That-brothers hand fhall dearely well re

quight,

So be, O Queene, you equall favour fhowe." Him litle anfwerd th' angry Elfin Knight; He never meant with words, but fwords, to plead his right:

XLIII.

But threw his gauntlet, as a facred pledg,
His caufe in combat the next day to try:
So been they parted both, with harts on edg
To be aveng'd each on his enimy.

That night they pas in ioy and iollity,
Feafting and courting both in bowre and hall;
For fteward was exceffive Gluttony,

That of his plenty poured forth to all: Which doen, the chamberlain Slowth did to reft them call.

XLII. 8. Him litle anfwerd &c.] Mr. Upton would read "Him angry." Him angry, he says, means the Paynim, who is faid to be enraged, ft. 41. "Pardon the errour of enraged wight." But, because the Paynim is angry, does it neceffarily follow, that the Elfin Knight should not be fo too? He certainly has reason to be enraged and angry after that infult, which provokes him to throw down his gauntlet, as a challenge. It is furely wrong to alter the text, when there is neither neceffity to require, nor authority to support, the correction. T. WARTON.

The behaviour of the Knight is fomething like that of Macduff in Macbeth:

"I've no words;

"My voice is in my fword." CHURCH.

And not unlike that of Alexander Iden towards Jack Cade, in K. Hen. VI. P. ii. A. iv. S. x.

"As for more words, whofe greatnefs anfwers words,

"Let this my fword report what fpeech forbears." TODD.

XLIV.

Now whenas darkfome Night had all displayd
Her coleblacke curtein over brightest skye;
The warlike youthes, on dayntie couches layd,
Did chace away sweet sleepe from sluggish eye,
To mufe on meanes of hoped victory.
But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace
Arrested all that courtly company,

Uprofe Dueffa from her refting place,
And to the Paynims lodging comes with filent

pace:

XLV.

Whom broad awake fhe findes, in troublous fitt, Fore-cafting, how his foe he might annoy; And him amoves with fpeaches feeming fitt, "Ah deare Sansioy, next dearest to Sansfoy, Caufe of my new griefe, caufe of my new ioy; Ioyous, to fee his ymage in mine eye,

And greevd, to thinke how foe did him destroy That was the flowre of grace and chevalrye; Lo, his Fideffa, to thy fecret faith I flye."

XLVI.

With gentle wordes he can her fayrely greet,

XLIV. 6. But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace Arrested &c.] The image is very natural and pretty, and imitated by Shakspeare in Julius Cæfar:

XLVI. 1.

"O murderous slumber,

"Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy?" UPTON. he can] Began, as in many other places; and fo printed in the poet's own editions; but converted, in feveral fubfequent ones, into gan. Church and

Upton read can; Tonfon's edition, published in the fame year, reads 'gan. See alfo the note, F. Q. i. i. 8. TODD.

And bad fay on the fecrete of her hart : Then, fighing foft; " I learne that litle fweet Oft tempred is," quoth fhe," with muchell fmart:

For, fince my breft was launcht with lovely dart

Of deare Sansfoy, I never ioyed howre,
But in eternall woes my weaker hart

Have wafted, loving him with all my powre, And for his fake have felt full many an heavy

ftowre.

XLVII.

"At laft, when perils all I weened past, And hop'd to reape the crop of all my care, Into new woes unweeting I was caft By this falfe faytor, who unworthie ware His worthie fhield, whom he with guilefull fnare

Entrapped flew, and brought to shamefull

grave:

Me filly maid away with him he bare,

And ever fince hath kept in darkfom cave; For that I would not yeeld that to Sansfoy I

gave.

XLVI. 4. muchell Smart :] The adjective mochel, from the Sax. mochel, moche, that is, much, is often used by Gower and Chaucer. See Gloff. Tyrwhitt's Chaucer. And fee again, F. Q. i. vi. 20, “muchell fame." But, in his Shep. Cal. July, v. 16, he writes mickle, the Scottish word for much, and indeed pronounced by the Scots muckle, TODD.

XLVIII.

“But fince faire funne hath sperst that lowring clowd,

And to my loathed life now fhewes fome light,
Under your beames I will me fafely fhrowd
From dreaded ftorme of his disdainfull spight:
To th' inheritance belonges by right
you

Of brothers prayfe, to you eke longes his
love.

Let not his love, let not his reftleffe fpright, Be unreveng'd, that calles to you above From wandring Stygian fhores, where it doth endleffe move.

XLIX.

Thereto faid he, " Faire dame, be nought difmaid

For forrowes paft; their griefe is with them

gone.

Ne yet of prefent perill be affraid:

For needleffe feare did never vantage none;
And helplesse hap it booteth not to mone.
Dead is Sansfoy, his vitall paines are past,
Though greeved ghost for vengeance deep do
grone:

He lives, that shall him pay his dewties last, And guiltie Elfin blood shall facrifice in haft.”

L.

"O, but I feare the fickle freakes," quoth fhee,

"Of fortune falfe, and oddes of armes in field."

66

Why, dame," quoth he, "what oddes can

ever bee,

Where both doe fight alike, to win or yield?" "Yea, but," quoth fhe," he beares a charmed fhield,

And eke enchaunted armes, that none can

perce;

Ne none can wound the man, that does them wield."

"Charmd or enchaunted," anfwerd he then

ferce,

"I no whitt reck; ne you the like need to

reherce.

LI.

"But, faire Fideffa, fithens fortunes guile, Or enimies powre, hath now captíved you, Returne from whence ye came, and reft a while,

L. 5.

he beares a charmed fhield,

And eke enchaunted armes, that none can perce;] I am perfuaded that Shakspeare had this ftanza in his eye, when he wrote in Macbeth the following lines:

"As eafy mayft thou the intrenchant air

"With thy keen fword imprefs, as make me bleed :
"Let fall thy blade on vulnerable crests;

Sansjoy here, however, alludes to the laws of the Duello, which enacted the following oath; "I do fwear, that I have not upon me, nor on any of the arms I fhall ufe, words, charms, or enchantments, &c." See Cockburn's Hist. of Duels, p. 115, and my note on Milton's Samfon Agon. v. 1134. The fame laws guarded alfo against odds of arms, to which Sansjoy likewife refers. See the Chapters De la electione de l'arme, and two following, in the Duello, Lib. iv. Venet. 1521. TODD.