XLV.

"Henceforth, sir knight, take to you wonted strength,
And master these mishaps with patient might :

Lo, where your foe lies stretch'd in monstrous length ;
And lo, that wicked woman in your sight,

The root of all your care and wretched plight,
Now in your power, to let her live or die."
"To do her die," quoth Una, "were despite,
And shame t' avenge so weak an enemy;

But spoil her of her scarlet robe, and let her fly."

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Then follows a description of the appearance of the false witch Duessa after she was stript of her fair seeming shew. The images employed by the poet to give the most odious possible idea of Falsehood, are too disagreeable to extract. Here we have her fate: Deceit no longer walks boldly, but hides in dens and caves.

L.

She, flying fast from heaven's hated face,
And from the world that her discovered wide,
Fled to the wasteful wilderness apace,
From living eyes her open shame to hide;
And lurk in rocks and caves, long unespied.
But that fair crew of knights, and Una fair,
Did in that castle afterwards abide,

To rest themselves, and weary powers repair,

Where store they found of all that dainty was and rare.

CANTO IX.

His loves and lineage Arthur tells:

The knights knit friendly bands:

Sir Trevisan flies from Despair,

Whom Redcross knight withstands.

I.

O! GOODLY golden chain, wherewith yfere*
The virtues linked are in lovely wise;
And noble minds of yore allied were,
In brave pursuit of chivalrous emprize,
That none did other's safety despise,
Nor aid envy to him in need that stands;
But friendly each did others praise devise,

How to advance with favorable hands,

As this good prince redeem'd the Redcross knight from bands.

II.

Who when their powers, impair'd through labor long,

With due repast they had recured well,

And that weak captive wight now waxed strong;

Them list no longer there at leisure dwell,
But forward fare, as their adventures fell:

But, ere they parted, Una fair besought
That stranger knight his name and nation tell;
Lest so great good, as he for her had wrought,

Should die unknown, and buried be in thankless thought.

* Yfere, together.

III.

"Fair virgin," said the prince, "ye me require
A thing without the compass of my wit:

For both the lineage, and the certain sire,
From which I sprung, from me are hidden yet.
For all so soon as life did me admit

Into this world, and showed heaven's light,
From mother's breast I taken was unfit,

And straight deliver'd to a Faëry knight,

To be upbrought in gentle thewes and martial might.

IV.

"Unto old Timon he me brought bilive,*
Old Timon, who in youthly years hath been
In warlike feats th' expertest man alive,
And is the wisest now on earth I ween:
His dwelling is, low in a valley green,
Under the foot of Rauran mossy hoar,
From whence the river Dee, as silver clean,

His tumbling billows rolls with gentle roar;
There all my days he train'd me up in virtuous lore.

V.

"Hither the great magician Merlin came,

As was his use, ofttimes to visit me;
For he had charge my discipline to frame,
And tutor's nourituret to oversee.

Him oft and oft I ask'd in privity,

Of what loins and what lineage I did spring,
Whose answer bade me still assured be,

That I was son and heir unto a king,

As time in her just term the truth to light should bring."

* Bilive, immediately. Nouriture, nourishment, whether of mind or body.

VI.

"Well worthy imp,"* said then the lady gent,†
"And pupil fit for such a tutor's hand!
But what adventure, or what high intent,
Hath brought you hither into Faëry land,

A read, Prince Arthur, crown of martial band ?"
"Full hard it is," quoth he, " to read aright
The course of heavenly cause, or understand

The secret meaning of th' Eternal Might,

That rules men's ways, and rules the thoughts of living wight."

VII.

"For whether He, through fatal deep foresight,
Me hither sent, for cause to me unguess'd;
Or that fresh bleeding wound, which day and night
Whilome doth rankle in my riven breast,
With forced fury following his behest,

Me hither brought by ways yet never found;
You to have help'd I hold myself yet blest."

"Ah! courteous knight," quoth she, "what secret wound Could ever find to grieve the gentlest heart on ground?"

VIII.

"Dear dame," quoth he, "you sleeping sparks awake, Which, troubled once, into huge flames will grow ;

Nor ever will their fervent fury slake,

Till living moisture into smoke do flow,

And wasted life do lie in ashes low.

Yet sithens§ silence lesseneth not my fire,

But, told, it flames; and, hidden, it does glow;

I will reveal what ye so much desire:

Ah! Love, lay down thy bow, the whiles I may respire."

* Imp, child or offspring.
Aread, explain.

† Gent, gentle.

§ Sithens, since.

1X.

"It was in freshest flower of youthly years,
When courage first does creep in manly chest ;
Then first that coal of kir.dly heat appears
To kindle love in every living breast:
But me had warn'd old Timon's wise behest,
Those creeping flames by reason to subdue,
Before their rage grew to so great unrest,
As miserable lovers use to rue,

Which still wax old in woe, while woe still waxeth new.

X.

"That idle name of love, and lovers' life,
As loss of time, and virtue's enemy,

I ever scorn'd, and joy'd to stir up strife,
In middest of their mournful tragedy;

Ay wont to laugh, when them I heard to cry,
And blow the fire, which them to ashes brent :*
Their god himself, griev'd at my liberty,

Shot many a dart at me with fierce intent;
But I them warded all with wary government.

XI.

"But all in vain; no fort can be so strong,
Nor fleshly breast can armed be so sound,
But will at last be won with battery long,
Or unawares at disadvantage found:
Nothing is sure that grows on earthly ground.
And who most trusts in arm of fleshly might,
And boasts in beauty's chain not to be bound,
Doth soonest fall in disadvent'rous fight,

And yields his caitive neck to victor's most despite.

* Brent, burnt,