestall, Into the which hereafter thou maist happen fall. XLVI. "Why then doest thou, O man of sin, desire 1 Ensewen, follow. 2 Rife, abundantly. 3 Mo, more. 5 Amate, subdue. Thou falsed1 hast thy faith with periuree, With whom in all abuse thou hast thy selfe defild? XLVII. "Is not he just, that all this doth behold From highest heven, and beares an equall eie? Is not His law, Let every sinner die, Die shall all flesh? What then must needs be donne? Is it not better to doe willinglie, Then linger till the glas be all out ronne ? Death is the end of woes: Die soone, O Faries sonne." XLVIII. The Knight was much enmoved with his speach, XLIX. In which amazement when the Miscreaunt Perceived him to waver weake and fraile, 1 Falsed, broken. 2 Reverse, cause to return. VOL. I. 17 3 As, as if. • Table, picture. The damned ghosts, that doe in torments waile, And thousand feends, that doe them endlesse paine With fire and brimstone, which for ever shall remaine. L. The sight whereof so throughly him dismaid, And bad him choose, what death he would desire: For death was due to him, that had provokt Gods ire. LI. But whenas none of them he saw him take, And troubled blood through his pale face was seene At last, resolv'd to work his finall smart, He lifted up his hand, that backe againe did start. LII. Which whenas Una saw, through every vaine 4 The crudled cold ran to her well of life, As in a swowne: but, soone reliv'd 5 againe, And to him said; "Fie, fie, faint-hearted Knight, 1 Overcraw, overcrow, assume a superiority over. 2 Raught, reached. • Crudled, curdled. 3 As, as if. 5 Reliv'd, brought to life again. What meanest thou by this reprochfull strife? Is this the battaile, which thou vauntst to fight With that fire-mouthed Dragon, horrible and bright? LIII. "Come; come away, fraile, feeble, fleshly wight, Why shouldst thou then despeire, that chosen art? LIV. So up he rose, and thence amounted 1 streight. 1 Amounted, departed. 2 Drest, treated. LIV. 5. — Unbid.] This word may mean either 'without being directed by any one,' or, without praying, i. e. without bidding his beads,' as used in the third stanza of the next canto. * The powerful description of Despair, in this canto, is the portion of the poem which is said to have been submitted, in manuscript, to Sir Philip Sydney, and of which he testified his admiration in the liberal manner already related in the Life of Spenser. The story is, however, very improbable, and (as has been said) seeks to compliment the poet at the expense of the common sense of the patron. CANTO X. Her faithfull Knight faire Una brings Where he is taught repentaunce, and I. WHAT man is he, that boasts of fleshly might Which, all so soone as it doth come to fight But all the good is Gods, both power and eke will. II. By that which lately hapned, Una saw That this her Knight was feeble, and too faint; That yet he was unfitt for bloody fight. She cast to bring him, where he chearen 2 might, Till he recovered had his late decayed plight. 1 Daint, delicate. 2 Chearen, be cheered. |