THE FIRST BOOK

OF

THE FAERIE QUEENE

CONTAYNING

THE LEGEND OF THE KNIGHT OF THE RED CROSSE, OR

OF HOLINESSE.

I.

LO! I, the man whose Muse whylome did maske,

As time her taught, in lowly shepheards weeds,1
Am now enforst, a farre unfitter taske,
For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine oaten reeds,
And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds;
Whose praises having slept in silence long,
Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds 2

To blazon broade emongst her learned throng:
Fierce warres and faithful loves shall moralize my song.

II.

Help then, O holy virgin, chiefe of nyne,
Thy weaker novice to perform thy will;
Lay forth out of thine everlasting scryne 3
The antique rolles, which there lye hidden still,
Of Faerie Knights, and fayrest Tanaquill *

3

*

1 Weeds, clothes.

2 Areeds, teaches.

Scryne, (scrinium, Lat.,) a cabinet in which papers were kept.

Tanaquill is another name for Gloriana, the Faerie Queene.

Whom that most noble Briton Prince so long

Sought through the world, and suffered so much ill,
That I must rue his undeserved wrong:

O, helpe thou my weake wit, and sharpen my dull tong!

III.

And thou, most dreaded impe1 of highest love,
Faire Venus sonne, that with thy cruell dart
At that good Knight so cunningly didst rove,2
That glorious fire it kindled in his hart;

Lay now thy deadly heben 3 bowe apart,

And, with thy mother mylde, come to mine ayde;
Come, both; and with you bring triumphant Mart,
In loves and gentle iollities arraid,

After his murdrous spoyles and bloudie rage allayd.

IV.

And with them eke, O Goddesse heavenly bright,
Mirrour of grace and majestie divine,

Great Ladie of the greatest isle, whose light

Like Phœbus lampe throughout the world doth shine,
Shed thy faire beames into my feeble eyne,

And raise my thoughtes, too humble and too vile,

To thinke of that true glorious type of thine,

4

The Argument of mine afflicted 1 stile :

The which to heare vouchsafe, O dearest Dread,5 a while.

1 Impe, descendant.

3

Heben, ebony.

2 Rove, shoot with a rover, a sort of arrow.

4 Afflicted, low, or humble.

5 Dread, object of reverence.

CANTO I.

The Patron of true Holinesse
Foule Errour doth defeate;
Hypocrisie, him to entrappe,
Doth to his home entreate.

I.

A GENTLE Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd1 in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe woundes did remaine,
The cruel markes of many' a bloody fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield :
Full iolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,

2

3

As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.

II.

And on his brest a bloodie crosse he bore,

The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,

For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead, as living ever, him ador'd:

1 Ycladd, clad. 2 Iolly, handsome. 3 Giusts, tournaments.

I. 1.—A gentle Knight.] Spenser comes at once to the action of the poem, and describes the Red-cross knight as having already entered upon the adventure assigned him by the Faerie Queene, which was to slay the dragon which laid waste the kingdom of Una's father. The Red-cross knight is St. George, the patron saint of England, and represents holiness or Christian purity, and is clothed in the "whole armor of God," described by St. Paul in the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians.

Upon his shield the like was also scor'd,
For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had.
Right, faithfull, true he was in deede and word;
But of his cheere 1 did seeme too solemne sad;
Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.2

1

III.

Upon a great adventure he was bond,
That greatest Gloriana to him gave,

3

(That greatest glorious queene of Faerie lond,)
To winne him worshippe, and her grace to have,
Which of all earthly thinges he most did crave:
And ever, as he rode, his hart did earne
To prove his puissance in battell brave
Upon his foe, and his new force to learne;
Upon his foe, a Dragon horrible and stearne.

IV.

A lovely Ladie rode him faire beside,
Upon a lowly asse more white then snow;
Yet she much whiter; but the same did hide
Under a vele, that whimpled 4 was full low;
And over all a blacke stole shee did throw:
As one that inly mournd, so was she sad,
And heavie sate upon her palfrey slow;
Seemed in heart some hidden care she had;
And by her in a line a milke-white lambe she lad.

So

V.

pure and innocent, as that same lambe,

She was in life and every vertuous lore;

And by descent from royall lynage came

Of ancient kinges and queenes, that had of yore

1 Cheere, air, or mien. 2 Ydrad, dreaded.

3 Earne, yearn.

4 Whimpled, gathered, or plaited

Their scepters stretcht from east to westerne shore,
And all the world in their subjection held;

Till that infernal Feend with foule uprore
Forwasted all their land, and them expeld;

Whom to avenge, she had this Knight from far compeld.

VI.

Behind her farre away a Dwarfe did lag,
That lasie seemd, in being ever last,

Or wearied with bearing of her bag

Of needments at his backe. Thus as they past,
The day with cloudes was suddeine overcast,
And angry Iove an hideous storme of raine
Did poure into his lemans lap so fast,

That everie wight to shrowd it did constrain;

And this faire couple eke to shroud themselves were fain.'

VII.

Enforst to seeke some covert nigh at hand,
A shadie grove not farr away they spide,
That promist ayde the tempest to withstand;
Whose loftie trees, yclad with sommers pride,
Did spred so broad, that heavens light did hide,
Not perceable with power of any starr:
And all within were pathes and alleies wide,
With footing worne, and leading inward farr:
Faire harbour that them seems; so in they entred ar.

VIII.

And foorth they passe, with pleasure forward led,
Ioying to heare the birdes sweete harmony,
Which, therein shrouded from the tempest dred,
Seemd in their song to scorne the cruell sky.

1 Fain, glad.

V. 8.-Forwasted.] Much wasted. — The prefix for is an intensive, from the Saxon and German ver.