A Supplement of the Faery Queene: By Ralph Knevet 9781526158581

Table of contents :
Front matter
Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations and texts used
Introduction
Textual introduction
Knevet’s language: A supplementary glossary of frequently used terms
A Supplement of the Faery Queene
Commentary
Bibliography

Citation preview

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A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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The Manchester Spenser is a monograph and text series devoted to historical and textual approaches to Edmund Spenser – to his life, times, places, works and ­contemporaries. A growing body of work in Spenser and Renaissance studies, fresh with confidence and curiosity and based on solid historical research, is being written in response to a general sense that our ability to interpret texts is becoming limited without the excavation of further knowledge. So the importance of research in nearby disciplines is quickly being recognized, and interest renewed: history, archaeology, religious or theological history, book history, translation, lexicography, commentary and glossary – these require treatment for and by students of Spenser. The Manchester Spenser, to feed, foster and build on these refreshed attitudes, aims to publish reference tools, critical, historical, biographical and archaeological monographs on or related to Spenser, from several disciplines, and to publish editions of primary sources and classroom texts of a more wide-ranging scope. The Manchester Spenser consists of work with stamina, high standards of scholarship and research, adroit handling of evidence, rigour of argument, exposition and ­documentation. The series will encourage and assist research into, and develop the readership of, one of the richest and most complex writers of the early modern period. General Editor  J. B. Lethbridge Editorial Board Helen Cooper, Thomas Herron, Carol V. Kaske, James C. Nohrnberg & Brian Vickers Also available Literary Ralegh and visual Ralegh  Christopher M. Armitage (ed.) Monsters and the poetic imagination in Edmund Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene': horrible aspects  Maik Goth

Most ugly shapes and

Celebrating Mutabilitie: Essays on Edmund Spenser’s Mutabilitie Cantos  Jane Grogan (ed.) Castles and Colonists: An archaeology of Elizabethan Ireland  Eric Klingelhofer Shakespeare and Spenser: Attractive opposites  J. B. Lethbridge (ed.) Renaissance erotic romance: Philhellene Protestantism, Renaissance translation and English literary politics  Victor Skretkowicz God's only daughter: Spenser's Una as the invisible Church  Kathryn Walls

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A Supplement of the Faery Queene • By RALPH KNEVET Edited by CHRISTOPHER BURLINSON and ANDREW ZURCHER

Manchester

Introduction, critical apparatus, etc. © Christopher Burlinson and Andrew Zurcher 2015 The rights of Christopher Burlinson and Andrew Zurcher to be identified as the editors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Altrincham Street, Manchester M1 7JA

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www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for ISBN  978 0 7190 8259 7  hardback First published 2015

The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

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Contents Acknowledgments List of abbreviations and texts used

vi vii

Introduction Ralph Knevet: Life and works A Supplement of the Faery Queene: Contexts and contents Textual introduction The manuscript The edition Knevet’s language: A supplementary glossary of frequently used terms

1 1 10 28 28 31 36

A Supplement of the Faery Queene Preface Book 7 Book 8 Book 9 Commentary Preface Book 7 Book 8 Book 9

41 43 47 105 162 223 225 227 265 301

Bibliography

343

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Acknowledgments During the preparation of this edition of Ralph Knevet’s A Supplement of the Faery Queene, we have incurred many debts, which it is a pleasure to acknowledge here. The staff of the Manuscripts Room at the University Library, Cambridge – home to the unique manuscript of Knevet’s poem – tolerated our repeated visits and complicated manuscript-sharing arrangements. Several colleagues have given us opportunities over the years to present work related to the edition as it developed: we thank especially Brian Vickers, Ruth Connolly, and Jason Scott-Warren. At Manchester University Press we’d like to remember Julian Lethbridge, general editor of the Manchester Spenser Series, and Matthew Frost, for their careful attention to this volume. To Andrew Lavender, the first editor of Knevet’s poem, we record almost innumerable debts in the pages that follow; but in general it is probably true that we could not have begun without him. Our colleagues at Jesus and Queens’ Colleges, Cambridge, have offered us time and space, and often counsel, without which we could not have undertaken this project. Some of the work contained within these covers was done at the expense of our friends and family. For their patience and understanding we recall Siamack Atiabi, Agnes Sigtryggsdóttir, Patricia Boulhosa, and the Murphy family.

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Abbreviations and texts used Eng. FQ Fr. Gr. It. L. Met. OE OF OED SC SFQ Sp. Du Bartas Hamilton Lavender Tilley

English The Faerie Queene French Greek Italian Latin Metamorphoses Old English Old French Oxford English Dictionary The Shepheardes Calender A Supplement of the Faery Queene Spanish The Divine Weeks and Works of Guillaume de Saluste Sieur Du Bartas, translated by Joshua Sylvester, ed. by Susan Snyder, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979). Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, ed. by A. C. Hamilton, 2nd edn (London: Longman, 2001). Andrew Lavender, ‘An Edition of Ralph Knevett’s Supplement of the Faery Queene (1635)’, 2 vols (New York University doctoral dissertation, 1955). Morris Palmer Tilley, A Dictionary of the Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: A Collection of the Proverbs found in English Literature and the Dictionaries of the Period (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1950).

Texts used All quotations from Spenser’s poetical and prose works, and from the paratexts originally published with these works, are taken from The Works of Edmund Spenser: A Variorum Edition, ed. Edwin Greenlaw et al., 12 vols (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1932-57), and are cited by line number, page number, or book, canto, and stanza numbers, as appropriate. All quotations from Knevet’s works other than the Supplement are taken from The Shorter Poems of Ralph Knevet: A Critical Edition, ed. by Amy M. Charles (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1966), and are cited by line numbers. References to the following sources will be made throughout the commentary by author and short title, with the exception of occasional references to early modern English translations and editions, the authors and full titles of which will be cited in each instance. Apollodorus, The Library, Epitome, ed. and trans. by James George Frazer, 2 vols, Loeb Classical Library (London: Heinemann, 1921). Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, ed. and trans. by William H. Race, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008). Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, rev. edn., ed. and trans. by H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1934). Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, ed. and trans. by P. A. Brunt, 2 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1976). Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights, ed. and trans. by John C. Rolfe, 3 vols, Loeb Classical Library (London: Heinemann, 1952-58). vii

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viii

Abbreviations and texts used

Bede, Historical Works, ed. and trans. by J. E. King, 2 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1930). [Bible], The holy bible, conteyning the old testament, and the new: newly translated out of the originall tongues (London: Richard Barker, 1611). (The King James version). Cassius Dio, Roman History, ed. and trans. by Earnest Cary, 9 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961-81). Claudian, ed. and trans. by Maurice Platnauer, 2 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1963). Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, ed. and trans. by C. H. Oldfather et al., 12 vols, Loeb Classical Library (London: Heinemann, 1946-67). Herodotus, Histories, ed. and trans. by A. D. Godley, 4 vols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961-66). Hesiod, Homeric Hymns, Homerica, rev. edn., ed. and trans. by G. P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936). Homer, The Iliad, ed. and trans. by A. T. Murray, rev. by William F. Wyatt, 2nd edn., 2 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999). Homer, The Odyssey, ed. and trans. by A. T. Murray, rev. by George E. Dimock, 2nd edn., 2 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995). Horace, Odes and Epodes, ed. and trans. by Niall Rudd, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004). Lucan, The Civil War, ed. and trans. by J. D. Duff, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957). Ovid, Fasti, ed. and trans. by James George Frazer, rev. by G. P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989). Ovid, Heroides and Amores, ed. and trans. by Grant Showerman, rev. by G. P. Goold, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977). Ovid, Metamorphoses, ed. and trans. by Frank Justus Miller, rev. by G. P. Goold, 2 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977-84). Pausanias, Description of Greece, ed. and trans. by W. H. S. Jones, 5 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1916-35). Pliny, Natural History, ed. and trans. by H. Rackham and W. H. S. Jones, 10 vols, Loeb Classical Library (London: Heinemann, 1956-63). Quintus Curtius, History of Alexander, ed. and trans. by John C. Rolfe, 2 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956-61). Seneca, Epistles, ed. and trans. by Richard M. Gummere, 3 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1917-25). Seneca, Moral Essays, ed. and trans. by John W. Basore, 3 vols, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1928-35). William Shakespeare, The Complete Works, ed. by Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986). Strabo, Geography, ed. and trans. by Horace Leonard Jones, 8 vols, Loeb Classical Library (London: Heinemann, 1917-32). Tacitus, Agricola, Germania, Dialogus, rev. edn., ed. and trans. by R. M. Ogilvie et al., Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970). Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings, ed. and trans. by D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000). Virgil, Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid, Minor Poems, rev. edn., ed. and trans. by H. R. Fairclough, 2 vols., Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1934-35).

Introduction

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Ralph Knevet: Life and works Of Ralph Knevet’s life the bare facts are well established. He was born to parents Ralph and Alice Knevet shortly before 19 February 1602 – the date of his baptism – in the village of Hardwick, in Norfolk, a poor relation of the established Norfolk families Knyvett and Paston. The seventh of ten children, and the second son, Knevet would be obliged to carve out a life for himself independent of his immediate family’s probably small estate. He matriculated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1616, but appears to have remained in Cambridge for only two years.1 Soon afterwards, he was living back in Norfolk, a gentleman client (and probably tutor) at Oxnead Hall, seat of Sir William Paston (d. 1610), the richest landowner in Norfolk. After Sir William’s death, the estate had passed in trust to his grandson Edmund and his wife, the well-known Lady Katherine Paston (1578-1629), daughter of Sir William’s friend Sir Thomas Knyvett. Katherine’s protestant piety and Norfolk connections were to dominate Knevet’s poetic career. Knevet travelled to Italy with his former pupil, Sir William Paston (son of Edmund and Katherine), between 1638 and 1639; Paston himself sailed on from Italy to Egypt and thence to Jerusalem, while Knevet remained behind, later meeting Paston in Venice to return to England in March 1639.2 This extended tour seems to have been driven by causes partly personal, partly political: Paston had lost his young wife, Katherine (née Bertie, daughter to Robert Bertie, earl of Lindsey) in 1636; but he seems also to have wanted to evade the brewing political conflict that had pitted his family’s protestant affiliations against its loyalty to the crown.3 As we will shortly see, this is a tension palpable in the Supplement of the Faery Queene, completed a few years before the journey. Following the trip to Italy, little further is known of Knevet’s activities until Paston presented him with the living of the parish of St Michael’s (originally and now St Margaret’s) in Lyng, Norfolk, in 1652. Knevet had been closely associated with the church for about a decade – he deputised for the rector, William Starkey, there between 1643 and 1645, probably during the latter’s illness – and he had probably taken orders in the early 1640s. Knevet was confirmed rector of Lyng after his subscription to the Act of Uniformity in 1662, and remained there with his wife Anne, his executrix, until his death in 1671 or early 1672.4 Knevet’s first known literary work was published in 1628. ΣΤΡΑΤΙΩTΙΚΟΝ [Stratiotikon], Or A Discourse of Militarie Discipline is a poem of just over a thousand lines, which urges its English readers to unite in a common, national resolve to repel a feared attack from Catholic Europe. The poem as published is as distinctive for its paratexts as it is for its stark message, and for the privileged role it accords the poet in galvanizing and ordering his audience. In addition to his dedication to the captain, lieutenant, and company of soldiers garrisonned at Norwich, another prose dedication to the general reader, a pair of dedicatory poems ‘To any to whom I write’, and a commendatory poem by Robert Wotton, Stratiotikon also includes no fewer than 37 individual dedicatory verses addressed to various Norfolk gentlemen whose support for military or literary achievements Knevet either urges or commends. The volume also concludes with a ‘Threnode’ mourning the death of two Norfolk gentlemen killed in the Duke of Buckingham’s summer 1627 assault on the Isle of Ré (near La Rochelle in France), 1 See

T. A. Walker, Admissions to Peterhouse, 1615-1911 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1912), p. 4. Knevet’s trip to Italy with his patron, see W. M. Merchant, ‘Ralph Knevet of Norfolk, Poet of Ciuill Warre’, Essays and Studies, 13 (1960), 21-35; and ‘Knevet’s Life’, in Amy Charles, ed., The Shorter Poems of Ralph Knevet: A Critical Edition (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1966), pp. 10-11. 3 Sir William Paston suffered as a Royalist in the 1640s; while he was living abroad, his estates were sequestered, though he afterwards had the sequestration discharged. His first wife’s father, the earl of Lindsey, was appointed in 1642 lieutenant-general of Charles I’s army, fought at the battle of Edgehill (23 October 1642), and was killed. Notwithstanding these strong Royalist connections, Paston was able (as Amy Charles notes) ‘to make peace with the Puritans’, and he passed the Interregnum quietly at Oxnead. See Charles, ‘Knevet’s Life’, pp. 12-13; and Merchant, ‘Ralph Knevet of Norfolk’, p. 26. 4 For further details on Knevet’s life, see Alastair Fowler, ‘Ralph Knevet’, in the ODNB; and ‘Knevet’s Life’, in Amy Charles, ed., The Shorter Poems of Ralph Knevet: A Critical Edition (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1966), pp. 7-15. Knevet’s gravestone records his death in the year 1671, but the blanks left for the day and month leave open the possibility that he died between 1 January and 24 March 1672 – still reckoned 1671 according to the old style. The incomplete state of Knevet’s gravestone may suggest that his wife Anne died shortly after him. 2 On

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and a poem ‘vpon the death of Sir Ralphe Shelton’, also killed on the same expedition. Knevet’s transparent aim in constellating around his poem so many patrons, both living and dead, was to organize and mobilize a community of poet-soldiers, in the tradition of Philip Sidney, to pursue their own and their nation’s glory. The overriding impact of the work lies in Knevet’s idealistic commitment to a practical social and political role for poetry in the communities where it is written and read; as he writes in one of his prefaces, ‘if you please to cast a long looke backe to the Troiane warre, you shall find Calchas exciting the disheartned Greekes to prosecute the warre. Looke an age more backward, and there you may see Orpheus encouraging the Argonautes to the Colchian expedition.’5 Knevet clearly sees his own role as that of the prophet-poet, steering his people toward heroic glory. As he writes almost immediately in his dedicatory poem to Captain Henry Shelton, ‘fame must know | Shee cannot pay those glories, shee doth owe | To great and good deserts, except some aides | Be sent her from the nine Castalian maides.’6 Or, more explicitly, he writes to Sir Miles Hobart: Neuer dranke I of Pegasus his well, Nor in Parnassus dream’t (that I can tell) Though I write Verse, for I would haue men know it, The Times [or] good or ill, make me a Poet. To praise Vlisses wise, as much my care is, As to condemne Thersites, or vaine Paris. And as sweete Orpheus to his Harpe did set High tun’d Ditties, great courages to whet; So euer bee’t my taske, to moue great spirits, And honourable soules, to braue demerits.7 The peculiar emphasis upon the moral and political power of the poet, in both Stratiotikon and its paratexts, may suggest that Knevet already had Spenser’s theory of poetry firmly in mind. And indeed this early poem is marked by distinctively Spenserian touches. The opening of the poem clearly echoes the Proem to Book I of The Faerie Queene: Loe my Thalia, that was whilome seene, Frisking among the Nimphs, in Forrest greene, To Satyres pipes; and that did sing (long since) Her morals smooth, to Pan the Shepheards Prince: Is now prest to a farre vnfitter taske; And like Bellona, arm’d with steely caske; Powres warlike accents forth, and numbers meete For trumpets sterne, and stately buskin’d feete. (ll. 1-8) Here Knevet constructs eight lines on the model of Spenser’s opening nine, echoing words and phrases such as ‘whilome’, ‘farre vnfitter taske’, and ‘trumpets sterne’, and defining his own career transition from pastoral to epic on Spenser’s Virgilian rota. Like Spenser, too, Knevet cites twice in this work from a famous passage in Virgil’s Aeneid (6.893-96), in which the Latin poet describes the god of sleep, Morpheus, sending dreams to trouble sleeping minds through gates of horn and ivory (cf. FQ, 1.1.3944; Stratiotikon, ll. 636-38; and ‘A Threnode’, ll. 19-22) – a double allusion he repeats twice in the Supplement (SFQ, 7.12.1, 8.5.8). Like Spenser (FQ, 4.3.43), too, Knevet imitates Homer in mentioning ‘strong Nepenthe’ (l. 680), an anaesthetic drink Helen was said to have given to the Greeks (Odyssey, 4.219-32); ‘Nepenthe soueraigne’ also features in the Supplement (9.6.49.5, 9.7.14.5-9). More pervasively Knevet’s poetry in Stratiotikon is marked by Spenser’s characteristically scholarly habits of imitation and allusion, which often border on an encyclopedic intensity. For example, when Knevet’s narrator 5 Knevet,

Stratiotikon, ff. A3r-A3v. Stratiotikon, f. B1r. 7 Knevet, Stratiotikon, f. B3r.

6 Knevet,

Introduction

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visits a ‘strange Land’ inhabited by metamorphosed Circean beasts, his ape guide catalogues some of the famous sentient animals bred from that place: Here was the Ramme bred, that did bring Great Liber Paters Armie to the spring, When they in Africkes deserts were tormented With scortching thirst. Those white Geese th[at] preuented The Gaules from taking of the Capitoll Were some of vs. And that py’d Memphian Bull, For whom the Egyptians fell at deadly iarres Was ours. Sertorius in his Spanish warres, Sought counsell of our Hind. The Asse Of Apuleius; and the Oxe that was Heard speake at Rome. The Epidaurian Snake; And Dogge that dy’d for his deare Masters sake Were bred with vs. The Coblers prating Daw; And Psapho’s Birds did here their first ayre draw; And so did Mahomets tame Pigeon, That holpe to found his new religion. I could tell later prankes, till I were hoarce, Of Willoughbyes blacke Cat, and Banckes his horse; This place (I tell thee) is the onely Cell, Where arts enlink’d with rich content doe dwell. (ll. 710-29) In the margin adjacent to this passage (in a series of glosses worthy of Spenser’s own The Shepheardes Calender), Knevet points the reader to the Latin text of Pliny’s Natural History, to Manlius, to Ovid, to Livy, and to others. The density of Knevet’s classical references in this passage betrays the kind of commonplacing that, as a household tutor in an age so pervasively influenced by its humanist pedagogical practices, Knevet must himself have practised punctiliously. Although eager to advertise his moral and military project as a Spenserian one, Knevet’s style and self-presentation, equally, derive from Spenser’s original. Like Spenser, too, Knevet was an ambitious son from a cadet branch of a famous and established family, and he was keen in his shorter poetry to insinuate himself into their ranks.8 The dedicatory poems attached to Stratiotikon include several to the men of the Norfolk Knyvett and Paston families, including one to Sir Thomas Knyvett of Ashwellthorpe and another to his brother Edmund Knyvett. William Paston, the young heir to the Paston fortune, also receives a dedication, as do Sir John Heveningham (a Paston relation) and Sir Robert Bell (nephew to the elder Lady Katherine Paston). These poems adopt a familiar and an ingratiating tone, unlike that of the other pieces. For example, Knevet builds the dedication to Sir Thomas Knyvett on the latter’s interest in astrology, a science that has given him insight into fate and thus (says Knevet) into his own honourable end. The poem dedicated to Paston exhorts him in a tone of delicately deferential advice, the characteristic posture of the tutor; the lesson – the distinction between profligacy and liberality, or that between worldly honour purchased through lavish expenditure and true honour grounded in virtue – would surface several years later when Knevet began composing book 9 of the Supplement. Perhaps Knevet had already served as tutor to Paston, as he probably also did to Paston’s son; certainly the dedication of Funerall Elegies (1637), poems memorializing Paston’s wife Katherine, styles him her ‘vnworthy beneficiary’.9 8 Spenser advertised his connection to the Spencers of Althorpe – ‘some priuate bands of affinitie’ – in the dedicatory letters affixed to the poems of Complaints (London: William Ponsonby, 1591), f. E2r. There is no evidence that the Spencers rejected this claim; indeed, Spenser notes in his dedicatory letter to The Teares of the Muses that Lady Strange (née Alice Spencer, the youngest of the daughters of Sir John Spencer) had acknowledged the relation. 9 Ralph Knevet, Funerall Elegies (London: T. Cotes for Andrew Crooke, 1637), f. A2v. Amy Charles has argued that Knevet seems to have grown more distant from the Pastons over the course of his life, citing his dedication of the manuscript of A Gallery

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Knevet’s second published work, which exists in two editions from 1631, is ostensibly of a much different kind. Rhodon and Iris. A Pastorall is the text of a pageant play produced during the feast of the guild of Florists at Norwich in May 1631. The world of Knevet’s pastoral is, as one might expect, largely populated by shepherds, but even here the poet’s practical purpose – a moral and political allegory – frequently lunges into salience. Knevet warns the reader in his preface ‘To his much respected friends, the Society of Florists’, that, though he has been accused of ‘taxing of some private persons’ with satirical personations, his poet’s office requires it of him: I am content to referre this controversie to the arbitrement of any that is ingenious. But this (as I tender my owne reputation, and Truth her selfe) I must tell ye, that should I spye villany shelter her selfe under a Scarlet Gowne, I durst be so bold as to spurne her with the left foot of contempt, though not be so prodigall of that small store the Muses have allotted me, as to spend a line upon so despicable a subiect.10 The targets of Knevet’s satire in Rhodon and Iris are probably several, though it is difficult from this distance to gauge the contribution of the overall story of the play to the offence taken. The play centres around the love of the shepherd Rhodon for the shepherdess Iris. Their love is beset by the animosity of Martagon, who has unjustly seized the estates of Rhodon’s sister Violetta; and by the jealousy of Eglantine, whom Rhodon has spurned, and who is determined to get him back. Both Martagon and Eglantine are assisted in their nefarious projects by the enchantress Poneria, who cooks up a deadly potion to kill Rhodon, and by her assistant Agnostus. Some aspects of the story seem designed to satirise and expose local targets. For example, Martagon’s seizure of Violetta’s estates, and the challenge to which Rhodon must in honor hold him, reads as a thinly-veiled attack on some greedy landowner in Stuart Norfolk. The reference is now obscure. But some incidental parts of the satire still strike home with a pretty clear clang, as this almost parenthetical attack on the Caroline soldiery, delivered by Poneria when encouraging Agnostus to take up his new identity as a captain: Hast wit enough to swallow the dead payes, And to patch up thy Company in a Mustring day: Hast valour enough to weare a Buffe-jerken With three gold laces. Hast strength enough to support a Dutch felt With a flaunting Feather? Can thy side endure to be wedded to a Rapire Hatch’d with gold, with hilt and hangers of the new fashion? Canst drinke, drab, and dice: Canst damne thy selfe into debt among Beleeving Tradesmen; Hast manners enough to giue thy Lievetenant, Antient or Sergeant leave to goe before thee Vpon any peece of danger? Hast wit enough, in thy anger, not to draw a sword? These are the chiefe properties that pertaine To our moderne Captaines; and if thou Could’st but be taught these military rudiments, I doubt not but thou mightst prove a very Excellent new souldier. (ll. 1550-69) to the Temple (composed in the 1640s, but copied fair in the early 1660s) to ‘Sir Robert Paston’s lady’; as she argues, a poet close to the family might well have dedicated the collection to Paston’s wife Rebecca by name – as he had his earlier poems, to earlier Paston ladies. On the other hand, the survival of the manuscript among the Paston papers does, at least, show that Knevet presented the manuscript to his patrons. See n. 14, below. 10 Knevet, Rhodon and Iris, ff. a1v-a2r.

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Knevet’s attack on the corruption and abuse of captains echoes other early modern examples,11 and is consistent with his project to chasten and encourage the Norfolk soldiery in Stratiotikon. One of the most distinctive features of Rhodon and Iris is Knevet’s unusual diction. Knevet consistently disperses into his writing unusual words, usually of Latin origin. In this he is probably following the witty neologisms and inkhorn terms of the London stage, from Shakespeare and Nashe straight through to Massinger, Marston, and Beaumont and Fletcher. This kind of lexical playfulness rubs directly against the archaising project that Spenser had founded on the linguistic nationalism of John Cheke and Richard Mulcaster. A few examples will give some indication of Knevet’s lexical variety: Such griefe as mine cannot be cur’d by time. But when the gentle fates shall disembogue My weary soule, and that Celestiall substance free From irkesome manacles of clay; then may I finde, If not a sweet repose in blest Elysium, Yet some refrigeration in those shades, Where Dido and Hypsiphile do wander. (ll. 262-68) Both ‘disembogue’ (‘to discharge or empty’, as of a river into the sea) and ‘refrigeration’ were comparatively new words, but more importantly they were both technical terms, one borrowed from geography and the other from medicine.12 Here they combine to comical effect with Knevet’s metaphysical terminology (‘celestiall substance’) and heightened classical diction (‘blest Elysium’). At other occasions he finds opportunity to use words such as ‘tresgrand’ (‘very great’), ‘precipicious’ (‘lofty, precipitous’; a favourite, too, in the Supplement), ‘spissitude’ (‘density’; almost certainly from Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny, History of the World, I. 611: ‘For all the spissitude and thicknesse that they seeme to haue, they admit gently our sight to pierce into their bottome.’), ‘cunctations’ (‘delays’), ‘plumbeous’ (‘leaden, dull’), and ‘officine’ (‘workshop, laboratory’). For the most part these are uncommon, ‘inkhorn’ words to which Knevet resorts to give his poetry the kind of weight that will appeal to ‘those [who] can iudge of high designes’. In some cases, though, Knevet appears actively to coin new words, as in the otherwise unattested ‘lustrify’ (‘make lustrous’). This practice of enriching, heightening, and to some degree unnerving his style with unusual words is, as we will see, one that marks his writing in A Supplement of the Faery Queene. Rhodon and Iris has a few brilliant flashes of wit or eloquence that promise greater things. Typical of these is the shepherd Gladiolus’ wittily damning theatrical aside on the maidservant Panace, whose revealing babblings about cosmetic treatments – in passages of encyclopedic materiality that recall Jonson’s eponymous Volpone – expose her mistress Eglantine to his ridicule: The perpetuall motion for which Artists have so labor’d Is discover’d no where so plainly as in her tongue, 11 Probably the most extended contemporary discussion of this corrupt practice comes in Spenser’s A view of the present state of Ireland (written c. 1596, but not published – and that in a heavily censored form – until Sir James Ware’s 1633 Dublin edition). Speaking of the ‘corrupcion of . . . Captaines’, Eudoxus says that ‘thoughe they be placed neuer soe Carefullie and theire Companies fild neuer so sufficientlye yeat maye they if they liste discarde whom they please and sende awaie perhaps suche as will willingelye be ridd of that daungerous and harde service The which well I wotte is theire Comon Custome to doe when they are laide in garrisone, for then they maye better hide theire defaultes then when they are in Campe, wheare they are Continvallie eyed and noted of all men. Besids when theire paie Commethe they will (as they vse) detaine the greatest porcions thereof at theire pleasures by an hundred shiftes that nede not heare be named, thoroughe which they often times deceaue the Soldiour Abuse the Quene and greatley hinder the service So that let the Quene paie neuer so fullie let the muster master view them neuer so dilligentlie let the deputye or generall loke to them neuer so exactlie yeat they Can Cozen them all’. See Spenser, A view of the present state of Ireland, (ll. 3441-54). The practice was so proverbial in the period that John Donne could cite it derisively in the first of his satires: ‘. . . not though a Captaine do come in thy way / Bright parcell gilt, with forty dead mens pay. . . ’ See ‘Satyre 1’, ll. 17-18, in Herbert Grierson, ed., The Poems of John Donne (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933). 12 The comic character of Knevet’s adaptation of the first of these two terms, in which he follows John Fletcher’s 1625 Monsieur Thomas (III.i), is heightened by the word’s etymology: derived from Sp. desembocar, it literally means ‘to come out of the mouth’. Knevet and Fletcher return the metaphor to its source.

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene Which scarce finds any leisure to rest, No not when she is asleepe . . .

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At other points Rhodon and Iris reaches a pitch of eloquence that suggests why his circle of gentleman friends esteemed Knevet so highly, as in this passage of Martagon’s from Act 1, scene 4: Reare up thy eyes unto the spangl’d cope, And there behold Ioves starre-enchased belt, The glittering Zodiacke wonderfully chang’d In a few thousand yeares: For those fixt stars, which like a Diamond cleare, Adorne the baudricke of the Thunderer, Have wander’d from their former stations. (ll. 304-10) It is significant, though, that at this moment of poetical inspiration, when Knevet’s verse hits a high peak of balance and authority, he immediately shifts into a studied, almost slavish imitation of the Proem to Book V of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene: Witnesse the golden Ram who now is gone astray, And shoulder’d hath the Cretian Bull; and he Those twins of Iove so sore hath butted, That they have crush’d the Crab, and thrust him quite Into the den of the Nemaean Lyon. Thus by the change of these superiour bodies, Strange alterations in the world are wrought, Great Empires maim’d, & Kingdoms brought to naught. And that auspicious lampe, who freely lends His light to lesser fires, the prince of generation, Even Sol himselfe, is five degrees declin’d, Since learned Ptolome did take his height. But if Egyptian wisards we may trust, Who in Astrologie wont to excell; By them tis told, that foure times they have seene That glorious Charrioter flit from his place: Twice hath he rose (they say) where now he sets, And twice declined where he now doth rise. (ll. 311-28) This is little more than a crude redaction of FQ, 5.Pr.5-8, where Spenser links the decline in terrene justice to a series of apparent shifts in the fixed stars (all caused by the ‘wobble’ of the earth on its rotational axis, known as the precession of the equinoxes). Knevet’s loose rewriting of the passage in some places cuts very close to the Spenserian original (cf. Spenser on the shift in the sun – at 5.Pr.7 – which he says is declined thirty minutes since ‘learned Ptolomaæ his hight did take’). Knevet alters some words and some astronomical details, but the passage is unmistakably Spenser’s. And yet this bit of plagiarism seems to reflect not Knevet’s theft, but, in Martagon’s voice, his villain’s grasping penchant for rapine and embezzlement. But if this passage both describes and performs a fall in poetical standards, the spirit of plagiarism that Knevet accuses lingers ready to condemn him for similar moments of weakness, throughout A Supplement of the Faery Queene. At a time when Knevet was setting out on his Supplement, the danger of his own close association with Spenser’s great poem must have made him especially sensitive to charges of theft and recycling. The consensus critical view has long been that Knevet improved as he went along, and the two works that followed his completion of A Supplement in 1635 have generally been held to be his best. Only one of them was published: the Funerall Elegies of 1637, ‘consecrated to the immortall memory, of the Right Honorable the Lady Katherine Paston’, memorialize the young wife of Sir William Paston under the

Introduction

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name of Calista (from Greek ϰαλλ´ιστη, ‘the most beautiful’). If the Supplement is Knevet’s Spenser, the Funerall Elegies can probably be called Knevet’s Donne. These three poems share with Donne’s Anniversaries a tendency toward metaphysical conceits, such as this hyperbolic reaction to Paston’s death, from Elegy 1: The golden chaine of causes is dissolv’d, And Chaos (that so long hath beene involv’d In the unseene abysse) attempts to rise, And make both Orbes, and Elements his prize. The Worlds soule’s fled; the exit of her breath, Threatens (I feare) an universall death. . . (ll. 69-74) Like Donne’s Anniversaries, too, these poems provide both a pattern for grief, and various suggested means for containing it, and channelling it within ‘the bankes of Reason’ (l. 132). But Knevet’s poems differ in two important respects. First, as poems addressed to Lady Elizabeth Bertie, Katherine Paston’s sister, they function as a public voicing of passions and arguments more intimately and humanly associated with the poet’s own social position than anything Donne composed in the memory of Elizabeth Drury. Knevet knew his patrons well, had spent years in the company of Paston’s husband William, and had lionized the family name on many occasions – not least in the Supplement, where Katherine and Elizabeth Bertie’s father Sir Robert Bertie, first earl of Lindsay, is commemorated for his career in the Dutch wars during the 1620s (see SFQ, 8.7.51.1). Knevet’s intimacy with the family is clear from the fact that the final two items printed in the Funerall Elegies, the ‘Inscriptio funebris’ and the verse ‘Epicedium’, are both carved on the stone of Katherine Paston’s tomb at St Michael’s (or Margaret’s), Oxnead, in Norfolk. The emergence of these elegies from Knevet’s own personal and social experience gives his poetry a sincerity and authority that Donne’s (of course deliberately) lacks. Paston and her husband were Knevet’s patrons, but the elegies are more than the dutiful funeral celebrations of a thankful client; they heave with local detail, personal address to members of the family, and apparently sincere expressions of grief and resolve. But despite this, Knevet’s elegies are remarkable for another feature – also distinct from Donne’s Anniversaries – which pulls in an entirely opposite direction. Having completed A Supplement only a few years previously, Knevet seems to have been unable to shake either the form or the manner of Spenser’s poetry. Not only is the third of the elegies written in Spenserian stanzas – perhaps inappropriate for Knevet’s material – but the elegies frequently digress into long, slightly beguiling narrative material. For example, the first elegy recounts the history of Darius after the loss of his consort: When great Darius, of his consort deare Deprived was, by Atropos severe, To griefe he renderd up his royall brest, No solace would he take, nor any rest. Then grave Democritus inform’d the King, That he from death, to life his Queene would bring, If he would grant him, what he should entreat, For the effecting of a worke so great: Darius condescends, and bids him aske, What meanes he thought convenient for this taske: Names of three Persons onely he requested, That never had with sorrow beene molested, For losses of a kinsman, or a friend. The King then did strict inquisition send, Through all his Kingdomes, to search out such men: But when they could be no where found nor seene He found his errour, and the fatall law Of unmov’d destinye, and nature saw;

Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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Hence tooke he comfort, and with bounty high; The Wiseman for his cure did gratifie. (ll. 141-60) The story of Democritus’ counsel to Darius, which comes from one of the letters of the Emperor Julian (the Apostate),13 may seem out of place in an elegy marked by its sincere consolations and metaphysical speculations. The story’s moral is consistent with the poem’s general tenor – the first elegy as a whole takes a strong line on the ‘impious stubbornness’ of grief for an angelic woman who has been called to better joys in heaven – but the comic derision of ‘the laughing philosopher’, Democritus, strikes a jarring tone in an otherwise apparently sober work, for all of Knevet’s attempt to sanitise the tale by the epithet ‘grave’. Moreover, Knevet’s tendency to break into inset narratives of this kind fundamentally seems to break decorum: these yarns have pointed morals, but the pleasures of fabling are too conspicuous to ignore – especially when Knevet indulges (in ll. 175-94) in a Spenserian digression, inspired by the Cantos of Mutabilitie, in which Jove dispenses gifts to the goddesses of Olympus, but runs out of store before he reaches Dame-Sorrow, who therefore receives only tears. Knevet’s Spenserian habit of narrative digression wrenches these otherwise somber and metaphysical poems out of their erudite piety into a much more playful, and thus painful, hybridity. In this context, Knevet’s hyperboles –Paston’s death is called, at one stage, ‘a greivance epidemicall’ – and his highly rhetorical epithets (‘Letter-puff’d Pedants’, ‘Sharp-sighted Speculatists’) hit a pitch of derangement that Donne’s ironic, speculative verse avoids. Knevet’s is the sharper for its tinge of Spenserian madness. Knevet’s latest work of poetry, left unpublished until the twentieth century, reflects his experience with A Supplement in a different way. The Gallery to the Temple is a collection of devotional poems surviving in a single holograph manuscript, now in the British Library.14 This collection, as its title suggests, Knevet intended in the style of George Herbert. As he writes in the preface to the work, which like A Supplement was probably prepared for publication: Wee deriue the antiquity of this poesye, which concernes diuine Hymnes, from Moses, if not the first, yet the chiefest of the Prophet[s] who, though Hee pleaded a deficiencye in rhetorique, yet proued himself to bee not onely the antientest, but the best of all Poets . . . But I wonder not so much at the perfection of this entheated Heroe, as at the inadvertencye of our moderne wittes, who in this maturity of sciences, haue appeared so barren concerning the production, of this most diuine sorte of Poesye, that the species thereof might haue bene number’d among lost Antiquityes if our Pious Herbert (a name which I dare confidently affirme most aptly aggrees with the past and present condition of the person whom it denoted) had not by a religious cultiuation, added new life to the wither’d branches of this celestiall Balme Tree. Whereby Hee hath not onely surpassed those of his owne Nation, but euen the haughty Italians, who chalenge a priority in art, as well as deuotions.15 Knevet’s explicit acknowledgment of Herbert’s influence, here, is borne out by the eighty-two poems that follow. In some cases – as in the opening poem, ‘The Incarnation’ – Knevet’s poetry closely engages Herbert’s both in form and in thought. Here the refrain, ‘Was ever love like thine’, follows with litanic regularity at the end of each iambic triplet, clearly echoing the structure of Herbert’s ‘The Sacrifice’ (where the refrain, delivered in Christ’s own voice, is ‘Was ever grief like mine?’). Herbert’s direct influence, too, marks Knevet’s poem ‘Antiphon’, which is composed almost exactly on the model of Herbert’s own ‘Antiphon (II)’. But by and large Knevet’s poems in the Gallery respond to Herbert, rather than mirroring his individual poems; although Knevet follows his model in providing poems that will help to stimulate and articulate prayer, and he experiments with verse forms very much in Herbert’s creative spirit, nonetheless the character of the collection is Knevet’s own. Where The Temple provides 13 Julian

the Apostate, Works, ed. Wilmer Cave Wright, 3 vols (London: Heinemann, 1923), pp. 230-33. MS 27,447. The manuscript – the first volume of two – includes miscellaneous papers belonging to the Paston family dating from between 1520 and 1701. Two editions of the Gallery were published in the twentieth century: (i) Giuliano Pellegrini, ed., A Gallery to the Temple: Lyrical Poems Upon Sacred Occasions (Pisa: Libreria Goliardica Editrice, 1954); and (ii) Amy M. Charles, ed., The Shorter Poems of Ralph Knevet (Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1966). 15 ‘To the Reader’, BL Add. MS 27,447, ff. 12r-13r. See also Charles, ed., The Shorter Poems of Ralph Knevet: A Critical Edition, p. 280. 14 BL Add.

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Introduction

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a complete map both of the church itself and the church year, Knevet’s collection is more personal, partial, and fragmentary. As Amy Charles notes, Knevet does not hesitate to include elements of classical mythology in his poems, nor does he seek to lead the reader to the religious joy so marked in Herbert’s hymn-ready verse. Instead, Knevet’s collection is dominated by a humble and penitent palette, focused on Christ’s mortality and his suffering on the cross.16 Knevet’s transformation of Herbert’s original is, in this sense, characteristic of him: as we will see as we turn to his other great supplement, that written to augment Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, Knevet’s work follows its originals, but departingly. The extant witness of Knevet’s literary career reveals several important and consistent elements in his writing, which have significance for our understanding of the Supplement. First, like many minor poets of the period, Knevet tended to write self-consciously imitative works: Spenser, Donne, and Herbert were only three important models by which he fashioned his own material, but the traces of Sidney, Jonson, Daniel, Sylvester, and others can be felt at various points. Unlike some minor writers of the period, though, Knevet’s imitative poetry is neither naive nor slavish, but – though humble in posture – carefully elaborative. As we have seen, the metaphysical poetry of the Funerall Elegies is marked by a playful use of narrative and hyperbole more characteristic of Marvell than Donne. Similarly, Knevet’s elaborations on Herbert’s edifice exploit their supplementary status to achieve much more of a personal, penitential tone, scored in Knevet’s characteristic register of myth and irony. Second, Knevet’s poetry also reveals him to have been a committed Protestant, and (like his three main influences) a vocal one, convinced of the power of poetry not only to convey and perform acts of prayer and faith (as in the Gallery), but to bind Protestants together in a common social and political purpose. Perhaps the most striking thing about Knevet’s extant corpus stems from this last point: it is clear that, for Knevet, the poet plays a key role in the social fabric of his community and nation. From the appeals in Stratiotikon for a militant Protestantism in regional and national affairs, to the explicitly political castigation of pride that dominates the Gallery, Knevet never shied away from championing the Protestant faith, or from urging his nation to pursue its elect role in the evolution of European history. As this characterization of Knevet’s poetry may suggest, he must have seen himself as the natural heir to Spenser’s imitative, Protestant, and politically engaged poetics; but as we turn to a direct examination of the relationship of Knevet’s Supplement to Spenser’s original, it will become increasingly clear that Knevet not only pursued Spenser’s Protestant and political agenda, but in his commitments to an ongoing reformation and to the historical allegory that might help both to memorialize and to provoke that reformation, in this respect overtook his copy.

16 See

Charles, ed., The Shorter Poems of Ralph Knevet: A Critical Edition, pp. 64-65.

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

A Supplement of the Faery Queene: Contexts and contents

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Romance and imitation The genre of Romance has always encouraged supplementarity: because its basic narrative stock is limited – to the matter of Rome, the matter of France, and the matter of Britain – the genre is populated with new works that have sutured themselves to the old, wearing their additivity proudly as a mark of their generic affiliation.17 Lord Berners’ Huon of Bourdeux (c. 1540) is a branch from the Charlemagne cycle, as is Matteo Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato (1495); Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (1516-1532), in turn, takes up where Boiardo finishes. In its Arthurian material, Spenser’s The Faerie Queene follows on, very loosely, from the Arthurian cycles of the late fifteenth century, and especially Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (1485). The significance of a new Romance work can be gauged by the number of works that derive immediately from it. Spenser might be said to have begun the process of adapting his own poem, not only by leaving it unfinished, but by modelling the dynamics of additivity within his work’s own covers. In his continuation of ‘The Squire’s Tale’ from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (FQ, IV.ii-iii), Spenser constructs his own text as a prosthetic implantation into one of the masterpieces of the past; in a similar way, the imperfection of his own advertised project offers to his successors deficiencies of opportunity. And, unable to leave the half-work half-done, Spenser himself led the way, by leaving behind the posthumously-published Two Cantos of Mutabilitie, a supplement to his own deficient masterwork that would draw in the perfecters. Though the rage would not become a frenzy until the eighteenth century, imitators of the Spenserian stanza started early. Richard Barnfield, for example, published his short Cynthia in 1598, only two years before Edward Fairfax produced his very Spenserian translation of Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata, titled in English Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. Spenser’s influence was also keenly felt by the brothers Giles and Phineas Fletcher, who between them produced several epic and allegorical poems on a Spenserian model, most notably Christs Victorie of 1610 and The Purple Island of 1633. Properly additive imitations began with John Lane’s 1616 short Spencers Squiers Tale, which took Spenser’s Chaucerian supplement as the basis for his own supplementary adventure. Others would go on to produce poetry that, either for form or content, appeared to draw from The Faerie Queene, but none of them so pointedly additive, both for form and for matter, as Knevet’s Supplement. By adopting the whole formal structure of Spenser’s poem, as well as most of its narrative and allegorical preoccupations – for example, its Arthurian material, its superficially fairy setting, and its philosophical allegory – Knevet steered a course far closer to Spenser’s original than any of his contemporary imitators, and nearly all of his successors. In this he shares more in common with Gervase Markham, author of The English Arcadia (1604, 1613); Richard Bellings, who published A sixth booke to the Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia in 1624; and Anna Weamys, whose Continuation of Sir Philip Sydney’s Arcadia was first published in 1651. Like Markham, Bellings, and Weamys, Knevet pushed his imitation as close to his original as possible; and like them, too, he explored the constraints and the liberties that such fidelity accorded him. The Spenserian model Knevet’s conformity to the Spenserian model in the Supplement runs both broad and deep. At the most superficial level, Knevet has retained every aspect of the formal presentation of Spenser’s poem. He writes in Spenserian stanzas. The three books of his poem are divided into twelve cantos apiece, each of which runs to the average forty or fifty stanzas per canto of Spenser’s own poem. Knevet prefaces each of his cantos with a four-line argument exactly in Spenser’s style. The evidence of Knevet’s manuscript copy, too, suggests that he planned even closer formal links to Spenser’s poem for the printed version. Not only does Knevet’s manuscript include commendatory poems – one a set of Latin verses by Knevet’s Cambridge friend Robert Jegon, and the other an anonymous epigram – but Knevet also composed an 17 Andrew Zurcher addresses Knevet’s romance additivity in ‘Deficiency and Supplement: Perfecting the Prosthetic Text’, in Editing Stuart Poetry, ed. Ruth Connolly and Christopher Burlinson, SEL, 52 (2012), 143-64.

Introduction

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introductory preface to his poem very much in the style of Spenser’s ‘Letter of the Authors . . . to Sir Walter Raleigh’. Here he not only sets out his own position on the end of writing heroic poetry, and shows how his own poem should be incorporated into Spenser’s, but – in apt illustration of his humility before Spenser’s achievement – quotes at great length from the ‘Letter of the Authors’. Perhaps in nothing does Knevet so much follow his original than in this, that he concludes his preface by promising, like Spenser, to complete a much more ambitious work: Three other morall vertues remaine to bee discoursed of (to make this Zodiacke perfect) Which if God shall giue me leaue to finish, I shall yet forbeare to write Iamque opus exegi &c. vntill in the person of Arthur, after he came to bee a King, I haue framed the other part of politicke vertues, and consecrated the totall summe of my endeauours, to the immortall honour of my King, and countrey. Also like Spenser, Knevet left this work, along with the glory of his king and country, incomplete. Knevet achieves consistency with The Faerie Queene in more material ways, too. His narrative adopts Spenser’s vague setting in Faery, and imports Spenser’s loose narrative affiliation with the exploits of Arthur, the Briton Prince whose future career (as king) had formed the basis of so much medieval romance. The Supplement mingles its Celtic and allegorical material with Greek myth, a hallmark of Spenser’s style, and Knevet makes a conspicuous effort to adopt some of Spenser’s most characteristic archaic diction. Knevet achieves these Spenserian effects with decorum and restraint, never tipping his work into caricature or parody. Typical of his Spenserian style is this stanza from early in Book 7, in which the knight of Prudence, Albanio, first encounters the sorceress Malfida: Thus while they trauell’d heedles of mischance, A Lady garded by three Knights they spy’d, Which toward them ’gan boldly to advance: This made Albanio for the fight prouide: But when Malfida, by his sheild descryd, His name; thus to her mates she loud did cry, (Oh honor’d freinds) oh Knights of valour tryd, Auenge me on yon caitife presently, The falsest Knight that ere did put on armes perdye. (SFQ, 7.1.5) Typical Spenserian diction in this passage includes the use of the modal auxiliary ‘gan’ (‘began to’), especially when disparted from the main verb by the interposition of an adverb (‘boldly’); ‘spy’d’ and ‘descryd’, a common rhyming pair in Spenser’s verse, both meaning ‘perceived’; the archaic monosyllables ‘yon’ and ‘ere’ (for ‘ever’); and the otiose asseverative ‘perdye’. In other places Knevet recruits the full range of Spenser’s monosyllabic modal auxiliaries (‘did’, ‘will’, ‘can’, ‘might’, ‘mote’, etc.), as well as the archaic ‘y-’ prefixed to the past participle (cf. e.g. ‘ywrought’ at 7.9.17.3) and common Spenserian archaisms such as ‘maulgre’ (‘despite’), ‘eftsoones’ (cf. e.g. 8.7.25.8), ‘whilere’ (for ‘erewhile’), and ‘whilome’ (‘once’). As is clear from the stanza quoted above, Knevet generally seeks to achieve Spenser’s famous ‘eye-rhymes’, altering the spelling of rhyming words in order to achieve visual as well as phonic consistency. And as these orthographical liberties suggest, he generally adopts a characteristically Spenserian latitude to the spelling and pronunciation of his words, not only when they are in rhyming position: frequent resort to various forms of metaplasm (aphaeresis, syncope, and apocope) mark his verse, as he nudges and cajoles his words to fit the constraints of his metre. The individual books of The Faerie Queene are organized in different ways. The first, second, fifth, and sixth books are loosely based on a quest structure, in which a single titular knight pursues a heroic task set him by Gloriana. The middle books (the third and fourth), by contrast, operate on more Ariostan lines, and feature a complex and virtuosic deployment of narrative entrelacement. Knevet generally avoids this complexity, preferring instead the simpler, linear narrative of a single knight whose

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

serial adventures illustrate philosophical and historical aspects of the virtue relevant to the book. The moral scheme that Knevet follows draws on Spenser’s professed Aristotelian structure, as outlined in the ‘Letter of the Authors’: to Spenser’s six ‘priuate morall vertues’ (holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice, and courtesy), Knevet adds prudence, fortitude, and liberality. The three knight patrons of these virtues – Albanio, Callimachus, and Belcoeur, respectively – navigate a series of challenges that illustrate their increasing grasp of moral theory and action. Like Spenser, Knevet permits his knights a fair amount of romance divagation on their quests. For example, the hero of Book 7, Albanio, seems not to pursue his quest to redeem Sir Euphues (an elder brother of Spenser’s Sir Calidore, knight of courtesy) from imprisonment by the jealous Aphronimon until the twelfth canto of the book; meanwhile, he contends with various witches and enchanters whose names reveal the threat they pose to prudence: Malfida (‘false faith’), Dysnomia (‘bad law’), Pseudophron (‘false thought’), Misanactus (‘bad performance’), Philautia (‘self-love’), and Granvanio (‘great vanity’, or perhaps the oxymoronic ‘great trifle’). He also takes comfort and advice along the way from various sages, such as the wise Vigilantio (‘vigilance’) and, at the ‘Fort of true Religion’, from Doxorthus (‘right doctrine’), who prepares him for his final encounter with Aphronimon (‘imprudence’). Sir Belcoeur, knight of liberality, similarly does not pursue the tyrant Coravido, jailer of Eleutheria queen of Utopia, until canto 12 of Book 9. Like Spenser, too, Knevet introduces Prince Arthur in the eleventh canto of the seventh book, to share with the patron knight in his quest, and enable him to move forward to its completion. Knevet repeats this Spenserian pattern in the later books. Although Prince Arthur is on hand to save the life of Callimachus, patron of fortitude, in canto 2 of Book 8, by his participation in the tournament of canto 8 he enables Callimachus to marry Vittoria (‘victory’), after which we learn that Callimachus owes his fortune to his patron: And though Callimachus, were fairely bred, Of princely stemme, yet were in Faery Court, Many that did in birth farre him exceed, For he maintained no renowned port, Ne of his valour was there much report, Vntill Prince Arthur had him sworne a Knight, Then hee appear’d in most magnificke sort, A Champion ready to defend the right, And did at tilt, and tourney, well himself acquite. (SFQ, 8.9.6) And while Belcoeur frees Eleutheria without Arthur’s help, Book 9 is not able to conclude without Arthur’s participation: he distinguishes himself as the hero of the standalone tournament narrative of that book’s eleventh canto, where he wins (and forgoes) the hand of Thalastena, princess of Britomaria. Not only in form and style, then, does Knevet trace in Spenser’s footsteps, but in the narrative structure of the constituent books of the Supplement. Knevet also finds various means by which to ‘impe’ his own narratives onto those of Spenser’s. Perhaps the most obvious of these joins occurs toward the opening of Book 8, when Callimachus finds himself recuperating at Monplaisant, home of the lady Panarete (‘all virtue’). At the beginning of canto 3, Panarete requests the convalescent knight to pass the time with tales of adventure; he obliges by reciting tales of knights and giants, ‘And many pleaseing storyes did insert, | Of Arthegall, Sir Guyon, and faire Britomart’ (SFQ, 8.3.7.8-9). When these find good reception, he is encouraged to go on: Eke of Sir Calidore he mention made, Who whilome did the Blatant Beast enthrall, In spite of all his wrath, and fury mad; That famous story he to mind did call, Which specifyes the monstrous Dragons fall, Which did the land of Eden so infest, Forceing the King thereof himself t’enwall, In fortresse strong, vntill he was releast By valour of the Redcrosse Knight, from that huge Beast. (SFQ, 8.3.8)

Introduction

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Callimachus’ relation of the narrative matter of books 1 and 6 of The Faerie Queene inspires Panarete to even further supplementarity. Talk of the dragon of FQ 1 reminds her that there:

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. . . yet remaines an impe of that curst brood, Afflicteing vs with mickle woe, and shame, Great Cittyes he destroyes in irefull moode, And makes whole kingdomes desolate, to get his foode. (SFQ, 8.3.9.6-9) The survival of some descendant of Spenser’s dragon offers Knevet an opportunity to ‘impe’ or join his own narrative to Spenser’s, self-consciously by means of the ‘impe’ who effects that join. As Callimachus goes in search of his Spenserian adventure, Knevet makes it clear that his own poetic relationship to Spenser’s original is at stake in Callimachus’ emulative self-fashioning on Redcrosse’s model: Callimachus, (attentiuely that heard Panaretes sad tale) was nought dismayd Nor of this Hellhounds cruelty afeard, But still that meed before his eyes he layd, Which to the Redcrosse Knight was whilome payd, For freeing Edens captiue Princes late, From that foule Dragons rage that them abraide, Whose noble prowesse hee ’gan emulate, Resolueing his achieuement braue to imitate. (SFQ, 8.3.15) If the use of the verbs ‘emulate’ and ‘imitate’ were not enough to tip us off, the succeeding stanza compares Callimachus to Alexander; Knevet’s knight is anxious not only to emulate Alexander’s emulation of Achilles, but to surpass Alexander by finding a ‘quirister’ who can tell his story. After all, Redcrosse had one. Knevet finds myriad less elaborate ways to connect his narratives to Spenser. For example, Artegall, Spenser’s knight of Justice, plays a conspicuous role in Knevet’s poem. We first see him in the uncorrected version of Book 7, canto 11, where he was originally due to rescue Albanio, knight of prudence, from the Isle of Vanity; in a sequence of revisions introduced into the final version of the text, Knevet replaced Artegall with Prince Arthur. Artegall reappears in canto 3 of Book 8, where he intercepts the giant Aquilino returning from his capture of Riobell and Leucippe, but fails to penetrate the hypocrisy and guile of Aquilino’s smooth-talking self-defence (SFQ, 8.3.30-43). Artegall next pops up in canto 8 of the same book, where Malfida attempts to enlist his support for Aquilino – but this time he declines. Here – as again at SFQ, 9.1.26, where Artegall is briefly shown to have fallen before the enchanted lance of Sir Lereall – Artegall’s participation in Knevet’s allegory simply represents the concept of justice; villains seek his support in their attempt to give their actions a plausible veneer of justice, but when he is overcome, it signals that his opponent is heedless of the injustice of his or her actions. A slightly more complicated appearance, and his last, occurs in canto 3 of Book 9, where Artegall revenges the dishonour done to his kinswoman Synedesia (‘conscience’) by fighting and killing her adulterous husband, Philodore. Redcrosse, too, features in an original draft of the poem – at SFQ, 7.1.33-38 – where Albanio discovers him fighting with Sir Calydon, and reconciles the two knights. In the final copy, Knevet removed Redcrosse, replacing him with Sir Albion, presumably because he belatedly recognized Redcrosse as a figure not merely for England, but for a range of ideas about Protestantism, Henry VIII, the English church (etc.) too heterogeneous for the simple historical allegory of James’ union of Scotland and England. The narrative material of the Supplement If the narrative structure of the Supplement faithfully echoes Spenser’s model, and at key moments is carefully stitched onto it, the details of Knevet’s narrative material similarly show a strong Spenserian strain, but elements, too, of Knevet’s own distinctive concerns and allegorical strategies. The seventh book narrates the history of Albanio who, as we discover in the twelfth canto, has been charged by Gloriana with the rescue of Sir Euphues (‘goodly’) – surprised and driven from his lady Sophia (‘wisdom’) by

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

the combined malice of the sorceress Malfida and the tyrant Aphronimon (7.12.9-28). Albanio is brought to the fight by Euphues’ sister, the lady Irene (‘peace’; to be distinguished from Spenser’s Irena, the distressed suppliant of FQ 5), who guides him on his quest to achieve prudence, and eventually becomes his bride. Their first port of call is the house of Vigilantio (‘vigilance’), who attempts to warn Albanio of the perils he faces, and hardens him to the dangers of ‘Vertues rugged path’ (7.1.31.2). In a brief episode at the end of canto 1, Albanio makes peace between Sir Albion and Sir Calydon, an episode which clearly indicates the strong parallels between Albanio and his historical analogue, James VI and I: just as Albion and Calydon are united under Albanio, so England and Scotland were unified at James’ accession. In the second canto Albanio is again beset by Malfida, who this time lures Albanio and his companions to Misanactus’ castle in the Vale of Treason, where the sorceress and the enchanter unsuccessfully attempt to murder them. Albanio proceeds in canto 3 to the castle of the princess Dysnomia (‘unlawful’), guided there by the complaint of a Palmer who has lost his sons to Dysnomia’s prison; Albanio fights with and routs Dysnomia’s champion, Pseudophron (‘false wisdom’), before (in canto 4) entering the castle. Here he witnesses the pageant of Dysnomia’s sacrifice in the Temple of Plutus, before overturning the altars and, the enchantment broken, restoring the seven colleges (or heptarchy) of learning. The rest of this canto presents a catalogue of the flowers that Albanio discovers in the college’s renewed gardens. The sorceress and enchanter, palmer, and Temple of Plutus are all stock Spenserian elements; and Knevet follows the architecture of FQ 1, too, by allowing Albanio a brief honeymoon of easy virtue – and false confidence – before plunging him into confusion and vice. Cantos 5-7 concern Albanio’s journey to the Holy Isle, the residence of the sage Doxorthus (‘right doctrine’). The seven sisters of the seven colleges have urged him to combat Aphronimon – the tyrant against whom Albanio is already bent – but Albanio is deflected from his course by the arrival of a dwarf, who prays his intervention in the sorry history of his kinswoman, Leucippe, shortly since abducted and imprisoned by the giant Aquilino. Irene temporarily releases Albanio from his quest so that he can attend to Leucippe, and he resolves to lodge her, meanwhile, with Doxorthus. Upon his arrival in the Holy Isle, he parts Doxorthus from the forger Caecozel, surveys the Fort of True Religion (canto 6), and (in canto 7) takes up Hercules’ bow to fight off the harpies besieging the fort. Entrusting Irene to Doxorthus, Albanio then sets off with the dwarf in aid of Leucippe; but he doesn’t get far. In canto 8 he hears the history of Epimetheus, condemned to torture for his role in bringing Pandora’s evils into the world, and frees him from his captor Metamelus. But in the following canto (9), before he has reached Leucippe, Albanio is again lured away from his purpose by the disguised Misanactus and Malfida, who deceive him with a false dream of Irene. Wrongly convinced that Irene is in desperate danger, Albanio resolves to return to her, but in his journey back to the Holy Isle he encounters several new dangers. The first – temptation by the self-loving Philautia – he successfully resists, as he does the second – the fearfulness of a coward knight who trembles to confront a host of warlike ghosts. But in canto 11, Albanio strays onto the Isle of Vanity, the home of the seductress Matæa (‘idleness, vanity’), where he sees Redcrosse and Irene (Misanactus and Malfida, again disguised) locked in a traitorous embrace; here he slowly succumbs to Matæa’s charms, and forgets his quest, and is only saved when Leucippe’s dwarf brings Irene and Prince Arthur to his rescue. They release Albanio, who in canto 12 travels to the Arctic, destroys Aphronimon, and reunites Euphues with Sophia. As may be obvious from this narrative summary, Albanio’s vicious vagrancy reeks of Redcrosse (FQ 1) and Calidore (FQ 6), but the book as a whole strikes a much more strongly historical tone than any of Spenser’s writing – from the moment that Albanio (as James) unites Albion and Calydon, the reader is primed to read his adventures as a loose foil for James’ attempt, and failure, to complete the establishment of English protestantism. The historical emphasis of the precedent book flourishes in Book 8. Its subject is Callimachus, the knight of fortitude, whose career very clearly follows that of his historical analogue, Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden and hero of the Thirty Years War. The book opens with the return of Leucippe’s dwarf – abandoned by Albanio – to the Faery court, where he seeks the aid of a second champion to rescue his lady. Callimachus undertakes the quest. The first of his many by-accidents is the deliverance from the giant Sans Paour (‘fearless’) of the squire Tendron whom, after a brief lesson in the dangers of astrology, magic, and pride, Callimachus dubs knight. Tendron then leads Callimachus to the castle of his mother Paventa (‘fearful’), a Penelope figure beset by eight suitors whose advances have effectively imprisoned

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her. Callimachus concludes the first canto by defeating them in sequence, but in canto 2 two of these knights, Tracyon and Embidiant, waylay and nearly overcome him, killing Tendron. Callimachus is saved by Prince Arthur, who dispatches his attackers, while the virtuous maiden Panarete (‘all virtue’ – a Belphoebe figure) heals his envenomed wounds. In the third canto, Callimachus learns that Panarete’s kingdom, Montplaisant, is regularly harried by the offspring of Redcrosse’s dragon (from FQ, 1.11); but before Callimachus can defeat this menace, Knevet inserts by digression by the history of Leucippe, her marriage to Riobell, and their capture and imprisonment by the giant Aquilino. By the time Callimachus defeats the dragon in canto 4, Aquilino has already (with the help of Malfida) deceived Artegall, and undone the good knight Corleon. But these inset narratives, while they may provoke the reader, do not provoke the hero; instead, he spends canto 5 admiring Montplaisant and learning about Hercules, afterwards falling for the loose wiles of Cenoclea (‘vainglory’). Callimachus’ love for Cenoclea provokes the jealousy of a rival, Thrason (‘braggart’), who after some moping secures a potion from the enchantress Zelotype (‘jealousy’) and eventually succeeds at whisking Cenoclea away. Now fully prepared by this succession of false starts, Callimachus is ready to undertake the final, and most illustrious, part of his career. Well rid of his various distractions, Callimachus immediately falls in with the maiden Vittoria (‘victory’), daughter of Cleander (‘glorious man’), whose kingdom is effectively under siege by Androgeus; Vittoria tells Callimachus of a prophecy that a man bearing his arms will defeat Androgeus, save her from a loathed marriage, and deliver her father’s kingdom. Callimachus willingly takes the quest in hand and, as canto 6 closes, Vittoria leads him to the fight, along the way telling him the story of Androgeus’ rape of Parthenia, and pillaging of her city. In the seventh canto, Callimachus joins forces with Sir Teuton in a tournament before the city of Heraclea against Androgeus and his second, Torismund. Callimachus’ victory in the field grieves Androgeus’ allies, but gives heart to his enemies, including the virgin Marinella, whose story occupies the latter section of canto 7. Succoured by Gloriana and by Auranion, she frees herself from the oppression of the giant Almansor, one of Androgeus’ many allies. At Auranion’s death, his brother Uranion undertakes the siege and capture of the city of Hylarcha, freeing it from the oppression of the villain Grobbendoncke (canto 8), following which he combines with Prince Arthur and the knight Sir Francon in the delivery of another maiden, Trajecta, from the captivity of Sir Ferraugh – another of Almansor’s knights. Leaving behind these digressions – largely historical allegory dealing with Dutch resistance to Spanish rule – Knevet returns to Callimachus, and in canto 9 celebrates his marriage to Vittoria. The joy of this episode is solemnized by the arrival of two stranger knights, Eupraton (‘well doing’) and Deinopascon (‘terrible suffering’), who invite Callimachus’ arbitration in their debate over the love of Fortezza (canto 9). Callimachus agrees to sit umpire to their combat, but the fight is interrupted at the last moment – much in the style of Cambina’s intervention between Cambel and Triamond (FQ, 4.3) – by Callina, the aged nurse who had raised Fortezza. In the following canto (10), she relates the romance history by which three royal triplets had been parted at birth, and the two brothers anonymously fostered to preserve them from the violence of a jealous queen. The resolution of this erotic contest in filial reunion transforms war to peace in a way that resonates strongly with the historical origins of these episodes in the Thirty Years War. In the final two cantos of the book, Callimachus finally defeats his enemy Androgeus, here combined with the giant Crenepolemo and their champion, Lycus (canto 11); but, having joined in league with Sir Wymar, he undertakes to deliver the virgin Berginora from two more of Aquilino’s knights – Steinwald and Tuicson – who have combined with Crenepolemo and now threaten her. Callimachus and Wymar are victorious, but their enemies slip away, and when they next encounter them – just after they have attempted to rape yet another hapless virgin, Lipsia – the inevitable victory is pyrrhic. Vittoria and Wymar are left to mourn Callimachus, and to bury him. The drift of Knevet’s allegory in this book ever closer to its historical sources is best reflected in the names chosen for his allegorical figures: no longer moral or philosophical concepts, their etymologies (e.g. Leucippe, an epithet of Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen; or Riobell, from It. rio bello, ‘beautiful river’, a reference to elector Frederick’s home on the Rhine) point to historical identifications, and sometimes – as in the case of Auranion (William of Orange) and Grobbendoncke (a Spanish governor of the city of Hertogenbosch, by the name of Grobbendoncke) – simply record the identies of the historical actors themselves. The repetitive, episodic nature of the book’s narrative, too,

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

is nothing like Spenser’s varied incident, but it perfectly mirrors the interminable, serial brualities of the Thirty Years War. The focus of Book 9 of the Supplement turns away from the war. The hero of the book, Belcoeur, we join as he sets out on his quest to free and marry the maiden princess Eleutheria (‘freedom’). His first encounter is with Albanio, the knight of prudence, who returns into the poem chasing his treasonous squire, Gruager (of uncertain meaning, perhaps related to English ‘grudge’). Albanio and Belcoeur travel together to the hospitable castle of Sir Julian and his lady, Philoxenia (‘love of strangers’, or ‘good hospitality’), where they hear the story of Sir Justine and Sir Lereall, two haughty knights induced into open conflict by the false mischief of Atyn. Albanio and Belcoeur suddenly find themselves required to fend off an attack by the Brigants. During the pursuit, happening upon the thieves’ colonel one Grimald, Albanio kills him, and then stops up the thieves’ cave dwelling, burying them alive. Along the way, he takes on the protection of two damsels, Angela and Scotia (England and Scotland), to whose history of bickering he puts a period before delivering them back to the fort of their mother, Britanna. This episode – a clear analogue of the earlier episode in which Albanio reconciles Albion and Calydon – suggests a close identification between Belcoeur and Charles I, whose accession in 1625 had reaffirmed the union of Scotland and England. Belcoeur, parted from Albanio while chasing the Brigants, in the second canto comes to the hermitage of Esclauedor (‘love of gold’), a hypocritical, Mammon-like miser who attempts with arguments and vaults of heaped-up gold to convert Belcoeur to his philosophy; instead Belcoeur resists his temptations, and at the door to his cottage kills the uncouth Gastador (‘wasteful, extravagant’). The third canto relates a similar tale of moral caution, this time with political overtones: Belcoeur meets Synedesia (from Gr. συνείδησις, ‘conscience’), who is crying over the body of her dead husband, the knight Philodore. A courtier and poet, Philodore had fallen adulterously for the love of Polydora (‘many gifts’), a betrayal which had excited the just revenge of Artegall, Synedesia’s kinsman. Belcoeur helps to bury the body. The following canto (4) pursues the escapades of Polydora, who works her way through various paramours, and eventually shames Sir Preister – a would-be Paridell – who, jilted, ultimately finds himself the captive of the outlaw bandit Harpax (Gr. ἅρπαξ, ‘robber’). In the fifth canto, Knevet reveals the back story to Belcoeur’s quest: the princess of Utopia, Eleutheria (‘freedom’), has been surprised in a masque and carried off by the villain Coravido (‘greedy heart’). This information is carefully juxtaposed with Belcoeur’s next adventure, the rescue of Dicœa (‘justness’) from the lawless outrage of Riccolozell (the quasi-oxymoronic ‘wealthy villain’), during which he overcomes the temptation presented by the vainglorious Liptocleon (‘eager for fame’) and his peevish lady, Philotime (‘love of honour’). Canto 6 sees Belcoeur defeating Riccolozell, and freeing Dicœa, but not before first delivering Sir Preister – along with his captors Harpax and Polydora – from imprisonment by the pirate Robador. United with his old faery friend Sir Gratian, Belcoeur then chases another sort of robber – a bear that appears to have stolen a human baby – only to discover that its appearance was a ruse to lure the knights into the clutches of Coravido’s ally, the magician Phaulurgo (‘bad deed’). Freed by the skittish good offices of the virgin demi-god Erothæa (‘goddess of love’), the knights recover, and in canto 8 journey to mount Parnassus, where they find the muses grieving over the death of their champion, Technophil (‘art-lover’), who had attempted (but failed) to free poetry from its bondage to the villains Chrysophila (‘love of gold’) and Maldesir (‘evil ambition’). Belcoeur and Gratian undertake to redeem the muses, but Maldesir’s necromantic deviousness proves too much for the knight of liberality; however, Gratian, protected by a magic ring given him by his lover Pulcheria, decapitates Maldesir and liberates Parnassus. In the following canto, Belcoeur meets the maid Liberta, who seeks a champion to defend her mistress, Basilia (‘queen’) from the false accusations of a base squire, Patriosor (‘poison to his country’), who has suborned the two knights Paillard (‘lecher’) and Anticar (‘against the beloved’) to prove her unchastity in open combat. Belcoeur travels to the tourney with Philanax (‘good ruler’), a knight whose liberal exploits he witnesses along the way, and together they expose the false knights’ calumnies, restoring Liberta’s reputation and leaving her free to marry the prince Callisthanax (‘beautiful rule’). In the latter half of canto 9, Belcoeur travels through the land of the Helots, a miserable people who, having been subjected by a tyrannous race called the Griffons, were liberated by the British queen Elisa and her knights; but, afterwards turning upon and expelling their liberators, through their own corruption exposed themselves to the now ruthless power of the Griffons. Belcoeur admires the justice

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Introduction

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of this punishment, and almost immediately enjoys the opportunity to witness natural, unsophisticated gratitude, when he intervenes in the fight between a lion and a dragon (canto 10). The grateful lion subsequently gives its life to save Belcoeur from a monstrous satyr. Belcoeur then concludes the canto with a visit to the castle of Cenodoxon (‘empty opinion’), where he meets and nearly combats with the boaster Braggadocchio, now travelling under the name Hypsibremetor (‘thundering on high’). The digressive canto 11 relates the history of Prince Arthur’s success in a tournament held by the princess Thalastena (either ‘king of the sea’ or ‘straits of the sea’) of Britomaria. Though Arthur wins the tournament, the prize – Thalastena’s hand in marriage – goes to his partner, Sir Merhoneur, who immediately fights off a challenge from the Muslim giant, Nigropont. In the final canto of the book, Belcoeur at last achieves his quest. Taking for his guide the misused ‘Squire of mean estate’, he enters the kingdom of Coravido and his incestuous sister Philargyra (‘lover of silver’), high priestess of the cult of the idol Chrysargyr (‘gold and silver’). Belcoeur arrives just in time to save Eleutheria from being sacrificed to the idol, and together they return to Utopia, where Belcoeur is installed as king. Perfecting Spenser: the stylistic distinction of the Supplement One of the most striking things about the narrative and allegorical detail of the Supplement is that, despite the poem’s general consistency with Spenser’s organization of comparable quests in The Faerie Queene, it also manages to achieve a very idiosyncratic effect. Some of the narrative and allegorical elements have clear Spenserian precedents: the evil duo of Book 7, Misanactus and Malfida, clearly recall Archimago and Duessa from FQ 1; Albanio’s visit to the Fort of True Religion (SFQ 7.6) echoes similar ‘allegorical cores’ like Spenser’s House of Holinesse (FQ, 1.10) and the House of Alma (FQ 2.1011); Leucippe’s dwarf racing to bring Irene to the rescue of her wayward knight must put us in mind of Dony, Florimell’s dwarf, who in FQ, 5.6 fetches Britomart to the rescue of Artegall; and the false vision conjured to deceive Albanio in Book 7, canto 11 manifestly duplicates the false vision of Una’s infidelity that drives Redcrosse into the arms of Duessa in FQ, 1.2. But if Knevet writes in the language of Spenser’s allegory, he is not as faithful to Spenser’s modes. The epic simile, for example, is a hallmark of Spenser’s style, most frequently employed to describe the struggle between two knights, or between a knight and the beast or monster with whom s/he is contending. Knevet’s epic similes can be conventionally Spenserian, as for example in his description of the battle between Albanio and Pseudophron (SFQ, 7.3.36), where the two are likened to a mastiff and a bull; or at the opening of canto 8 of Book 7, where the virtue of prudence is likened to the pilot of a ship, who must bring it safely to shore. These examples are transparently Spenserian in tone, recalling, among many other examples, the fight between Artegall and Pollente, where their struggle is likened to that between a dolphin and a seal (FQ, 5.2.15), or Spenser’s regular use of mariner imagery to describe his poetic project (cf. FQ, 1.12.42). But in other instances, Knevet’s experimentation with epic convention can prove far more iconoclastic, and even comic, than Spenser’s own. A deleted stanza from canto 9 of Book 7, for example, compares Albanio to a lover who desires to make love to his mistress – at a point in the narrative when Albanio determines to return to his mistress, Irene, to save her from the alleged depradations of the Giant of the Island of Vanity: As doth the Louer true desire to see, The sweet approchment of that happy stound, When by his faithfull Ladyes curt’sy free To meete with her in priuate hee is bound, Where they in am’rous affaires their talke ground, So did Albanio wish to see that tide, To be auenged on this cursed hound, Who had him rob’d of his betrothed Bride, Whom hee did estimate ’boue all the world beside. (SFQ, 7.9.29, deleted) The comedy of this simile arises from the fact that, in some sense, it is not a simile at all. Albanio has just witnessed a false dream, in which a false Irene urged his quick return, and the abandonment of his quest to succour Leucippe, in order that he might save her. This false vision provokes a non-simile –

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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thus deceiving Albanio, but in a sense undeceiving the reader. Albanio is filled with a desire to see his ‘Louer true’, and indeed this is what motivates him to give up his quest and return to the Holy Island. The only thing that stands between this simile and plain narrative is the allegorical texture of the poem, here realized in the ‘cursed hound’ who, he thinks, holds his ‘betrothed Bride’. If Knevet here imagines fierce wars as faithful loves, he reverses the equation – again, with daring explicitness – when in canto 11 he compares the effeminised Albanio to Aeneas under the spell of Dido’s power: Hee then Troyes wofull ruines minded not, Ne the Lauinian land by fate ordain’d, To bee the guerdon of his conquest got, When hee had sheath’d his sword in his Corriualls throte. (SFQ, 7.11.32.6-9) The implication of the simile, of course, is that Albanio like Aeneas has sheathed his sword in the wrong throat. In other places, Knevet’s use of the epic simile strikes a similarly jarring, if less pornographic, note, as when the tyrant Granvanio falls like an oak – or like a man with a headache: As when the body of a large-limm’d Oke, Whose solid timber fittes the Builders skill, Haueing endur’d the axes vtmost stroke, First reeles (as one that of the megrim’s ill) Then tumbles downe, and in his fall doth fill With noise of ruine, the adioyneing wood; So fell Granvanio. . . (7.11.55.1-7) This slip into bathos fits the great trifle Granvanio, and echoes a similar moment in the preceding canto, when Albanio enticed by the charms of Philautia is likened to a tigress distracted by a mirror (7.10.10). The first book of his Supplement also shows Knevet adapting other familiar hallmarks of the Spenserian style. Spenser’s regular use of proverbs, for example, has been well described by editors and scholars; this element of his narratorial fabric underpins the first, moral, sense of the allegory, by which the reader is encouraged to see the narrative episodes of the poem as fabular exempla to be avoided or imitated.18 Proverbial phrases tend to preserve the moral learning of the common cultural inheritance, and – in their regular comparison of human to animal life – to imply the moral bases of natural law. But in The Faerie Queene (as in The Shepheardes Calender), Spenser complicates this deployment of proverbial wisdom by irony and by use of ‘counter proverbs’ – deliberately inverted constructions of proverbial wisdom.19 Characteristic of Knevet’s resort to proverbs is Malfida’s manipulation of her knights in her opening confrontation with Albanio. She says little, but her little produces the desired effect: No more she sayd, yet this incens’d their ire, Nor was it meete more to haue spoke she knew: For a small blast soone kindles mischiefes fire. . . (SFQ, 7.1.6.1-3) Small provocation is needed to fan the flames of ready mischief. Similarly, when Albanio is confronted with the loves and wars of the unfortunate knight Fortunio, he witnesses the amorous play of ghostly lovers: In couples some, vpon the plaines did trippe, In am’rous sort, some did each other twine, As close as cockles ioyneing lippe, to lippe. . . (SFQ, 7.10.34.1-3) 18 Cf. e.g. FQ 1.2.27.4 (‘Better new friend then an old foe is said’), 1.2.27.9 (‘so dainty they say maketh derth’), 1.3.30.4 (‘A dram of sweete is worth a pound of sowre’); 1.3.30.7-8 (‘true is, that true loue hath no powre | To looken back’); 1.4.45.3-4 (‘litle sweet | Oft tempred is (quoth she) with muchell smart’); ‘Best musicke breeds delight in loathing eare’ (1.8.45.4); ‘the fish that once was caught, new bait will hardly bite’ (2.1.4.9); and ‘patience perforce’ (2.3.3.3). The high density of proverbs in these passages indicates the more general effect of Spenser’s composition. 19 On Spenser’s use of proverbs and counter proverbs, see Robert Starr Kinsman, ‘Proverbs’, in A. C. Hamilton, ed., The Spenser Encyclopedia (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990), pp. 562-65.

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Introduction

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This proverbial phrase, recorded in Tilley,20 Knevet cites for the disgust provoked by its materiality, here especially heightened. Where Malfida’s example cites proverbial lore in order to demonstrate a moral truth, the luxurious sexuality of Albanio’s vision recruits a proverb for the opposite purpose, to advertise the moral danger concealed in easy associations between human and animal. Knevet’s poetry follows Spenser’s lead in this ambiguation of proverbial authority, simultaneously building upon and undermining the moral clarity of contemporary rhetorical culture. Knevet’s diction, though, pushes against this homogenously Spenserian rhetorical effect. Despite his general adherence to Spenserian archaism, in other ways Knevet’s diction is distinctive for a comic inkhornism more redolent of Nashe or Shakespeare. Typical of this effect is Knevet’s use of words like ‘precipicious’ (‘steep, vertiginous’, at 7.1.31.1, 7.1.10.6), ‘anfractuous’ (‘winding, sinuous’, at 7.3.12.2, 8.2.34.4), ‘circumjacent’ (‘situated around, adjacent to’, at 7.3.28.9, 8.8.16.3), ‘permunite’ (‘thoroughly fortify’, at 7.6.15.1), circumsept (‘surround as with a fence’, at 9.4.26.6), and umbragious (‘shadowy’, at 9.12.28.8). Some of these words, like ‘permunite’ (from L permunire in the same sense) are otherwise unattested, and either do not appear in the OED, or are first attested later – and sometimes much later. In some cases these coinages and antedatings follow the Spenserian pattern: slight torsions and extensions to established senses, characteristic of a poet pushing at the limits of his material and form. Examples of this sort include ‘accede’, ‘to come forward, approach, or arrive (at a place or state)’, first attested in the OED in 1677: But as I look’d aside, I did discouer Within an oken groue, whose branches spred Did with perpetuall shades earths surface couer, An old and reu’erent Druide busyed, In orisons, and duetyes hallowed: I stood till his deuotions were done, Then nearer to him ’gan I to accede, And him besought of his compassion, Vs to relieue, that were with faintnes ouergone. (SFQ, 8.10.17) Similarly, the OED first attests the noun ‘solacement’ in 1721 – and never in the traditional romance sense of ‘solace’, ‘pleasure, delight, entertainment’. Witness Knevet’s description of an encounter between Callimachus, the knight of fortitude, and his enemies Steinwald and Tuiscon: Sir Steinwald, and Sir Tuiscon fierce likewise, Both Wymar, and Callimachus descryd, Then from their solacement they soone did rise, Laceing their helmets on, and soone vnty’d Their Coursers from a tree, that stood aside, Meere shame did them prohibite to repose, Their safetyes in their horses heeles that tide, For at their elbowes they beheld their foes, Therefore they thought it best them stoutly to oppose. (SFQ, 8.12.28) Knevet’s resort to ‘solacement’, unlike that to ‘accede’, could not be said to derive from the requirements of the rhyme; this diction must instead be part of a concerted attempt to give his verse the mock-erudite romance flavour of the French and Italian traditions – a mean that would reach its extremity in the hands of Lord Byron. In other cases, Knevet clearly coins words directly from Latin and Greek etymons, as in the case of ‘vorticous’, from L. vortex and the suffix –ous (L. –osus), meaning ‘eddying, whirling’: O’re craggy hills, through sandy plaines I past, Through surgeing seas, and riuers vorticous, 20 See Morris Palmer Tilley, A Dictionary of the Proverbs in England in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (London: Geoffrey Cumberlege, 1951), C499. See also F. P. Wilson’s review, in Review of English Studies, 3 (1952), 190-98.

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene ’Till to the Cyprian Ile I came (at last,) Where humbly, with thoughts most religious, I went vnto that Temple beauteous, Which consecrated is to Venus great. . . (SFQ, 8.9.31.1-6)

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And in at least one case, Knevet advertises his inkhornism by defining the word in his first usage, a technique favoured by that self-conscious enricher of English, Sir Thomas Elyot: In true affection they were so combin’d, As if death onely should their league diuide, As if two bodyes. had the selfsame mind, They did their actions regulate, and guide, Dreameing not once, how neare they were allyd; Thus through a synastrie, or influence Of those celestiall substances, which eyd With equall fauours, these conceiued twinnes, Each other did they loue, with passions most intense. (SFQ, 8.10.40) Knevet’s careful presentation of ‘synastrie’ suggests that he considered himself either the coiner or an early adopter of this term, meaning the ‘coincidence or agreement of the influences of the stars over the destinies of two persons’, and not otherwise attested until 1657. In examples like these, we witness Knevet self-consciously distinguishing the linguistic palette of his poem from that of Spenser – though the giddily heightened effects that these instances of cacozelia create can, in a distinctively Spenserian way, lead to comic pace and irony. With this in mind, it’s worth noting that Knevet’s voice of sound doctrine, Doxorthus, pacifies and exposes the ‘ill temper’d language’ (7.5.31.7) of the rebel Cæcozel in the fifth canto of Book 7, inducing Albanio to rate the villain – so severely that he reduces his ability to speak: This language sterne did make the Wretch to stoupe, Hee durst not for his life exchange a word, His combe was cut, his lofty plumes did droupe. . . (SFQ, 7.5.35.1-3) Cæcozel’s inability to ‘exchange a word’, ironically, seems not to extend to Knevet himself, who in the description of Doxorthus’ house, in an almost immediately ensuing stanza, plays havoc with foreign borrowings: And though it seem’d by nature weakely sited, Not raised on a precipicious rocke, Yet it by art so strongly was munited, That it the cannons rage might seeme to mocke, And scorne the fury of Assaylants shocke, Though thousands should attempt it by scalado, Each side secur’d was with so sure a locke, That it feard not the proudest foes brauado, Not valueing a rush the force of an Armado. (SFQ, 7.5.37) Doxorthus’ fort may be proof to the scalado, the bravado, and the armado, but Knevet’s verse – playfully – admits them. Allegorical description: Knevet’s verbal and historical emphases In stylistic terms, then, Knevet varies Spenser’s approach to some of the distinguishing formal components of epic writing. Perhaps the most conspicuous departure from Spenser’s style, though – and here we begin to register consequences for Knevet’s distinctive views about and practice of allegory – lies in

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Introduction

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his suppression of Spenser’s visual forms of representation. Spenser’s poetry is famous for its regular use of emblem, ekphrasis, pageant, and other highly visual techniques. Not only in The Faerie Queene, but in The Shepheardes Calender (1579) and in shorter poems such as Complaints (1591) and Amoretti and Epithalamion (1595), he regularly uses visual kinds of writing for a variety of effects, but very often as a means of achieving the figural immediacy, and thus moral efficiency, of which Philip Sidney writes in the Defence of Poetry (c. 1582).21 In The Faerie Queene, the resort to emblem and personification, ekphrasis and masque or pageant often leads to extended passages of visually descriptive writing, such as the pageant of the seven deadly sins (FQ, 1.4.16-36), the description of the house of Alma (2.10) and the Bowre of Bliss (FQ, 2.12), the description of the Garden of Adonis (FQ 3.6), Britomart’s visit to the House of Busirane (FQ 3.11-12), Britomart’s visit to the Temple of Isis (5.7), and the extended pageant of the trial in the Two Cantos of Mutabilitie (FQ 7.7). While these passages could conceivably work as Sidneian ‘speaking pictures’ capable of inciting the reader to virtue, they are well known to modern critics for their symbolic complexity and (to misuse a term of Annabel Patterson’s) their functional ambiguity. Spenserian critics such as Harry Berger and Gordon Teskey have shown how The Faerie Queene invites us to participate in a kind of allegorical ‘play’, often by means of juxtaposing visual emblems and images both with another, and with narrative elements. The symmetries and frictions that these juxtapositions create can reinforce moral interpretations of Spenser’s allegory or, perhaps more often, complicate and undermine them. The association in Spenser’s poetry between visual imagination and a complex play of ambiguity may well suggest why this kind of writing did not appeal so forcefully to Knevet. Where Spenser’s allegory feels rich and unstable, Knevet’s tends toward historical specificity and order. There are very few passages of visual intensity in his work, and those that there are, are generally eminently legible. For example, Knevet’s catalogue of the flowers that Albanio finds in the seven colleges of learning (SFQ, 7.4.22-36) provides an extended visual and symbolic gloss on Albanio’s destruction of Dysnomia and the Temple of Pluto, but most (perhaps all) of the detailed descriptions of the flowers are derived from a single source, John Parkinson’s Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris (1629); moreover, the order in which Knevet describes the flowers reflects very closely Parkinson’s own presentation, suggesting that Knevet effectively transcribed his poem directly from Parkinson or from an abstract thereof, evidence of a compositional process that tends to limit rather than expand our sense of the poem’s interpretive capacity. Similarly, when Knevet describes the gems set in the crown of Panarete in the fourth canto of Book 8, the properties of the precious stones he mentions are taken directly from a Jacobean translation of Pierre de La Primaudaye’s The French Academie (1618). The effect of Knevet’s use of sources is to fix rather than to complicate the meaning of his allegory, as in the description of the tulip in the college garden of Book 7, canto 4: Here stately Tulips their proud heads extended, Which to our gardens were but knowne of late, Flowres not for vertue, but for hue commended, Like these, our vpstart Gentry doth elate, And vaunt it self aboue the honord state, Of true nobility, for outward parts Doe this worlds eyesight terminate; Immortallizeing vertue, and good arts Scarce any entertainement find in mortall harts. (SFQ, 7.4.24) Knevet’s visual representations generally work like this one: tightly-controlled presentations allude to well-established properties, which in turn are immediately moralized and applied. The moral legibility at work in Knevet’s passages of visual writing is explicitly addressed in one of the central sections of the Supplement. In canto 5 of Book 8, following his fight with the dragon, Callimachus returns to the palace of Panarete in Montplaisant. His admiration for the architecture and cunning art of the place is matched by Knevet’s own large claims for his description: 21 Sidney had famously called poetry ‘a speaking picture’. See A Defence of Poetry, in Miscellaneous Prose of Sir Philip Sidney, ed. Katherine Duncan-Jones and Jan van Dorsten (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), p. 86.

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene They that of admirable structures write, Of Castles, Temples, Theatres, palaces, Built for defence, religion, or delight, Doe in their learned Legends not expresse, A building of such art, and comelynes, As was Panaretes well seated House, Which was for wondrous skill renown’d no lesse, Then for materialls: no Dædalus Could ere contriue a dwelling so commodious. (SFQ, 8.5.1)

Knevet’s introduction of the palace seems to promise daedalian art as intricately engineered as that of Spenser’s House of Alma, or the Bower of Bliss, and indeed, the structure of the palace closely imitates the three central chambers of the house of Alma in FQ, 2.10. But when Callimachus chances ‘to see describ’d in colours gay, / Of Hercules the labours perillous’ (SFQ, 8.5.13.3-4), his wonder provokes Panarete to a euhemeristic lesson in allegorical interpretation. Panarete warns Callimachus from too much wonder at Hercules’ exploits, insisting that the mythic cycle by which they have been transmitted is stitched up with embellishments: Sterne Tyrants, Theeues, and bloudy Murtherers, Were all the monsters that hee fought withall, Whose sauage crueltyes, and riots fierce, Made Poets in their lines perpetuall, Them Lions, Dragons, Bores, or Bulls to call, Such were those Giants, that liu’d then likewise Men that were not then other men more tall, In stature, but in beastly crueltyes, These Monsters measur’d were by their great Villanyes. (SFQ, 8.5.16) The monsters of myth, Panarete insists, are simply visual representations of moral hideousness. She then proceeds to analyse each of the labours in turn, showing how, for example, Hercules’ fight with the Lernean hydra should be read as a contest with envy, ‘a vice of ougly shape, and venemous, | Most difficult for to bee conquered’ (SFQ, 8.5.18.6-7). The moral legibility of her palace’s Herculean galleries functions as a gloss on the interpretative strategies provoked by the poem at large. By the time Panarete has finished her lesson, Callimachus – like the reader – has reached a decisively reductionist view of allegorical interpretation: While thus Panarete, did morallize The warlike gests, of the Tyrinthian braue, Callimachus attention firme applyes, And when she ended had her lecture graue, Thankes for those documents vnto her gaue. With this faire Lady here long time he spent, Who holesome counsell daily did engraue In his capacious mind, that was well bent All good monitions to receiue, with full intent. (SFQ, 8.5.31) Knevet’s citation of the Hercules cycle prompts a ‘lecture’ or ‘counsell’ stocked with ‘monitions’; its legibility borrows the material clarity of the engraving. The straightforward interpretability of Knevet’s visual passages goes hand in hand with what is perhaps the most obvious and defining difference between Knevet’s and Spenser’s allegories. The title of Knevet’s poem promises a supplement to The Faerie Queene ‘wherein are allegorically described affaires both military and ciuill of these times’, a considerable limitation of Spenser’s project in both method (‘described’) and content (‘affaires . . . military and ciuill’). As the title suggests, Knevet’s poem is resolutely historical in focus, and its historical allegory is in many places not merely the primary, but the

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Introduction

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sole organ of its meaning. As in the comparable passages in which Knevet samples well-known sources for the delivery of legible moral emblems, his historical allegory is similarly keyed to popular sources, such as the newsbook accounts of developments in the Thirty Years War. These pamphlets, mainly translations of imported foreign-language corantoes and gazettes, began to pour off various London presses in the 1620s, and soon became the especial preserve of a partnership between Nathaniel Butter and bookseller Nicholas Bourne. Generally issued at weekly intervals, Butter’s and Bourne’s newsbooks contained all the latest accounts of Protestant struggles with imperial forces in the Low Countries, the states of Germany, and Bohemia, along with news of relevant political and military developments in the Baltic and elsewhere. Some sample titles of key pamphlets that probably influenced Knevet will give a suggestion of their character: (i) A iournall or daily register of all those warlike atchieuements which happened in the siege of Berghen-up-Zoome in the Low-countries betweene the armies of the Marquesse Spinola assaylants, and the Prince of Orange, defendants, of the said towne; together with the raising of the siege. In the end is added two letters, which discouer the errours fore-conceiued of the successe of that siege, and the after-designes of the Spanish armies, if they had taken in Bergen: with some particular accidents of warre, which were occasions of mirth to the beholders. All faithfully translated out of the original Low-Dutch copie (London: Nathaniel Butter, Bartholomew Downes, and Thomas Archer, 1622). (ii) A continuation of all the principall occurrences which hath happened to the Leaguers lying before Breda shewing into what great extreamity and necessity the armie of the Marquesse Spinola is likely to fall into for want of prouision and pay: for which causes he hath already lost aboue 12000 men. With a relation of the forces that are now a leauying vnder, and for the command of Count Mansfield, and the Duke of Brunswicke, by Collonell Smith, and Captaine Daniel de la Riue, with expectation to receiue the forces now dismist by the Kings of Denmarke and Sweden, intending to aduenture their fortunes once more together. (London: B. Alsop for Thomas Archer, 1625). (iii) March 14. Numb. 23. The continuation of our weekly newes, from the 18. of February to this 14. of March Containing, amongst other things, these particulars following: the good successe of the king of Sweden in the land of Meckelburgh, with the names of the townes he hath lately taken. With divers particulars concerning Monsieur Tilly his preparation and strength to oppose the said king of Sweden. The French Kings letter to the court of Parliament of Normandy, concerning the restraint of the Queene Mother, and other of the nobility of France. In French and English (London: George Purslowe for Nathaniel Butter and Nicholas Bourne, 1631). (iv) A relation of the King of Sweden, his happie and incomparable successe and victories, against the forces of the Emperour, in Pomerania and the adjacent places, since Christmas last with his answer to the Emperours letter, expressing the cause of his vndertaking the said warre and his resolution to continue the same, vntil Germany bee restored to his former liberty. Together with the names of the forts, townes, and cities taken; as also, the interception and taking of the convoyes of waggons of prouision and other necessaries of the Imperialists, since the same time by the King of Svveden. Febr. the 18. Vnto which is added our weekely avisoes from Germanie and other parts (London: Nathaniel Butter and Nicholas Bourne, 1631). Knevet may well have purchased copies of these and similar newsbooks, whether from a well-connected Norwich bookseller, or via a friend in London. But Fritz Levy has shown, too, that when it came to news ‘print was only one – and probably not the most important – means of dissemination’.22 Correspondents and intelligencers undertook systematic dissemination of European news, from London as from 22 F. J. Levy, ‘How Information Spread Among the Gentry, 1550-1640’, Journal of British Studies, 21 (1982), 11-34 (p. 20). As Levy argues, ‘while newsletter and pamphlets certainly go back at least to the 1590s, the real growth of the new industry paralleled England’s involvement in Thirty Years’ War, first as a very eager observer (because the Elector Palatine as King James’s son-in-

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

foreign courts, after the outbreak of the Thirty Years War, and Knevet may well have benefitted from these epistolary networks at some level. By whatever means, though, by the time he was composing the Supplement in the early 1630s, Knevet must have read, systematised, and copied out the details reported in first-hand accounts like those listed above: details of the sieges at Bergen-op-Zoom and Breda, Gustavus Adolphus’ campaign in Saxony, the siege and destruction of Magdeburg, and the famous Swedish victories of Breitenfeld, Lech, and Lützen. The continuous, detailed reporting of the events of the war between 1618 and the Privy Council’s suppression of corantoes in 1632 played into the hands of a historical allegorist like Knevet, and no doubt greatly influenced – that is, deepened – the general historical register of his poetry. Knevet’s assimilation of this material is direct, and reflects careful reading of Butter’s and Bourne’s publications directly up to the celebrated events of 1632. The effect is similar to that which a modern reader might experience if reading a long poem based in large part upon front-page articles from The New York Times or the Guardian. A typical example comes in the brief episode narrated to Callimachus by Vittoria in Book 8, canto 6, where she paints the recent history of the virgin Parthenia, surprised and deflowered by the giant Androgeus: This Lady hight Parthenia (quoth shee) A Dame deriued from imperiall race, Rich, and as faire, as any wight could bee, Vntill this bloudy Knight did her deface, And quite dispoile her of all natiue grace, Her forme, demeanour, or her large demesnes, Made him his loath’d affection on her place, But while to winne her loue he vainely weenes, His proffers she reiects; then hee her deeply spleenes. (SFQ, 8.6.40) When he finds himself spurned, Androgeus seeks to compel her love ‘by open violence’, but Parthenia ‘did soone prouide / Him to requite, according to his kind. / And many iolly Knights with her did side, / Resolu’d to dye, or to asswage this Tyrants pride (SFQ, 8.6.41.6-9). The two sides fight a combat, but at length Parthenia is victorious and Androgeus seems to retire from the field – but in reality he and his knights lie in an ambush, watching for an opportunity to take their revenge. The opportunity isn’t long in coming: Nigh to her Castle on a submisse hill, A Temple stood, built by her Fathers wise In honour of Minerua, with such skill, Of so rare stuffe, that none could well deuise Which of these two each other did out prize: Twice twenty polish’d columnes large, and high Did proppe the vault of this great edifice; All which were fram’d in perfect symmetrye, Of Cyprian Iasper, and of spotted porphirye. With Musaicke worke adorned variously The pauement was: the walls were marble white The roofe of Cypresse was, and iuory: Vnto this Temple did Parthenia bright Her Ladyes and her Knights vnarm’d invite, law), then as a quasi-participant (as the Spanish marriage seemed more and more likely), and finally as one of the contending parties.’ (p. 23) Richard Cust adduces the evidence of the Suffolk clergyman John Rous, whose Cambridge connections, social position, and geographical situation were very similar to Knevet’s own. Rous recorded in his ‘news-diary’ his access to newsbooks and corantoes, but for domestic news – key to Knevet’s historical allegory in Books 7 and 9 of the Supplement – he tended to rely on correspondents, posted proclamations in market towns, and (above all) word of mouth. See Cust, ‘News and Politics in Seventeenth-Century England’, Past and Present, 112 (1986), 60-90 (esp. pp. 65-69).

Introduction

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Vnto their Goddesse dutious vowes to pay, Who had them garded from a fierce foes spite: Thither they trac’d in beautifull array, Dreadeing no misadventure ill, nor sad affray. Now sly Androgeus by his scouts advis’d, Of this occasion from his ambush creepes, And in the Temple them (vnwares) surpris’d, Whose floore with bloud of innocents he steepes, Sending their soules vnto the stygian deepes: But his vnlawfull lust to satisfy, The Maide Parthenia aliue hee keepes, Who mournfully compell’d was to stand by, While all her worthy Knights were murther’d shamefully. (SFQ, 8.6.47-49) The devious ambush by which Androgeus revenges himself upon Parthenia’s knights is derived directly from newsbook accounts of the 1631 siege of Magdeburg, in which imperial forces under Johann Tserklaes, count of Tilly first besieged, and later captured the city. On the day before Tilly’s forces finally entered the city, he appeared to give up the siege, and pulled his forces back from the walls. He had been advised that Gustavus Adolphus was approaching the city to raise the siege, making time tight and forcing his hand. Tilly’s subterfuge had the desired effect: the city’s defenders relaxed their guard and, as Knevet’s allegory suggests, poured into the city’s churches to celebrate their apparent deliverance with services of thanksgiving: The Citizens waited and attended with certaine hope, not daily but hourely to bee succoured by the King of Sweden, and in the meane time the Citizens saw that Tilly raised his forces, and removed his leiger, and carried away bag and baggage, and so marched for halfe a league from them, in which time the King of Sweden, for want of horses at hand could not come forward with his Artillery, whereupon the Emperours forces on the Tuesday morning early, turned their forces, and after it was too manifest the Emperours forces had so filled a Ditch neere a gate of the City, called the Heyecker. Then with greene grasse or weedes that the Souldiers could wade thorow, though it was deepe to their middles, and so carried scaling ladders on their backes, and so entred the Towne whilest the Burgers were in their Churches at prayer and thankesgiving to God for the departure of their enemies, which so seemed to doe the day before.23 Contemporary accounts suggested that about 20,000 were killed by fire and the sword at Magdeburg; this sense of a massacre may not feature in the Supplement, but Knevet’s allegory follows the newsbook account in a more horrific detail: ‘the most part of the women, maides, and children were smothered and stifled in Vaults and Sellers, where they had hid themselves. Some part of them driven into the fire by violence, many others throwne into the fire, and part of the beautifullest yong women and maids carried into the Campe, there forced, spoiled and carried away in the mean while.’24 The close links between the siege of Magdeburg and the fate of Parthenia illustrate the ways in which Knevet assimilated newsbook accounts of the Thirty Years War and transformed them into allegorical narrative. It is a pattern repeated across the poem as a whole, from the political history of the reign of James I (Book 7), to the Dutch and German wars of the 1620s and 1630s (Book 8), to the advent of Caroline personal rule and the rise of Laudianism (Book 9). The close links between Knevet’s allegory and the written accounts that informed 23 The Continuation of our weekely Avisoes, since the 16. of May to the 4. of Iune, contayning amongst many other matters, These Particulars following. The late Deplorable losse of the famous Citty of Magdenburgh, taken by the Imperialists, with the vtter Devastation thereof, by Killing, Fiering, and taking Prisoner of most of the Inhabitants, wherein were Butchered and Burned above 20000. Soules, the like miserable, bloudy and inhumaine Cruelty neuer committed (since the Seidge of Ierusalem) in so short a space. [Etc.] (London: Printed for Nathaniel Butter and Nicholas Bourne, 1631), ff. B3r-B3v. 24 Ibid., f. B3v.

Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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it, especially in Book 8, testify to its historical legibility, the way in which the poem was designed not for interpretative play, but for a knowing reading. Knevet’s careful assimilation and implementation of newsbook materials clearly has a political edge. In a social context in which ‘every man’s religion is known by his newes’,25 to seek or to distribute news on a given topic was tantamount to a declaration of one’s affiliations and politics. In this context, any material witness of a writer’s news interests could potentially be actionable as evidence against him or her – in the context of heightening religious dissension and increasingly acrimonious parliamentary debates during the 1620s, the potential threat of exposure for sedition became increasingly real. Richard Cust has shown how diary writers like John Rous hedged evidence of their ‘country’ politics with copied extracts from ‘court’ perspectives and sources, as if in an attempt to sanitise a potentially seditious notebook.26 Rous’s circumspection leads him to intermix ‘court’ materials such as the extract of a poem by Richard Corbet with ‘country’ responses to the events of the 1626 parliament. Knevet’s handling of his sources in the Supplement shows a similar kind of political and religious sensitivity. For example, the conclusion of Book 8 of the poem, in its narration of the death of Callimachus, effectively provides an elegy for Gustavus Adolphus, who had died at the battle of Lützen in November 1632. In so doing, Knevet participates in the outpouring of grief that took place across Protestant Europe for its fallen champion, and in particular he connects his poem to the scores of English elegies, dedicated to the King of Sweden, that circulated in print and in manuscript in the years following his death.27 It is no accident that Knevet’s account of the death of Callimachus shares conspicuous features with some of the nine elegies printed in the 1633 edition of The Swedish Intelligencer; there we read, for example, that: [H]adst thou liu’d one yeere above that day, Vien had beene thy seate, and Rome thy prey. But it was time to dye: least men had said, He was not mortall untill he were dead. And now he lives againe so full of glory: His deeds resist the credit of his Story.28 In Knevet’s similar account, Callimachus’ death is shown to throw assumptions about mortality and immortality into question: So in the prime, and height of his renowne, Callimachus (who had so often fought) By cruell Death was lopp’d of, and cut downe; Yet was hee not like to a snuffe put out, But to his graue such fame and honour brought, That his high worth a miracle became, Men thought Death could not tame a Knight so stout, Nor for their vnbeliefe deseru’d they blame, For hee immortall is; immortall is his fame. (SFQ, 8.12.40) The paradox of immortal fame, especially in the context of the Swedish king’s Protestant piety, Knevet draws from the contemporary elegy tradition. His verse, too, echoes the political cast with which writers like Henry King had endowed Gustavus Adolphus’ death: 25 These

are the words of John Rous, quoted from his ‘news-diary’; see Levy, ‘How Information Spread Among the Gentry’, p.

24. 26 See

Cust, ‘News and Politics in Early Seventeenth-Century England’, pp. 84-86. of the celebrated English poets of the day wrote elegies commemorating Gustavus Adolphus; the most successful are probably those of Thomas Carew (‘An elegiacal letter upon the deyth of the King of Sweden’) and Henry King (‘An Elegy, Vpon the most victorious King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus’). King’s elegy was first printed in the third and fourth parts of The Swedish Intelligencer (London: I. L. for Nathaniel Butter and Nicholas Bourne, 1633), ff. ¶3r-¶4v. 28 The Swedish Intelligencer, f. ¶1v. 27 Many

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Introduction

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Destinie gives place To None. Nor is it seene that Princes Lives Can saved be by their Prerogatives. No more was Thine: who clos’d in thy cold Lead, Do’st from thy selfe a mournefull Lecture read, Of mans short dated Glorie. Learne you Kings! You are like him, but penetrable things: Though You from Demi-Gods derive your Birth, You are at best but Honourable Earth; And, how-ere Sifted from that courser bran, Which doe Compound and Knead the Common Man: Nothing’s Immortall or from Earth refin’d, About you, but your Office and your Mind. Here then breake your False Glasses, which present You Greater, then your Maker ever meant: Make truth your Mirour now; Since you find all That flatter You, confuted by His Fall.29 King’s elegy is more than a rehearsal of the speculum principis topos, reminding monarchs of their mortality and thus their need of humility before God; in the context of Charles I’s increasingly strident assertions of prerogative sovereignty, this passage reads Gustavus Adolphus’ death as a political bombshell for protestant princes. Moreover, in delivering this ‘lecture’ publicly, King does not merely advise reform, but creates a public appetite for it. English protestants might by 1632 have given up hope that their king would go to war in Germany, but they could still demand humility from him. Knevet’s narration of the fall and death of Callimachus at the end of Book 8 of the Supplement, then, becomes by its association with newsbooks and the oppositional elegy tradition a sharp political instrument. It is in this spirit of political complaint that Knevet juxtaposes Callimachus’ death with the immediately ensuing proem to Book 9, an extended historical allegory of the events of Charles I’s reign, under ‘the Legend of Sir Bulcoeur or Liberalitye’: ‘ Not hee that doth possesse, but hee who giues, Is rich. . . ’ (SFQ, 9.Pr.3.1-2). For Ralph Knevet, the poet of ‘Affaires both military and ciuill’, the contrast between Gustavus Adolphus and Charles I could not be starker.

29 The

Swedish Intelligencer, f. ¶3v.

Textual introduction

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The manuscript Ralph Knevet’s Supplement survives in a single autograph manuscript, Cambridge University Library MS Ee.3.53, apparently prepared as a fair copy for printing. The full title of the work, as given on the title page, is A Supplement of the Faery Queene in three Bookes. Wherein are allegorically described Affaires both military and ciuill of these times. The title page also includes a note on the date of the poem, reading ‘This was finished Anno Domini 1635’; internal evidence gives no reason to doubt this date for the completion of the poem, which is likely also to be the date of the composition of this fair copy.30 The manuscript runs to 612 pages, measuring 295mm by 190mm. 576 of these pages were originally numbered by Knevet; the prefatory material was left unpaginated, along with a single inserted gathering of four leaves (subsequently paginated), as follows: 612pp: [i-vi, one unpaginated stub, vii-xxii], 1-130, [two blank pages], 131-282, [283, 283bis, 284, 284bis, 285, 285bis, 286, 286bis], 287-576, [577-82] The manuscript is thought to have been in the collection of John Moore, Bishop of Norwich and Ely, in 1697;31 the entire collection, including this manuscript, was presented to Cambridge University Library by George I in 1715. It was last rebound, and significantly restored, in January 1955 by the Cambridge bookbinding firm, J. P. Gray and Sons. Internal evidence suggests that the manuscript was paginated shortly after it was originally bound, but before subsequent alterations: as noted above, Knevet himself inserted an unpaginated gathering of four leaves (pages 283-286bis) in place of what must originally have been two leaves containing pages 283-86 (the stubs of the original two leaves appear to have been removed in 1955). The pages of the inserted gathering were badly damaged (and are now restored) along the bottom and fore edges, suggesting that Knevet left them loose in the binding, once the originals had been cancelled. Knevet also pasted in an extension to page 430, which corresponds to the beginning of canto 4 of Book 9, in order to accommodate a missing canto argument; this pasted slip at the top edge of the page, which is folded into the manuscript, was added after the manuscript was first paginated. The manuscript is written almost entirely in a single hand, Knevet’s elegant autograph italic, with occasional use of an engrossing script for canto arguments and some proper nouns. Exceptions include the addition of a two-line commendatory poem on Knevet, added by a near contemporary, which appears on p. 226; as well as some corrections to local readings, which appear in a smaller, more compact hand (probably still Knevet’s). Of the several cancelled leaves in the opening gatherings of the manuscript, some show evidence of writing, indicating that Knevet revised the presentation (and possibly the nature) of his prefatory materials before finishing the manuscript. The manuscript appears to have been prepared for publication. The poem itself, including proems to the individual books, and four-line arguments in ballad metre for each canto, takes up the majority of the manuscript. The stanzas are laid out regularly three to a page; the canto arguments take the place of a single stanza. New cantos and new books nearly always begin on a new page (the one exception is the fourth canto of Book 2, the canto heading and argument of which appear on the same page as the conclusion of Canto 3 – apparently the result of an accidental omission of these elements at the original start of the canto on the following page). Two gatherings’ worth of prefatory material precede the text of the poem. In addition to the title page, Knevet has included a ‘Preface, wherein is sett downe a direction for the readeing and true vnderstanding of the whole Worke’, modelled on (and copiously citing) Spenser’s ‘A letter of the Authors . . . to Sir Walter Raleigh’. The prefatory matter also includes a deleted commendatory poem entitled ‘Spencero Posthumo’, written in Latin, by Robert Jegon, likely the son of John Jegon (master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and elected Bishop of Norwich 1602/3), and probably either a friend of Knevet’s or an acquaintance of his through the Pastons, close 30 Historical details in Book 9 of the poem indicate that Knevet was still writing some sections as late as 1633 and even 1634. For example, see the episode involving ‘Irmensull’ at 9.9.34ff (and 9.9.34.8n.); Knevet most likely took the name and character of the bloodthirsty Irminsul from the 1634 Saxon Historie, of the Admirable Adventures of Clodoaldvs and his Three Children. 31 See The Shorter Poems of Ralph Knevet: A Critical Edition, p. 49.

28

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Textual introduction

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neighbours of the Jegons in Norfolk. At the foot of the page, in a reversed orientation, appears a deleted text apparently in Knevet’s hand: ‘To the Maiest’. This presents strong evidence of a royal dedication apparently contemplated and discarded at some stage of the manuscript’s composition; following the deletion of this text, the leaf appears to have been inverted and re-used. The manuscript also contains other elements suggesting it was intended as a fair copy for publication: (i) widespread use of speech marks in the margins, which flag direct speech in the poem text; (ii) marginal annotation, largely comprising notes reading ‘Simile./’, occasionally combined with manicules, adjacent to every instance (usually of a single stanza’s length) of an epic simile, all of which have been deleted; and (iii) running titles on both rectos and versos throughout the manuscript, mostly in the form: verso: 366 The Eighth Booke of Cant. 12 recto: Cant. 12 The Faery Queene 367 There is some variation; in Book 7, for example, the word ‘Of’ appears on the recto page, and the word ‘the’ is abbreviated as ‘ye ’. Throughout most of Book 7, too, Knevet seems originally to have drafted the recto page on the same model as the verso page, with the canto heading in the outer margin; these were subsequently all deleted and moved to the inner margin of the recto page, whereupon the pagination was added in the outer margin. The contents of the manuscript can be summarized as follows: [i] [ii] [iii-vi]

title page verso of title page (blank) stubs, including one unpaginated stub [vii-xv] Preface [xvi] commendatory poem (‘Spencero Posthumo’) [xvii-xx] stubs (the stub of xvii-xviii, misbound according to a later librarian’s mark, after p. xii) [xxi-xxii] Proem to Book 7 1-13 Book 7, Canto 1 14-28 Book 7, Canto 2 29-43 Book 8, Canto 3 44-59 Book 7, Canto 4 60-73 Book 7, Canto 5 74-86 Book 7, Canto 6 87-102 Book 7, Canto 7 103-116 Book 7, Canto 8 117-130 Book 7, Canto 9 [unpaginated blank leaf] 131-150 Book 7, Canto 10 151-170 Book 7, Canto 11 171-189 Book 7, Canto 12 190 blank 191-192 Proem to Book 8 193-194 blank 195-213 Book 8, Canto 1

214-226 227-241 241-253 254-269 270 271-286 286-303 304-318 319-336 337-351 352-364 365-378 379-380 381-382 383-400 401-416 417-429 430-442 443-458 459-480 481-494 495-507 508-523 524-542 543-560 561-576 [577-582]

Book 8, Canto 2 Book 8, Canto 3 Book 8, Canto 4 Book 8, Canto 5 false start of Canto 6 Book 8, Canto 6 Book 8, Canto 7 Book 8, Canto 8 Book 8, Canto 9 Book 8, Canto 10 Book 8, Canto 11 Book 8, Canto 12 Proem to Book 9 blank Book 9, Canto 1 Book 9, Canto 2 Book 9, Canto 3 Book 9, Canto 4 Book 9, Canto 5 Book 9, Canto 6 Book 9, Canto 7 Book 9, Canto 8 Book 9, Canto 9 Book 9, Canto 10 Book 9, Canto 11 Book 9, Canto 12 blank

In addition to the corrections and cancellations noted at various points above, Knevet made many changes to the text of the poem both as he copied it, and at some later stage after the initial copying (at

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least of individual sections) was complete. These changes range from the correction of single-character copying errors, to the insertion of omissions or revision of defective lines, to the alteration or insertion of whole stanzas. Deletions were generally effected by a (very efficient) series of swashed strokes, though single-character and other shorter deletions are sometimes simply struck through or blotted. In a few cases, Knevet substantially revised the allegory of the poem by changing the names of the knights protagonist – especially in Book 9, where the patron knight of liberality, Belcoeur, began life as ‘Belcher’ or ‘Belchier’, and went through at least one other intermediate identity (‘Bellfier’ or ‘Belfier). In only one instance (after p. 130), a blank, unpaginated leaf left in the manuscript may indicate that Knevet considered the possibility of extending a canto further than originally achieved. Taken together, these corrections and other textual features suggest that the manuscript was first compiled as a fair copy for publication, but afterwards fairly substantially revised, and the original ambitions of its author slightly reduced. A couple of other miscellaneous features of the manuscript are worth recording. The composition of the ink used for the fair copy of Book 7 is conspicuously different from that used for the later books of the poem, and the hand too in many places lengthened and more angular. Taken together with the reduction in the number of abbreviations, and the revision in the format of running titles between the first and later books of the poem (see below), this may suggest that Book 7 was copied somewhat earlier than the other books, and in a largely continuous stint. A generous splash of what appears to be wine was spilled across the manuscript at the opening of pages 118-119. It is tempting to think that this might provide some insight into the frequent copying errors in this part of the manuscript, but the trace of the liquid appears across the fore-edge both before and after this opening, suggesting that the manuscript was already bound (and therefore probably complete) at the time of the spillage. Authorship Although the manuscript of the Supplement bears no authorial attribution on its title page, it can be confidently ascribed to Ralph Knevet. Until the early twentieth century, those few scholars and cataloguers who mentioned the poem attributed it to Robert Jegon, author of the commendatory poem that appears on p. xvi of the manuscript.32 But this attribution was challenged in an article by C. Bowie Millican, the first modern scholar to claim Ralph Knevet as the author of the poem.33 Millican made his attribution on two grounds: firstly, a cancelled couplet on p. 226, in a different hand from the rest of the manuscript (though roughly contemporary with it), and entitled ‘To the Reader’: Our worthie Kneuet’s praise aryses (hence sir) In that he studies for to perfect Spencer Millican’s second argument for this attribution to Knevet derives from a comparison between the handwriting in the manuscript and that of other manuscripts known or believed to be in Knevet’s hand. Knevet’s manuscript sequence of poems, A Gallery to the Temple (British Library MS Add 27,447, one of two collections of papers belonging to the Paston family, Knevet’s patrons), is in the same hand as CUL MS Ee. 3. 53, and bears an authorial attribution, “by Ra: Knevett”, on the front cover. A second manuscript, Leeds University Library, Brotherton MS, Lt q 37, contains copies of three poems from the same sequence, in the same hand, though without a signature. The reappearance of the same hand in the parish register of St Michael’s, Lyng, where Knevet was rector from 1652 to his death in 1672, lends weight to these coordinated authorship claims.34 32 See A Catalogue of the Manuscripts Preserved in the Library of the University of Cambridge, 5 vols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1856-67), ii, pp. 89-90. 33 C. Bowie Millican, ‘Ralph Knevett, Author of the Supplement to Spenser’s Faerie Queene’, Review of English Studies, 14 (1938), 44-52. 34 See Norfolk Record Office, PD 374.

Textual introduction

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The edition Our aim in producing the present edition of The Supplement is to give a wider readership access to a seventeenth-century manuscript poem of considerable interest and importance. We have not sought here to erase or to reform the poem’s presentation in its single textual witness, but to record that appearance in a way that will be legible and intelligible to modern readers. Knevet himself prepared the surviving manuscript copy of the poem for print publication, and it would be tempting to think that a modern editor should try to produce the early modern edition that Knevet himself never achieved. That edition, for example, might well have changed Knevet’s spelling and revised his punctuation to achieve a consistent house style suitable to the poem’s own structure and content. That edition might have supplied ornamental boxes for the canto arguments similar to those used throughout the seventeenth century for editions of The Faerie Queene. Such an edition might have dressed the poem in the best possible clothes. We have chosen instead to dress the poem largely in its own clothes, and to follow Knevet’s own presentation of his poem’s text, only interfering with layout, spelling, or punctuation in instances (i) where Knevet appears to have made a mistake, out of keeping with his practice in comparable instances, or (ii) where Knevet’s presentation of the text might have been confusing for modern readers. In the discussion that follows, we outline the major principles guiding our editorial curation of the poem. Spelling and orthography Like Spenser and many sixteenth-century writers, Knevet retained the use of vocalic v and consonantal u and i – a somewhat archaic practice by 1635. Knevet presumably retained these orthographic features for the same reason that he cultivated Spenser’s archaic diction: in order to give his poem an archaic patina consistent with Spenser’s own. We have preserved them here, in line with Knevet’s intentions and with most modern editions of Spenser. Knevet’s hand can make it difficult to distinguish between the digraphs œ and æ; we have given him the benefit of the doubt by supposing the correct form in every instance. As often in manuscript texts from this period, it can be difficult to distinguish between minuscule and majuscule forms of some letters; this is a particular problem with a form of long -s, normally minuscule, that sometimes appears at the start of a line of verse (a place where Knevet uniformly uses majuscule forms); again, we have given him the benefit of the doubt in supposing these to be instances of an alternative majuscule form, and have silently rendered them as such. In the much rarer cases where Knevet accidentally begins a line with a minuscule letter, we have made an emendation, and documented it in a textual note. Contractions, suspensions, and other marks of abbreviation Knevet’s fair copy of A Supplement includes very few marks of abbreviation. For example, he occasionally uses ye for ‘the’ (more frequently in the first book), yt for ‘that’, wch for ‘which’, and wth for ‘with’, especially in additions where space is tight, and regularly writes Sr for ‘Sir’. In these and in other similar cases, we have silently expanded contractions, supplied suspended letters, and lowered superscripts. Knevet regularly uses a form of terminal s that looks similar to the -es brevigraph native to secretary hand, sometimes extending well below the line; but it only makes sense as an s, and we have transcribed it as such. Revisions: insertions and deletions We have attempted to incorporate all of Knevet’s revisions into the poem, as marked in the text. In trivial cases we have silently suppressed the original readings, and presented only Knevet’s corrections. These trivial cases include instances where Knevet originally miscopied a single letter or, as a result of anticipation, made a false start on, and then either over-wrote or deleted, one or several letters. Significant and substantive corrections, ranging from changes to individual letters, on the one hand, to the deletion or insertion of whole stanzas on the other, we have recorded in the textual notes. These notes take the form: 15.8 abhorr’d as base,] abhorr’d ⌜as⌝ and base,

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The lemma indicates the stanza and line number of the affected text, and reproduces the reading given in our edited text, including relevant punctuation. The note then supplies the text as it appears in the manuscript, according to the following conventions:

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• deleted text, where legible, is struck through • text inserted above or below the line is enclosed within ⌜raised half brackets⌝; these insertions are generally positioned at the point in the text where Knevet has in the manuscript placed his caret mark, but when no caret mark appears (e.g. in combination with some deletions), we have placed the insertion after the deletion • where Knevet has followed a deletion with an immediate, in-line revision, we have not formatted the revision in the textual notes as an insertion; where this in-line revision has been added after the initial composition of the line, we have represented it as an insertion and have enclosed it in ⌜raised half brackets⌝ • where inserted text has been deleted, these elements are combined • engrossing script is presented, as in the edited text, in italic face • contractions and superscripts in the original manuscript are preserved in the textual notes • line breaks are represented by a solidus ( | ) in the textual notes • where several lines or a whole stanza are affected, the textual note is formatted as in the text • editorial comments within the textual notes are given in italic face Engrossing hands and italics Knevet is inconsistent in this fair copy with his use of an engrossing script. A markedly engrossing hand appears in most canto headings and in many canto arguments, but it is not uniform throughout the manuscript. It also appears – again, in some cases very markedly – in the transcription of some instances of proper names. In other instances, however, it can be very difficult to decide whether the canto argument or name is in an engrossing hand, or partially so. In order to make some sense of Knevet’s apparent intentions and ultimate practice, we have (with some licence) decided to represent all canto headings and arguments in italics, reflecting Knevet’s clear intention at least in many cases. By contrast, save for a single instance of engrossing Latin text, we have not used italics elsewhere in the text, even in those instances where Knevet clearly marks a name by an engrossing hand, nor have we provided a textual note to flag these instances. This has the independent consequence of distancing the presentation of Knevet’s poem somewhat from that of early modern editions of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, which uses italic face far more copiously throughout the text of the poem. Indentation Knevet indents his Spenserian stanzas slightly differently from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century editions of The Faerie Queene. Lines 1-8 are indented, and only the final alexandrine is left unindented. In this edition we have followed his practice. Marginal annotations As mentioned above, Knevet appears to have prepared his poem for publication by marking all his epic similes – those of a stanza’s length, as well as shorter instances – with a marginal annotation reading ‘Simile./’ These were all subsequently deleted, apparently by Knevet himself. We have followed his lead by omitting them from the published text. Because this is a global and comprehensive change, we have not recorded individual deletions of this kind in the textual notes.

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Pointing Knevet’s pointing – the use of full stops, commas, semi-colons, and colons – presents problems for the editor. In many cases he appears not to have added the punctuation as he was copying; rather, his common practice was to copy out a stanza, or sometimes several stanzas, and then introduce all the punctuation in a single pass, perhaps while checking his work. This is clear from instances where he copied, and then deleted whole stanzas, as often these stanzas contain no punctuation whatsoever. There are some exceptions: the duct and spacing of his writing in some lines seems to indicate that he introduced some in-line commas while copying; and parentheses, unlike other forms of punctuation, generally seem to have been added at the same time as the words. Knevet’s usual habits, though, lead to problems for the editor because, inevitably, his system was not very accurate. Especially in cases of endline punctuation, Knevet seems to have added, or not added, punctuation after only the most careless skimming of the text and grammar. There are cases where lack of punctuation (e.g. a missing period or comma), or the introduction of some punctuation (e.g. a period, comma, or question mark), clearly amounts to a mistake. These cases are transparently inconsistent with his usual practice, or they make no grammatical sense. These comparatively rare cases we have corrected. On the other hand, there are many instances where the existing punctuation might seem superfluous, or even wrong, to modern eyes, but is roughly consistent with what Knevet generally does in other places. These instances we have left untouched, and hope that the reader can become familiar with Knevet’s use of, for example, the pausal comma. Between these extremes, there are numerous cases where we have had to use our best judgment. Knevet occasionally uses the virgule ( / ) to mark the completion of a stanza or other element of the text. These instances appear to be careless introductions of a superfluous piece of punctuation common to other kinds of manuscript in this period, but almost universally suppressed in this one. On that basis, we have silently omitted these (few) virgules in our edition. In every other instance where we have changed Knevet’s punctuation, we have added a note summarizing our intervention. Speech marks Knevet’s text regularly includes speech marks, added in the left margin to mark any line in which direct speech occurs. While the general intention is clear, Knevet’s execution is sloppy, and very often he added too few or too many speech marks in the margin, or omitted them altogether. In part as a result of this inconsistency, and because marks of this kind are generally unfamiliar to readers of early modern English texts, we have decided to omit them. This has the independent consequence of making Knevet’s poem look more like Spenser’s original. Apostrophes It is often the case, in cursive hands of this period, that apostrophes wander from their intended position. This is almost certainly because apostrophes were added above the line after the completion of the word, or even after completion of the whole line. In most such instances in Knevet’s text, it is a simple matter to judge where the apostrophe was meant to be placed; in others, it can be a real headache. For example, what appears to be “maugr’e” at 8.6.38.8 was probably intended to be “mau’gre”, the apostrophe added to record the elision of the ‘l’ usually written in this word during this period. But when Knevet uambiguously writes “y’clep’t” (7.6.24.1) but in another place “’ywis” (7.12.4.9) and even “ ’ycleaped” (8.8.26.9), it becomes difficult to resolve even the simple, recurrent cases. We have elected to systematize the use of apostrophes in past participles beginning with y, on the theory that Knevet was using the apostrophe to represent what is, in many other medieval and early modern texts, more commonly written as a hyphen (“y-wis”). In other instances, we have moved the apostrophe to that place in the line, and word, where it seems most likely to have been intended. In cases where an apostrophe might have been expected, but none appears, we have done nothing; this kind of inconsistency is rife in Knevet’s poem, as it is in The Faerie Queene. Because it is often difficult to decide where supralineal apostrophes are in the first place, we have not recorded in textual notes those instances where we have positioned or moved them, even when that positioning clearly involves some editorial licence. Some otiose marks, similar in appearance

Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

34

to apostrophes, occur above certain vowels, particularly a, at inconsistent intervals in the manuscript text (cf. ‘Callimachus’ at 8.9.6.1 and ‘Fleeing’ at 8.11.4.2); these otiose marks we have silently ignored.

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Parentheses For the most part, Knevet appears to have added parentheses as he copied the text of the poem, and probably as a consequence they generally appear to be positioned correctly. Nonetheless, readers will find confusing many typical instances of his common use of the parenthesis, and for that reason we provide some brief remarks here. As in many early modern texts, parentheses appear combined with other marks of punctuation in ways that will may seem illogical or superfluous to modern readers, as in this instance: Shee needes must bee disarmd, (like Braggart base) (7.10.25.3) Parentheses tended in this period to indicate voicing rather than, like the comma, to signify a pause or (increasingly) a syntactical relation; with that in mind, this example, like most of the others, makes good sense. Having said that, Knevet (again, like many other early modern writers) often omitted punctuation at the end of a clause, line, or stanza when the position coincided with a close parenthesis. In some cases this makes sense (or doesn’t offend sense), and we have preserved Knevet’s version; in other cases – e.g. at the end of a stanza – this was probably a mistake, and we have corrected it. Knevet uses parentheses most often (i) to indicate the speakers in direct speech (as in Spenser), (ii) to indicate invocation, (iii) to mark a name, and (iv) to set off appositive phrases (e.g. brief comparisons). Examples typical of these uses include: (i)

but hee replyes There dwells (quoth he) the sage Sir Iulian, For hospitality renownd by euery Man. (9.1.11.7-9)

(ii) (Most mighty Prince) who through thy prudence high, (7.Pr.1.1) (iii) This subtile Damosell (Philautia) hight, (7.10.14.1) Y’cleap’t (Sir Lereall) who did exceed (9.1.18.6) (iv) Pleasure (like to Calypso on a rocke) (7.9.36.1) Nor that strong hold, to which Romes Fathers flee, When in Saint Peters sea stormes rageing bee, (For strength) could this faire Cittadell outgoe; (7.5.39.4-6) Knevet also occasionally uses parentheses to mark off what in Latin would be called an ablative absolute phrase – an independent clause, governed by a present or past participle, as follows: That heretofore was with such pleasure drest (Th’inchantment being finishd) quickly then Was changed to a mirye bogge, and stinkeing fenne. (7.2.42.7-9) (Thus, Belcoeur haueing spoke) Albanio then Made this reply: this varlet vile (quoth hee,) (9.1.7.1-2) In some other instances, he uses parentheses to enclose subordinate clauses not essential to the grammar or import of the passage: Hee doubtles had deserued learnings prize, (Had hee a shorter reyne to fancye lent)

Textual introduction

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Before th’Ægyptians, or Chaldæans wise, (Him Mercury adorn’d with such braue qualityes.) (9.3.20.6-9) Who to his Lady Gloriane did resort, (Of these achieuements great) to make report (9.11.51.4-5)

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Very infrequently, parentheses are used to enclose speech or words articulated either by voice or in a text, as in this example: The trumpets then did blowe the bloudy blast, While thus aloud the Heralds ’gan to cry, (Braue Knights doe your deuoires) then they full fast Each other charged most outragiously, (8.7.16.1-4) In a very small number of cases, Knevet appears to have misplaced his parentheses. Generally (though not always) we have been able to judge these instances as mistakes because they correlate with some other error or feature of the manuscript or layout that explains the problem. In these instances we have corrected the text and added a textual note explaining the revision. Running titles The formal appearance and consistency of Knevet’s original running titles indicate that he intended his completed manuscript of the Supplement to provide the copy for a print edition. Like most early modern authors and printers, he was not consistent with his punctuation of various elements in his running titles: for example, sometimes Arabic numerals attract a punctus, and at other times they do not. Knevet also occasionally made mistakes in the drafting of his running titles – for example, on p. 103 of the manuscript, where he originally wrote a running title in the verso style for a recto page, then deleted and re-wrote it. Because we have not reproduced the format of Knevet’s running titles, we have not noted errors or corrections of this kind in our textual notes. With one exception, noted above, Knevet always started a new canto and book on a new page, and thus never faced the problem of a running title that did not correspond to the whole of the page on which it appeared; in our edition, by contrast, cantos run together on the page and such circumstances frequently occur. In keeping with early modern (e.g. Spenser’s) and with modern conventions, our running titles reflect the later elements on a given page. Finally, it will be obvious that, while Knevet titles his poem A Supplement of the Faery Queene, his running titles treat his poem more integrally as later books of The Faery Queene. This problem runs to the core of the nature of the poem itself: how closely is Knevet’s poem to be identified with Spenser’s? can they reasonably be considered to be different parts of the same work? did Knevet really construe them in this way? Insofar as we have preserved Knevet’s numbering system for the books, cantos, and stanzas of his poem, our running titles have preserved rather than effaced Knevet’s ambiguity.

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Knevet’s language: A supplementary glossary of frequently used terms As we have recorded in the annotations below, and noted in the introduction above, Knevet’s language employs a Spenserian vocabulary, making copious allusion to The Faerie Queene, as well as Spenser’s other writings. It is frequently archaic (often repeating Spenser’s own Chaucerian diction), and also employs a dense lexicon of chivalric, heraldic, and courtly terms. In our annotations, we have refrained from glossing every instance of some of Knevet’s more commonly used terms and phrases; these are listed in the glossary below. accident] event, occurrence. addressed (adj.)] prepared, ready, equipped. admire] marvel at. affray] battle, assault. antique] ancient. artificial] artfully, skilfully made. aspect] sight. bested] beset (often used in phrases such as ‘ill bested’). blaze] record, proclaim (and cf. ‘blazon’, below). blazon (v.)] set down, describe (originally a heraldic term for the painting or setting out of coats of arms, or the formal description of those arms). blent (yblent)] blinded. brakes] overgrown land, thickets, dense undergrowth. brand] sword. burganet] helmet. buskins] boots. caitife] villain, wretch. caparison] ornamental saddle covering. certes] certainly, for certain. chappes] jaws, lips (or more generally, the mouth). cheer] entertainment, food, hospitality; or face, demeanour. cleaped (cleap’t, ycleaped, etc.)] called, named. coast] region, place. courser] horse. croupers] leather straps securing a horse’s saddle to its haunches. curious] intricate, highly (or over-) wrought. debonaire] gentle, courtly, courteous. despite] spite, malice. device] emblem, allegorical image. diapered] adorned. dight] clothe, dress (p. pl. dight). Often used in the reflexive form, ‘dights her (or him-) self’. dignities] privileges, rights. dint] stroke (of a sword, etc.), or the mark made by that blow. drearyment] gloom, unhappiness. eftsoons] again, once more. elf] knight. Used in FQ to denote the knights of Faeryland. embrued] soaked, stained, defiled (as with blood). enured] accustomed. equipage] equipment, apparel. eyne] eyes (an archaic plural form). faitour] impostor, or more generally a villain. 36

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Glossary

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fauchion] sword. flitte] flee, fly at speed. fraught] full, laded (often ‘fraught with’). gennet] horse (often a small horse). guerdon] reward. habit] clothing, garb. haberieon] a sleeveless jacket of mail or armour. hardyment] bravery, courage, strength. hemisphere] either half of the globe or the sky, or more generally, the heavens above one’s head. iarres] war, dissent, battles. immured] walled up, imprisoned. iouissance] pleasure, delight, joy. keene] sharp. kenne] see, discern. kyrtle] gown, tunic, coat. lists] barriers set up to enclose a tilting or tournament yard. massy] large, great. maugre] despite. meed] reward. mickle] much, great. numbers] poetry, verse. palfrey] horse; often used in FQ to refer to women’s horses. pitch] height. policy] cunning, stratagem (also used with a sense of statecraft). poynant] sharp, piercing. precipicious] high, steep, above a precipice. prest] ready. rest (in rest)] Knevet’s knights frequently place their lances or spears ‘in rest’, that is, held in place by an attachment on their armour as they prepare to charge. sable] black. subtle] cunning, crafty. surcease] desist. surcote] surcoat, outer garment (worn, for example, over a knight’s armour). targe, target] shield. teene] anger teeneful] harmful. thrill] pierce. uncouth] unfamiliar, strange. unkest] unknown, unacknowledged. weede(s)] clothing. weene] believe, think. welkin] sky. whilere, whilome] formerly, previously. whist] silent. wight] person (often used by Knevet in the phrase ‘mister wight’). wrack] shipwreck, or more generally, a ruin or disaster. ydrad] dreaded, terrible.

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A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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A Supplement of

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the Faery Queene in three Bookes.

Wherein are allegorically described Affaires both military and ciuill of these times.

This was finished Anno Domini 1635.

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The Preface, wherein is sett downe A direction for the readeing and true vnderstanding of the whole Worke The end of writeing Bookes, should be rather to informe the vnderstanding, then please the fancy: I haue knowne many great witts, as ambitious as Ixion, committ adultery with the clouds, and begett Monsters, either as deformed, as that absurd picture Which Horace speaketh of in his Booke de Arte Poet. Or like the Thebane Sphinx, vttering vnnecessary Ænigmas. Such volumes, or (like the Ghost of Euridice) vanish as soone as they are view’d, or stand as trophyes, of their Authours vanityes to posterity: But if the sayeing of the Poet stands for an infallible truth? Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit vtile dulci

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Then our learned Spencer through whose whole Booke, a Grace seemes to walke arme in arme with a Muse, did merit best an honorarye garland, from that Tree which Petrarch calleth Arbor vittoriosa, triumphale, Honor d’Imperadori, e di Poeti. The worke beeing such

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Quod nec Cecropia damnent Pandionis arces. Homer the fountaine of arts, yea from whom graue Philosophy deriues her pedigree, did first deuise that kind of heroicke poesy, which is of force not onely to temper the affections, but also to rectifye the will, and direct the vnderstanding. Wee reade of Agamemnon, that hee beeing ingaged in the Troiane expedition, left a Doricke Musicion to attend vpon his Wife Clytemnestra, who with his graue spondaicke numbers, maintained in her such a coniugall chastity, that Ægisthus the Adulterer, could no way tempt her to lightnes, vntill he had cruelly destroyed this harmonious Guardian of her vertue. Euen so doth diuine Poesye, excite in the ingenious, such an ardent affection of goodnes, and detestation of vice, that precepts taken either from Platos Academye, or Aristotles Lycæum, produce not the like effects: Therefore did Horace write thus to his freind:

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Troiani belli scriptorem, (Maxime Lolli) Dum tu declamas Romæ, Præneste relegi, Qui quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid vtile, quid non, Plenius, ac melius Chrysippo, et Crantore dicit. Homer in his Ilias, hath made Agamemnon (whom he termeth ὃ ποιµὴν Το˜υ Λαο˜υ ) the patterne of a wise Gouernour, and Vlysses in his Odysseis (whom he calleth πολύτροπος) the example of a Wise Man. Virgill after him, in the Person of his Pius Æneas, described a good Gouernour, and an honest Man: Ariosto did the like in his Orlando. But Tasso hath deduced these two regiments of vertues, politicall, 2 readeing and true] readeing _and^ true 4 should be rather] should ra be rather 12 an honorarye garland,] h an honorarye cr garland 22 vertue.] chastity vertue.

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40

Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

and morall, from two seuerall Persons, makeing Godfredo the fountaine of Politickes, or those qualityes, which ought to bee inherent in a Gouernour, and Rinaldo the subiect of Ethickes; vertues pertaineing to a priuate Man. But our late Spencer building his fabricke vpon the like foundation, hath contriu’d his worke so symmetrically, that his methode appeareth farre more exquisite, then theirs, hee haueing designed twelue Bookes, for the tractation of twelue seuerall vertues: which with their branches, allyes, and opposites, are so exactly by him handled, in those sixe Bookes which he hath written, that I haue seene many treatises fraught with more sophistry, but few with more sapience. Now (that the Reader may the better vnderstand the whole series, and contexture of this Story) I will here insert a declaration, extracted from a letter of the Authours, directed to a Personage, eminent for place, and quality in those times.

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This Romance is grounded vpon the history of Arthur, King of the Britons, and scourge of the intrudeing Saxons, of him thus sang a Poet long since – ____________ Reges supereminet omnes, Solus præteritis melior, maiorque futuris.

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In the person of this Prince, the Poet intended to portraite the image of a braue Knight, perfected in the twelue morall vertues, which was to be comprised in twelue Bookes: also it was his intention (after the consummation of this worke) to write another Booke of politicall vertues, and to describe in the person of Arthur, after hee came to bee a King the propertyes of a good Gouernour, and prudent Soueraigne: But this great Apelles preuented by death, or disasters, left his rare Venus vnfinished; for there bee onely sixe whole Bookes extant of this famous poeme, written by himself. But to auoyde more circumstance, you shall heare the Authours remonstrance in his owne language. I conceiue (sayth hee) that Arthur after his long education by Timon, to whom he was by Merlin deliuered to bee brought vp, so soone as hee was borne of the Lady Igrayne, to haue seene in a dreame, or Vision, the Faery Queene: With whose excellent beauty rauished, hee awakeing, resolued to seeke her out, and so beeing by Merlin armed, and by Timon throughly instructed, he went to seke her out, in Faery Land: In that Faery Queene I meane glory, in my generall intention, but in my particular, I conceiue the most excellent, and glorious person, of our Soueraigne the Queene, and her kingdome in Faery Land. And yet in some places I doe otherwise shadow her. For considering she beareth two persons, the one of a most royall Queene, or Empresse, the other of a most vertuous, and beautifull Lady, this latter part in some places I doe expresse in Belphœbe, fashioning her name according to your owne excellent conceite of Cynthia (Phœbe and Cynthia beeing bothe names of Diana. So in the person of Prince Arthur, I sett forth magnificence in particular, which Vertue (for that according to Aristotle and the rest) it is the perfection of all the rest, and containeth in it them all, therefore in the whole course I mention the deedes of Arthur, applyable to the same Vertue which I write of, in that Booke. But of twelue other Vertues, I make twelue other Knights the Patrones, for the more variety of the historye: of which these three Bookes containe three. The first of the Knight of the Red crosse, in whom I expresse Holynes: The second of Sir Guyon in whom I sett forth Temperance: The third of Britomartis, a Lady in whom I picture Chastitye. But bicause the beginning of the whole worke seemeth abrupt, and as depending vpon other antecedents, it needes that ye know the occasion of these three Knights seuerall adventures. For the methode of a Poet historicall, is not such as of an Historiographer: for an Historiographer discourseth of affaires orderly, as they were done, accounting as well the times, as the actions, But a Poet thrusteth into the middest, euen where it most concerneth him, and there recourseing to things forepast, and diuineing of things to come, maketh a pleaseing Analysis of all. The beginning therefore of my history, if it were to bee told by an Historiographer should bee the twelfth Booke; Which is the last, where I deuise that the Faery Queene kept her annuall Feast twelue dayes, vpon which twelue seuerall dayes, the occasions of the twelue seuerall adventures happened; Which beeing vndertaken by twelue seuerall Knights are in these twelue seuerall Bookes seuerally handled, and discoursed 33-34 vertues, politicall, and morall,] vertues, morall politicall, and morall,

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Preface

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of. The first was this. In the beginning of the Feast there presented himself a tall clownish yong man, who falleing before the Queene of Faeryes, desired a boone, as the manner then was, which dureing the Feast she might not refuse which was that he might haue the achieuement of an adventure, which dureing that Feast should happen: (that beeing graunted) he rested him on the floore, vnfitte through his rusticitye, for a better place. Soone after entered a faire Lady, in mourning weedes, rideing on a White Asse, with a Dwarfe behind her, leadeing a warlike steed, that bore the armes of a Knight, and his speare in the Dwarfes hand. Shee falling before the Queene of Faeryes, complained that her Father, and Mother an antient King, and Queene, had bene by an huge Dragon many yeares shut vp, in a brazen Castle, who thence suffered them not to issue, and therefore besought the Faery Queene, to assigne her some one of her Knights, to take on him that exploite. Presently that clownish Person, vpstarting desired that adventure, whereat the Queene much wondering, and the Lady much gainsayeing, yet he earnestly importuned his desire. In the end the Lady told him that vnlesse the same armour, Which she brought would serue him (that is the armour of a Christian man specifyed by Saint Paul vi: Ephes.) that he could not proceede, in that enterprise, which beeing forthwith put vpon him, with due furnitures therevnto belonging hee seemed the goodlyest man in all that company, and was well liked of the Lady. And eftsoones, takeing on him knighthood, and mounting on that strange courser, he went forth with her on that adventure, where beginneth the first Booke:

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A gentle Knight was prickeing on the plaine. &c. The second day, there came a Palmer, beareing an Infant with bloudy hands, whose parents, hee complained to haue bene slaine, by an Enchanteresse called Acrasia; and therefore craued of the Faery Queene, to appoint him some Knight, to performe that adventure, which beeing assigned to Sir Guyon, he presently went forth with that same Palmer, which is the beginning of the second Booke, and the whole subiect thereof. The third day, there came in a Groome, who complained before the Faery Queene, that a vile Enchanter, called Busirane, had in hold a most faire Lady, called Amoretta whom hee kept in most grieuous torment, because she would not yeild him the pleasure of her body. Whereupon Sir Scudamore the Louer of that Lady, presently tooke on him that adventure, but beeing vnable to performe it, by reason of the hard enchantments, after long sorow in the end, he mett with Britomartis, who succoured him, and rescued his Loue. But by occasion hereof, many other adventures are intermedled, but rather as accidents, then intendments. As the loue of Britomart, the ouerthrow of Marinell, the misery of Florimel, the vertuousnes of Belphœbe, the lasciuiousnes of Helenora, and many the like. Thus farre hath Mr Spencer declared his intention, from which auiso (doubtles) the ingenious Reader may without much labour investigate the Authours meaneing, and rightly vnderstand this Poeme, which is onely an exact treatise of Morall Philosophy, enveloped in an Allegoricall Romance. Now bicause the beginnings of these three latter Legends which I haue written, may seeme very abrupt, (the head of each story seemeing as obscure (at the first sight), as the fountaine of Nilus, which imperious Nature seemes purposely to haue concealed, from the curious inspection of Geographers, and Philosophers) I thinke it meete to lend the curteous Reader a threed, whereby hee may extricate himself out this Labyrinth, and pitch his iudicious eye, vpon the ground of each history.

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1 If in readeing the Legend of Albanio, you desire to find out the occasion of his adventure, looke vpon the twelfth Canto of that Booke. 2 In the Legend of Callimachus, you shall find what moued him to pursue his adventure, for Leucippes sake, in the third, and fourth Cantos of that Booke. 93 therevnto belonging hee] therevnto _belonging^ hee 102 had in hold] had in hand _hold^ 115 Labyrinth] Written over Labarynth

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

3 In the Legend of Sir Belcoeur, you may reade what moued him to vndertake his adventure, in the fifth Canto of the same Booke. Three other morall vertues remaine to bee discoursed of (to make this Zodiacke perfect) Which if God shall giue me leaue to finish, I shall yet forbeare to write

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125

Iamque opus exegi &c. vntill in the person of Arthur, after he came to bee a King, I haue framed the other part of politicke vertues, and consecrated the totall summe of my endeauours, to the immortall honour of my King, and countrey. Spencero Posthumo

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Perficere Herculeos pergis (Spencere) labores; Heu finem cæptis invida fata negant, At te Pierides prohibent periisse sorores; Vela dabit famæ Posthumus ecce tuæ: Et veluti Phariâ Volucris nutritus in orâ, Gaudet auum proprio restituisse rogo: Haud aliter nostrum lætantur sæcula Vatem, Spencerum calamo viuificisse suo. Dignam te, Musisque refers (rediuiue) poesin, Nec minor est virtus, fama perennis erit. Robert Iegon Armiger.

121 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr Belchier, _Belcoeur^, This revision of the name of the patron knight of Liberality is consistent with similar changes throughout Book IX. 129-41 Spencero Posthumo . . . Robert Iegon Armiger.] The whole of this dedicatory poem, written in Knevet’s hand, has been deleted with Knevet’s usual rounded hatching. At the foot of the page, inverted, a blotted remainder survives of what was perhaps intended as the title of another dedication: To the Maiest 135 auum] auem The original reading makes little sense. Our hypothesis in making this correction is that, during the copying of the poem, Knevet’s pen was attracted by the influence of Volucris (’bird’) in the preceding line to construe this word as auem (’bird’) rather than auum (’grandfather, ancestor’). C. Bowie Millican conjectures an alternative, reading axem for auem and, in a slightly strained and nonsensical account, takes axem (’pole, axle’) to mean ’heavens’; in this he is followed by Lavender. See Millican, ’Ralph Knevett, Author of the Supplement to Spenser’s Faerie Queene’, Review of English Studies, 14 (1938), 44-52 (p. 45, n. 2).

Canto 1

The Seuenth Booke, of the Faery Queene containeing the Legend of Albanio or Prudence

Albanio foyles Malfidas Knights, The cell of Sleepe comes to: Is Vigilantios guest; attones Sir Albion, and his Foe.

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Aurora still bewaileing Memnons fate, Moisten’d the mountaines with her pearly teares: And Philomela on a myrtle sate, Singing the lustfull rage of Tereus fierce, Then from the Forrests side a Knight appeares, In rich array, mounted on a proud steed, And on his arme a massy sheild he beares, With gold, and pretious stones embellished, Whereon a Lion issu’ant from a Wood was spred.

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(Most mighty Prince) who through thy prudence high, This new borne westerne Empire mannagest, Conserueing that most happy vnity, Which thy Sires wisedome great, and fortune blest, First planted in this fairest Ilands brest, Thy most auspicious eyes daigne to reflect Vpon this worke, in humble numbers drest: Cheere vp my Muse, with thy serene aspect, Whom first thy vertue mou’d this subiect to elect.

Thy soueraigne worth’s the subiect of my Song: Thou sitt’st in Arthurs seate, and dost maintaine The antique glory of the Britons strong: Thou ha’st Astræa brought to earth againe, The Golden Age reuiu’d is in thy raigne. Vouchsafe this Legend meane to looke vpon, Wherein, as in a glasse thou may’st see plaine, Those splendent vertues, which about thy throne Are fix’d, like to a radiant Constellation.

Albanio was he cleap’t, a gentle Knight Who many miles had rode, much ill endur’d, For mild Irenes sake, a Lady bright, Whom Polemon in prison had immur’d, Where shee to want, and misery was enur’d, Vntill Albanio had her foe subdu’d, In bloudy fight, and all her sorowes cur’d: For in a dungeon hee the giant mew’d, Bound in a hundreth chaines, and all with bloud embru’d.

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(And thou Ilustr’ous Queene) whose geniall Bed, Sends forth such royall Babes, that Britaines Crowne, The claymes of doubtfull heires, no more shall dread; From thy Maiesticke Sphere, daigne to looke downe, Vpon this Table, of thy high renowne: Thou Gloriana ar’t (oh Lady bright) Whom British Arthur wonne (maugre the frowne Of adverse Fate) in her are blazon’d right, Thy beauty, bounty, and thy vertues exquisite.

And now Irene on a snowy steed, Disported merrily with her deare Lord, Attended by a Page in Hunters weede, That carry’d in a silke, and siluer cord, A Cornucopia, with faire fruite well stor’d: Thus forth with mirth and iollity they went, Till Phœbus to his highest pitch had sor’d, Dreadeing no ill, for they no euill meant, But ready to encounter each ill accident.

4 Yee, also that shine like the lesser starres, In th’orbe of British state (yee Ladyes mild) And heroicke Lords, either the Sonnes of Mars, Or Nurslings of those Virgins vndefil’d, Which are the Dames of various knowledge stil’d; Bee pleas’d to lend an eare, while I recite, (Though in a Song not happily compil’d) The strength of Prudence, which with graue foresight, Doth humane actions gouerne, and direct aright.

4 Blest were those times when men of worth, and might, Disdaineing for to make the weake their foes, Were armed onely to defend the right, Scorneing as much, all base vnmanly blowes, As doth Ioues Bird disdaine with gnattes to close, Or stoupe vnto the painted butterfly: Oh had wee now such Heroes as were those, Oppression should not rage, nor vertue dye, Trod vnderfoote by rampeing sinne, and surquedrye. Arg.2 The] the

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5 Thus while they trauell’d heedles of mischance, A Lady garded by three Knights they spy’d, Which toward them ’gan boldly to advance: This made Albanio for the fight prouide: But when Malfida, by his sheild descryd, His name; thus to her mates she loud did cry, (Oh honor’d freinds) oh Knights of valour tryd, Auenge me on yon caitife presently, The falsest Knight that ere did put on armes perdye.

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6 No more she sayd, yet this incens’d their ire, Nor was it meete more to haue spoke she knew: For a small blast soone kindles mischiefes fire: They with vnknightly oddes vpon him flew, Desirous in his bloud their hands t’embrue: Vpon his sheild their speares to splinters brake, But hee so soundly render’d them their due, That each was forc’d his sadle to forsake, And for a space a lodgeing on the earth to take. 7 When false Malfida saw her Knights thus foyl’d, Shee gaue the reyne vnto her nimble steed, And into the adioyneing wood recoyl’d With shame, and indignation ill bested, But our good Knight nor follow’d when she fled, Nor stayd, to take full vengeance of his foes, That without cause had sought his bloud to shed: His clemencye his passion ouerflowes, And hee in peace on his intended iorney goes. 8 But when Sols thirsty Horses did approch The westerne seas, where Thetis was addrest To entertaine him from his fiery coach, Albanio ’gan to seeke a place of rest, For him, and his: and therefore thought it best, To leaue the plaines, and in the forrest nigh, At some poore cote to make himself a guest, Since Night beneath her wings begunne to wrye The face of things, and ouershadow all the skye. 9 In vncouth pathes, and vnfrequented wayes, They wander’d long, vntill nights horned Queene, Had siluer’d o’re the mountaines with her rayes, Darting bright lustre through the cedars greene, Yet could they find no cottage to lodge in, Nor yet of bawleing curres heare any cry: No glareing lampe, or candlelight was seene, To tell them tideings of some village nigh, Or point them out an happy Inne where they might lye. 10 At length a dwarfish rocke at hand they spy’d, From whence a smoke in crooked spires arose, Which cheer’d the Lady and her Knight that tide,

And without more adoe he thither goes, Hopeing to find a place for their repose; But long in vaine he sought an entrance there, For Somnus, here his dwelling place had chose, That could not brooke the creakeing hindge to heare, Nor suffer any noise to bee his cabine neare. 11 No crested fowle did here call vp the Morne, No wild Beast, and no profitable heard Here euer graz’d, no Forresters shrill horne, No dogges, or geese more wakeing, were here hear’d: No Night rauens shout, nor shrike owles cry more fear’d: But here still Silence dwells: here mandrakes sprout, And poppyes with their seeded heads vpreard, And plants, from whence a iuyce Night squeazeth out, To procure sleepe, and which shee throwes the world about. 12 But from the rocke a spring of Lethe streames, Which warbleing on the pebbles envites sleepe; In fine the Knight guided by Cinthias beames, A loupe-hole found, wherein when he ’gan peepe Hee Somnus saw, drown’d in a slumber deepe; Stretch’d vnder a blacke canapy lay hee, Vpon an ebon bed, whereon did creepe As many dreames, in sundry shapes, as bee Starres in heau’ens azure vault, or sands vpon the lee. 13 Oft did Albanio call aloud, to wake The drowsy Sluggard, from his sweet repose; Yet long, of Sence he did no semblance make Then from his couch a little hee vprose, Hee reard his head, yet were his eyes seal’d close; The Knight still calls, and at the wicket rumbles, But on the pillow then himself hee throwes: Thrice did he striue to rise, thrice downe he tumbles, And greiu’d to bee disturb’d, somwhat for anger mumbles. 14 Full of disdaine, Albanio, then forsakes The lazy Lubbers cell, and forth they went, O’re hills, and dales, through bushes, brires, and brakes, But ere the howres of darkenes were halfe spent, They left the wood, by fortunate euent, And found a goodly plaine out, wherein was A towre that seem’d to threat the firmament, On toppe whereof a Weathercocke of brasse Was pearch’d, right o’re a mighty cristall hower-glasse. 13.2 repose;] repast; repose 13.3 Yet long . . . make] Yet long, he did not the least ⌜of Sence he did no⌝ semblance make 13.4 Then from . . . vprose] Of any sence, but somwhat rows’d at last, ⌜Then from his couch a little hee vprose⌝ 13.5 close;] fast; close 13.7 hee throwes:] did cast: hee throwes

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20 For sacred knowledge he was much renownd, Hee knew what sacrifices Ioue lik’d best, No art was so sublime, or so profound, But hee therein had made a deepe inquest: Conclusions strange from causes farre vnkest, He drew, things past, and things to come he knew: Each kind of noble science he profest, And told what deuolutions should ensue [grew. In kingdomes, and from whence the change in empires

16 But ere he ’gan assaile his teenefull foes, Irene held him, sayeing stay (Sir Knight) Mildnes is oft of more effect, then blowes, Perswasion often ouerpowers might, When peace can doe the deed, what need you fight: With this she touch’d the Beasts with her white wand, Who sudainely, seem’d to abate their spite, Their manes no more did like ear’d ridges stand, Like Dogs they fawn’d, and crowchd, and were at her [command. 17 The gentle Porters gaue free passe to these, They enter’d, and ’gan to make their ascent By many staires, vntill their weary knees Grew faint, and till their spirits were halfe spent, With labour, and with irkesome drearyment, At last into a spatious roome they came, Bedeck’t with many a rich ornament, As portraitures which curious art did frame, And anticke statues, mark’d with many a worthyes name.

21 Now did Albanio, the old Sire espy, Whose reuerend beard, and dangling lockes did staine The newfalne snow, and Indian iuory, Or roses which no crimson markes retaine, Of him, that by the Cyprian Bore was slaine: Poreing he was on some misterious booke, Giueing no heed vnto this new come traine, Vntill the gentle Knight him fairely vndertooke.

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15 (Which being runne) the Cocke aloud wont crow, That neither cornet, nor the trumpet shrill, Though Æolus himself in it should blow, Could match the sound: The Knight dreadeing no ill Comes to the port, and knockes, as one that will Be entertain’d; the gate then open flew, With that two Lions, (which seem’d prest to kill Each bold intrudeing guest) themselues did shew, And ror’d like thunder, when his trenchant blade he drew.

18 Lycurgus, Numa, Solon there were seene, Yea all those Sages of which Greece doth boast, Were figur’d there, with all that haue ere bene, Renown’d for wisedomes lore in euery coast, Or for high policy applauded most: All kinds of states were painted there likewise, Democracyes that now are almost lost, Firme monarchyes, and optimacyes, With oligarchyes, there were showne in ample guise. 19 This was the place where Vigilantio dwelt, Addicted to a life contemplatiue, A doughty Knight, that had bothe fortunes felt, Yet did to neither fortune empire giue. As one that wold in freedome euer liue, Experience had him taught that earthly pleasure, (Though passeing sweet) was vaine and fugitiue; And that least trust was in great heapes of treasure, Felicity he did by rule of vertue measure.

22 Then with kind gestures, seconds to his words, Hee them invites to sitte, then doth prepare Such simple cates, as his poore house affords: For deifyeing wisedome takes least care, Either for downy beds, or dainty fare, What could giue Nature due content was there, Where greedy appetite might haue no share: What might suffice a temp’rate guest was here, With welcome full, and surely this was royall cheere. 23 At tables free from surfet and excesse, Guiltles of riot, and foule luxury, The Gods themselues haue oft daign’d to be guests, When vnder Circes sumpt’ous tables lye, Foule heards of swine: Ill fauourd Gluttony Whose deform’d shape all mortalls seeme to hate, Yet hugge thee in their chambers greedily, Yea in Kings courts thou carry’st a great state, Nor wilt from holy cells bee barr’d at any rate. 15.st.n. 15] 15. 15.9 And ror’d] And s ror’d. 18.4 for] fore 18.7 Democracyes that now are almost lost,] Democra⌜cyes⌝syes ⌜that⌝ now ⌜are⌝ altogether ⌜almost⌝ lost, 21.8 Vntill . . . vndertooke.] Vntill the gentle Knight him ⌜fairely⌝ vndertooke The insertion of ‘fairely’ suggests that Knevet noticed the need to lengthen the final line of the stanza to an alexandrine; the lack of terminal punctuation, by contrast, may suggest that – at least at some point – a following line was intended. 22.1 Then] ⌜Then⌝ And 22.2 He them invites to sitte,] Hee Invites them ⌜invites⌝ to sitte downe, 22.9 and surely this was royall cheere.] and ⌜surely⌝ this (I thinke) was ⌜very⌝ royall cheere.

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24 (A small refection ta’ne) to rest they went, Where neither purple canapyes o’re head, Nor pillars caru’d, nor any ornament, Was to be much obseru’d: such was each bed, As those, on which, our sires with akornes fed Securely slept: No pillowes here were fraught With leaden lumpes of cares in feathers stead No obiect light here the affections caught, Ne did nocturnall terrours here the mind distraught.

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25 No sooner ’gan the bashfull Morne to peepe Through Tithons purple curtaines, than the Knight Did shake of the chaines of sence-charmeing sleepe, And to the dayes adventure himself dight: Nor was Irene slacke, but to acquite Their hoste, for all the loue, they there did find, They thank’d him oft, but hee their thankes did slight, And told them that his duety did him bind, To gentle Knights, and Ladyes to be euer kind. 26 My ioy it is (sayd hee) to shew releife, To wights distrest: by what my self hath felt, I am well taught to cure anothers greife: Those miseryes which fate to mee earst delt, At others harmes doe make my heart to melt. Great sorowes are in honours webbe wouen vp, Much danger is entwind in knighthoods belt: Good men drinke freely of the bitter cup, When crauen Peasants are euen poyson’d with a suppe. 27 What is the cause (Albanio then reply’d,) Good men should smart when varlets vile goe free: Must Vertue trotte afoote, while Vice doth ride? Or is she like an Asse, or walnut-tree, Beaten the more will shee the better bee? Is ought more like the Gods then a good Man, Yet in distresse will they their Louers see, Sans pitty, or remorse? or whether can [scanne? They help their freinds, or things done here wont they to

28 (Fond Man) quoth Vigilantio doe not doubt, But Ioue hath pierceing eyes, and pow’rfull hands: Eyes that descry what’s done the world throughout, Hands to assist, or punish as it stands, With his high iustice: but this hee commands That wee must sweat, before wee taste the sweet, So must the Hinde manure, and till his lands, Before he reape the crop: thus is it meet That wee should clime to blisse, with labours hands and feet. 29 No garland, without dust was euer got: Actiuity doth from resistance rise; The shot disgorged from the cannons throte,

Breakes barres of steele, like brittle glasse, or ice, But in the earthen rampire quickly dyes: So Vertue, vnoppos’d growes faint, and lame: Therefore some graue Patricians did surmise, That Carthage crackeing in her fun’rall flame, Wold dimme the splendent lustre of the Romane name. 30 But ’tis (me thinkes) most strange that you should grutch That drones alone of peace, and ease should taste, Since many brutish creatures doe as much: Doth not the swine first stuffe his paunch with mast, And then himself into the warme mire cast: Yea till December liue full iollily, But then he payes for all his pleasures past, And by the cruell Butchers knife must dye, To feed those at the table, that fed him in stye. 31 True blisse dwells on a precipicious hill, And Vertues rugged path doth thither lead; Therefore (Sir Knight) you must endure much ill If you will venture in that way to tread, And neuer looke to rest, ’till you be dead: By this way did Alcides to heauen rise, This was the way by which Quirinus fled, From Death; by this thy Ancestors likewise (Oh Worthy Elfe) are gone before the to the skyes. 32 But I, of brinish teares, could weepe a flood, To thinke what mickle ill thou must endure, For Traitors foule shall seeke to spill thy blood, By monstrous plots, while thou remain’st secure, Thy guilefull foes shall also put in vre Deceitfull policyes, thee to o’rethrow But thou may’st hap thy losses to recure, If from thy freinds thy foes thou learn’st to know, And put’st least trust in them, that least true loue the owe. 33 (This sayd) Albanio many thankes him gaue, For his advice: and with his beautous mate, Forsooke the dwelling of this Father graue. Now Phœbus ’gan himself high to elate, When from a vale nigh hand, a noise did grate Their tender eares: harsh sounds of clasheing armes Did make the Knight himself accommodate, To know the reason, of such fierce alarmes, And to withstand the brunt of all ensueing harmes. 24.1 rest] ⌜rest⌝ bed 27.8 remorse] remorser 29.4 like] glike 29.6 vnoppos’d] vp vnoppos’d 30.1 grutch] gru⌜tch⌝ The original reading has been cut off by page-cropping; Knevet himself, or a near-contemporary, has inserted the last three letters of the word above the line, despite the fact that both t and c are still visible.

Book 7 Canto 2 34 Hee hastily don’d his plum’d burganet, And at his backe his glistring sheild he threw, Hee prick’d his steed, and speare in rest did set, And soone the furious combatants did view, Whose floweing wounds had chang’d th’earths verdant hue To crimson darke, but when he drew them neare The one to bee Sir Albion hee knew, Nor was the other Knight to him lesse deare, Who on his batterd sheild a saltire white did beare.

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35 Much was he vex’t at this vnseemly sight, And with reproofes did try to part the fray, But to his words, they gaue attention light, No more regardeing ought, what he did say, Then Neptune deafe, when Seamen to him pray To cease his rage, when hee so high doth swell, That hee the starres affrights, and seemes t’assay, His brothers three earth, aire, and fire, to quell, And raigne below without a mate or paralell. 36 Thus, all in vaine he sought them to appease: Threats, and requests, with them for nought did stand, For they wold not their cruell rage surcease, Vntill Irene with her siluer wand, Whose motion could the northerne windes command To silence, and make loud thunder whist, Them lightly touch’d, then each withheld his hand; Their hellish hate was turn’d to freindship blist, And in signe of true loue, each others cheeke they kist. 37 Thus did Sir Albion, and Calydon Conclude their mortall iarres which they of yore, Ere youths first wooll did clad their cheekes, begunne, Then did these Votaryes one Saint adore, For loue, each was a strong competitour, At faire Superias hands, a noble Dame Whose flinty heart, loues arrowes could not bore But imitateing great Diana’s fame [name. Shee meant her tombe should shew the world a virgins 38 Syluane delights she did preferre aboue Those fadeing ioyes, of the bewitcheing court, Least leysure had she for to bee in loue, Shee knew no other then a maydens sport, And with Dianas Nymphs herself did sort: Long had Sir Albion this Lady woo’d, And euer found her heart to bee a fort, Scarce to be wonne by Loues assaults, nor cou’d Stout Calydon such fauour find, or ought so good.

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Canto 2 A Damsell to the Vale of Treason, Leades the Knights awry, Where the false Witch their ruine seekes, By hellish villany. 1 No gift can the wise Gods bestowe on men, More pretious then sharp-sighted Prudence is, Whose excellence cannot be blaz’d by penne, Yet wee vnhappy wights, led much amisse, Make fortune the sole Goddesse of our blisse, Whose glory, like the wasteing meteor dyes, Who meanes to kill, oft when shee seemes to kisse, Whose smiles are like the rednes of the skyes, Before a sea-turmoyleing tempest doth arise. 2 But sacred Prudence neuer lookes awry, Light-footed Time (that doth his brats deuoure, Beneath whose sharp-fang’d sickle all things lye) Against high wisedome hath no strength or power: Hee that beside her all things doth deflowre, Still addes vnto her beauty, and augments Her worth, yeares make not her to stoupe or lowre; For strength, and vigour age to her presents: Yeares make her yonger, and encrease her excellence. 3 By her, those Hero’s found in Fames records, There cronicled, by pennes of adamant, On leaues of steele, became the Worlds great Lords: By her, our Brittish Worthyes earst did daunt The dareing Gaules, and Gotish Termagant; Shee was the Goddesse of Albanios hope, In her wise rites he was most conversant, Shee to his actiue spirit gaue such scope, That by her ayde he durst with any danger cope. 4 And now Albanio with Sir Albion, And valyant Calydon rode on their way, Whose noble hearts true freindship had made one, With mirthfull glee they trauelld halfe the day, Encountring no adventure them to stay: 34.7 Sir Albion] the Redcrosse Knight ⌜Sr Albion⌝ 36.6] This metrically defective line is probably the result of eyeskip; most likely Knevet failed to repeat the modal ‘could’ before ‘make’, or omitted the definite article before ‘thunder’. 37.1 Sir Albion,] the Redcrosse Knight ⌜Sr Albion,⌝ 37.8 great Diana’s] ⌜great⌝ GlDiana’s The majuscule ‘D’ of ‘Diana’ has been written over the ‘or’ of the original ‘Gloriana’, and the first two letters of the original name deleted. 37.9 her tombe] the world ⌜her tombe⌝ 38.9 fauour] fauour, Arg.3 the false Witch] the false the Witch 1.1 the wise Gods] the ⌜wise⌝ Gods 3.8 such] scuch

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But when Apollo bright ’gan to descend, From his meridian point, and to allay His parcheing heate a Damsell faire they kenn’d, [bend. That toward them with might, and maine her course did 5

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Shee draweing nigh, did thus the Knights accoast: (Braue Men at armes) Whose cheifest glory ’tis, Afflicted Ladyes for to succour most, To you am I sent, and my arrant’s this: A Queene, whose abode in yon’ valley is, An exil’d Lady, forc’d by lawles armes, From her owne realme, and royall dignityes, And glad to find out (for feare of worse harmes) Some dell where she might rest, free from her foes alarmes, 6 Vntill some gentle Knight, by iust redresse, Shall put a period to her dreary woes, And of her regall throne her repossesse, Doth craue your aide against those cruell foes, Through whose despite, such greife she vndergoes. Foule shame is it, Albanio, then reply’d; That manly might should women weake oppose, Inglorious is the valour that is try’d, Against a sexe, which can no warlike stoure abide. 7 Therefore I by my honord order sweare, That if my sword thy Ladyes cause can right, This hand th’vsurped diademe shall teare, From her foes head, and from his shoulders smite That cursed head, which by ill mannag’d might Durst weare, what to thy Lady did belong. Nor lesse mou’d was the other Brittish Knight, Yea all three vow’d for to auenge her wrong, And to restore her to her owne or dye ere long. 8 The crafty Dame did in her bosome smile, To see the Knights so pliant to her will, Nor did she spare sweet words, them to beguile, Nor yet forbeare some fained teares to spill, To make the Knights more zealous for her still, And through a Desart darke shee them did lead, Where neither okes, fitte for the builders skill, Cedar, nor firre tree, did erect his head Nor any wood that might stand mortall wight in any stead. 9 But noysome plants, and many hurtfull weedes, (Such as the Dames of Thessaly desire) When they are bent to act some dismall deedes Did flourish here: no sweet melodious quire Of lucky Birds, was here, but noises dire Of Night-Rauens hoarce, and hisseing adders foule,

And speckled snakes were heard in euery brire; All day did dull Ascalaphus here scowle, And nightly here were hellish Bitches heard to howle. 10 The Troiane Lord, (whom the old Sibyll led To Pluto’s kingdome) certes neuer was With rigid crooked wayes so hindered, As were these worthy Knights, ere they could passe The limits of this vnfrequented place: At length by precipicious pathes they came Into a spatious vale, well clad with grasse, Whereon a thousand Beasts, both wild, and tame Did feed pell-mell, as all in kind had bin the same. 11 A cristall streame did through this valley glide, Whereon Apollo’s snowy Birds were seene, Like starres that bee in a cleere night descryd: And fragrant Flora the faire vernall Queene, Had diaperd with flowres, the meadowes greene: But more remotely from the riuer grew Such pleasant groues, of myrtles, that I weene Venus wold haue her Paphos bidde adiew, If these delightfull shades, had come vnto her view. 12 (And if wee may to storyes old trust giue) Apollo exil’d by the doome of Ioue, (For the grimme Cyclop’s murther) here did liue, In happy banishment, and did so loue Those pleasant obiects, which he here did proue, That Ioues requests, with many threats to boote, Could him from this Elysium scarce remoue: Yea all the Gods had worke enough to doe’t, So wondrous lothe was hee from thence to stirre a foote. 13 Thus while the Knights admir’d these choyce delights, A Castle they descry’d, whose towred crest Did seeme to beard the skyes, or checke heauens lights: A damn’d Magician here had fix’d his rest, Who could (at will) euen all the world infest, And with contagious maladyes infect All ciuill bodyes, and with plottes vnkest, The bonds of lawfull gouernment dissect, Yea seuer those whom law and reason did connect. 14 Hee Misanactus hight, a learned Sire, Renowned more for science, then his grace For his great heart so proudly did aspire, That all subiection he esteemed base, 5.9 alarmes,] alarmes 6.8 is] his 6.9 can] g⌜c⌝an 9.7 were] Written over was 14.2 then his grace] then for ⌜his⌝ grace

Book 7 Canto 2 Yea durst spitte flames of fire euen in the face, Of maiesty, yet this vile Hipocrite, Conceal’d his lewdnes, in so faire a case, That to the world hee seem’d iust, chast, vpright, Yet carry’d in his brest warre, murther, and despite.

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15 Engenderd was he of the Gyants blood, Which was earst shed in the Phlegræan feild, When they their vniust cause stroue to make good ’Gainst Ioue, and mountaine vpon mountaine hill’d, But beeing all by thunder torne, and killd, Their mother Earth so freely suck’d their gore, That therewithall her pregnant wombe was filld, And when nine Months were come or little more, Shee fell in trauell, and this Misanactus bore. 16 To nurse the Bratte, according to her mind, Shee to th’Hyrcanian desart did it beare, And to the fiercest Tigresse she could find, Did it commend, where haueing suck’d a yeare, Shee wold not suffer’t to stay longer there, But it to hell conveyes, where she entreates The Furyes, to bring vp her Infant deare, Who gaue him poyson from their ougly teates, Which made him actiue for the most mischieuous feates. 17 (His childhood past) she to Prometheus went, Perswadeing him for to enstruct her sonne, In lib’rall arts, and promis’d large content For all his paines; the graue sire soone was wonne, Protesting that her pleasure should be done. Nor did he from his promise swarue a iot, For hee his pupill taught so well to conne His lesson in each art, that there was not A question to be mou’d, but he could solue the knot. 18 When Time with downy wooll had clad his cheekes, His Tutour hee forsakes, and fraught with pride, As well as knowledge, a new dwelling seekes: Hee rang’d the vniuerse, from side, to side, Ere hee this happy tract of land descry’d, But haueing view’d this earthly Paradise, Here he resolued euer to reside, Where hee might liue safe from his enemyes, And secretly plotte any wicked enterprise. 19 His Castle built the Riuers side along, Was weakely founded on the slideing sand, ’Twas rather artificiall, then strong: Hither Malfida false, that Hellish brand Of dire dissention, posted out of hand, When shee Albanio saw her Knights o’rethrow,

Prayeing the Coniurer her freind to stand, That shee might giue her foe a fatall blow, And to the vt’most pay, what she to him did owe. 20 The Knights nor feareing, nor suspecting harme, Aproch’d the Castle gate, and did descry The old Magician, walkeing arme in arme, With proud Malfida, in a Gallery: Hee in a cassocke of a sable dye, Which to his very ankles reach’d, was clad, This to his loynes a silken zone did tye: And ouer all, a cloke as long he had, A broad-brimm’d hat did his shauen temples ouershade. 21 A shallow shread of linnen did he weare, About his witherd necke, and at his wrist A payre of beads compos’d of diamonds cleare Did hang: a Crucifixe vpon his brest, Fram’d of pure gold he wore, which oft he kist: But his Malfida in rich purple gown’d, And gyrt beneath the pappes, with golden twist, With an high triple diademe was crown’d, With pretious stones, not to be valu’d garnish’d round. 22 The Knights come to the Castle gate, and light, Whose frontispice, did shew them this deuice; An image in a Preistly habite dight, Did seeme to spurne in most disdainfull guise, A broken scepter, and a crowne likewise. The treach’rous Damsell then conducts the Knights Vnto a hall, where they might glutte their eyes, With accurate conceits, and pleasant sights, Of historyes there painted faire, and bloudy fights. 23 Now Misanactus, and Malfida proud, Descended were into the spatious hall, And vnder faire fain’d semblances did shroud Their vip’rous hate, and kindly welcom’d all, Nor was Malfida false lesse prodigall, Of due respect, vnto Irene mild, Then to the Knights, yea fraught with poys’nous gall, Of rancorous despite, she often smil’d And entertaind their eares, with language smoothly fil’d. 24 Then to a Chamber shee the Knights did guide, Whose gorgeous furniture was neuer matchd, By Romane brauery, or Persian pride: Arachnes webbe, was workmanship but patch’d, To this: Thee Queene that of the egge was hatch’d, 18.3 As well as knowledge,] As well as science ⌜knowledge⌝, 24.1 to a Chamber] to ye a Chamber

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene In this damn’d plot, bent with such vip’rous ill Against the land of mighty Gloriane, A kingdome at a blow they meant to kill, No meaner obiect could their monstrous hatred fill.

25 Malfida now, beginnes her tale to tell, But floweing teares empeach’d her speech a while: So on those bankes, which Nilus doth outswell, Wont the dissembling crafty Crocodile, T’entrappe the silly Stranger with a wile, By weepeing o’re the corps which hee hath slaine: Thus did the Lady these three Knights beguile, Shee sobb’d, and spake, yea sobb’d, and spake, againe, That scarce the gentle Knights, from weepeing could [refraine. 26 (But haueing told her lamentable story) The Champions vow’d they wold her wrongs redresse, And her restore vnto her former glory, In spite of those, that did her thus oppresse. Shee thank’d them for their gracious promises, And will’d them doffe their combrous armes, (which done) A supper was seru’d in, with such excesse, That Ægipts Queene when Anthony she wonne, Was of this entertainement short, a million.

30 Salmoneus proud (who imitated first Ioues wrath) invented a sulphureous dust, Which touch’d but by a sparke, huge flames thence burst, That with a sudaine, and a furious gust, The strongest opposites, before them thrust; Hee Misanactus taught (as some auouch) Him with his fiery engines did he trust, And in a vault his powder how to couch, [touch. Him learn’d; that fir’d it might spoile all which it should

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Who with her freind from Lacedæmon fled, Whom fifty Kings by hote desire attach’d, Contended for, did neuer rest her head, Vpon such sumpt’ous carpets, as were there outspred.

27 Sweet Wines did here their golden bankes oreflow, Variety of daintyes did encite The Tasters stomacke, still more sharp to grow, They did prouoke, and slake each appetite: At supper did they sitte, till the starres bright Declineing, warn’d them to their beds to haste; Then Misanactus did his guests envite, Vnto their rest, whose counsell they embrac’d; And well refresh’d with cheere, vnto their lodgeings past. 28 But sage Albanio who did excell, His fellow Knights, in discreete prouidence, Resolued all night to stand Sentinel, Knoweing full well, that oft a faire pretence Precedes a foule designe, that necligence In perills hath wrought many Knights great harmes, Therefore (to shunne all treacherous euents) With vigilance, he frustrates sleepes dull charmes, And dights himself completely in his shineing armes. 29 But Misanactus, and Malfida false Now deemeing all secure, and whist beganne For to prepare their strange materialls, Such as could ne’re haue bin deuis’d by man, If Satan had not bin a Partisan,

31 Now had the blacke-man’d Horses of the Night, Carryd their Mistris, in her iron carre, Iust halfe her iorney, when blacke clouds had quite Hid Cinthias pallid face, and euery starre; Yea from the hemisphere, light was fled farre, When Misanactus, and his damned mate, Their horrid stratageme ’gan to prepare, Of Fairy land to ouerthrow the state, By blest Irenes and her Knights vntimely fate. 32 The Heauens with dusky flames did seeme to burne, The Earth did bellow, and the waters rore, Yea many a ghost was called from the vrne By their imperious charmes, and from Hell dore The Hagges came thronging forth, in wondrous store, To further this vnhumane enterprise: The Night-Rauens dire did o’re the Castle sore, Renting the aire with their death-bodeing cryes, And from a towre the Owle a sad tune sung likewise. 33 But sage Albanio, who by graue foresight, And forewarn’d by these dreary prodigyes, Descryd in part, their mischeiuous despite, Resolu’d them in the act, for to surprise: Hee drew his sword, and to his left arme tyd His trusty sheild, and in couragious guise, By windeing staires as chance his steeppes did guide, Descended low till from a grate, he light espy’d. 24.6 fled,] ⌜fled⌝ went, 28.2 discreete] prudent ⌜discreete⌝ 28.9 his shineing armes] his ⌜shineing⌝ armes 29.2 whist beganne] whist g beganne 29.6 such vip’rous] such p vip’rous stanza 33] Eight-line stanzas are not unusual in the original manuscript; however, this is one of the few instances that was not subsequently corrected. The missing line appears to be the fifth.

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39 But with foule treason, he did them vpbraid While they like Dogs did crouch, weepe, and entreate. They curst the time, that euer they obeyd The old Magicians hests, whose damn’d deceite, Had wrought them to attempt this murd’rous feate: But hee that was not pittifully fond, His sword againe in their warme throtes did heate, Wisedome, and Iustice, both did prompt his hand, To send such trech’rous villaines, to the Stygian strand.

35 But now supposeing that their pow’rfull charmes, Had chain’d the weary Knights in sleepy bands, They calld the fiends vp with their loud alarmes, And cited Furyes with their flameing brands, In this designe, to lend their helping hands: Yea now the howre of ruine came fast on, The match was kindled, and those Hellish sands, Brought from the brinke of burning Phlegeton, Lay ready to receiue the fires impression.

40 Now rosy-cheekt Aurora ’gan to peepe, From the bay windowes, of the orient, Summoning mortall wights from drowsy sleepe, Albanio then with labour nigh halfe spent, With victory, vnto the chamber went Where he had left his freinds, at silent rest, And told them all the mischieuous intent, Of their false Hoste, and how Ioue had them blest From such a direfull treason, as was earst vnkest.

36 But bold Albanio, fraught with deepe disdaine, Threw open the huge grate, with boistrous might, And at th’Enchanters head let driue amaine, Who now surprised with a sudaine fright, With his Malfida tooke himself to flight, Albanios sword could not their bodyes wound, With magicke spells they were so well bedight, And through a wicket they a passage found, With shame, and indignation, wondrously astound.

41 They thank’d him for his carefull watchfullnes, And did his prudent fortitude elate, That each ow’d life to him they did confesse, But hee as one whose eares did loathe such chat, Did bidde them thanke high heauen, not him for that, Then they the house forsooke without delay, (Which done) it in an instant was layd flat, And in that vale, (whilome) so fresh, and gay, Ill herbes, and noisome shrubbes, did sprout in foule array.

37 Hurry’d by Dragons through the skyes they poste, Leaueing the Knight amaz’d, yet inly glad That he their wicked enterprise had crost, And sau’d himself, and’s freinds from ruine sad, But from the vault when he returned had, Into a goodly Hall hee came by chance, Where many men in coates of steele y’clad, Dispell’d the shades of Night, with the bright glance, Of glistring armes, and toward him seem’d to advance.

42 Like that vnhappy tract which was of y’ore A fertile soile, and with much plenty blest, But now with brinish waues is couerd o’re And to a quickesand turn’d, (whereby’s exprest How much God doth vile periurye detest, And treason foule) euen so this beaut’ous glenne, That heretofore was with such pleasures drest (Th’inchantment being finishd) quickly then Was changed to a mirye bogge, and stinkeing fenne.

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34 And there the Deuillish Coniurer he found, With his Malfida, now the foulest Hagge, That euer breath’d in aire, or trod on ground; Her brests did hang like to an empty bagge, From whence a Serpent did blacke venome dragge; Blacke gauly driuell from her chappes did flow: Her snaky hayres did crawle about her cragge: Her hands and feet like Dragons pawes did grow: No flesh vpon her riuelld cheekes had shee to showe.

38 Nor was he vnprepar’d them to withstand, But nimbly to his garde himself betooke, With sheild on arme, and fauchion keene in hand; But rudely on his helme, and sheild they strooke, Pell mell; yet hee no whit his ground forsooke, But with such shrewd requitalls did them greet, That some lay dead, some fled from nooke to nooke, Yet with his killeing blade at last did meete, And those that did suruiue, crau’d mercy at his feet.

39.9 strand.] strand 40.9 vnkest] k vnkest 42.1-9 Like that . . . stinkeing fenne.] This stanza is preceded by a deleted alternative version, also numbered 42. The existence of punctuation in the deleted stanza, together with a conspicuous variation in the ink, suggests that this was a late alteration. The text of the deleted stanza reads as follows: Like that vnhappy tract wch was of yore, A fertile soyle, with wondrous plenty blest, Vntill her peoples since so loud did rore, That Gods iust vengeance could no longer rest, But them wth flames of fire from heauen opprest, And to a stinkeing lake chang’d that faire land: Euen so this vale, earst with all pleasures drest, (Th’enchantment being finishd) out of hand Became a mirye bogge, and perillous quickesand.

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Canto 3 Albanio from his freinds disseuer’d, To new adventures tends, And at Dysnomias Castle, gates, With Pseudophron contends. 1

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A wretched fate doe mortall wights enioy, Since none may scape from bitter dreryment, None breathes beneath the Sunne free from annoy, For though some may liue long in full content, Yet sad disasters shall their ioyes preuent, Ere at Deaths earthen Cell they doe arriue, Ah, why is Man then so improuident, Against th’embraces of kind Death to striue, Since neuer Mortall had true happynes aliue. 2 If that true blisse consists in heapes of treasure, Crœsus, or Crassus then had bin most blest? Or if, by empire wee the same may measure, Then who with Alexander can contest? Yea all must graunt that hee was happyest. Or if by martiall force it may be scann’d? Then Hercules his lot had bin the best: But none of these in happy state could stand, For they with shame did fall beneath Fates pow’rfull hand. 3 Then why should men be couetous of pelfe? Then why should Kings for brittle scepters striue? Or why should humane strength elate it self? Since these be gloryes meerely fugitiue, Which onely heauen-bred vertue must suruiue: Vertue that brazen columnes doth outweare, Who from the Gods, her linage doth deriue, Yet is esteem’d as a base abiect here, Where Vice like Iezabel the greatest sway doth beare.

4 (Immortall Vertue) let my Muse proue dumme, If euer shee cease to extoll thy name, Let some disease that guilty hand benumme, That shall in verse, or prose, thy worth defame, Yea let confusion, misery, and shame, Vpon him light, whose most vnhallow’d quill, Shall foule desires in humane brests enflame, Or publish ought displeaseing to his will, That onely loues all goodnes, and abhorres all ill. 5 But if my infirme iudgement chance to slide, And through vnheedy necligence offend, Him I beseech, that for all mankind dy’d, His ruthfull eyne on my poore soule to bend, Those blessed gemmes which he did Peter lend,

When (Dastard-like) hee did deny his Lord, Then seeing my offence, I shall it mend, And hee to mee remission shall afford, While I his mercyes sweet in heauenly hymnes record. 6 Then let no rugged browe condemne my rimes, If truth beneath a fained veyle I hide: Concealement fittes the best things often times, But what by euery common eye’s descryd, Ere long is by each censure vilifyd: Rich iewells in their cabinets must lye, While worthles pebbles in high wayes abide, Beautyes exposed to each vulgar eye, Doe soone forgoe their grace, and wonted maiesty. 7 Then let no Churlish Criticke taxe my lines, If in Albanios person I display, Those vertues, which my Soueraignes brest enshrines; But who can help’t if Curres will barke and bay Against the Moone by night, and lurke all day Vnseene vnheard, ne certes is it fitt, That wee should feare what Envuyes toung can say, Whose malice highest actions aymes to hitte, And doth foule venome on the best achieuements spitte. 8 Yet sure I am the smart to vndergoe, Of grimme Detractions scourge, while I endite Th’adventures of the great Albanio, Who with his deare Confreres had now left quite, That metamorphos’d valley of delight But then the other Knight, and Albion, Did bidde adieu vnto this gentle Knight, And each from other parting, rode alone, While wise Albanio, with Irene faire went on. 9 Who by the way did meete an aged Sire, Whose feeble limmes an ebene staffe vp bore, Time had in him extinguishd youthfull fire, And round besett his front with lockes full hore, Where many yeares were scor’d, but sorowes more: Hee greetes the Knight, and sagely him advis’d, Backe to returne in haste, from ruines dore: But strongly the vndaunted Elfe surmis’d, [deuis’d. That hee (false Faitour like) these bugge-beare frights 2.2 Crœsus] Cræsus 3.6 Vertue] (Vertue) 4.3 Let some] Let d some 5.4 poore] The r of this word is written over a p 5.5 gemmes] ⌜gemmes⌝ pearles 8.5 That] Written over The

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15 A sturdy Thiefe, Whom men call Pseudophron By day wardes, and at night stands Sentinel, Before her gate: This wretch doth not alone, In strength of limme, but subtilty excell, And practis’d is in combateing so well, And hath such engines to entrappe his foe, That neuer Man could him in fight repell, But vnawares was intercepted so, That with the Carle he must to balefull prison goe.

11 Distilling teares floweing from sorowes springs, Did drowne his speech a while, at length he spake, And in Albanios eares, a sad peale rings, Of his two sonnes, who for sweet honors sake, Had oft (sayd hee) deposd their liues at stake: Death in a thousand shapes they durst defye, A scoffe of danger they were wont to make, But hee that perill seekes therein shall dye, The truth of this my sonnes hard fates doe testify.

16 Their conquer’d plumes, and armes they then must doffe, And to the sheild of patience them betake, To beare sharp taunts, and many a bitter scoffe, From varlets base which mickle mirth did make, With their distresse, none here for pittyes sake, Will at a wretched captiues case relent, With bread, and water, hunger they must slake; Laden with chaines, and in a dungeon pent, Where they must spend their dayes in ioyles drearyment.

12 On yonder hill, there dwells a subtile Dame, In an anfract’ous Labyrinth immur’d, That hath to errant Knights wrought mickle shame, Who by her tempting blandishments allur’d, Or Death, or greiuous thraldome haue endur’d: Dysnomia she hight, a froward Elfe That is to strife, and iangling iarres enur’d, Whose cheifest ioy consists in golden pelfe, Who proudly doth aboue her peeres extoll her self.

17 Therefore (Sir Knight) beware betimes I say, Least you too late repent your enterprise, Courage too bold doth oft it self betray, Vertue rais’d to excesse becomes a vice, Great perills oft doe noble minds entice, To seeke for honours meed, at ruines gate, But heedles valour loatheing sage advice, Is oft confounded by vntimely fate, Remember how the Troianes wisedome was too late.

13 From mighty Kings she drawes her pedigree, And loathes to Hymens yoke to bowe her necke, As proud a soule as any liues is shee, Yet some there bee that haue her at a becke, By these to be abus’d, ne doth she recke: At these with wanton glances doth she roue, While noble Knights she bitterly doth checke, That striue in vaine, her marble heart to moue, Nobility she scornes, and doth base Peasants loue.

18 No longer could the noble Knight forbeare, But fraught with zealous wrath, did thus reply, Thy counsell makes harsh musicke in mine eare, (Graue Sire) doe to thy beads thy self apply, And meddle not with youthfull chiuallry, Decrepit eld best fittes the sacred fane, Then tend thy due deuotions, while I trye, To vindicate those wrongs, which Knights haue tane, And giue that cursed Caitife his deserued bane.

14 As Danae garded well by Bandogs fierce, And coup’t vp fast, within a brazen tower, Safe from th’accesse of night-adulterers, Yet in her lappe, receiu’d a golden showre, Which wash’d away her maydenheads deare flowre: So is this Dame lock’d vp in a strong hold, That none can entrance find into her bowre, Except he can powre forth a showre of gold, So base is loue become that must be bought, and sold.

19 With that he prick’d Dracontes sides so sore, That like an arrow, from a Parthian bowe, The Courser went, passeing so swiftly o’re The plaines, that they could not his footeing showe, Ne did the tender grasse to his hoofes bowe; That soone Albanio, neare the palace came, Where dwelt Dysnomia, who the seedes doth sowe Of all domesticke strife, and feedes the flame Of viperous hate, the mistris of beggery and shame,

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10 But the old Palmer inly grieued sore, To see his loueing counsell thus refus’d, His owne disasters ’gan for to deplore, And first of cruelty, his starres accus’d, That with so many greifes his soule had brus’d: Two sonnes had I, bothe hopefull youths (quoth hee) With that he wept, while much Albanio mus’d, His passion, and his pitt’ous plight to see, And wonder’d what the cause of so great greife should bee.

12.2 Labyrinth] Written over Labarynth

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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20 As those huge structures which with pointed crests, The pride of Egypts Princes doe declare, Surmount in height, poore shepheards cottages And Hermites cells, so did this Castle farre, Exceed in height all other towres that are: Those trophyes of Assyrian vanity, Rear’d by Semiramis might not compare, For scornfull altitude: It look’d so high, As if it meant to ouercrowe the threaten’d sky. 21 Encompast with a lake her palace was, A muddy water, like that impure streame, Which doth through those darke territoryes passe, That nere were seene by Sol’s hot mettalld teme, Nor guilded ere by the least splendent beame, Each frog here loudly tun’d out his harsh note, A cloud of filthy vapours hence did steme, Each vncleane Bird here stretch’d his fatall throte, Houering with flaggy wings, each day about this mote. 22 The siluer Swanne whose sence-enchanting tong, Doth welcome ougly Death, here might not bide, But clam’rous flockes of gaggleing Geese, among A rout of silly Duckes, did here reside, By whom were braules, and quarrells multiplyd: These haueing spent in fight, much strength, and blood, A sort of Foxes that nigh hand did hide, Their crafty heads, in an adioyning wood, [good. Were wont to make their prey on them, as they thought 23 Harshe sounds, and voices inarticulate, There daily did the tender ayer rent: For earst Latona shunneing Iuno’s hate, Arriued here with thirst, and labour spent, With her yong twinnes, whom faintnes had nigh shent, For they had drawne her tender pappes so dry, That neither sustenance, nor nourishment, Remaind their hungry stomackes to supply, So that for want of food, they ready were to dye. 24 Here while she sought her burning thirst to slake, And stoup’t to touch the comfortable iuyce, A rout of Clownes that gather’d in the lake, Tall bullrushes, and oziers for their vse, Vpon the Goddesse fix’d a foule abuse, For they did her forbid vnhumanely, To drinke a droppe, and when she did produce Submissiue language, for to mollify Their flinty hearts, they did her more and more defye. 25 Nor was this all, for then they ’gan to trouble The water, with their clownish feet so much, That dyrt, and mire did from the bottome bubble,

Which made her loathe that licour foule to touch, All though the measure of her thirst was such, That one small cup full of this water cleere, Which these vnciuill Villaines did so grutch, Had bin ten times more pleasing vnto her, Then all the pretious Nectar she had dranke whilere. 26 Latona then with greife, and anger fraught, Her hands vnto the iniur’d skyes did reare, And spake as iust displeasure had her taught, Wishing they might remaine for euer there: Shee had her wish; for sudainely they were Transform’d, and vnder water nimbly dopp’d, And then againe aloft ’gan to appeare, Sometimes vpon the grassy bankes they hopp’d, And oft from thence into the muddy water lopp’d. 27 Foule shameles braules still doe they excercise, And vnder water, yet they striue to chide, Their voice is harsh, their neckes doe swelling rise, Their frequent iangling makes their iawes more wide, Scarce any necke they haue to be descry’d, Their heads vpon their shoulders seeme as pight, The paunch (which from the rest if you deuide, Exceedeth halfe the body) is all white, [hight. The backe is greene, these noisome creatures paddockes 28 Their aire tormenting cryes these neuer ceast, Infesting all the region with the sound, Albanio soone lights, from his noble Beast, Feareing to sinke into the mirye ground, Whereon his steed no stedfast footeing found, Afoote, he dights himself to the adventure, Passeing the bogges, and marishes vnsound, Vntill he did a plot of firme land enter, Which to the circumiacent fennes was as a centre. 20.1-9 As those . . . threaten’d sky.] This stanza has been extensively revised, apparently on a single occasion. Although heavily deleted, the original version appears to have read as follows: Like to that monstrous towre, wch Nimrod rude, Erected in the feilds of Senacarr To keepe the ieawes in awe, and to delude The wrath of Ioue s, so did this Castle farre, Exceed in height all other towres that are: Those trophyes of Ægiptian vanity, At Memphis reard, might not with it compare, For scornfull altitude: it look’d so high, As if it meant to ouercrowe the threaten’d sky. During one stage of the revision, Knevet added the words ‘With it’ to the head of line 8, but did not adjust the line length by deleting the two-syllable scornful; we have chosen to suppress this tentative addition, to preserve the pentameter. 24.3 gather’d . . . lake] gather’d for their vse ⌜in the lake⌝ 25.1 this] this, 25.7 these] de these 26.4 Wishing] Whishing 28.9 centre.] The terminal full stop here is written over a deleted comma.

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34 When hee the Christian Knight at hand did view, An iron batte he shooke in his huge pawe, Fire from his eyes, smoke from his nostrills flew, And to his foe he threatened club law: For parlye, neither partye car’d a straw, Onely the Gyant ror’d as loud as thunder, Or like high Neptune kept by windes in awe Or like an earthquake that breedes feare, and wonder, Strikeing as if he meant to cleaue the earth asunder.

30 (These pittfalls scap’d) the Knight ascends the hill, Where hee before the Castle gate beheld, The Porter grimme, whose very looke, could kill A coward heart; he strouted on the feild, Like proud Eurymedon, whose hand did weild As tall a pine, as euer Ossa bare, When he sought to force heauen, with might vnskilld, And Ioue himself blasphemously did dare, In single combate to conclude the Gyants warre.

35 But warily the Knight himself behau’d, For with euasions quicke, he shunn’d each blow, Or with his seuenfold target himself sau’d, And still as he saw his advantage growe, A thrust against his foeman did he throw, Rather by skill, then strength he mannag’d fight, At his securest defence lyeing low, While his fierce foe surpasseing him in might, Stroue with a single blow to end the quarrell quite.

31 Like him was Pseudophron, in each respect, An impious wretch that feard nor God, nor Man, Religion could not brooke his dire aspect, And modest vertue, grew for sorow wanne: The bayes of Helicon to droope beganne: The Muses nine like mournfull Niobe, Were chang’d to weeping statues, for who can Such a disorderd heape of mischiefe see, And in a sea of passion, not orewhelmed bee.

36 As a fierce Mastiffe, doth with wary skill, Against a boistrous Bull the fight maintaine, Who thinkes to tosse him on his hornes, at will, Till all his force, and fury proues but vaine, For from his foe he can no vantage gaine, ’Cause the sly Dog, doth on his belly craule, That the Bulls strength can him no whit restraine, ’Till he hath catch’d his snout, nor doth he baule, [fall. Though his foe roares, as though he wold make the skyes

32 Bred was this fiend (as cronicles expresse) By mighty Polypheme a monster fell, And proud Grantorta, a fierce Gyantesse, That was sent vp from the infernall cell, To change this world into a second hell, This Polypheme was that fierce Canniball, Who on his liueing guests (as Poets tell) Was wont to prey, teareing in pieces small [did fall. Their panting limmes, while warme blood from his chappes

37 Euen so Albanio fought with skillfull heed, Seldome did hee in vaine discharge a thrust, Hee neuer strooke but made his foe to bleed, That with his gore, discolour’d was the dust, Yea soften’d with his bloud was th’earths hard crust, But as his strength decreast, his choler grew: Another engine vse (sayd hee) I must, To giue this caitife wretch what is his due, With that in haste his iron club away he threw.

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29 Here many trenches delu’d were wondrous deepe, Pight with sharp stakes, to quell each haples wight, That from those dangers could not his feet keepe, For ouer these lay grassy flagges so light, That if the Knight with heed, and graue foresight, Had not his footsteps guided, ten to one Hee had bin ouerthrowne, and murtherd quite, Ere to the castle gate he could haue gone, Which was defended by the mighty Pseudophron.

33 This Monster (like his sire) was pittyles, For whosoere was captiu’d by his power, In prison was lock’d vp, in great distresse, Vntill he pleas’d their bodyes to deuoure; But if a Damsell chanc’d in an ill howre, To fall into his pawes, worse was her lucke, For first he did the silly wretch deflowre, Then did her tender limmes in pieces plucke, And downe his greedy throte her guiltles bloud did sucke.

29.6 guided, ten to one] guided ten to one, 34.4 law] claw 34.7 Or like . . . in awe] This line has been inserted between its neighbours, at some point after the original copying process. An asterisk marks the insertion in the left margin. 37.5 was th’earths] was ⌜th’⌝ earths 37.8 what is his] what ⌜is⌝ his

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38 And in his hand a weapon strange vptooke, Deuis’d by some ingenious Mulciber, More advantageous ’twas then the Welch hooke, It did not onely cut, but also teare, Holding him fast, that from’t a blow should beare, That he must captiue yeld himself, or dye: This ’gainst the Elfin Knight did he vpreare, But from the dint, he actiuely did fly, And ere his garde’s regain’d, him wounded in the thigh.

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39 With that the Gyant, like a fury rag’d, At Ioues face hurling monstrous blasphemyes, But soone Albanio had his ire asswag’d, Had not the Villaine try’d a new deuice, His hooked club he threw in furious wise, At the Knights head, but hee the blow eschu’d, The Gyant to Another refuge flyes, With a new tricke his foes strength to elude, Vseing this subtile sleight the combate to conclude. 40 Hee tooke in hand an artificiall nette, Wrought with such skill, that it exceeded farre Those subtile snares, that were by Vulcan sett, To catch Dame Venus, and the God of warre: With this he thought Albanio to ensnare, But hee the steely cords tore with his hand, Like rotten threed, so vnsufficient are All base deceits, graue Prudence to with-stand, Whose matchles force renowned is, through euery land. 41 The grand Impostour, that knew other sleights, When hee saw all his ginnes wold doe no good, Betooke himself then vnto new deceits, For he assume strange shapes like Proteus cou’d, Therewith to blind his foe euen as he wou’d, And like a Lion first aloud he rord, This sudaine change chill’d good Albanios bloud, But soone his natiue courage was restord, And with his blade the Lions side he deepely gor’d, 42 Then (Achelous like) did hee put on A Serpents shape, and terribly did hisse, Yet hee a Serpent no advantage wonne, Then to a Griffon hee transformed is, But when he found these strange appearances, Wold worke no feates, away he tooke his flight, And nere from that day was once seene, till this, For in mens minds he dwells, now out of sight, Where discord and debate he kindleth day and night.

Canto 4 Plutus his Temple is demolish’d, Seuen Colledges appeare, Where foule idolatrous abuse, Did whilome domineare. 1 When that the golden Age, and Saturnes raigne Were finish’d, then the bright Astræa fled, Disdaineing longer on earth to remaine, And foule Deceit succeeded in her stead, And Falshood sly, of hellish seed bothe bred: Astræa made such haste to fly away, That shee her snowy stole let fall, (wee read) Which Falshood found, who had ’till then (they say) Lurk’d in contempt’ous state, asham’d to walke by day. 2 For then in stinkeing ragges, she went halfe drest, Though now she stroutes in silke, and shines in gold, But haueing found (by chance) this beaut’ous vest, To put it on the Hagge became so bold, To hide foule faults, and shield her from the cold: Thus personated, shee herself presents, To publicke view, and was by yong, and old Ta’ne for Astræa; her maligne intents Shee shadow’d with so faire a veyle of complements. 3 This cursed Witche, was proud Dysnomias mate, With her in this faire castle did she bide, At her disposall was her loue, or hate, Of her affaires she was the chiefest guide, All controuersall points she did decide, By the assistance of vniust Deceite, Who all her censures stoutly iustify’d, Boldly vrgeing that they had strength, and weight, Though they were forg’d by tortious wrong, and wicked [sleight. 4 But now Albanio, who was earst amaz’d, At the impostures of his subtile foe, Entraunc’d with wonder, on the palace gaz’d, With art the Building was replenish’d so: But inly hee was strooke with ruefull woe, When hee consider’d that the Tyrannesse, Had reard those glorious edifices fro, The ruines of seuen famous Colledges, Which whilome nurst as many liberall sciences. 41.5 Therewith . . . as he wou’d,] This line has been inserted between its neighbours, at some point after the original copying process. 41.6 aloud] a aloud 42.2 hisse] is hisse 3.6 Deceite] de Deceite 3.9 forg’d] forge’ d

Book 7 Canto 4

While hee with greife, and wonder stood astound, A goodly Temple hee nigh hand descryd, Which with pure golden foyle was couer’d round, Whose awfull splendour to the cloudes did chide, The bashfull sunne beames, there their heads to hide; Dianas Fane, the pride of Asia vaine, With cost, and art, was not so beautifyd, As this faire Temple, which did appertaine, To Plutus, the vile God of pelfe, and filthy gaine.

10 Then Rapine follow’d, with iawes yawneing wide, Which did convey to her insatiate mawe, Whole Townes, yet was her stomacke not supply’d, For no abundant plenty could withdraw; Her greedy rage, that did obserue no law, But certes shee had little nutriment, From her large meales, witnes her hollow iawe, And her lanke sides, that seem’d with famine blent, As fleshles as the strictest Ember Weeke, or Lent.

6 This Temple, which had dores of burnish’d brasse, Stood open night, and day, that euery wight, Might to those profane altars freely passe, (As his deprau’d desires did him envite) With small deuotion, did the Christian Knight, Visit that denne, of damn’d idolatry, Where hee beheld Dysnomia all in white, The chiefe of that vnhallow’d hierarchy, Their hideous dire oblations, ready for to ply.

11 The spoile of pillag’d Churches was her gift, Mingled among a confus’d masse of store, Which shee from all estates had by a shift, Purloyn’d haueing abused, rich and poore, Yea God himself blasphem’d, to scrape vp more: Deceit, and Falshood then made their oblations, And humbly falleing downe the God before, Powr’d forth foule leasings, and equiuocations, With misconstructions false, and mentall reseruations.

7

A purple robe, with princely ermine lin’d, Th’enthroniz’d Idoll richly did adorne: A triple crowne compos’d of gold refin’d, Stood on his head, and on each side a horne. Better it were that child had nere bin borne, That to this Monster should an off’ring bring, Yet see the vanity of men forlorne, That daily make him both their God, and King, Not knoweing, nor desireing any other thing.

12 In order next did Vsury succeed, Whose countenance, much grauity did showe, A heape of obligations forfeyted, Shee on the altar powred, louteing low: Then reuerend Simony, whose austere brow, Submisse respects in euery obiect strooke, His sacred knees before the shrine did bowe, And to the Idoll did present a Booke, That fasten’d was vnto a siluer angling hooke.

8 Dysnomia first, her offring did present, Which was a file of guilty consciences. Monstrous Oppression, next in order went, Whose count’nance did much sanctity expresse, Yet shee was passeing cruell (nerethelesse) A golden Goblet filld vp to the brimme, With reekeing bloud, she carry’d pittyles, Herein a new slaine humane heart did swimme, This was the sacrifice, which she did bring to him.

13 Three forlorne Squires, attended on these Nunnes, All three in weedes of Death, and mourning dight, Of Erebus, and Sinne they were the sonnes, Begotten in the realme of endles Night, Vpon the bed of rancour, and despite, The first was Care, a long leane meager Knaue, Whose watchfull eyne were to his braine sunke quite, Hee look’d like a dead corps raisd from the graue, Deiected were his lookes, his port was nothing braue.

9 Then ougly Auarice, whose sunne-scortch’d face, Vnhumanely on the base earth was bent, Follow’d, as sad as vanquish’d Marsyas, Her carriage shewd a perfect Malecontent, Shee to the Idoll did this gift present, It was a lumpe of shineing Indian mold, Which from the bowells of Dame Ops was rent, An euerlasting dropsy did her hold, No affluence of wealth, could slake her thirst of gold.

14 The next was Feare, whose stareing hayres bewrayd His frightfull thoughts, oft did he start aside, Of his owne shadow horribly affrayd, The smallest sound, that did the aire deuide, This silly Dastard farre more terrify’d, Then doth the Cannons vnexpected voice, Affright the sence of the new wedded bride, That neuer hath ’till then, heard any noise Of warre, and terrour, but of gentle peace and ioyes.

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11.9 misconstructions] misconstrutions 12.4 Shee] shee 12.7 His sacred knees] His humble sacred knees

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 20 All those distressed Captiues, that whilere, Laden with chaines, were lock’d in prison strong, Were now set free, and fraught with mirthfull cheere, About the gentle Knight full thicke did throng, Each striueing to expresse with heart, and tongue, The ample measure of his thankfullnes, Sweet words they spake, low gestures mixd among, His actions, and his fortune they did blesse, And wishd he might enioy all ioy and happynes.

16 Albanio vexd, this foule abuse to veiw, No longer could his holy wrath conceale, But furiously, his faithfull fauchion drew, And sudainely ’gan to disturbe their zeale, For hee so fast did blowes about him deale, That downe the Idoll tumbled, on the ground, Batter’d, and broken quite all to piece-meale, That no whole limme of him was to be found, Whereat the frighted Preists, were wondrously astound. 17 And nimbly, to their heeles themselues betooke, The fearfull Mallard doth not halfe so fast, Flee from the eagre Falcon at the brooke, As did those airy creatures sore agast, From fierce Albanios dreadfull vengeance haste, Discourag’d, and dispers’t, away they fled, ’Cause their good dayes they saw at the last cast, And into diuers Kingdomes themselues spred, Where many maladyes in commonweales they bred.

21 Quite vanish’d were those sinnefull palaces, And in their places was erected new, That famous Heptarchy of Colledges, Which proud Dysnomia earst had ouerthrew. Where poysnous Eugh, and willowes sad late grew Now bayes, and Myrtles did their heads vpreare, The one to learned heads, to louers true, The other doth pertaine, as meed most deare; Straite Pines, and cedars tall, did also florish here. 22 Those stinking fennes, that earst bred sauours ill, Were to a garden faire transformed now, Which seem’d to bee contriu’d with wondrous skill, For there did sundry kindes of flowers grow, Such as the world could neuer elswhere showe, Each knot, and bed, and border, there did yeild Such flowres, that they might well haue seru’d to strowe, Loues Queenes great Chamber, when that shee beheld, Mars his approch, from the bloodthirsty Thracian feild.

18 But wise Albanio did not his wrath stint, Till all the altars of that cursed Fiend, Were quite o’rethrowne, by the impetuous dint, Of his sharp sword, then with the lampes that brenn’d, Continually there, did hee incende, That lothsome Temple, whose vnsau’ry smoke, In crooked spires, did to the heauens ascend, Wrappeing the welkin in a sable cloke, That the amazed Champion ready was to choke.

23 Amidde this Garden grew th’imperiall Rose, With the sharp Thistle, in sweet amity, Both arm’d with steely prickes, against those foes, That should disturbe their blest tranquillity. To these the Lilly gaue precedencye, Who though he seemes, a plant of mickle pride, To his disgrace, this many testify, That the industrious Bees haue still deny’d, To seeke for any hony in his hurtfull side.

19 Disturbed then was euery element, The grownd with Earthquakes torne then ’gan to grone, The swelling waters rose, as if they meant, To dispossesse the fire, of his high throne, Among the clouds the skippeing lightening shone, But in a sudaine all the sky was cleard, Whist was the thunder, and the tempest gone, No dreary voice of horrour then was heard, But a new formed countenance of things appear’d.

24 Here stately Tulips their proud heads extended, Which to our gardens were but knowne of late, Flowres not for vertue, but for hue commended, Like these, our vpstart Gentry doth elate, And vaunt it self aboue the honord state, Of true nobility, for outward parts Doe this worlds eyesight terminate; Immortallizeing vertue, and good arts Scarce any entertainement find in mortall harts.

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15 A targe of proofe, he carry’d on his arme, A coate of maile he on his backe did weare, Well arm’d the Peasant was against all harme, Yet armour could not mitigate his feare, Alway hee deem’d there was some danger neare; The third was grimme Dispaire, a gastly Thiefe, In ragges halfe clad, who in his hand did beare, A fatall halter, and a rusty knife, With these he try’d oft to conclude his loathed life.

21.9 Straite] straite

Book 7 Canto 4

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30 Goatsbeard, that doth shut vp his leaues at noone, Like some braue wight cropp’t in his youthfull yeares, Who hath forsooke his house of clay, too soone: The proud Carnation, that disdaineth peeres, The Gilliflowre, that all in red appeares, The smaller Pinkes, and pretty Daisyes eke, Blew-Bottles, that grow ’mongst th’haruest eares, White Dittanye which wounded Deere doe seeke, [meeke. And Wall-flowres grew here worne by countrey Damsells

26 The Starre of Bethleem, and the Asphodill, The cordiall Crocus, and the Iris faire, Blacke Aconite bred on the shady hill, Whose flowre controules the sharpest brumall aire, The noble Liuer-wort, that doth repaire A liuer craz’d: Crowfootes ’gainst feuers good, Anemone, and checkerd Fritillaire, Cranesbill endu’d with vertue to staunch blood, And healeing Sanicle, in this faire Garden stood.

31 Blacke-Hellebore, that cures melancholy, The bitter Gentian, whose worth doth exceed, And th’Epileptickes help cleapt Peony, The Meruaile of Peru, who hides his head, When day is come, and doth his leaues outspread, At night, like some proud beauty that disdaines, Her betters presence, for hee euen halfe dead With melancholy spitefullnes refraines, To view the world, while Sol in his horizon raignes.

27 The spotted Nauel-wort, and Spiderwort, Blew Moone-wort couerd by the Alpine snow, Orchis, whose roote incites to lustfull sport, Cephalicke Beares eares, and the Primrose low, Cowslips which serue poor cottages to strowe, Coole Borage, and the Red Rose Campion, The purple Toade-flaxe, that makes vrine flow, Stocke Gilliflowres prais’d for their hue alone, And Columbines here grew, so good against the stone.

32 The Bell-flowre, and the Lilly Convally, The Flower-Gentle that ill endures rough cold, The Thorne-Apples that procure venery, The Goldilockes, beautifull to behold, The Indian Reed, who doth together fold His leaues, the Mandrake that brings sleepe to Man, And the Moth-Mullein hu’d like cloth of gold, The Foxe-gloue, with the red Valerian, And Ladyes smockes, with fine Perwinkles here vp ranne.

28 The sullen Melancholy Gentleman, Gladiolus, and eke the Willow-flowre, The Hollow Roote, that with the spring done wanne, The Violet bred by the vernall showre, Which deckes the floore of a faire Ladyes bowre, Larkes-heele, and Barren-wort whose name implyes, That it to cause sterility hath power, Poppy, which doth with sleepe locke vp our eyes, And sweet Hearts-ease, did flourish here in comely guise.

33 Tabacco seem’d here to lament her case, Clad in a weed of dusky greene, for shee Is prostituted to each Peasant base, Who fouly doe abuse wee daily see, Those wholesome vertues that in this herbe bee, The Clematis, whose melancholy flowre, Doth hugge the branches of the tender tree, Fitte to adorne a sad true Louers bowre, In a darke purple iagged mantle here did lowre.

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25 Pallid Narcissus, here discouerd was, Whose droupeing head hung o’re a crystall brooke, That still hee seem’d to make the streame his glasse; Let no selfloueing Lady faile to looke On him, and study pitty in the booke, Of his hard fate: yong Hyacinthus here, His purple tresses in the welkin shooke, Who seem’d to whisper this, in the worlds eare, Beauty may soone decay, and cannot last for e’re.

29 The Fennel-wort, and double Featherfew, Red-hayr’d Adonis wild Pellitory, And Cammomill, the faire flowre of Peru, Which may be King of plants calld worthily, The vsefull Vipers Grasse, and the Oxe-eye, Starre-wort, which doth a mad dogs biteing cure, The Golden Mouse-eare, which they doe apply To wasted lungs: the MaryGold so pure, With his bright colour did each curious eye allure.

25.4 Let no . . . faile to looke] This line has been subjected to considerable revision, the first stage of which appears to have been the alteration of an original Mistris to Lady. Following this emendation, the rest of the line was either rubbed out or deleted, and the current text written directly upon it. The original line also concluded in the words to looke 29.2 Red-hayr’d Adonis] These words have been written over the original text, which has been thoroughly effaced, partly by rubbing out and partly by deletion. 29.4 Which may be] Which may ⌜be⌝ 30.3 Who hath] HaWho hath 31.2 whose worth doth] whose ⌜worth⌝ doth 31.4 who hides] hi who d hides

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 39 But one among the rest that seem’d t’excell, Her sweet compeeres, in elegance of phrase, Who knew each point of rhetoricke full well, Vnto the Knight thus spake, with louely grace, Since by your blest arriuall at this place, From wofull seruitude, wee are set free, Wee that are borne of an immortall race, Indebted to thy worth, shall euer bee, Not able to requite thy merits high degree.

35 The Iasmine, for a sweet sent much renown’d, And Honysuckles, fragrant flowres likewise, Whose vertue doth consolidate a wound, Rosemary good to strengthen memoryes, Pomegranates, which cure fluxibilityes, The Indian Iucca, and the tree Trefoyle, The tree of Life, whose colour neuer dyes, Who calls America his natiue soyle, And Lauender, whence is distill’d sweet wholesome oyle.

40 Seuen Sisters are wee, Daughters to great Ioue, And Pallas wise, but what auailes alas, Our birth, since so farre as wee bee aboue, Some others in high dignity of race, And pedigree, so much these vs surpasse, In reputation, and in blest estate, So wretched is our lot, so hard our case, That wee who earst at th’helmes of empires sate, Must now Perforce giue place to each vnletter’d pate.

36 Cassidony, cleap’t Lauender by some, Basill which doth exhillarate the heart, Germander, Hysope, Time, sweet Marierome, Did into curious knots this garden part, A Bush of Boxe, cut by surpasseing art, Confin’d this flowry maze, for there were seene Delightfull storyes of sublime desart, And am’rous iouissance; here was Loues Queene Portraited, sporting with Adonis on the Greene.

41 A hundreth times hath Sol both tropickes seene, Looseing so oft from mighty chaines of ice, Both north, and southerne seas, since wee haue bene By the foule plot, and mischeiuous deuice, Of proud Dysnomia, queene of tortious vice, Strictly confin’d, to this enchanted well, In feild she did subdue our forces thrice, By the assistance of a Gyant fell, Who hight Aphronymon, and farre from hence doth dwell.

37 Alcides his twelue labours here were seene, With many other pretty Romances, The Gardens of Semiramis (I weene) In no regard might be compar’d with this, It was adorn’d with such varietyes, But while Albanio pleasd his phantasy, With these faire sights, seuen Ladyes bright did rise, From a cleere fount, vsher’d by minstralcye, [nigh. In comely port, these Dames th’astonish’d Knight came

42 Our towres, our studyes, Libraryes, and Schooles, They ouerthrew, our groues and walkes defac’d, Changeing this place, into a nest of fooles, Layeing our feilds, and pleasant Gardens waste, And when that all our Colledges were ras’t, A Temple large by magicke skill they built, Where boldly shee a damned Idol plac’d, Hight Plutus, tearm’d the God of filthy guilt, Vpon whose altars streames of humane bloud she spilt.

38 Euen as the Goddesse, of loues emperye, Makes her sweet progresse in the month of May, O’re the flowre-crowned launds of Thessaly, While Damsells on their lutes and timbrells play, So did the Nymphs in delicate array, With slow maiesticke paces tread vpon, This tapistry of nature, but when they Approch’d the presence of the Champion, Each did bestowe on him her sacred benison.

43 But by thy auspice, and vndaunted might, Subverted is this house of wickednes, And those pernicious Hagges are put to flight, Whose tyranny whilome did us oppresse, Yet still in perill are we nere the lesse, So long as our sworne foe Aphronymon, Subsiste, whose cursed head will neuer cease, To plotte our ruine, and perdition, Our freedome thus redeem’d, his rage will so set on.

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34 The Maracoc, by superstitious Friers, Nicke-nam’d the flower of the Passion, For these impostors, most immodest Lyers, Wold make the world of this opinion, That there’s an absolute description, Of our deare Sauiours passion in these plants, Though of the same there bee no mention: But these be they, who their side to advance, Of forged miracles doe make false braues, and vaunts.

40.9 now Perforce giue] now ⌜Perforce⌝ giue

Book 7 Canto 5 2

45 Dread not (faire Dames) that great Aphronymon, This blade of mine shall soone abate his pride, Therefore bidde all sad thoughts, and feares be gone, For when this sword was girded to my side, When first (I say) my youth was dignify’d, With Knighthoods belt, by the Braue Britton Prince, Great Arthur, I my self by a vow ty’d, That hatefull Fiend by combate to convince, And this detested foe, haue I sought euer since.

3

46 This was the cause that I forsooke the Court, Of mighty Gloriane, for when my eare, And heart were daily thrill’d with the report, Of his oppression, I could not forbeare, But by the badge of my beleife did sweare, To bee auenged on the Caitifes head, Or in the action loose my bloud most deare, (This sayd) the Damsel ’gan againe to plead, And spake what in another Canto ye may read.

4 Ne in a lofty Palace doth he dwell, Nor in a cottage low, but in a caue, Not like the rocke-hiu’d holy Hermites cell, But like th’Ætnæan forge, or Curtian quaue, Or Hell it self that neuer regresse gaue, To mortall wight: Great shall thy labour bee, But greater meed, and glory thou shalt haue, From this achieuement, when posteritye Shall carroll forth immortall songs, in praise of thee.

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44 With that the glad Albanio silence brake, And thus did interrupt her sweet discourse, Whis’t were the windes, listening to what he spake, For from his lippes did flow words of such force, That warbleing Syrens songs wer musicke hoarce, To his smooth notes: Needes must I blesse (quoth hee) My fate, and starres, by whose propitious course, This hand was arm’d, to set your persons free, Blest bee the prouidence (I say) that garded mee.

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But that thou may’st with greater ease and speed, Find out this enemy to vs, and thee, By my directions daigne thou to proceed, For in a remote vncouth dell dwells hee, Form’d in a mighty rockes concauitye, And in a countrey doth the Caitife wonne, Where solitude, and darkenes Innemates bee, Which nor the riseing nor declineing Sunne, Doth daigne but seld, to cast a cheerefull ray vpon. Nigh to the Arcticke Circle, this tract lyes, Where winter is a Tennant halfe the yeare, Then clad it is with snow, and gyrt with ice, But when in Cancer Phœbus doth appeare, The ice, and snow by his approch so neare, Are quite dissolu’d, but then thicke mists vp-boile, Which make the skyes vnwholesome, and vncleare, An aire vntemp’rate, and a barren soile, Doe make a dwelling place fitt for this wretched moile.

5

Canto 5 Albanio meetes a Dwarffe that brings Newes, of Leucippes harmes, Comes to the holy Ile and slakes, The rage of ciuill armes.

1 Since heauens all aweing power hath decreed, That by thy vertue, and victorious hand, These monstrous Tyrants of the world shall bleed, Thy holy ire vnable to withstand, Since that thy name is famous in each land, (Oh great Albanio) lou’d, and fear’d of all, That can’st thy fortune, and thy self command, Needes must wee hope that our fierce Foeman shall, Vnder the direfull dint of thy keene weapon fall.

With Spartane valour, therefore arme thy brest, Prepar’d, a sea of danger to invade, For thy great toiles shall end in happy rest, And Peace shall sheathe thy monster-quelling blade, Thy deedes shall bee a rare example made, To thy aspireing successors, who shall Looke on thy merit, and then dare to wade, Through bloud to honour, though it may appall Their hearts to see their worth, so short of thine to fall. 6 (Madame) reply’d Albanio I shall thinke, Each month a yeare, and eury howre a day, No quiet rest into my braine shall sinke, 44.8 This hand] This arm hand 45.3 Therefore bidde] B Therefore bidde 45.8 Fiend] freind Fiend 1.5 name] names 2.4 dwells] dwell⌜s⌝ 2.8 riseing] rise⌜ing⌝ 2.9 Doth daigne] ⌜Doth daigne⌝ Doth vo Vouchsafe Knevet has here deleted both his original text as well as, to its left, his abortive first revisions. 4.4 Ætnæan] The letter t has been written over another letter, now indistinct. 5.8 though]Knevet originally wrote thought, and later corrected the terminal t to an h giving thoughh; however, the intended revision is clear.

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These pond’rous armes I will not lay away, ’Till I that cursed Theife for his sinnes pay, I from his shoulders will his head deuide, Deuoyde of ought that’s good; The Dogs shall prey Vpon his carrion corps, and satisfy’d, Shall hungry Woolues envite, to rauine all beside. 7

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(This sayd) the Ladyes did request the Knight, With them vnto their dwelling to repaire, But with kind language hee did them acquite, Takeing his leaue with curt’sy debonaire, For hee rememberd his Irene faire, Whom with the Palmer he had left whilere, Who was by this time growne into dispaire, Of her deare Lords returne, surpris’d with feare, That hee was slaine outright, or taken prisoner.

8 The Palmers sonnes with him he call’d along, And to their aged Sire did them present, Who with ioy not to bee exprest by tong, Did them receiue, but faire Irene dent, With sudaine passion, was for ioy night shent, And in her armes her dearest Lord did twine, Surcharg’d with glee, and wondrous solacement, As is the tall elme by the tender vine, Embrac’d, so did she hugge the noble Palladine. 9 These serenes of sincere delight orepast, Albanio to the Palmer bade adiew, And with his Lady, on his way rode fast, But sudainly a Dwarfe came to their view, Who toward them as swift as lightening drew, And did his siluer bugle, winde full shrill, By whose loud sound, Albanio well knew, The true intent, of the swift Lackeys will, And stay’d expecting to heare newes, or good, or ill. 10 And thus the Dwarfe the Knight ’gan to accoast, (Thrice worthy Sir) for prowesse famous euer, Whose peereles worth is knowne in euery coast, Now lend vs thy auspicious aide, or neuer, To help the faire Leucippe of the Riuer, Leucippe that is sprung from Brittish strene, Implores thy speedy aide, her to deliuer, From danger of a mighty Gyants teene, [Queene. Who from her kingdome haue expuls’t this beautous

11 The cruell Aquilino of the West, By vniust might, hath robb’d her of her right, And of her diademe her dispossest, Her vineyards, feilds, her Gardens of delight, Are spoil’d, her Townes depopulated quite; Then great Albanio leaue thy am’rous play, With some religious cell trust this faire wight, Where shee for thy successe, may daily pray, Her hands cannot availe the much, her prayers may. 12 Not farre hence distant is the Holy-Ile, Deuided by a deepe Lake, from the maine, So cleap’t cause ’tis Religions chiefe Asyle, Here for a while the Lady may remaine, Free from all doubt, of perill, or of paine; For there a graue, and learned Sire doth dwell, Who Knights, and Dames, doth wont to entertaine, With due respect, into his spatious cell, Which of the true faith is the blessed Cittadell. 13 Nor can the fury of a forraine foe, Against this receptacle of truth preuaile, For the great Architect hath fenc’d it so, With rocky towres, that hee who shall’t assaile, Shall be constrain’d or basely to turne taile, Or in his dareing enterprise shall fall, And dyeing his foole hardynes bewaile, That made him of his bloud so prodigall; For whom the arme of heauen defends, Hell can’t appall. 14 Doxorthus there doth beare the onely sway, The wise dispenser of all sacred lore, Hee superstitious rites hath done away, Hee to their pristine splendour did restore, Religious thewes, and taught men to adore, The God of truth, with true obsequiousnes, Vnto this Iland let vs waft her o’re, Where shee may take her rest in ioyous peace, Till thou hast freed the faire Leucippe from distresse. 15 Albanio, whom Leucippes rufull plight, Had ouerwhelm’d with greife, for passions doe In noblest mindes, make no impression light, Besides to him she was allyed so, That hee could not but suffer in her woe, 6.9 rauine] rauish⌜ne⌝ 9.9 heare] Written over hearr 10.1 the Dwarfe] ye Knight Dwarfe 10.5 is] his 10.9 Who] Who m 11.5 Townes] t Townes 14.7 waft her o’re] w’aft her ore As often, Knevet has misplaced the apostrophe in the punctuating of this line

Book 7 Canto 5

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The trembling Dwarfe hee thus did sharply shriue; Is this a place for men to liue retir’d? Sayd Hee; did’st promise vs wee shold arriue, Vpon a shore, where Mars did neuer charret driue?

16 But you (faire Lady) must dispense a while, With my enforced absence, and be pleasd, That wee conduct you to yon’ happy Ile, Where you may bee of paine, and sorow eas’d, Vntill these troublous garboiles bee appeas’d. The chast Irene, on whose iuory brow, A cloud of sorow had but newly seas’d, Which did it self in pearly showers throwe, [did flow, Through her faire eyne, whence they like crystall streames

21 Peace seemes a stranger here, doth not the sound Of drummes, and trumpets, penetrate thy eare? Doe not a thousand clamours shake the ground? If that Bellona hath no dwelling here, Where shall wee say the Goddesse doth appeare, The guiltles Dwarfe surcharg’d with wondrous woe, Could not giue answere to the Knight for feare, But at his feet himself did humbly throwe, Protesting that he did of no such tumult know.

17 Shee to the Elfin Knight, this answere made, (My liefest Lord) though in your absence I, Must liue as one forlorne in sorowes shade, Diuorced from all glee, and iollity, For in your presence doth my comfort lye, Yet rather then my presence should recall, Your heroicke mind from this adventure high, Let mee be mew’d vp close in some stone wall, And neuer more in the worlds eye appeare at all.

22 While thus the Dwarfe his innocence did plead, Irene chanc’d to cast her eye aside, And spy’d two armyes, in a neihbour mead, Each braueing other in their martiall pride, And seemeing bent for fight on either side, Squadrons of horse, to lead the bloudy dance, Were fairly marshal’d in each armyes head, Expecting but a signall to advance, Malignantly they did each other countenance.

18 The Knight, (though lothe to leaue the noble maide) Commands the Dwarfe them to the Ile to guide; Who did officiously afford his aide, And them conducted to the waters side, Where a trimme Vessell did at anchor ride, Alway prepared, for to entertaine Poore Pilgrims, with distressfull stoures y’gride, Them safely beareing through the watry plaine, Vnto the Ile where they might in blest peace remaine.

23 Then thus Irene to her Lord gan say, See See (oh faithfull Knight) in yonder vale, Two armyes prest their bloudy scenes to play, Bothe partyes clad in coates of shineing male, A hideous sight, and full of dreary bale, For see the Crosse, against the Crosse doth stand, Each to his aide doth his redeemer call, No Cressants here against the Crosse doe band, [hand. But Christs flocke doth prouoke Christs flocke on either

19 No sooner was this company abourd, Then the industrious Sailours anchors weighd, Which done the Pinnasse through the water scourd, That on the further shore they soone were layd, Then bount’ously they for their waftage payd, And toward the court of Doxorthus went, But sudainly a strange noise them dismayd, For with confused cryes the aire was rent, While they amazed, knew not what the matter meant.

24 Therefore (Oh Prince of peace) that dost attone Partyes engaged in vnlawfull strife, Thy wonted worth, and wisedome interpone, Preuent the losse of many a guiltlesse life, Which stands exposed to the fatall knife, With wholesome thewes slake their vnhallow’d ire, Silence the thundring drumme, and squeakeing fife, And let thy toung like the Threician lyre, With dewe of eloquence, put out this martiall fire.

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Hee to the nimble Dwarfe made this reply, Let mee for an vnknightly Peasant goe, And quite renounce all honord Chiualry, If I auenge not this vnhumane villany.

20 The Knight then to suspect some harme had reason, Thinkeing the Dwarfish Elfe, had earst bin hir’d, By false Malfida, to contriue some treason: For well he knew she nought so much desir’d, As his o’rethrow, therefore with anger fir’d,

16.5 appeas’d.] The lower part of an original semi-colon has been deleted, leaving a full stop 17.6 then] Written over them 17.9 at all.] at all, 20.5 The] Written over Hee 21.1 the] ye ⌜e⌝ 22.2 Irene] Irenee 23.2 oh] Written over of

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 30 But if feare of ensueing mischeifes can’t, Conclude these mortall iarres, let shame preuaile? See how the scoffeing Ismæelite doth vaunt, On wofull Salems towres, who doth bewaile, Her freedome lost, lamenting without faile, Bicause shee see’th that holy earth whereon, God whilome walk’d, clad in a fleshy veyle, And that tombe, where he for a while did wonne, Defil’d by dogs, that hate all true religion.

26 But when they saw a stranger Knight appeare, Y’clad in glistring armes, with a faire sheild, Then either party beganne to forbeare, And stood like men amaz’d, amidde the feild, While constantly bothe armyes he beheld, Where he perceiu’d the Badge of his deare Lord, Advanc’d on either side, which obiect thrilld His heart with sorow sharpe, as with a sword, And made him striue these adversaryes to accord.

31 Tell me, from what maine ground this quarrell springs, What Fury did beginne this mighty warre? Make true relation of the state of things, That I may presently conclude the iarre, (Which sayd) bold Cæcozel whom choler farre, Transported beyond reasons bounds, ’gan speake And in ill temper’d language did declare, What did him moue the bonds of peace to breake, But certes all his speech, and arguments were weake.

27 Euen as the many headed multitude, Fraught with tumult’ous wrath, and boundles ire, And intermingled in a riot rude, Where acted is what passion doth require, Which spreads itself o’re all like rageing fire, That none the furious garboile can appease, Vntill appeares some honest honor’d sire, For vertue, not for wealth ador’d by these, At whose approch their fighteing fury they surcease.

32 But graue Doxorthus on the other side, Who did surpasse his foe in learnings lore, With answeres full of strength on him reply’d, Refuteing all that hee had spoke before, While Cæcozel did frette, and fume full sore, But stiffely for the truth Doxorthus stood, And plainely shew’d that he had caus’d this stoure, Not out of loue of truth, or common good, But for to satisfy his pride, and envuyous moode.

28 So did Albanios awfull presence slake, Their irefull teene, whist were the trumpets shrill, The belloweing Drummes no more in thunder spake, No outcryes did the tender welkin thrill, But all expected with attention still, To heare what he should speake who thus beganne, To shew his mind. (Deare freinds) could sorow kill, A heart enur’d to greife, and sorow, than Doubtles this spectacle had made me a dead man.

33 His crafty trickes hee to the Knight declar’d, And all his fain’d deuotions did reueale, Wherewith hee oft had silly soules ensnar’d, His cunning stratagems he did vnseale, With which he seem’d as one that meant to heale, The sicknes of a body politicke, When hee was bent to kill a Common weale, Or at the least to make her farre more sicke, Like some malicious, or vnskillfull Empericke.

29 What will the Painims say, and that foule rout Which doth adore the damned Mahomet, They at these ciuill broiles will laugh and flout, And seeing vs at deadly variance set, More footeing in the christen’d lands will get, Remember Æsops fable and be wise, For when the Mouse and Frog in fight were met, The Kite advantage tooke, and caught the prize, For shee each Champion in their combate did surprize.

34 (This sayd) Albanio with frowneing browe, Commanded Cæcozel to yeeld his blade, Which soone hee gaue vp, with obeysance low, Hee had no need of freinds, for to perswade, Albanios ire to him was so y’drad.

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25 (This sayd) the Knight stayd not to make reply, But hasten’d ’till he plac’d himself, betwixt The Battells, that then ’gan furiously To leaue those stations, where they had bin fixt, And with loud threats ’mongst hideous clamaurs mix’d, Against each other proudly did advance, For now the howre for bloudy fight prefixt, Was come, each Courser did full proudly praunce, And euery Knight into his rest had cast his launce.

25.5 clamaurs] The second part of this word is blotted, perhaps as the result of an imperfect correction. 27.1 the] Written over yt 27.4 what passion doth] what ⌜passion⌝ riot doth 29.5 christen’d] christen⌜’d⌝ 33.9 Like] like This line has been wrongly indented, flush with the rest of the stanza. We have restored the normal layout, consistent with the position and length of the line.

Book 7 Canto 6

Canto 6

Who thus the Caitife ’gan to reprehend, (Fond Man) what Diuill did thy brest invade, That thou with wicked plottes didst thus intend, A peacefull well wouen state, in piecemeale for to rende?

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35 This language sterne did make the Wretch to stoupe, Hee durst not for his life exchange a word, His combe was cut, his lofty plumes did droupe, His captiue hands he yelded to the cord, And humbly did beseech the noble Lord, For grace who to his sute gaue slight regard, But did command each one to sheathe his sword, Thus hee the gate to Death, and murther barrd, And with Doxorthus trauelld to his palace-ward. 36 Which founded was vpon a submisse Hill, Along whose side a cristall streame did creepe, This structure was contriu’d by passeing skill, Built by the rules of art and science deepe, For it the artificiall forme did keepe, Of architectures old, such as stood on, (Though long agoe) swift Tibers bankes so steepe, When Rome had the whole worlds dominion, And did maintaine the orthodoxe religion. 37 And though it seem’d by nature weakely sited, Not raised on a precipicious rocke, Yet it by art so strongly was munited, That it the cannons rage might seeme to mocke, And scorne the fury of Assaylants shocke, Though thousands should attempt it by scalado, Each side secur’d was with so sure a locke, That it feard not the proudest foes brauado, Not valueing a rush the force of an Armado. 38 Built in a quadrate forme the fortresse was, Fenc’d with a wat’ry trench, on euery side, Whose depth the steepest descents did surpasse, For without help of riseing flow, or tide, Vessells of mighty burthen there might ride, And ’gainst each angle of the Cittadell, Vpon the counterscarfe, were edify’d, Four Sconces of great strength, and furnish’d well With what might the most hardy enemy repell. 39 Not that great Fort, whom Scheld with murmure loud, Summons to witnes what large tribute hee, Doth duely pay vnto the Ocean proud, Nor that strong hold, to which Romes Fathers flee, When in Saint Peters sea stormes rageing bee, (For strength) could this faire Cittadell outgoe; Yea it excell’d by many a degree, The Forts of Antwerp, and Saint Angelo By architecture rare, it was contriued so.

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The Fort of true Religion, Describ’d exactly is, The greedy Harpyes doe infest Doxorthus, and his guests. 1 Ere dire Ambition, from the darkesome dell Of gloomy Erebus, a passage made To this superior Orbe, then Man did dwell, Free from annoy, and feare, in some greene glade, Beneath some Okes, or some broad Beech trees shade, For rigid Boreas then did neuer throwe, His candy’d stuffe abroad, nor Hyems had, Folded the dead plants, in a sheet of snow, Nor Man, nor Beast did then the greifes of winter know. 2 Mans right hand yet the sword had neuer try’d, Nor had his left as yet bin taught to hold, The sinuous bowe, while his right hand did guide, The deadly shaft, against his Foeman bold, Nor yet to mannage speare, had hee bin told, With right, and left, for then Peace here abode, Man then disdain’d to fight for pelfe, or gold: His guiltles hands by day turn’d vp the clod, And were at euen, and morne, vplifted to his God. 3 But when vile Mischiefe had advanc’d her crest, Vpon the surface of the Centre then, The angry elements ’gan to infest, The world, inflicting plagues on wretched men, Prodigious Comets then beganne to brenne, The aire became contagious the earth grew Vnfruitfull, and the Seas then first were seene, With grimme aspect the Seamen pale to view, Till then, or plagues or dearth, or wrackes none euer knew. 4 Nor did the heauens forbeare to shew their hate, And high displeasure against sinnefull Man, Ecclipses did Sols face obtenebrate, The planets with maligne aspects beganne, [wanne, To threate new plagues, the starres grew dimme and Thus while Man did incurre Gods wrath with sinne, Into a world of misery he ranne, Thus Hee the threed of his owne woe did spinne, [in. And ’gainst himself (poore Soule) ten thousand woes calld 35.3 did droupe,] ga did droupe, 35.4 the] yt⌜e⌝ 39.6 could] Written over can 39.7 excell’d] Written over excells 39.9 By architecture . . . contriued so.] The Canto that ensues (beleeue’t) will tell you so ⌜By architecture rare, it was contriued so.⌝ 3.9 Till then, or] ⌜Till then,⌝ or The last word has been written over Or

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For mankind then embroil’d in ciuill warres, Each others ruine daily did contriue, Brothers with Brothers, were at mortall iarres, The Sonne did greiue his Sire so long should liue, The wife did to her Husband poyson giue, The bloudy Cutte-throtes then were taught by night, Some aged Penny-fathers dores to riue, Yea Kingdome against Kingdome then ’gan fight, O’rewhelm’d with mighty rage and rancorous despite.

10 The Fort of Prudence, had the second place, A building rais’d by admirable art, Vpon whose crest a pendant banner was, Whereon appear’d a winged seeing heart. The Sconce of Fortitude, on the third part, Was built to garde this Castles stony side, Whose towred brow nere the swift hostile dart, O’relook’d, and in her ensigne was descry’d, A Dame that on a proppe of Adamant rely’d.

6 And now they learn’d to harden the soft clay, In Vulcans fiery fornace and to teare The stony entrailes of the earth away, Or walled Townes, or Castles tall to reare, For now each of his neihbour stood in feare, And for defence did houses strong erect, Nor was the nippeing season of the yeare, Doubtles a slender cause of this effect, But wicked Cain (wee read) was the first Architect.

11 Lastly the Fort of Temperance appear’d, Rais’d by most artificiall symmetry, Vpon whose front, a Pennon light was rear’d, And therevpon a Virgin curiously, Embroider’d was, standing a fountaine by, Whence in a siluer eure she water drew, With which shee did Lyæus qualify, Abateing both his heady strength, and hue, And sippeing in a glasse, not holding halfe a cue.

7

But in the second World, proud Nimrod first, With his bituminous ingredients made, Babels imperfect worke, his rageing thirst Of domination, did a period adde, Vnto the Golden Age, then Discord mad Her vipers into Princes bosomes threw, That they their neihbours confines did invade, And mighty Castles built, for to eschue The worst mishappe, of adverse Mars that could ensue.

12 But now while I describe the Cittadell, Of true Religion, vouchsafe (oh great God) That ar’t of Truth the euer floweing well, To guide me so with thy auspicious rod, That from the pathway which hath earst bin trod, By Holy Fathers, I may neuer start, Oh help me silly Wretch, vile earthy clod, And though in mee there resteth no desert, Yet let thy goodnes still all blame from mee diuert.

8 But this strong Fort, wherein Doxorthus wonn’d, Doubtles was founded by some holy Sire, Whom wisedome graue, and not ambition fond, Did to this worke of prouidence inspire, To quell the fury of his foemen dire, Who had oft times in lawles armes bin dight; Prest to destroy this Fort with sword and fire, But they were routed still, and put to flight, For wrong may oft assaile, but seld o’rethrow the right.

13 Great is my weakenes (I must needes confesse) No strength to doe what’s good abides in mee, But if it please the my deuoires to blesse, This worke of mine shall euerlasting bee, While I all glory attribute to thee, Then those that shall with ill affected eyne, Looke on this booke shall not from blame be free, For while they doe maligne this worke of mine, They iniure and profane thy maiesty deuine.

9 Foure mighty Sconces that were furnish’d well, For a defensiue, and an offensiue warre, Did garde each corner of this Cittadell, Whose names in storyes old recorded are, The first of which the name of Iustice bare, Vpon whose battlements a flagge did stand, Whereon a Dame of grace, and beauty rare Was portraited, that poys’d in her left hand A payre of scales, and in her right a steely brand.

14 Vnto this Fort but one Gate did belong, Which was y’clep’t the Port of holy writt, Consisting of squar’d stones, exceedeing strong, Ouer whose stately battlements did flitte An Ensigne, where was figur’d (as ’twas fitt)

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5

7.8 Castles built] Castles fo built 11.2 symmetry] sym⌜m⌝etry

Book 7 Canto 6

A booke full fraught with songs of Gods due praise, Before her face vpon a deske did lye, Where were recorded many heauenly layes, Both merry, and deuout she seemeth while she playes.

15 Thre mighty Caualiers did permunite, Each other angle of this Cittadell, These Fortresses, by Bulwarkes of lesse might, Were seconded, which were prouided well, With all things fitt their foemen to repell, The Caualier of Faith had the first place, The strength of which huge fort no tong can tell, Whose towred crest a Banner faire did grace, For a crosse gules displayd on argent in it was.

20 The Bulwarke of true courage was plac’d by The Caualier of Hope, in the left flanke, Vpon whose toppe a goodly flagge did fly, Whereon a Man at armes, of valour ranke, Seem’d leapeing from a precipicious banke, Into a Riuer deepe, and swift, as one That fear’d no perill, but of life was franke, So hee might purchase that celestiall throne, Which God ordain’d hath for each Saint to sitte vpon.

16 Two Bulwarkes did this Fort garde, on each side, The first the Towre of Knowledge was y’clep’t, Vpon whose highest turret was descry’d, An ensigne light, that in the welkin lept, And neuer any certaine posture kept, Whereon described was a Lady graue, Against whose feature rare, none could except, Her right hand did a straite Caduceus waue, But in her left a Booke the Damsell seem’d to haue.

21 Nor was the Caualier of Charity, Inferiour to these forenam’d fortresses, Though they of place had the priority, For learned Sires asseuer, nere the lesse, That it did them surpasse in worthynes, For with such skill t’was built, and so well polish’d, That it shall stand (as wise clearkes doe professe,) When all the other Bulwarkes are demolish’d, Yea in full strength remaine, when time itself’s abolish’d.

17 The sturdy Fort of Perseuerance had The second place, vpon whose toppe was seene, An aged Sire, of count’nance graue and sad, That prostrate lay couch’d in a feild of greene, It was some riuers portraiture (I weene,) For hee his right side rested on an vrne, Whence waters cleere flow’d in an endles strene, Forward they ranne and neuer did returne, O’recomeing all that did against their current spurne.

22 A Fort of mickle consequence it was, For on it’s force, and welfare did rely The totall strength, and safety of the place, For if that it by the fierce enemy, Should euer bee subdu’d, then presently The Cittadell must bee enforc’d to yeild; No armed troupes, no spritefull chiualry, Could it from sudaine desolation sheild, A fort so strong, and so well built was heard of seld.

18 The Caualier of Hope stood to defend Another side of this religious Fort, Vpon whose lofty battlements was kennd, An azure flagge that with the windes did sport, Wherein was wrought in artificiall sort, A golden Anchor: but on either hand, Two Bulwarkes did this Caualier support, The Fortresse of Delight, a piece well mann’d, And most completely built, did first in order stand.

23 Vpon this Bastiles toppe a flagge appeard, Wherein a wretched Trauellour was painted, That on the grasse lay all with blood besmear’d, In such a pitt’ous plight, as if he fainted, But a graue Sire, with med’cine well acquainted, Seem’d to take pitty on this wofull wight; His gapeing wounds he finely cleans’d, and tainted. Two Bulwarkes strong prouided well for fight, This Caualier did garde, on left hand, and on right.

19 Vpon whose height discouer’d was a banner, Wherein was fairely offer’d to the eye, A Dame descipher’d in a comely manner, That seem’d a warbleing Harpsichorde to ply, With nimble fingers, white as iuory,

24 The first, the Fort of Mercy was y’clep’t, Vpon whose battlements a flagge was pight, Whereon a Mayde appeard, that kneeld, and wept,

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The Booke of Gods pure word: This Bastile stout Contriu’d and built by a celestiall witt, Safely to let freinds in, and keepe foes out, A port of strength not to be conquerd was (no doubt).

18.1 Hope stood] Hope d stood 21.6 with such skill] with ⌜such⌝ skill 21.7 wise clearkes] wizards ⌜wise clearkes⌝

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Before a Lion grimme, whose furious sprite, Did seeme to relent at this pitt’ous sight, Hee lick’d her trembling eleuated palmes, And with his pawe her ruffled hayres layd right, Her dreary mone, his lofty courage calmes, Hee freely gaue her life (no doubt) a pretious almes.

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25 The Fort of Bounty, last in order stood, A Bulwarke strong, and large, vpon whose brow, A pendant streamer daunc’d as red as blood, That did a blith and merry Lady showe, Who from a Cornucopia, whence did flow All sorts of pleasant fruites, and wealthy graines, Her lib’rall dole did ioyfully bestowe, On all degrees she spard nor cost, nor paines, But with iudicious wisedome delt abroad her gaines. 26 This Cittadell of true Religion, Was night, and day assaild by sundry foes, That did on euery side it set vpon, Nor was it alway free from ciuill blowes, For in rebellious armes false brethren rose, That with their airy noueltyes possest, The fancyes of weake men yea these be those, That with the vele of sanctity doe vest, Their foule intendments, troubleing holy Churches rest. 27 But these blind zelots were too weake alas, This famous Cittadell to ouerthrow, Their malice did their strength (god wot) surpasse, They with more gall, then braine were fraught (god know) They wanted might to giue a deadly blow, A sect more dangerous then these did lurke, In this religious Fort men that could showe, Reasons for what they did, who could so worke That they seemd to repayre, while they o’rethrew the Kirke.

28 Oh sacred thirst of gold that dost compell, Science to be a slaue, to fortune fraile, The Thebane Kilcow did descend to Hell, From thralldome dire his dearest freind to baile, And did come backe from that infernall Iayle: But these goe thither, thence nere to returne For wealth they labour both with tooth and naile, And so that each can but serue his owne turne, [they burne. What care they though both Church and Commonwealth 29 Those functions that were long agoe esteem’d, Atlanticke burdens of such weight that they, Euen as vnweldy as a prouince seem’d, No burthens are become, but honors gay, Where pride and couetise beare all the sway, Merit without money walkes vnregarded,

Preferments locke must haue a golden key, Bare Vertue lyes obscurely vnrewarded, While golden basenes is with honor soundly larded. 30 The greedy Patrone, and the Simonist, Doe make the Church of God a theeuish denne, The crafty temporizeing Dogmatist, Doth new fantasticall opinions penne, So to obtaine repute among great men, These troubled much Doxorthus gouernment, And daily stroue this Cittadell to brenne, They with false veyles conceald those ills they meant, Inly surcharg’d with guile, and wicked hardyment. 31 These were the Rebells, that did earst make head, Against the Ruler of the Holy Ile, By whom they had bin oft discomfited, Yet did renue their strength, within a while, Returning to their enterprises vile, But now Albanio them so terrifyd, That they beyond the Cataracts of Nile, With shame retreated, where they still abide, [ride. Robbeing poore Passengers, that through those Desarts 32 Now since all ciuill broiles were quenched quite, Doxorthus, who with curt’sy did abound, Gaue noble entertainement to the Knight, The tables were with costly diet crown’d, While they in pretious wines, all sorowes drown’d. But when the Sunne of their mirth shin’d most cleere, A hideous clamour made them all astound, And presently among them did appeare, [cheere. Intrudeing guests, whose rude behauiour spoil’d their 24.4 sprite] sp⌜r⌝ite 26.3 did on euery] did e on euery stanzas 26-29] A thoroughly deleted stanza appears between stanzas 26 and 27, numbered 27. Stanzas 27 and 28 were originally, as further notes indicate below, numbered 28 and 29; subsequent misnumbering caused by the removal of the original stanza 27 was not corrected in the manuscript; we have silently altered it here, to reflect the stanzas’ present positions in the canto. The original stanza 27 read as follows: Those ceremonious rites that were ordain’d To decke the glorious browes of Sions Queene Despitefully they mock’d at, and disdain’d, But strange it is they should the surplice spleene, For they in outsides white disguised bene: Their woluish thoughts, in lammeskinnes they conceale, Th’are white without, but blacke as Hell within, They God Almightyes worship from him steale, And with their honest neihbours fraudulently deale. 27] Written over 28 28] Written over 29 28.9 burne.] burn The final letters of this word have been lost in the trimming of the manuscript, along with the terminal punctuation. The present reading has been supplied by comparison with the previous line. 32.6 But when] ⌜But⌝ When

Book 7 Canto 7 33 A rout of Monsters, of such ougly features, That neuer did the wrath of Ioue excite, From Plutos Kingdome, such ill-fauor’d creatures, Enterd the palace with most impetuous flight, And greedily did on the table light. In face they did a womans feature showe, But look’t as if they had bin famish’d quite, A sinke of filth, did from their paunches flow, More crooked were their talons sharp then a drawne bowe.

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34 These with a touch defil’d their dainty cates, Much they deuour’d, and much they left behind, They were such vncleane, and vnsau’ry mates, That greedy Curres, with hunger almost pin’d, Wold with their filthy fragments, scarce haue din’d: For in the dishes lothsome stuffe they threw, And when their gorges were with meate well lin’d, In gobbets they it vp againe did spue, And haueing thus quite marr’d the feast away they flew. 35 Albanio at this foule abuse much wonder’d, And (of this mischiefe the cause to descry) Hee many reasons in his iudgement ponderd: Surmiseing that some great impiety, Of an inexpiable quality, Had hal’d this vengeance downe from the iust skyes, Or that the iniur’d, angry Deity, Did with these horrid monsters, thus chastise The world, for pride, lust, and vnsatiate couetise. 36 What heynous sinne hath bin committed here? What greiuous wickednes hath mou’d (sayd hee) The Gods against you to be so seuere? No petty fault, no small sinne, could it bee That incens’d Ioue in such a high degree, No peccadillo surely could excite The Thunderer, to render suff’rance free, To these damn’d Hagges that they should vent their spite, Vpon the wretched heads of any mortall wight. 37 Now had a pallid horrour ouerspred, The face of good Doxorthus, but at last His passion was by reason vanquished, And with a ruefull looke, to earth downe cast, As one that mourn’d, to thinke of euills past, An wofull story hee ’gan to rehearse, Which made the Knight of Prudence sore agast, So sad a Legend, ne in prose ne verse, Was euer writt (I weene) by sage Cronographers.

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Canto 7 Doxorthus to Albanio doth Eusebias story tell Who with the bowe of Hercules The Harpyes foule doth quell. 1 Why should the learned throng so much reproue The late assertion of Copernicus? Who held that th’Earth doth circularly moue, Since by experience it appeares to vs, That his position’s not so friuolous, For doth that one-eyd Charriotter behold Ought vnderneath his throne so glorious, Which alway doth the same condition hold, And nere by change or alteration was controld. 2 Did euer any earthly thing retaine, A settled state, this worlds an Ocean, That ebbes and flowes, yea flowes and ebbes againe, Then wrongfully is Fortune blam’d by Man, Who doth the change of his affaires scanne, By her vnconstancy, when shee doth ground Her foote vpon this globe, how can she than Stand firme and sure, when all the world turnes round, Oh Mortalls cease, thus without cause, her fame to wound. 3 The Mighty Lord Creatour of all things, Who sittes aboue the skyes, in glorious throne, Who bridles Tyrants, and awes earthly Kings, Compos’d three worlds by his high pow’r alone, All which he rules, needeing the help of none; Great diff’rence is betweene these worlds of his, The first world is his royall Mansion, A world eternall fraught with endles blisse, Which beyond thought of Man, or Angell happy is. 4 The second world’s a transitory tract, The subiect of corruption, a meere stage, Where ioy, and woe, alternally doe act, Where alteration without checke doth rage, 33.4 the palace with most impetuous] the p⌜a⌝lace with ⌜most⌝ impetuous 33.5 And greedily . . . light.] This line has been inserted between its neighbours, sometime after the original copying process; a mark of insertion appears in the left margin. The insertion includes no punctuation, which we have supplied. 34.7 when] then when 35.7 that the iniur’d] that some the iniur’d 36.6 excite] in⌜ex⌝cite 36.9 the wretched heads] the ⌜wretched⌝ heads 37.8 So] so Arg.4 quell.] quell 1.1 reproue] enveigh ⌜reproue⌝ 1.2 The late] Against th’ The late 2.9 without] with out

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

And this world is nought but a spatious cage, Where men, birds, beasts, and fishes doe abide, And haue a dwelling place, from age to age, Till all shall bee destroy’d, and nullify’d, Leaueing no place to shew where it did earst abide. 5

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The third World is a world of misery, Where Horrour on a throne of burning brasse, Sittes roareing forth most direfull blasphemy, Where guilty Soules cry rufully alas, Bicause their torments doe all paines surpasse, And this world is eternall too, cleap’t Hell, Here no vicissitude hath any place, Here balefull woe, in a sulphureous dell, Gnasheing her teeth most hideously doth euer dwell. 6 Thus is the second world compos’d (you see) Of bale, and blisse, of woe, and happynes, Then let no wight account it strange, if hee Falls from felicity, to deepe distresse, Since great Iehouah hath decreed no lesse, So falls the ripe fruite from the fadeing tree, So doth grimme darkenes the cleere light oppresse, So must heauens brightest lampes ecclipsed bee, Yea who can say ought is from alteration free. 7 But this sad story, which Doxorthus told, Did plainely shew the change of worldly state, For nere ensample was there new, or old, That did with ampler circumstance relate, The mickle ficklenes of earthly fate, So high prosperity was neuer seene, Ne yet calamity so profligate, As did attend vpon this mighty Queene, Of whom Doxorthus sage, thus spake in sobbeing threne. 8 A Prince there was, of so great pow’rfullnes, That Hee all earthly Kings did farre surpasse, Those monarches which o’re crystall Euphrates, Their glistring scepters brandish’d with such grace, Might not compare with him in any case, Nor yet that Monarch of great Macedon, Whose victoryes from sea to sea did trace, But though hee did in might exceed each one, Yet meeke he was, so meeke as hee, as yet was none. 9 A spouse he had of admirable feature, But her sweet minds endowments, were so rare, That they were neuer paraleld by creature, Her wisedome (certes) was beyond compare, And of her Lord she was the onely care, Him great affaires withdrew, from her sweet side,

Into a mighty realme, from her afarre, Where did as great a King as hee abide, As free as hee, from malice, surquedry, and pride. 10 Matters of high importance did him moue, To leaue his dearest loue, yea to doe thus, For her much guerdon it did him behoue, Nor wold he trust a gemme, so pretious, Without a sturdy garde, but cautelous For her security, appoints a Knight, Of peereles quality, cleap’t Maximus, To bee her Champion, and to doe her right, Against all those that euer should against her fight. 11 Who long did brauely mannage her defence, Against domesticke, and her forraine foes, To right her wrongs, couragiously intense, Where danger was still ready to oppose, Preseruing her with policy, and blowes: But what (aye mee) in this world can be free From balefull change, the Sunne that glorious rose Envelop’t is with clouds, ere night (wee see) And smoothest calmes to stormes oft times forerunners bee. 12 Thus sad disasters doe blest times ensue, Which poore Eusebia found to her much greife, For Maximus or weake, or careles grew, Neclecting to afford her due releife, This soone was sented by a famous Theife, Whom Ioue had throwne downe to a gloomy dell, Hee of all damn’d Apostates was the cheife, And euer stroue surcharg’d with rancour fell, To bee aueng’d on him, that had him cast to Hell. 13 Hee Ophioneus hight, who whilome durst, In lawles armes against his maker rise, With impious rage, and boldnes most accurst, Attempting the Almighty to surprise, But sore now his foole-hardy enterprise Hee rues, throwne from high blisse to endles paines, Where hee with crafty leasings doth deuise, To bring poore wights into his wicked traines, Vnhappy’s hee that lends an eare to his sweet straines. 14 Scyron, who wont to sitte vpon a Rocke, Forceing each poore surprised Passenger, To wash his feet, while hee the wretch did knocke, Into the roareing deepes was not his peere For cruelty, nor Scinis who whilere, With all he caught did make’t his onely sport, 6.7 cleere] bright ⌜cleere⌝ 6.8 brightest] Here the letter e is written over an original long s 12.8 stroue] since ⌜stroue⌝

Book 7 Canto 7

On bended trees, in piecemeale them to teare, Nor sterne Procrustes, who in cruell sort, Each guest euen’d with his bed, were hee or long or short.

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15 This subtile Ophioneus did seduce Sir Maximus, with fained promises, Inciteing him vnto a foule abuse, Hee with perswasiue language did him presse, Against his Lord his forces to addresse, And for to make the faire Eusebia his, False Maximus gaue eare to these ill hests, Tempting Eusebia by strange policyes, And vseing horrid arts, to cause her doe amisse. 16 Nor did he spare imperious spells, to make Th’infernall powers, second his designe, The earth did grone, and th’iniur’d heauens did quake, The blusheing Moone did from her sphere decline, The starres affrighted, did forbeare to shine, Nor did he want arts help, for his intent, Hippomanes he mix’d with lusty wine, And from a Hart the youthfull marrow hent, Which with an am’rous turtles liuer dry’d he me’int. 17 The Night-rauen, and the Shrike-Owle both he plum’d, And from a halfe-staru’d bitches chappes bones tore, Which hee to dust in Colchian flames consum’d, Egges he annointed with a blacke toades gore, Hee herbes by moonelight cropp’t, vpon the shore Of blacke Auernus, with a bloudy blade; These simples vs’d he, and a thousand more, Which hee from vncouth lands, and Desarts had, Whereof the drinke of lustfull appetite he made. 18 With this, he sought Eusebias loue to winne, But she with vertue fill’d, and knowledge high, Rebuk’t the wretched Caitife, for his sinne, By open force, then did the Villaine try, To reaue the Lady of her chastity, But shee foreseeing his intentions vile, Surcharg’d with iust disdaine, away did flye, And speedily arriued in this Ile, Which shee selected for her fortunate asyle.

19 The Lady haueing thus eschu’d a rape, Was wondrous glad of her arriuall here, But Ophioneus mad, for her escape, In furious wise his hayre did rent, and teare, And swolne with thirst of vengeance, then did sweare, That hee wold make’t a most vnhappy place, Which any entertainement gaue to her, Nor wold hee night or day his rest embrace, Till hee had layd a plot, our glory to deface.

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20 Hee enters counsell with Echidna fell, The blacke Echidna, who with roddes of fire, Driues guilty Soules downe to the deepest Hell, Who neuer ceaseth to excite Ioues ire; Her help did Ophioneus require; Nor was it long ere they did bothe aggree, To plague our Iland, with these Harpyes dire, Who daily doe infest vs, as you see, [wee. That now the world hath not more wretched wights then 21 Nor doe these Hagges our holy altars spare, Those duetyes which wee to the Gods doe pay, These filthy Monsters doe among them share, Our sacred off’rings they purloyne away, No humane witt, or force can them affray, They in such multitudes about vs throng; But three among them all beare chiefest sway, These doe incite the rest to tortious wrong, More subtile to deuise, to execute more strong. 22 The first Aello’s cleap’t, whose sole delight In rapine is, and ’tis her onely drift, For to intrude vpon anothers right; The second hight Ocipete the swift, And shee of actiue speed and quicknes hath the gift. The third’s Celæno nam’d, Celæno sly, That can conceale by cunning slight, and shift Her foule deceits, from the most pierceing eye; These are the direfull plagues, which heauy on vs lye. 23 Thus spake Doxorthus, while his dreary tale So thrill’d the heartstrings, of the royall Fay, That from his brest, arose an wofull gale Of sighes, which for a while stopp’t vp the way Of his reply, but haueing driuen away All passionate regards, hee thus beganne, And must your miseryes then last for aye, Will heauen afford no succour vnto man? Yes questionles (Doxorthus) Heauen both will, and can. 24 When first these Monsters ’gan vs to infest (Quoth sage Doxorthus then) in humble guise, Our true deuotions wee to heauen addrest, With bended knees, and palmes vprear’d likewise, To pull downe gentle pitty from the skyes, The suffrage of owr pray’rs at length surpast, The number of our sinnes tumult’ous cryes; And Heauen vouchsaf’d of hope to let vs taste, That from these mischiefes foule wee might be freed at last. 15.8 by strange policyes,] ⌜by⌝ strange ⌜by⌝ policyes, 22.4 Ocipete] Ocipete; 23.4 the] Here the fossil thorn of ye is written over an original letter e. 24.6 pray’rs] Written over praiers

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 30 So wee, (when wee saw our indeauours vaine, Because those Parragons of Chiualry, Could not by force of sinewy armes constraine, The sturdy bowe to bend) to Heauen did cry For some reliefe, perplexed greiuously With grisly terrour, and discomfort dire; Wee with requests the Gods afresh did ply, Some noble Knight with valour to inspire, Throwgh whose high prowesse all our sorowes might expire.

26 This answere from the Oracle wee tooke, And for the bowe, then made a long enquest, Searcheing the world about from nooke, to nooke, (Which found) in publicke edicts wee exprest, How from these Monsters wee might be releast, To this adventure calleing euery wight, That could his armes in combate mannage best, And though to actions braue othes bind each Knight, Wee with rewards them to th’adventure did envite.

31 (This sayd) diuine Albanio gaue an end Vnto his speech; and haue the Gods sayd hee A sanction made, that whosoere can bend Alcides bowe, shall yee from trouble free? Doxorthus answerd it is their decree. Where is the bowe (the Knight did then reply) Where is the bowe? perhaps I may be hee, That am ordain’d by pow’rfull destinye, To doe the happy act: let mee my fortune try.

27 Then from the Court of famous Gloriane, Here many Knights arriu’d, of high desart, Each hopeing that himself should bee the Man, Which should a period adde vnto our smart: Hither did poste the Mayden Britomart, Sir Guyon, Arthegall, and Scudamore, The Noble Red-crosse Knight, and Brandimart, Sir Tristram, Launcelot, and Calidore, The bold Sir Satyrane, and thrice as many more.

32 Thus spake Albanio, nor did his reply Lesse comfort bring, vnto the aged Sire, Then doth the siluer spring to him apply, That is through thirst, euen ready to expire. Gladly Doxorthus fulfill’d his desire: The bowe was brought of sturdy steele y’wrought, The strength of it the Knight did much admire, Surcharged inwardly with various thought, Suspecting sore that his attempt wold auaile nought.

28 But none of these, could stand vs in much stead, For though faire Britomart, and Arthegall, In vig’rous prowesse, did the most exceed, And had the prize nigh gained from them all, Yet nor to his, nor her lot, did it fall, The fatall engine to command to yeild, His hornes to the tough string; this did appall Vs that were earst with hope of freedome filld, And with the deadly darts of dispayre, our hearts thrill’d.

33 But when he came his manly strength to try, Hee found the mettall pliant to his mind, He bent the bowe, with much facility: So doth th’industrious pasture fenceing Hinde, The tender twigges which way he pleaseth winde: This did Doxorthus with such ioy possesse, That hee which is to endles thrall confin’d, Cannot such glee and merryment expresse, When Hee doth ioyfull tidings heare of his release.

29 As when the Preist, before the Altar sets A snow-white Oxe, that neuer bow’d to yoke, Deck’d with guilt hornes, and flowry coronets, Then ouerthrowes him, with a fatall stroke, While od’rous spices in the fane doe smoke, But searcheing in his entrailes finds portents, Of tragicke sturres, which makes him to invoke The Gods, for omens of more blest euents, While feare from the amazed rout hath reft all sence.

34 Oh shew me where these monsters doe abide, (Quoth glad Albanio then) vnto the place Which they frequent (Doxorthus) doe me guide, That I may soone destroy that wicked race, Which doe this Islands glory so deface; Then to a rocke the Elfin Knight he led,

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25 For sending to the Oracle, to know A present remedy, for our distresse, The God did answere thus: goe find the bowe, Which did belong to Thebane Hercules, With this ye may your miseryes redresse, When ye shall happe to find a pious Knight, Endu’d with vig’rous force in such excesse, That hee shall bend the same without all sleight, And it ’gainst your rapacious Harpyes vse in fight.

25.2 for] f ⌜or⌝rom 26.5 How] W How 29.5 od’rous] easterne ⌜od’rous⌝ 31.4 free?] Written over free. 31.6 the Knight . . . reply)] The close parenthesis at the end of this line has been written over a deleted question mark.

Book 7 Canto 7

Whose naked scalpe, was neuer clad with grasse; Here on their filtched cates the Harpyes fed, Here night and day they gluttonously rauined.

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35 Adiacent to this rocke there was a groue, Where trees with trees, did loueingly entwine, The trees of Bacchus, Phœbus, Mars, and Ioue, Nor Sunne, or Moone, therein did euer shine. Albanio here t’accomplish his designe, In secret tooke his stand, and letting fly A shaft at blacke Aello, it did ioyne Her carkasse to the cliffe, then with her cry, Shee warn’d her fellowes, of the danger that was nigh. 36 But ere they could betake themselues to flight, And while they gaz’d on euery side to see, From whence the mischiefe came a shaft did light Vpon the pinion of Ocipete, Which did her make vnable for to flee, But with a second hee her gorge piercd through, With that her filthy soule vp belched shee, And gobbets late deuoured, did forth throwe, While from her wound a flood of ougly gore did flowe. 37 And (thou Celæno) though thou had’st the skill, To hide thy thefts, now couldst not shunne the teene, Of great Albanio, who thy paunch did thrill, And tore thy entrailes, with an arrow keene: These Harpyes did he slea vnknowne vnseene So Phœbus did (his Mothers wrongs to right) Destroy the offspring of the Thebane Queene, Who fraught with insolence, and proud despite, Latonas Deity so scornfully did slight. 38 (These three chiefe Harpyes ouerthrowne and slaine) The residue tooke wing, and flew away, Returning to the depth of Hell againe, (But if old Historyes we credite may) Some fled into mens consciences (they say) Where they found roome enough for to lye close Where wicked men they stirre vp night, and day, To rapines, and oppressions hideous, Infesting Common-wealths with troubles perillous. 39 Great was the ioy throughout the Holy Ile, For this deliuerance: a publicke feast Was solemnly proclaym’d, forbiddeing toyle On paine of death, to euery man, and beast, The Altars were with sacrifices prest, The Temples were perfum’d with odours sweet, And fragrant spiceryes, fetch’d from the East: Yong Men, and Virgins, then did thinke it meete, In sundry dances, to employ their nimble feet.

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40 Fat venison, and wine the tables crown’d, And martiall games were publish’d euery where, Such as Alcmenas sonne did whilome found, And causd to bee perform’d, in each fifth yeere, On the Olympian mount, that each youth there (Whom honorable guerdon did incite) Might try his force, and skill, at sword or speare: Leape, wrastle, runne, and at the hurle-bats fight, For to make tryall of his force and manly might. 41 Nor was the faire Eusebia out of mind, Though shee dwelt in a solitary cell, To which shee had long since her self confin’d, Yea euer since those direfull plagues of Hell, Those Harpyes foule vpon the Iland fell; Her yeares in holy duetyes there she spent, Quenching her thirst, with licour from the well, And with that ordinary fare content, Which her poore Garden daily did to her present. 42 Her royall vestures shee had layd aside, And in a homely sable stole was clad, Abandoning all vanity, and pride, And much inclin’d to meditation sad Of those disasters, which befalne her had: Albanio follow’d, by a solemne traine, Went forth vnto that vnfrequented glade, Where the religious Lady did remaine, And seeing her sad plight, could scarce from teares refraine. 43 But when she heard the Harpyes were all gone, A sudaine ioy did in her face appeare, So did the world reioyce to see the sunne, Stripp’d of the mourning weed which hee did weare, Greiu’d for the fall of his rash Charrioter, Albanio then vpon her head did set, 35.1 a groue] The indefinite article has been deleted, perhaps because Knevet intended some revision; because no evidence of such a supposed revision exists, for the benefit of the metre and sense we have retained the original reading. 35.7 did] did did The presentation of the handwriting varies here, as if Knevet slowed to consider the text as he copied it. The resulting solution – a half-rhyme following a copying error – is far from perfect. 36.9 ougly] ⌜ougly⌝ filthy 37.5 These Harpyes . . . vnseene] This line has been inserted between its neighbours, at some point after the original copying process. An asterisk indicating the point of insertion appears in the left margin. 38.4 Historyes we] Historyes where we 38.6 enough for to] enough ⌜for⌝ to 38.9 perillous.] perillous 39.1 the ioy] y⌜e⌝t ioy 39.6 perfum’d] perfum’ d, 40.1 the] ye ⌜the⌝ 40.7 his] Written over an 40.9 For to make . . . might.] Or any other way assay his ⌜For to make tryall of his force and⌝ manly might.

Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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2 A regall crowne, enchac’d with emeralds cleare, And at her necke did hang a cárkanet, In sumpt’ous manner garnish’d with a pearly frett.

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44 Hee caus’d her to put of her mourning vest, And to put on a gowne of Tyrian dye, Embroider’d with the riches of the east, And deck’d with costly ermine inwardly, A pretious zone about her hee did tye, And on her finger puts the ring of blisse, Wherein twellue sundry gemmes cut curiously, Were fix’d by wondrous art: a ring like this, Nor Gyges, nor Polycrates, ere had y’wis.

45 In sumpt’ous weedes, great Cleopatra dight, Haueing Hydaspes robd of his rich store, And shineing like a constellation bright, Presenting her maiesticke self before, The proud Triumvir, who did her adore, In comely grace, was not Eusebias peere, Nor yet Semiramis, that did of yore The spoiles of kingdomes for a necklace weare; Eusebias beauty past all beautyes that ere were. 46 Albanio, now her led in stately guise Vnto the palace of Doxorthus right, Where were prouided costly rarityes, To entertaine the Lady, and her Knight, That were replenish’d with extreme delight, Here for a while Albanio stayd, and then Himself did vnto new adventures dight, Leaueing Irene, with the holy Queene, Who bothe besought him with speed to returne agen.

Canto 8 Pandora to Prometheus sent, His Brother doth deceiue, Whom from enchantment terrible Albanio doth repriue.

1 As doth the expert Pilot his barke steere, (Maugre stout Æoles or sterne Neptunes spite) Vnto his port, although no starre appeare, Nor any happy sea-marke come to light, Him in his passage to direct aright; So should sage Prudence onely the course guide, Of humane actions, who by graue foresight, Doth vs secure from froward Fortunes pride, While wee are saileing through this stormy Ocean wide.

By her conduct, Vlisses did eschue Subtile Calypsos snares, shee did advise Him not to gaze vpon the Syrens hue, And not to listen to her elegies. When hee with Aiax rude tryd masteryes, For great Achilles armes, shee stood him by, Shee prompting him hee wonne the glorious prize, And then saw his enraged enemy, Empurpled with his owne bloud desperately dye. 3 When Man was form’d, the Criticke Momus fleerd, ’Cause in his brest there was not fix’d a glasse, Through which his inward thoughts might haue appear’d; But much mistaken was the carping Asse, His censure without iudgement hee did passe: Had hee found fault because Ioue had not fram’d Man like to Ianus, with a double face, Lookeing two wayes hee had not so bin sham’d, Nor for his fond opinion, deseru’d to bee so blam’d. 4 But what auailes a double sette of eyes, Since God hath in the Microcosmes high sphere, His proper image fix’d whereby the wise Reflect on obiects past their eyesight cleere, Present and future things to them appeare, From Times recordes those rules they doe extract By which their actions safely they may steere, From obseruation they proceede to acte, With heedefull prouidence and prudence most exact. 5 For hee that will euade the fatall stroke, Of adverse Chance, and not his necke submitt, Vnto the comb’rous weight of fortunes yoke, Must not precedent accidents forget, Nor yet of what may happen careles sitte: 43.9 frett.] frett, 46.3 rarityes,] written over raretyes, 2.4 elegies.] elegies;. 2.7 Shee] shee 3.6 fram’d] fram’ d; 4.1-9 But what . . . most exact] The whole of this stanza is made up of interlineal insertions added to an existing, deleted stanza. The layout of the deletions and insertions suggest that this was a comparatively late revision, made after this part of the poem had been copied. The original text reads as follows: Nor certes is it meete that any wight, Should blame the wisedome of the Thunderer, Because a payre of eyen he hath not pight, In th’hinder part of th’head, for although there No eyes, no organes sensitiue appeare, Yet with an architecture so diuine, Hee framed hath the Microcosmes high sphere, That euery Man may backeward cast his eyne, And things long since done, take from times eternall scrine. Knevet has not punctuated his inserted lines; we have added light punctuation in his usual style. 5.2 Of adverse] Of d adverse

Book 7 Canto 8 But good example is the nearest way, That tends vnto our iorneys end: by it, Arriue at wisedomes port wee soonest may, For precepts path is long, and difficult, (they say).

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6 Albanio did his actions regulate, By braue example, so did Philips sonne, The vertue of Achilles imitate, Who wept bicause he wanted such a one Those acts to blazon which by him were done, As Homer was: Then florished our bayes, Then braue expploites were frequently begunne When Poets did Kings braue achieuements praise, And when Kings to due honours, did their Poets raise. 7

Nor can I here forbeare to praise thy worth, (Illustr’ous Knight) mirrour of prowesse braue, That like a storme com’st thundring from the North, Where Hyems checkes the Hyperborean waue, With icy curbe, forbiddeing seas to laue, (With their aspireing droppes) the beard of Ioue: Proud Fortune is become thy vertues slaue; Thou nations dost as well subdue by loue, As armes, thy foes doe of thy fortitude approue. 8 And though in thy estiuall solstice now, The Phœbus of thy fortune should decline, Yet none, of thy attempts shall disallow, Though thousands at thy valour doe repine: In spite of Death, or hate, thy starre shall shine, No foe shall say thou fell’st like Phaeton: Thou ha’st not so ill mannag’d thy designe, For led by conquest, so farre ha’st thou gone, That euerlasting Fame is fixd thy name vpon.

9 Thy excellence in armes, thy loue to arts, Shall moue all hearts to eleuate thy fame, Although no penne can equall thy desarts, But wee must still bee Debtors to thy name, Vnable for to gratify the same With due applause; so high thy meritts bee: The Forrests winged Tyrants thou did’st tame, The Eagle fierce before thy face did flee, The Griffons of Iberia beaten were by thee. 10 Now had Albanio left the Holy Ile, Glad, that he had expell’d the Harpyes thence, Through feilds, and Forrests he rode many a mile, Yet mett with no advent’rous accidents, At length an wofull noise did pierce his sence It seem’d a cry, of some one much distrest:

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The Gentle Knight stands still, to heare from whence The dolefull sound should come, and quickly ghest, Where hee the party should find out, that was opprest. 11 As the stout Forrester, when hee hath lost The cry of his fleete hounds, in a hote chase, Stayes his pursute, list’ning to euery coast, But when he heares old Ringwoods yelpeing base, Towards the game he hastes with speedy pace, Euen so Albanio, after some delay, Perceiueing whence the dreary voice sent was, Dracontes spurr’d, bending his course that way, To see what mister wight it was, in such affray. 12 Not much more then a furlong, had he rode, When in a darke, and gloomy vale he was, Whose branched Trees forbade the Delphian God, With his bright rayes to guild the dusky grasse, Here he descry’d a wight, in wretched case: This vncouth spectacle ammusd the Knight: Like Phineus at the view of Gorgons face, Hee stood amaz’d a while: so dire a sight Till then he ne’re beheld, nor any other wight. 13 It was a Man, with armes and thighes expanded, Bound to a wheele, whose motion neuer ceast: His browes Time had with many wrinkles branded, A knot of vipers bedded in his brest, There, with his heart themselues did daily feast. And though for many ages they thereon Had fed, yet seem’d it not a whit decreast: The Mizer gaue full many a shrike, and grone, Makeing the neihbour trees to tremble at his mone. 14 Then wise Albanio from amazement freed, Thus spake, what wretched wight ar’t thou, (quoth hee) Thy pitt’ous plight doth make my heart to bleed, Or thou perhaps some cursed fiend mayst bee, For some foule sinne here plagu’d (by heauen’s decree) But whatsoere thou bee, I thee adiure, By Ioues omnipotence to shew to mee, What did thy greiuous punishment procure, Perhaps I may thee, from thy great distresse recure. 15 Then thus ’gan he reply: (oh Gentle Knight) I am no cursed Fiend, but mortall poore, Whom thus you see with torments ill bedight: I Husband was vnto the faire Pandore, 6.5 Those acts . . . were done,] This line has been inserted between its neighbours, at some point after the original copying process. An asterisk indicating the point of insertion appears in the left margin . 7.1 forbeare] ⌜forbeare⌝ forget Knevet first attempted this alteration by over-writing, but then deleted the word and inserted his correction above the line.

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And Epimetheus was y’cleap’t of yore, I entertainement gaue vnto that sly Dame, Whom all the Gods had honord with their store Of rare endowments, but shee wrought me shame, And for this plague I may my proper folly blame.

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16 Then quoth Albanio: tell me what did moue The Gods aboue, to such vnsatiate ire? How did’st thou thus incurre the wrath of Ioue, That thou shouldst suffer such affliction dire? Aged Iapetus (sayd hee) was my sire, Prometheus my Brother, who stole away From Phœbus Charret wheele celestiall fire: For haueing made his imag’ry of clay, Minerua did admire his wisedome, much (they say). 17 Yea Pallas was so taken with his art, That shee did bidde him aske what he wold haue, To make his worke accomplish’d in each part: Hee humbly at her hands did license craue, That hee might goe to heauen with her: shee gaue Him his request: (and there arriu’d) On euery side he did his eyesight waue, To see how things supernall were contriu’d, And perceiu’d how all Creatures were by fire enliu’d. 18 Hee saw Apollo from his burning carre, Dart beauty, vigour, life, and lustre bright, On euery plant, Bird, Fish, Beast, Man, and Starre, Therefore ambitious thoughts did him envite, His rodde at the sunnes charret wheele to light. My Brother proud of his celestiall theft, Endu’d his Idoll with a liuely sp’rite, By vertue of that fire, which hee had reft, And in his mortall clay, a soule immortall left. 19 This bold attempt did Iuppiter displease, Who destin’d him to greiuous punishment, No sacrifices could his wrath appease, And Hee to vs a crafty Lady sent, Adorn’d with qualityes most excellent, Pandore shee hight: on whom the Gods deuine, Had many singular endowments spent, But shee was sent downe vs to vndermine: The vengeance of the angry Gods who can decline. 20 A boxe Ioue gaue to her with mischiefes fill’d, Which hee commands her on him to bestowe, That should to her free entertainement yeeld, Shee to Prometheus first herself did showe, But hee as one who wisely did foreknow, What ill successe rash actions oft ensues,

Would no acceptance to her loue allow, But vtterly her proffers did refuse, While I am in the pittfall catch’d, which he eschues. 21 By him reiected, shee herself addrest To mee, with eloquence so sweet, and rare, That whether her speech, or forme was the best, I cannot without a long pause declare: But boldly this to you affirme I dare, That had Hippolitus but seene her face, In loues bonds hee had bin engaged farre; How could shee want a most accomplish’d grace, Who by the Senate of the Gods adorned was. 22 Her words, and beauty ’gainst mee did conspire, So long I her perfections gazd vpon, That I alas at last fell in the fire, So in the euening darke when some learn’d Don, By his cleere lampe his booke is poreing on, A fly much taken with the candle bright, Reckles of harme that may ensue thereon, Buzzeing her fun’rall Dirge about the light, At length doth sindge her wings, and is extinguish’d quite. 23 I did embrace this admirable piece; So whilome did fond Priam entertaine, With mirthfull glee that comely Queane of Greece, Which made the angry Greekes warres to darraine, And to invade the Phrygian feilds amaine, By whose reuengefull force the aged Knight, With all his valyant progeny was slaine, Yea Troy it self with ruinous despite Was ras’d, and in her smouldring ashes buryd quite. 24 Shee, as a pledge of her affection, Her noxious boxe vpon me did conferre, A done of horrour, and perdition; That shirt which Deianira sent whilere, (Vnweeting) vnto her mistrusted Feere, And that enchanted robe with poison sprent, Which mad Medea sent to Iasons deare, Were not so hurtfull, nor so pestilent, As this vnhappy gift, which from the Gods was sent. 16,9 (they say).] (they say) 17.4 craue] graue 19.9 vengeance] ⌜vengeance⌝ wisedome 20.5 as one who] as w one who 22.5 cleere lampe] ⌜cleere⌝ bright flampe Knevet’s revision, lampe, has been partially written over the original flame 24.7 sent to Iasons] sent I to Iasons

Book 7 Canto 8 25 I (with a curious appetite o’regone, To know what treasure this boxe did containe) Soone peep’d into the same: (which beeing done) Diuers diseases flew from thence amaine, Which now in humane bodyes wont to raigne, Autumnall Agues then abroad did flye, And Apoplexyes that invade the braine; With th’irkesome gout the Richmans maladye, And noysome Poxe the guerdon of foule Leachery.

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26 (But Phrygian-like) alas I wise too late Surcharg’d with greife for my improuidence, The company of mankind ’gan to hate, To melancholy solitude intense, Chooseing this vale for my sad residence, Heere did I spend my time in dreary woe, My dayes prolonging with but small expence; I for my drinke did to the fountaine goe, I tooke what foode these trees afforded, and no moe. 27 But I not long had here my dwelling fix’d, When with a cruell coniurer I mett, Whose dwelling is yon’ two blacke rockes betwixt: This crafty Caitife catch’d me in his nette, And with these greiuous torments me besett: Metamelus he hight: an ougly wight, Whose wirye tresses are as blacke as iette, Whose eyes are in his scalpe nigh bury’d quite, Who with foule snakes, doth daily feast his appetite. 28 He found mee in this solitary glinne, And seem’d as one with meere compassion thrill’d, To see the pitt’ous plight that I was in, Into my eares sweet language hee distill’d, To comfort mee that was with sorow filld, He led me to his melancholy cell, And gaue me what coarse cates his house did yeild, Hee mee perswaded with him for to dwell, In briefe the crafty Villaine vs’d me passeing well. 29 But when the Argos-sighted Night had hid, All things beneath her gloomy cipresse vele, When that my sences were in sleepes bonds ty’d, And Fancy onely stood for sentinell, Too weake a gardian those fone to repell, Which nightly wont poore mortalls to infest Then the Magician summon’d vp from Hell, His crue of damned Elues, through whose behest, Hee in this miserable manner mee distrest. 30 Nor euer since the Villaine plac’d me here, Did I behold the face of liueing wight, Nor Man, nor beast, nor chirpeing Bird comes neare

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This dell of dreary dolour, but each night, Infernall Hagges, with terrible affright, Encrease my woes, therefore for pittyes sake, Put thy deuoire in vre (renowned Knight) An end of my calamity to make, Oft noble Knights, on Caitifes vile, doe pitty take. 31 Vnbedde these Vipers from my wounded brest, With thy keene blade these wofull bonds disseuer, And let the motion of the wheele be ceast, By thy iudicious hand: if mortall euer Deseru’d releife, oh doe thou mee deliuer: Great was the weight of my offence I grant: But who can fence the shafts of Cupids quiuer, Which penetrate euen hearts of adamant? Whom can’t an outside, and an inside faire enchant? 32 (This sayd) Albanio thus shap’d his reply, Fond Epimetheus hadst thou foreseene, The sad euent of thy temerity, These troubles throwne on thee had neuer bene, Nor should the world haue suffer’d for the sinne Of thy ambitious brother: but wee see, The Gods did thinke it meet thou should’st beginne, The mournfull tragedye: they did decree [thee. That the whole race of mankind should be plagu’d through 33 Through thy improuidence wee must endure Calamit’ous diseases, greife, and woe, That els had liu’d from misery secure, Yea death it self wee now must vndergoe: Vaine Man wer’t thou to bee deluded so, By woman fraile: but since it is my fate, Here to arriue, thus I thy bonds vndoe, Thus thy enchantment I annihilate, Doe thou hereafter learne not to be wise too late. 34 With that he pluck’d the Mizer from the wheele, And from his brest the knotted vipers threw; That Epimetheus then beganne to feele Himself replete with life, and spirit new. As that old Ramme from whom Medea drew His crudled blood, with her Æmonian blade, Did in her magicke bathe his strength renew; So Epimetheus earst so ill bestad, By good Albanio freed was yong, and lusty made. 29.2 vele,] veyle vele, 29.6 nightly wont poore] nightly ⌜wont⌝ poore 30.6 my woes, therefore] my ⌜woes⌝ therefore 31.7 But] B written over W 32.5 the] Knevet appears originally to have written thy, altered it to the, reverted to thy, and then made a final alteration – with a superscript e – to the (the current reading). 34.5 Ramme from whom] Ramme w from whom 34.9 made.] made;.

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35 But when that sad Metamelus had seene, How his enchantment was dissolued quite, Hee tore his hayre, and flesh for very teene, And bootles raileing spent vpon the Knight. Curseing himself oft for his ouersight, Because he had not with some wicked plot, Forbidden accesse vnto euery wight, To this vnhappy vale that none ere mote, Of his enchantment euer solue the Gordian knot. 36 Yea hee with sorow was transported so, That hee did clime a rockes high craggy brow, And as one ouercharg’d with desp’rate woe, Himself from that high pitch did headlong throwe, But ere the wretched caitife came below, Ere that his pate the fatall stones did kisse The Gentle Gods, on him did pitty showe, And by a timely metamorphosis, The torment of Deaths cruell stroke caus’d him to misse.

37 For in his fall a new shape hee assumes, Turn’d to an Owle, the messenger of ill, His lazy armes were clad with brownish plumes, His nose was turn’d into a crooked bill, His eyes did stare wide in his noddle still, With hooked pounces armed were his pawes, Hee seem’d to liue, full sore against his will, Therefore himself he from resort withdrawes, Derided oftentimes by Mag-pyes, and Iacke Dawes. 38 His pristine nature still hee doth possesse, No Herald was he ere of tidings good, But brings vs newes of tragicall successe, Nor hath he quite forgot his cruell moode, But still delights to bee embru’d with blood, For hee by day ashamed to be seene, By night doth rome about the silent wood, Searcheing his prey among the branches greene, Where hee on lesser Birds, doth wreake his mortall teene. 39 Albanio now enstructs with learned thewes, Glad Epimetheus, adviseing him Not to be led aside by painted shewes, For pleasures (seeme they nere so faire and trimme) Produce an issue terrible, and grimme: Hee wishd him to beware of afterclaps, And to take heed least passions clouds should dimme, His reasons eyne: hee bade him shunne those gappes, Where fickle Fortune layes for heedles mortalls trappes. 40 Him Epimetheus thank’d for his advice, And with religious votes himself did bind, To bee a profest enemy to vice,

And alway to retaine his hests in mind, (His promises with vowes thus beeing sign’d) Albanio bade him heartily farwell, To his adventure vehemently enclin’d; Still as Leucippes name in his thoughts fell, It him to rescue her did more and more impell.

Canto 9 Old Misanactus entertaines, Albanio in his cell, Diuerts him from Leucippes aide, By force of magicke spell. 1 Although by force apparant, many foes, Striue to bring Man to dire calamity: Yet none are to be feared so as those, Which doe themselues to stratagems apply, Surpriseing vs ere wee their plots can spy, With resolution bold wee may outdare, The brau’ry of an open enemy, But what shift can wee make when that we are, Entangled vnawares in dangers deadly snare? 2 Nor (certes) is there any mortall wight, So subiect to the ginnes of Faitour vile, As hee that seekes to doe the wronged right, For Hell the nurse of treachery, and guile, Doth neuer cease plots ’gainst him to compile, But they that in base sloth their dayes doe spend, As safely liue, as they were in asyle, Their priuate pleasures, and delights they tend, No subtile Synon doth his sleights against them bend. 3 So doth the Builder let base brambles grow, And their inglorious heads securely reare, While hee doth vndermine, and ouerthrow, The bigge-limm’d Oke, whose height disdaines a peere: So doth the greedy Lion, or the Beare The fairest head of all the Heard pursue, So doth the Wolfe sease on the Belweather, So doth the Leachour vile seeke to subdue, The beautifullest feature that comes to his view. 35.8 mote,] might mote, 36.6 Ere that . . . did kisse] This line has been inserted between its neighbours, at some point after the original copying process. An asterisk indicating the point of insertion appears in the left margin. Arg.3 Leucippes aide,] Irenes quest, ⌜Leucippes aide⌝ 2.6 their dayes doe spend,] ⌜their dayes⌝ doe spend, their dayes,

Book 7 Canto 9

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4 Albanio now rode on his iorney fast, Desirous to accomplish his designe, But when Night did her misty veyle forth cast, And Hesperus ’gan in the west to shine, Hee in a leauy groue, that did adioyne, Sought for his rest, meaneing to lay his head, Vnder the shelter of some well clad pine, For want of better lodgeing; such a bed, Did many errant Knights stand often in much stead. 5 Farre in this Thicket had he not y’gone, When he descry’d nigh to a cristall Bourne, A Cottage pitchd, a sory mansion, So low, and so submisse, that winds did scorne To iustle with a building so forlorne, The noble Elfe was glad a place to view, Where hee might rest his weary limmes, ’till morne, Free from the inconvenience of the dew, Which in cold distillations falls from the heauens blew. 6 But draweing nigh, vpon an humble clod, Setled he saw a very aged sire, Who seem’d one much deuoted to his God, And well replenished with zealous fire, Of vnchast thoughts nere soyled with the mire, His eyes were often bent vpon the sky, As if he it did most of all desire, A holy Legend did before him lye, A Crucifixe likewise vpreared was him by. 7 An amice grey vpon his shoulders hung, Which seemed many winters to haue knowne, His lanke sides by an hairy zone were wrung, His beard as white as snow was ouergrowne, But on his pate, no hayre was to be showne, Like winter fruite his hands were clung, and shent, His furrow’d browes did seeme with sorowes sowne, With brinish teares his cheekes were all y’blent, Hee look’d as one that really was penitent. 8 Albanios ioy encreas’t, ’cause hee did meete, With so religious, and deuout a wight, And with a curt’ous congee did him greet, For hee (as antique historyes recite) Was a most holy, and most pious Knight, Addicted rather to his booke, then speare, In arts diuine, and humane exquisite; But when as deadly dangers did appeare, Then hee beganne a helmet, and a sheild to weare. 9 The Hermite, who seem’d one exactly skilld, In comely courtesy, and sacred hest, His due obeysance to the Knight did yeild,

And in much language faire his mind exprest, Beseecheing him that night to bee his guest, The Knight dismounting from his lofty steed, Was not vnwilling to graunt his request, Desireing rather on a homely bed, Then on an earthen pillow cold to couch his head. 10 The Oldman him into his cottage leades, Which with the glory of the meads was strow’d, Sweet-smelling Woodbine the low roofe orespreads, The earthen walls their nakednes did shroud, Vnder greene boughes, in stead of hangings proud, A slender meale then he prepares (God wot) This supper cost no liueing creatures bloud, Small cookery, or carueing needes there to’t, For what boote these to dresse an apple or a roote. 11 (This short refection ta’ne) to chatte they ’gan Of manifold affaires: the Hermite sly, Who could full readily his lesson scanne, By hidden drifts, and subtile policy, Into Albanios thoughts did seeke to pry, And humbly doth to know of him demand, The state of Glorianes court, and maiesty, Also hee did desire to vnderstand, What honorable action hee had now in hand. 12 Albanio that misdeem’d no ill at all, The state of his affaires before him layd, And what adventure hee had mett withall, And eke where hee had left the peacefull maide, Also how hee was bent to lend his aide, To faire Leucippe, ‘gainst a Gyant fell, Who of her honours her had disarray’d, That shee was forc’d to wonne in a darke dell, As one that is confin’d to a monasticke cell. 13 With sad attention did the Hermite heare, The fortunate achieuements of the Knight, Yet with a serene forhead did appeare, As one that ioyous was, and did delight To heare how well himself hee did acquite; Night now with poppy crown’d, and waited on By dusky dreames emprison’d had the light, In dungeon darke, when sage Albanio prone To take repose, was by his Hoste, to his bed sho’ne. 4.9 Did] Doth ⌜Did⌝ 5.6 place] ble place 7.5 showne,] showne 12.8 forc’ d] force⌜’⌝ d 13.9 sho’ne.] sho’ne,

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 19 At last he thought vpon a safer way, T’accomplish his designe, great was his skill, In magicke arts, the ghosts did him obey, The spirits were obedient to his will, What hee commanded ready to fulfill, Hee tooke in hand his bookes, of damned lore, While both Man, Beast, and Bird, were whist and still, A circle then he drew vpon the flore, Calling in haste a subtile spirit him before.

15 The Knight, without suspicion of deceit, Gladly betooke himself vnto his rest; How may graue wisedome bee o’rematch’d by sleight: For neither was the Hermite, (as he ghest) A holy Sire, as hee himself profest, Nor yet his freind, but a most impious wight, And his sworne foe, that had put on a vest Of sanctity, to shrowd his cankerd spite, Him to destroy vnseene, or any other Knight.

20 Him hee commands Irenes shape to take, So to present himself before the Knight, And semblance of much greife, and woe to make, As one that was in miserable plight, And ready to be forc’d by th’appetite, Of Leachour vile, the subtile spirit soone, Obeys his hests, and like an angell bright A maiesty celestiall puts on, To personate Albanios royall parragon.

16 This Misanactus was the politicke, To Faery land a deadly enemy, Who with vnlawfull plots did neuer sticke, To trouble Glorianes tranquillity, Which in such high degree he did envuy; For when Albanio had with graue foresight, Quite frustrated his damned treachery, Hee fled afarre fraught with shame, and despite, And in an Ile Suauania clep’t his dwelling pight.

21 Now while the Knight securely was at rest, This false Irene to him did appeare, With blubberd cheekes, beateing her tender brest, Beseeching him with speed to succour her, That was surpris’d by a foule Rauisher, Thrice in the occidentall waues (quoth shee) His teeme drench’d hath the heau’nly Charrioter, Since a most cruell Tyrant seas’d on mee, Oh now, or neuer, let me find releife from thee.

17 Where euer since perplexd with restles thought, Hee in the forge of his malicious pate, Collusions, and conspiracyes ywrought, The Knights of Maydenhead to ruinate, And ouerthrow great Glorianas state, But to acquire his ends with lesse delay, A Hermite pure thus did he personate, And intercepts Albanio in his way, And many plots doth for his finall ruine lay.

22 I by thy honor’d order the adiure, And by that Crosse, which on thy brest is sign’d, And by that faith so absolute, and pure, Which hath thy soule and mine so nearely ioyn’d, A sudaine cure for my distresse to find, Hee daily doth all his endeauours ply, To make mee buxome to his sinfull mind, But yet I haue withstood his villany, While hee no violence against me doth employ.

18 Sometime, to cutte his throte did he resolue, As hee lay sleepeing voyd of care, and dread, But with himself then ’gan he to reuolue, That hee was no way giuen to drowsyhed, But watchfull was, and full of prudent heed, Besides his feeble hand hee did distrust, Least it should faile in doeing of the deed, Thus many wayes hee with himself discust, How to subdue the Knight, and lay him in the dust.

23 With many prayers, and requests I wonne, The Tyrant fierce, to condiscend to this, That I might haue a months time to thinke on, This lothsome lawles vniust sute of his, (Which time expir’d) the Villaine purposd is, By open force my honour to oppresse, Rather then hee his wicked aymes will misse: Therefore (oh gentle Knight) haste to redresse My woes, ere I fall to the depth of dire distresse.

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14 A simple couch it was, not vnlike those, On which our ancestors in Saturnes raigne, Did with their lusty huswiues take repose, No iuory pillars did the bed sustaine, Here no embroid’ryes, nor silkes dy’d in graine, Were to be seene: The hide of an old hinde His couering was, the pallet did containe Nor downe, nor feathers light, but was well lin’d, With as fresh sedge, and rushes greene, as hee could find.

14.8 well] Written over wall 15.5 profest,] exprest profest, 16.2 Faery] Written over Fairy 19.9 before.] before,⌜.⌝

Book 7 Canto 9 29 Gladly wold he haue his endeauours bent, For to redresse the faire Leucippes woes, But (sweet Irenes ruine to preuent) Hee was enforc’d to seeke out other foes, For his deare spouse he had Irene chose, And though Leucippe were his neare allye, Yet hee was bound his valour to expose, To bring his leifest Lady quicke supply, Whom hee supposd to bee in wofull misery.

25 With this the Knight awooke, and then the fiend Dissolued into thinne aire vanish’d quite, Leaueing Albanio much perplex’d in mind; This gastly dreame, did him so sore affright, That passion made his hayres to stand vpright, A gelid moisture his limmes ouerspred, Sometimes he deemd that by some wicked sprite, Hee might bee thus into some danger led, But his care of Irene, other thoughts soone bred.

30 For wicked Misanactus, his late Hoste, (Who did the land of Fairy so detest) Diuerted him from that vnhappy coast Where wrong’d Leucippe wonn’d in much vnrest, By an insulting enemy opprest. Irene was not hent by Leachour vile, Nor yet by any accident distrest; A damned spirit did the Knight beguile, While she abode securely in the holy Ile.

26 Long did he muse vpon this Vision, Distracted much in mind, but sleepe at last Return’d, and his pale eylids seas’d vpon, The Spirit then againe beside him plac’d, Other illusions did before him cast, The peacefull Lady personateing still, Beseeching him to her releife to haste, Him to deceiue employeing all her skill, That the good Knight of rest could not obtaine his fill.

31 The Dwarfe, (that whilome had implor’d his aide) Was now compell’d to seeke releife elswhere, Who sorowfull, and very ill appayd, For this crosse accident, with wofull cheere, A farwell gaue vnto the noble peere, Who was no lesse surcharg’d with griefe, then hee. Yet did with hope his manly hart vpreare, That none his inward greifes could plainely see: The deepest passions may by wisedome hidden bee.

27 Now Lucifer had driuen his starry droues, To water, in the swelling Ocean, And chirping Birds, with musicke filld the groues, Albanio from his couch vpstarted than, His dreame relateing to that wicked Man, Who semblance made of mickle greife, and woe, And rufully to weepe, and waile beganne, Wisheing the Knight without delay to goe, To help that Damsell faire, which was distressed so.

32 Now museing, on his way he rode along, While bright Hyperion from his burning throne, Darting his golden rayes the trees among,

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24 Within a Castle doth the Gyant bide, Which is the Fort of Vanity y’clep’t, Here many Theeues and Robbers doe reside, Who whatsoeuer goods they intercept, Bring hither where they are vniustly kept. In th’Ile Suauania is this Castle built, Whose shore an Ocean calme doth circumsept, Soone mayst thou it discouer if thou wilt, And mee releiue, ere that I see my honour spilt.

28 As oyle that is powr’d forth vpon the fire, Doth not extinguish, but encrease the flame, So did this speech augment the Knights desire, To looke for speedy succour for the Dame, And her preserue from foule abuse, and shame; Betimes he mounted on his lofty steed, Returning by that way in which he came, With much vexation inwardly bested; Irenes famed woes in him such sorow bred.

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25.2 Dissolued . . . vanish’d quite] Dissolu’⌜e⌝d ⌜in⌝to thinne aire vanish’d quite where aire is written over ayer. This line went through at least two revisions, as Knevet juggled syllables in different parts of the line. 25.7 deemd] dreemd 28.1 fire,] flame fire, stanzas 29-39] A deleted stanza, numbered 29, appears in the manuscript immediately after stanza 28; the ensuing stanzas, originally numbered 30-40, were re-numbered to accommodate the deletion. The deleted stanza reads as follows: As doth the Louer true desire to see, The sweet approchment of that happy stound, When by his faithfull Ladyes curt’sy free To meete with her in priuate hee is bound, Where they in am’rous affaires their talke ground, So did Albanio wish to see yt tide, To be auenged on this cursed hound, Who had him rob’d of his betrothed Bride, Whom hee did estimate ’boue all ye world beside. 30.3 Diuerted] Diuert⌜ed⌝

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Vp to his high meridian point had gone, Then he with fainting heate, and care o’re gone, Arriu’d vpon a cristall fountaines brinke, Of which nor flockes, nor heards had tasted on, Ne did wild Beast, or foule there euer drinke, Nor ere did any filth in that well swimme or sinke.

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33 A coronet of Daffadills adorn’d, The pearly forhead of this circled fount, Whose radiant hue, the glistring sunne beams scorn’d, And in bright lustre did them farre surmount, The Knight here from his Palfrey did dismount, Layeing aside his sheild, and burganet, And to himself did seriously recount, With how great mischiefes Mans life is beset, Which may be rightly tearmed sorowes cabinet.

34 Honour (quoth hee) is but a Pyramid, To reach whose height ambition bold presumes, But often tumbles from it’s slippery side, (Like foolish Icarus with broken plumes) While pale Death all his painted pride enhumes: To mount the toppe thereof if any happe; They from that tickle point (when Fortune fumes) Are cast, as strucken by a thunderclap, [lappe. And beaten all to piecemeale fall into their Grandames

35 (Like Damocles in the Sicilian chayre) The Richman sittes: a pendant sword doth threat His naked pate, which hangs but by a hayre, A cushion stuff’d with briers is his seate, His leaden nightcap is with cares replete: The Tyrant fierce oft strippes him of his store, Condemning him for some pretended feate: The cruell Cutthrote oft doth breake his dore, By night, and in his bloud his guilty hands engore. 36 Pleasure (like to Calypso on a rocke) Doth passengers envite with her sweet note, Where they their fraile carines in peices knocke: The horrid ribbes of broken empires flote, About the rugged cliffe, while Neptunes throte Suckes in the liues of guilty Potentates, That on her false enthralling beauty dote: Disease and Death it self she propagates, Reduceing lofty honours, vnto low estates. 37 Like to these fadeing flowres, which ouerlooke This siluer spring, is beautyes comely hue: The stormes of some disease it cannot brooke, Nor yet the winter of old age eschue, Ne can it (once decayd) it self renue: To those that it possesse it hurtfull is

Oftimes; but more to those which doe it view: Their tender harts Cupid doth seldome misse, Which wont to gaze vpon such louely rarityes. 38 Ne certes, need wee boast of manly strength; Since that these brawny armes, and sinew’d thighes, Must shrinke, and loose their vig’rous force at length. Why should we of our strength make such high prize? Since many Beasts in that doe vs outsize, Nor hath it seld bin seene how it hath brought, Destruction, or deplored miseryes, On many Heroes braue, and worthyes stout, Who haue on it presumeing their owne ruines wrought. 39 Thus all the ioyes, which here wee can enioy, With shame, and danger are both kept, and lost, The causes of our sorow, and annoy: Vaine is that mortall therefore that dares boast, Of ought that is in mortall strene engrost. Of these things did Albanio ruminate, And many matters els in mind he tost, (As on this fountaines verdant banke he sate) Concerning humane creatures fraile, and weake estate.

Canto 10 The Nymph Philautia doth, To folly tempt the Knight, Vnfortunate Fortunio, A sad tale doth recite. 1 Now, (while the Knight prepard to mount his steed) A bubbleing sound, which from the Fountaine rose, Made him attentiuely th’euent to heed, When loe a Lady did herself disclose, Who did her naked vpper parts expose, To his amazed eyne: her twine of gold 32.9 Nor ere . . . or sinke] Nor ere did any filth 34 in yt well swimme or sinke. The whole of this line was added sometime after Knevet had made a false start on the next stanza; note that the deleted stanza numeration reflects the original ordering of the stanzas, before the deletion of the original stanza 29. filth written over fish 33.9 may be rightly] may ⌜be⌝ rightly 34.7 (when] f (when 37.6 To those that] To ⌜those⌝ that 37.8 harts] sl harts After stanza 39] An entire blank leaf follows the end of this canto, perhaps suggesting that Knevet had intended, or considered, increasing this canto by a few stanzas. stanza 1] Knevet began by copying the first stanza of the following canto (11), but realized his mistake two words into the third line, and deleted the following text before making a fresh start: Though for a time the pow’rs of darkenes may Ecclipse the truth and Falshood domineare Yet truth

Book 7 Canto 10

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7 Disheuel’d on her shoulders was, and loose; Pouder’d with pearles to each that did behold It seem’d, so many cristall droppes were in’t enrol’d. 2

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Her sparkeling eyes, appear’d as diamonds bright, Set in a tablet of smooth iuory: Her cheekes were dy’d with purest red, and white, Ordain’d to captiuate each heart, and eye: So faire shee seemd in hue, and symmetrye, That with her forme none any fault might find Though hee should search her feature nere so nigh Much was Albanio troubled in his mind, Deemeing that shee was sprung from some immortall kind. 3 A lookeing glasse, shee in her hand did hold, Wherein her proper parts she gaz’d vpon: Shee seem’d much pleas’d, herself there to behold. And doteing on herself suppos’d that none Endu’d was with such high perfection Her eyes her nose her lippes did her invite Vnto extreme self-admiration But in her cheekes the perfect red and white Her fancy rauished with singular delight.

4 At last she did vpreare her wanton eye, And thus the noble Fay ’gan to accoast, Now welcome (parragon of chiualry) That art for prudent thewes renouned most, Both fear’d, and honor’d throughout euery coast, Happy ar’t thou in thy arriuall here, Where thou may’st gaine without or paines, or cost, A gemme which mortall men account most deare, Which the high Gods bestowe on those that doe them feare. 5 Within the circle of this floweing Well, Is wisedome to be found, and science high: Here sacred Pallas doth delight to dwell, Hither resort the Muses frequently, With that great Patronesse of chastity, Who oft hath stripp’t her self, starke naked here, Not dreadeing the approch of any spy: For neither Huntsman, with his bugle cleare, Nor rigid Forrester this Fountaine doth come neare. 6 Those Atticke Sages, that were so renoun’d, Throughout the Vniuerse, (for prudent lore) Here all their arts, and noble knowledge found: Here Aristotle dranke his fill of yore. Here of invention Homer got great store; But whosoere nere knew this fountaine pure, Nor with this water washd his temples o’re, Shall lead a life ignoble, and obscure, Enioyeing an estate vncertaine and vnsure.

Then doffe thy combrous armes (oh gentle Knight) Stoupe to this blessed spring, and drinke thy fill. Here lurkes no filth, thy dainty lippes to fright, No speckled toad, or eft, no creature ill, That frequently doe crawle in euery rill, May ere approch this place: this fountaine is To great Minerua sacred, who doth will That each Knight bent to noble enterprise, May freely here carrouse, as much as shall suffice. 8 Albanio (whom experience hard had taught, Not to giue confidence to language fil’d) Too subtile was by her baites to be caught, Yet sometimes shee with modest lookes, and mild, Demurely in her bosome sweetly smil’d, And then againe did corrugate her brow, As if she had meant him to haue reuil’d, ’Cause hee in loues affayers was so slow: But neither frownes, nor smiles, could his affections bowe. 9 Her magicke glasse, then did the Nymph obiect Vnto his eye, which to his sence did shew, In liuely portraiture, and faire prospect, All those achieuements, whether old, or new, Finish’d since first his knightly blade he drew, His vertues all it did him lay before, Which seem’d to him of such perfection true, That as he view’d them, hee did more, and more Relent, and ’gan his proper prowesse to adore. 10 As when the cruell Tiger doth pursue The Forrester, that hath her whelp purloin’d, The Thiefe makes haste, her fury to eschue, And lookeing glasses throwes in way behind, Which when as the pursuer swift doth find, Shee sudainly doth intermitt her chace, Much pleasure entertaineing in her mind, At the beholding of her irefull face, While out of deadly danger hee doth speed apace. 2.4 and] an 2.7 nere] near nere ⌜nere⌝ stanza 3] Lines 4-9 of this stanza have been completely revised, with the original lines deleted and the revisions added interlineally. The original version of these lines reads as follows: As when two Louers true ymett alone, Vnder some shady groues protection, Doe interchange belgards ⌜discourse⌝ , wth sweet delight, While lookes, and gestures, expresse passion; So did this Damsell with behauiour light, Her self in am’rous courtship to her owne self dight. 3.7 Vnto extreme] ⌜Vnto extreme⌝ To wonderfull 3.9 delight.] delight 9.2 eye] eyes 10.9 of deadly danger] of ⌜deadly⌝ danger

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11 So did beguil’d Albanio dote vpon These apparitions faire: for in this glasse Of vitious blemishes, appeared none: Pure, as the streame that nere polluted was, Hee thought himself, deemeing hee did surpasse All mankind in each noble quality: Yea his presumption grew to such a passe, That hee ’gan to disclayme mortality, Assumeing to himself immortall deity.

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12 Now verely the Crafty Damsell thought, That shee had catchd Albanio in her ginne, Then shee the cup of self conceite forth brought, Filling a draught of water cleere therein, And to him did a full carrouse beginne: To take the noxious bowle he ready was, When his good Genius (to preuent his sinne) Forewarn’d him not to taste in any case, Of that same drinke which would his vertues quite deface. 13 His vaine imaginations vanish’d then, And his affaires, hee then ’gan call to mind: His proper weaknes he did much condemne Whom these impostures fond had made so blind, The Nymph then with a countenance vnkind, Did him behold, but hee full of disdaine, Mounts his proud Palfrey, leaueing her behind, Who did of his discurtesy complaine, And sudainely sunke in the cristall spring againe. 14 This subtile Damosell (Philautia) hight, One of the Nayads’, who was daughter to Cephisus, and Liriope the white, And sister to that Boy, who long agoe, Vpon his owne self was enamor’d so, That on this fountaines brinke, he pin’d away: Thus did he to himself become a foe, Through too much loue: thrice happy Men are they, That can in self loue keepe the right, and middle way.

15 His sisters did their golden tresses teare, Which mixd with teares, vpon his herse they threw, But hee, vnto Philautia was so deare, That his mishappe, she most of all did rue, And bade her wonted ioyes, and sports adiew, Those siluer streames, (wherein she earst delighted, To bathe herself among the virgin crue,) Surcharg’d with pensiue thought she then quite slighted, And in this solitary spring her dwelling sited. 16 Where fraught with melancholy peeuishnes, For her fond Brothers most vntimely fall, Shee Knights, and Dames endeauours to distresse:

(Narcissus dead) her bloud was burn’d to gall, Her self she vow’d to loue: none els at all: Here many Christian Knights, but Paynims more, Renowned farre for prowesse martiall, Of the strong water of self loue dranke store, Ecclipseing those braue acts, which they had done before. 17 And many Dames of admirable shape, Famous as well for vertue, as for hue, Who loath’d the licour of the squeazed grape, Great store of water at this fountaine drew, Which downe their throtes in lusty draughts they threw, With language smooth she made them to suppose, That blest effects these potions should ensue, Yet all her talke was but a fained glose, Full craftily she could beguile her heedles foes. 18 For while they thought this water had a power, Their beautyes, and their vertues to maintaine, Their beautyes it did sudainly deflowre, And to their vertues adde a wondrous staine: For by self Loue, none euer Loue did gaine: Yet let none weete, that I am wholy bent, ’Gainst all self loue, for that were fond and vaine; ’Cause Self loue is a vertue excellent, While with a middle course it doth it self content. 19 Now while Albanio in his way rode on, Hee mett a Knight that seem’d in gastly fright, His helme, his sheild, and lance he had forgone, Hee look’d, as one with feare distracted quite: His eyes did stare, his hayre stood bolt vpright. Now what ar’t thou, then did Albanio say, Arread the cause of thy vnseemly plight, I blush to see the in this foule array, That seem’st bred vp in armes, and battailous affray. 20 With quiuering ioynts, and hesitateing tong, Hee thus replyd: Oh gentle Sir retreat, Vnlesse you meane to meet with death ere long, In yonder valley wonneth horrour dire, 12.4 Filling . . . therein,] This line has been inserted between its neighbours, at some point after the original copying process. 12.6 was,] stood, ⌜was⌝ 12.7 When . . . his sinne)] When Pallas wise ⌜his good Genius⌝ ( for to preuent his sinne) 12.8 Forewarn’d . . . any case,] Appear’d to him, as one in irefull moode, ⌜Forewarn’d him not to taste in any case⌝ 12.9 Of that . . . quite deface.] Then soone with shame his errour fond he vnderstood. ⌜Of that same drinke which would his vertues quite deface⌝ 13.2 hee then ’gan call] hee ⌜then⌝ ’gan to call 17.2 vertue] vertues 17.8 her] ⌜her⌝ their 18.4 And to their] And ⌜to⌝ their

Book 7 Canto 10 And danger drest, in horrible attire. Ne (quoth Albanio then) doe I think’t fitt, That they who doe to honord meed aspire, Should from the face of deadly perill flitt, But with vndaunted courages themselues acquitt.

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21 Then sayd the other Knight: were I engag’d In Feild of Mars, amidde a storme of blowes, Where fury is with nought but bloud asswag’d: Where Death himself in sundry figures showes, And his keene darts into each bosome throwes, Or were I combateing with Gyant fell, Or with a Knight of most admired prowesse, Or with Wild Beast, that in the woods doth dwell? No feare of death, or danger could my courage quell. 22 But here (at hand) doe gastly Bugges appeare, ’Gainst whom no humane force is preualent; Vaine is the dint of fauchion bright, or speare, Against so terrible a rabblement, From Plutos gloomy kingdome hither sent: Most vndiscreete I weene, therefore is hee, And needes must his fond hardynes repent, Who shall by heate of courage tempted bee, Such perillous adventures to approch, or see. 23 To venture life in some great enterprise, Where any braue achieuement may be done, A worthy act I deeme it, and a wise, But hee’s a Madman that doth armes put on, Where neither praise; nor conquest can be wonne; So did the foolish Gyants vndertake To tumble Ioue from his immortall throne, But hee with fire did their ambition slake, And sent them with a vengeance to the Stygian Lake.

24 (This sayd) Albanio interrupts him thus: How wisely cowardice her cause can plead? Iust are the Gods (I see) and righteous, To some they giue the gifts of toung, and head; Valour to some in eloquences stead: To each wight they are bount’ous of their store: What thou dost want in knightly lustyhed, Thou ha’st supply’d with oratorian lore, Certes thou ar’t for toung, then hands renowned more. 25 Yet when the haughty elegance of phrase, Dares vndertake against the truth to fight, Shee needes must bee disarm’d, (like Braggart base) And bee displum’d of all her gloryes bright, For truth did neuer yeild to opposite: But hadst thou that great Romanes toung, and grace,

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Who by the strength of language exquisite, The rage of ciuill armes did quite deface, Thou couldst not winne me to thy party in this case. 26 For he that hath once put on Knighthoods armes, Must not from grisly danger turne his eye, But bee prepar’d to answere all alarmes, With manly boldnes, and alacritye: No hideous Buggebeares must make him to fly; Illusiue apparitions that are sent, By wicked Men, and fiends of Tartary, Must not abate the noble hardyment, Of those, that are to honorable actions bent. 27 Of antique historyes take thou advice, Where thou may’st bee taught by examples graue, To reprehend thy shamefull cowardice; Alcides did that hellish fiend outbraue, Before the gates of the infernall caue, And made him view the day with irefull spite, Whose filthy fome a dire beginning gaue, Vnto that noxious plant cleap’t Aconite; (Vs’d oft by cruell Stepmothers, and Huswiues light). 28 If thou hadst euer legends sage reuolu’d, Thou shouldst haue found enchantments manifold, With great successe, by Errant Knights dissolu’d, Whom direfull elues, in dusky flames enrold, And dight in foulest shapes could not withhold, From the achieuement of adventures high: 21.1 sayd] thus ⌜sayd⌝ stanzas 26-56] Two deleted stanzas appear in the manuscript after stanza 26, numbered 27 and 28. Because the remaining stanzas in the canto were numbered according to the original order, and because these stanzas are fully punctuated, we can be sure that they were deleted relatively late, and certainly after the completion of the copying of the rest of the canto. We have renumbered the ensuing stanzas, to reflect their position in the revised state of the canto. The text of the deleted stanzas is as follows: 27 Thou talk’st of Gyants, and of worthyes braue, Of bloudy broiles, and of some fierce wild Beast: Boldly thou couldst ‘gainst those thy self behaue, Yet wantst both heart, and vigour to contest, With him yt most of all doth ye thee infest, Hee seekes thy fall, with forraine plots and ciuill, Yet oft hath bin by Christian Knights supprest, shame therefore him befall, or some worse euill, That dares not vndertake to combate wth ye Deuill. 28 Vnworthy doubtles is he of ye spurre, Vnfitting to be girded with ye sword, That from this foe turnes like a dastard curre, An enemy so cruell, and abhorr’d, Who can with mankind neuer make accord, But persecutes vs still wth fiery roddes. And what comparison dost thou afford, Toucheing ye Giants warre? as if an oddes There were ’twixt fighting with ⌜ye ⌝ Deuills the and wth Gods. 28.1 reuolu’d,] reuolu’d?

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Pluto’s blacke gardes by these haue bin controld, And forc’d with indignation for to fly, Vnto their Dennes where horrour dwells eternally.

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29 (This sayd) his crested helme he buckled on, And clapp’d spurre to his bounding Coursers flanke, Biddeing adieu to that light Franion, Whom for his counsell hee did little thanke, Forward he rode, replete with courage ranke, ’Till hee arriued in a gloomy groue, Where trees grew vp full thicke, on euery banke: A gentle wind the quiuering leaues did moue, [roue. Which causd a low voic’d murmure through the wood to 30 With obscure shades ecclips’t was the worlds Eye, A dubious light did through the leaues appeare; Euen such a light as from the East doth prye, Into the surface of our hemisphere, When that the nimble Howres with liuely cheere, Prepareing are the Horses of the Sunne, For their dayes iorney through Olympus cleere. Sad twillight, horrour, silence, there did wonne, Yet with vndaunted courage went Albanio on. 31 At length a hideous sound did strike his eare, Euen such a sound doth Neptune bellow out, When scourged by the Northerne Blusterer, Hee iustles rigid rockes, and forelands stout, (Like Bore enrag’d) throweing his fome about: But sudainly appeared in his sight, Of vncouth shapes a most confused rout, Chymæras, Centaures, and Tragelaphes light, [spite. Beares, Lions, Leopards, Tigers, fraught with murd’rous 32 With rampeing rage, these seem’d to threat the Knight, But hee pass’d on with resolution bold, Their horrid lookes, and voices hee did slight, As one too well experienc’d, and too old, By meere appearances to bee controld: A sweeter obiect then it self presents, For he a pleasant valley did behold, Adorn’d with flowers, of most fragrant sents, Wrought on a carpet greene, by Natures prouidence.

33 Like to those Gardens, where Cytherea faire, Her self disported with Adonis yong, (Where she was wont to crispe his amber hayre, As in her louely lappe he lay along, Sweet words distilling, sweet belgards among) Were these delightfull launds: A thousand bowres, (That with the sounds of charmeing musicke rung) Were there vprear’d: where Ladyes spent their howres, In guilty blisse, with wanton youths, on beds of flowres.

34 In couples some, vpon the plaines did trippe, In am’rous sort, some did each other twine, As close as cockles ioyneing lippe, to lippe: Some crown’d with roses, did their mirth refine, With rich confections, and with lusty wine. It thrill’d Albanios manly heart to see, Mortalls thus wallow in foule sinne like swine, He by their baytes wold not allured bee, But inly much disdain’d their filthy luxurye. 35 But in the very twinckling of an eye, The face of things was chang’d: an army braue, With plumes, and ensignes painted variously, That in the buxome element did waue, New admiration to Albanio gaue: The caualry arraung’d by martiall skill, In comely equipage, the vauntgard haue, Bodyes of foot likewise not marshal’d ill All strongly armed, did the rere and battell fill. 36 A Chiefetaine of maiesticke port, and grace, Did seeme to bee their Generalissimo, Who on a courser proud well mounted was, That loftily curueated to, and fro, As one full glad t’encounter with a foe. Deck’d with a purple surcote was the Knight, In glistring armour dight from toppe to toe, And on his arme he bare a target white, As one nere heretofore engag’d in warlike fight. 37 An iuory quiuer with keene arrowes filld, Hung in a golden baudricke by his side, A bowe of Parthian make, in hand he held, (As one desirous rather to be tryd In fight at distance, on the champaine wide Then nigh hand to cope with his enemy) His plume with fauours light was beautify’d: A Turkish cimitar wrought curiously, In pearle enchased sheath, was girded to his thigh. 38 As Paris earst vpon Scamanders shore, In Phrygian mantle gorgeously dight, That was with Indian richesse pouderd o’re, Did praunce it brauely on a Courser white, Deck’d with embroyder’d trappeings glistring bright, So did this Gallant mannage his proud steed; 29.3 Biddeing adieu] ⌜Biddeing⌝ Giueing a slight adieu 30.8 Sad twillight,] ⌜Sad twillight,⌝ Grimme darkenes 32.4 As one too] As ⌜one⌝ too 33.5 Sweet words] Sweet d words. 35.1 twinckling] twin⌜c⌝kling 35.9 All strongly armed,] With pikes and muskets ⌜All strongly armed,⌝ 38.3 with Indian] with r Indian

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Those that could runne no longer meant to stay, Nor did their haples Cheiftaine lesse speed make, But to a foule retreat himself did eke betake.

39 (Thus beeing marshald in their proud array) Heard from behind a mountaine was a sound, A noise of death, and horrible affray: As when a vapour prison’d in the ground, Struggles for vent, and striues to bee vnbound, A horrid voice of ruinous decay, Is heard, which makes both man, and beast astound; Euen so this clangour seemed to dismay, With panicke feare that army, which appear’d so gay.

44 But sudainly these phantasmes vanish’d quite, And on the place appeard another scene, That Chiefetaine which seem’d (whilome) put to flight Was now brought in vpon the stage agen, Pursued (as it seem’d) by his owne men, Which in foule words their rage ’gainst him exprest, Him menaceing with most vnbridled teene, Till one more bold, and hardy then the rest, Did seeme to sheathe a fatall weapon in his brest.

40 And sudainely the rayes of weapons bright, Amidde a dusky cloud of dust were seene: As when old Æole, fraught with boistrous spite, Vpon the earth threats to discharge his teene, And from his throte sends forth a hideous dinne, [there; While lightening through the cloud breakes here, and So did the light of sheilds, and fauchions keene, Amidde these mists of dusky night appeare, Vnto dishearten’d mortalls, addeing a new feare.

45 Now pitty pierc’d Albanios noble heart, To see this wretched Knight in such distresse, Who did himself into the tumult dart, With such bold courage, and such actiuenes That he their fury quickly did represse; As yelping Hounds pinch the embosted Hart, Teareing his tired haunches (pittyles) Vntill the Huntsman comes the fray to part, Who from the quarry makes them with his whippe to start.

41 Thee armyes ioyne then with impetuous shocke, With shiuer’d launces soone the earth’s o’relayd, And pau’d with armes, knocke is repayd with knocke; The Horse is here beneath his Rider layd; There falls the Man from Horse with wounds dismayd, A Cloud of dust doth from the Earth arise, Which by a showre of bloud is soone allayd, A martiall fury doth each brest surprise, [prise. With glorious wounds, and death each seekes for honors

46 Euen so Albanio, chac’d this rout away, For though the spirits were in thicke aire clad, Yet did his glistring blade them much dismay, For they were ghosts that neuer tasted had, Of Lethes streames, but fraught with terrours sad, Through dire remembrance of that balefull stoure, Wherein the sword had them so ill bestadde, And sent them packeing to the Stygian shore, Still with the sight of brandish’d blade were frighted sore.

42 But those troupes (which came from the mountaines side) Preuaile at length, o’rethroweing all that stand: As when Dan Phœbus in his glistring pride, The mountaines of Granado doth command, To doffe their snowy caps, to his bright brand; Then doe the furious flouds descend amaine, O’returning rockes, and trees which them withstand, That opposition cannot them restraine, ’Till they haue ouerwhelm’d all the adiacent plaine.

47 Then thus Albanio to the Knight ’gan say, I charge the (wretched Ghost) to mee declare, The cause of this most terrible affray: What meane these phantasmes, and delusions rare? The Ghost, then as one thrilld with dreary care, Did thus shape a reply: alas quoth hee Of sighes and brinish teares who can make spare, That must the lamentable trumpet bee, Of his owne rufull trouble and calamitye?

43 Euen so these vig’rous troupes in rageing wise, O’reranne those bands, that earst appeard so gay: The standard by the slaine Alferez lyes: The glorious plumes lay clad in gory clay: Their brauery seem’d turn’d to foule array: The vanquish’d party must the feild forsake,

48 With that a dew did seeme to wette his eyne, And thence vpon his pale cheekes to distill, In mizzeling droppes, his wofull sorowes signe: Whilome (quoth hee) when youthfull streames did fill

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Like him accoutred was this youthfull Knight, Who was by many Heroes followed, That in Bellonas dreadfull schoole seem’d nurtured.

40.2 were] ⌜were⌝ was 46.2 the spirits] they spirits Knevet appears to have made a copying mistake here, occasioned by the similarity between his italic y and long-s (cf. the long-s of ‘spirits’, immediately ensuing), and by the proximity of line 2 (‘For though the...’) to line 4 (‘For they...’).

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My swelling veynes, vpraisd by fortunes skill, I in a land nigh hand did liue renoun’d, Respect from all men winneing, and good will: My prime of yeeres was with rich plenty crown’d, My freinds I did protect and all my foes confound.

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49 And on the toppe of Fortunes wheele high mounted, I feard no sudaine turne, no froward chance, But free from lapse and fall my self accounted, I deem’d my Goddesse ne’re wold looke askanse, And tended my delightfull dalliance, But beeing vrged by a Foeman proud, I did in honorable armes advance, To punish his vniust affront with bloud, And by the dint of sword to make my quarrell good. 50 Thus I Fortunio (that presum’d too farre, Vpon my happy lot) did armes vptake And gaue the signall to a bloudy warre, Vnskilld (God wot) my party good to make, And oft refuseing sage advice to take, I scorn’d deliberation and did slight Experienc’d Counsell giuers, when they spake, My eares I open’d to opinions light, Thus I my reputation lost, and fortune quite.

51 My worthyes then were layd full low in dust, And I my self did hardly scape with life, But all the blame was on my shoulders thrust, Malicious speeches were in each mouth rife, Yea all the world with mee was then at strife, Thus in contempt I liu’d, ’till Atropos Did cut my vitall threed, with bloudy knife: Therefore (oh gentle Knight) learne by my losse To see, and to eschue all misadventures crosse. 52 Thus spake the ghost: Albanio then reioyn’d Soules, that from bodyes are let loose (sayd hee) Passe from this terrene sphere, and are confin’d Or to the fragrant feilds of blessed glee, Or to that place where guilty persons bee, For their transgressions plagu’d with tortures dire. To your assertion partly I aggree (Fortunio sayd) for they that doe expire Through discontent, no passage ouer Styx can hire. 53 Nor will hard-harted Minos leaue afford, To those vnhappy Ghosts, whose bodyes want The rites of inhumation, for to bord, The Stygian Wherryman; passe o’re they can’t Vnto those flowry feilds so elegant, Vntill a hundreth yeeres expired bee:

So long the nether shore they needes must haunt; This is the cause (oh Gentle Knight) that wee May not as yet vnto those coasts find passage free. 54 But Pallas wise, much pittyeing our case, And for the good of those that should succeed, To the infernall Iudge a sutour was, And so vncessantly did intercede, With him, as the grimme Lawgiuer decreed That when twice fiue and twenty yeeres were runne, Wee should bee from this inconvenience free’d, ’Till then wee in this vale of dole must wonne, To suffer for those errours, which wee earst haue done. 55 Shee to this habitation vs confind, That by our ensample each Cheualier, Which is to honorable deedes enclind, All temerarious actions might forbeare, And to sage counsell giue attentiue eare, For they that delib’ration doe despise, Attempting matters without witt or feare, Seld find successe, in any enterprise, But oft defeated are in miserable wise. 56 (This sayd) the Ghost dissolu’d to subtile aire, While wonder did Albanio ouerlay: So dreames that are wont nightly to repaire To fancyes quicke, in silence flitte away, Filling the minds of men with strange affray. But hee (his leifest Dame bent to releiue) Surcharg’d with doubtfull thought rode on his way: Her suppos’d sad estate him sore did greiue; Feareing least Leachour should her of her honour ’reaue.

Canto 11 Albanio comes to the place, Where Vanity doth dwell; Prince Arthur calleth him from thence, And doth Granvanio quell. 1 Though (for a time) the pow’rs of Darkenes may Ecclipse the truth, and Falshood domineare, Yet Truth at length will driue those clouds away; So Phœbus mounting in our hemisphere, With his resplendent rayes, and glorious cheere, Foule mistynes doth from the welkin chase: This history doth make it plaine appeare That Machiuelian plots may in no case, In competition stand, with prudencye for place. 51.7 bloudy] vital bloudy 53.2 To] Tho To Arg.3 Prince Arthur calleth] Written over Sr Arthegall calls 1.9 prudencye] ⌜prudencye⌝ policy

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2 The Dwarffe, (that from Albanio lately parted) With dreary cheere return’d that way he came, Full sory that the Knight was thus diuerted, And glad to seeke some other Knight of fame, To put on armour, for his louely Dame, But to the Holy Ile approcheing nigh, Hee ’gan to call to mind Irenes name, And thither went himself to certify, Concerning the report of her calamity.

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3 But beeing come vnto Doxorthus court, Hee found the Lady ’mongst her louely peeres, Fairely dispos’d to modest seemely sport, The Dwarfe thereat astonish’d quite appeares; While from his passion shee ill tidings feares: Speake (gentle Dwarfe) quoth shee, how fares my Lord? Wee wretched wights are prodigall of eares, To those that doe our miseryes record, Oh speake my greifes, and life, and greife end in a word. 4 By sauage monster is hee ouerthrowne? Or is my Lord surpris’d in treach’rous snare, And into direfull darkesome dungeon throwne? The worst of sorowes feare not to declare, I am resolu’d my mischiefes to outdare. This rufull language, made the Dwarfe to speake: Nor is your Lord (quoth hee) in such ill fare; God sheild that hee for fone should bee too weake, Or that false Treason should his noble freedome breake. 5 Safe from insulting Foemens pride is hee, Yet seemes deluded by a Faitour vile; For a nocturnall vision hee did see, Wherein you seem’d to craue his aide (erewhile) ’Gainst one, that sought your honour to defile, Thus he forsooke the worke he was about, Thus was he led amisse by treachrous guile, While our Leucippe liues in dreary doubt, Trod vnderfoot by vniust might, of Tyrant stout. 6 Small comfort had Irene from these newes, For sore she fear’d least hee by Traitour false, His dearest life, or liberty should loose, And therefore for her gentle palfrey calls, Voweing to seeke her Knight (whats’ere befalls) And aptly shee herself dights for his quest, Her kyrtle tuck’d vnto her buskins falls, An Amazonian doublet did envest Her body, a rich belt she wore athwart her brest. 7 Like some Virago proudly praunceing on Thermodoons bankes, accoutred faire was shee, And tooke her Dwarfe for her companion,

Longing full sore her dearest Lord, to see; Who had not trauelld many miles ere hee Arriued in the Ile of Vanity, Where hee suppos’d Irene faire to bee, There many walkes were wrought by cunning sly, To pose, and to ammuse the most regardfull eye. 8 A mighty Wildernes, contriu’d into An artificiall maze, he needes must passe, If toward his adventure he wold goe; Like that anfractu’ous edifice which was, Built to conceale Pasiphaes ofspring base, This Forrest was cut out by cunning hands, Into a thousand passages, so as Few that did euer touch those dang’rous lands, Could extricate themselues from snares, and guilefull bands. 9 Hither did Cretian Dædalus repayre, Who from the rage of cruell Minos fled, Not through the nauigable seas, but aire: No way is invious to th’ingenious head; Thus hee the Kings sharp sentence frustrated, And after a long flight, did take stand here, Where hee a curious worke accomplished, Like to that Labyrinth, which hee whilere, For th’habitation of the Minotaure did reare. 10 This Iland, as a dwelling place most fitt, Malfida false and Misanactus chose, When they their palace of delight had quitt, Here did they deeme themselues secure from foes, And daily did strange stratagems compose, Heroicke Knights, and Ladyes to destroy, Ne did this wicked couple ere suppose, That strength, or wisedome high could them annoy, The strongest opposition they thought but a toy. 11 For here the proud Matæa did command, Whose empire was in euery coast renownd, From India, to the Æthiopian land. Great Kings to her in vassalage were bound, 4.7 fare;] plight fare; 6.9 wore] Written over ware 7.1 on] on, 7.5 hee] hee, 8.6 This] Written over The 8.8 Few] few 9.3 through the] th orough ⌜the⌝ 9.8 Labyrinth,] Written over Labarynth, 9.9 Minotaure] Mountebanke ⌜Minotaure⌝ 10.2 false] proud ⌜false⌝ 11.3 Æthiopian] Knevet appears to have botched the initial digraph, corrected it, and then forgotten the t, which we have supplied.

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And bloudy Tyrants quak’d, if shee but frownd. Shee did the great Semiramis excell In lust, as well as might, and did confound Her foes by vigour of a Gyant fell, (Who hight Granvanio) for strength sans paralell.

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12 Albanio soone, alighted from his steed, And to th’adventure did himself addresse, Beeing afoote, he thought he best might speed, Boldly he did invade the Wildernes, Maugre Mæanders, and crook’d passages, But in the maze hee soone entangled was, And into diuers by-wayes did digresse, Neither could hee directly forward passe, Ne yet returne could hee, from that erroneous place.

13 At length a pleasant sound did strike his eares, A sound of most harmonious minstralcy, Surpasseing euen the musicke of the spheres; Yea, Orpheus, or Arions melody, Who to the Dolphin playd so cunningly; The Knight stood still amaz’d, then recollects His thoughts, and round about did cast an eye; Then a sad spectacle it self obiects, Vnto his sight, which did his very heartstrings vexe. 14 Hee saw his Lady drest in habite light, As one dispos’d to lustfull blandishment, Embraceing in her armes the Red-crosse Knight, Who all vnarm’d, seem’d vitiously bent; To paillardise, and vnchast acts intent: A pallid horrour then Albanio strooke, Who thus in pitt’ous wise ’gan to lament, And hath my vnkind Lady mee forsooke? Vouchsafe (yee iuster Gods) vpon my wrongs to looke. 15 (Yee Women) that are fram’d in angells shapes, Whose lookes magneticall draw iron harts, On them committeing most disorder’d rapes, Why haue the gods infus’d such wicked arts, Into such outward amiable parts: But of the Sea, bred was the Queene of Loue, The Sea his ficklenes to her imparts; Her passions ebbe, and flow, yea alway moue, Affecting change, and coueting new ioyes to proue. 16 On Women light she this bequest bestowes, An wofull gift, the bane of Louers true, Which riues Mans heart in twaine, with deadly blowes: That seuenfold sheild of Aiax, which did shew The dints of Hectors blade, when with a crue Of Troians bold, the Greekes he sore dismayd,

And flames of fire amidde their nauy threw, Against these strokes yeilds no releife nor aide; No force nor stratagems their fury can abrayd. 17 Ne could that armour forg’d by diuine skill, That Brigandine of proofe which did pertaine, To him, that did the noble Hector kill, Resist the blowes of womanish disdaine, By which so many valyant harts are slaine; Nor could the Gods themselues (as ’tis oft seene) Warde such assaults, but haue endur’d the paine: Alas then how can miserable men, Euade the most impetuous rigour of their teene? 18 But (thou false Knight) and Renegado vile (That ha’st thy holy target layd aside, Who dost thy self with pleasures foule defile, Profaneing his deare badge, who for thee dy’d) Full sorely shalt thou rue thy sinnefull pride; With that he did vnsheathe his fauchion bright, Resolu’d to bee aueng’d on them that tide, But quickly they betooke themselues to flight, Hee swiftly giues them chase, and keepes them still in sight. 19 As in that ioyous season of the yeare, When euery chirping natiue of each groue, Hath made choyce of his best beloued feere, While th’Haggard fierce (whom hunger sharp doth moue With nimble eyne throughout the woods to roue) Perchance espyes among the shady spray, Two Turtles acting offices of loue; He vigourously stoupes to catch his prey, But they descry his drift, take wing, and flye away. 20 So did this couple from Albanio fly; Nor was’t Irene, or the Redcrosse Knight; But Misanactus, and Malfida sly, Who had with damned cunning themselues dight, Like noble St George, and Irene bright, And to the castle nigh they fled apace, 11.5 Tryrants] Tyrants, 11.8 of a Gyant] of ⌜a⌝ Gyant 13.4 Yea, Orpheus . . . melody,] Yea, ex expert Orpheus, ⌜or Arions⌝ or his melody, 15.2 Whose lookes magneticall] Whose adamantine lookes ⌜magneticall⌝ 15.4 the] yt⌜e⌝ 16.9 abrayd] abrayd. ⌜auoyde⌝ We have restored Knevet’s original reading in order to preserve consent in the rhyme. It may be that he intended further revisions to the stanza, but if so he did not complete them. 18.1 thou false Knight] (thou false knight) 18.4 deare] Written over another word, now illegible. 18.4 thee] Written over ye 18.9 giues] Written over giuen 19.4 whom . . . moue] (whom ⌜hunger sharp⌝ thirst of prey doth moue)

Book 7 Canto 11

While hee pursues them with such egre spite, That hee had almost catch’d them in the chace, Ere they could reach vnto their false abideing place.

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21 Albanio now with dreadles hardyment, Comes to the place, where from a window high, A Lady seemeing full of drearyment, Appeard, that did for speedy succour cry, With hands vprear’d, and with a weeping eye; Hee to a gate comes of Corinthian brasse, With wondrous artifice wrought curiously, Whereby a siluer bugle pendant was, Whose pierceing sound gaue speedy entrance to the place. 22 He touch’d the sinuous mettall with his lippes, And with his breath did teare the tender aire, Then from the threshold soone the portall skippes, And gaue him ingresse to a chamber faire, Where hee saw sitting in a golden chaire, A beaut’ous Dame, in costly robes y’clad, With countenance demure, and debonaire, Shee look’d like one that’s male content, and sad, As if her heart not any thought of lightnes had. 23 Beneath her feet she trod an earthly globe, The embleme of her large dominion, With various colours painted was her robe, Much like a raine-bow, bent against the Sunne, Vpon her head was fixd a changeing Moone; But leuity dwelt in her inward parts; Although shee seem’d as chast as veyled Nunne: But no wight can by physiognomicke arts, Through outward features search the secrecyes of hearts.

24 This was Matæa; gotten in a cloud, By wanton Zephyrus, on Æthra light, A dame as fickle as the floweing flood, Yea (like her parents) an vnconstant wight, That had deceiued many a noble Knight: Yet was she held in high regard by all, Her gloses did so swasiuely envite, All sorts of people, to come at her call, Who louting low, before her idle feet did fall. 25 With gentle eloquence she did assaile, Albanios manly heart, and it subdue, For Vanity soone conquers manhood fraile, No flesh her tempting follyes can eschue; Shee rules beneath, what euer Sol doth view: Hee basely kneeles before her pedestall, Then frowardly shee ’gan to looke askue, While humble words hee from his lippes letts fall, In calmest oyly showres to winne her heart withall.

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26 Shee did compell that mighty Thebane Knight, (Who wont his brawny shoulders to put on A Lions rigid spoiles) himself to dight In habite like a wanton Minion, That sinewy palme which had bin wont alone, Some huge Oetæan plant with ease to wield, Did then forget what it had whilome done; To touch the slender spindle beeing skilld; Thus heroicke valour did to vaine enticements yeild. 27 By fifty Kings was Greekish Helen courted, (That light-heeld strumpets beauty was so rare) But to this house of Vanity resorted, All earthly Princes, that ere scepters bare, Yea shee both Kings, and Cesars did ensnare: Persons of all degrees, and either sexe Her vassalls, and submisse liege people are: In wanton yokes shee captiuates their neckes, And from faire causes, doth produce most foule effects. 28 Most expert was shee in all magicke lore; The Deuills her Venite did obey: Of amulets, and philters shee had store, Wherewith shee many reckles hearts did slay. She darkest night could turne to brightest day: Shee could destroy the corne in eare, or blade; The rage of seas she rais’d, or could allay, The fairest flowers she could cause to fade, And make the most impetuous streame a retrograde. 29 Thus (while the Knight kneeld downe before her throne) Her siluer wand in snowy hand shee tooke, Mysterious characters were writt thereon, With this she thrice him on the shoulder strooke, Then soone his pristine vigour him forsooke, Those masculine desires, which earst possest His sublimated mind, he now of shooke, And idle thoughts receiu’d into his brest, (As one to obiects fond, and folly vaine addrest) 30 The subtile Dame perceiu’d this alteration, Then sudainly shee call’d two Damsells in, The one of which (hight Delectation) The other (Loose Desire) these were akin To great Acrasia that faire Queene of Sinne, 20.7 them] The beginning of this word is written over wi 22.7 debonaire,] be debonaire, 23.8 wight] wh wight 24.4 Yea] ⌜Yea⌝ Like Before the deletion and insertion were made, Yea was also written over Like 24.9 Who] ⌜Who⌝ And 26.6 Oetæan] Oeteean Despite the unusual spelling mistake, the intention here is obvious.

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene Good Sir (sayd shee) I am a Damsell poore, That seld haue bin from cares, and troubles free, Since first I parted from great Glorianes shore, Yet neuer wont to walke without a garde before.

31 They clad him in effeminate attire, Like that luxurious Monarch who gaue end, To his Assyrian Monarchy in fire, Which desperately his owne hands did incende, Wherein with his lewd Concubines he brenn’d. Now did he loathe Bellonas warlike brute, The drummes, and trumpets did his eares offend, His fingers ply’d a Louers warbleing lute, Soft Madrigalls did with his wanton humour sute.

36 My liefest Lord, within an Iland nigh, By Tyrant false I feare is sore opprest: I much misdoubt least some Magician sly, (To errant Knights an enemy profest) Hath him diuerted from that noble quest, Which late he vndertooke, how hight your Knight, Then quoth Prince Arthur, whom you doe loue best? Albanio is my Feere, and sole delight, Sayd shee, who from a regall stemme is sprung aright.

32 As when Æneas driuen to Tyrian shore; By princely Dido, beeing entertaind, Where hee to am’rous thoughts vnlock’d the dore, As one that was by Cupids might constrain’d, To yeld his hands in loues bonds to be chain’d, Hee then Troyes wofull ruines minded not, Ne the Lauinian land by fate ordain’d, To bee the guerdon of his conquest got, When hee had sheath’d his sword in his Corriualls throte.

37 And is the wise Albanio thy deare Lord? A iuster wight then him Sol nere beheld; He ras’d the Fane where Plutus was ador’d; That subtile monster Pseudophron he quelld; And Cæcozel to lay downe armes compelld. But greatest praise, and honour hath he wonne, Vpon the Harpyes, by his might expelld, Since which he is admir’d by euery one, That heares the loud report of this achieuement done.

33 So did Albanio vtterly forget, For what intent from Faery land he came, All thoughts of his adventures did he quitt, Bending himself to idlenes, and game Reckles of reputation, and of fame: Thus hee that wont to sleepe beneath cold Ioue, Who could endure Apollos hotest flame, Did now delight to drinke in a warme stoue, Till Phosphorus should giue Night warning to remoue.

38 Now by the faith and duety which I owe To Gloriane, and by that loue entire, Which to my royall Queene pertaines, I vow, From thy assistance neuer to retire, Vntill I haue accomplish’d thy desire, And sett the by thy deare Albanios side; (This sayd) the Damsell faire he did require To goe along, who glad of such a guide And well apayd, did condiscend with him to ride.

34 Now (while Irene with her Dwarfe was bent To seeke her dearest Lord, in champaine wide) A Knight, that seem’d fraught with keene hardyment, Full swiftly prickeing toward them they spy’d, Sorely agast the Lady was that tide, Least some disloyall lustfull Faitour should, Entreat her ill, that thus did want a guide, By whom the proudest hee might bee controld, That should her dare to wrong with insolencye bold.

39 Ere long, they in that Iland faire arriu’d, Wherein Albanio fraught with guilty blisse, With his proud Paramore, Matæa liu’d, Addicted to all sports, and vanityes,

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While these vnbuckled his resplendent armes, To mumble pow’rfull words shee did beginne, Wherewith she binds his manly heart in charmes, And made him to forget his deare Irenes harmes.

35 The Knight approcheing nigh, did thus accoast The trembling Dame: haile (Lady faire) quoth hee How happens it that in this dang’rous coast, Thou can’st without some hardy Champion bee, Which might from all ill accidents garde thee?

31.2 Monarch] Written over Monarcke 31.2 who] which ⌜who⌝ 33.2 Faery] Written over Fairy 36.7 Prince Arthur,] Written over Sr Arthegall, 36.7 you doe loue] you ⌜doe⌝ loue 37.9 achieuement] achieument⌜s⌝ 38.3 royall Queene] ⌜royall Queene⌝ Britomart 38.7-9 (This sayd) . . . him to ride] The last three lines of this stanza have been entirely rewritten, and inserted below the stanza, at the foot of the page. The original text reads as follows: With that he calld along his iron squire, Who footed it as fast as they could ride Glad was Irene to meet with, so good a guide.

Book 7 Canto 11 Now did he not his white Irene misse, Nor did Leucippes troubles him molest: Quite out of mind, were all his braue acquists, Hee gaue himself to pleasure, and to rest, And loath’d the thought of any honorable quest.

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40 Strange sounds did here Prince Arthurs eares invade, Of sundry sports: There at the siluer brooke A stately flight the yelling Falc’ner made, While his fierce Bird, like dreadfull lightening strooke The foule starke dead, or in the foot it tooke. Obstrep’rous Huntsmen in the adioyneing plaine, With cryes of hounds, shouts, and shrill bugles shooke, The neihbour groues, while they with pleasure vaine, The Hare, the Bucke, or subtile Foxe pursu’d amaine. 41 But while he listend with disdainfull eares, To these harsh sounds, a goodly Hart he spy’d, Whose nimble feet seem’d hasten’d much with feares, For o’re the launds full swiftly did he glide, While many Knights, and Ladyes, the chace ply’d, With a fleete packe of hounds, and in his view A Lady from her bowe a shaft lets slide, Which from the Beast his vitall bloud forth drew, He fell, he wept, he sobb’d, and bade the world adiew. 42 Then with an vniuersall shout, they sound The fatall knell, while bugles rent the sky, Praiseing the Lady, which had layd on ground This quarry faire: Prince Arthur then drawes nigh, And with low conge, salutes the Company; There hee Albanio saw vnseemely dight: His massy coate of maile he had layd by, And was yclad in a mandilion light, Of sea greene Taffata, purfled with siluer bright.

43 In stead of horrid helme he wore a bonnet, Whereon a wanton plume did lightly waue, And many fond loue toyes were fix’d vpon it, Like those wherewith vaine youths are wont t’embraue, Their womanish attire, when they enslaue Their neckes to Cupids yoke, and condiscend That passion shall triumph o’re reason graue. His bugle tipp’d with siluer at each end, Was pendant by his side, in a greene silcken bend. 44 Abash’d he was to see Prince Arthur kind In glorious armour clad, and then begunne The course of his life past to call to mind, How hee had bin an honorable sonne, Of Mars, that mickle fame had lately wonne,

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In bold achieuements, but was now become No better then some base companion, That rather tooke delight to liue at home, Then for sweet honors sake, about the world to rome. 45 But sad Irenes sight did thrill his brest, With deadly woes, and made his heart to bleed, Yea shame, and dolour his whole heart possest, That neither could speech from his lippes proceed, Ne could hee moue; his greife did so exceed: The noble Arthur, then first silence brake: How happens it (oh Knight of royall seed) That thou didst honorable armes forsake, And to this fond ignoble course thy self betake. 46 What damn’d Circæan drugges ha’st thou carroust? Who hath depriu’d the of thy manly heate? Or in the Carian fount ha’st thou bin souc’t? That thou shouldst thus thy warlike gests forget, Which cost such large expence of bloud, and sweat: Come leaue these idle sports, and once againe, Addresse thy self to doe some noble feate, Thy fame and reputation to regaine, [vaine. Of which thou ha’st made forfieture, through pleasure 47 These reprehensiue speeches did restore That spritely fire, which earst was nigh put out; Albanio listens to his wholsome lore, 40.1 Prince Arthurs] Albanios ⌜Prince Arthurs⌝ 42.4 Prince Arthur] Written over Sr Arthegall 42.4 then drawes] ⌜then⌝ drawes 44.1 Prince Arthur] Written over Sr Arthegall 44.1 kind] ⌜kind⌝ 44.3 to call to mind,] to mind to call, ⌜to mind⌝ 45.6 The] ⌜The⌝ First 45.6 Arthur] Written over Arthegall 45.6 then first silence] then ⌜first⌝ silence 46.3 souc’t] Written over soust stanzas 46-48] A deleted stanza, numbered 47, appears immediately after stanza 46. Its text is almost identical to that of stanza 48, save for a few errors and its incomplete punctuation. That the sequence of stanza numbering continued correctly suggests that this stanza was deleted immediately after copying, probably because Knevet realized he had made an error of scribal anticipation; confusion over the author of the ‘reprehensiue speeches’ of stanza 47 – Arthur or Matæa – probably occasioned the error (see the following note). The text of the deleted stanza is as follows: But shee perceiueing how his mind was bent, With soft perswasions first did him assaile Much suppliant language then on him she spent But when she saw sweet words wold not preuaile Full loudly shee beganne to scold and raile She called him disloyall treacherous Knight And threw forth curses dire as thicke as haile Wisheing ye e Earth wold gape and swallow quite One so vnconstant so perfidious and so light 47.3 his] Written over her

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And is againe replete with manhood stout, Disdaineing her to whom he wont to lout: Hee wish’d hee had his targe, and fauchion keene, With which hee had so many combates fought, Then wold he take his leaue of that light Queene, By whom he had so shamefully enveigled bene.

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48 But shee perceiueing how his mind was bent, With soft perswasions first did him assaile, Much suppliant language then on him she spent; But when she saw sweet words wold not preuaile, Full loudly shee beganne to scold, and raile, Shee called him disloyall treach’rous Knight, And threw forth curses dire, as thicke as haile, Wisheing the earth wold gape, and swallow quite, One so vnconstant, so perfidious, and so light. 49 Then turning to Prince Arthur, thus she sayd (Accursed Villaine) that with leaseings vile, Delight’st to iniure mee, a silly maide, Perswadeing him to leaue me, and this Ile, Which my betrothed husband was erewhile, By solemne stipulation to me ty’d, Full sore shalt thou repent thy treason vile, With that shee tooke her bugle from her side, And blew a blast, which eccho’d through the Forrest wide. 50 Then from the cauerne of a mighty cliffe, A monster huge appear’d, of ougly feature, Full high vpon the plaines he strouted stiffe, Erecting his proud head; so strange a creature Nere since was seene vpon this earthly Theater, Begotten was hee many yeares agone, When Men were bred of bulke, and stature greater, Then now adayes they bee: hee was the sonne Of Hecate, and her belou’d Endymion. 51 Luna, of moisture that great Patronesse, A large proportion on him did bestowe, And gaue him eke her change, and ficklenes, And made him her Vice-gerent here below; Thus did his power vniuersall grow; For so prodigious was his force, and might, That no resistance could the same o’rethrow; A hundreth hands he wont to vse in fight, Wherein he brandished as many fauchions bright. 52 A hundreth chaines hee had wherein he bound, The captiue sences, in delightfull thrall: As the dull God of Sleepe with mandrakes crown’d, Doth stupid vapors from the stomacke call, Which giue a requiem to the sences all, That they neclect their dutyes, and suspend

Each one his function ministeriall, Vntill the Morne doth from the East ascend, And with a greater flame those lesser cressets blend. 53 So wont this hideous Monster to enchaine Mans sences fraile, disableing them to act Those offices, which Nature did ordaine; With objects light our minds vsd to distract; And pretious time perswadeing to protract; Hee was Matæas Champion, and had slaine, Many braue Knights, and many Ladyes wrack’d: For Vanity doth noble honour staine, And hath to many heroicke soules wrought mickle paine. 54 Hee did advance with insolent disdaine, And on the Faery multiplyeth blowes, But they vpon his sheild did light in vaine, For Arthur well his garde, and distance knowes, And rather skill, then sturdy valour showes Vntill he saw his time, and vantage fitt, A deadly thrust then at the fiend he throwes, Which made wide passage for his soule to flitte, With spitefull indignation, to th’infernall pitt. 55 As when the body of a large-limm’d Oke, Whose solid timber fittes the Builders skill, Haueing endur’d the axes vtmost stroke, First reeles (as one that of the megrim’s ill) Then tumbles downe, and in his fall doth fill With noise of ruine, the adioyneing wood; So fell Granvanio, with horrour shrill, Defileing earth with his blacke gory bloud, And heauen reuileing with his execrations loud. 56 When that Matæa, saw the Gyant fall, Shee rent her amber tresses and augments Her rage, and on the Prince did vent her gall, Who gaue but a deafe eare to her laments, And hastily Albanio calls from thence, Who to the Cittadell returned backe, Where hee put on all his abilliments, And forth in warlike equipage did packe, [wracke. With Arthur braue, who had him freed from balefull 49.1 Prince Arthur,] Written over Sr Arthegall, 49.1 thus she] ⌜thus⌝ she 49.7 Full sore . . . repent] Full ⌜sore⌝ humbly shalt thou ⌜repent⌝ rue 54.2 Faery] Written over Fairy 54.4 Arthur] Written over Arthegall 54.4 well his] ⌜well⌝ his 56.3 Her rage . . . her gall,] Her madnes fierce, but glad Sr Artegall, ⌜rage, and on the Prince did vent her gall⌝ 56.4 Who gaue] Written over Did giue 56.9 Arthur] Written over Arthegall 56.9 braue, who] ⌜braue⌝ , who 56.9 wracke.] wracke ⌜wracke⌝ ⌜wracke⌝

Book 7 Canto 12

Canto 12 Albanio kills Aphronimon, And settes Sir Euphues free, Who doth the Lady Sophia wedde, But, faire Irene, Hee. 1

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As Morpheus, the God of phantasmes light, Sends thronging through his gate of iuory, Whole troupes of dreames, in midst of silent Night, Which falling on Mans trobled phantasy, Breed thoughts of dole, and deadly ieopardy, Till iron sleepe hath left his sences quite, Freeing the Soules most noble faculty; For then he laughes that shadowes should him fright, And feares forgetting, smiles to see day dawning bright. 2 Euen so Albanio, much admir’d that hee, Had whilome errd from reasons wholesome lore, And wonder’d that he should seduced bee, By the faire feature of a painted whore, But soone forgetting, what had past before, Hee tooke his humble leaue of Arthur stout, And for his curt’sy gaue him thankes great store, Resolued to expunge those follyes out, With deedes adventurous, among the warlike route. 3 Ne certes (Knights and Ladyes) is it meete, That any should Albanio despise, Or censure him, for beeing vndiscreete, In yeelding to Matæas vanityes, Since neuer any mortall was so wise, That hath by folly not bin ill bested, For no perfection dwells beneath the skyes, And humane reason, is oft vanquished By perturbations strong, and wondrously misled. 4 Yea hee that had from the eternall light, The pretious gift of sapience sublime, (King Salomon the Wise) a Fauorite Vnto the King of Kings, before whose time, None ere was so renoun’d in any clime, For science high; hee lewdly did amisse, Staind with the guilt of many a heynous crime, That his saluation by Clerkes question’d is; A Question ’tis too bold, and curious, y’wis. 5 I dare not call him Reprobate, who was My Sauiours type, and princely Ancestor: Though his sinnes did arithmeticke surpasse, Gods mercyes were then his offences more: For Sinners great, great pitty hee hath store;

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And though the story of his life doth hide His gracefull penitence, leaueing the score, And rubricke of his sinnes, to bee descry’d; Yet dare I not conclude, that hee for euer dy’d. 6 But pardon mee, if that I iudge amisse; For if I iudge amisse, my errour flowes From Charity: this my opinion is, That Salomon (a convert) did compose His Sweet Ecclesiastes, where he showes A sence of sorow, for his follyes past, Speakeing like one, who by experience knowes, That pleasure sweete proues bitternes at last, And how all earthly things doe flitte, and vanish fast. 7 As when the iolly Pilot that doth guide, His stagg’ring vessell, through the surgeing maine, When hee the port kennes where he meanes to bide, Forgetteth soone the labour, and the paine, Which in his voyage long he did sustaine; So doe I ioy, to see my iorneys end, Where I ’till time shall call me forth againe, May with a sweet repose, my self vnbend, And gather strength to finish what I doe intend. 8 For now Albanio, after hee had gone Full many miles, and past through vnknowne lands, Came to the realme of fierce Aphronimon, Where noble Euphues, was kept in bands, Captiued by the cruell Tyrants hands, With gentle Sophia, his betrothed Mate. Ten months had they bin vnder his commands, Surprised by despite, and treach’rous hate, When they did least expect the frowne of adverse fate. 9 Faire Sophia of the Sabian Land was Queene, Not of Sabæa whence sweet cinnamon, With Myrrhe, and Cassia haue transported bene: But Sabia is her dominion, Where laurells greene, and oliues grow alone; Nigh to the riseing Sunne her court shee keepes, 2.6 Arthur stout,] Written over Arthegall, 2.8 out,] all, out 2.9 among the warlike route.] and prowesse martiall. ⌜among the warlike route⌝ 4.7 Staind] ⌜Staind⌝ And 5.5 great, great] great, pi great 5.9 conclude] ass conclude 6.1-2 But pardon . . . flowes] But pardon mee; if that I iudge amisse? | For if I iudge amisse? my errour flowes 6.5 His Sweet . . . where] His po Booke of adagges ⌜Sweet Ecclesiastes⌝ , where in 8.6 Mate.] Mate 9.2 whence] wherence

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Where Ganges doth with wealthy burdens grone, Of mighty Cityes, while he slowly creepes, T’vnlade his wat’ry freight in the vast Indian deepes.

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10 By mighty Lords this Lady courted was, And woo’d, to fill a roome in Hymens bed; Her royaltyes made many seeke her grace: But in the most, her matchles beauty bred Desire to winne so rare a maydenhead; But in a Virgins state did shee delight, And masculine embraces euer fled, No scepters lustre bright could her envite, Vnto some princely feere her faith and troth to plight.

11 Shee was to vert’ous action so intent, That Cupid could no ayme take at her heart, Hee many shafts in vaine vpon her spent, But leuell’d one at length, with so great art, As it did deepely pierce that tender part: For among all the Knights that at her court, Arriu’d from farre, Sir Euphues his desart Did most exceed: his grace, and noble port Strong battery did maintaine ’gainst her affections Fort. 12 Sir Euphues of Fairy linage came, An elder brother to Sir Calidore, Who did the Blatant Beast so lately tame; The bruite of Sophias fame did bring him o’re, From Glorianes Court, vnto the Sabian shore, Where hee at tilt, and tourney did so well, That hee the prize of chiualry y’wore, And from each Knight did beare away the bell, Besides, hee did in courtly pastimes all excell. 13 Good words he could confine to numbers sweet, And of his Ladyes praise sing sonnetts fine, Full dextrously hee could apply his feet, Vnto the language of the violine; Yet did all wanton leuity decline: For bold, and hardy was hee in the feild, As ere was any of the Worthyes nine, In breife he was a complete Courtier held, And eke a Souldier braue, scarce to be paralelld. 14 His vertue, and his noble parentage A deepe impression made in Sophias mind, That now her mayden coy-nes ’gan to swage, And shee became so gentle, and so kind, That Euphues a lodgeing hop’d to find

Within her princely bed, thus they in fine Themselues with vowes did each to other bind, Yet to the world appeard not any signe, That shee to loue Sir Euphues did her mind incline. 15 They thought it meete their league for to conceale, ’Till Time should serue that they might it disclose, ’Till then their chast delights they meant to steale: (And Louers dearest hold such ioyes as those) Sweet is the loue which vndiscouerd goes: For many Pagan Princes martiall, Of high estates, and puissance valorous, Her Louers were: Some, did her wealth enthrall, But her surpasseing beauty conquerd almost all. 16 But among all those hardy miscreants, That su’d to her for loue, none might compare, With fierce Aphronimon (for puissance) Who of an empire great the scepter bare, Where Israels disobedient people are Deuided from the world, by mountaines high: For the Æmathian Prince ’gainst them did barre The Caspian gates, where in great penury They liue to rue their most ingrate apostasy. 17 With goodly gifts this pagan Monarch stroue, To winne her heart, yet found but meane successe, For still she did reply she could not loue, But hee in’s sute persisteth (nere the lesse) Most prodigall of vowes, and promises. On Sophia faire did waite a Beldame sly, To whom shee durst commend those secrecyes, Which shee wont to conceale from the worlds eye, So highly did she value her integrity. 18 Malfida was she cleap’d, Malfida vile, The falsest creature of all womankind, A Cockatrice, or crafty Crocodile: With gifts her did Aphronimon so blind, That she to him reueal’d her Ladyes mind, She told him how yong Euphues was the Knight, Whom for a husband Sophia had design’d, These newes bred in his brest such fell despite, That hee all ioy, and solacement abandon’d quite. 9.9 T’vnlade . . . freight] To disembarque T’vnlade his wat’ry fregg freight 9.9 the vast] the ⌜vast⌝ The first word is written over an original th’ 14.6 princely bed, thus] princely ⌜bed,⌝ thus 15.4 And Louers dearest hold] The first four words of this line have been extensively revised. Much of the original text was rubbed out, and the rest illegibly deleted. 18.4 Aphronimon] Ap⌜h⌝ronimon 18.8 his brest] ⌜his brest⌝ heart

Book 7 Canto 12 19 Blacke Envuy daily boiling in his heart, Wold suffer him to take no rest at all, But envites him to act some tragicke part; On Euphues he long’d to spend his gall, Whom with despite innate, and naturall, Hee deepely did maligne, long time before, That Euphues did in competition fall, For Sophias loue: but this regard did more Incense his rage, then all occasions ta’ne of yore.

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20 Hee couertly with false Malfida treates, And with rich gifts, did stupefy her so, That shee was prest to act what wicked feates, His lawles malice, should envite her to, And to vse Sophia, as her deadly foe. Thus did this wicked Hagge herself enwrappe, In enterprises foule, to ouerthrow Sir Euphues, who dreaded no mishap, But walk’d without suspicion of proditions trappe. 21 Shee names a place, where fierce Aphronimon, Protected by the shades of guilty night, Might with his cursed complices fall on, And without perill of a bloudy fight, Vpon these payre of Turtles wreake his spite: For summes of gold, shee promis’d accesse free, And to contriue the strategeme so right, That ere Sol should the vnder-world thrice see, Sir Euphues, and his deare by him surpris’d might bee. 22 Thus graceles Scylla did betray her sire, Enveigled by a strangers brauery; Thus lewd Tarpeia, vanquishd by desire Of tempting gold, sold to the enemy The Romane Capitoll, wherein did lye Entrusted with vnpenetrable stone, Both Romane Gods, and Romane liberty, But shee by thirst of shineing drosse egg’d on, Her countrey setts at sale, and her religion. 23 Thou (ougly Plutus) that forlorne dost lye In the deepe cauernes, of the darke abysse, Where thou thy sooty heapes, with sunken eye, Eternally dost contemplate, how is Thy strength encreast, how are thy libertyes Enlarg’d, since thy dominion doth extend Throughout all empires, and all prouinces, That on the surface of the earth are kenn’d? Yea euen as farre as Phœbus doth his splendor lend. 24 Now had Malfida so her treason plotted, That false Aphronimon did then repayre, (When euery creature was with sleepe besotted)

Vnto an arbour, where this louely payre, Were practiseing their courtship debonaire, Supposeing that no wight, could them surprise, Or onely that the Moone, and gentle aire, Had conscious bin, of what they did deuise; So little they expected future treacheryes. 25 As when the hungry Leopard lyes in waite, To catch his prey, he climes some thicke leau’d tree, And while the hinde suspecteth no deceit, Leapes from his stand, ere shee the danger see, That the poore Beast, no leysure hath to flee, But thus surprised by an ambuscade, A breakfast for her cruell foe must bee, Who with keene teeth, doth her soft throte invade, That for lifes passage soone a portall wide is made. 26 Euen so did rude Aphronimon surprise These Louers, in their guiltles dalliance, While they of treason little did surmise, Addicted to delight, and iouissance, For neither had Sir Euphues sword, or lance, Or any armes, wherewith to make defence, No way could hee eschue this adverse chance, But was with Sophia carry’d captiue thence, Farre of into a place of woe and indigence. 27 But false Malfida for her paines requited, Herself like to an errant Damsell drest, And by Satanicall lewd thewes incited, Attempted with foule stratagems vnkest, All Knights of worth, and honour to molest: But sweet Irene who sole sister was, To good Sir Euphues, with woe opprest, For her deare Brothers miserable case, To Faery land for his releife did poste apace. 28 Albanio there did Gloriane entreat, That hee this enterprise might vndertake, Shee gaue him license, to attempt the feate, Both for his wisedome, and his valours sake, Thus hee the Land of Faery did forsake, And (maugre all Malfidas treasons vile) Through many dangers, and adventures brake, ’Till hee arriued at the wretched Ile, Where Euphues, with Sophia liued in exile. 29 A gloomy clime, and ill inhabited It seem’d, for there no path, or way appear’d, Where any humane creature wont to tread, No cittyes there their towred crests vpreard; Of shrubbes, and bushes the earth was not cleard. 22.1 Scylla] Silla ⌜Scylla⌝

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Nor was there any village to be found, There were no flowry meadowes, nor feilds eard, Weedes there through want of cultiuage abound: And all the people liue in houses vnderground.

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30 For as the southerne Troglodites (who parch’d With Phœbus fiery flames) are forc’d to dwell Within their common Mothers entrailes arch’d; So extreme cold this nation did compell, To liue (each one) low in a darkesome dell. Much troubled in his iorney was the Knight, For neither did hee see the countrey well, Nor might he guide his wandring steed aright, Because he could vpon no beaten pathway light. 31 At length a mister wight hee mett withall, A lothsome Wretch, halfe clad in tatter’d weede, Hee look’d as wild, as any Canniball, And hee in twisteing ropes was busyed, Whereon an Asse that stood him nigh, did feed: Perpetually thus labor’d hee in vaine, ’Cause still the Asse for him, new worke did breed, Deuoureing what was done; and did constraine The mizer alway to beginne his taske againe. 32 The Knight admireing at this stupid sot, Did call vpon him for to shew the way, Vnto Aphronimons abideing plot; But hee (as one that meant not’s worke to stay) Gaue but deafe eare to what the Knight did say, And while hee thus cry’d out ’till hee was hoarce, To this insipid stocke a Damsell gay, Came scuddeing by with an impetuous course, As one that fled to shunne some cruell Foemans force. 33 Vpon a Palfrey white she mounted was, Her lockes disheuel’d on her shoulders were, A laurell wreath did her smooth browes embrace, Her lookes reported store of frightfull feare, And still suspecting that her foe was neare, Oft shee her eyne reflected in her flight, But while Albanio long’d to see, or heare, What accident did cause her sore affright, A Villaine of an ougly feature came in sight. 34 A Monster ’twas, such as dry Africke nigh The confines of hote Æthiope doth showe, A branch of th’vncouth Blemmyes progeny, Hee was, as by his stature yee may know, For on his shoulders broad, no head did grow, His mouth, and nose were placed in his brest, So were his eyne, that like bright lampes did glowe, An oken plant hee grasped in his fist, Of foot so fleete hee was, that seld his prey he mis’t.

35 But now Albanio hinder’d his pursute, And boldly in his swift course him withstood, The Monster greetes him with a sterne salute, And flyes vpon him with enraged moode, Redoubleing strokes (as hee were woxen wood), But constantly the Knight did him oppose, And wisely stroue to make his party good, Well skill’d how to encounter with such foes, And with expert actiuity euades his boistrous blowes. 36 As when a greedy Rouer giues the chase, Vnto a barke fraught with rich merchandise, Hee clappes on all his sailes, and scuddes apace, In hope to beare away a wealthy prize. But beeing prest to board her hee espyes, A sturdy Man of Warre, come vp the wind, That furiously into the rescue flyes, Then soone he tackes about, with irefull mind, To bee aueng’d on him, for her escape, enclin’d. 37 So did this Thiefe, his teeth for anger grind, ’Gainst him that had bereft him of his prey, And all his skill, and fury hee combind, His hardy Foeman on the ground to lay, But th’Elfin Knight so well his prize did play, That hee the Fiends mishapen bulke pierc’d through, And for his ougly soule made ready way, Which mix’d with gore, through chanell wide did flow, Doom’d to eternall horrour in the realme below. 38 But tumbling headlong downe, the earth he tore, Exclaymeing on his gods so bitterly, That nere Albanio heard the like before. Now great Aphronimon that heard the cry, (For his abode and dwelling place was nigh) Came to the place: Irene first him spy’d, And cry’d aloud, loe here’s our Enemy, Bee strong Albanio, and thy self prouide Soone to abate this Tyrants insolence and pride. 39 Aphronimon was proudly mounted on, A courser large, as blacke as any iette, Accoutred with a blacke caparison, Whereon was drawne within a golden frette, A Chaos rude, vpon his burganett, No Ladyes sleeue, nor any fauour braue, Compos’d of some faire Damsells lockes was sett, But on his crest a horses taile did waue, Which to spectatours terrour, and affrightment gaue. 37.4 hardy] ⌜hardy⌝ doubty 38.2 so] most so 38.4 great] ⌜great⌝ fell

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45 Then with his hands, he sought the Elfe to graspe, But hee such rude embraces did decline. And as he stroue him in his armes to claspe, The Knight beheld iust where the pouldrons ioyne, Beneath the shoulder, with the brigandine, His body bare, and with a mortall wound, His cursed soule and carkasse did disioyne, Then downe he fell, and kick’d that guiltles ground, Which in his guilty gore was quickly after drown’d.

41 With that he couch’d his lance, and prick’d his steed; Albanio rencounterd him amaine, Their speares in splinters brake, like roddes of reed, Their Coursers bothe fell groueling on the plaine, So dazled that they neuer rose againe. Albanio first his footeing did recouer, For hee was much the nimbler of the twaine, Although his foe did him farre ouerpower, For when hee stood vpright, hee seem’d a lofty towre.

46 Albanio makes him shorter by the head, And with Irene went vnto the cell, Where this fierce Gyant earst inhabited, Like to that filthy denne where Cacus fell, Enrich’d with mighty robberyes did dwell, It was, from earths hard rocky wombe hewne out: The Knight goes boldly downe into this Hell, But in his way was troubled by a rout, [about. Of Night-Rauens, Battes, and Owles, that compast him

42 Aphronimon fought with a mighty mace, A fitting weight for his strong arme to poise, But a keene sword Albanios weapon was, With this, on his amazed foe he flyes, And many strokes him lent, ere hee could rise, That if hee had not bin in armour dight, Attemper’d well by magicke subtiltyes, Albanio soone concluded had the fight, Before the Gyant could haue rais’d himself vpright.

47 As doe the Sommer flyes infest the face, Of the fierce steed, at soile, so did they vexe, The Knight, but hee these obscene birds did chase, And downe into a Hall his steppes directs, Where glareing lampe-light the blacke darkenes checkes, There he saw sitting at an iron grate, A Sire, that seemd full graue in all respects, His habite, and his beard did intimate, That hee was nor vnciuill, nor illitterate.

43 At length, hee rose, as one new rous’d from sleepe, And furiously beganne to play his part, The wary Knight did well his distance keepe, Eludeing his vnheedy force, with art, And from his hideous blowes did nimbly start, Refuseing to receiue such fauours light, Which did with rage so fill the Gyants heart, That hee his iron club with fell despite, Heau’d vp on high, and threw it at the gentle Knight.

48 And at his girdle hung a bunch of keyes, The Knight requests him to vnlocke the dore, But hee sate still haueing no lust to rise, The Knight entreats him as he did before, But the old Dotard neuer stirr’d the more, Then hee commands him to produce the key, But hee lets fall the bunch vpon the flore, Ne wold he take the paines to make reply, Ne wold hee moue, hee was enclind so slothfully.

44 Albanio did his thunderbolt euade, Aphronimon then casts aside his eye, And spy’d a stone that might a wagon lade, To this hee arme, and shoulder did apply, And from the ground it reard impetuously, Nor look’d hee pale, when hee did it vplift, Nor when he did it at the Knight let fly, Were his knees seene to bowe; a motion swift Hee gaue it, but Albanio did the danger shift.

49 Albanio did the hideous prison enter, And downward did so many steppes descend, As if the depth thereof had reach’d the centre, But beeing come vnto his iorneys end, His torch which dampish vapours did nigh blend,

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40 Hee furiously did thus Albanio greet, (Vnmanly Knight) that ha’st with treason foule, Slaine stout Acephalon (to my regreet) For humane force could not his might controule, I’le bee auenged on thy hatefull soule, (By Mahound) and thy filthy carkasse, must Become a prey, for Wolues, that nightly proule About these woods; this hand, and Mahound iust, Shall lay thee most accursed Caitife in the dust.

44.8 a motion] wth ⌜a⌝ motion 45.5 brigandine] brrigandine 46.2 Irene] Albanio ⌜Irene⌝ stanza 47] Knevet copied and deleted the first line, along with the first word of the second line, of the following stanza (48); he then correctly began stanza 47 immediately below. The deleted text reads as follows: And at his girdle hung a bunch of keyes The

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Shew’d him the place, where Euphues was layd, Laden with chaines, in dungeon darke vp penn’d, Albanio was much greiu’d, and ill apayd, To see him in such miserable plight arrayd.

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50 Him from his giues, and fetters hee soone freed; For Sophia then they diligently sought, And found the Lady wretchedly bested, For shee vnto a weake estate was brought, Through want of due releife, and vsage nought: For in an iron cage shee was vp mew’d, Where shee endured penury, and drought: Ten times had Cinthia pale her hornes renu’d, Since this poore Damsell last Apollos splendor view’d.

51 Albanio thus releiu’d these Louers twaine, Then forth with goodly chevisance they went, Him thankeing, that redeem’d them from this paine, And praiseing much his worth, and hardyment, That had Aphronimon to Pluto sent, The great contemner of the Gods deuine, That source of treason, and all foule intent, That profest foeman to the Muses nine, Which did all art, and wholesome knowledge so decline. 52 But sweet Irenes ioy did so abound, That from coole teares the Dame could not refraine, Yea shee for gladnes fell into a sound, Yet soone recouerd life and sence againe, Then from this vnblest shore they poste amaine, Returning to faire Sophias countrey deare, Where her liege people did her entertaine; With gorgeous triumphs, and with sumpt’ous cheere, That shee was welcome home they made it well appeare.

54 So after many sorowes vndergone, Sir Euphues, and Sophia found rest, And the religious Preist was call’d vpon, Who decently array’d in sacred vest, Did knitte that knot, which modest maides like best, Then Organes graue, sackebuttes, and cornetts cleare, In holy tunes their pious mirth exprest, While Choristers their voices high did reare, With heau’nly Allelu-iahes, filling all the Quiere. 55 And (to make all their iollity complete) Albanio then Irene made his bride; At this great feast was many a noble feate Of armes perform’d, for Knights of prowesse try’d, In costly equipage did thither ride, From countreys farre and nigh: the day they spent In martiall sports, and when Night ’gan to hide All things beneath her sable vestiment, They courtly masques in peereles brau’ry did present. 56 But (when all these solemnityes were done) Albanio gaue a sorowfull adieu, To Euphues, and his faire parragon, And with Irene mild, his consort true, Was bound for Faery land, there to review Great Glorianas face, and to receiue that meed, Which was to his illustrious merit due: For now ’gan Fame his worthy acts to spread, And in all climes his soueraigne wisedome was ydread.

53 As when the Lord of our diurnall light, Hath left cold Pisces, and moist Aquary, In his high sphericke progresse passeing right, Through Aries, to the Bull and Gemini, Then gelid meteors leaue the cheerefull sky, And showers warme from gentle clouds distill, Into earths pregnant bosome plenteously, Which fragrant flowers breed on euery Hill, While euery groue’s replenished with musicke shrill.

49.6 Shew’d him the place,] ⌜Shew’d⌝ To him ⌜the place⌝ discouer’d, 53.1] Knevet copied and deleted the first line of stanza 52, and then correctly began stanza 53 immediately below. The deleted text reads as follows: But sweet Irenes ioy did so abound

The Eighth Booke of the Faery Queene containeing the Legend of Callimachus or Fortitude

5 Britaine is by a threefold Wall surrounded, (Great Prince) while thou dost raigne: the vtter wall Of shippeing is compos’d, so strongly founded, That it thy stoutest Foemen doth appall. A second Wall, then this more strong, and tall, Is thy liege Peoples loyalty, and loue. The third Wall, which in strength exceedeth all, Is thy imperiall vertue, which doth moue Both God, and Man of thy great actions to approue.

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1 As the braue Eagle weares the diademe, Among the feather’d people of the skye: And the fierce Lion’s held in most esteeme, By Subiects of the syluane monarchye, Through his vndaunted magnanimitye; Euen so that Man demerits best to beare The garland of renowne, and dignity, Whom no respect of danger can deterre, From honours way: whose brest admitts no seruile feare. 2 This is the Man, that will not bee subdu’d By threats of Tyrants, or vniust commands Of the vnruly rageing multitude: Fraught with calme thoughts, hee in a tempest stands, And sailes securely among rockes, and sands; For hee a mind beyond all perill beares: Yea Death nere winnes advantage at his hands; And though the skyes should fall about his eares, Hee stedfastly abides, and nought their ruines feares. 3 Euen so (renowned Charles) thy fortitude Protects thy self, and People from all feare; While all the world beside with bloud’s embru’d: Kingdomes defac’d, and Townes dismantled beare Markes of Bellonas cruelty seuere; But thou Arche-Pilot of the British state, As if the Seas were calme, and weather cleere, Do’st saile, not dreadeing all the Sea-Gods hate: Vertue, and iudgement doe thy course so regulate. 4 Thou ar’t the Soueraigne both of sea, and land, Witnes that nauall honour lately wonne, By thy high auspice, and sublime command When thy proud Foes, thy shippes durst not looke on, Who chaleng’d earst our Seas dominion: Those fadeing Lillyes of the Ocean blew, When thy braue Roses blossom’d vanish’d soone: For Lillyes must giue place by order due To Roses, both in fragrant sent, and beaut’ous hue.

Canto 1 Callimachus yong Tendron doth Preserue, from Giant fell, Hee makes him Knight, and doth in fight, Pauentas Louers quell. 1 Wee, that are cloisterd in fraile cells of clay, ’Gainst diuers foes are variously compell’d, To maintaine doubtfull combate, night and day; But fortitude serues for a sword, and sheild, Which whosoeuer can discreetly weild, By them his foemen proud he shall dismay, And returne victour from the bloudy feild; Hee must not (Varro-like) throwe targe away, Ne yet his sword forgoe, in the most hard assay. 2 But (like a Spartane youth) he must addresse Himself, to winne the palme at any price: Dyeing, he may his enemy oppresse: For as the thirsty Dragon by surprise, Haueing seasd on the Elephant, applyes His strength, and skill to quell his sturdy foe, Suckeing his bloud from a large orifice, That he beginnes to stagger to and fro, And falling breakes the cruell Dragons bowells so. 3 Thus hee in death becomes a Conquerour, While vnder him his mortall enemy, Dismemberd, lyes weltring in swarty gore: Euen so the valyant heart in feild may dye, And dyeing winne a glorious victory: For hee that feares dishonour, more then death, And vertue hugges in spite of ieopardye, Deserues the meed of a triumphall wreath, For prizeing honour true aboue a gaspe of breath. Pr.3.9 course so regulate.] course ⌜so⌝ well regulate. Pr.5] A blank leaf follows the Proem. This may suggest that Knevet had intended to add further stanzas to the Proem at some point. Pr.5.9 actions to approue.] actions doe ⌜to⌝ approue.

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 9 And thou (Corleon) though thou didst exceed In warlike hardyment, most Knights aliue By Aquilino fierce wer’t vanquished, In vaine, thou didst ’gainst him in combate striue, For hee with losse, did from the feild thee driue, And made the lay thy conquer’d armes aside: In thy designe thou very ill didst thriue; A sory meed thy valour did betide, For thou wer’t forc’d to yeild to his insulting pride.

5 But hee that doth the spurre of honour weare, Must in all actions onely ayme at right; To all men he himself must fairely beare, Abandoning notorious vices quite, And banisheing ignoble hate, and spite: Yea Masters sage doe sacred rules set downe, To bee obserued by each errant Knight, That labours for true honour, and renowne; Which in these lines ensueing are distinctly showne.

10 (Old Cato-like) I dare not question Ioue, That to thy armes, did no successe afford; Of his decrees I must and will approue: Yet this I can’t but vtter in a word, The better cause was thine, his the best sword. For Aquilino was a Gyant strong, Beeing combin’d with many a Pagane Lord, That had in martiall feates bin trained long; These his Confed’rates were in all tyrannous wrong.

6 Hee to his Parents, must giue honour true. Hee neuer must oppresse, or vexe the poore. Hee mercy must bestowe where mercy’s due. Hee must fight in defence of sacred lore. Hee must not turne his backe his foe before. Hee must with freind, and foe keepe promise plight. Hee must bee free, and lib’rall of his store. Hee euer must defend the maydens right. Hee must vphold the widowes cause, with all his might.

11 Yet could not Corleons disasters daunt, The braue Callimachus: he vndertooke To enter combate with the Miscreant; His haughty courage no delay could brooke, But hee his leaue of Gloriana tooke, And speedily forsooke the Faery court, For his sterne foe in forraine parts to looke: Well fitted was the Knight for warlike sport, And on his sheild he bare three garlands, in faire port.

7 Ne certes, were these Maximes vpheld, With more obseruance and religion, In any Clime, that ere the sunne beheld, Then vnder Gloriane the Parragon Of honour, and heroicke action. Those that by bloudy Tyrants were opprest, Found freedome if they sought it at her throne. Shee plagu’d the wicked, and the weake redrest: No Prince ere had more hardy Knights, at his behest.

12 It fortund, as he rode vpon his way, Hee saw a Squire, makeing a speedy flight, From a fierce foe, that did him sore affray, For a tall Gyant of a monstrous might, Pursu’d the tender youth, with egre spite, Who seem’d for martiall excercise vnfitt, And mounted was vpon a Gennet white, That o’re the plaines as swift as wind did flitte; Full fast he prick’d makeing small vse of reyne or bitte.

8 Now had the Dwarfe, who whilome crau’d reliefe, Of wise Albanio, in Leucippes name, In Fairy court made knowne his Ladyes greife, Where many Heroes, of illustr’ous fame, Desir’d to succour that distressed Dame: But many Knights were in the action foil’d, Defeated, and repell’d with mickle shame. For from the bold adventure they recoyl’d, Disgraced, of both horse, and armour quite dispoil’d.

13 And still he look’d behind him, as he fled, As if the Gyant had bin at his backe, His countenance (god wot) was nothing red, Hee look’d as pale, as one vpon the racke, Nor in the chace was his Pursuer slacke, Who mounted was vpon so swift a Beast, That hee the Squire was ready to attacke, Who when he saw a Knight with speare in rest, Without delay, to him he for a rescue prest.

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4 When that Prometheus fram’d his Man of clay, A Lions rage he to his heart did adde, To make him bold in battailous affray, And to behold pale Death, with visage glad, Ne to be dash’d with perills most ydrad: For dastard feares doe ill beseeme mankind: Nor must we bee misled by fury mad, For anger doth the eye of Reason blind, That to true fortitude she cannot the way find.

9.9 For] ⌜For⌝ Were 9.9 pride.] pride 10.8 That had] That ⌜had⌝

Book 8 Canto 1 19 What bootes it to pursue the fearefull Hart, Or rocke-surmounting Roe? leaue these delights To Delia, and her Nymphs; it is thy part Thy body to engage in bloudy fights, And to consort thy self with hardy Knights: It argues ignobility to spend, In melting vanityes thy dayes, and nights, When thou by honord labour mayst ascend To blisse, which of all vert’ous action is the end.

15 Euen so this Cockney, though he loath’d the sight Of an arm’d Champion, yet through very feare, Hee fled for his protection to the Knight, Els had the Giant, without pitty there His body gor’d through with his poinant speare, Now stout Callimachus, who ready was For combate fierce, him meetes in full carreere, Pierceing his braine-panne through his helme of brasse, That downe he tumbled and lay sprauleing on the grasse.

20 Alas, then quoth yong Tendron I am one, That nere was taught to mannage sturdy steed, Nor vs’d to weare a strong haberieon, The towring Hauke I can reclayme, and feed, And the sharp-sented Brache in lyam lead, Yet well I wish to armes, and should be glad, In list of knighthood to be numbered, I would I neuer excercised had Those idle sports, from whence no honour can be had.

16 When this yong stripling saw the Giant slaine His cloudy greifes, were chang’d to ioyes serene, Hee late halfe dead, was now reuiu’d againe, His pallid horrour was dispelled cleane, And in his cheekes a ruddy hue was seene: Then he related to Callimachus, What rapes, and rapines had committed beene, By great Sans paour, that Giant furious, Whose habitation was cleapt the Vale Perillous.

21 Yet many motiues, counsell mee to shunne The vse of armes, and noble Chiualry, For frowneing Mars ascendent with the Sunne, In trine aspect, at my natiuity, Portends to me much ill and ieopardy: My mother eke who wise Pauenta hight, That is in magicke spells learn’d perfectly, By sage, and most affectionate foresight, Biddes mee to shunne the hazard of each bloudy fight.

17 His drinke was humane bloud; he fed vpon The dainty limmes of youths, and virgins yong: Hee feard not the assault of many fone Hee was so hardy, and exceeding strong: Hee oft was wont (quoth hee) to roue among These woods for prey, and as I stragled here, Engaged in a chace both swift, and long, Hee almost mee surpris’d while without feare, I in this Forrest did pursue, a wounded deere.

22 Then quoth the Knight: th’art too effeminate, To feare the trigonall aspect of Mars, Or Saturnes quadrate looke, as if thy fate Were onely gouern’d by the pow’r of starres: Can their coniunctions kind, or ciuill warres, And opposition high, in thy lesse orbe Produce or gentle peace, or mortall iarres: The starres are mortall things, and cannot curbe The Soule immortall, or her facultyes disturbe.

18 Then thus to him Callimachus replide; How happens it that in thy youthfull age, When now thy limbes with vigour are supplide, That thou rid’st not in warlike equipage, But look’st like one fitt for a scenicke stage? Where is thy target strong, and ashen speare, Thy sword wherewith thou mightst sterne combate wage, These are the weapons which thou oughtst to weare, The dart, or bowe be armes for Women fitt to beare.

23 Feare not thy starres, for ills that may ensue, Nor blame them for those euills which are past, Explode this tenent wicked and vntrue, That to the starres Mans will is chained fast, And must be led as they did first forecast: These substances may worke on bodyes fraile, But their commissions strength is not so vast, That they by it, may humane soules assaile, Much lesse ’gainst those eternall essences preuaile.

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14 As when the Tercel Gentle doth pursue, A nimble Culuer, through Ioues emperye, The fearfull bird doth slice the welkin blew, But her sharp-sett remorseles enemy, His sinew’d pinions doth so soundly ply, That her fine corps his greedy gorge must feed, Except that in some happy cottage nigh, Shee safegard seeke and from death to be freed, Committ her self to humane lenity at need.

16.8 Giant] Written over Gyant 18.7 wage,] wage 20.5 sharp-sented] sp sharp-sented

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 29 This new made Knight, then to the Elfe ’gan tell, How that his Mother in a fortresse nigh, Which was ycleapt Codardia, did dwell, To whom eight Knights their seruice did apply, Each seekeing her good will vncessantly, But she requites them all with equall loue, Nor wold to any faire respect deny, None in her thoughts another was aboue, Though to exceed each other all these Louers stroue.

25 But if you shall becalm’d with idle feare, Decline achieuements braue, (then know) you must No entrance find, nor entertainment there, But bee trod downe ingloriously in dust, For your deprau’d desert, a guerdon iust: Nor euer could a Coward spirit sore, So high a pitch: it profits not to trust In swelling titles, or in wealthy store, For they cannot exalt the any iot the more.

30 If that to day, she seemes to fauour one, His fellow (doubtles) by to morrow next, From him his fickle Mistris will haue wonne, And then comes in a third, these two betwixt, Yea after these, a fourth, a fifth, and sixth, A seuenth, and eighth, her loue haue wonne and lost: Her thoughts are so vnsettled, and vnfixt: Thus these fond Gallants variously tost, Betweene dispaire, and hope, are by each other crost.

26 Thus spake Callimachus, vnto the Squire, Which bred such sparkes of honour in his brest, That soone the Yonkers heart was set on fire, And instantly he did the Knight request, With knighthoods sacred rites him to envest, Who him to take the holy othe then made, Which (in like case) is wont to bee exprest, Him greeteing with a gentle accollade, And him that kneeld a Squire, t’arise a Knight he badde.

31 This fruitles loue they haue maintain’d so long, That they haue wasted all their meanes, and store, And now are taught to thriue by rapines strong, Liueing vpon the spoiles of rich, and poore: Yet still they agitate their sutes the more; Like idle drones they doe their hony steale, They feed, and drinke all on my Mothers score, Thus wrongfully they doe empayre that weale, Which fortune should in future seasons to me deale.

27 As yong Achilles by old Chiron was Traind vp in education feminine, To shunne that fate, and lamentable case, Which to befall him Wizards did diuine, If with the Greekes he did ’gainst Troy combine, Vntill Vlysses did by cunning sly, Discouer him beneath his habite fine, Then Vulcans armes he don’d immediately, And to adventures hardy did himself apply.

32 And though in fight, they bee not ouerhardy, Yet they in policy, are well y’redde; To perillous achieuements nothing tardy, And haue in their adventures oft well spedde: They hang together all, as on a threed: For thus among themselues they did ordaine, That euery Knight who shall be hither led, By purpose, or by chance they will constraine, ’Gainst each of them a single combate to maintaine.

28 Euen so this Springold did beginne to dreame Of hazardous attempts, intensely bent Well to obserue Callimachus his theme: Thus may wee see how strong, and preualent The words are of the wise, and eloquent: For doubtles had not this Sir Tendron mett, With sage Callimachus, (by accident) His mind on matters high he had not sett, Nor chang’d his Hunters cappe, for horrid burganett.

33 And if it bee his happe to bee o’recome, His horse, and armour, he must part withall, And for his ransome giue an ample summe, ’Till which be payd, hee as a captiue thrall, In prison must abide, with succour small: By these sinister meanes, haue they vpheld Their sinnefull pride, and wrong vnnaturall: And many Knights they vanquish’d haue in feild, By cruell fraud, and villany vnparalelld.

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24 To Magicke vanityes nor doe thou trust, Th’illusions meere of Mans Archenemy, The excrements of folly, and of lust, An art fitt for those silly soules to ply, That both of witt, and grace want a supply: To honorable actions reare thy eyne, And spurne all wanton worldly leuity, There is a sphere aboue the spheres that shine, To clime this sphere, make’t thy sole proiect and designe.

30.7 are so vnsettled,] are ⌜so⌝ s vnsettled, 31.1 maintain’d] maintaine⌜’⌝d 31.3 now are] now h are

Book 8 Canto 1 39 Sir Tracyon then advanc’d with courage bold, A Knight replete with surquedry, and guile: Vpon his targe, that glisterd all with gold, Portraited fairely was that Beast of Nile, Ycleapt the sly dissembling Crocodile: But hee dismounted was, throwne to the ground, Callimachus gaue him a shamefull foile, And when he was vpreared from his swound, He mercy humbly crau’d, and mercy quickly found.

35 Callimachus prepar’d himself likewise, And tooke his stand vpon the spatious plaine, A Champion then appeares in warlike guise, Accouterd well, fierce battell to darraine, Hee prick’d his steed that did curveate amaine, A crimson plume did waue vpon his crest, A bleeding heart that seem’d but lately slaine, Fix’d on a ponyard, grasp’d in bloudy fist, Was that deuice, which on his target was exprest.

40 Then sterne Auarient himself addrest, With stout Callimachus to breake a speare, Vpon whose sheild this embleme was imprest, To wit a watchfull Dragon sitting neare A goodly Tree, that golden fruite did beare: But his rich armes did him no grace at all, For hee was baffuld in his first carreere, And groueling on his Grandame earth did fall, The centre base of his desires illiberall. 41 And now Sir Truand, though growne farre vnfitt, Through wonted ease, and wanton excercise, To mannage courser proud, with spurre, and bitte, Adventur’d for to winne, or loose the prize: A comely youth stretch’d out, in slothfull guise, On downy bed was painted on his sheild, But hee was layd full low on ground likewise, Vnable either sword, or speare to weild, And to the Victour did his life and freedome yeild.

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34 Callimachus, was wroth to heare these newes, And forth with his yong Knight did gladly wend, To bee aueng’d on them for this abuse. Not many miles had they rode, ere they kenn’d That lofty Castle, whether they did tend, A watchfull Scout, then from a craggy hill, Descryd these Knights, and did a signall send Vnto the Fort, by touch of bugle shrill, Which warn’d them for the combate to be ready still.

36 Hee hight (Sir Sanglant) a most bloudy Knight, And barbarous, who seld was wont to spare His vanquish’d foe, but fraught with fell despite, Did them dispoile of render’d armes, and bare, Destroy, or els reserue for torments rare: Nor did his malice expire with his foes, Whom of due sepulture he did debarre, And their dismemberd carkasses expose, To greedy dogges, and wolues, or Vulturs ominous. 37 Hee flyeing with a vehement carreere, Vpon the noble Fay, in splinters brake His ashen lance, vpon his vmbriere, Yet in his flesh did no impression make, But from his foe did such repayment take, That soone his Horse was eased of his lode, Which lay y’weltring in a purple lake, His ghost that whilome thirsted so for bloud, Descended fast to drinke of the infernall floud. 38 Asebion then appeared in the feild, That proud contemner of all Deityes, A Paynim Dog was figurd on his sheild, That spurn’d a holy Booke, in scornfull guise: Hee had no better lucke in his emprize, Then his Camrade, for soone he was vnhorst, And with blasphemous fury pierc’d the skyes, His Soule then from her riuen cell was forc’d, For his transcendent crimes, to suffer torments worst.

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42 But fierce Embidiant, vpon whose targe, A noisome Cockatrice was portraited, Did at a distance on the Faery charge, With bowe, and poisond arrowes furnished, And mannageing with skill, a nimble steed: Callimachus him chac’d about the plaine, But Parthian-like he fought, although he fled, And arrow after arrow sent amaine, Refuseing a more equall combate to maintaine. 43 But as he scour’d the feild from side to side, More heedeing his Pursuer, then his way, His Horses feete vpon a place did slide, Where people sacrifices wont to slay, Thus all bemir’d with gore, on earth he lay, 34.5 tend,] tend 36.4 dispoile] Written over dispoil’d 40.7 first] full ⌜first⌝ 41.5 stretch’d . . . slothfull] Knevet has misplaced the apostrophe in this line; we have moved it from slothfull to stretch’d 43.5 Thus] Written over That

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But ere he could remount, his sturdy foe, Came in, and with such knockes did him dismay, That he was glad his weapons to forgoe, And pitty humbly crau’d for feare of mortall woe.

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44 Then terrible Calonniant drew nigh, Who did a Dog vpon his target beare, That seem’d to barke, and bawle continually, Hee warily wold not approch too neare, To try his cause by dint of sword, or speare, But many darts against the Knight he threw, Whose heads outragious venome did besmeare, With one of these he crimson bloud forth drew, Which drisleing downe full fast his hauberke did embrue. 45 This Caitife Knight, to see his bloud was glad, Thinkeing that soone the combate he should end, And did with taunting language him vpbraide, Where is thy sword, and speare (quoth hee) my freind, Wherewith thou wontst such mighty blowes to lend, What is thy pamperd Coursers courage spent? Or wantst thou spurres to make him his pace mend? Or hath small toile thy spirits from the hent? Or hath the sight of thine owne bloud the thus yblent? 46 Then thus reply’d, the stout Callimachus: If this right hand can well direct my speare, Thou shalt no longer vaunt, and braue me thus; With that he did his trusty lance vpreare, Fetching his manly hand from his right eare, And at his foe the weapon keene did throwe, Who wheeleing in a circular carreere, His courser on his head receiud the blow, Whose deadly dint layd horse and man on ground full low. 47 The Pagan then for ire, his teeth did grinde, And actiuely recouered his feet, In bitter language vttering his mind, Beginning thus Callimachus to greet; Villaine (quoth hee) that ha’st with force vnmeet, My Beast destroyd, thou shalt thy treason rue, And for thy sinne receiue no guerdon sweet: With that, his shineing fauchion forth he drew, And fraught with monstrous rage vpon his foeman flew. 48 Who quickly was alighted from his steed, And foote, to foote, withstood his enemy: Who fought like one more full of rage, then heed: Callimachus soone gain’d his point thereby, And on his body seas’d so forcibly, That to the earth fell fierce Calonniant,

Callimachus then biddes him yeild, or dye: But threatend death could not his courage daunt, For still he did the Knight with bitter language taunt. 49 Who bent to mortall vengeance, then did reare His ventaile vp, and while his fiery toung, With horrid curses, did the welkin teare, Hee pierc’d his braine pan, with his ponyard strong: His angry Soule thus flittes away, among A volee of foule blasphemyes: the Knight Then soone himself into the sadle flung, For now a Champion fresh appeard in sight, While hee with his late combates, was nigh tired quite. 50 Then did approch the cruell Disperant, A Knight, who was by nature wondrous sad, But when he saw his fellowes puissant, Subdu’d in equall fight, he grew starke mad, Not careing for successe, or good, or bad: Disdainefully he threw his targe aside, Small heed of his defence (it seemes) he had And furiously against the Knight did ride, Who with vndaunted courage, did the brunt abide. 51 Sir Disperant made such a fierce carreere, That hee the Faery Knight ne touchd awhitt, But hee a better markesman did appeare, Who on the helme did him so strongly hitte, That vnneath hee could in his sadle sitte, Yea with the blow disarmed was his head, Callimachus did then his force remitt, And fraught with pitty, and free bountyhed, To render vp his sword, him gently counselled. 52 But hee with rage, and choler ouerswayd, Did thus reply: Nay know (fond Knight) I haue No eares for thy advice, nere shall’t be sayd, That Disperant a life did basely craue, Or yeild his sword, a thousand liues to saue: No honour by my conquest shalt thou gaine, Nor euer will I daigne to bee thy slaue, Aliue, or dead: the world shall see it plaine, That Disperant, by none but Disperant was slaine. 53 With this he wheeld about, and deepely strooke His coursers sides, that bloud from thence did flow, And from a precipice that did o’relooke, A valley vnderneath with rugged brow, Himself both horse, and man did fiercely throwe: Both horse, and man were there in pieces rent, They with their fragments did the rocke bestrowe, It was with bowells, bloud, and braines besprent, Of desperation dire a hideous monument.

Book 8 Canto 2

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54 This spectacle did so amaze the Knight, That he forgot the conquests he had wonne, And seemd as one surpris’d with an affright, Vnmoued like a statue, or a stone, Or as if all his vitall sence were gone, Vntill the yong Sir Tendron him awooke, Him praiseing for those acts which he had done, Then he his fitt of extasy, of shooke, And to the Castle they with them the captiues tooke.

Canto 2 By treason foule Callimachus Is brought nigh to his graue, Prince Arthur and Panarete Doe him from danger saue.

1 Now Hesperus, the Harbenger of Night, Vpreard his head aboue the westerne seas, When gentle Tendron, and the Faery Knight (Whose labours past requir’d repose and ease) Came to Pauentas stately palaces, Whose iron gate was by a Person kept That did surpasse in care and watchfullnes, Sospetto was this cunning Porter clept, Who had a hundreth eyes which by turnes, wak’d and slep’t. 2 When he spy’d one, in glistring harneys clad, With wondrous haste he did the wicket close, But Tendron biddes him feare no measure bad, And not to take his trusty freinds for foes, With that the Portall strong he did vnloose, Then graue Pauenta to them did repayre, Who did in comely sort herself dispose, With complements, and curt’sy debonaire, To make the braue Callimachus a welcome faire. 3 But shee was inly nothing blith, but sad, Suspicious feares did harbour in her brest, And though a strong garde she about her had, Yet night, or day shee hardly could take rest, Shee was with care so wondrously opprest, Ne certes, was the Lady well apayd, Because the Knight her Louers had distrest, Yet shee her griefes so secretly conveyd, That to Callimachus they rested vnbewrayd.

4 Shee of his absence, would haue bin much glad, Yet durst not for her life her thoughts disclose: To him she modest rather seem’d, then sad, (So well she could her priuy motions glose)

As doth the bloudles slow Chamæleon loose His natiue colour, and that hue put on, Which from the next adiacent body flowes, So did this Dame conceale her passion, And to her iolly guests gaue entertainment boone. 5 With gustfull meates, the tables were dispred, The comfort, and the bane of appetite: The Gods might haue vpon such dishes fed: With pretious wine fill’d were the flagons bright, Such drinke as that which Helen gaue her Knight, When he returnd with dust and sweat ysprent, Weary from Phrygian feilds to bed at night, A soueraigne antidote ’gainst drearyment, Which doth to soules, and weary bodyes rest present. 6 Much faire discourse, in supper time was made, Of Knightly prowesse by Callimachus, Which all the residue of Knights seemd glad, To heare of enterprises valorous, Applaudeing him while he related thus, Heroïcke actions, but proud Tracyon, Did harbour in his brest thoughts treacherous, The sterne Embidiant, eke did priuily, Send darts of envuy forth at him, vncessantly. 7 They greedy of reuenge, for that disgrace, Receiued from Callimachus of late, Apply’d themselues to plottes, and treasons base, By deadly perills him to ruinate. Thus Tracyon, and Embidiant his mate, At that time when the cheerefull Bird of night, Did with his cornett shrill prognosticate, The happy regresse of the God of light, Arrayd themselues in armes, surcharg’d with fell despite. 8 A rout of Rascalls they did also take, To help them in accomplishing their ends, Vile mercenaryes, which wont to forsake Their God for gold, their countrey, and their freinds, Wretches that sett a price on life, damn’d fiends Bath’d in the cryeing bloud of innocents, A people whose vngracious valour tends, To murther, and pillage, whose excellence Consists in ill; the plagues of ciuill gouernments. 9 With these, they lay in waite to sett vpon Callimachus, as he rode on his way: Who vp arose as early as the Sunne, Arg.2 graue,] graue Arg.4 saue.] saue 3.7 Louers] ⌜Louers⌝ Lady

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And trauelld forth, secure from all affray, Ne wold Sir Tendron yong behind him stay, But did his seruice dutiously present, Desirous by his auspice to assay, His skill in armes, and youthfull hardyment, Thus proud of his white sheild, with him along he went.

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10 They had not trotted farre vpon the plaine, Ere from a thickets side this ambuscade, Of Villaines posteing on the spurre amaine, Did breake, well mounted, and in good armes clad, Each beeing arm’d with lance and glistring blade All in a rout, they furiously did charge, Without order, as if they had bin mad: Full many blowes the Knight tooke on his targe, Wherein their frequent strokes, made many gashes large. 11 But as two tall shippes, that are well supplyd, With expert Mariners, and ordinance, Saile with the labour of the windes, and tide, Which to their course adde mickle furtherance, Within the midland seas, till they by chance Meete with a fleete of gallyes from Argier, Who floteing with their wooden finnes advance, And haile them with loud trumpets comeing neare, But they reply in thunder, and from them get cleare. 12 So did Callimachus, and Tendron make Their passages through this disorderd band, By manly might, some forceing for to take Their latest lodgeings, on cold beds of sand: So weake this multitude was to withstand Their valyant shocke, yet did the residue Strongly presume to get the vpper hand, By vantage of their oddes, and fiercely flew On their two vig’rous foes, with strength, and courage new.

13 In front, on either flanke, and in the rere, They charge, and recharge, and Sir Tendron kill’d, When of his worth he had giuen tryall cleare, So long as he could lance, or fauchion weild. Thus he a roome in bed of honour filld; His fall did so Callimachus incense, That desp’rately he threw away his sheild, Reckles of deadly danger, or defence; He was so farre transported with impatience. 14 His trusty blade in bothe his hands he tooke, And all his force vniteing, made a blow At Tracyon, and on the helme him strooke, Thus on the earth he layd the Traitour low, For that braine which had sought his ouerthrow, Was deeply gored with a grisly wound,

From whence a streame of filthy bloud did flow, But hee could not Embidiant so confound, For hee his distance kept oft trauerseing his ground. 15 As the embosted Hart, standing at bay, Before the hounds, with formidable head, Oft makes the yelping curres to runne away, And with his heele layes this, or that for dead, Which ventures for to pinch his haunches red; Euen so Callimachus, with toile halfe spent, The Villaines did affright with direfull dread, So many heauy knockes he had them lent, That they into his reach durst not themselues present. 16 But fierce Embidiant, with poison’d darts, Did him assaile, and gaue him many a wound, That bloud from him did flow in many parts, For losse whereof, he ready was to swound: His foes perceiueing that ’gan charge him round, Who doubtles had him slaine with small adoe, If that he had not sudaine rescue found, For they with knockes did ouerlay him so, That on his weary steed he staggerd to, and fro. 17 But as when two fierce hungry Wolues haue mett, A Bull that in the mountaines goes astray, With all their skill, and force they on him sett, Hopeing to make his carkasse large their prey, But stiffely he doth hold them tacke, and play, While hee is fresh, but then beginnes to faile, When some stout Heardsman comes (by chance) that way, With his fierce Dog, who brauely doth assaile [taile. These greedy Theeues, and makes them quickly to turne 18 Euen so, when as these Murtherers were prest, To sease vpon Callimachus his life, An armed Knight came in with speare in rest, As one that meant soone to conclude their strife, And to the weary Knight giue quicke releife; For ere they kenn’d him for a freind, or foe Hee ouerthrew Embidiant their Chiefe, And after him to Hell sent many moe, That as from a fierce Deuill, they fled fast him fro. 19 But they which scaped his reuengefull hand, Themselues did saue in the adioyning wood, Callimachus then made him vnderstand, How wickedly they sought to spill his blood, 10.5 Each beeing . . . glistring blade] This line has been inserted between its neighbours; an asterisk in the left margin indicates the point of insertion. 12.6 valyant] written over valiant 18.3 An armed] An d armed 18.4 As one] As wh one

Book 8 Canto 2 And had him murtherd by all likelyhood, If he had not by fortunate euent, Preserued him from their vnhumane moode, By his kind help, and prowesse excellent, Whereby he had them forc’d their folly to repent.

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20 While thus he spake, he ’gan to faint, and fall, For that same purple element which is The cheifest strength of creatures animall, Effus’d was by so many passages, That his bright eyes were veyl’d with dusky mists, Prince Arthur then remou’d him from his seate, Vnbuckleing both his helme, and curiasses; But he surprised was with a cold sweat, And like a corse lay ready for the wormes to eate. 21 As when a Citty’s desp’rately maintain’d, Refuseing peace, and parly vtterly, Vntill the rampires ports, and walls be gain’d, And sturdy Bulwarkes enterd forcibly; Then the amazed Chiefes, and Souldiers fly, Retireing to the cittadell in haste, To make that good, against the enemy, Who at the very heeles pursues them fast, But thither they retreat, as to their refuge last. 22 So were his vitall spirits fled away, Vnto the fountaine of all liuely heate, Small palpitation onely did bewray, That yet his Soule, had not forsooke her seate, But slowly did his fainting pulses beate; The Brittish Prince much pittyeing his case, With dreary care, and sorow was replete, For braue Callimachus, to him knowne was, And had his fellow bin in armes at many a place. 23 While thus he mourned o’re the dyeing Knight, A Lady of a feature rare drew neare, Shee like the Goddesse of the woods was dight; A chaplet faire shee on her head did weare, Deck’t with the fragrant beautyes of the yeare, Her hayre was to a golden caule confind, And through it did more bright then gold appeare, Her waste was with a pretious zone entwin’d, Which to her dainty corps a iacket rich did bind. 24 Her silken bases to her knees did fly, Her buskins of fine cordouane were made, Empaled all with gold most cunningly, Her quiuer hung beneath her shoulder blade, Wherein keene arrowes their abideing had, Her left hand held a bowe of flexile eugh,

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Her right a borespeare of wild beasts ydrad: Shee look’d like Cinthia at a sudaine view, Like her she was arrayd, like her in face and hue. 25 Shee here arriueing (by mere accident) On sad regards beganne to ruminate, This dreary spectacle made her relent; For sight of Death doth stoutest hearts amate, And courages Herculean abate: Quoth shee then to the Brittish Prince (Sir Knight) Doe you your dole, and passion mitigate, For you to mourne it is least requisite; Since bootles sorowes to repell mishaps want might. 26 But if the fatall spinsters haue not drawne, From his lifes distaffe, now the vtmost threed, Then I for his, my dearest life will pawne, That his sad ghost shall yet forbeare to tread, With silent steppes the pathwayes of the dead. (This sayd) his wounds swolne vp with poison blew, Shee search’d, and fairely cleans’d, with skillfull heed, Abateing both their rancour, and ill hue, And the corrupted bloud, from thence in clodders drew. 27 Ne did she to the hills, and valleys nigh, Repayre, some herbes of medicine to find, No Sanicle, or bitter Centory, (Whose vertues learned Chiron first designd,) Vnto his wounded parts did shee then bind; Shee squeaz’d no diuine Panacæan iuyce, That is a cure for wounds of any kind, No soueraigne Achillæa did she bruse; For shee no vegetalls did for her purpose vse. 28 No charme, or fomentation magicall, No balsame, weapon-salue, or amulet Vs’d shee, his vitall spirits to recall; But drew forth from a little cabinet, A violl small with heauenly drinke replete, Hight Celidony, not that cordiall, Or famous quintessence, which Chymists get From Chelidony, which they wont to call, Celidony, of qualityes celestiall. 20.3 The cheifest . . . creatures animall,] The cheifest of the spirits ⌜strength⌝ ⌜ principle⌝ ⌜of creatures⌝ animall, This line has been extensively revised, in a number of stages. The word cheifest is written over charret. Cf. OED, ’chariot’, n. 2. 20.9 corse] corps ⌜corse⌝ 20.9 eate.] eate 23.1 thus] ⌜thus⌝ thus Knevet attempted to correct a (now illegible) original reading before deleting the word and starting again above the line. 27.8 bruse] vse bruse

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 34 Her House was sited on the arduous brow, Of a huge rocke, whose difficult ascent, No foes at all and but few freinds could know, By steepe anfract’ous passages they went, Vpon the rugged cliffe, vntill nigh spent, With toile they reach’d the precipices height, Whereon a leuell was of large extent, Supplyd with feilds, and gardens of delight, A fertile place, full of all pleasures exquisite.

30 As the distressed Pilot, that by night, Doth wander on some vncouth coast astray, At length discouers in the East some light, Which doth vnsensibly it self display, And much his wofull greiuances allay, For first the mountaines to his sight appeare, Then doe the branched trees themselues bewray, Till light possesseth all the hemisphere, Then to some port he ioyfully his course doth steere.

35 The pleasant launds with fragrant groues were crownd, Here Myrrha did her foule offence lament, And aromaticke Cassia abound, With cinnamon of sauour excellent, And frankincense most sweet and redolent, The Cloue-tree there her od’rous toppe did reare, For vnder plants a neihbour pestilent, Whose date’s expired in the hundreth yeare; So long this tree doth spicy fruite, and blossomes beare.

31 Euen so Callimachus was rais’d at length, To life, from deadly slumber by degrees, His outward sences first recouerd strength, Hee feeles, he heareth, and distinctly sees, And then his soules internall facultyes, His fancy, intellect, and memory, Doe soone regaine their late abilityes, Thus hee that earst on the cold earth did lye, Seem’d sudainly recur’d, with much facility.

36 The Date-tree, that delights bright Sol to view, Her self inclineing toward his beames cleare, The wondrous vsefull Baratha here grew, Which serues for bread, wine, oyle, and vineger: Faire limons, and Oranges flourishd there, With Oliues that doe sharpen appetite, And Pomegranates whom noisome creatures feare; Yea all trees that for vse serue, or delight Were planted here by Natures ordinance, and might.

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29 But certes, ’twas a med’cine that did farre, All earthly pharmaceuticalls exceed, A gift from heauen aboue, bestow’d on her: Some droppes of this into his wounds she shed, Then sudainly he ’gan to reare his head, And manly eyes vnseale, seemeing as one That partly wak’d, and partly slumbered, Thus life that did of late appeare as gone, Recouerd was by this sublime confection.

32 Himself he did advance vpon his feete, Yet stiffe he was with wounds, and labors past, And with kind conges did the Lady greet, And loueingly the Brittish Prince embrast, Whose gladnes all expression surpast, This Lady, who Panarete was clept, A Dame that was with sundry vertues grac’d, Desird the Knights to see what house she kept, Whose gentle invitation they did soone accept. 33 For yet Callimachus, remain’d vnfitt, To handle warlike weapons, and vnsound, Ne could he strongly in his sadle sitte, When his proud Courser did curveate, or bound, Vnmeete t’affront his foe, on equall ground: Vpon this louely Dame they did attend, Through valleys flat, and ouer mountaines round, Through meadowes, boscages, and feilds they wend, And long it was, ere they came to their iorneys end.

30.7 bewray,] display bewray, 30.9 to some] ⌜to⌝ to ⌜some⌝ the 32.1 did advance] did v advance 35.6 Cloue-tree there her] Cloue-tree ⌜there⌝ her 36.8 vse serue] vse, serue After stanza 36] An epigrammatic couplet on Knevet has been written, and deleted, in the space below the conclusion of the stanza and canto. The hand, though not Knevet’s, is nonetheless roughly contemporary. The text reads as follows: To the Reader Our worthie Kneuet’s praise aryses (hence sir) In that he studies for to perfect Spencer.

Book 8 Canto 3

Canto 3 Leucippes tragedy is told, Whom Aquilino fierce With Riobell and Syluia Made wofull Prisoners. 1

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Montplaisant, was this Paradise yclept, So sweet a place, the world beside can’t showe, Her glorious court here Sommer alway kept, Ne did cold Boreas the plaines bestrowe, With wat’ry confects, or cold sheetes of snow: For it aboue the middle Region, Was sited whence all kinds of meteors flow, In stead of raine, a sweet stillation Did morne and euen descend the plants vpon. 2 The coulter blunt was neuer wont to teare, The pregnant bowells of this fertile soile, For any seed to make a lodgeing there, It duely did produce corne, wine, and oyle, Without expence of trauell, or of toile. No Famine here with meagre chappes and thinne, Did villages dispeople, or dispoile; No pestilence the meed of cryeing sinne, Here euer was, of ciuill warres nor any dinne. 3 A goodly people here inhabited, That spent their dayes in peaceable content, No brabbleing Lawyers here did euer plead, Perverting right by couine fraudulent, No Merchants there their faulty wares did vent, All things were here in sweet community, They needed no exoticke supplement, Of forraine goods; for they abundantly Found in their proper limits each commodity. 4 And the superiour Bodyes doe reflect, Their pow’rfull eyne vpon this happy tract, With such a benigne, and a kind aspect, That no diseases here did euer act, Their tragicke scenes, but when the date’s exact, Of humane life, then without sence of paine, A pow’r sublime their spirits doth transact, Vnto a higher place, where they remaine, For endles blisse, and crown’d with glorious honour raigne. 5 Prince Arthur, and Callimachus did wonder, To see these pleasant sights, on euery side, But while these obiects they in mind did ponder, Panarete did to a plaine them guide, Where frequent troupes of lusty youths they spy’d; With sand-bagges some were stoutly combateing,

Some were in shooteing busy’d, some did ride, Their pamperd Coursers brauely mannageing, Some at the Quintaine ranne, and others at the ring. 6 Prince Arthur here did make no long abode, But badde the great Panarete adieu, And to seeke new adventures forth he rode, But yet Callimachus, could not pursue Achieuements braue, vntill he stronger grew: For still some poys’nous humour did remaine, Her wholesome med’cines had not yet forth drew That noxious venome, which did him so paine, And long it was ere he recouerd strength againe. 7 But beeing perfectly recur’d, and well As hee sate in an arbour on a day, Panarete requested him to tell, Of some achieuement braue, and hard assay, Performed lately by some valiant Fay, Then hee ’gan to relate the high desert, Of errant Knights, who Giants fierce did slay, And many pleaseing storyes did insert, Of Arthegall, Sir Guyon, and faire Britomart. 8 Eke of Sir Calidore he mention made, Who whilome did the Blatant Beast enthrall, In spite of all his wrath, and fury mad; That famous story he to mind did call, Which specifyes the monstrous Dragons fall, Which did the land of Eden so infest, Forceing the King thereof himself t’enwall, In fortresse strong, vntill he was releast By valour of the Redcrosse Knight, from that huge Beast. 9 Panarete, then thus replide againe, (Faire Sir) full often haue I heard the fame, Which earst the Redcrosse Knight did iustly gaine, When hee that hellish Monster late did tame, Whom in the feilds of Eden hee o’recame; And yet remaines an impe of that curst brood, Afflicteing vs with mickle woe, and shame, Great Cittyes he destroyes in irefull moode, And makes whole kingdomes desolate, to get his foode. 10 That horrid Monster, which did fight darraine, ’Gainst many Romane Legions (of yore) Who stood alone fierce combate to maintaine, Arg.1 told,] told Arg.4 Prisoners.] Prisoners 4.9 with glorious honour] with ⌜glorious⌝ honour 5.2 pleasant sights,] gl pleasant sights, 7.9 Britomart.] Britomart, 8.7 Forceing the King thereof] Forceing ⌜the King⌝ thereof

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Against an army royall, on the shore Of Bagrada, (which with his pois’nous gore Empurpled was, when rage with life was fled) Leaueing to the amazed Conquerour A Victory, that might haue merited, Triumphall honours, for so notable a deed,

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11 This Beast was not so hideous by farre, As that prodigious Monster, which infests Our neihbour coasts, with crueltyes so rare; From whose huge bulke arise seuen fiery crests, Vnlike in shape, but like in ouglynes: No Python, Hydra, and no fiend of Hell, Nurs’d vp in the Tartarean marishes, For fiercenes may this Dragon paralell, In mischiefe hee all mischiefes doth so farre excell. 12 His brest of direfull venome is a source, His scales, that shine like sheilds of burnishd brasse, Of keenest weapons points repell the force, His flaggy wings in largenes doe surpasse, The biggest Carrackes saile, that euer was: With his arm’d pawes he doth in pieces teare Rockes in his fury, like to brittle glasse, A mortall sting he in his taile doth beare, And through steele targets makes a penetration cleare.

13 Oft many Knights, attempted haue to kill This great Destroyer, but full sore they ru’d Their enterprises bold, and fortunes ill, For this seuen-headed Dragon them subdu’d, And with their vitall bloud his chappes embru’d; Their ill successe makes others to forbeare; Least into deadly danger they intrude Themselues, and hee them all in piecemeale teare, As hee hath their vnlucky fellowes done whilere. 14 Hee often hath attempted to invade This little empire, which Mont-plaisant hight, And many vaine attempts ’gainst it hath made, But my strong gardes, so strongly did munite, Those Cinque Portes, against which he wont to fight, That they by force of engines did him beate, Him driueing to an ignominious flight, Yet still doth hee a fresh invasion threat, On mee to bee auenged, for his past defeate. 15 Callimachus, (attentiuely that heard Panaretes sad tale) was nought dismayd Nor of this Hellhounds cruelty afeard, But still that meed before his eyes he layd, Which to the Redcrosse Knight was whilome payd, For freeing Edens captiue Princes late,

From that foule Dragons rage that them abraide, Whose noble prowesse hee ’gan emulate, Resolueing his achieuement braue to imitate. 16 As did that Macedonian Heroe braue, The vertues of Achilles in mind beare, Shedding illustr’ous teares vpon his graue, Because he wanted such a Quirister, As Homer was, his praises to preferre; So did Callimachus in heart retaine, Those trophyes, which the Redcrosse Knight did weare, An equall meede resolueing to obtaine, Or by his hideous foe to bee subdu’d, and slaine. 17 Panarete, did much disswade him fro This hard adventure, but in vaine she stroue; His haughty thoughts wold not bee swaged so; No swasions could his resolution moue; So fully bent he was his chance to proue: As the indulgent Mother, doth disswade Her martiall child, that meanes the world to roue, And hewe his fortunes out with trenchant blade, So did this Dame dehort him from that perill sad. 18 But like an adamantine columne hee, In his intention firmely did persist, By no remonstrance could he alterd bee: Then faire successe shee to befall him wish’d, And heauen besought to prosper his acquist. Now leaue wee him to follow his designe, While on Leucippes story wee insist; Leucippe was of progenye diuine, Deriued from the Brittish Kings, by a right line. 19 Her sire (hight Irenax) renownd of yore For skill in arts, and lib’rall sciences, He rul’d a land which fronts the Neustrian shore, And gaue good lawes, and wholesome libertyes Vnto his people with much gentlenes, But while his daughter liu’d in virgins state, Then many Knights of forraine prouinces, Solicited to winne her for a mate, Attending on him oft with sutes importunate. 20 Yea many Pagan Knights sought her to gaine, But hee in his religion settled well, Coldly their frequent sutes did entertaine, And (vtterly such troubles to repell) Did her bestowe on yong Sir Riobell, 10.9 deed,] deed. 13.8 piecemeale] piece s ⌜meale⌝ 15.9 imitate.] imitate, 18.9 Deriued] B Deriued

Book 8 Canto 3 Who knighted was vpon his wedding day, By Irenax, and handled then so well, His mayden armes, in battailous affray, That hee from many Knights did beare the prize away.

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21 But when that all solemnityes were done, He bade the sage Sir Irenax adieu, Returning to his owne dominion, Where he continu’d in contentment true, Till a sad accident his ioy o’rethrew, For as vpon a day he trauelled, With his beloued consort, he did view Within a Forrest blacke a sight, that did Invite him to auenge, a most vnknightly deed. 22 A Giant of a grimme aspect he saw, A Damsell handle, most despiteously, For by the hayre he did her hale, and draw; Most ruefully did shee lament, and cry: Yet did her mone no whit him mollify, But Riobell whose braue brest harboured Such pittifull regards, as wont to lye In noble hearts, boldly adventured, To succour her that was so wofully bested. 23 Hee did assaile his foe with irefull teene, But hee (his force, and fury to elude,) The Dame holds vp against his weapon keene, But Riobell his cunning quickly viewd, And safely did from perill her seclude, Hee wheeles about on this side, and on that, But still the Giant his sharp point eschu’d, Yet hee in fine him at such vantage gatt, That (maugre all his skill) he crack’d his shagged pate. 24 With that, the Giants wrath did so abound, That hee his tender buckler threw away, So furiously, that shee lay in a swound, Then with his clubbe he did such pageants play, That hee Sir Riobell did sore dismay, Nathles, the gentle Knight did hold him tacke, And manfully did blow for blow repay, Nor actiue strength, nor courage did he slacke, Till his vntrusty weapon did in pieces cracke. 25 But still the Giants rage encreast the more, And such fierce knockes to Riobell he lent, That hee had neuer felt the like before, With each stroke was his armour burst, or bent, His target faire was all in pieces rent: Thus hee through many wounds did feeble growe,

Yet did his Foemans fury not relent, But on his helme he strooke so sterne a blowe, That on the earth the wounded Knight was layd full low. 26 Leucippe, when shee saw him in this plight, To fearfull flight would not herself betake, So lightly shee did not affect her Knight, Aliue, or dead she would not him forsake, Although for him she layd her life at stake, With frequent teares the Giant shee besought, That hee his force outragious wold slake, Since that the Knight to such weake passe was brought, That to offend him any more he could doe nought. 27 Then thus reply’d the Giant: (Silly Dame) Know I am not so fondly pittifull, Thus to extinguish thy Knights vitall flame, I am not so ill taught, so weake a Gull, A life from my subdued foe to pull, When I by giueing him a life may find, More satisfactiue vengeance, and more full; Thinke not Sweet Soule that I will proue so kind, So sudainly to part his body, and his mind. 28 Nor will I deale discourtously with thee, Or thee diuorce from thy beloued feere, I condiscend that thou his mate shalt bee, And eke take part with him in that good cheere, Which I haue ready for such consorts deare, Then on his backe he lifts the wounded Knight, And that vnhappy Dame on feet did reare, Whom late he layd for dead (shee Syluia hight) And in the Forrest was surpris’d by this curst wight. 29 Shee was the onely Daughter to a King, That long did sway a scepter in the west, But Death (in fine) him strooke with mortall sting, Then hee his helples Orphane left distrest, By each intrudeing Foe to bee opprest, And while she ranged in this Forrest wide, Engaged in the chase of some wild Beast, This Giant Aquilino her descryd, And on her person seasd, with most vnhumane pride. 30 Thus hee these Ladyes forc’d to trotte along, And homeward with his wealthy spoiles made haste, But ere he came vnto his Castle strong, He spyd a Knight that toward him march’d fast, Which made the weary Giant sore agast, Oft hee himself wish’d at his iorneys end, 23.9 pate.] pate, 28.8 Syluia] Written over Siluia

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Affrayd to bee defeated, and disgrac’d, Sore did he feare this Knight was not his freind, Who toward him his course did with such boldnes bend.

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31 A Lady faire in costly purple dight, Fast followed the Knight, not farre behind, Who had himself made ready for the fight, Yet first he ’gan assay the Giants mind, And thus did question him with language kind; Giant (quoth hee) who wounded hath this Knight? Did you him wound, or did you thus him find, What Dames bee these that in vnhappy plight, Are forc’d to walke afoote, a most vncomely sight?

32 The Giant then, thus subtilly reply’d, (Faire Sir) by whose right noble garbe I see, That you are one of worth, and prowesse try’d, And eke borne of some royall pedigree, Vouchsafe a while to lend an eare to mee; Know that, while in the Forrest I whilere Repos’d my self, beneath a broad Beech tree, With this my liefest Dame, and spouse most deare, Dreading no sad mishap, and quite deuoide of feare, 33 That then this Knight, with that same other Dame, Past by, while I suspected no alarmes, But hee that meant to worke me deadly shame, With frequent blowes, sought to encrease my harmes, Faire words were for his fury, too weake charmes, Hee mee assail’d in most vnknightly guise, Mee wounding with my lady in my armes, Yea hee so sudainly did mee surprise, That to defend my self I scarce had any time to rise. 34 Iustly I stood vpon mine owne defence; For force, with force ’tis lawfull to repell: And heauen so seconded my innocence, That hee to earth beneath my weapon fell, For his demerits ill, rewarded well, His Lady then did humbly me entreat, That in mine anger I would not him quell, But bee contented with that conquest great, Which gentle Fate on mee had cast through his defeate. 35 I quickly to her pious sute aggreed, And on my shoulders did him lightly heaue, Him beareing to my Castle home with speed, Where for his wounds, sweet cures he shall receiue, Although he sought from mee my life to reaue, And when hee is recouerd well, and sound, To passe away hee freely shall haue leaue, With this his feere; no worse ill shall redound To him, whose vip’rous malice sought me to confound.

36 The crafty Faitour, haueing told his tale, The Knight vnto his words some credence gaue, But those two Dames (that seem’d fraught full of bale) Did make him somwhat to suspect the knaue, (For all his lookes demure, and language graue) To know the truth he could haue bin full glad, But to know more he could not more meanes haue, For those two Dames with greife, were so bestad, And feare, that common sence euen them forsaken had. 37 But on the other side Sir Riobell, Ill of his wounds, lay in an extasy, Thus none his glosed leasings could refell; Yet Arthegall imagin’d inwardly, That hee was guilty of the villany; And thus vpon the Giant did reioine: Though proofes wee want, to confute palpably Thy faire remonstrance, and this plea of thine, Yet I suspect the, for I know thee Aquiline, 38 Nor am I ignorant of that great hate, Where with thou do’st all Errant Knights pursue, Yea most malignant ar’t thou to the state, Of Gloriana iust, and most vntrue; For both thy self, and thy vnhallowd crew, Invited by religious theoremes, Doe meritorious hold it to subdue, Knights errant through vnlawfull stratagems, By fraud, and couine vile, subverting diadems. 39 I know thou ar’t a bloudy Assassine, And keepst no faith with Knights of Faery Land, Therefore prepare thy self proud Aquiline, Lay downe thy burthen, and take sword in hand, Addresse thy self, my fury to withstand. But false Malfida that Impostresse vile, That mistris of deceite, and treason grand, Who had her self endeared by a wile, To Artegall, him more and more did thus beguile. 40 With lookes, that seem’d to couer dreary doubt, Shee earnestly besought him to asswage, His wrathfull ire, and bridle courage stout, Ne to attempt a combate fierce to wage, 32.9 feare,] feare. 34.9 defeate.] defeate, 38.8 Knights errant through] Knights ⌜errant⌝ through 38.9 By fraud . . . subverting] By fraud, and v couine svi vile, subverting Knevet appears to have been copying from a draft text in which the positions of couine and vile were reversed. Altering the word order in his copy led him to make these two related errors of anticipation. 38.9 diadems.] diadems 39.1 thou ar’t] thou ’art

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2 Against a Giant of such might, and rage, Since first he did with sacred promise plight, Himself to fight in her behalfe engage, But if he now should fall by fortunes spite, She vtterly should bee disfurnish’d of a Knight.

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41 And likewise shee alleadg’d that Aquiline, Had in his owne defence, most fairely spake, Ne was there wight that could by any signe, Him guilty of an vniust action make, Therefore hee ought his choler high to slake; She sayd eke that the wounded Knight she knew, Who wont was rash attempts to vndertake, And without heed, adventures to pursue, Not giueing right to those, to whom the right was due. 42 Nor did her cursed toung Leucippe spare, Her calleing a litigious minion, A woman of pride, and ambition rare, That doubtles had her consort rash set on, To doe a deed whereby he was vndone; Thus spake the Witche, and then the Giant sly, His innocence did freshly stand vpon, Affirmeing loud that he had rather dye, Then guilty bee of any fraud or treachery. 43 Thus Aquilino by pretences foule, Did noble Arthegall delude, and blind, And to his Castle bare (without controule,) What hee by treason falsly had purloin’d, But Arthegall perplexed much in mind, Rode on his way with that deceitfull Dame, Who with fond doubts his hands did daily bind, Of iustice true diminishing the flame, That hee neclected his malignant fone to tame.

Canto 4 Great Aquilino doth subdue Corleon stout in fight. Panaretes dire foe is slaine, By her renowned Knight.

1 Though hidden stratagems, by cunning wrought, Doe oft auaile in warlike purposes, And haue great conquests to perfections brought, Yet certes these ignoble subtiltyes, No property of fortitude possesse; To patch a Lions skinne, with Foxes case, It derogates from reall noblenes; Yea it doth argue courage weake, and base, In him who doth deceit aboue true valour place.

Nor did the Sonne of Telamon deserue, To weare the laurell of true fortitude, His rashnes made him from the right way swarue: His courage was vnciuiliz’d, and rude Like that with which brute creatures are endu’d, And that night-walkeing sly Dulychian Scout, Who did the Troianes with such trickes delude, May not be numbered among the rout, Of Champions, that are truely valyant, and stout. 3 But Hector braue, who forc’d the Greekish Campe, At high noone day, and made them to retreat, While hee, like Lion fierce in feild did rampe, With sword and flames of fire threat’ning their fleete, Beateing all downe that did his fury meete; Hee did deserue true valours crowne to weare, For hee was truely valyant, and discreete; And though by a fierce foe, he vanquish’d were, Yet hee more valyant was then his proud vanquisher. 4 Great Alexander, deepely did disdaine T’assaile by a nocturnall camisade, His secure foes, refuseing that sweet gaine, Of honour stolne, by help of nightly shade, But till morne waited ere he wold invade His foes, that were by night perchance asleepe, Vnmeete any resistance to haue made; True valours rules so strictly did he keepe, That poorely on his foe he scorn’d to steale, or creepe. 5 Braue were those warres, when theeuish policyes Exploded were, when the fulmineous shot, Lay hidden in Tartarean abysse, That now flyes from the roreing Canons throte, In bloudy battells setting death afflote, Then no accursed Engenier did fling, Destroyeing fireworkes, or granadoes hote, Or artificiall fiery earthquakes bring, From powder-belly’d mines, with horrid thundering. 6 Salmoneus proud, that first durst counterfeit The wrath of Ioue, and direfull voice of thunder, By art presumpt’ous, and to wicked sleight, By dint of lightening swift, was split asunder, And torne in pieces his huge engine vnder; Yet thou Bertoldo, most vnhallow’d Monke, stanza 41] The stanza numeration here reads 4, but 41 was certainly intended. 42.6 Witche] Written over With Knevet made an attempt to correct the initial reading, before deleting it and beginning again. Arg.3 is] his 2.5 Like that . . . are endu’d] This line has been inserted between its neighbours; an asterisk in the left margin marks the point of insertion.

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That mad’st a worke of most mischeiuous wonder, Which didst deuise the murther-spitteing trunke, Were’t neither strooke by thunder dead, nor in earth sunke. 7

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But whether goes my heedles Muse awry? Since in those times whereof shee now doth write, The Gunners art was hidden totally, Yea falshood then was out of season quite: Insidious leasings shunn’d were by each Knight: Therefore Sir Arthegall perswaded was, To thinke that Aquilino did him right, For in the Faery Court all deceit base, Was vtterly disliked, and in deepe disgrace.

8 And if all fraudulence be counted so, A quality ignoble, and vnfitt, For heroicke brests, (though vs’d against a foe) Then what bee they that doe this tricke admitt, ’Gainst their Confederates employeing it: Certes no better guerdon merit they, Then Synon who by his vngracious witt, The glory of the East in dust did lay, Vnder religions cloke makeing his treach’rous way. 9 But Aquilino now conveyed had, Vnto his Castle his poore Prisoners, When Riobells swift Dwarfe these tidings sad, Did in the Court of Gloriane reherse, Where many Knights abode of courage fierce, Who vow’d to bee aueng’d for this foule fact, And each his sute vnto the Queene preferres, That hee might owne the glory of the act, And the adventure vndertake, with out protract. 10 But hardy Corleon did so preuaile, That hee the enterprise did vndertake, Then soone he sped away with ore, and saile, ’Gainst Aquiline, his party good to make, Or els to dye, for sweet Leucippes sake: Hee came before the Giants Castle gate, Who soone of his approch did notice take, And loathing longer to procrastinate, Did his haberieon d’onne, ywrought of steely plate. 11 Thus forth he went, t’encounter with the Knight; Who furiously vpon the plaine him charg’d, But hee so terribly did him requite, That Corleons steed was of his loade dischargd, And from his Riders seruitude enlarg’d, Did roue at randon, in the Champaine wide, While hee by his feirce Foeman ouercharg’d, Was with the sterne rencounter stupefy’d, And in a swound, lay with his sadle by his side.

12 Thus through the fault of his Valletts perchance, Who had his horse not well accoutered, Was hee orethrowne by Aquilinos lance, Who of his armour him disburdened, And to his Castle him as Captiue led, Thus in proud triumph did hee domineare, Elated so with this successefull deed, That hee no enemy did dread, or feare, But still in most tyrannous sort himself did beare. 13 But now discourse wee of Callimachus; Who went to seeke that hideous Dragon out, ’Gainst him to wage a combate perillous; Nor did he long in searcheing rome about, Ere in a vale, where noisome shrubbes did sprout, The Monsters habitation he descryd; Nigh which the ground bestrowed was throughout, With carkasses of men, on euery side, That with the pitteous sight his heart was sore ygride. 14 Here naked bones, and scalpes on heapes were layd, Dispoild of flesh by his teeth rauenous: There Carkasses halfe eaten, all beray’d With filth, breath’d forth sauours contagious, Th’vnholesome element infecting thus; Here others, that did seeme but lately dead From whence bloud flowd in currents hideous, Among the bushes he discouered, [scarce fled. And some from whose warme panting limmes life seemd 15 On liueing Men, thus did he daily prey, And when his paunch with foode was well replete, Vnto his ougly denne he tooke his way, Leaueing behind the fragments of his meate, For Tigers, Leopards, Beares, and Woolues to eate, Who ill concocted in their greedy mawes, These cates; and oft did ill at ease retreate, From this good cheere, for whatsoere his pawes Did touch, they poison’d it so likewise did his iawes. 16 This spectacle did almost daunt the Knight, ’Till hee beheld a spectacle more dire, Which made him to forget those obiects quite: For forth the Dragon rush’d out breatheing fire, And swelling his seuen throtes with wrathfull ire, His flameing heads hee did advance as high, As toppes of trees, which like a roreing tire, Of Ordinance, did penetrate the sky, Both Man, and Beast, astonishing with such a cry. 6.9 Were’t] Were’ st 9.3 sad,] glad sad, 16.6 as] ⌜as⌝ on

Book 8 Canto 4 17 His taile, (that was stretch’d out a cables length) Hee did advance, scourgeing in hideous wise The lowly shrubbes, with most impetuous strength, And with his wings did fanne the azure skyes, And like a heauy Ostridge, partly flyes, And partly goes; the Knight the brunt did bide And warily to take advantage lyes, Hee first his Courser tall did sett aside; On Courser strong ’gainst him it booted not to ride.

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18 But while hee did one of his heads erect, With yawneing chappes, aboue the residue, Callimachus his sharp speare did direct Into his filthy iawes, with ayme so true, That from his throte the vitall bloud he drew, The dyeing head his lance in splinters brake, Bloud from the wound flow’d mix’d with poison blew: Like to a poppy whose stalke’s brus’d, and weake [make. His head hung downe, which sight the Knight did ioyfull 19 Yet did sixe other cursed heads remaine, Ne with this wound did hee his rage abate, But on the Knight hee flyes, with might and maine, And as with fury inconsiderate, Hee him assail’d, (by lot most fortunate) Callimachus another head y’slue; For with his sword hee did it separate, From that same ougly stalke whereon it grew; Yet did the Monster still his rage, and force renue.

20 For fiercely hee vpon the Knight did sett, Fixeing one pawe vpon his massy sheild, The other on his lofty burganet, And forcibly he thus him grip’d, and held, That hee his weapons could nor vse, nor wield: In such distresse he seldome was before, For with his rigid gripes he was nigh quell’d, While the huge Fiend his plated buckler tore, And brus’d his head beneath his steely caske full sore. 21 But hee (such deadly thraldome to eschue) Did leaue his sheild vnto his mortall foe And nimbly from his gripes himself withdrew, But in the targe his clawes were fixed so, That he could not them loosen, or vndoe, And while hee thus entangled did remaine, The Knight advantage tooke and with blowes two, Did from his scaly trunke deuide heads twaine, While hee aloud did rore for anguish, and for paine. 22 Now many wounds, and large expence of bloud, Did him so much disanimate, and daunt, That to bide longer he thought it not good,

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Therefore he faintly turn’d aside, through want Of vig’rous force, and courage puissant, And while he stroue his speckled brest to raise, By strength of wings, the Knight was vigilant, And him beneath the pinion soundly payes, That Hee on the ground a wing cutte from his bulke layes. 23 As when a tall shipp that’s of stirrage slow, Bicause a lusty gale assists her not, Maintaineing fight against a Galley low, Hath sailes, and tacklings torne, with volees hote, And is oftimes ’twixt wind, and water shot, Till beeing prest with disadvantage great, Her Foe vpon her weather-gage hath got, And with a shot her maine mast downe doth beate, That shee is ready to endure, a hard defeate. 24 So far’d it with this monster, who now made Vnfitt to fight, and more vnfitt to flee, Lay open to Callimachus his blade, For of his heads there now remain’d but three, But when he did his vt’most date foresee, Expired nigh, his taile hee did vpreare, The Knight could not himself from danger free, But on his coate of maile the blow did beare, Which threw him forth the full breadth of an acre neare. 25 While thus the Knight lay in a drowsy swound, The wounded Dragon fiercely o’re him stood, Yet had no might or power him to wound, So weaken’d was he with the losse of blood, Which from him flow’d, in a blacke gory flood: The Knight then waken’d from his extasy, His poynant blade directs in irefull moode, Against his swelling gorge, so furiously, That from his carkasse foule his ougly soule did fly. 26 As when a Bastile that long time hath bore, The brunt of a most furious battery, Which all her battlements and towres hath tore, And her foundation shooke so vehemently, That she stands tottering vnstedfastly, Vntill a peale her fatall knell doth ring, Then downe she tumbles most impetuously, With her vast weight the earth oreburdening; And in her proper ruines herself buryeing. 18.4 true,] trew, ⌜true⌝ 21.9 While hee aloud] While ⌜hee⌝ aloud 22.9 That Hee . . . bulke layes.] That ⌜Hee⌝ l on the ground a wing cut from his bulke he layes. 23.6 prest with disadvantage] brest prest di with disadvantage 24.4 For] O For 24.9 breadth] bre⌜a⌝dth

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27 So fell this masse of flesh, and dyeing sent Such smoldring vapors, from his filthy mawe, That they Callimachus had well nigh blent, Ere from the dint, he could himself withdraw, But when starke dead the Monster grimme he saw, Full weary he returned to his steed, With brused armes, wherein was many a flawe, And toward the Montplaisant iorneyed, Where ioyfully Panarete, him welcomed.

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28 As when old Æsons valiant Sonne return’d From that great Colchicke expedition, With conquest braue, and wealthy spoiles adorn’d, Then hee admired was by euery one, And placed high in a triumphant throne, While acclamations rung on euery side, Extolleing that great act which he had done, And him with sublime honours deify’d, While instruments of musicke rent the welkin wide. 29 So was the Knight receiu’d with triumphs glad, The actiue youth most brauely mounted were, On steeds, with rich caparisons yclad, The bannerolls, plumes, and pennons did appeare, In so great numbers in the ayer cleare, With targets beareing many a deuice, That they did seeme the sky to diapere, While drummes did sound, and trumpets that entice [ice. Cold blouds, to martiall stoures, and heate euen hearts of 30 The Virgins faire with oliue garlands crown’d, On timbrells lutes, and Orpharions sweet, With sonnetts fine his praises did resound, The rude Plebeians lowly did him greet, And fragrant flowers threw beneath his feet, But great Panarete most ioyfully, Did in triumphant guise him fairely meet: Foure Vnicornes as white as iuory Her in a charrett drew, adorn’d most royally. 31 Shee in a milke white Vele of lawne was dight, That purffled was with rich embroidery, And did her dainty limmes envelope quite, With folded plaites: she wore a coronet Of gold, wherein twelue pretious gemmes were sett, The first of which a sparkleing Diamond was, Which neither fire, nor steele, nor time can frette; It nightly terrours doth from sad soules chase, And doth in hardnes farre all other stones surpasse. 32 An Emrauld chast did in the second place, Adorne the Chaplet of this Lady bright, Which doth the strength of venome quite deface,

Whose radiant lustre doth cheere vp the sight; The Ruby eke that maketh Mans heart light, Had the third place, vpon her garland pure, Whose splendor brings forth day in midst of Night. The Saphire, that doth melancholy cure, Shin’d there likewise full bright and did all eyes allure. 33 So did the Iacinth faire, that doth resist The force of thunder, and the plague represse By vertue rare; the purple Amethyst A soueraigne antidote ’gainst drunkennes: The Crysolite a foe to lustfullnes, The Opall which doth various colours shew, The Agate that doth diuers shapes expresse, The Topaze, Iasper, and the Turkesse blew, Her crowne adorn’d, with lustre cleare and glorious hue. 34 These pretious stones, twelue vertues did imply, Which fairely did Panarete adorne, Who was sprung from immortall progenye, For shee of Psyche was the impe first borne, Psyche deuine, whose essence had a morne, To which no gloomy night shall ere succeed, Who neuer shall to nullitye returne, But beeing framed of celestiall seed, (That shee for euer shall existe) it is decreed. 35 Panarete with goodly curtesy, Did him accoast, and to her Castle led, In port magnificent, most solemnly, Where shee him feasted with all bountyhed, And with most heroicke pastimes welcomed, It wold a long, and painefull story aske Both hard to write, and tedious to be red, If I should vndertake this mighty taske, The glory of her entertainement to vnmaske. 36 Feasts, banquets, showes, both maskes, and Masquerades, Braue tilts, and tourneys, manly barriers, Where crack’d were many pates, and many blades, Were then perform’d, where hardy Cheualiers Brake lustily for Ladyes sakes their speares; No martiall excercise was left vntry’d, And no triumphant showes, that might empierce, Spectators with delight; on euery side Did ioy dilate it self throughout Montplaisant wide. 28.9 rent the welkin wide.] rent the skyes on euery side ⌜welkin wide.⌝ 30.7 meet:] greet meet: 32.9 likewise full bright and] likewise ⌜full bright⌝ and 33.9 hue.] hue, 34.4 Psyche] Psyche Psyche 36.6 excercise] exccercise 36.9 ioy dilate it self] ioy outspread ⌜dilate⌝ it self

Book 8 Canto 5

Canto 5 The Palace of Panarete And buildings rare displayd, Callimachus doth dote vpon A light lasciuious Maide. 1

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They that of admirable structures write, Of Castles, Temples, Theatres, palaces, Built for defence, religion, or delight, Doe in their learned Legends not expresse, A building of such art, and comelynes, As was Panaretes well seated House, Which was for wondrous skill renown’d no lesse, Then for materialls: no Dædalus Could ere contriue a dwelling so commodious. 2 For substance, art, for seate, and prospect cleare, It did surpasse, and was so built, that it Did pose the cunningest Ichnographer, To draw a plotte thereof, with all his witt; None euer was so wise, or exact yet, That could a building like to this deuise: For that great Architect, who high doth sitte Aboue the starry fabricke of the skyes, By his immortall skill, composd this edifice. 3 It built was in a forme triangular; A figure, held by Architects vnmeete, To bee the ground, of any building rare: But it was fram’d with symmetry so sweet, And reard by art, and wisedome so discreet, That nor the circle might with it compare, Though it be held for structure sometime meete, Nor yet that vsvall forme quadrangular, A figure vpon which most buildings founded are. 4 Three Galleryes, (that did afarre extend,) Each side of this triangle did possesse, Which on Corinthian marble columnes lean’d, And furnishd were with costly rarityes, Selected out of diuers prouinces, Here wont Panarete, when meales were done, Her self to solace with her noble guests, That with fixd admiration gazd vpon, Each miracle of art, and rare expression. 5 The foremost Gallery Phantasia hight, Which was adorn’d with pictures numberles, Of thoughts in sundry shapes, by cunning sleight, Limm’d out; some did resemble sauage beasts, In terrible aspect, and ouglynes, The Oxe some did resemble, and meeke lambe,

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Others were like the Ounce, and Leopardesse: Some did resemble wild beasts, others tame, And some were Monster-like, in countenance and frame. 6 Yea, there so many thoughts were portraited, That they in shape, and num’rous multitude, Resembled perfectly, and equalled All things, that bee with vitall breath endu’d, There is no Beast, that haunts the Forrest rude, Nor featherd foule that cuttes the welkin bright, Nor Fish that in the Ocean is mew’d, That was not there in proper colours dight, And to the view expos’d, of any liueing wight. 7 There is no starre that shineth in the skye, Nor Meteor which mortalls weake doth fright, No tree, or plant that grows or low or high, That was not there obiected to the sight, Yea all that hath a beeing apposite, Or obvious is, for liueing eye to see, Was painted there in colour exquisite, Yea whatsoeuer can imagin’d bee, Was fairely portraited in this great Gallerye. 8 A thousand Dreames were painted there likewise, In vncouth shapes described curiously, Which Morpheus in silent companyes, Sends through his gates, of horne, and iuory, Some horrible, and monstrous to the eye, That with nocturnall terrours wont to fright, The Soules of guilty Persons variously, Some sweet as tender babes, or turtles white, Some Messengers of truth, and some of falshood light. 9 To this, another Gallery adioyn’d, Which was with crystall glaz’d on euery side, That it the visiue rayes no whitt confin’d; Here were all lib’rall sciences descry’d, Arg.2 displayd,] displayd Arg.4 Maide.] Maide 7.3 grows] grow stanzas 7-9] Immediately after stanza 7 in the manuscript a deleted stanza appears, numbered 8. This stanza presents the text of stanza 9 – clearly an anticipation that Knevet caught (and deleted) almost immediately. The lack of punctuation in the deleted stanza points to Knevet’s regular habit of copying the stanzas without punctuation, then adding it all at once, at some later point (see the Textual Introduction). The text of the deleted stanza reads as follows: To this another Gallery adioin’d Which was with crystall glaz’d on euery side That it the visiue rayes no whit confin’d Here were all lib’rall sciences descry’d And arts that in the intellect abide There fairest pieces likewise did appeare Pictures of Ladyes rarely qualify’d With beautyes store these were those vertues cleere That fixed are in the Soules high eternall sphere

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And arts, that in the intellect abide: There fairest pieces also did appeare, Pictures of Ladyes rarely qualifyd, With beautyes store, these were those vertues cleare, That fixed are in the Soules high eternall sphere.

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10 But that which was the masterpiece of all, Was the Effigies of a Parragon, An Empresse crown’d with rayes Æthereall, Deriued from Apollo’s burning throne, And vnderfoote she trod the changeing Moone, As naked was shee as the newborne child, Her beauty did exceed comparison, A sprigge of the vnconquerd palme she held, In her white hand, her visage modest was and mild. 11 The vtmost Gallery was brauely drest, With stately pieces of fine history; Reuerend antiquityes were there exprest, And honorable gests of chiualry, Were there commended to posterity, In tables faire; yea whosoeuer was Whilome renown’d, for true nobility, His statue, or his picture, there had place, Whether he did in letters, or in armes surpasse. 12 There were contain’d in this repository Examples great, to pricke on each braue heart, To the achieuement of renowne, and glory, Either by valour, or ingenious art: Here cauteles were likewise for to diuert Each wight that is to wanton vice enclin’d, From pleasures vaine, which end in balefull smart: Here light was giuen vnto each heroicke mind, Whereby the way wee to true happynes may find. 13 But as Panarete (vpon a day) Herself here solac’d with Callimachus, Hee chanc’d to see describ’d in colours gay, Of Hercules the labours perillous, Where artifice, and cunning curious, (Which by the limmers hand was well exprest) Did much attract his eye iudicious; For those great feates his mind did most arrest, [west. Of that stout Knight, whose fame was spred from East to 14 Those doughty deedes which Hercules had done, His haughty thoughts, with emulation plum’d: Hee wish’d that hee had bin Alcmenas sonne, Though hee in Œtas flames had bin consum’d, Or by a gapeing Earthquake quicke enhum’d; So that his name suruiueing might have own’d,

Those trophyes of renowne; while thus he fum’d Panarete did in the eare him round, Awakeing him from his deepe emulations stound. 15 (Faire Sir) quoth shee your admiration cease, Envuy you not this Thebane Kilcow so, Your acts may paralell his worthynes, If as you haue begunne, you forward goe, And act what discreete Reason biddes you doe: ’Tis true: Alcides did in elder times (When Tyrants ’gan to plague with seruile woe The weaker sort) search many forraine climes, To putt downe proud Oppressors, and to punish crimes. 16 Sterne Tyrants, Theeues, and bloudy Murtherers, Were all the monsters that hee fought withall, Whose sauage crueltyes, and riots fierce, Made Poets in their lines perpetuall, Them Lions, Dragons, Bores, or Bulls to call, Such were those Giants, that liu’d then likewise Men that were not then other men more tall, In stature, but in beastly crueltyes, These Monsters measur’d were by their great Villanyes. 17 And ’cause hee did these wicked Rulers tame, The world triumphant honors to him gaue, And Poets did immortallize his name, In many elogyes, and poems graue, Wherewith they did his memory embraue, And for to make his glory exquisite, They him the symbole made of Knighthood braue, And of his labours twelue did songs endite, Which ought to bee achieu’d by euery errant Knight. 18 That many headed snake Alcides slue, Who in the fennes of Lerna did lye hid, Who looseing many heads, still others new Did in an instant sprout vp in their stead; By this huge Snake is Envuy shadowed, A vice of ougly shape, and venemous, Most difficult for to bee conquered; On liueing things her fury rigorous, Shee wont to wreake, and doth the dead oftimes abuse. 19 For as the fierce Hyæna takes delight, From graues to teare the carkasses of Men, (To satisfye her hungry appetite) So monstrous Envuy with outragious teene, 11.6 whosoeuer] Written over whatsoeuer 14.1 doughty] douhty ⌜doughty⌝ Knevet attempted to correct the original reading before deleting it. 15.1 quoth shee] quoth hee 16.5 Lions, Dragons,] Lions, Beares Dragons,

Book 8 Canto 5 On tombes doth often excercise her spleene, And on those Dormitoryes of the dead, With most vnhallow’d burglary breakes in, Not suffering them to sleepe in sheetes of lead, Whom Nature hath to endles rest amandated.

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20 Alcides on the mount of Mænalus, Did catch in chace the golden-headed Hart, Whom hee presented to Eurystheus; So euery Errant knight that by desart In honors heritage doth seeke a part, Must quite abandon all ignoble feare, For Cowardice all goodnes doth subvert, Nor Can the Coward with affection cleare, His freind, or neihbour loue, or his Redeemer deare. 21 Alcides slue that Lion fierce of yore, In the Nemæan groue, and his tough skinne Vpon his shoulders euer after wore; So ought each Knight to vanquish wrathfull Sinne, For all iniustice doth in wrath beginne, But as Alcides vs’d the Lions hide, And was from many dangers safe therein, So anger iust must stand by valours side, True valour without anger iust, cannot abide. 22 King Diomed, that whilome pampered, His fierce Bistonian Iades with humane flesh, Was by their teeth in maunger tortured, Through the iust vengeance of great Hercules; So ought each Errant Knight for to represse All cruell inclinations, which destroy True fortitude, with beastly brutishnes, To monsters changeing Men, for cruelty A Tiger is deuoide of all humanity.

23 Alcides braue did quell the bristled Bore, Which did the Hill of Erymanth frequent, Who Men, and beasts, and plants, in pieces tore, Devoureing all things wheresoere he went, That with his greedy palate did consent: So should each Knight by cleanly abstinence, All gluttony and gurmandise preuent, Which reason hurt although they please the sence, And in Mans body doe foule maladyes commence. 24 Alcides did that sturdy Heardsman kill, Who with his deprædations did infest The Bœticke prouince, and by lawles will His subiects kept in awe, whom hee opprest; So ought each Knight of honour to contest With those, that iniure, or afflict the poore,

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Whose wrongs they are engag’d to see redrest; For when the weake assistance doe implore, What can stirre vp, or moue a noble courage more. 25 Alcides pluck’d those golden Apples bright, From the Hesperian Orchyard and subdu’d, The Dragon that stood Sentinel in fight; So hee that is with knighthood true endu’d, And doth profession make of fortitude, Must from ignoble policyes bee cleare, For fraudulence doth valour true extrude, And where deceit, and guile doe domineare, No reall valour, nor true fortitude are there. 26 Alcides did those vncleane Birds expell, Which did infest the coasts of Arcadye, With filthy rapines, and with outrage fell: So hee that doth himself to armes apply, And seekes to rise by noble chiualry, Must banish couetise out of his mind, Which is a staine to all nobility, Befitteing Peasants, of vngentle kind, That are for rurall, and rude offices designd. 27 Alcides did Hippolite subdue, And from her tooke her costly belt away, So is it meete that Men of honour true, Should euer shunne Ambitions slippery way, Which hath brought many Knights to deepe decay; Pride is an Amazon, and will admitt No peere, but will alone beare all the sway, A vice for Knights, and Ladyes farre vnfitt; Yet many Knights, and courtly Dames doe harbour it. 28 Alcides the Augæan stable swept, That was not cleans’d in thirty yeares before, Though in’t three thousand Oxen had bin kept: So hee that is well taught in Knighthoods lore, Must purge himself from all luxurious gore, For lechery, and foolish Paillardise Produce much paine though pleasure goes before, And Hell succeedes so sweet a Paradise, For after sinne, foule shame and direfull vengeance flyes. 29 Busyris, (who was wont to sacrifice His guests) Alcides iustly did requite, For on that Altar hee his carkasse fryes, 23.8 hurt] hurts 26.9 designd.] enclind design’d. 28.7 Produce much paine] Produceth ⌜much⌝ paine 28.8 Hell] A single character has been deleted at the end of this word, perhaps s 28.8 Paradise,] par Paradise, 29.3 For] Or For

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Whereon the Tyrant earst by vniust might, Had many slaine with torments exquisite: For hee that doth braue chiualry professe Must banish all discourtous dealings quite, And toward strangers vse all gentlenes; For Curtesye’s the cognisance of noblenes.

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30 Alcides did by wondrous force confound Antheus great, the earths vnweildy Sonne, Him suffocateing rear’d aboue the ground: So hee (that doth the armes of Knighthood donne) Should subdue slothe the bane of action; For neuer yet did sluggard vile arise, By merit due, to sitte in honours throne, But louteing on the earth he basely lyes, While actiue vertue mounts aboue the spangled skyes.

31 While thus Panarete, did morallize The warlike gests, of the Tyrinthian braue, Callimachus attention firme applyes, And when she ended had her lecture graue, Thankes for those documents vnto her gaue. With this faire Lady here long time he spent, Who holesome counsell daily did engraue In his capacious mind, that was well bent All good monitions to receiue, with full intent. 32 Now through Mont-plaisant was his fame dispred, And many did from farre and neare resort, His manly face to view, who did exceed In braue magnificence, and stately port, All Gallants of Panaretes faire court. There many Ladyes sought him for a mate, But honorable thoughts did him transport, Ne did he like to liue in wedlockes state, Which on Mans life doth sorowes sad accumulate. 33 But among all the Dames that did attend, The person of diuine Panarete, Cenoclea most wishd him for her freind, Nor was there any Dame more faire then shee, Or of demeanour amorous more free, Yet all was but sophistication vaine, But none her subtile fucacyes could see; Shee did with such great artifice maintaine, That beauty vnto which by art shee did attaine.

34 The Crocodiles foule ordure shee did vse, For her complexions sake, and cerusse cleare; Shee with vermilion did her cheekes perfuse, And with Mercuriall lotions did besmeare Her face, to make her feature without peere, Shee likewise did with fricacyes corrade

Her tawny skinne, that els would foule appeare: Thus shee by art, a fained beauty made To fish for eyes, and hearts with fraudulency bad. 35 As when the cruell Panther lyes in waite, To catch his prey he hides his feature grimme, And breatheing sweet perfumes by this deceit, Perswades the silly Beasts to come neare him, Allured by his sent, and colour trimme; Euen so this Lady couerd by her arts, Her imperfections, and did weake eyes dimme, That shee the Mistris was of many hearts Who were enamour’d on her fairest seemeing parts. 36 But among all her Louers, none was like Sir Thrason, for high port, and brauery: Her beautyes beames his tender heart did strike, That hee was wounded most vncurably, Except shee wold her helping hand apply, To heale his wound and neuer ceaseing paine: And hee a mate was, that might well comply With such a consort, beeing passeing vaine, A Brabbler that would any quarrell entertaine. 37 In his attempts, he wont not to sett eye On right, or wrong, but fondly was misled, Regarding neither truth nor equity; So that his ends might bee accomplished: Nor was hee fraught with manhood true indeed, His heart was faint, for all his visage dread; And lothe he was in combate fierce to bleed, Though hee full loftily did strout and tread, As if he meant to knocke the starres downe with his head. 38 To gaine a reputation was his end, And this he thought to get by quarrelling, In streete, or tauerne, or with foe, or freind; And if that some occasion did him bring, To fight in feild, it was some idle thing, That brought him to’t: perhaps his Ladyes iewell, Or her faire locke, or fine conceited ring; Hee for the wall had often fought a duell, And for refusall of a health a combate cruell. 31.4 graue] br graue stanza 31] Knevet has mistakenly added, and then deleted, a full set of speech marks in the left margin adjacent to this stanza. This stanza is also the last of page 264, after which two stubs appear in the manuscript binding; there is not interruption in the stanza numbers or the (later) pagination, or any indication that these stubs are of pages that were once written upon. 32.5 of Panaretes faire] of fai Panaretes faire 33.3 Cenoclea] Genoclea Cenoclea 35.2 prey] prey, 38.7 or] or or 38.8-9 Hee for . . . combate cruell.] Hee for the wall had often fought a combate cruell ⌜duell,⌝ | And for refusall of a health oft made a duell ⌜a combate cruell.⌝

Book 8 Canto 5 44 In such a case was poore Callimachus, While thus he doted on his idle mate, He quite neclected deedes adventurous, Addicted to delights effeminate, Which did his martiall vigour much abate, His Courser now was turned out to soile, His sheathed blade rust did contaminate, His target strong dust fouly did defile, And spiders in his steely helme did daily toile.

40 Sir Thrason long an earnest sutour was, Vnto Cenoclea, and so well sped That from her hee oftimes receiu’d much grace, And hop’d in time to winne her to his bed, But shee was fickle, and soone altered, Vnconstant like the wind, or changeing Moone, And still on Louers new enamoured; With easy courtship was she to bee wonne, Her heart was in a minute gain’d, and lost as soone.

45 Loue is the bane of noble action; The poison of an honorable mind, By which great persons oft haue bin vndone, For it doth so the vnderstanding blind, That to true blisse it can’t the right way find, Hurtfull in youth, but monstrous ’tis in age: A bird of fairest hue, and seemeing kind, That vnawares the heart of man doth gage With deadly dole, while hee no euill doth presage.

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39 (Coward, or Murtherer) that oft bring’st death To soule, and body both, what impudence, Hath sett the on, to catch at honours wreath; A Gibbett is a fitter recompence, For thee, with thy bloud-stained conscience; But if the welkin bee a graue to good, Beyond the merit of thy foule offence, Let swine, and dogs, licke vp thy guilty bloud, And eat that heart, which did such brutish courage shroud.

41 For now vpon Callimachus shee doted, And many wayes did try to winne his loue, (But hee to armes, and excercise devoted,) Her tempting trickes, and showes could not him moue. Then new deuices ’gan she for to proue, Shee to Magicians sage, for counsell went, And by strong charmes his heart to conquer stroue, Such as Medea whilome did invent, When shee the noble Argonaute did circumvent. 42 At length by artificiall guile, and sleight, Cenoclea did Callimachus subdue; Thus hee entangled by her sly deceite, In Cupids fane an earnest zelot grew, And from society, himself withdrew: To melancholy walkes he did retire, Still ruminateing on his mistris new, Whose parts, and beauty he did much admire; His captiuated heart was set on such a fire. 43 As when a Barke bound for discouery, Doth trend some vnknowne coast, that doth appeare To passe in pleasure, and fertility, The ioyfull Pilot then his course doth steere Heedles of danger, or disaster neare, For he admires the cedars, on the land, And hills which sundry flowers diapere, Till sudainly he strikes vpon a sand, And ready is to suffer shipwracke out of hand.

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39.6 welkin] ⌜welkin⌝ ayer 40.9 Her heart . . . gain’d,] Yea quickly was her loue obtain’d, ⌜Her heart was in a minute gain’d⌝ 41.4 moue.] moue 43.1 bound] found bound stanza 45] This final stanza appears to have been written with a slightly thinner nib, and lighter ink, than those used for copying the rest of the canto; this may suggest that this stanza was added, or even composed, somewhat later. 45.8 vnawares] u vnawares

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Canto 6 Sir Thrason falls into dispaire For vaine Cenocleas loue, Callimachus she holds most deare But doth vnconstant proue. 1

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As when a Nauigatour, that is bound In some long voyage, of importance great, While Neptune smiles, and Tritons dance the round And gentle Æole in his poope doth beate, As if both sea, and windes were freinds complete; But hee to leeward a faire Syren spyes, That doth with wondrous melody repete, Her pleasant layes; to her his course he plyes While his poore Shippe splittes on a rocke in hideous guise. 2 Euen so that manly heart which is replete, With thoughts of honorable action, And well resolu’d t’achieue some noble feate, While hee in honours path goes freely on, Descryes aside some beaut’ous minion, Which makes him slacke his former braue desire, And that bewitcheing obiect gaze vpon, Which in his brest soone kindles a new fire, Him forceing from his first intention to retire. 3 Strong Dioxippus who the garland wore, At the Olympicke games, and the rich prize, From all the sturdy youthes of Græcia bore, Returning homeward in triumphant guise, On a faire Damsell chanc’d to cast his eyes Whose beautyes power his stout heart obeyd, That he forgott his former victoryes, Thus hee that many Champions had dismayd, In combate fierce was vanquish’d by a silly mayde. 4 And though Callimachus were well y’taught In wisedomes sacred thewes, and vertues lore, Yet Cupid had so rough a stroke him raught, That he did proud Cenoclea adore, Yet neuer had he bin in loue before, His loue to her he first ’gan to commend, In stedfast lookes, and suspirations sore, Then smiles, and letters did vnto her send, Then with sweet words, and kisses, did her heart incende. 5 But Thrason (who with vigilant intent, Toward Cenoclea did direct his eye) Seekeing to find that way which her loue went, In fine by curious discouery Found out the casket where her heart did lye, For Louers want not Argos eyes to find,

That thing, which when they after long search spy, It them doth more and more in thraldome bind, For knowledge is no med’cine for a iealous mind. 6 As when a Bullocke in the sommer tide, Grazeing securely in a fragrant meade, Where Flora glitters in luxurious pride, Doth vnawares vpon a waspes nest tread, The angry flyes then leaue their mossy bed, And their disturber in fierce swarmes assaile, Pierceing with stings his body, and his head, (Maugre the frequent brushes of his taile) While hee doth restles fling about, till breath doth faile. 7 So Thrason was with bitter anguish stung, Ne night, or day could he find ease or rest, But like one that is falne the thornes among, Hee manifoldly was with woes distrest, Dispayreing quite in time to bee releast ’Cause for his eares he durst not openly, In termes against Callimachus contest, Least hee incurreing deadly ieopardy, Should bee compell’d to loose his liefest life thereby. Canto 6] Four leaves in this and the following canto, beginning at stanza 36 of this canto (on p. 283 of the manuscript), and ending at canto 7, stanza 2 (marked p. 286 bis) have been damaged along the outer edge, and are in places now illegible; where conjectured readings are offered, the original illegible readings are marked in the notes in curly brackets. The physical evidence of these pages suggests that Knevet has inserted them in place of an original bifolium: they appear to be written on different paper, in the same hand but a markedly different (narrower) nib than the pages immediately before and after them. They also interrupt the pagination of the volume: Knevet appears to have left them unpaginated, but to judge from the page numbers immediately before and after, they occupy a space where two leaves, or four pages (i.e. pp. 283-286), must once have been. Since the pages are in Knevet’s hand, this suggests that 8.6 was originally much shorter, that Knevet decided to revise and extend the end of the canto, and that he did so by removing two leaves and inserting a new gathering of four, containing the new end of 8.6 and the argument and first two stanzas of 8.7. He has also not entered his customary marks of ‘Simile’ (see Textual Introduction), which may suggest that this phase of correction took place after that process of marking and annotation. Arg.2 loue,] loue Arg.4 proue.] proue stanza 1] Knevet made a false start on this canto, copying out on p. 270 the whole of this first stanza (along with the numeration 1 and, following the first stanza, 2) before he had copied (or perhaps composed) the canto argument. After deleting the stanza, he began afresh on the top of p. 271 with the canto argument. The deleted stanza is unpunctuated, but the word ’Simile’ has been written in the left margin of p. 270 – suggesting that these notes, unlike the punctuation, were added at the initial copying stage (see Textual Introduction). The cancelled stanza reads as follows: As when a Nauigatour that is bound In some long voyage of importance great While Neptune smiles and Tritons daunce ye round And gentle Æole in hir poope doth beate As if sea and windes were freinds complete But hee to leeward a faire Syren spyes That doth with wondrous melody repete Her pleasant layes to her his course he plyes While his poore ship splittes on a rocke in hideous guise 6.9 fling about] fling, about

Book 8 Canto 6 8 Thus while he spent his dayes in dreary mone, And found no remedy for his distresse, As in a Forrest darke he raung’d alone, Surcharg’d with care and heauy pensiuenes, (For he did shunne all company and prease) Beneath a shady Poplar downe he lyes, Thinkeing by rest, to make his troubles lesse, But still like floweing springs, his griefes did rise, The God of sleepe refuseing to close vp his eyes.

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9 Him thus desirous of reposall sweet, An aged Beldame (that had long abode Within the gloomy Forrest) did him meete Full easily vpon the ground she trod, Like to a Iade, that’s founderd, or ill shod; Her sharp nose seem’d to wooe her crooked chinne, Her crazye bones flesh did not ouerlode, A thousand wrinkles furrow’d had her skinne, And on an ebone staffe she stayd her carkasse thinne. 10 Shee to the wretched Mizer thus ’gan say, Arreede (oh sonne) the cause of your sad greife, Tell mee your malady, without delay, Perhaps I may you ease, or giue reliefe, If in my skill you will repose beliefe: To doe you good I want no Leaches art, Tell mee your trouble, in a story briefe; Disclose to mee th’afflictions of your heart: I guesse the God of Loue hath caus’d your balefull smart. 11 With this his heauy eylids hee vprear’d, Aye mee (quoth hee) that ere I was in loue (Hee spake no more) but his complaint shee heard And sayd (Deare sonne) your discontent remoue Addresse your self a sudaine cure to proue, I at your seruice haue a potion rare, Surpasseing in effect the drinke of Ioue; No Panacæa with it may compare: Contend with it no paines, and no diseases dare. 12 Then from her side shee tooke an earthen cruse, That at her hempen girdle pendant was, The wretch did not her curtesy refuse, Hopeing to find amendment for his case, And ioyfully her offer did embrace. As when a Pilgrim poore with heate nigh spent, While hee doth through a sandy desart trace, A fountaine cleare findes out (by accident) Where hee doth slake his thirst with wonderfull content.

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13 So Thrason with a greedy appetite, Dranke this pestif’rous iuyce; the poison soone Wrought strange effects, dimmnes invades his sight, A dizzynes doth through his temples runne, Cold vapours did his nobler parts sease on; His vnderstanding from the helme was blowne, All rationall discourse, was fled, and gone: A rabide fury on his braine was growne, That from her sacred throne had lady Reason throwne. 14 As when stout Aiax beeing ouercome By Vlyssæan policy and skill About the feilds starke mad, did range, and rome, And heards of Beasts did in his fury kill, Whom hee mistooke (misled by fancyes ill) For sly Vlysses, and his company: So did Sir Thrason runne o’re dale, and hill, Mistakeing beasts for men continually, The poison had distemperd him so wondrously. 15 Affrighteing Buggebeares euer did affray His fancy weake; terrours did him surround; And horrour was his consort, night, and day, For this deceitfull Dame, who had him found, As foule a Witche was, as ere trod on ground; Zelotype she hight, who did contend Mischieuously, true Louers to confound, ’Gainst humane frailty shee her rage did bend, Striueing to bring all true contentment to an end. 16 As whilome that luxurious filthy source, Of vice, vile Heliogabalus, the stayne Of mankind, and of Romane Emperors, Was wont his drunken consorts to detaine, Within a roome, where while they slept amaine, He lettes loose Tigers, Lions, Woolues, and Beares, Whose chappes from hurting muzzles did restraine; But his dismayd intoxicated Peeres, [feares. Grew some distraught, while others dy’d, through sudaine 17 So Thrason was with deadly woes opprest; For Iealousy doth sundry torments breed, Beeing the Mistris of griefe, and vnrest: Shee on the marrow, and the heart doth feed, And of all dreary sorow sowes the seed; She dwelleth in a solitary Grotte, 9.7 crazye] Written over craze 12.6 spent] shent, ⌜spent⌝ 13.1 greedy] ⌜greedy⌝ goodly 15.1 did affray] did him affray 16.2 stayne] shame ⌜stayne⌝

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Where shee doth daily forge in her damn’d head, Each mischieuous deuice, and wicked plotte, Wherewith shee doth the minds of wretched Men besotte.

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18 Now had Callimachus such progresse made, In his loues fond affaires, and so well sped That at a becke hee his faire Mistris had, And her good will so throughly purchased, That when occasion opportune him led, From the dominions of Panarete, Shee vndiscouerd from Montplaisant fled, And onely his associate meant to bee, As well in balefull sorow, as in mirthfull glee. 19 They many dayes together trauelled, Yet no adventure did they meete withall, But his light Mate with ficklenes bested, Into a new desire begunne to fall, As versatile as is a tennis ball, Shee daily with coy frowardnes beganne, To shew the Knight that shee was not so small, But shee could beare more then a single man, Thus on a Louer new her fraile affection ranne. 20 Vpon a day shee chanced to espy, An armed Knight, crosseing the mossy plaine, With gilded armes, adorned gloriously, His dappled Courser did curveate amaine, And with a gracefull pride endur’d the reyne: Deck’d was he with a rich caparison, And trod the earth as if he did disdaine To tread that earth, which hee did trample on, Full proudly did his Rider braue sitte him vpon. 21 In siluer stirrops he did stretch his toes, He sate in sadle like a towre vpright, His thighes vnto his seate were ioyned close, His left hand rul’d his steed with actiue might, An hebene launce he carry’d in his right, At his left shoulder hung his glistring sheild, Whereon portraited was a pittous sight, For many heads of humane wights defil’d, With bloudy gore were painted there in a greene feild. 22 A fierce Hyæna with iawes gapeing wide, Vpon his glistring helme was figured, Hee many signes shew’d of a Boasters pride, The colours of his plume were white, and red, Which in a horrid brauery was spred Vpon his shoulders broad; Cenoclea view’d This iolly Gallant, with attentiue heed, And was with lustfull change so much subdu’d, That she the gentle Knight, left with a farwell rude.

23 And toward her new Mate fled swift, as wind, But when shee drew him neare, hee ’gan descry, That this Cenoclea was earst so vnkind, Which did such ioy in his heart multiply, That hee was almost in an extasy, These two Companions posted fast away For feare and shame into the Forrest nigh, Ne yet to looke behind them wold they stay; Till they were gott farre from Callimachus his sway. 24 Ne would the Faery them pursue at all, For since the Dame had him so fondly left, Hee no affection had her to recall, Nor yet to search for such an idle weft, That was of shame, and modesty bereft. This Knight, with whom Cenoclea fled so fast, Sir Thrason was, who glad of his faire theft, Which Fortune had on him so lightly cast, Feareing the Knights pursute, away did basely haste. 25 For hee had lost his lamentable fitts, Through help of time, and carefull Leaches art And when hee had recouer’d well his witts, He still thought on Cenoclea his sweet heart, And for her sake did from Montplaisant part, Dight in such glorious manner (as you see) And had such lucke (beyond all his desart) That here the fickle Dame he found, while shee Did of her owne accord, consent with him to flee. 26 Callimachus, well ridde of such a mate, Went on surcharg’d with melancholy thought, And as he museing in his sadle sate, While webbes of sorow his sad fancy wrought, Hee chanc’d to cast his nimble eye about, And spy’d a Damsell on a gennett white, Who as it seem’d for his assistance sought, For toward him she sped with all her might, Hee stayd his horse to heare what newes she shold recite. 27 (Faire Sir) quoth shee Vittoria doth you greet, Vittoria the sole Daughter of Cleander, Cleander great, who hath his royall seate And of those fertile Countreys is Commander, Where Danow with a crooked course doth wander, To seeke his Father old Oceanus: Hee of the race is of great Alexander And heretofore hath bin adventurous, In armes, but age hath now cool’d his heate valorous. 20.4 curveate] curv.⌜e⌝ate The last three letters appear to have been written over an earlier word. 21.9 bloudy gore] g bloudy gore

Book 8 Canto 6

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28 His Daughter (to a scepter beeing heyre) From many lands, Knights did frequente his court, For shee is beautifull, and debonaire, Endu’d with vertues farre beyond report, A complete Lady both in grace, and port; Full many Sutors hath she sent away, Refuseing loue, in sweet and modest sort Yet some behind their fellowes, still would stay, In hope at length to meete with better lucke, then they. 29 But among all the Knights that there remaine, None with Androgeus hardy may compare, Or ’gainst him equall combate can maintaine, For he is of such strength, and courage rare, That him prouoke, scarce any liueing dare: Hee to the great Grantorto was allyd, Whom Arthegall as Historyes declare, Subdu’d in fight, quelling his lofty pride, To Aquilino he by league was also ty’d. 30 Hee daily doth Vittoria importune, For loue, but in his sute getts no successe, Hee finds the Lady euer out of tune, Ne to be wonne by prayers, or requests And now he doth her aged Father presse, To giue him his faire Daughter for a feere, And hath with mighty threats, and craftynes, So wondrously preuail’d, that hee hath neare His end obtaind, and his desire accomplishd cleare. 31 For hee hath brought the good old King to this, That hee to him will giue his Daughter deare, If that he shall with fifty Knights, in lists, Appeare within the compasse of a yeare, Against so many Knights to combate there, Whom if he shall subdue in bloudy fight, And from them all the prize of conquest beare, The King (his paines, and valour to requite) Is pleas’d vpon him to bestowe the Damsell bright. 32 Androgeus (on his matchles strength presumeing) Doth make no doubt but for to winne the game, And daily to his party, is assumeing All Knights of eminent renowne, or fame, To help him to obtaine this princely Dame, His Heralds he hath sent through euery clime, The harts of sturdy Champions to enflame, With honorable thoughts, and meed sublime, That they may him assist within the prefix’d time. 33 But sad Vittoria (full of dreary care, For feare to bee the proud Androgeus prize) Doth no endeauours, no entreatyes spare, From kingdomes farre and nigh, to call supplyes,

Her Louer to defeate in his emprize; But a sage Sibyll in diuine rites skilld, Her to enquire a Knight out did advise, That bare three golden Garlands on his sheild, For hee the stout Androgeus should o’rethrow in feild. 34 Now many miles, and dangers haue I past, Yea many tilts, and tourneys, haue I seene, Yet haue the worthy Knight, found out at last, Who shall deliuer my distressed Queene, From him, whom shee doth hate aboue all men: Vpon your targe those royall signes you beare, Which (as it hath prognosticated bene) That Knight of honorable worth must weare, Who shall preserue my Lady from distresse, and feare. 35 And now the time expired is well nigh, When that her Knights must in the lists appeare, To winne, or loose a glorious victory, But if they faile: that haughty Cheualier Shall without more adoe her carry cleare, Therefore (faire Sir) your fauour I implore Beseecheing you to help my Lady deare, That shee may not be forced to adore Him, whom aboue all errant Knights she doth abhorre. 36 Thus spake the Dame: Callimachus then sayd Oft haue I heard of great Cleanders fame, And of the worth of that renowned maide, Ycleaped faire Vittoria by name: Worthy is hee of all reproch, and shame, That shall against her will a Mayden wedde (Bee shee or Princesse high or lowly Dame) A place of quiet is the nuptiall bed By ioint consent, not force, wee must be thither led. 37 When that the Damsell heard him thus reply, A sudaine ioy her heart did ouerspread: Euen as the Swaine (that hath bin bitterly With blasts of gelid Hyems battered, While in the mountaines hore his flockes he fed, When hee doth heare the Nightingales sweet voice) Forgetts those stormes which earst he suffered, And on a sunny banke, with mirthfull noise, Vpon his oaten pipe doth pleasantly reioyce. 29.2 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 30.5 aged] ⌜aged⌝ and her 31.4 compasse of a yeare] compasse of yeare 32.1 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 33.2 Androgeus] Dontillyes ⌜Androgeus⌝ 33.7 enquire a Knight out] enquire ⌜a Knight⌝ out 33.9 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 35.9 abhorre.] adore abhorre.

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 43 But Heauen the iuster cause at length did fauour, Though Victory seem’d long in a suspence, And Fortune ’twixt bothe partyes seem’d to wauer, For ere Night ’gan to make new residence Vpon the easterne hills, in sable tents, Parthenias Knights had quite subdu’d their foes: Androgeus of the combate him repents, And from the feild he discontented goes, With batterd targe, and helmet riuen by many blowes.

39 While thus the Knight and Dame rode on their way, Shee to him ’gan relate a storye sad, How fierce Androgeus whilome did dismay A Lady faire, with vsage passeing bad, Whom hee most wickedly depriued had Both of her honour, and her liuelyhood, And her a spectacle of horrour made, To other Maydens, of high ranke, and blood, That should withstand his lustfull rage, and furious moode.

44 As a fierce Wolfe stalkes from a mountaines side, Hopeing among the flockes to get his prey, When they are folded vp at euening tide, But watchfull Swaines, and dogs doe him belay That frighted and sore torne he flees away, Yet hee nathles with guile and rage inspir’d, Resolues to bee aueng’d on them ere day, And while his foes be to their rest retir’d, At midnight doth returne and gaines what hee desir’d.

40 This Lady hight Parthenia (quoth shee) A Dame deriued from imperiall race, Rich, and as faire, as any wight could bee, Vntill this bloudy Knight did her deface, And quite dispoile her of all natiue grace, Her forme, demeanour, or her large demesnes, Made him his loath’d affection on her place, But while to winne her loue he vainely weenes, His proffers she reiects; then hee her deeply spleenes.

45 Euen so Androgeus fraught with shame, and spite, From faire Parthenias Castle did retreate, And findeing that apparant force, and might, Did nought auaile hee by some hidden feate, His Enemyes intended to defeate: Hee with his beaten troupe in ambush lay With heed expecting and attention great, A fitt occasion for to gett his prey, Nor did the cruell Fates his purpose curst gainsay.

41 For when he saw nor gifts, nor promises Could make Parthenia pliant to his mind, Who scorn’d his letters, and his messages, Then hee by open violence design’d To bring her in: but she (who well diuin’d What meant his wicked drifts) did soone prouide Him to requite, according to his kind. And many iolly Knights with her did side, Resolu’d to dye, or to asswage this Tyrants pride. 42 Hee thirty Knights did summon to his aide, With which hee brau’d her at her Castle gate: But of his threats shee was no whitt affrayd; For iust as many Knights (in warlike state) Did sally forth his courage to abate: Full goodly feates of armes were done that day: There crack’d were many speares, and many a pate; For stout Androgeus mainly did assay All policy, and valour in this doubtfull fray.

46 For chast Parthenia who was well skill’d In pious gratitude, and sacred lore, When shee her adversary fierce beheld Discomfited, and beaten from her dore, Did neuer dreame of any perills more: She caus’d her Knights to lay their armes aside, Dressing their wounds with salues, and balsams store But those whom gentler Mars, had not made bleed Shee to performance of diuine rites summoned.

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38 So was the Damsell solac’d inwardly, To see the Knight so loueingly inclin’d, Her Lady to assist with due supply, But hee more fully did expresse his mind, With comfortable words, and passeing kind, Hee will’d her to abandon care, and griefe: For hee in spite of all her foes combin’d, And mau’gre the huge strength of any chiefe, Would doe his best to giue Vittoria reliefe.

47 Nigh to her Castle on a submisse hill, A Temple stood, built by her Fathers wise In honour of Minerua, with such skill, Of so rare stuffe, that none could well deuise 39.3 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 40.9 spleenes.] spleenes 42.8 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 43.1 fauour,] fauour Damage to the manuscript has obscured the reading here, but some original punctuation is likely. 43.7 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 45.1 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 46.1 well skill’d] fulfill’d ⌜well skill’d⌝ 46.2 In pious gratitude,] With ⌜In⌝ pious and gratitude,

Book 8 Canto 7 Which of these two each other did out prize: Twice twenty polish’d columnes large, and high Did proppe the vault of this great edifice; All which were fram’d in perfect symmetrye, Of Cyprian Iasper, and of spotted porphirye.

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48 With Musaicke worke adorned variously The pauement was: the walls were marble white The roofe of Cypresse was, and iuory: Vnto this Temple did Parthenia bright Her Ladyes and her Knights vnarm’d invite, Vnto their Goddesse dutious vowes to pay, Who had them garded from a fierce foes spite: Thither they trac’d in beautifull array, Dreadeing no misadventure ill, nor sad affray. 49 Now sly Androgeus by his scouts advis’d, Of this occasion from his ambush creepes, And in the Temple them (vnwares) surpris’d, Whose floore with bloud of innocents he steepes, Sending their soules vnto the stygian deepes: But his vnlawfull lust to satisfy, The Maide Parthenia aliue hee keepes, Who mournfully compell’d was to stand by, While all her worthy Knights were murther’d shamefully. 50 He wrests from her the keyes of her strong Fort, And while she wailes in lamentable woe, Hee her deflowr’d by force in cruell sort: Her gemmes, and gorgeous weede hee tooke her fro; Then biddes his base Valetts abuse her too. Thus spake the Damsell then Callimachus Deepely incens’d, desir’d to meete his foe, Him to assaile in combate perillous, That Knights and Ladyes had betray’d and iniurd thus.

51 Thus they together many dayes did wend Ne did adventure them empeach, or stay, ’Till they arriued at their iorneys end, Where they beheld the feilds in faire array With tents adorned, and pauilions gay: Vpon the plaines the coursers proudly praunc’d, Well mannaged against the fighteing day: The silken banners in the welkin daunc’d, And their empreses witty loftily advanc’d. 52 For here Androgeus had his tents pitch’d downe, With all the Worthyes that were of his side: But all Vittorias freinds within the Towne, (Which was Heraclea called) did abide, Vntill the bloudy combate should be try’d: But as Callimachus did passe along,

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He earnestly obserued was, and ey’d By multitudes, that did about him throng, [strong. To them he seem’d a Champion fierce, and wondrous 53 But when he came within the Castle gate, Cleander and his Daughter deare appear’d, Arrayd in robes of most magnificke state, Cleander with his snowy promisse beard, A reu’rent respect to all hearts inferrd, But bright Vittoria brauely mounted was On a white Vnicorne, with crest vprear’d; Such store of gemmes her mantle did enchase, That like an asterisme shee shone, with heauenly grace. 54 With gracious welcome did they entertaine Callimachus, who with faire complement Renderd to them much curtesy againe, And many salutations did present To those braue Knights, of martiall hardyment, That on Vittoria’s person did attend, Which Champions were most resolutely bent, Her from Androgeus fierce her to defend, Or els in battell fierce their bloud, and liues, to spend.

Canto 7 Callimachus Androgeus quelles In a most bloudy fight, Auranion ’gainst Almansor striues For Marinellas right. 1 Now ’gan the dreadfull day for to draw neare, When that this bloudy combate should be fought; The Knights well fitted were with sword, and speare; And for preuention of tumult’ous rout, The lists with stone were walled round about, Who fill’d a mile with their peripherye, Built like an Amphitheater throughout, With fifty faire degrees ascending high, That infinite Spectators might the fight descry. 47.7 great] rare great 49.1 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 52.1 Androgeus] ⌜Androgeus⌝ Dontilly 52.4 Which] (Which Damage to the manuscript has obscured the reading here which is notwithstanding obvious. 53.4 snowy] reuerent ⌜snowy⌝ 54.8 Androgeus fierce her] ⌜Androgeus fierce her⌝ Dontillyes power Arg.1 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ Arg.2 fight,] fight 1.9 That infinite] {•••}t infinite

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 7

But on the right side of the feild appear’d, A stately scaffold, of a braue ascent, In carued columnes cunningly vpreard, And architecture most magnificent, Which was with cloth of Arras all besprent, Whereon two most maiesticke thrones were pight, Enrich’d with stones, and metalls excellent, From whence Cleander with Vittoria bright, Easily might behold the manner of the fight.

False Miracles, were painted there likewise, Indulgences, and Dispensations, Workes of Supererogation, and lyes, Merits, with mentall Reseruations, Impostures, and Equivocations, Vniust Suppression of the sacred Lore, With wresting Misinterpretations, The Inquisition sprent with guiltles gore, Were there beheld with many such like pictures more.

3 A goodly Gate, compos’d of marble white, Was built vpon the East side of the lists; And on the westerne part iust opposite, Another Gate erected was like this, Each furnish’d well with strong portcullises: Aboue the Gate that stood on th’Easterne side, A Fane was built, by cunning artifice, With comely ornaments well beautify’d, Which Chappell, was to Aletheia edify’d.

8 Orders of Friers, and of Sisters deare, With lookes demure, and full of holynes, In many sundry shapes were painted there, With Shrines, and surbated Pilgrimages, And other like fictitious trumperyes; These trifles fond, this Temple did containe, Which wondrous adoration did impresse, In simple minds, misled by fancy vaine, While Wisemen did such follyes laugh at, and disdaine.

4 No anticke images, were fixed there, To please the fancyes of weake Votaryes, But on the walls, and on the windowes cleare Describ’d were all authenticke historyes, That grounded bee on true realityes, Perpetuall lampes, did giue this Temple light: A sacred Booke vpon the Altar lyes, Wherein all blessed lore was writt aright, Exposed to the eye of each religious wight.

9 The long expected fighteing day was come, And when Aurora from the East did rise, To make her melody at Memnons tombe, The trumpets sterne with shrill, and martiall cryes, Did from Heracleas towers rent the skyes, Whose summons loud did warne each hardy Knight, For to bee ready in a warlike guise; The Heralds likewise in rich mantles dight, With Marshalls, were prepar’d, to order all things right.

5

10 Cleander first did by the easterne port, Appeare within the lists, vsherd along By martiall musicke, in most royall sort, And was attended brauely through the throng, By a stout garde, which was fiue hundreth strong; Vittoria next her father followed, In state not to be blaz’d by penne, or tongue, For many Damsells faire did her precede, Who playd on instruments, and sweetly carroled.

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2

But o’re the Gate, vpon the other side, Erected was a Temple glorious, To great Pseudoxa, with much cost, and pride: It past that miracle idolatrous, Which dedicated was at Ephesus, To great Diana: for the Caruers art, And Painters skill, in figures various, Were there descipherd, euen in euery part; The World nere saw a structure of such high desart. 6 Aspireing Pride, had there her statue first, Who crownd was with a triple diademe, Vnsatiate Couetise, and sacred thirst Of gaine, and Simony that look’d full trimme, Direfull Assassinates, and Treason grimme, Foule Breach of faith, reuerent Hipocrisy, And Ignorance, with eyesight wondrous dimme, Foule blacke-mouth Slanders, soft-skinn’d Luxury Were painted there in colours artificially.

11 This Virgin Goddesse by a golden chaine, Into the lists did lead her Champion, And fifty other Ladyes of her traine, As many Knights by golden chaines brought on, 2.4 And] {•••} 2.7 with] th with 2.9 Easily might behold] {••••}ly might behold The end of this stanza marks the conclusion of the manuscript’s four damaged folios. 3.6 th’Easterne] the⌜’⌝Easterne 5.1 But o’re . . . vpon] Vpo But o’re the Gate, vpon 6.1 first] fix’t first, 6.4 that look’d] that lay look’d Knevet initially wrote lookd over lay, then deleted the word and began afresh.

Book 8 Canto 7 In most magnificke state, and fashion: When shee had plac’d her Champions in the feild, The Scaffold she ascends, and takes her throne, While the Spectators saw her feature fill’d, With doubtfull combateing ’twixt feare, and hope vpheld.

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12 But bold Androgeus, the stout Chalenger, Vpon the plaine his troupe arraunged had, Before Vittoria did in lists appeare, For by the westerne Gate he did invade, The Lists, and in high pride his entrance made, A sturdy Knight his lofty banner rear’d, Where on a feild of burnish’d gold was sprad, A sable Eagle, of all Fowles most feard, Whose crooked talons, were with crimson bloud besmeard.

13 Into two Squadrons he his troupe deuides, The first of which he vndertooke to lead, But hardy Torismund the left wing guides, Hee that the westerne Indyes gouerned, And mounted was he on a coleblacke steed, That with a rich caparison was deck’t, Which was with Lions and with Castles spred; Most formidable, was hee in aspect, And did command a band of Champions most select. 14 Callimachus (vpon the other side) Into two wings his company did part, Before the right wing hee as chiefe did ride, Y’clad in armes of wondrous cost, and art, Well fitteing his high linage, and desart: He mounted was vpon a Courser white, Of passeing beauty, and couragious heart, With golden trappers was he richly dight, A faire plume was on his embroider’d frontstall pight. 15 A mantle rich, of the Phœnician dye, Callimachus did on his shoulders weare, With golden crownes embroiderd curiously, So many Crownes did he deserue to beare, That was so noble, and so voyd of feare. Sir Teuton stout led the sinister wing, Whose puissance was famous farre, and neare, But his vnconstancy, and wauering, Did many staines vpon his reputation bring. 16 The trumpets then did blowe the bloudy blast, While thus aloud the Heralds ’gan to cry, (Braue Knights doe your deuoires) then they full fast Each other charged most outragiously, The lances did in splinters mount on high, Behind their croupers some were ouerborne,

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Others with speares were wounded mortally, Some brused on the ground did lye forlorne, By the fierce Coursers many from their seates were torne. 17 Then they their curtleaxes keene forth drew, Wherewith thy did both heads, and helmets cliue, The bloud there spilt vnto a deluge grew: Some at each other did with malles let driue, And bones with brainepans all in pieces riue: While thus they fight with most enflamed hate, The Horse no better then the Man doth thriue, For sometimes he receiues vpon his pate, A knocke that doth his haughty pride and rage abate. 18 Callimachus, cop’d with Torismund strong, Who with vndaunted courage him withstood, And blow, for blow to him did render long, But hee in fine grew weake, through losse of blood, Which from him flow’d like to a little flood, Then hee but faintly did himself defend; Callimachus his weakenes vnderstood, And did so many sturdy knockes him lend, That to the realme of grisly Dis hee did him send. 19 As when a Wolfe that is with famine prest, By night doth sett vpon the secure fold, (While the vnweeting shepheard is at rest) Then hee his tragicke parts playes vncontrol’d, Sleaeing the silly sheepe, both yong, and old, So did the Faery Knight deale with his foes, Him to resist none was so strong or bold; For hee threw downe each one that did oppose, And on the ground did many lay that neuer rose. 20 Thus hee the left wing of his foes o’rethrew, While fierce Androgeus with no worse successe, His stout companions in the left wing slue, Whose losse Callimachus went to redresse, And rally’d soone his scatterd companyes, For stout Androgeus after a long fight, Had brought Sir Teuton vnto such distresse, That hee had him vnhors’t and slaine outright, Had hee not then bin rescu’d by Vittorias Knight. 21 As when a Leopard in the Forrest wide, Hath seas’d vpon a Hart, and beeing bent Him to dispoile of life, with irefull pride, 12.1 But bold Androgeus,] But but bold Dontilly, ⌜Androgeus⌝ 14.4 wondrous cost,] wondrous, cost, 15.4 to beare,] to weare beare, 20.1 o’rethrew] ou o’rethrew 20.2 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 20.6 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 21.1 Forrest wide] Forrest-wide

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

A hungry Lion comes by accident, And furiously disturbeth his intent, But as he striues to share in this good cheere, The Leopard doth refuse to giue content, And leaues the prey him to encounter there, While from the greedy Combatants the Hart getts cleare.

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22 So when Androgeus had Sir Teuton brought, To a weake state, Callimachus came in And disengag’d him with a rescue stout, That els had vtterly destroyed bin: Then ’twixt them twaine the combate did beginne, Which was maintain’d with mickle force, and skill, They slic’d each others armes, with fauchions thinne, While purple streames which from their wounds did rill, The place whereon these hardy Champions fought did fill. 23 As when the Orke and the huge Whale are mett, In the vast hideous deepes, then furiously With hote assaults, they on each other sett, Troubleing old Neptunes watry empery, With their most terrible monomachy, While smaller fishes that doe waite aside, Expect the combates issue silently, And Syrens in the sands themselues doe hide, With such a spectacle of horror terrify’d. 24 So did these hardy Knights with dreadfull fight, In the spectators hearts amazement breed: While they each (as his mind did him invite) With sundry votes the Champions seconded, But often in their wishes disaggreed: Some wish’d Androgeus might be fortunate, And others wish’d Callimachus good speed, But still the fight remain’d in equall state, [that. Chance weigh’d not downe the scales on this side, or on 25 But ere the Prince of our diurnall light, Had drench’d his lampe in th’occidentall seas, Androgeus ’gan grow weary of the fight, And faintnes on his limmes begunne to sease, Through his vncessant toile, and want of ease: Callimachus, when hee perceiu’d him faile, His strength and vigour did the more encrease, And did eftsoones so fiercely him assaile, That by plaine force ’gainst him hee did in fine preuaile.

26 Vpon his knees he yeilded vp his sword, And crau’d for quarter, at the victors hand, The gentle Knight him mercy did afford, Spareing the reliques of his beaten band,

That durst not any longer him withstand: Then did the warlike trumpets sound aloud, For ioy of victory, and conquest grand, Wonne with much labour, and expence of bloud, While the rude vulgar shouted, as they had bin wood. 27 Cleander, then descended from his seate, And ioyously embrac’d the Champion, Vittoria, likewise fraught with gladnes great, Meekely came downe from her maiesticke throne, To thanke him for that conquest hee had wonne, Then to Heraclea they returned backe, In most triumphant port, and fashion: Where blazeing bonefires in the streetes did cracke, And all the conduits ranne with clarrett, and with sacke. 28 As when the Gods in the Phlegræan feild, The graceles Sonnes of Earth had vanquished, Then triumphs great were in Olympus held, Where Bacchus spent his licour white, and red, Abandoning dispaire and dolefull dread; Apollo then did not his musicke spare: And limpeing Vulcan went full blithe to bed, While Venus reuell’d with the God of warre; And though Ioue kist the Nymphs, old Iuno did not care. 29 So did Heracleas Citizens reioyce, For great Callimachus his victory, But when loud Fame with her shrill sounding voice, Had it proclaym’d in countreys farre, and nigh, Great ioy, and sorow she stirr’d vp thereby: For those that wish’d well to the Faery state, Reioyc’d to heare these newes exceedeingly, But others did repine, and greiue thereat, With rancour blacke, and hatred most inveterate. 30 But among all the Foes of Faery land, Few euer with Androgeus might compare, For he had excercisd supreme command, And by his auspice mannaged the warre, With wondrous fortune, and exceeding care: But when that Aquilino the newes heard Of this defeate, no sorow did he spare, He tore for griefe his grisled head, and beard, And of Callimachus his might grew sore affeard. 22.1 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 22.7 each] h each 23.9 terrify’d.] st terrify’d. 24.6 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 25.3 Androgeus] ⌜Androgeus⌝ Dontilly 30.2 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 30.3 excercisd] exccercisd

Book 8 Canto 7

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36 That proud Iberian Stallion she did curbe, Who sought to ouerleape the Vniuerse, And peacefull realmes did wickedly disturbe, With dreadfull alarmes, and invasions fierce: No penne or tongue can blazon, or rehearse Her prudence sage, or princely fortitude, Fitt to be sung in an eternall verse: With temp’rance, and iustice shee was endu’d, And all those gifts which maiesty ought to include.

32 But Marinella that bright sea-borne maide, The tender darling of the Ocean old, Was at these tidings wondrous well apayd, For shee had sufferd troubles manifold, By the oppression of Androgeus bold; This Marinella had (in time of yore) By Tyranny vniust bin pill’d, and poul’d; For she was left an Orphane yong, and poore, Expos’d to diuers troubles, and afflictions sore.

37 Shee aided Marinella faithfully, Not through respect of her owne priuate end; But out of loue to truth, and equity, Shee that distressed Lady did befreind, And against all her enemyes defend: Shee did not with poore Marinella deale, As earst Sir Aniou to doe did intend, Who couerd his ambition with the vele, Of piety, and her chiefe fortresse sought from her to steale.

33 For great Almansor got the tutelage Of this yong maide, and while she did remaine, In weake estate, and tender pupillage, Hee sought by force of armes, her to constraine To yeild to him alleageance soueraigne; Thus of her freedome he did her dispoile, And from her did her libertyes detaine, And her did from her heritage exile, While shee bewail’d her miseryes and pressures vile.

38 Sir Aniou was a Knight of prowesse rare, And lineally deriu’d from princely race, But hee with fraud, and treason singular His royall stemme, and valour did deface, For hee pretending (out of loue and grace) To giue assistance to this wretched maide, From her dominions sought her to displace, But hee with losse, and shame was well repayd, That in so foule an enterprise his strength assayd.

34 Thus shee from meanes, and liuelyhood debarr’d, To Gloriana fled for a redresse, Beseecheing her with pittyfull regard, To cast an eye vpon her wretchednes, And to repriue her from such sad distresse. The awfull Empresse gaue a facile eare, To her complaint, and with all cheerefullnes, Gently vouchsaf’d to bee her Guardian deare, In spite of any foeman proud, that should appeare.

39 But Gloriana iust, (who did detest All tortious guile) gaue her assistance true, And of her natiue land her repossest, And many Knights vnto her succour drew, Which in sterne fight Almansor ouerthrew: Such showres of bloud in her defence there fell, That they the riuers dy’d of sanguine hue, But among all whom irefull Mars did quell, Not any might compare with noble Astrophell.

35 The braueing Gyant, shee did beate, and tame Maugre his threats, and power magnify’d: So great a Foe, a woman ouercame; Confineing his tyrannous might, and pride, Vnto the limits of his empire wide: That swelling streame of his ambition, Which threaten’d to drowne all the world beside, Shee in it’s proper chanell forc’d to runne, Preuenting a most dang’rous invndation.

40 Renowned Astrophell, whom Fate too cruell So soone cutte of; (that as it seem’d) she meant To lend, not giue the earth, so rare a iewell, Too good for that vnworthy element, But fitt t’adorne the starry firmament: Braue arts, and armes by vnion exquisite,

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31 Almansor eke, that Gyant insolent, That did of yore a mighty scepter sway, Where Tagus in his golden chanell went, His siluer tribute to the sea to pay, Did much lament Androgeus his decay; Sir Hieron likewise that had fixd his throne, Where Tiber in the Latian meades doth play, (Whilome proud of the worlds dominion) Androgeus his o’rethrow did rufully bemone.

31.5 Androgeus his] Dontillyes sad ⌜Androgeus his⌝ 31.9 Androgeus his o’rethrow] Dontillyes ouerthrow ⌜Androgeus his⌝ o’rethrow The revised reading has been partly written over the original reading. 32.5 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 33.7 did her libertyes] did ⌜her⌝ libertyes 36.2 Who] ⌜Who⌝ Hee

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Were in his person faire most eminent, And when he dy’d, the Muses themselues dight In mourning weede, for losse of such a matchles Knight.

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41 A Volume of large bignes, it would aske, To shew the feates, and stratagems earst done, In her behalfe, a very fitting taske For learned Croniclers to worke vpon, To tell how shee in tourney fierce was wonne, From great Sir Albret, and a hundreth more By the conduct of strong Auranion, Who aided well by stout Sir Veriflore, O’rethrew his enemyes on the Batauian shore.

42 For when faire Marinella was growne fitt, For Hymens rites, many sought her good will But yong Auranion did her fauour get, Which did Sir Albret with such envuy fill, That hee by policye, and crafty skill, Sought to bereaue him of so rare a prize, Hee many plottes contriu’d, and actions ill, (And for to further his bad enterprise) Hee chang’d his sacred habite for profane disguise. 43 Hee with a hundreth Knights did lye in waite, For to surprise Auranion sudainly, And brought him to so difficult a straite, That there his life was in great ieopardy, But Veriflore him rescu’d valyantly, And forc’d th’Apostate for to leaue the feild, With ougly shame, and hatefull obloquye, While many of his Knights did basely yeild Their hands to captiue bonds, but more, outright were killd. 44 (This Victory achieu’d) Auranion Liu’d long in peace with Marinella bright, Till Ate nurse of all contention, Against them did their mortall foes incite, Vnlockeing Ianus gates, with huge affright: For Aspinol renown’d in martiall skill, Did ruine threate to Marinellas Knight, But hee fail’d of accomplishing his will, And by Auranions side was brauely beaten still. 45 For while he brau’d Auranions Seneschall, Sir Gorman stout, before his Castle gate, He was with shame repulsed from the wall, And with disgrace enforced to retreate: The Riuer Zoome can witnes his defeate; For Gorman was a Knight of prowesse try’d, In warlike knowledge, and experience great, Who long had seru’d on Marinellas side, With stout resistance checkeing great Almansors pride.

46 He was a natiue of that antique land, Whose craggy hills, and fruitfull valleys beare A People stout of heart, and strong of hand, Well skilld in mannageing both sword, and speare, Where sometime raign’d the mighty Mab-Vter: Him did great Gloriana send away, To take vp armes, for Marinella deare Where hee was tryd in many a sturdy fray, And oft against her foes, his banner did display. 47 But Aspinol with shame, and anger fill’d, For his late foile those hardy Knights did call, That on the party of Almansor held, From Rhine, and Danuby imperiall, And Po which from high Vesulus doth fall, On the Ligurian plaines, with hideous sound; And from Iberus came those Souldiers tall, That haue in latter times bin much renownd, Since westward they the cells of golden Pluto found. 48 Nor did Auranions wisedome, with lesse care, Against this tempest terrible prouide, But many Knights hee summon’d to the warre, Which now begunne to rise, with swelling tide, Attracting eyes from all the world beside: From Almaine came two Knights of valour dread, Whose armes with bloudy gore were deepely dy’d, Which they in battell fierce had lately shed, When they with Aquilinos knights encountered. 49 But from the land of Faery did appeare, Foure noble Knights in brauest equipage, The first of which ycleaped was Granvere, One of the stoutest Champions of that age, A bolder Knight, seld trod on Mars his stage: But vnkind Death him from the world did snatch, When he beganne sterne combate for to wage, Sicknes not bloudy warre did him dispatch, Who had he liu’d, his valour scarce had found a match. 50 Montagon sage, deceased there likewise, These onely Deaths approch dislik’d for this, ’Cause he them barr’d from honored emprise, For Men addicted vnto braue acquists, Delight not in such quiet catastrophes, But stout Sir Deueron whom Lamias lust, With cursed spells, and wicked artifice, Had whilome nigh layd low in dreary dust, Escap’d the direfull dint of Death and Mars vniust. 40.9 Knight.] Knight 44.1 (This victory . . . Auranion] (This victory A achieu’d) Auranion 49.9 match.] match 50.1 Montagon] Montfalcon ⌜Montagon⌝

Book 8 Canto 8

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51 So also did renown’d Sir Bertufort As bold a Knight, as euer sword did wield, His noble actions did exceed report, A rampeing Lion was hee in the field, But as a gentle lambe in Court was mild. This doubtfull warre continu’d a long space, Vntill Auranion was by death compelld, Vnto his brother, to resigne his place, Who hight Vranion a Knight of passeing grace.

Canto 8 Vranion doth Hylarcha winne In spite of all his foes, Prince Arthur in Traiectas cause Sir Ferraughe ouerthrowes.

1 Great were the plaints, which Marinella made, For the decease of wise Auranion; In mourning garments, all her Court was clad, But stout Vranion, Mars his honord sonne, Did much asswage her melancholy mone, Who promis’d to defend her from her foes, And euer to be her true Champion, Against all them that did her peace oppose, So long as hee had any life, or bloud to loose. 2 Now was the clangour of this bloudy warre, Dispred abroad, in countreys farre and nigh, While people did no various censures spare, Some tax’d the Lady for impiety, Almansor others blam’d for cruelty, But here I am not bounden to discusse, This quarrells iustnes, or it’s equity: I sing the deedes of knights adventurous, That there were often try’d, in battell perillous. 3 As when that Bird of happy Araby, Burden’d with age, in death desires to rest, Building his fun’rall pile with spicery, And thus reposed in that fragrant nest, Sol darting his bright rayes against his brest, Fires those materialls sweet, and him consumes, Then from his vrne, a Bird with purple crest, Doth rise adorn’d with many colourd plumes, And with his pinions strong to touch the sky presumes. 4 Euen so Vranion, full of actiue heate His Brother did succeed, and for the warre Prouision made, and preparation great

And many knights repaird from kingdomes farre, With him in honour, and renowne to share: But sturdy Francon, a couragious Knight, That was his kinsman (as old bookes declare) Did bring a hundreth Esquires to the fight, For the defence of gentle Marinellas right. 5 Vranion haueing in some skirmishes, The valour of his enemyes descry’d, Gainst Grobbendoncke himself ’gan to addresse, For to pull downe that cruell Gyants pride, Who did infest the countrey on each side, For when Almansor had Hylarcha tane, From Marinella, hee it fortify’d, And Grobbendoncke made there his Chattelaine, Who did this Castle long against her Knights maintaine. 6 For hee in warlike feates had wondrous skill, But passeing cruell, was he therewithall, For hee his Prisoners was wont to kill, To satisfy his rage vnnaturall, Against all rules, and tenents martiall: For which foule deed he purchas’d mickle shame, And was condemn’d by Knights, and Ladyes all; But vengeance most Sir Francon did enflame, Hee most desirous was, that Tyrant proud to tame. 7 For Grobbendoncke had slaine by cruell doome, A gentle Squire, whose prowesse did surpasse, That by ill chance his captiue was become Who to Sir Francon a neare kinsman was, That much lamented his vnhappy case, And vow’d to bee reuenged on his head, For that vnknightly part, and action base; But his fierce foe his threats did little dread, For hee by many worthy Knights was seconded. 8 Now Grobbendoncke that saw the tempest neare, His Fortresse reenforc’d, with fresh supplyes, And furnish’d it with Victualls for a yeare, And engines of destruction did deuise, For to repell his cruell enemyes, But sage Vranion, with graue foresight And wondrous care did guide the enterprise, For warily hee mannaged the fight, Lessening the numbers of his foes, in combates light. 51.8 resigne] resigne, Arg.2 foes,] foes Arg.3 Prince Arthur in] Prince ⌜Arthur⌝ in 4.7 as old bookes] as bo old bookes 5.8 Chattelaine,] ⌜Chattelaine⌝ Castellane,

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 14 Now did Vranions fame through the world ring, Kindleing affections deare in humane brests, While learned Bards in carrolls sweet did sing, His deeds of worth, and honorable gests: Traiecta then his helping hand requests, Who was a Nymph of most especiall grace, That strictly did obserue Dianas hests, And foameing Bores did in the Forrest chase, And fearefull Harts pursu’d, with an impetuous race.

10 Then the Assailants the Testudo beare, That was with rawe hides throughly ouer cast, And ’gainst the walls their scaleing ladders reare, Striueing to mount the battlements in haste, While the besieg’d them tumble downe as fast; But stout Sir Francon fram’d a wooden towre, Which mou’d on iron wheeles wherein he past, Safely to the assault, with all his power, But there his valour found, but entertainement sowre.

15 Herself she did repose vpon a day, (In those flowre-crowned meades where Mosa cleare With crook’d Mæanders oft doth loose his way) After the chase of some long standing deare While pearly droppes her body did besmeare, Which restles labour from her pores forth sent, Much solace, and much pleasure tooke she here, As shee beheld in watry element, The fishes play, and Salmons leape with iolly merryment.

11 For while he did a Bulwarke tall assaile, That was with Souldiers well replenished, His moueing Bastile did him not auaile, For though it were with hides of Oxen spred, Yet Vulcans flames it fiercely entered, Thus while both smoke and wildfire him annoyes, Hee by his foes was cruelly bested, Then downe his tower fell with hideous noise, And with the fall it many of his Squires destroyes.

16 Her tender feet shee first did there embay, In the cleare streame, then with a nimble eye, The circumiacent coasts she did survey, But when she discern’d no spectator nigh, Her hunting weed she quickly ’gan lay by, Strippeing herself vnto the snowy skinne, Then like a polish’d piece of iuory, That by a curious hand had carued bin, Shee stood vpright halfe veiled, with a mantle thinne.

12 Sore was Sir Francon brused with the fall, While that Vranion pitty’d his hard fate, And to his rescue did Sir Anglent call, Whose courage, his ill lucke did not abate, But rather it whette, and exasperate: A troupe of hardy Knights with him he tooke, And gaue them such an onsett desperate, That they their naked walls, for feare forsooke; His terrible assault they durst no longer brooke.

17 Into the cristall streame she lightly skipp’t, That gently did receiue her tender side, And in his siluer armes her hugg’d, and clipp’t. As when Calypso from a rocke descry’d, Vlysses, saileing in the Ocean wide, Shee soone vpon the waues herself did throwe, Her ougly scaly nether parts to hide, But aboue water did her faire face showe, [snow. Her shoulders, and her brests more white, then new falne

13 Then hee his crossed ensigne pitch’d vpon, The Castle gate, in most triumphant guise, Whereby his fellowes knew the Fort was wonne, While Grobbendoncke himself to peace applyes, And renderd humbly on his knees the keys: Thus did Vranion Hylarcha get, But hee the vanquish’d Captaine did demise, And from all captiue thraldome freely quitt, Although (as some affirme) hee had deserued it.

18 So did Traiecta cutte with actiue skill, The yeilding streame; returning to the land, When shee of solace there had tane her fill, But as she sate vpon the grassy strand, Disheueling her lockes, with her white hand And them disperseing on her shoulders white, There to be dry’d by bright Apollos brand, Shee was surpris’d by an vnciuill Knight, And led away by him who stout Sir Ferraugh hight.

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9 Then ’gan the Rammes with furious battery, The lofty walls foundation for to shake, While mighty stones from engines huge did fly, Which highest battlements, and turrets brake, While the Defendants hearts for feare did quake, The swift Phalarica arm’d with wildfire, (Whose horrid fury water cannot slake) Oft in the Fort made conflagrations dire, Consumeing stately buildings, with outragious ire.

9.9 ire.] fire. ⌜ire⌝

Book 8 Canto 8 24 Now were the feilds, all with pauilions crownd, Before the Castle of the Pagane bold, And fraught with Knights, of prowesse most renown’d; Whose armours shone with pretious stones, and gold, Dazleing the eyes of all that did behold: Some thither came Sir Ferraugh to defend, But more did on the other party hold, And soone all controuersy for to end, Bothe sides did to a day of combate condiscend.

20 But (for to iustify his lawles fact) Presumeing on his strength and wondrous might, Rather then on the iustnes of his act, A cartell hee did formally endite, Wherein hee did prouoke to single fight, Each one that him should ere in question call, And say he had not done the Lady right, Or to fight three, to three, and answere all, That should oppose him, or in combate fierce to fall.

25 That prefixd day b’ing come so long expected, Into the Lists came then Traiecta faire, While all eyes were vpon her face reflected, And instruments of musicke rent the aire, Which vsherd her vnto a princely chaire, Plac’d on a scaffold high: a coronet Of gold shee wore on her more golden hayre, With Orientall iewells richly sett, Whose lustre in all eyes amazement did begett.

21 Hee vow’d, that hee by free consent had wonne The Lady, whom by force he did detaine, But if that some dislik’d what hee had done, He car’d not for to please their humours vaine, That without cause against him did complaine, But if that any durst (in manly guise) Attempt his Lady from him to regaine; Hee promis’d fairely to try masteryes, Consenting that the victour should enioy the prize.

26 Her crowne was fashion’d in an antique guise, With murall parapets embattelled, Like that which was the Romane Souldiers prize, When hee by most vndaunted courage led, Vpon the hostile wall his colours spred; Shee beeing seated in her glistring throne, Sir Ferraugh proudly the lists entered, With his two aides: Sir Tuiscon was the one, The other Knight y’cleaped was Polymachon.

22 This famous chalenge through the world was spred, Proclaym’d by the shrill trumpe of flyeing Fame, Which many Knights of honour summoned, (Within whose brests true valours fire did flame) To winne or to releiue this beaut’ous Dame: But false Malfida, farre abroad did wend, Craueing assistance in Traiectas name, Whom (as she sayd) her Foemen did intend, From her lou’d consorts dearest fellowship to rende.

27 Now the Defendants, on the other side (All strife and emulation to preuent) By lots aggreed to haue their fortunes tryd, Which from a caske they drew with one consent, ’Mongst Souldiers braue a custome antient: And first of all renownd Vranion, Design’d was by his lots arbitrement, To fight with the proud Paynime Champion, Fortune next him Prince Arthur did appoint for one.

23 Sir Arthegall the iust she did entreat, In his designe to second Sir Ferraugh, But hee ere long discouerd her deceite, And when a season opportune he saw, Did from her company himself withdraw, Then shee the stout Sir Tuiscon did envite, And from the bankes of Danow did him draw, Where hee had oft bin seene in bloudy fight, To succour Sir Ferraugh, with all his skill, and might.

28 For hee incited by the fame and brute, Of honour great that there was to be wonne, To Gloriana made an humble sute That in this action braue he might make one, And shee to his request assented soone, Then hee the Faery Court forsooke in haste, Himself presenting to Vranion, Who ioyously the Brittish Prince embrac’d, Much glad, that hee was with so braue a consort grac’d.

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19 Sir Ferraugh was a sturdy Sarasin, One of Almansors Knights that had whilere, A cruell foe to Marinella bin, To whom Traiecta was in kindred neare, And in all gracious respects most deare, Hee haueing seasd vpon this Mayden yong, Her Castle also tooke away from her, By violence, and most iniurious wrong Which built was on the Mase with a foundation strong.

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24.7 did] don did 27.8 proud Paynime Champion,] proud Panimy Paynime ⌜Champion⌝ Champion

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29 Sir Francon the third lot obtain’d (by chance) They glad of their good lucke themselues addrest, To winne renowne with martiall cherisance, Vranion bare a Leopard on his crest, A rich caparison his steed did vest, Which was with orange trees fairely besprent, A bunch of shafts on his sheild was imprest, The strength of concord for to represent, Hee seem’d a goodly Knight and of great hardyment.

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30 Nor was Prince Arthur more vncomely dight, With purple surcote on his shoulders spred, With princely ermine lin’d; his plume was white, A rich Caparison adorn’d his steed, Embroiderd all with roses, white and red, Which worke a wauy border did confine, That those faire flowers round environed: On his helme did a golden Lion shine, But on his brest was figured a crosse deuine. 31 Sir Francon, likewise in faire equipage, And braue diportment did in lists appeare, While all admir’d his stately carriage, Hee wore a mantle which (as some auerre) Was sent from heauen aboue, for him to weare; This azure vest was sett with lillyes sheene, Of purest gold, that glisterd like starres cleare, Vpon his target this deuice was seene, To witt a fruitfull vine propp’d by an oliue greene. 32 The hardy Champions thus (on either side) Appeareing in the lists, fitted for fight The Marshall first did to th’Appellants ride, From whom he did demaund (by antient right) An Oathe in such a case most requisite; Then they each one most solemnly did sweare, That they would iustify, with all their might, How those their foes which ’gainst them did appeare Most periurd Lyers, and most faithles Traitours were. 33 They also sware they had no other trust, In any cause, their quarrell good to make Then in the help of him, that is most iust, Who neuer doth the rightfull part forsake, Or leaue the truth, the stronger side to take, Nor had they thither brought or herbe, or stone, Or sorcery fetch’d from th’infernall lake, Charme, character, or magicke potion, Whereby they might vnlawfully subdue their fone.

34 But by the strength of body, horse, and armes, To doe their iust deuoires, they were full bent, In spite of danger, or of deadly harmes: The stout Defendants eke with free consent, Gladly perform’d that sacred iurament, (All ceremonious rites thus beeing done) The Heralds with loud cryes thrice the skyes rent, And signall gaue of fight, then fell they on While trumpets sounded high, with a most dreadfull tone. 35 As when some Canons planted bee aright, Against the belly of a tower tall, The Gunner waiteing with his linstocke light, But (the word beeing giuen) puts fire to all Which bullets from their brazen cells doth call, With hideous noise of terrible decay, That doe the sturdy structure teare, and malle, Makeing her batter’d ribbes fly euery way; Which sudaine ruine the spectators doth dismay. 36 So did these Knights encounter sudainly: Makeing an earthquake with their furious shocke, While shiuerd lances mounted in the sky, Then with their fauchions they each other knocke, Like roreing seas, beateing a rigid rocke: Prince Arthur had Sir Ferraugh singled out, And from his cornell smote his Ladyes locke, Which much disdaine bred in the Pagane stout, And soone to bee reueng’d he nimbly wheeld about. 37 He thought to gaine the crouper of his foe, But while he makes at him a furious blow, Assur’d to giue him a requitall so, The stroke behind his helmet glided low, Nor any breach or wound did it ere showe, Till it did hitte his steed behind the sell, And the vnhappy Courser ouerthrow; For it did chine his backe thus downe he fell, While from his wound a lake of bloudy gore did well. 38 But actiuely Prince Arthur scap’d a fall, And quickly leap’t beside his dyeing steed, But Sir Ferraugh with no advantage small, And multiplyeing blowes him followed, While he defends himself with skillfull heed, Who to auenge his horses iniury, 29.2 glad of] glad tho of 29.8 The] ⌜The⌝ His 31.4 mantle which] mantle (which 32.8 How] W How 33.2 good to make] ⌜good⌝ to make good 37.2 while] whiles

Book 8 Canto 9

His adversaryes Courser made to bleed, Diuideing the tough sinewes of his thigh, That downe he tumbled on the ground impetuously.

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39 Nor could the Spanyard proud a fall prevent, For his inglorious crest did kisse the ground, With dirty bloud his lofty plumes were sprent, And with much toile his legges at length he found, For his fierce Foe with many strokes him crown’d, Ere hee could stand vpright to make defence, Then ’gan hee to vpreare his target round, While more, and more his foe did him incense, And blowes did adde with strength, and fury, most intense. 40 Now was Prince Arthur almost out of breath, While his stout foe did courage fresh regaine, Dealeing such blowes, that each did menace death And to hard shifts Prince Arthur did constraine, That he could scarce his part of ground maintaine, While stout Vranion out of lists had driuen Sir Tuiscon strong, with mickle toile, and paine, And Francon to his foe such wounds had giuen, That he should neuer more in need stand to be shriuen. 41 But these two victours were so feeble made, With blowes and bruses taken in the fight, That they could not their freind Prince Arthur aide, Nor was indeed their succour requisite, For ere Apollo had his teme vndight, And coold his golden lockes in Neptunes lake, Sir Ferraugh was subdu’d, and vanquish’d quite, Then his sad soule her cloister did forsake, And to th’infernall shrines, a pilgrimage did make. 42 Thus did Prince Arthur winne the Victory, With large expence of bloud, and many blowes; For honour’s neuer got sans ieopardy, And the illustr’ous palme of conquest growes, Best in that feild, which humane bloud o’reflowes; Such deadly hazards must he entertaine, That couets to enarche his manly browes, With a triumphall wreath, which doth disdaine To bee the meed of Peasants base, and Cowards vaine. 43 Now did the brazen trumpets sound aloud, And Clarions sharp, while th’Heralds with shrill cryes, Proclaym’d the victours names, and many crowde, To kisse their conqu’ring hands, in humble wise. Then from her throne did glad Traiecta rise, Descending from the scaffold in great state, Them often thankeing for their braue emprise, That did her thus from thraldome vindicate, And from those nuptialls, which she did abhorre and hate.

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44 Vnto her Castle shee the Knights did lead, Where Surgeons drest their wounds with skill, and care, But when they had their strengths recouered, Vranion tooke his time for to declare, The great affection, which to her he bare, And his kind starres so fauour’d his designe, That shee his loue embrac’d, with curt’sy rare, For ere three Moones did in the welkin shine, This louely couple gentle Hymen did combine.

Canto 9 Callimachus Vittoria weddes, With great solemnity. Their valour for their Mistris sake The Riuall Brothers try. 1 The noble mind, and honorable deedes, Are not confin’d to names, and titles great, The cottage oft heroicall vertues breedes, As well as the Kings Court, or royall seate; So Tanaïs not blest with Phœbus heate, Who from the humble Scythian plaines doth rise, Becomes a streame more large, and more complete, Then Po that rouleth with such hideous cryes, From those ambitious hills that seeme to touch the skyes. 2 Not alway doe the highest mountaines beare, The tallest pines, the valleys low sometimes, As goodly masts for vessells large doe reare: Poore Ottoman bred in an obscure clime, Of parentage ignoble, and infime, A beeing to the Turkish empire gaue; From this small root a tree sprung, so sublime, That nations build therein, and kingdomes haue, Their nests among the branches of this Cedar braue. 3 Great Tamerlane who with such rage, and might, Rush’d from the East, as if the Caspian seas, Had broke their hilly bounds, and limits quite, Vpon the straites of Bosphorus to sease, And drowne the lesser Asias Prouinces: This Chieftaine was a simple Netheards sonne, Brought vp in base, and rurall offices, Yet many kingdomes did he ouerrunne, And by great conquests enlarg’d his dominion. 4 How many Kingdomes build their pedigrees, Vpon the scatterd ruines of old Troy, As if it were an honour great to these, 43.4 humble wise.] humble guise. ⌜wise⌝ 43.9 And . . . nuptialls] And nuptia ⌜from⌝ those nuptialls

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To bee deriu’d from some vnhappy boy, Whom hostile swords disdained to destroy, Or from some wandring Varlet, that durst not, By death an honorable name enioy, But his deare freinds, and loueing wife forgot, Them leaueing to the rage of Mars, and Vulcan hote. 5

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But Nature doth make demonstration plaine, That from small principles great matters flow; So many eares spring from a single graine, And from an akorne a tall oke doth grow: Thus Time the seedes of monarchyes doth sowe, Which first obscur’d in base contempt may lye, But when that Fortune doth her bright beames showe, Vpon their vertue, and their industry, They doe encrease in bounds, and glorious maiesty. 6 And though Callimachus, were fairely bred, Of princely stemme, yet were in Faery Court, Many that did in birth farre him exceed, For he maintained no renowned port, Ne of his valour was there much report, Vntill Prince Arthur had him sworne a Knight, Then hee appear’d in most magnificke sort, A Champion ready to defend the right, And did at tilt, and tourney, well himself acquite. 7

As when yong Sailours, in a calme descry, A slender cloud, ariseing in the wind, They ply their cups, and drinke full merrily, Ne any storme or danger doe they find, Vntill a tempest the worlds eye doth blind, And Æole mixeth seas, with fire, and aire; Then they with vowes themselues to Neptune bind, That if they safely may to land repaire, They will his altars lade, with sacrifices faire. 8 So far’d it with Callimachus his foes, That did so weake an opposite disdaine, But soone they did repent with bitter woes, Their vnadvis’d contempt, and folly vaine, When ’twas too late him to repell againe: For heroicke vertue is no Vegetall, That slowly growes, as Nature did ordaine, But sudainely sprouts vp, and becomes tall, Oreshadeing with her boughes, halfe th’vniversall ball. 9 Androgeus had worne armes of Knighthood long, And Victour bin so oft in bloudy feild, That all his freinds (led with perswasions strong) Thought it impossible he should be quell’d By any hee, that ere did weapon wield: Nor was the Caualier lesse confident,

Till hee the great Callimachus beheld, In feild rage like an Ocean turbulent, Beateing resistance downe, before him, as he went. 10 Androgeus haueing thus lost his deare prize, And beeing forc’d Vittoria to forgoe; His cause lamented in most mournfull wise, Curseing the fortune of his mighty Foe, And his great valour that had foild him so: But when his wounds were well and sound become, In depth of Night he fled Heraclea fro, Disguis’d like a Valett, or simple groome, Himself betakeing to a trauell troublesome. 11 But there he left Callimachus behind, Whom bount’ously Cleander entertain’d, And in old Hymens bonds to him did bind His Daughter deare, whose loue he had obtain’d, By merit braue, and loyalty vnstain’d: Great were the triumphs of their wedding day, When Knights, and Ladyes fraught with mirth vnfain’d, Did glitter in most gorgeous array, While the Musicions did both sweetly sing, and play. 12 With wreathes of liueing bayes the gates were crownd, Commix’d with nosegayes, of most fragrant sent; The guests likewise with flow’rs their temples bound; But some did weare the Iuye antient, And others crownes of myrtle to preuent, Lyæus exhalations: some againe Did roses weare, from their stalkes newly rent, For to refrigerate, and coole the braine, And the offensiue heate of Bacchus, to restraine. 13 They sacrifice both frankincense, and wine, To Hymen, and the Gods of wedlocke state: The modest spouse, then veild with purple fine, Doth first resort vnto the Bridegroomes gate, Where woollen garlands shee doth consecrate; But old Cleander did bestowe the Bride, With his right hand, on her beloued mate; Then acclamations rung on euery side; But the new marry’d couple, wish’d for euening tide. 14 While Vesper to fulfill their votes did haste, And in the West his flameing crest ’gan reare, Then for the geniall bed the virgin chast, They did prepare; and first her Mother deare, Her mayden dressing of did gently teare, And with fiue torches flameing bright, it fir’d, 9.1 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 10.1 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝

Book 8 Canto 9 Which fiue yong Pages of her kinne did beare; Then in a Matrones dresse she her attir’d, And led her blusheing to that bed, which shee desir’d.

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15 (The Bride reposed thus with the Bridegroome) A consort of fine youths, and virgins yong, Sweetly sung the Epithalamium. These solemne festiualls continu’d long, Whose brauery cannot in prose or song Be blaz’d: the dayes in martiall feates were spent, Where euery Knight of limme, and courage strong, Might try his skill at tilt, and tourneyment Or els change cuffes afoote, to shew his hardyment. 16 But as Callimachus, (vpon a day) Sate with Cleander and Vittoria bright, On lofty scaffold, in most rich array, To view the braue achieuements of each Knight, And to adiudge all martiall actions right, Into the feild two gallant Champions came, Fitted with all accoutrements for fight, And ’twixt them two there rode a sober Dame, Dight in attire, that well her womanhood became. 17 The sudaine entrance of these vnknowne Knights, Caus’d in the whole assembly silence low, The Combatants did then surcease their fights, That earst were interchangeing blow for blow, These stranger Knights desirous for to know, The one of which was cleap’t Sir Eupraton, Whose costly armour made a glorious showe, And many laurell crownes, were wrought vpon (In colours fresh,) his Coursers rich caparison. 18 A Lion fierce was on his targe displayd, That stroue to clime a rocke, with all his might, An arduous cliffe, with slipp’ry cragges o’relayd, At toppe whereof in starry figures bright, Was Ariadnes crowne expos’d to sight. The other Sir, that came along with him Was Deinopascon cleap’t, a sadder Knight, Clad all in blacke; hee seemed stout of limme, His horses furniture was wrought with palme trees trimme. 19 An anvile was portraited on his sheild, Whereon two hammers huge did seeme to beate, Such as lame Vulcans seruants wont to wield, When they before the smoky fornace sweat: Hee seem’d t’haue bin enur’d to perills great, For many dints did in his targe appeare, And also on his lofty burganet, Hee look’d like one of sad, and pensiue cheere; Nathles he was a most redoubted Cheualier.

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20 Sir Eupraton did first himself addresse, With low obesiance to Callimachus: Thus hee beganne (faire Sir) renownd no lesse For iudgement true, and iustice pretious, Then martiall skill, and prowesse strennuous, Whose famous acts are knowne in euery court, From Tagus rich, to Ganges boisterous: Wee stranger Knights invited by report, Are come to waite on thee, in meeke, and humble sort. 21 Nor was’t a complementall cause alone, Or curious regard, that did beget Our thirst, to see thy face, or fashion; (Though all our toile, and trauell it might quitt, Had wee no other busynes then it) But matters of more weight, did vs exhort, To find a season, and occasion fitt, Both to behold thy most illustr’ous port, And also our affaires to doe, in this great Court. 22 Our Countrey’s Phrasia cleap’t, an Iland great, Whom Ganges doth with watry armes surround, A mighty King, had here his royall seate For riches, and for puissance renoun’d, Who did his stemme on great King Porus found: While in this Princes Court wee did abide, With othes our selues, wee to each other bound, And freindships bonds, our hearts together ty’d, Which nought but Death should loosen, or diuide. 23 But as when Sol his golden head vpreares, Enameling the mountaines with his rayes, Then Luna’s pallid face no more appeares, So when the God of Loue beginnes to raise, His awfull flames, true freindship then decayes: For by the doome of Cupid ’twas design’d, That wee who were resolu’d to spend our dayes, In a perpetuall league, were quite disioynd; Thus hearts by loue as well bee seuer’d, as combin’d. 24 This gentle Dame was th’obiect of our loue, Thus wee became corriualls, and to gaine Her fauour, each with best endeauours stroue; 15.3 sung] Written over sang 15.8 try] by ⌜try⌝ 16.8 sober] ⌜sober⌝ louely 17.2 whole] whos whole 18.7 sadder] sader ⌜sadder⌝ 22.3 had] ha⌜d⌝th 22.5 Porus] It is possible that the text reads Dorus here; the two majuscules (D and P) are sometimes indistinguishable in Knevet’s hand, and can only be discriminated by resort to context. 22.9 loosen,] lessen loosen,

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I thinkeing her affection to obtaine, Did many hard adventures entertaine, I did her comely portraiture present, At tilts, and tourneys where I did maintaine, That shee in forme, and feature excellent, Aboue all others of her sexe was eminent.

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25 For her sweet sake I many Knights vnhorst, And many Ladyes made full ill apayd, When of her rare endowements I discourst: For beauty is imperious in each maide, A thing that will not serue, but be obeyd, That vtterly superiours disdaines, And oft of her inferiours is affraid; Such impotent desire of empire raignes, In that weake sexe, which beautyes greatest part containes. 26 Rich with the spoiles of conquerd Knights I went, Vnto this soueraigne Empresse of my heart, To whom their batterd sheilds I did present, Hopeing she would her loue to mee impart, As the iust guerdon of my true desart; But while I thought to winne, what I desir’d, My freind, and riuall to her did reuert, After three yeares of trauell were expird, And for the meed of his long paines her loue requird. 27 (This sayd) then Deinopascon ’gan to plead; I graunt what here my Riuall speakes is true, Hee well a Ladyes loue hath merited, As a reward to his achieuements due, But this faire Damsell, that here stands in view, He cannot chalenge for a property, For though to her for loue he long did sue, And many wayes to winne her heart did try, Yet I as long haue lou’d her, and as ardently. 28 I caus’d a cunning Painter for to take, Her liuely portraiture, and my self dight, Like to a Pilgrim poore (for her sweet sake) My robes of honour I abandon’d quite, Yea layd aside my sheild, and harneys bright: For ebone staffe I chang’d my ashen speare, My rich coate-armour for an amice light, And thus accoutred with contempt’ous geare, Her sacred picture did to Venus Temple beare. 29 A long and irkesome pilgrimage this was, So farre as ’tis from Ganges in the east, To westerne Cyprus in the Midland seas; For there the awfull Queene of Loue doth rest, That Iland of all other she likes best: These naked feet were scalded with the snow

Of frozen Caucasus, my simple vest, A garment was too slight, and thinne (god know) [blow. To sheild me from the northerne windes, when they did 30 By day my toes were burnt with sand, and grauell, And cold night dewes distill’d vpon my head, For when I did through hideous Desarts trauell, Heauen was my canapy, and earth my bed, Barefoote I did on stony places tread: The rockes receiu’d the tincture of my bloud, Wild Beasts (it seemes) my sorowes pittyed, They all amazd, gazeing vpon me stood, And hungry, did refuse to taste such wretched foode. 31 O’re craggy hills, through sandy plaines I past, Through surgeing seas, and riuers vorticous, ’Till to the Cyprian Ile I came (at last,) Where humbly, with thoughts most religious, I went vnto that Temple beauteous, Which consecrated is to Venus great; There with deuotion most obsequious, I did present my Ladyes counterfeit, And decently before her altar did it sett. 32 The Temple was of alabaster built, With many columnes propp’d of marble white, Engrauen with curious workmanship, and guilt: With lustre strikeing each beholders sight, That they vpon them could not looke aright: The vtter gate (that to this Temple led,) Was dedicated to Iuuenta light, Whose statue was arrayd in greenish weed; A wreath of sundry flowres her browes encompassed. 33 The Portche (that entrance to this Temple gaue) Was consecrated to Scholœa slow, Who was portraited like a Lady graue, That modesty did promise in her brow, But on the earth she sate ignobly low, With eyes cast downe, and hands together ioyn’d, As careing nought supernall things to know, But like one to inglorious ease inclin’d, That to no honest action did apply her mind. 34 About this Portche were many statues sett, Of idle youthes, and virgins delicate, That seem’d to play on lutes, and violls sweet, None there vpon the sturdy Courser sate, Seemeing with bitte, his courage to abate, On learned bookes none did their eyes incline, But seem’d besotted with a wanton state, Ne did the Virgins ply their needles fine, Ne from their slender distaues drawe the tender twine.

Book 8 Canto 9 35 Within this Portch two vessells huge were couch’d, And whosoere into the Temple pass’t, Must needes (ere hee the doore or threshold touch’d,) Of bothe these hoggesheads, stay to take a taste, Or with repulse, be kept out and disgras’t: The first of which more sweet then Nectar was, But worse then gall, or wormewood was the last, Which from the Drinkers palate did quite rase, That pleasant sauour, which the former draught did cause.

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36 The walls of this faire Temple wer bedight, With portraitures, of various shape and hue, Some sweet, and wondrous pleaseing to the sight, And others of a sad aspect, and shew, That the spectatours hearts they made to rue: For broken sleepes, and dreames that terrify, Ougly Dispaire, most horrible to view, Salt teares distilling downe impetuously, And wofull plaints were there described perfectly. 37 Lustfull desires, and fained promises, Deepe othes, high vowes, leasings, and flattery, Pleasure, hope, confidence, foole-hardynes, Riches, expences, charmes, and sorcery, Feasts, triumphs, and all glistring brauery, But aboue all with countenance full sad, Stood melancholy thoughtfull Iealousy, With yelow flowers crown’d, in yelow clad, And shee vpon her fist a babbleing Cuckoe had. 38 Thus were the walls adorn’d in glorious guise, The windowes eke were curiously arrayd, In sundry colours, which the masteryes, And conquests of the God of Loue displayd, That is in earth, and surgeing seas obeyd; How mighty Potentates he did subdue Vpon whose shoulders proud his yoke he layd, And how he hardy Champions ouerthrew, That wont in bloudy gore their manly hands t’embrue. 39 That scuffle of the Gods was painted there, When angry Ioue his thunderbolt vpreard, To strike at Mars, who drew his fauchion cleare; While Hermes pulld old Saturne by the beard; And Vulcan all with soote and dust besmeard, Tooke Phœbus in his armes, that was addrest, To shoote at Bacchus, who him nothing feard, But with his iuye iauelin on him prest, While Neptune with his mace as bold was as the best. 40 But when yong Cupid with his arrowes keene, Came bustleing in, then Ioue did lay aside His thunderbolt, and Mars without more teene,

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Did sheathe his sword, as fully pacify’d; While Hermes downe letts his Caduceus slide; Apollo then with pleaseing countenance, His blunter shafts did in their quiuer hide, While drunken Bacchus threw away his lance, And Neptune did desist his trident to advance. 41 Long time ’twold aske, to tell those storyes rare, That were descipher’d there on euery pane; An altar of a forme triangular, Stood at the vpper end of this great Fane, Where fire did flame that neuer wont to wane, Like that which did arise from Vestas vrne, And shineing like the Sunne meridian; Yet it no fewell did to ashes turne, For without help of fewell, it did euer burne. 42 The statue of loues Goddesse there did stande; Shee in the surgeing maine did seeme to flote, Drawne by a teme of Dolphins toward land, Made of a large escallope was her boate, Smooth seem’d the seas, as if they’d bin immote: Yong Cupid did a Dolphin swift bestride, Attending on her watry Charryot, With bowe in hand, and quiuer by his side, While scaly Tritons fast their shelly trumpets plyd. 43 I haueing plac’d my Ladyes portraiture, Before the seaborne Goddesse, and her sonne Addrest my orisons, with thoughts most pure, To them, and fraught with true deuotion, Implor’d their help, with many a sigh, and grone: I them besought to further my designe, That I might winne my louely parragon, Whose true resemblance stood before their eyne, A hollow murmure then me answer’d thus: shee’s thine. 44 Thus I return’d, possest with comfort strong, For my long pilgrimages good successe. As when a shippe, (after a voyage long) Comes freighted home with silkes, and spiceryes, 35.2 pass’t,] prest pass’t, 36.4 shew,] hue shew, 38.2 windowes eke] windowes he eke 39.2 thunderbolt] Written over thunder bold Despite the original spacing, the revised reading appears to have been intended as a single word. 39.6 addrest] d addrest 40.2 bustleing in,] bustleing ⌜in,⌝ 41.8 ashes turne,] ashes burne turne, 42.2 seeme to flote,] seeme ⌜to⌝ aflote, 42.5 they’d bin immote:] they⌜’d⌝ h bin immote: This passage has been effectively blotted; our reading is very conjectural. 43.6 my] Written over mi

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With pearles, and other rich commodityes; (Which goods vpon the wharfe disbarked safe) After so many dismall ieopardyes, The ioyfull Merchants then beginne to laugh, And merry Mariners, to sing, to drinke, and quaffe.

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45 Thus I reioyc’d, in hope for to possesse Her, whom aboue all mortall things I lou’d, And humbly did my self to her addresse, Shee of my trauell, and desert approu’d; Yet to make mee her mate wold not bee mou’d, For my corriuall here Sir Eupraton, Who for her sake about the world had rou’d, And many honorable actions done, Had almost halfe her heart, (as I coniectur’d) wonne. 46 Hee did; I sufferd for her sake; but shee, Would neuer bee induc’d to condiscend, Herself to settle vpon him, or mee: Shee still remain’d to each an equall freind, To bothe, not one, shee did her fauours lend; Now did thy glory, and magnificke port, (Honord Callimachus) all hearts incende With loue, and admiration, whose report Did with a gen’rall rumour, fill the Phrasian court.

47 Then did Sir Eupraton, and I attend Vpon Fortezza faire, and her besought That shee our doubts, and feares would quickly end, With long entreatyes wee vpon her wrought, And her at length to this conclusion brought; Shee stirr’d vp by thy magnanimity, Thy prudence, iustice, and thy valour stout, Invited vs to beare her company, To view the splendent lustre of thy maiesty.

48 Where wee, before thy face should tryall make, Who did deserue her loue, and person best, And enter bloudy combate for her sake, That one of vs in death might thus find rest, While th’other of the Lady, was possest: To bee adiudg’d by thee, shee is content, To him which shall with victory bee blest, Therefore wee ioyntly craue thy free consent, To giue vs leaue to stand, to thy arbitrement. 49 Thus Deinopascon did his speech conclude, While that Callimachus made this replye, Were I with those rare qualityes endu’d, Which yee to my vnworthy self apply, Yee safely on my iudgement might relye, Yee better might haue spent your time (god wot)

And vndergone lesse paines, and ieopardy, If that to mee ye had appealed not, That vnneath can to any, equall right allot. 50 But if your dearest Ladyes mind it bee, That one of you in battell should her gaine, And if your votes, with hers doe well aggree, I must bee forc’d your sute to entertaine, And bee the Iudge while yee sterne fight maintaine: For I by oathe am bound still to endeauour, All Ladyes to assist with might, and maine, And their most iust requests to reiect neuer, Vntill Deaths visit shall my soule and body seuer. 51 (This sayd) Fortezza faire did him entreat, To graunt the combate to her Knights (which done) Shee was conducted to a princely seate, Vpon the scaffold next Vittorias throne, The Heralds then ’gan cry with a loud tone, Commanding all the lists for to depart, And leaue the Combatants in feild alone, (On paine of death). The Champions stand apart, The bloudy signall lookeing for when they should start. 52 Thus while they stood prepar’d with speare in rest, Against each other ready to advance, A Dame appeard in antique habite drest, With one poore Dwarfe, that did before her praunce, Shee graue and sage seem’d by her countenance, And posted to the lists with wondrous speed, But ere shee came, the furious combatants, Warn’d by the trumpets sound, encountered, Breakeing their sturdy staues, like brittle roddes of reed. 53 But shee, vnto Callimachus did bowe, And him besought the combate for to stay, For shee could many pregnant reasons showe, That they ought not each other to assay, In battell perillous, and doubtfull fray: The Iudge then did cast downe his siluer wand, Betwixt the Champions, without delay: Then they (each one) did hold his armed hand, Obserueing with obeysance willing, his command. 47.6 stirr’d vp] stirr’d b vp 49.3 rare] rarre rare 49.4 vnworthy] w vnworthy 50.6 oathe] othe oathe 50.7 assist] affect ⌜s assist⌝

Book 8 Canto 10

Canto 10 Callina wise discouereth Vnto Callimachus Fortezzas and her Brothers loues With fortunes various. 1

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Then thus the Dame, beganne to tell her story, Whilome in Phrasia raignd a mighty King, Passeing in riches, puissance, and glory; His fame throughout the easterne parts did ring, For hee the orientall Iles did bring, To his subiection, by great victoryes, And all those kingdomes had within his swing, On which Apollo first doth cast his eyes, When hee with tresses moist from easterne seas doth rise. 2 Hee many wiues admitted to his bed, Ladyes of peereles lineaments, and grace, But one aboue them all he fauoured, And on her did his best affection place, Bewitched with her person, and her face: Altiua was shee cleap’d, a crafty Dame, Her parentage ignoble was, and base, But mighty thoughts in her proud brest did flame, For her ambitious nature suted with her name. 3

With language sweet, and louely blandishment, Shee had so wonne th’affection of her Lord, That hee did graunt all sutes she did present, Indulgent to her, both in deed, and word, And did in nothing with her disaccord: Shee thus assisted by the wind, and tide, Without delay made bold to goe abourd, And her petition to the King applyd, Concealeing with fain’d zeale, her cruelty and pride. 4 My liefest liege (quoth shee) and soueraigne deare, Whose life, and welfare is my happynes, Vouchsafe to heare your poore Petitioner, (A woman weake vnable to expresse Her mind in phrases apt, and sentences) (This sayd) the King did giue her this replye (Faire Queene) speake what thou wilt I must giue eare, Yea thy petition, I will not deny, Though to performe’t it cost me halfe my monarchy. 5 Thus shee againe with floweing teares reioind, (My dearest Lord) since passant Time hath now With wrinkles deepe your aged forhead sign’d, And with a siluer frindge begirte your brow, Which the approch of pale death doth foreshow, (While Time doth giue you leaue) doe you prouide,

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That peace and plenty in your realme may flow, And that no ciuill broiles may here betide, When ruthles Death hath sett both you, and mee aside. 6 And since it hath pleas’d your high maiesty, To make that yong prince, your apparent heyre, Which you on mee begot, most lawfully, Of whose ingenious parts none can dispaire, Hee beeing actiue, towardly, and faire, It doth behoue your grace to take away, Those ills, which may disturbe the regall chaire, That when he shall beginne to beare the sway, There bee no feare of desolation, or decay. 7 Thus spake Altiua, and much more then this: For shee the King (in fine) did so perswade, (That to preuent homebred hostilityes) All the male issue, (which he whilome had By any wife, except Altiua bad, Or ere hereafter should beget) must dye: His doome performed was with fury mad, Nor hopefull youth, nor tender infancy The Princes could protect from their foule cruelty. 8 Onely Andronica, of high race bred, In worth, and beauty, passeing all the rest, That consorts were of this great Tyrants bed, Was by diuine protection so much blest, That her deare ofspring scap’d their fierce inquest: For shee with child, and ready to lye downe; Altiuas bloudy Ministers were pres’t, To cut her infants throte, or it to drowne, If that the marke of manhood, were vpon it showne. 9 But kind Lucina, so my Lady fauourd, That at a birth she brought forth infants three, One pretty daughter, and two sonnes well fauourd; Then busy’d with contriueing plottes were wee, How these two children might preserued bee, From th’inquisitours; and since that delay Did then seeme to beget most ieopardye, I from their Mother tooke the boyes away, Whom shee with pretious gemmes, had deck’d in faire array. 10 Shee gaue the babes a sorowfull adieu, And me enioyned, with all speed, and care, To find out for her barnes a mother new: Thus I at the approach of the Day-starre, Arg.2 Vnto] vnto Arg.4 various.] various 8.5 inquest:] ⌜inquest:⌝ enqu 8.7 pres’t,] prest pres’t, 10.4 Day-starre] Dog ⌜Day⌝-starre

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Was with my charge got out of danger farre; For to a forrest thicke my course I steer’d, And ’gainst all dangers did my self prepare, There comfortles, o’re hills, and dales I errd, Of sauage beasts, and Robbers mercyles, afeard.

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11 While thus I was perplex’d with sad distresse, A deadly perill did it self present, For I was mett by a fierce Lionesse, From whom some Hunter had her yong ones hent, Then I affrayd to bee in pieces rent, Weaken’d by dreade, my burden could not beare: As one surcharg’d with horrid drearyment, I did lett fall one of my infants deare, And swiftly fled away, vpon the wings of feare. 12 When that tempest’ous seas, doe rage, and swell, As if they meant t’extinguish all the starres, And rowleing billowes sternely roare and yell, As if the Tritons were at ciuill iarres, Or all the monsters of the sea, at warres, The Merchant pale, then fraught with direfull woe, Throwes ouerbourd his fine and costly wares, And gladly doth his ladeing rich forgoe, If that he hopes to saue his life, by doeing so. 13 So heauily, I with the babe did part, Expecting that the Beast should it deuoure, While sorowes most immense, opprest my heart, That of my birth I curst the time, and howre, Wisheing that Death on mee would shew his power; Then from the place some distance haueing past, Where I had left the babe, in balefull stoure, My mournfull eyne I did behind me cast, Of this distressed Infant poore, to see the last. 14 There I beheld the sauage Lionesse, Seemeing as gentle, as a spaniel mild; No rampeing fury did her lookes possesse, But shee the hands, and face, lickes of the child, Who nothing frighted, on her laugh’d, and smil’d; Then shee her teate, did to his lippes apply. And seem’d quite t’haue forgot her madnes wild, Chang’d to a carefull nurse, while greedily The Babe did with her milke his hunger satisfy. 15 Th’indulgent Beast, then with her rugged pawes, Him folded in his mantle tenderly, And did him gently carry in her iawes, While I with slow pace followd fearfully, (Her denne and habitation to descry) So long I followd, vntill I did kenne

Where vnderneath a cliffe, (whose temples high Frown’d on the smileing Sunne) she enterd in, A horrid palace fitt for such a brutish Queene. 16 I beeing thus vnable to redeeme The Infant poore, past on with heauy cheere, My life to mee did but a burthen seeme, Thus beeing ouercharg’d, with greife, and feare, At euentide I descry’d a cottage neare, Thither I went in haste, in hope to gaine A lodgeing for my self, and my child deare, But here did no inhabitant remaine, Mee and my little infant for to entertaine. 17 But as I look’d aside, I did discouer Within an oken groue, whose branches spred Did with perpetuall shades earths surface couer, An old and reu’erent Druide busyed, In orisons, and duetyes hallowed: I stood till his deuotions were done, Then nearer to him ’gan I to accede, And him besought of his compassion, Vs to relieue, that were with faintnes ouergone. 18 The gentle Father pitty’d our distresse, And to his habitation did vs guide, Where with those Viands he did vs refresh, Which hee in such a sudaine could prouide; A tame goate did nigh his poore dwelling bide, Who did him wholesome sustenance afford, When shee returned home at eueningtide, With her distended vdder: from a gourd, Some of her milke into the Infants mouth I powrd. 19 Thus haueing well our appetites allay’d, The Druide graue of mee begunne t’enquire, The cause that mee enforc’d poore silly maide, Into this vncouth Desart to retire, My self engageing to disasters dire: Then I the story truely did relate, Of proud Altiua’s impotent desire, And how I tooke this voyage desperate, The children to preserue from her most bloudy hate. 20 The Druide then did gladly condiscend, To take the child, into his custody: Hee promisd mee, that well he wold him tend, 10.6-8 For to a forrest . . . I errd,] For to a forrest thicke my course I steer’d, | Where comfortles o’re hills | And ’gainst all dangers did my self prepare, | There comfortles, o’re hills, and dales I errd, 12.7 his fine] (his fine) 17.3 perpetuall] ⌜perpetuall⌝ eternall 18.9 I] they ⌜I⌝ 19.3 The] Written over That

Book 8 Canto 10 Preserueing him from deadly ieopardy, In silence, and abstrusest secrecye: His sage behauiour, and seuere aspect Would not let mee his proffer kind deny, I him desird the child for to protect, And for his paines, he should no guerdon small expect.

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21 Then to my Lady I did soone repaire, Relateing how both well, and ill I sped, Which her possest with comfort, and dispaire, And in her heart a wondrous conflict bred, Feareing that one of her sweet sonnes was dead, And fraught likewise with glad, and ioyous cheere, As beeing perfectly ascertained, How that the other of her Infants deare, Did with the holy Druide bide, from danger cleare. 22 When that the palefac’d Lady of the night, Hath mew’d her siluer hornes, and with bothe eyes, The centre viewes, then angry Amphitrit’, In billowes belloweing aloud doth rise, Against the cliffes with frequent batteryes; But Æole sideing with the iniurd maine, With many furious gusts from landward flyes, And beates the seas, into the seas againe, Thus wind and sea a doubtfull combate doe maintaine. 23 So did two disaggreeing passions strong, Within my Ladyes brest make fell debate, But things were topsy-turuye chang’d ere long: For (the old King snatch’d hence by cruell fate) Altiuas sonne did sway the Phrasian state, Andronica likewise was sudainly Rent from this orbe, by death vnsatiate, Who when shee did vpon her death bed lye, To garde her orphanes poore, mee with an othe did tye. 24 And (to preuent all want and indigence) Shee many iewells to my trust did giue, To bee disposed by my prouidence, Among those children that did her suruiue; Nor did I her iust confidence deceiue, For I this Lady, who Fortezza hight, (Whose peereles beauty doth these Champions driue For her sweet sake, to enter bloudy fight) Stroue to endue with education exquisite, 25 Beseemeing well her birth, and beautyes store Which lib’rall Nature had bestowd on her; But when nine times the daylights Emperor, Had finished his circular carreere, And bothe the Tropickes blest with his rayes cleere, Death did the aged Druide call away,

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The date concludeing of his mansion here, Then I his tender pupill did convey, To court, to bee instructed there in honours way. 26 Ne durst I for my life, or his, bewray, To any liueing, his sublime descent, Least that Altiua mee, and him should slay; For shee with iealous thoughts was still intent, The smallest signe of danger to preuent, But Deinopascon did himself enure, To labour, and all warlike hardyment, Extremest heate, and cold he could endure Ne could the aire him hurt, were it thinne, or impure. 27 And though Fortezza were a virgin bright, Accommodated better, hearts to gaine, By beautyes sweet aspect, then bloudy fight, Yet shee did womanish delights disdaine, And thoughts of manly prowesse entertaine, Shee better lou’d a strong haberieon, Then silken gowne, dy’d in Phœnician graine, And a steele caske desired to put on, Rather then a tiara fine, with lofty cone. 28 Shee did delight to chase the fomeing Bore, Full oft, and haueing brought him to a bay, With poynant speare was wonted him to gore; But as she was a hunting on a day, A rout of Outlawes, that did liue by prey, Inflamed by her beauty, and rich weed, Her to surprise did sudainly assay, While shee no dreary accident did heed, Beeing nor strongly arm’d, nor well accoutered. 29 Nor had she any on her to attend, Then my poore self, and Deinopascon yong, Who was ill fitted himself to defend, For though he were couragious, and strong, Yet wanting then those armes that doe belong, To Knights engag’d, in perills most ydrad, Hee was in hazard to be slaine, among These Theeues, for like a woodman hee was clad, In Iacket greene, a borespeare in his hand he had. 22.1 night] Knight 22.4 In] W In 22.7 With] In With The revised reading is partly written over the original reading. 24.9 exquisite,] exquisite. 25.5 his] his his 28.9 Beeing . . . accoutered.] Knevet began to copy stanza 29 before copying the final line of stanza 28; realizing his mistake, he deleted the original numeration for stanza 29 (which occurs directly beneath strongly), and completed stanza 28 before continuing directly below. 29.9 had.] had

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30 In briefe, this Knight, and Lady were prepard, To fight with naked beasts, not armed men: Yet brauely they made good this combate hard, Till of their fifty enemyes, twice ten On earth were layd, and neuer rose agen; But then the reliques of those Villaines lewd, With such reuengefull hate, and trebled teene, On the Defendants weary did intrude, That they in perill great were to bee soone subdu’d.

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31 But after they were brought to this distresse, An vnexpected rescue did appeare, For from a thicket nigh, in sauage dresse, Then issued a fierce yong Forrester, Clad in the rugged hide of a huge Beare, An elmen plant, he swayd like hasell wand, Which serued him in stead of sword, and speare: His vnkemb’d lockes like golden wires did stand, Which Nature first, had crisped with a curious hand. 32 With his huge batte hee so about him layd, That the amazed Theeues no longer stood, But fled, as wretches vtterly dismayd, While hee desirous of reuenge, and bloud, Did farre pursue the Villaines in the wood, Of whom, he many haueing slaine outright, Returned backe, soone with appeased moode, Vnto the place where earst had bin the fight, There still he found Fortezza, and the wounded Knight.

33 Hee with all humblenes, did them entreat, That they would to his habitation wend, Where they more welcome should receiue, then meate, His ciuill gestures they did much commend, And quickly did his curt’sy apprehend, For now the Night ’gan pitch her sable tent, Vpon the hemisphere from end to end, Therefore with wounds, and toile they almost spent, Gladly with him, vnto his syluane cottage went. 34 Within a stony grotte his palace was, A sure defence, against the sweltring rayes Of Phœbus, and the blasts of Boreas; A matte of sedge vpon the ground he layes, And with his breath did Vulcans flame vpraise, Then hee his guests invited for to sitte, And with cold water their hote thirst allayes; Then forth he went some wholesome herbes to get, That to apply vnto their greiuous wounds were fitte. 35 That sweet diportment, which did glister through, His rude condition, made me to surmise, That from some noble stocke, the youth did grow,

And how in court, not forrest wild did rise, A plant endu’d, with such rare qualityes; His yeares, and beauty, made me call to mind That mournfull accident, with wat’ry eyes, When whilome I surpris’d with feare, resign’d My tender babe vnto a Beast, of sauage kind. 36 I ’gan to thinke, that he might bee the same, Preserued by the gentle Lionesse, Since storyes doe the like examples name; To Ioue himself a Goat was fosteresse, And that yong Grandchild of Astyages, Did from a Bitch his nutriment receiue; But a fierce Wolfe forgot her sauagenes, And did that paire of martiall babes releiue, Thus from a Wolfe doth Rome her pedigree deriue. 37 Then I a token did remember well, Which on him, I sought with a curious eye, And as his garment from his necke downe fell, What I desir’d to find, I did descry, Figur’d vpon his brest apparently, To wit a Lion rampant; thus full glad, My self I did assure most certainely, That this was Eupraton, whom earst I had Lost in the selfsame wood, by misadventure bad. 38 Great was the comfort, which I then did feele, By finding him whom I thought nere to see, Yet I my pleasure did so well conceale, That none of these, nor shee, nor hee, nor hee, Could know my mind, or once discouer mee: Wee did continue with this Foster yong, Vntill this wounded Knight, and Dame were free, From paine, and greife, then with perswasions strong, Vnto the Phrasian Court, wee brought the youth along. 39 Where soone a courtly garbe he did put on, And did himself to braue adventures bend, In port, and carriage braue, second to none; Then did the thirst of glory him incende, Vnto the land of Faery for to wend, Where Knighthood he receiud, from Arthurs hand, (So gallantly himself he there demean’d) Then hee return’d vnto the Phrasian land, Where hee with Deinopascon ioind, in freindships band. 31.8 His] V His 32.1 hee] ⌜hee⌝ who 33.6 For now] ⌜For⌝ Now 33.9 vnto] Written over into 34.1 grotte] G grotte 39.9 Where hee with] Where ⌜hee⌝ with

Book 8 Canto 11 40 In true affection they were so combin’d, As if death onely should their league diuide, As if two bodyes had the selfsame mind, They did their actions regulate, and guide, Dreameing not once, how neare they were allyd; Thus through a synastrie, or influence Of those celestiall substances, which eyd With equall fauours, these conceiued twinnes, Each other did they loue, with passions most intense.

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41 Nor did they thinke, that this Fortezza was Their sister deare, or any of their kinne, But conquer’d by her beauty, and her grace Each did contend, her for his bride to winne, Not dreameing that their loue, was such a sinne: Shee ignorant likewise of her estate, To fauour these corriualls did beginne, Feedeing with hopes their sutes most passionate, While I to tell the truth, did still procrastinate. 42 But faire Fortezza her intendments couers, And (ere I was aware) forsooke the court, With these her vnknowne brothers, but knowne louers; Then Fame with her shrill trumpet did report, What this their sudaine absence did import, While I my too long silence did lament, And trauelld forth, with preparation short, Betimes their vniust duell to preuent; Daigne then (oh martiall Iudge) to second mine intent. 43 Thus spake Callina, while all stood amazd; Fortezza on her brethren fix’d her eye, While they on her, and on each other gazd, But shee assur’d of the fidelity, Of her deare Nurse, descended instantly, From the high scaffold, while the Knights aggreed Did throwe their swords, and massy targets by, And hand, in hand, with ioy replenished, Made haste their sister to embrace, with equall speed. 44 With their three-fold embraces, teares they mix’d, And for a while gaue reyne to passion, But when their iudgements they had well refix’d, They bowd before Callimachus his throne, Fraught with true loue, and sweet submission, But hee descending from his lofty place, Did them requite in courtly fashion, So did Cleander, and Vittorias grace: Thus vnexpected peace this combate did deface.

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Canto 11 Callimachus doth Lycus drowne, A strong and hardy foe, Androgeus hee doth ouerthrow With Crenepolemo. 1 As when fierce Rouers, doe to windward kenne, A strong Armado, which they cannot shunne, Then they for fight in haste cheere vp their men, Their pikes they tallow, and each lades his gunne, And many cartredges prouide anon, They sling their yards, they double sheetes, and tackes, They cleare their deckes, and face their nettings soone; To arme the toppes, or wasteclothes fitt, none slackes, While for a stout defence nor skill, nor courage lackes. 2 Euen so when Aquilino did discouer, That fierce Callimachus was wholy bent, Leucippes right, and freedome to recouer, And how he had by prowesse preualent, Androgeus, and his bands, in battell shent, Did hee for his security prouide, For hee no way the tempest could preuent, By treatyes fain’d; so well his trickes were tryd; [decide. Mars needes must bee the Iudge, that should this case 3 His Vlyssæan wiles, and subtilty Were to the honest Troians knowne too well, Callimachus wanted no Eagles eye, Vnto his Lions heart; he could both spell, And read the fraud of Aquilino fell: A solemne leaue hee of Cleander tooke, Nor would Vittoria behind him dwell, (But for his sake) her Fathers court forsooke, The absence of her dearest Lord she could not brooke. 40.3 bodyes] bod bodyes 41.9 procrastinate.] procrastinate, Argument] Knevet has here mistakenly copied the argument from canto 10, then deleted it and copied the correct argument; the deleted text reads as follows: Callina wise discouereth Vnto Callimachus Fortezzas and Brothers loues With fortunes various Arg.1 drowne,] drowne Arg.2 foe,] foe Arg.3 Androgeus] ⌜Androgeus⌝ Dontilly 2.2 was wholy] wh was wholy 2.5 Androgeus,] Dontilly, ⌜Androgeus⌝ 3.9 brooke.] brooke,

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 9 (This sayd) Androgeus, then with a low voice, Did thus reply: The fortune of the warre Is not allotted vnto humane choice, Though Fortune oft doth Vertue waite on farre, Yet ten to one, with her at length shee’l iarre, And leaue her in a causeles discontent, To shew how fickle her conditions are: Shee smild; then did I conquer where I went; Shee frownd on mee, and all my glory from mee rent.

5

Small rest he tooke, vntill he did arriue, At the strong fort of Crenepolemo, To whom his sad estate hee did descriue, Filling the Gyant with much greife, and woe; Who also was Callimachus his foe, This Crenepolemo was neare allyd, To Aquiline, and many Giants moe, That in the westerne climates did abide, Scourgeing the world with cruell tyranny, and pride.

10 I felt the pride of an insulting foe, My coate of steele could not his blowes withstand, My glorious prize he forc’d me to forgoe, Mee wounding, and quite routeing all my band, With his strange vigour, and victorious hand: The garland braue, vpon his head remaines; Vittoria, so renown’d by sea, and land, Hee wonne in fight, and left me for my paines Dishonour, and deepe wounds, in stead of happy gaines.

6 When Crenepolemo did first descry, Androgeus, vnderneath this base disguise, With countenance deiected shamefully, With vnkemb’d plaites of haire, and sunken eyes, And forhead marr’d, with many miseryes; His heart (though fraught with sauage cruelty) Did melt, and from his troubled braine did rise Salt streames of teares, while passion did deny To giue his tongue leaue to tell his calamity.

11 These eyes vnwillingly did see him bound, In Hymenæan vnion, to her; I heard the Epithalamiums sound, Which made such musicke in my troubled eare, As doth the shrike owle, that night Quirister Of Death: Then from this feast I fast me ply’d, Simply disguised (as you see me here) Disdaineing at that wedding to bee spyd, Where I my Mistris should behold anothers Bride.

7

12 Thus did hee speake: Then Crenepolemo, Advisd him his sad passions to restraine, And better lucke to looke for after woe, Since bitter sorow, could not ease his paine, But Time, and Fortune might him cure againe: Hee willd him to resume both heart, and cheere, For Misanactus did with him remaine, Who had in witt, and policy no peere, A great Magician, and notorious Coniurer.

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4 Long did Androgeus wander like a weft, Fleeing from these abhorred palaces, Where with his foe, hee had Vittoria left; Shame, and displeasure did his heart possesse; His mind was fraught with dire reuengefullnes, O’re vnfrequented mountaines high, and steepe, Hee fled, and found vnvsed passages, Through Forrests blacke, and riuers swift, and deepe, Content with slender diet, and with little sleepe.

At length his speech the barres of sorow brake: Thus hee beganne: (Vnhappy Champion) Why did vnconstant Fortune thee forsake, Could not thy vertue tempt that Minion, To bee thy dearest paramour alone? Whether hath that blind Goddesse ta’ne her flight? Shee that the Cedars high, whilome sate on, Will now shee on some baser shrubbe alight, To shew her mutability, and foule despite? 8 Where bee thy shineing armes, that wont to strike The dazled eyne of thy affrighted foes? Where is thy plume, and coate holosericke? Thy trusty sword, and targe where didst thou loose? What wicked hand hath thee bereft of those? What cursed Thiefe hath stolne away thy steed? Who wonted was to breathe fire at his nose, And did as swift as wind on the earth tread, When to a charge, the trumpet shrill him summoned.

4.1 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 4.5 his mind . . . reuengefullnes] This line has been inserted between its neighbours, sometime after the original copying process; an asterisk in the left margin marks the place of insertion. 4.5 reuengefullnes,] reuengefullnes 6.2 Androgeus,] Dontilly, ⌜Androgeus⌝ 9.1 Androgeus,] Dontilly, ⌜Androgeus⌝ 9.3 Is] His ⌜Is⌝ 12.6 willd him to] willd ⌜him⌝ to

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18 For when the Nymph his Mother, had him bred And bare (to know what fate should him betide) The cunning Augurs shee importuned: Hee should a Souldier proue, they all reply’d, And for his prowesse, bee much magnifyd; Then of his terme of life she did enquire, And how long hee should here on earth abide: They answerd her, his life should soone expire, For a fierce foe should him subdue, in combate dire.

14 With him these Knights, in consultation ioynd, To bee auenged on Callimachus, For he was taught by custome, and by kind, Euer to hate all Knights adventurous, If they were bent to actions vertuous; On earth he Plutos cheifest agent was, In empires to raise troubles perillous, Kingdomes he did with ciuill broiles deface, In villany, and learning too hee did surpasse.

19 The weepeing Lady then to Neptune went, To whom she did bewaile her sonnes hard fate, But hee did bidde her cease for to lament, Since he could well secure his life, and state, In spite of any martiall foemans hate: Hee could direct her right, how she might saue Her tender sonne, from daunger desperate, And him preserue from the too early graue, If his advice with her might any credite haue.

15 For Nature had endu’d him notably, With intellectualls exceeding strong, Nor in him failed wicked industry, Or obseruation sedulous, among His many trauells, and experience long: His beard as white as is the hauthorne budde, Like siluer wires downe to his girdle hung, Much grauity in his old visage stood, But his false heart, nere harbourd any thought of good.

20 Hee bides her to Arcadia poste away, And in the Stygian well there drench her sonne, For he that there his soft limmes doth embay, Shall put vnpenetrable hardnes on; No steele can pierce his flesh, or touch his bone: His counsell shee embrac’d, and quickly had Giuen her yong sonne, a gelid lotion; Thus Lycus was vnvulnerable made, His skinne the edge rebated of the sharpest blade.

16 By magicall inquest he did find out, A Giant, of a stature large, and tall, Who was one of the sonnes of Neptune stout, Whom all the Riuers doe their father call, And weepeing, gently on his bosome fall, When they revisit him; this Giant hight Lycus, whom by charmes diabolicall, Accursed Misanactus did invite, Great Crenepolemo to garde, with all his might.

21 Him Misanactus moued to take armes, And fight in Crenepolemos defence, Whose valour could preuent all future harmes, And them protect from their strong foes offence, They thought his strength, and courage so immense. This Fort of Crenepolemo was plac’d, Within a Riuers large circumference, O’re which one well arch’d bridge was onely cast, Both long, and broad, on which Men to his Castle pas’t.

17 For when the old Magician calld vpon Infernall Lucifer, and him besought, To giue him notice of a Champion, Endu’d with matchles force, and valour stout, To conquer all that ere against him fought, Hee bade him take this Giant for his garde, Of whose strong puissance he should not doubt, Bicause his naked sides were strongly barr’d, [hard. Against both sword, and speare, though nere so keene, and

22 To garde this bridge, stout Lycus was assign’d, Against each bold intrudeing passenger; For if that rashnes any should so blind, That hee would seeke to force an entrance there, Hee was or made the Giants prisoner, Or els throwne headlong from the bridges height, And suffocated in the waters cleere, Opprest and burden’d by his armours weight, That hee of swimmeing there could vse no skill, or sleight.

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13 This Crenepolemo in high esteeme Did Misanactus hold, his counsell sage, As true as Oracles did to him seeme, Nor was he wont himself ere to engage, In matters of a weighty carriage, Without his priuity: he could full well Make treason act her part vpon the stage, From him his tenents tooke Sir Machiuell, That earst did in the Tuscane territoryes dwell.

14.9 learning . . . surpasse.] learning ⌜too⌝ hee did ⌜too⌝ all surpasse. 15.7 Like] D Like 16.2 stature] stature, 16.4 Riuers] Written over riuers 16.9 Crenepolemo] Crenepolemo,

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 28 This vnexpected welcome might haue quelld, A heart that any feare would entertaine, But the braue Knight, with angry lookes beheld The Giant fierce, and thus replyd againe: Villaine (quoth hee) I hold thy threats as vaine, Thou beatst the ayer with thy language rude, And giu’st vnto thy choler too much reyne, But I shall quickly tame thy tongue so lewd, If this right arme, bee with it’s wonted strength endu’d.

24 They after tedious trauells, came vnto That riuer deepe, vpon whose further side, The Castle stood of Crenepolemo; Glad were this weary couple, when they spyd A place, where they thought some good Knight did bide; For in their iorney long they had endurd Both want of sustenance, and cold beside, But now this stately Castle them assurd, That of their wants and griefes they might be there recur’d.

29 Thus spake Callimachus, and haueing spoke Hee makes a strong thrust at the Giants brest, Which pierceing not, he seconds with a stroke, But neither thrust, nor blow could him molest, So tough a hide his carkasse large did vest: But Lycus on his sheild did beate amaine, Whose temper good his furious blowes represt, And then perceiueing how his force was vaine, Flyes in, and with his rough embraces did him straine.

25 Along vpon the Riuers brinke they rode, Vntill vpon the bridge they did arriue, Which Lycus was appointed to make good, Here entertainement hopeing to receiue, They to their gentle palfreys easement giue, Dismounting; but ere that Callimachus, Vpon the Bridge, had measur’d paces fiue, With a sterne looke the Giant hideous, Advanc’d with club in fist, and roughly greets him thus. 26 Bold Knight art thou, and temerarious, That dar’st intrude vpon anothers right, Not craueing leaue, or license first of vs; Thy proud sheild doth to mee thy name recite, Which I from thy weake arme, will teare in fight, And rase those crownes which thou thereon dost beare, A symbole of thy pride, and haughty sp’rite, I’le drench thy carkasse in this riuer cleare, And purge thy soule from it, which guilt doth so besmeare.

30 The Knight likewise, perceiueing that his hide An armour was of proofe, against his blade, Did with him close, and threw his sword aside: The Giant, thinkeing hee the vantage had, Of this encounter, seemed wondrous glad, And heau’d with all his might his foe on high, But his foote slipp’d (through his misfortune bad) Thus from the bridge they tumbled sudainly, Amidde the wat’ry lists their combate fierce to ply.

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23 Now had Callimachus, forsooke long since Cleanders court, and on his way was sped, To free distrest Leucippe, and her prince, Whom Aquiline away had captiue led, And in his Castle long emprisoned: He faire Vittoria, his deare spouse likewise, Along in ioyous manner with him led, Who was dight after th’amazonian guise, And with her port, and beauty rauish’d harts and eyes.

27 For Crenepolemo, and that Knight bold, Whom of his Lady thou bereau’dst of late, And her vniustly do’st from him withold, Haue mee commission giuen for to abate, Thy insolence, and thy ambitious hate: Thinke not to scape my vengeance by thy flight, For I can catch the at an easy rate, Nor shall a fain’d submission mee invite, To pitty thy distressed case (vnhappy Knight).

31 But it was good Callimachus his lot, That ere he fell from the high precipice, Hee had sure hold vpon the Giants throte, And stoppeing his arteriall passages, Did strongly vnder water him suppresse, Thus hee whom sword, and speare could not dismay, Was in the water choak’d, without redresse, His filthy ghost by water went away, Vnto that realme, where Pluto doth the scepter sway. 32 Callimachus, when he perceiu’d him dead, With small adoe recouered the shore, Vittoria freeing from her rufull dread, Who fear’d the issue of the combate sore, But when she saw her Lord the Conqueror, Shee him embrac’d, surcharg’d with pleasure glad, But he replete with resolution store, Did those gates most vnhospitall invade, All opposition menaceing, with his bright blade. 24.st.n. 24] Written over 23 27.3 withold] with hold 27.9 Knight).] Knight)

Book 8 Canto 12

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33 But fierce Androgeus, in the vtter court, With Crenepolemo, stood well prepar’d, Him to encounter in a martiall sort, And with proud termes, him to the combate dar’d Who with their buggebeare threats was nothing scarr’d: Thus stoutly did Androgeus him vpbraide: Though in Heracleas feilds (by fortune hard) And thy vnlucky hand, I was dismaid, When first thy valour, and thy prowesse I assayd,

34 Yet my elated mind, that doth exceed Proud fortunes highest scale, disdaines to shunne Thy vertue insolent; Fate hath decreed, That thou, or I, (ere the all seeing Sunne, To his diurnall period hath runne) Must fall; for this spot of terrestriall clay, Is farre too straite an habitation, To hold vs both, as yet: it shortly may, When willing Death hath lessend one of vs, this day. 35 Thus spake the Knight: then Crenepolemo, With lookes, and words him menaced likewise, But they could not Callimachus fright so, But as a furious Bore that doth despise, The Hunters shouts, and yelping hounds shrill cryes, With deadly tuskes invades th’amazed rout, So fiercely hee assaild his enemyes, Who him receiued with resistance stout, And did with equall fury deale their blowes about. 36 But while Androgeus, on the helme him smote, Hee in his thigh receiu’d a mortall wound, His legges to doe their duty quite forgot, While in his bloud he tumbled on the ground, Surprised with a stupefyeing swound, But Crenepolemo to shamefull flight, Himself betooke, and by a posterne found, A passage to the woods, where out of sight He lurk’d, leaueing his Castle to the Faery Knight.

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Canto 12 Callimachus with Sir Wymar Faire Berginore releiues, Hee kills his Foe from whom likewise His deaths wound he receiues. 1 Though stubborne Time, with grisly Death conspire, With froward Fortune, to annihilate The humane Microcosme, through malice dire, Yet is the Soule aboue their reach of hate, Plum’d with the quills of vertue sublimate, Let Death himself feed fat with sanious clay, Let Time all things corrupt, and macerate, Let Fortune practise her deceitfull play, Yet can’t Death, Time, or Fortune, ere the soule dismay. 2 Her fragile case they may tosse, or disioyne, Yea in a thousand splinters shiuer’t all, But though they staue the caske, heauen saues the wine: For as a Bird from wired cloister small, Disiointed by an accidentall fall, Hastes to the woods, to make sweet melody, Among th’inhabitants æthereall, So doth the soule from body loosen’d fly, To dwell with her faire peeres, in all eternity. 3 But those heroicke soules, and spirits pious, Which pliant are to their Creatours will, Iust like to him, and misericordious, Strong to debilitate, and debellate ill, These, though their marble monuments they fill, With fleshy robes, to feast corruption, Who on their senceles bones must gnawe, vntill The latter trumpets sound shall call vpon, Both good, and bad, vnto a resurrection, 4 Yet they such glistring trophyes leaue behind, Of their immortall worth, and qualityes, That with their lustre they obliuion blind, That shee to throwe her misty veyle wants eyes, Vpon their names, and glorious memoryes: Euen so Callimachus, although thy vest, Of clay, low in the cell of darkenes lyes, Yet in eternall light thy soule doth rest, While on the earth thy fame resounds, from east, to west. 33.1 Androgeus,] Dontilly, ⌜Androgeus⌝ 33.6 Androgeus] Dontilly ⌜Androgeus⌝ 33.9 assayd,] assayd. 36.1 Androgeus,] Dontilly, ⌜Androgeus⌝ Arg.2 releiues,] releiues 3.9 resurrection,] resurrection.

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

In Crenepolemos strong Cittadell, Callimachus did a few dayes remaine, Vntill hee had himself refreshed well, With his faire Dame then forth he went againe, But as hee prickeing was vpon the plaine, Hee spy’d aside a iolly Champion, That with much grace, his Courser proud did reyne, Dight was hee in a strong haberieon, A formidable plume, did waue his crest vpon.

10 (Fair Sir) quoth shee my Lady deare, who hight Yong Berginora, doth your help request, Who is endangerd by a bloudy Knight, And in a sudaine like to bee distrest, If by your valour shee bee not releast, For sturdy Steinwald that proud Seneschall, Of Aquilino great, is now addrest, To serue his masters lust, with strength not small, And robbe my Lady of her honour virginall.

6 Callimachus prepareing for the charge, As one that for an enemy him held, At length descry’d vpon his glistring targe, A crowned Lion, in a golden feild, Where leaues of roses red, were strow’d and spill’d: These markes did giue him notice of his freind, Who likewise knew him well, by his faire sheild, And toward him with gentle pace did bend, Neither to other did ought but true loue intend.

11 With him are ioyned Crenepolemo, And hardy Tuiscon of all Knights aliue, To Berginora a most dreadfull foe, All those her vtmost ruine doe contriue, And threat her of her freedome to depriue: For Aquilino fierce hath them enioind, To sease on her by force, without repriue, Respecting neither sexe, nor noble kind, That hee on her might satisfy his lustfull mind.

7 For this Sir Wymar was, as braue a Knight, As ere did put on armes for Ladyes sake, Hee had bin often seene in bloudy fight, Desirous euer warlike armes to take, And tryall of his chiualry to make, For to redresse Leucippes iniuryes: They meete, they greete, and loueingly hands shake, Demandeing from each other, noueltyes, Then forth they rode in comely equipage and guise.

12 Thus spake the Damsell: then Callimachus Reply’d: (Virgin) quoth hee bee of good cheere, Since thou so happily ha’st mett with vs, Wee shall secure thy Lady from all feare, If ought auailes the force of sword or speare. Hee sayd no more, the Damsell well him knew, His sheild, did make his name to her appeare, To Berginora he was euer true, Nor would her bidde in her extremity adieu.

8 Sir Wymar great Callimachus ‘gan aske, To what adventure he was now intent, Then hee to him related his hard taske, How hee to fight with Aquilino went, And free Leucippe from emprisonment: Sir Wymar then requested him that hee, Might aide him in this great accomplishment; Callimachus did to his sute aggree, As one from insolence, and emulation free.

13 Him and Sir Wymar did the Damsell lead, To Berginoras Castle, where they found The Lady ouercharg’d with dolefull dread, Least that her foes, for valour so renown’d, Should her oppresse, and vtterly confound: But when she saw these Knights come to her aide, Her heart with glee, and pleasure did abound, Shee banish’d greife, and was no more affrayd, But gaue him hearty welcome, wondrous well apayd.

9 But as they trauelled vpon the way, They kenn’d a Damsell, on a milkewhite steed, Attired in a habite nothing gay, For shee apparrell’d was in mourning weed, And toward them made with impetuous speed, They stayd to heare what her ambassage meant, While shee as one surcharg’d with greife and dread, In humble manner did her self present, Before Callimachus, with a meeke complement.

14 She entertaind her guests with dainty cates, And vs’d Vittoria most loueingly, But when Night started from the easterne gates, With her blacke mantle shadoweing the sky, Shee shewd them to their lodgeings curtously. Then gentle Sleepe from his Cimmerian caue, Vpon their eylids lights insensibly, And with coole iuice their temples round did laue, An vndisturb’d reposall vnto them he gaue.

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5

10.9 virginall.] virginall, 11.5 threat her of her freedome] threat of her of her freedome 11.9 satisfy] satiffy 14.5 Shee shewd them] shee ⌜shewd⌝ them

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20 The Knight stayd not, to wake him from his swound But ‘gainst his fellowes did himself addresse, Who seeing him so wofully astound, Wold not abide his harmes for to redresse, For feare to fall into the like distresse, But cowardly turn’d head, and left their mate, While the good Knight pleasd with his first successe, Gaue Steinwald leaue to rise, and curse his fate, And goe away all brused, and disconsolate.

16 Forth of the Castle gate betimes he went, Where in the plaine adioyneing, he beheld A columne reard, of marble excellent, Which for a trophye stood, of some pitch’d feild, There whilome fought, where much bloud had bin spilld: Vpon this honorable monument, (Without delay) he hung his seuenfold sheild, That his foes might discouer his intent, When on the equall feild, they should themselues present.

21 Now Berginora, and Vittoria faire, That were ascended to a turret high, To see the combate, and with humble prayer To implore help, and pitty from the sky, Against so strong, and fierce an enemy, Descended from their lofty station, Callimachus saluteing ioyfully, Sir Wymar, likewise did with them attone, Though sad bicause he had no tryall of his valour showne.

17 (Which done) backe to the Castle did he wend, Where many minutes he had not abode, Ere that his enemyes in feild were kenn’d, Who first to the triumphall columne rode, Where pendant they beheld his target brode, Which sight did cut their combes, and swage their pride, But Steinwald stout sware deeply by his God, Hee would not start, nor steppe a foote aside, ‘Till hee the owner of that sheild had seene and try’d.

22 While they with Berginora did abide, Shee made relation of those outrages, Which daily cruell Aquilino did, Vpon all these adiacent prouinces, Whom hee without all pitty did oppresse, Her plaints did so Callimachus incense, That for those wrongs he vow’d to see redresse, Or els to spend his bloud, in the defence And iust protection, of their iniurd innocence.

18 And vtterly impatient of delay, He prickd full fast vnto the Castle gate, Where in opprobrious language hee did bray, Enquireing for that Knight, with scornfull hate, That had with pride, and courage desperate Vpon the pillar plac’d his target there, He wish’d him not for to procrastinate, Least he might it goe seeke some other where, Or find those armes ras’d out, that painted on it were.

23 He made no long abode with Berginore, But with Sir Wymar, of her tooke faire leaue, Desirous to find out that cruell bore, And him of liueing breath for to bereaue, That did these countreys so molest, and greiue. They in a Forrest trauelld a long way, Ere any signe of foe they could perceiue, But as in vncouth paths, they went astray, They saw a Damsell drest in pittifull array.

19 Callimachus comes forth in warlike guise, Prepared to encounter with his foe, They take the feild, and each on other flyes, As if that instantly one of them two, Meant to bee Conquerour, or life forgoe: But stout Callimachus, vpon the beuer, With his strong lance greeted Sir Steinwald so, That such a stroke, till then he had felt neuer, But fell, as if he had bin brained with a leuer.

24 Who when she saw two armed Knights at hand, With a shrill scriche, she fled into the wood, But they fast followd, for to vnderstand The reason of her sad, and wofull moode; For all her face defiled was with blood, And all her costly garments rent, and torne, They ouertooke her, and her kindly woo’d, To know who had thus made her so forlorne; Then shee in mournfull sort this answere did returne.

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15 But ere Apollos fiery footed teme, Advanc’d their frontstalls in the hemisphere, Or ere that hee in the Gangeticke streame, Beheld his burning cheekes, and feature cleere, Callimachus from rest himself did reare, Then faire Vittoria holpe to arme her Knight, And from her tresses did a faire locke teare, Which on his plume she ty’d, then snow more white; She kist him, and oft wish’d him faire successe in fight.

21.9 bicause he had] bicause ⌜he⌝ had

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 30 The thirsty earth did freely drinke their gore, And was with cantells of their armours spred; Callimachus prest on Sir Tuiscon sore, Who likewise fiercely him rencountered. While with Sir Wymar Steinwald combated, Now ‘gan the Sunne withdraw his burning brand, When these foure Knights so much had toild, and bled, That they vnneath their coursers could command, Or mannage well their blunted blades in weary hand.

26 These did abuse me in such wicked sort, ‘Cause to their lusts I would not condiscend. Callimachus then will’d her to report, Toward what part they did their courses bend; Into yon’ glade (quoth shee) they bothe did wend, Then did Callimachus, and Wymar stout, Toward that glade with mickle speed intend, Where long they had not roam’d, and beate about, Ere they those two disloyall Caualiers found out.

31 Callimachus (resolu’d to finish quite, The combate with a blow) his sword did reare And in bothe hands did all his strength vnite, Sir Tuiscon desperate, and voyde of feare, His garde neclected, neither could he beare That cruell blow, vpon his broken crest, Which did both scull, and pia mater teare; But in that instant with a thrust vnblest, Callimachus he wounded vnderneath the brest.

27 Them sitteing by a Riuers side they see, Their vnlac’d helmets lay vpon the grasse, Their sheilds did loade the arme of a Beech tree, They deem’d that none so fierce, and hardy was, Them to disturbe, or touch in any case: Callimachus well did Sir Steinwald know, When he beheld his sheild of burnishd brasse, Whereon a Forrest thicke did seeme to grow, And in the Forrest, a huge rocke it self did show.

32 Downe tumbled Tuiscon on the gory clay, Whose death Sir Steinwald did so sore appall, That for his life, he durst no longer stay, But turning head, and prickeing deepe withall, By flight he sought to scape so dire a fall; The Forrest thicke and falling shades of Night, Sir Wymar from pursute did soone recall, Who backe returning to the place of fight, A dreadfull spectacle there found, a rufull sight.

28 Sir Steinwald, and Sir Tuiscon fierce likewise, Both Wymar, and Callimachus descryd, Then from their solacement they soone did rise, Laceing their helmets on, and soone vnty’d Their Coursers from a tree, that stood aside, Meere shame did them prohibite to repose, Their safetyes in their horses heeles that tide, For at their elbowes they beheld their foes, Therefore they thought it best them stoutly to oppose.

33 For on the ground Callimachus was layd, Vittoria proppes his head with her sweet lappe, And with her teares, his pallid cheekes embayd, While from beneath the roote of his left pappe, A bloudy current flow’d, through a wide gappe: A gelid sweat perfused had each limme, And dullnes in their lids his eyes ‘gan wrappe; Death seemed ready for to sease on him, And in his face appeared with a feature grimme.

29 Each other they assail’d, with furious knockes, Whose horrid sound made strongest okes to shake, And with compassion fill’d the hardest rockes, While Echo did great lamentation make, And to the caues her self (for feare) betake: The Dryads left their bowers of delight, And Naiads did the siluer streames forsake, Surcharged with most terrible affright, To see their ruthles rage, their wounds and direfull fight.

34 No iuice of herbes in force, and vertue mighty, No abstruse quality of any stone, Nor the elixir strong of aqua vitæ, Can life detaine, if shee must needes be gone: No vnction, cataplasme, or potion, Can Death withstand, whose law no change will beare, Makeing the Prince, and peasant bothe as one, And doth with his impartiall sickle sheare, Not cowards onely, but the noblest Caualier.

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25 My name is Lipsia, poore wretched maide, For while at this vnhappy forrests side, I with my Lady hight Sanoxia playd, Such flowres selecting, as this vernall tide, To beautify the valleys did prouide, Then two vnworthy Knights surprised mee, While that my Lady (so heauen did her guide) Her palfrey did recouer soone, and flee, And by good hap her self did from their clutches free.

25.3 Sanoxia] Sanoxsia Sanoxia 30.9 Or mannage well] Or wield ⌜mannage well⌝

Book 8 Canto 12 38 Loe I Callimachus, that here am layd Fitt for the common Hospitall of Death, Haue lost my life Leucippe faire to aide, Yet thinke I not I haue mispent my breath, Beeing assur’d of a triumphall wreath; Thus spake the Knight while lasted vitall force, Perpetuall sleepe would him permitt vnneath To speake ought more, shutteing those iuory dores Of his cleare eyne, then he became a senceles corse.

36 Nor was Sir Wymars lamentation small, Ne did poore Lipsia sad complaineing spare; For his vntimely death concerned all, That for the health of Faery Land did care, Or loueing hearts vnto Leucippe bare: But ere Proserpine did his Soule sette free, From this fraile theater, hee did vnbarre, His pallid lippes, and in these sad lines hee Annex’d an Epilogue to his owne tragedye.

39 As when th’industrious Husbandman, which weares His hands with toile, while he doth cultiuate His fertile feild, with cruell plowshare, teares A purple hyacinthe (by chance ingrate) And by the roote it vp doth sarculate, The wretched flowre then looseth sudainely, His lusty youthfull vegetatiue state, And those rare blossomes late of purest dye, Are on the earth trod, and disperst contemptously.

37 Since life (quoth hee) refuseth to abide And Death I see my proiect will preuent, While still Leucippe suffers, by the pride Of Aquilino fierce, and insolent, To punish whose iniustice I was bent, (My deare Vittoria) I doe thee request, My last respects to Gloriane to present, Tell her how I, by sudaine Death opprest, Did want no willing mind, to fulfill her behest.

40 So in the prime, and height of his renowne, Callimachus (who had so often fought) By cruell Death was lopp’d of, and cut downe; Yet was hee not like to a snuffe put out, But to his graue such fame and honour brought, That his high worth a miracle became, Men thought Death could not tame a Knight so stout, Nor for their vnbeliefe deseru’d they blame, For hee immortall is; immortall is his fame.

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35 Callimachus, who wont with count’nance glad The sterne aspect of danger to review, And merrily to see Deaths visage sad, Now could not Deaths vnlucky stroke eschue, But payd before the day Dame Natures due; They that beheld the griefe of Niobe, When Phœbus and his angry sister slue, Her children sweete, did not such sorowes see, As were then vttered (Vittoria sweet) by thee.

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35.1 who] ⌜who⌝ was 36.6 But ere . . . sette free,] But ere Death to his soule an exit gaue, ⌜Proserpine did his Soule sette free⌝ 36.8-9 His pallid . . . tragedye.] His eylids pallid, and in language braue, ⌜lippes and in these sad lines hee⌝ | His tragedy concluded with a scene most graue. ⌜Annex’d an Epilogue to his owne tragedye⌝ 37.7 My last respects to] My seruice ⌜last respects⌝ vnto 38.7 Perpetuall] Eternall ⌜Perpetuall⌝

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The Ninth Booke of the Faery Queene containeing The Legend Of Sir Belcoeur Or Liberalitye

1 Though Philips Sonne his empire did extend, From Niger, vnto Ganges in the east, And made great Kings, before his throne to bend, Yet hee by bounty of his noble brest, And royall heart, with lib’rall thoughts possest, More conquests wonne, then by his speare, or sword: His bounty made euen all the world his freind: Kingdomes obeyd him, of their owne accord; And rather loue, then feare, made him so great a Lord. 2 Hee, who that pretious Idol doth adore, Which in the bowells of Don Pluto bred, Needes the refiners art, the same to scoure, Must neuer looke that starry path to tread, Which to the Palace of true blisse doth lead: These Soules surcharg’d with earthly mire, may not Reach so sublime a pitch, but dull as lead, Sinke to the Centre, and are soone forgot, Or leaue their names, the cronicle of Fame to blot. 3

Not hee that doth possesse, but hee who giues, Is rich: hee that his treasure keepes is poore: For to base Mammon hee a seruant liues, Vnable to command his wealthy store, More needy then the Beggar at the doore: But as some peeuish subterraneous Elfe, That keepes a horded heape of golden ore, Neither makes vse of these large summes himself, Ne will to any els participate his pelfe: 4 Euen so hee that is swayd by Couetise, With wretched eyne dotes on his mettall base, Pincheing his carkasse vile with niggardise, Meeteing old age (betimes) with wrinkled face, Who hasten’d by sad care, comes on apace: But when in wooden dish, hee is seru’d in, And sett on earthen table, in that place, Where wormes must prey vpon his carkasse thinne, No freind bewailes his death, nor any of his kinne.

Canto 1 Sir Belcoeur meetes Albanio Who Gruager doth curbe, At Iulians Castle they arriue Where Theeues doe them disturbe. 1 Both Man, and Beast, dry Africkes Desarts shunne, Which yeeld no fruite, nor verdant vegetall But many Serpents virulent there wonne, Infesting these with their mortif’rous gall, That chance into their danger dire to fall; Euen so the Couetous Man affords no good, To any thing vpon this earthly ball, (Except the wormes to whome he must be foode) But breedes all rapine, envuy, and malicious moode. 2 But as the vale of Hybla, diaper’d With fragrant flowers, and with fodder meete, To fatte and satisfy each lusty heard, Where the industrious swarmes doe lade their feete, With waxe, and fill their bagges with hony sweet, Such is the Man to bounty braue inclind, His largesse vseing in a guise discreete; Such was that Lord of high imperiall mind, Who was surnamed the delight of humane kind. 3 Nor was this vertue Liberality, In any countrey of more high regard, Then in the land of Gloriana high, Who wont was to requite with high reward, Achieuements braue, and enterprises hard: Shee with such guerdon bountifull did winne, All minds heroicke, that they no labour spar’d, But many noble actions did beginne: For slothe the Mother is of Cowardice, and sinne. Pr.Title.6 Sir Belcoeur] Sir Belchier ⌜Belcoeur.⌝ Pr.3.6 some] Written over soone Pr.3.7 ore,] pelfe ore, Pr.4.2 mettall] Mammon ⌜mettall⌝ Pr.4] A blank leaf follows the end of the Proem to Book 9. This may suggest that Knevet intended to add further stanzas to the Proem at some later date. Arg.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier Here and in the whole of the ensuing canto, Knevet seems to have remained fairly undecided about the name of this knight. He originally intended to call him ’Belchier’, but tried various alternatives before settling on ’Belcoeur’: ’Belfier’ or ’Bellfier’, and ’Belcher’ were both temporary states. Most instances of the name in this canto reflect a range of these names, written over one another in a textually confusing mix. Throughout what follows, the shown deleted name will represent the apparent first state, and the supplied name the apparent final state; other forms of the name may be apparent in various forms, in each instance. Arg.2 curbe,] curbe 2.8 imperiall mind,] imperiall kind mind,

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Book 9 Canto 1 4 But among all her Knights, Sir Belcoeur was Not of the meanest ranke, nor least esteeme, Who whilome had in feild got mickle grace, And did so valorous a champion seeme, That his great Lady did him worthy deeme, In a high enterprise to bee employd, (To wit faire Eleutheria to redeeme) Whom if he could free from her fierce foes pride, Hee should haue license to obtaine her for his Bride.

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5 And now he gently trotted on the plaine, With one poore silly Dwarfe accompany’d, Where hee perceiu’d a Knight pursue amaine A base Esquire, that from him fast did ride, And still as hee approch’d, for feare loud cryd: But instantly the Knight him ouertooke, And maugre all his speed made him to bide, For on the pate so roughly him he strooke, That in a stupid swound his sadle hee forsooke. 6 Sir Belcoeur, then comes rideing in to know, What had the angry Knight incensed so, That hee the dastard lent so shrewd a blow, Where hee discouerd wise Albanio, That menaced the Squire with mickle woe; What is the cause then quoth Sir Belcoeur stout, How is this Squire faire Sir become thy foe? Could ought proceed from such a wretched lout, To raise thy choler or thy fury so sett out? 7 (Thus, Belcoeur haueing spoke) Albanio then Made this reply: this varlet vile (quoth hee,) Vnworthy to bee conversant with men, Is cleaped Gruager, of pedigree As meane, and base as, his conditions bee: Hee by insinuateing seruice wonne My heedles heart, and so much blinded mee, That I a constant faith did fixe vpon His trustynes, and durst haue pawn’d my life thereon. 8 But while I least suspected foule deceit, The Theeuish Peasant soone slipp’d out of sight, And from mee reft a pretious cabinet, With iewells stuff’d, of value exquisite, Which I had trusted long with the false wight: But on this plaine (by fortunate euent) I lighted on the wicked Hipocrite, After I had much toile and trauell spent, To giue his falshood due reward, and punishment. 9 Thus spake Albanio: while base Gruager Dreadeing dire vengeance, for his foule offence, Fell on his knees with lamentable cheere,

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Craueing remission, with a large expence Of teares, and seemeing full of penitence: Yet could hee not Albanios anger slake, Who iustly did reward his crime immense, And from him did his souldiers girdle take, But o’re his head his sword hee all in pieces brake. 10 Thus from his Squireship him he did digrade, Rechangeing him vnto a Peasant base, Him makeing course his steed, for the Dwarfes iade, And leaueing him to range in wretched case, About the vniuerse from place to place: Albanio kindly then Belcoeur embrac’d, For by his target hee knew who he was, Thereon a Cornucopia was enras’t, Whence diuers sorts of fruites, did seeme to burgeon fast. 11 With mutuall curt’syes, they each other greet, Then fairely they rode on in freindly wise, Shortning their iorney, with discourses sweet, Vntill Sir Belcoeur on his right hand spyes, A towred Castle built in stately guise, Who of Albanio to enquire beganne, Who did inhabite there; but hee replyes There dwells (quoth he) the sage Sir Iulian, For hospitality renownd by euery Man. 12 And now since Night, deck’d in a sable palle, With silent steppes invades the hemisphere, Let vs turne in vnto that goodly hall, That neuer is devoide of plenteous cheere, For gentle Knights, that wander farre and neare: Thus spake Albanio, while Belcoeur did lend Vnto his motion faire a willing eare: Toward the Castle they their courses bend, Where bothe to suppe, and lodge, they fully did intend. 13 When they arriu’d were at this Castle tall, An honest Porter gaue them entrance free; Accorto, then the Vsher of the Hall, A comely Esquire of no meane degree, Them kindly welcom’d, with a bended knee: The tables long were spred with linnen white, 4.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 4.4 valorous] valourous 4.9 Bride.] Written over bride. 6.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr Belchier, ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 6.6 Sir Belcoeur] Sr Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 7.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 10.6 Belcoeur] Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 11.4 Sir Belcoeur] Sr Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 12.3 turne] turm turne 12.6 Belcoeur] Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

The guests of good esteeme, and pedigree, Did to the Knights obeysance requisite, [hindrance light. And made them roome, to passe the crowdes with

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14 Accorto them vnto a parlour led, Where tables were in purest damaske clad, In cordwaine gilt the walls were habited, Large plate, and massy did the cupbourd lade, And glasses fine in sundry fashions made; Sir Iulian here did entertaine his guests, Them welcomeing with count’nance blith, and glad, For hee all postures knew, and passages, Pertaineing to th’effect of such a busynes. 15 But Philoxenia faire, his dearest spouse, In curtesy, and beauty did exceed Descended was she from a noble house, And had in vertue bin well nurtured, She was both well brought vp, and brauely bred, Her guests shee welcom’d with a modest grace, With words, and gestures both, her heart aggreed For simulation is abhorr’d as base, By all that are deriu’d from an illustr’ous race. 16 When supper time was come, meate was seru’d in, By comely waiters in a faire array, The dishes stood rank’d in no order thinne, The dainty cates were dressed many a way, To invite appetite, and hunger slay: Their wine was such as that which Bacchus stout, Carrous’t, when hee crown’d with triumphant bay, Returned after many battells fought, A victour from the East, with all his warlike route. 17 When they each one had tane a meete repast, The company, Sir Belcoeur did entreat (Since from the Court of Faery hee came last) To speake of some great act, or warlike feate: Then hee (though seemeing sad) ’gan to repeate A combate fierce, that lately happened Betwixt two Knights of strength, and courage great, About a weighty diff’rence that was bred, By Atyn a false Squire, of all debate the head. 18 The one of these the good Sir Iustine hight, A Knight descended from imperiall race, Mighty in armes, and prudent in foresight, Ne was the other bred of linage base, But from great Princes propagated was, Y’cleap’t (Sir Lereall) who did exceed His foe in brauery, and martiall grace, But Iustine was more stout then hee indeed; But Lereall in subtilty did him outspeed.

19 From this maine cause their quarrell did arise, To wit a sheild which Iustine earst did beare, Which (by opinion of some Heralds wise) To him belong’d, and that he might it weare, Without least wrong, to any Caualier: Thereon a laurell wreath was portraited, Circleing a booke of antique character, In chiefe a golden crowne was figured, Which seem’d to appertaine, to an imperiall head. 20 But Atyn in a heralds cassocke dight, Did impudently asseuere in court, That Iustine did vsurpe Sir Lerealls right, And keepe him from his owne by fraud, and tort, And that the target which he then did port, Vnto Sir Lereall did by right pertaine; Therefore he vehemently did him exhort, For to restore to him his sheild againe, Least (forc’d) hee did too late repent his errour vaine. 21 But Iustine, trusting to his iuster cause, With confidence retorted this replye, That hee according to the martiall lawes, Desir’d in feild himself to iustify, ’Gainst him, that claim’d what was his property, And downe he threw his gage, which Lereall Tooke vp, resolu’d in a monomachy For to maintaine whats’euer did befall, That Iustine in those armes possest no right at all. 22 The day of combate was prefix’d: they meete, And in the spatious lists themselues present, Where furiously they did each other greet, With an encounter wondrous violent, Their lances stiffe they ’gainst each other bent, Iustine his foe did on the brestplate smite, The glanceing steele quite through his shoulder went, Breakeing his pouldron with impetuous might, That he could hardly in his sadle sitte vpright. 23 But Iustine (or through his hard destiny Or through the treason of his Armourer) Was ouerwhelm’d with deadly ieopardy, For his weake helme was broke by Lerealls speare, 15.8 abhorr’d as base,] abhorr’d ⌜as⌝ and base, 17.2 Sir Belcoeur] Sr Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 17.5 repeate] repe⌜a⌝te 20.1 heralds cassocke] Some now illegible revisions have been made between these two words. 21.8 befall] The letter b is written over p. 22.6 smite,] sl smite, 23.1-2 (or through . . . Armourer)] (or through his hard destiny) | (Or through the treason of his Armourer)

Book 9 Canto 1 Which downe behind his crouper did him beare, Fixeing a greiuous wound vpon his crowne, That on his feet himself he could not reare, His foe then claim’d the target as his owne, And from the pillar by, where it did hang tooke downe.

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24 Many bewail’d Sir Iustines bad successe, But more reioyced with Sir Lereall, Congratulateing his great happynes, But faire Celesia wailed most of all, Sir Iustines fortune, and vntimely fall: Ne did those Virgins nine that waite vpon Great Gloriane in state maiesticall, Forbeare to weepe, and make a rufull mone, For the disaster of their hardy Champion. 25 Nor was’t a wonder that he did dismay, Vnhappy Iustine in an equall warre, For hee is owner of a lance (they say) Which was compos’d by Merlins skill, and care, And dight by him with vertues singular, For by direction of the starres diuine, By their aspects, and influences rare, Hee did this weapon forge of mettall fine, Temper’d by magicke art, and cunning masculine. 26 For whosoeuer shall resist it’s force, Must or from it receiue a greiuous wound, Or els with shame bee tumbled from his horse, And measure out his length vpon the ground, (It is indu’d with vertue so profound). This wondrous lance is cleaped Chrysaker, With which the Owner whilome made astound, Sir Arthegall, whom in a full carreere, Hee did vnhorse, and layd on ground in heauy cheere. 27 But whilome, when swell’d vp with insolence, Hee battell ’gainst Prince Arthur durst darraine, Hee was too feeble, to make his defence, For hee, him forc’d (though sore he did disdaine) To take a lodgeing on the sandy plaine; For no enchantment, and no magicke spell, Could worke the Brittish Prince, or griefe or paine, But hee such dangers stoutly could repell, His sheild of adamant did him protect so well. 28 This targe the louely Lady of the Lake, On him bestow’d, it was indu’d with might, To frustrate all enchantments, and to make All magicall inventions vaine, and light, Quelling the rage of all infernall spite. Thus Lereall was at length (maugre his heart)

Disgraced by a stronger opposite, A guerdon iust, for his deprau’d desart, That to orethrow the right apply’d his strength and art. 29 Thus did Sir Belcoeur end, when sudainly An vprore loud preuented more discourse, For in the Hall arme, arme, arme, arme, they cry; The Brigants are at hand, with a great force; Dispatch, dispatch, make ready, and to horse: This noise at first amaz’d Sir Iulians guests, But they which had bin vs’d to perills worse, Eftsoones resum’d their wonted courages, And buckleing on their armes, were soone in readynes. 30 As when the hungry Wolfe (in depth of night When euery Swaine his toile with sleepe allayes) Breakes in vpon the fold with murd’rous spite, The watchfull curres then soone the hubbub raise, While Shepheardes take th’alarme without delayes, And with their weapons to the rescue haste, Whose sudaine onset so the Wolfe dismayes, That the Destroyer to the woods is chas’d, Leaueing his prey behind, that hee may flye more fast. 31 Euen so, when these fierce Robbers did perceiue That they discouerd were, they fled apace, And did their booty rich behind them leaue: But the two stranger Knights gaue them the chase, Outstrippeing farre their fellowes in the race, Now did the palefac’d Queene of night appeare, Succeedeing in her royall brothers place, With lesser glory, and with sadder cheere, While that the Theeues escap’d, into the Forrest neare. 32 Yet did Sir Belcoeur, and Albanio, Ply the pursute with most impetuous speed, ’Till in the woods they were entangled so, That they each other lost: thus seuered, Sadly they in the Forrest wandered, Where darkenes did their doubtfull minds empierce, With melancholy thoughts, and balefull dread; The Owle, and Night-Rauen, were their quiristers, And many elegyes did the blacke toad rehearse. 23.7 on . . . himself] on hims his feet himself 24.6 Virgins . . . waite vpon] Virgins ⌜nine⌝ that ⌜did⌝ waite vpon 24.7 state] state, 26.5 profound).] profound) 26.6 Chrysaker] Ch⌜r⌝ysaker 28.8 desart] Written over desert 29.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 29.3 arme . . . arme,] arme, arme, ⌜arme, arme,⌝ 30.2 with sleepe allayes)] with ⌜sleepe⌝ heate allayes) 31.3 did their booty] did ⌜their⌝ booty Here did is written over doth 32.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier,

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 38 For in it such Mæanders were contriu’d, And crooked passages, that neuer Knight Who did pursue these varlets, them retriu’d, Ne could this dungeon darke Albanio fright, But hee stepp’d boldly in, and soone lost sight, Of these Bandetti: he grop’d here, and there, Envelop’d in the shades of dusky Night, Yet could he not these subtile Villaines heare, Who to their most abstruse recesses fled for feare.

34 Then sudainly, with a redoubled cry, He heard a wretched woman shrike aloud, As suffering some cursed villany, Then hee clapp’d spurres vnto his courser proud, And fiercely did into the thicket crowde, Where by a glimpse of moone light he descry’d, Two Damsells defild all with gory bloud, Whom a fierce Lubber in most cruell pride, [cry’d. Drew through the thornes, while they in vaine for pitty

39 Thus hopeles for to find these villaines out, With griefe he did that filthy denne forsake, While Phosporus, with all that glistring rout Of starres, ’gan hide his head in Neptunes lake, A roome for the bright lampe of day to make: Albanio then a massy rocke descryd, Which some dire earthquake had in pieces brake, Or lightening swift, sent from the welkin wide, That it in cantells large lay tumbled on each side.

35 But when the Thiefe beheld an armed man, Prest to redeeme his fearfull Prisoner, To winde his bugle strongly hee beganne, Which through the Forrest rung with echo cleare, A knot of roagues, then quickly did appeare, With weapons bent ther Captaine to defend, Whom stout Albanio chargeing with his speare, Did to the realme of ougly horrour send, Ere his companions could him any succour lend.

40 With whose huge ruines hee did so vp fill, The narrow throte of this infernall caue, That the poore Theeues could not with all their skill, And power, from thence any egresse haue, Thus to their rapines he a period gaue, And they at length were hunger-staru’d, and pin’d, Thus their owne dwelling seru’d them for a graue, And those faire realmes which therevpon confin’d, Were happily freed from such neihbours most vnkind.

36 When they perceiu’d their Ringleader was slaine, They threw their weapons downe, and swiftly fled: Albanio did them pursue amaine, And in the chase layd some of them for dead, The residue their denne recouered; Hewne out within the belly of a rocke, Here from their foes themselues they harboured, Here they their pillage safely did vplocke, [mocke. And kennel’d here, the force of all assaults did slight, and

41 But when Albanio had these Robbers mew’d, Within their stony vault, hee call’d to mind, The Dames whom hee had left, with bloud embru’d, In pitt’ous manner in the wood behind, And backe he went in haste, them for to find: In fine fast by a riuers side he found, The Damsels faire, trimmeing their lockes vntwin’d, Which by the thiefe had (whilome) bin vnbound: In loueing sort they sate together on the ground.

37 Like that darke cauerne, where great Polypheme, His wretched captiues long agoe confin’d, From whence Vlysses, by a stratageme, And cunning sleight did an euasion find, When he had made the cruell Giant blind, Such was the grotte, wherein these Thieues did bide, Preyeing without remorse, on all mankind, That neare their habitation did reside, [hide. And haueing playd their pranks there they themselues did

42 When they perceiu’d, an armed Knight at hand, They ’gan prepare themselues for speedy flight, But freindly hee invited them to stand, Informeing them, that he was the same Knight, That late had freed them from their foes despite, His gentle language did the Dames perswade, To stay their flight, then soone did hee alight, From his tall steed, and in a pleasant glade, Invited them to rest, in the refreshing shade.

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33 But when Albanio disconsolate, Vnto the centre of the Forrest came, A rufull sound his tender eares did grate, Seemeing to come from some distressed Dame, Who did her starres, and vnkind fortune blame, That had her throwne from pitch of happynes, Into the pitt of misery, and shame: Albanio listens with attentiuenes, Desirous to relieue the Lady comfortles.

35.2 fearfull] fellow ⌜fearfull⌝ 35.6 Captaine] Captaines 38.9 to] th to 39.4 Neptunes lake] ⌜Neptunes⌝ Amphitrites lake 40.4 egresse haue,] egresse make haue,

Book 9 Canto 1 48 These Brigants, are a rout that liue by stealth, And in fast places doe their pillage hide, The cruell Cuthrotes of each commonwealth, That get their meanes vniustly by the sword, Makeing lewd vse of lucre so abhorr’d: They vs detain’d in hold, till gentle fate, Some meanes for our escape did vs afford, For while they went a prowleing forth of late, Wee made a happy shift, to breake our prison gate.

44 I am calld Angela: my Sister hight Scota: Britanna is our Mothers name Daughter to Neptune great, and Thetis bright, A Lady of such peereles worth, and fame, That from remotest parts proud Sutours came, In hope to winne her loue, ne can the tongue The faultring tongue of mee a silly Dame, Report these iealousyes, and troubles long Which daily were occasion’d by her wooers strong.

49 And to the forrest did our selues betake, Where wee did stray till Night vpon vs fell, Then weary wee sate downe some rest to take, When as it seemes Grimald the Colonell, Of all the Thieues, that hereabout doe dwell, Too soone returning to his grotte againe, Found out that wee were broken loose, from Hell, Which made him vs pursue, with might and maine, Vntill hee most vnluckily did vs regaine.

45 At length there did arriue a mighty Knight, Bred on the bankes of sedgy Mæotis, A famous Archer, and one fierce in fight, Who so preuail’d by force, and subtiltyes, That quickly hee made faire Britanna his By whom she did my Sister Scota beare; Another hardy Knight (long after this) That on his sheild a saliant horse did weare, Came posteing from the branched streame of Albis cleare:

50 But then kind heauen did pitty our distresse, And to our rescue sent thee (Gentle Knight) To whom for this wee are oblig’d no lesse, Then to our parents that brought vs to light, Ne can wee this great benefit requite, But if thou wilt vouchsafe to bee our guide, Forth of this denne of Theeues, wee thee invite And humbly doe beseech, with vs to ride Vnto that Castle, where our Mother deare doth bide.

46 Cleere was the Riuer Albis then; (but now All horrid with deepe markes of humane gore Hee creepes along with pace and leysure slow:) This furious knight sett footeing on our shore, And made my Mother pliant to his lore, Hee mee begotte; thus wee two sisters here Were sole coheires of our deare Fathers store, And large possessions held, such as while’re Few of the female sexe, inherited elswhere.

51 Thus spake faire Angela; Albanio Did graciously vnto her sute assent, And with them to Britannas fort did goe, Which was cleap’t the white Castle: as they went, They much discreete and faire talke did invent, (Their way to shorten) while the Elfin Knight, Did seeme to reprehend with mild intent, Those frequent iarres, and that contentious spite, Which whilome lasted long betwixt these Ladyes bright.

47 But whether through the diff’rent habitude Of starres, that gouern’d our natiuityes, Things did succeed, or whether it ensu’d, From our sires disaggreeing qualityes; Betwixt vs two, much strife, did often rise, Ne could wee long together freindship hold, Vntill these Brigants did vs bothe surprise, And vs confind vnto a prison cold, Where wee more ill endurd, then can in few bee told.

52 Were yee not bedded in the self same wombe, (Quoth hee) ioynd in the bonds of sisterhood? Why did yee then maintaine such braules at home? Did not one Mother giue ye life and blood, Was not one womans milke your daily foode? Thus with the Dames did hee expostulate, While brimmefull with teares their faire eyelids stood, Hee did extoll the blisse of peacefull state, Sheweing the infelicity of strife and hate.

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43 Thus fairely hee the Ladyes did entreat, Their linage, and their fortunes to relate: One of the Dames then sadly did repete The cause of their calamitous estate, And thus she spake (Sir Knight) since gentle fate Hath made thee patrone of our libertyes, And honours, which Thieues sought to violate, Wee condiscend to shew in gratefull wise, Our birth, our breedeing, and our latest miseryes.

44.3 Thetis] ther Thetis 46.2 with deepe markes] with ⌜deepe⌝ markes 46.7 our deare Fathers] our ⌜deare⌝ Fathers 52.8 Hee] Est Hee 52.9 infelicity . . . hate.] infelicity of strength ⌜strife⌝ and hate,

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53 His rhetoricke did so preuaile with them, That they eternall peace sware for his sake, And what by strife they’d lost, for to redeeme With loue vnparalel’d, thus hands they take, And many signes of deare affection make; Now to Britannas Castle they came nigh, Which was surrounded with a surgeing lake, That did disdaine a bridge, and built full high Vpon a craggy rocke, as white as iuory.

Canto 2 Sir Belcoeur from Albanio parted In the wood doth stray, And at the cell of Esclau’dor Doth rude Gastador slay.

1 The silly sheepe, vpon the smoother plaines, Delights to feede, while the more actiue Roe, Doth clime the craggy cliffe, with mickle paines, To gett the fodder that best likes him so: Euen so doe brauer minds delight to goe, In vertues rigid way, and loue to taste Of honour, that on dangers rocke doth growe, While hearts that are with meaner thoughts embas’d, Do labour hate, and take with ease their sweet repast. 2

But those braue Knights, of Glorianas court In honourable action did delight, Themselues envreing vnto martiall sport, And quite abandoning all pastimes light; Ne handled they the spotted cards by Night, Nor had the Deuill Theut them taught to throwe, Vnconstant dubious dice, or sett aright Their wooden men, but full well did they know, An army braue to order, in most glorious showe. 3 Base golden dyrt, they held in no regard, Which now from Hells blacke entrailes men doe rake, Whereon (when it the fornace hath prepard) They stampe an image, and their God it make, Great God forsakeing for this idols sake: More wretched then the Indians poore: for these Those onely whom in warre they captiue take, Are wont to offer to their deityes; But to the Deuill they themselues doe sacrifice. 4 Worth then by vertue onely measurd was, Nor had that Gigglot Fortune any power, To raise from low beginnings Peasants base, To eminent degrees: No golden showre

Could any vert’ous Danae then deflowre; Gold then to honest vses was applyd, Allotted vnto vertue for her dower: And liberality was magnify’d, While Charity diffus’d it self on euery side. 5 Sir Belcoeur, was for lib’rall curtesy Renown’d among the Knights of Faery land, Who haueing left Albanios company, While in the Forrest they pursud the band, Of Brigants fierce, who durst not them withstand In vncouth pathes hee wanderd all that night, And the next day straggleing, on either hand; But toward the descent of Phœbus bright, Vpon a little hermitage hee chanc’d to light. 6 Where hee an aged Hermite did behold, Proppeing his bulke, with staffe of ebony, And pluckeing rootes vp with his clutches cold, That were with dirt defild vndecently, Haile Father (quoth Sir Belcoeur) comeing nigh: His bleared eyne slowly the Carle vprear’d, Badly requiteing the Knights curtesy, For from him hee a churlish answere heard, An euill nurtur’d wretch he was (as it appeard). 7 The Knight (who with long trauell weary’d was) Whats’ere befell resolu’d to bee his guest, And with him did vnto his cottage passe, There to receiue some small repast, and rest: Where welcome cold, his sullen hoste exprest: But feareing to prouoke an armed Knight, Hee hid his ill intendments in his brest, And to a dish of shamrockes did invite The noble Fay, who fed with queasy appetite. Arg.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier As in other cantos of this book, the name of the patron knight has gone through a series of revisions in most instances. Here the original reading appears to have been Belchier; this was subsequently over-written to produce Bellfier, and then deleted in favour of Belcoeur. In subsequent instances we have recorded only the apparent first and final states of the name, though individual examples show a range of medial states. Arg.2 stray,] stray Arg.4 slay,] slay 2.8 well] will 3.4 an image] their an image 4.3 raise] l raise 4.4 degrees:] degrees⌜:⌝. 4.4 No] Written over no 5.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 6.5 (quoth Sir Belcoeur)] (quoth Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier) 6.9 (as it appeard).] (as it appeard) 7.9 appetite.] appetite

Book 9 Canto 2 8 As when some learnd Physicion, (that can take Rules from old Galen, and Hippocrates, In that same language which those Doctors spake) Prescribes a potion full of bitternes, To cure his feeble patients maladyes, The Sickeman drinkes, though it dislikes his taste, And though his stomacke it with pleasure lesse Receiues, yet hee doth swallow it full fast, Hopeing that it will his disease expell at last.

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9 So Belcoeur fed vpon these sluttish dishes, While old Esclauedor, with grudgeing eye, Still as hee fed, did mumble wicked wishes: For that each bitt might choke him presently, The Mizer inly pray’d full heartily, For hee vile Caitife, bred of humane race, All mankind did maligne most mortally, (Except his sonne) that was a Peasant base A Lozell foule, a spendthrift, and inglorious asse. 10 Esclauedor chose out this solitude, Not that he meant hereby his booke to ply, Where free from tumults, and the vulgar rude, He might search for profound philosophy: Nor was hee mou’d to seeke this priuacye, By such regards, as pious soules doe bind, To leaue this world, the source of vanity, And solitary tenements to find, Where they the body pinch, but well relieue the mind.

11 Nor was’t a sacred penitentiall vow, Ta’ne for the expiation of some sinne, That caus’d him of the world to disallow, And to retire himself, out from the dinne Of publicke bruite, this Forrest to liue in: For hee in no religion was bred, Ne euer good or godly had hee bin: His gold he worship’t in his Makers stead; No other Deitye hee e’re acknowledged. 12 Yet he could counterfeit religious lore, And cunningly could play the Hipocrite, (To worke his ends) and oft had heretofore, To errant Knights wrought villainous despite, That to his counsell gaue no credence light, Hee with his sooty pawe in subtile sort, Did gripe Sir Belcoeurs hand: the gentle Knight Attentiue was, to what he should report, While thus the old Impostour ’gan him to exhort. 13 (Faire Sonne) quoth hee that tak’st a vaine delight, To trauerse to and fro, this earthly Ball, Envr’d to pastimes, and to warlike fight,

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Know that thy pleasures, and thy gloryes shall, Bee sudainly annihilated all: For as thy pamperd steed, which now doth reare, His crest aloft, with courage martiall, Shall growe vnmeete the saddle braue to weare, In time, and burthens base be forc’d to hale, and beare, 14 So shall thy youth, and prowesse waste away, Yea that right hand, which now can mannage well, Both sword, and speare shall perish, and decay: Aches and palsyes must in those limmes dwell, Which vigour now hath made her cittadell; But some disease perhaps, or some fierce Foe Thy old age may prevent, with fury fell, And soone dispatch thee; then thou needes must goe To limbo, there to waile thy follyes past with woe. 15 But if thou shalt the pitt of treason scape, And shunne the fury of the deadly blade, If on thy youth Death shall not acte a rape, Then shall old Age thy weakend corps invade, And with strange paines thy witherd carkasse lade; Then leaue thy mad vagaryes, and retreate To sacred solitude, whose happy shade, Affords those ioyes, which tongue cannot repete: So few her euills bee, and her delights so great. 16 There may’st thou teach thy purer soule to thriue, And baites of fleshly pleasure to distaste, That when Death, at thy cottage shall arriue, Thou may’st with small adoe, and mickle haste, Him gladly entertaine, and vnagast: While they which bee by worldly ioyes misled, And pretious time in priceles pleasure waste, The name of Death doe tremble at, and dread, For fond delights, with dreary terrours punished. 17 Thus spake Esclauedor, and seem’d as one That hates the world, for sanctimonyes sake; Sir Belcoeur then made replication, (But after a short pause) and thus he spake, 9.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 9.6 For hee vile] For ⌜hee⌝ vile 9.7 All mankind] ⌜All⌝ Yet mankind 10.8 tenements to find] tenements doe ⌜to⌝ find 11.9 Deitye] Deityes 12.7 Sir Belcoeurs] Sr ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ Belchiers 13.9 base be] base be ⌜be⌝ be In addition to the blotted verbs, base has been written over bace 13.9 beare,] beare. 14.5 Which] Written over Where 15.9 so great] so s great 17.3 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier

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Thy reasons (aged Father) cannot make Mee leaue that course of life, which I embrace, Till Time from mee shall strength, and vigour take: I action loue, for idlenes is base, And vnbeseemeing one, that’s bred of noble race.

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18 The Forrest, and the vncouth wildernes, Are receptacles for each sauage beast, Men ought to dwell in Townes, and villages, Where they may excercise their functions best, Dame Nature hath in euery man imprest A sociability, and without it, A Man’s no man, or vnhumane at least: For men doe true humanity begett, When they each other doe requite, with curt’syes fitt. 19 But hee that lyes in solitary cell, How can hee bee or temperate, or wise: For Temperance doth in those places dwell, Where pleasures are obiected to the eyes, Which men (by her perswaded) doe despise; But in the Desarts are no pleasures found; Wisedome also doth from commerce arise, When wee our actions wise, so build, and ground, That from these neither shame, nor danger can redound.

20 Nor can he euer iust, or valiant bee, For Iustice is an act, that doth diffuse It self on men, but where none are but hee, This faculty how can he shew, or vse: And where there is no foe, him to abuse, How can hee excercise his fortitude, Thus formally this consequence ensues, That they which from the world themselues seclude, Are not with any vertue, cardinall endu’d. 21 Nor can he any charity extend, Or beames of liberality display, Bicause he wants wherewith to giue, or lend, And finds no subiect, wherevpon to lay His benigne bounty, either night, or day. Had Hercules in a darke cell alone, His lusty prime consum’d, and worne away, Then had he not eternall honour wonne, Triumpheing ouer monsters, and obliuion. 22 Or had Achilles in old Chirons grotte, Abode concealed in a womans weede, Then matchles Homers golden quill had not, In neuer dyeing numbers carroled, His vertue, and his honorable meede; Or had his emulatour Philips Sonne,

In the Lycæum alway his life led, Then had hee not stretch’d his dominion, To the Gangeticke shore, from westerne Macedon. 23 (But while Sir Belcoeur spake) Esclauedor Did him thus interrupt: (faire Sir) quoth hee Haue not a many Sages heretofore, In detestation of worldly glee, In desarts liu’d from worldly troubles free? Here did the learn’d Diogenes, despise Great Alexanders pompe, who wish’d to bee Diogenes, here also Timon wise, Did study to contemne all earthly vanityes. 24 Then quoth the Knight, well ha’st thou instanced In these graue sires, for whose two sakes (I weene) All solitude ought to bee banished, For one of these a Cynicke was vncleane, The other full of rancour, and foule spleene, All mankind did abhorre: yea these two were More wicked, in an vnfrequented denne, Then all those Ruffians lewd that did whilere, The threshold of the proud Corinthian strumpet weare. 25 Misdooers foule, are wont to hate the light: Fierce Cutthrotes in the Wildernes abide; But honest men liue seldome out of sight, Except exil’d by some sterne Tyrants pride, Which oft compells the best their heads to hide: Then ’tis a weaknes, or a worse offence, Which moueth mortalls for to lurke aside, Where they vniustly, with his will dispense, Who them ordain’d for action, and beneficence. 26 When Esclau’dor, perceiu’d hee could not moue The Knight, from his intended course to stray, Hee was more bent, all his deuoire to proue Him vtterly to ruine, or dismay. And to an iron portall led the way, Which brought them to a roome both long, and wide, That did prohibite accesse to the day, No other light was there, but what did glide From heapes of burnish’d gold, pil’d vp on euery side. 17.6 Mee] Written over My 19.2 hee bee or] hee ⌜bee⌝ or 20.2 doth diffuse] doth it self diffuse 23.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 23.5 In desarts . . . free?] In solitary places ⌜desarts l⌝ liu’d from ⌜wordly⌝ troubles free? 24.1 well] wh well 25.4 sterne Tyrants] fie ⌜sterne⌝ proud Tyrants 25.9 beneficence] beneficens⌜c⌝e

Book 9 Canto 2 27 The lustre of this golden drosse did strike Belcoeurs amazed eyne: for nere before Had hee or heard of, or beheld the like: The wretch then ’gan to preach his wicked lore, To captiuate his vnderstanding more: See here (quoth he) the soueraigne Arbitresse, Of humane good, whom all the world adore; This is the onely source of happynes, Which whosoeuer wants is base, and comfortles.

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28 (Oh potent gold) at whose deuotion are, Our liues, and honours, sacred, and profane: In thy high presence vertues self stands bare: Vice is thy slaue, and thou art shee who can, Transmute the Villaine, to a Nobleman. Kingdomes without thy help doe soone decay, And mighty empires fall into the wane, The bloudy God of warre doth thee obey, For thou dost all his turbulent affaiers sway. 29 Yea that same goodly Animall, calld Man, Doth labour night, and day, to enioy thee, Hee for thy sake will lay his soule to pawne, And nere redeeme’t: those facultyes that bee Produc’d from soules of most sublime degree, (For thy sweet sake) refuse no toile, or paines; Thus Men in hope th’elixir blest to see, Not onely waste their meanes, but breake their braines, Spendthrifts, and spendwitts they become, in hope of [gaines. 30 This passionate expression did awake The museing Knight, and made him thus reply; Too great an Idol thou thy gold do’st make: Which horded vp in corners wretchedly, Is like the dust which vnderfoote doth lye, But vs’d without discretion, ’tis a sword To cutte his throte, that doth it ill apply: But moderated well, it doth afford Emolument to him, that therewithall is stor’d. 31 But I admire, what pleasure thou can’st find, In turning o’re these goodly heapes of drosse; What solace doe they offer to thy mind? What happynes by them do’st thou ingrosse? What antidote bee they ’gainst any crosse? If sight of beauty fraile doth thee delight, Behold the starres, which seeme th’heauens t’embosse: Orion see with sword and target bright, And marke how hee the northerne Asterismes doth fright. 32 See how the Northerne Beares, desire to steepe Their weary feete, in th’hyperborean waue, And how the Snake, about the Pole doth creepe:

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Behold how proud Cassiopeia braue, Sittes in her chayer, neare her Father graue: Looke on sterne Perseus, and the Gorgons head, With bright Andromeda, whom hee did saue From the fierce Orke: behold the winged steed, That of the adder-hayrd Medusas bloud was bred. 33 Or if these speculations high, doe not Please thy terrene aspect, then feast thy sight, On feilds, and meadowes, when Apollo hote Keepes open court, with those two Brothers bright; Two sences then, at once, thou may’st delight. (Thriftles of time) persist not to adore These pretious euills, now while gloomy night Of flitteing yeares, hath made thy head full hore, And many signalls giuen, that Death is at thy doore. 34 Then wisely lay thy treasure out, expend In bount’ous largesse some part of thy store; Thou wantst not for thy self, nor for thy freind, Nor for the silly Beggar at thy doore: Thou mayst befreind the rich, releiue the poore; While thou do’st thus thy vnus’d heapes behold, Thou ar’t more needy farre, and wantest more, Then hee that is in Beggars list enrold, And hath no cloth wherewith to sheild him from the cold. 35 How like a wretched Tantalus dost thou, Gaze on that pretious fruite, which couetise Forbiddes the once to taste; but tell me now, By what ill engine, and what subtiltyes, This mighty masse of gold didst thou surprise? I scarcely thinke that by an honest way, Thou could’st gaine such huge summes, and quantityes; Therefore relate to mee the truth (I pray) What Indyes did on thee these wealthy treasures lay. 36 (This sayd) thus did Esclauedor reply: (My Sonne) quoth hee refuse I iustly might, To graunt thy sute, and shew this secrecye; Yet since you seeme a kind, and gentle Knight, I will (as curtesy doth mee invite) Make you partaker of this misterye, Which nere discouerd was to mortall wight; Then did he open with a rusty key, A wicket whence a stinch, and vapour blacke did fly. 27.2 Belcoeurs] Belchiers ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ 31.6 thee delight,] thee invite delight, 31.7 heauens t’embosse:] heauens to’embosse: 31.8 sword and target] sword ⌜and⌝ target 32.3 And how] And o how 33.3 On feilds] On feid feilds 34.8 that is] that his is

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37 Behold (quoth hee) this pretious officine Of true felicity, (yong Knight) draw nigh And blesse thine eyes with this aspect diuine. Hee through the windowe peep’d, where hee did spy A thousand Fiends in strange variety, Of ougly shapes so hideous, and foule; That whilome St Patrickes Purgatory, Such monsters neuer shew’d to any soule, His vnbeliefe of hellish tortures, to controule.

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38 Deformityes, were there in fashion, As if the Deuills stroue to imitate, The pride, of that fantasticke nation Which (Proteus-like) their shapes doe variate In habites drest most disproportionate; Those sundry shapes which fructifyeing Nile, On the Memphiticke shore doth generate, And eke those births, bred by commistion vile Of Africkes Monsters, when with rageing lust they boile, 39 Were amiable, in respect of these: Chymæras, Sphinxes, Harpies, Gorgons dire, Pythons, Hydras, and all that ouglynes, (Which elder witts through strength of actiue fire Exemplify’d) were beautyes most entire, Apposd to these: but all this Hellish rout Did toile (like wretches for a wealthy hire) Employed sundry offices about, But gold the subiect was of all their labour stout. 40 Some from the depth of Dæmogorgons wombe, In buckets did hale vp the swarty ore, Which others did in engines grinde; and some To cleanse the mettall from the drossy store, Did through fine siues it into Cesternes po’re, Where they with water first it purify’d, And then a multitude of Deuills more, A sort of fornaces, with fewell plyd, Where they in crucibles, the yelow mettall tryd. 41 So terrible a noise, did from that forge Vncessantly proceed, that Ætna hote (When it doth flameing rockes in flakes disgorge, From his sulphureous bowells) equalls not The horrid sounds of this infernall Grotte; These Obiects did amaze the Elfin Knight, And darts of terrour into his mind shot, Hee could no longer brooke that direfull sight, But from that dell of Sinne return’d in irefull plight. 42 But as he prest forth at the doore to passe, A cruell Cutthrote mett him by the way, Accouter’d like a sauage Galloglasse:

Ill fauour’d rust his armes did ouerlay, Hee was vnseemely dight, in foule array, No portraiture appeard on his broad sheild; Onely thereon was writt in letters gay, The word GASTADOR, which one word did yeild, His quality at large, who did the target wield. 43 The Faery Knight he rudely push’d him fro, And sayd (accursed Thiefe) sore shalt thou rue Thy felony, and theft, ere thou do’st goe, That thus by force, and dealeing most vntrue, Ha’st enterd here, to take what’s not thy due, (This sayd) his sudaine fury did preuent The knights reply, for hee his fauchion drew And at Sir Belcoeur strooke with fell intent, Who did his rage euade, and madnes violent. 44 The Ruffian toild himself quite out of breath, But then Sir Belcoeur with a speedeing blow, Did soone dispatch him to the house of Death, Where wormes might waste the Waster in graue low, Who wont the bankes of bounty to o’reflow, With thriftles largesse; for hee was the sonne Of Esclau’dor who freely did bestowe, Great summes on him, though neuer any one Beside, could from him wring a groat, by gift or lone. 45 In riote, and in paillardise he spent, What bagges he had from cursed Esclau’dor; But now when all his stocke (it seemes) was spent Hee ragged home return’d, and torne full sore, With fresh supplyes his pockets for to store, Where hee by chance did meete the Faery Knight, And pick’d a quarrell with him at the doore; For hee contentious was, ready to fight, Vpon the least occasion, were it wrong, or right. 46 Belcoeur, when hee beheld the Villaine dead, Stay’d not to heare what dolefull dreariment, The aged Caterpillar offered, Vnto his darlings ghost, he neuer meant, 37.3 diuine.] diuine:. 38.4 (Proteus-like)] pro (Proteus-like) 38.6 which] ⌜which⌝ with 38.8 And eke] ⌜And eke⌝ Nor yet 38.9 boile,] boile. 39.4-5 (Which elder witts through strength of actiue fire | Exemplify’d)] Which elder witts (through strength of actiue fire | Exemplify’d) 39.7 wretches] wreth wretches 42.4 rust] tr rust 43.8 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 43.8 with fell intent,] most terribly ⌜with fell intent,⌝ 44.2 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 46.1 Belcoeur,] Belchier, ⌜Belcoeur⌝

Book 9 Canto 3 5 To see what should bee at his fun’rall spent, But spurrd away vpon his Courser fleet, Leaueing old Esclau’dor for to lament, The large expences of a windeing sheet, Which on the Caitife hee bestowd, with great regreet.

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Canto 3 Sir Belcoeur findes Sir Philodore Distrest by Arthegall, And Synedesia doth assist In his sad funerall.

1 As when a Pilot expert in the way, Of nauigation perillous, (who knowes, Each cape, and creeke, each turgid straite, and bay) Doth plowe the Tyrrhene seas, when Eurus blowes, And repercussed billowes on high throwes, As on his right hand, and his left he spyes Charybdis dire, and Scylla hideous, Then in the mid’st, twixt them, his course he plyes To shunne those furious eddyes, which from them arise. 2 Euen so ’twixt two extremes lyes vertues tract, If on the right hand, or the left wee stray Vpon the rocke of vice, wee soone are wrack’d: And then our broken fame becomes a prey, Vnto plebeian mouthes, who night, and day, With such vile stuffe delight themselues to cramme, (Bird-Ibis like) who doth her stomacke stay, With serpents venemous, euen so the shame Of others doth become their feast, and ioyeous game. 3 Ne certes, hath the Man of lib’rall hands, A broad pathway, but his way narrow is Vnthriftynes vpon his right hand stands, Inviteing him to tread his steppes amisse, Vnto the vales of sinne, and hurtfull blisse: But on the left hand euer in his eare, Softly doth whisper cunning Auarice, Aduiseing him to thriftynes, for feare Least hee should rue his bounty, with repentance deare. 4 The scoffeing Prodigall doth him deride, With Auarice, but auaricious men Call him a Prodigall; thus on each side Hee suffers, by their calumny, and teene: And euer walkes two enemyes betweene, The one of which him striueth to subdue By kind allurements, and by plottes vnseene, The other open violence doth shew, To wicked vice, him to seduce from vertue true.

Nor is there any vice more pestilent, Or noxious to the health of humane state, Then Auarice, which makes men to invent Prodigious euills, to accommodate Her foule desires, that are vnsatiate: And whosoere’s sicke of this dropsy strong, No treasures can his burning thirst abate, But like one with the Serpent Dypsas stung, Hee thirsts vntill hee dyes, his heapes of gold among. 6 The God of loue is blind, but it appeares, The Loue of gold then him is blinder farre, Hee who his youth with am’rous passions weares, Those obiects loues, that often pliant are With loue to recompence his loue, and care: But hee that settes his mind vpon dull gold, Shall no requitall for his labour share, For mettalls render but affection cold, No loue can ere result, from this well fauourd mold. 7 As doth the slauish Asse, or sturdy Moyle, Beare wealthy burthens of resplendent ore, From barren Potosin, with mickle toile, Reapeing no sweetnes from that pretious store, Which doth their galled shoulders lade full sore: Euen so that wretch, which dotes on heapes of gold, Is indigent, penurious, and poore, While hee the feature of his Mammon old, With wicked eyes of adoration doth behold. 8 Great Empires, through the impotent desire Of Gold haue bin dissolu’d, and ruin’d quite, Yea by contagion of this impure fire, Things sacred haue forgone their gloryes bright, Such mischiefes doth this mettall faire excite. For whilome when Great Constantine endu’d The Romish See, with lordships exquisite, A voice was heard which did thus much include, This day with venome, thou ha’st holy Church embru’d. 9 Wealth is the Baud, but Pleasure is the Whore, Great Potentates the lustfull Louers are, Which court this most deceitfull Paramore, They her enioy and sett aside all care Of Iustice, Piety, and vertue rare: But Vengeance them pursues, though shee be lame, Arg.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier Arg.2 Arthegall,] Arthegall. Arg.4 funerall.] funerall 1.2 nauigation] nauigation, 2.7 her] Written over another word (possibly his) 6.4 loues,] los loues,

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And wounds them deepely (ere they bee aware) Their follyes then they waile, and dye with shame; Riches cannot saue life, or salue a broken fame.

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10 Now had Sir Belcoeur, left behind afarre The hermitage of cursed Esclau’dor, Hee tir’d with trauell, and surcharg’d with care, Himself reposed on that pleasant shore Of swift Pactolus, pau’d with golden ore: For in this Lydian Riuer Mydas vaine, His golden wish, did wash away of yore, And still the wealthy current doth retaine, The golden reliques of his ill desired gaine. 11 Here did he doffe his plumed Murrion, Tempting his eyne vnto a sweet repose, But was disturbed by a sudaine grone, Then hee beganne his eylids to vnclose, Listening from whence this dolefull sound arose, Hee lightly reard his body, from the ground, And to a neare adioyneing thicket goes, Where he beheld a Knight in deadly swound, [wound. From whom a streame of bloud did flow, through a wide

12 A Lady sorowfull beside him stood, Whose beauty, through her melancholy cheere, Peep’d, like pale Cynthia through a gloomy cloud; A veile of mournfull cipresse did she weare, That did from head to foote envelope her: Calme riuolets of teares did gently fall Downe from her eylids white, in currents cleere, While shee bewail’d the obite funerall, Of her slaine Knight, like the sad chanteing Nightingale. 13 Arm’d in a guilt haberieon was the Knight, His helme and batter’d targett lay aside, Whereon portraited was a Cignet white, A manly beauty in his face, did bide, Though Death with liuid hue his cheekes had dy’d: His limmes were large, and fram’d so decently, That they to each beholder specify’d, How whilome in this well built corps did lye, A soule of pretious worth, and noblest quality. 14 Sir Belcoeur did entreat the Dame, to say, By what disaster, and vnlucky fate, This goodly Knight so soone was snatch’d away: Her wat’ry eyes then ’gan shee to elate, With dol’rous sighes, and lookes disconsolate: (Faire Sir) quoth shee whose happe it is, to view Mee wretched woman, most vnfortunate, (To satisfy your will) I must renue Those miseryes, which make my feeble heart to rue.

15 With that, a torrent fresh brake from her eyes, While graciously the Knight her comforted, And gently her to patience did advise: Then shee with much adoe, recouered Her speech, which sorow had quite banished; And vnderneath an oke, with greene leaues dight, Which with a shadow coole a large banke spred, Downe sate shee, and Sir Belcoeur did invite To listen, while a tragicke tale she did recite. 16 This hapless Knight (quoth shee) whose vitall threed Fierce Atropos hath cut, with bloudy blade, Was cleaped Philodore, well nurtured, In ciuill courtship, and afarre y’drad, For actions great, which hee accomplish’d had: His Mother called was Polynome, A Naiade faire, which that blind winged Lad Could not subdue; in this pure streame dwelt shee, Vpon whose golden sands shee playd, with mickle glee. 17 The Herald of th’Olympicke Emperye, (Sly Hermes) her discouerd on a time, (As he did on some great ambassage fly, From Ioues Escurial to an earthly clime) Whose beaut’ous feature so entangled him, That hee resolu’d to winne her to his will, Either by gifts, or subtilty sublime, And to enioy her employd all his skill, But shee from time, to time gaue him denyalls still. 18 When he perceiu’d all such assaults were vaine, The shape he of a Naiade did put on, And womanhood so craftily did faine, That for a mayden hee was ta’ne annon And frequently did in this Riuer wonne: Where by insinuation craftily, The obiect of his loue, he wrought vpon, That scarce shee did his subtilty descry, Ere shee had lost the flowre of her virginity. 19 But when nine horned Crescents were vp growne, Into a perfect forme orbicular, Polynome grew ill, and lyeing downe 10.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 12.1 sorowfull] ⌜sorowfull⌝ faire stood him 12.5 head] toppe ⌜head⌝ 14.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 14.9 to rue] torue rue 15.8 Sir Belcoeur] Sir Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 16.7 Lad] God Lad 17.4 an] some ⌜an⌝ 18.4 hee] shee 18.6 Where by] Where by ⌜by⌝

Book 9 Canto 3 Sir Philodore her hopefull infant bare, A child of comelynes, and feature rare, Who did not from his sire degenerate, For hee became an Artist singular, And was endu’d with knowledge accurate, In euery thing that did pertaine to humane state.

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20 Yea hee became a Clearke so exquisite, That hee new wayes of knowledge did invent, Digresseing from the antient Stagyrite, And building on his owne experiment, A science new, which whilome was vnkent: Hee doubtles had deserued learnings prize, (Had hee a shorter reyne to fancye lent) Before th’Ægyptians, or Chaldæans wise, (Him Mercury adorn’d with such braue qualityes.) 21 But although hee his Fathers vertues had, Yet also hee did his vice imitate, For of the takeing hand much vse he made: Yet guilty was he not of auarice, But rather prodigall in gifts, then nice; For certes hee retain’d a noble mind, And had he giuen his gifts with wise advice, And ta’ne no more then right to him assign’d, Hee might haue bin esteem’d the glory of his kind. 22 The bruite of his desert abroad was blowne, And famous was hee, in the Faery Court Where whilome he arriu’d, with much renowne, Himself demeaneing in such goodly port, That hee from all men had a good report: But chiefely did Albanio him affect; With Arthegall the iust; hee in like sort Did seeme them to requite with true respect, In his diportment was not seene the least defect. 23 But when (wee Ladyes) that did waite vpon The Maiesty of Gloriana great, In costly guise, and stately fashion, A maske presented, for to celebrate The birthday, of this Empresse fortunate, With amorous addresses, hee assayd, To make me yeild to bee his liefest mate; Cupid who is by sea, and land, obeyd, Did help him to subdue mee, most vnhappy maide. 24 Both to Albanio, and Sir Arthegall, I am ally’d, and by their free consent This Knight made mee his consort coniugall: With him I liu’d a while, in sweet content, Vntouch’d with any hurtfull accident, I dearely did respect my Philodore,

And was belou’d by him with deare intent; But change that rules all things inferiour, To my ioyes did a period put, of troubles sore. 25 For on the banke of this same golden streame, A Knight abode ycleaped Phagodore, A wight vnciuill, and of vice extreme: For hee with rapines did infest this shore, Both rich, and needy hee rob’d of their store; This most vngentle Knight one Daughter had Who was in beauty rich, and vertue poore; For shee in qualityes was like her Dadde; Sweete was her feature, but all her conditions bad. 26 Men call her Polydora: (by ill happe) My Philodore, this Minion beheld, Whom by her subtile sleights she did entrappe, And with desire, his tender heart so thrilld, That hee to her himself did captiue yeild; Hee frown’d on mee, and quite forsooke my bed, (With such new lawles flames his heart was fill’d) And Polydora embrac’d, in my stead, While I my life in pensiuenes, and sorow led. 27 Then I (poore Synedesia) forsooke The hatefull Palace, of my faithles Lord, And to a sory cell, my self betooke, Which this greene mantled Forrest did afford, Where I in dolefull threnodes did accord, With mournfull Philomel, expecting still When welcome Death my vessell fraile should bourd, And with my body all my sorowes kill, My sad soule disengageing, from a world of ill. 28 But winged Fame, who with impetuous flight, Doth often scoure the world from East to west, Who with a thousand eares, and eyes full bright, Doth neither night, or day take any rest, Surveyeing things beneath heauens spangled vest: Shee did my wrongs proclayme in Faery land, Where many vow’d to see my wrongs redrest, And him to quell, by force of martiall hand, That should the torrent of their iust reuenge withstand. 29 But Arthegall, most prone, and vehement was, To meete with most vnhappy Philodore, As one that did most pitty my sad case, Who with his iron Lackey on this shore, Did find my Knight, and his lewd Paramore, In their exchange of wanton solacement: 20.2 wayes] Written over wages 20.8 th’Ægyptians] thÆgyptians 27.1 poore] The second o of this word is written over an original r.

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Sir Arthegall vpbraided him full sore, For breach of faith, and lust incontinent, Who had abused so a Lady innocent.

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30 Hee will’d him for to put his armour on, And with most deepe reproch did him defye, Him calleing Traitour, and false Franion, Vnworthy of all knightly dignity; Sir Philodore abash’d made no reply, The guilt of his offence did him so daunt, That all his wonted eloquence, was gone, Wherewith hee brauely had earst vs’d to flaunt, With no apologye he could this Knight enchant. 31 And (to protect himself from balefull shame) Hee did himself in goodly armes addresse, To dye, or els his mighty foe to tame, For hee was fraught with strength, and hardynes, And had bin try’d in many skirmishes: But hee too weake for Arthegall was found, Who in their first encounter did distresse Poore Philodore, and layd him on the ground, For from his speare hee did receiue, a mortall wound. 32 I in my cell their clattering armes did heare, And forth I came, to see the tragedy, Where I my Knight found ready for the beare, And Polydora false, about to fly, When shee her Louer saw in ieopardy; But Talus did her hasty flight preuent, And stripp’d her soone of all her brauery, Her rich abiliments he from her hent, And her most gorgeous vestures, all in pieces rent. 33 Naked shee fled into the Forrest wide, Surcharg’d with shame, and infinite disgrace, Where shee in vnknowne nookes her self did hide, While I lamenting Philodores sad case, His dyeing body hasten’d to embrace, But when Sir Arthegall did mee descry, He rear’d his ventaile vp, and shewd his face, Dismounting from his Courser presently, And with his manly armes, entwin’d me loueingly. 34 Hee will’d mee for to stint my greife, and woe, And told me that my teares were ill mispent, Vpon a faithles, and a periur’d foe, Whom for my sake he had most iustly sent, As he deseru’d to dreary punishment; To Glorianes court he wish’d me to repaire, Where I might liue in blisse, and solacement, Among those gentle Knights, and Ladyes faire, Who mee should entertaine, with curt’sy debonaire.

35 But when he could not moue mee to forsake, That course of life, which I intend to lead, From mee hee did a hearty farwell take, When I had humbly him importuned, Not to dislike what I had purposed; Therefore (faire Sir) if you will condiscend Mee to assist, in buryall of the dead, Doeing the office of a pious freind, I shall both thanke you, and your charity commend. 36 Sir Belcoeur gladly graunts, what she did craue, Then of his armes they did deuest the Knight, And vnderneath a tall pine delu’d a graue, Where they him layd enwrapp’d in linnen white, Then they the earth vpon him heap’d, full light; Then Synedesia sad vpon him powres Two bowles of wine, and eke two basons bright Of new drawne milke, then strow’d she fragrant flowres, And for his requiem prayd, in the Elysian bowres. 37 Then on the stately Tree did they vpreare, His broken sheild, and weighty brigandine; But Belcoeur then in a faire character, Vpon the bulke of this faire spreadeing Pine, His mournfull epitaph did thus enline; This Tree the graue of Philodore doth view, Famous for valour, and for arts diuine, His breach of wedlocke faith him ouerthrew, Therefore let euery Knight, bee to his Lady true. 38 Sir Belcoeur, (when these obsequyes were done) Fairely his leaue of Synedesia tooke, Leaueing the melancholy Dame alone, To tend her orisons, and ply her booke For shee the fellowship of none could brooke; Many to turne her from this course did try, But shee that resolution nere forsooke, Persisting in a moniall chastity, Vntill Dame Nature should her license giue to dye. 30.5 abash’d made no] abash’d ⌜made⌝ no 33.5 His] Is His Before deletion, Knevet made an attempt to convert his original to the correct reading. 34.9 debonaire.] debonaire, 36.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 36.2 his] Written over hir 36.6 Synedesia sad vpon] Synedesia ⌜sad⌝ vpon 37.3 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 38.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 38.2 Fairely] The r of this word is written over an original t. 38.9 Vntill . . . dye.] Vntill Dame Nature gaue her leaue to dye ⌜Vntill Dame Nature should her license giue to dye.⌝

Book 9 Canto 4

Canto 4 Sir Iustine Polydora meetes, And her doth entertaine. But Preister her from him doth steale, Who is by Harpax tane. 1

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As Æsops dawe, depriu’d of his stolne plumes, The company of other Birds eschu’d, And with internall shame himself consumes, Within some vnfrequented corner mew’d, Bicause all Birds his folly did illude; So Polydora stripp’d of her gay weede, Did into vncouth pathes her self intrude, With mickle feare, and griefe astonished, Vnneath for very shame she durst put forth her head. 2 But Time, that soone from mischiefes bosome weares, All conscience of shame, made her forgett, Her late misfortunes, and her former feares, Then with poore garments shee her self did fitt, And to get better, did employ her witt; But shee most wishd to bee aueng’d vpon The noble Arthegall, and cry him quitt, Both for the death of, her deare Minion And for the iniury, which Talus had her done. 3 But while shee trauelld thus in homely guise, A iolly Knight shee mett in faire array, And to him humbly shee herself applyes, Beseecheing him (for pittyes sake) to stay And well to vnderstand, what she should say. The gentle Knight did her request fulfill, Shee then her griefes before him did display, How a fierce Knight her liefest Lord did kill, And had most shamefully, dealt to her measure ill.

4 Her sad complaint, did wound Sir Iustines heart, For though ill clad she were, in ragged weed, Yet modest lookes she did vpon him dart: As Phœbus lifting vp his flameing head, Aboue an ougly cloud, his beames doth spread, Dazleing with lustre each Spectatours eye, That him regardeth with attentiue heed, For neare that vapour blacke, his maiesty Setts of with greater beauty, and resplendencye. 5 Euen so the subtile Dame, in meane attire Nathles, exprest a gracefull comelynes, For in her cheekes did glowe a rosy fire, That seem’d to flash from Virgins bashfullnes, Her eyes were drown’d in louely deluges, Sir Iustine pitty’d her vndecent plight,

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And her recomforts, with much gentlenes, Hee from his nagge commands his Page to light, And in his place did sett the cunning Hipocrite. 6 Hee did her decke with costly vestiments, And semblance of much loue did to her make, But shee (pretending vert’ous continence) Seem’d lothe the feruour of his flames to slake, And still his am’rous drifts seem’d to mistake, Yet would she not his hopes extinguish quite, Nor him reiect, when that of loue she spake: Shee his desires did feed with fewell light, And some reliefe lent to his longing appetite. 7 Thus hee in time the Fortresse hop’d to get, But on the way a Knight them ouertooke, Dight in blacke armes, on steed as blacke as ieat, Hee seem’d demure, and sober by his looke, And in his hand he bare a shepherds hooke, A sable surcote did he weare, whereon An argent crosse was fix’d: those Knights which tooke (Whilome) the holy order of St Iohn, A mantle, with a badge like this, wont to put on. 8 This Knight, (Sir Preister hight) who mannaged A shepheards hooke, in place of martiall speare, For lately hee had bin discomfited, By a fierce Knight, ycleap’t Sir Kirke-Rouer, A most vniust, disloyall Caualier, Who did at iusts his launce from him extort, By strength of hand, this made him for to sweare, Instead of it a shepherds hooke to port, Vntill he could recouer it in knightly sort. 9 Sir Priester did salute in curt’ous guise Sir Iustine, and his comely Paramore, In courtly sort they greeted him likewise, But Polydora, who had long before Desird to meete with a new Belamore, Did priuy glances at Sir Preister dart, Hee that was practis’d well in Cupids lore, To her requitalls made, with the like art: Thus silently did they empierce each others heart. Heading and Argument] The canto heading and argument are written on a slip of paper that has been pasted to the top of p. 430 of the manuscript, and then folded over to fit within the book. The addition is in Knevet’s hand, but the slip may have been pasted in at some point after Knevet’s original composition (or indeed custody) of the manuscript: not only has he not restored the running-title or pagination obscured by the pasting-in (at the top of p. 430), but the evidence of water damage on the slip – no sign of which appears on the page folded beneath it – suggests that the two pieces may have been joined relatively late in the manuscript’s history, and perhaps even during its most recent rebinding (see the Textual Introduction). 1.9 head.] head;. 3.4 (for pittyes sake) to stay] (for pittyes sake to stay) 7.7 was fix’d: those] was ⌜fix’d:⌝ those

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 15 In Fortunes honour was this Temple built, Within a gloomy Groue enveloped; That since Deucalions Deluge had nere felt, The stroke of iron in fire hardened; Here Polydora lately promised, The comeing of Sir Preister to expect, Who through the vales, and mountaines trauelled, As loue, and hope, did his swift steppes direct, But all his labour prou’d to bee of no effect.

11 Thus ere Sir Iustine did suspect false play, Sir Preister had seduc’d his Darling deare, And priuyly had stolne her heart away, That shee beganne to looke with froward cheere, On him, that earst had kindly succourd her; But when shee couertly complotted had, Where shee should meet withall her new found feere, Shee out of Iustines sight, did quickly gadde, Takeing no leaue while hee remain’d (for greife) nigh mad.

16 For when he had arriu’d at Fortunes Groue, Hee on his wanton Dame, could not sett eye; Then diuers passions did his fancye moue: Sometimes hee did misdoubt her constancy, And then againe conceiued inwardly, That some wild Beast, or some disloyall Knight, Had him depriu’d of his felicity: Thus hee expected her till ougly Night, Vnto the lower world exiled had day-light.

12 But subtile Preister seem’d his case to pitty, Declaimeing sore ’gainst womans leuity, As beeing faithles both in towne, and citty: Ne did Sir Iustine his sly drifts espy, (The Faitour playd his part so craftily) And when he saw time fitt he bade adiew, To him that had receiu’d the iniury, And went about to seeke that straggleing ewe, That was soone after, greedy of a Louer new.

17 The murmure of the wind among the leaues, Did oft make him beleeue that shee was nigh: Yea many a various obiect him deceiues, ’Till weary’d with dispaire, he downe did lye, Beneath the branch’d armes, of a Beech tree high: Hee doff’d his plumed crest, and layd his head Vpon his embos’t target mournfully, Then Sleepe Deaths elder Brother quickly spred, His temples with the iuice of dwale, and poppy red.

13 Sore did Sir Preister, long to meete his deare, Who constant in her wonted ficklenes, Forgot those flames which shee had felt whilere, Ne did she keepe her plighted promises, Nor to his expectation giue successe; The place which for their meeting they design’d, Was at a Fane, that was renown’d no lesse For architecture cunningly refin’d, Then for the adoration of a Goddesse blind.

18 But when the swift howres, had Aurora dight, With purple colour’d surcote in the east, And Sols fleete Horses deck’d with harneys bright, Then hee shooke of the pleasant bonds of rest, Expecting her, whom hee affected best, His wanton Dame he look’d for long in vaine, For shee was now become anothers guest, Yet many dayes did hee there still remaine, Till Fate to suffer sorowes worse did him constraine.

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10 Hee that a pleader is in Cupids Court, With silent signes, and sighes oft acts his part, Makeing his lookes speake, what his thoughts import, While those dumbe Oratours, his eyes, with art Vnseene, surprise his dearest Ladyes hart; Fine words alone doe not a woman gaine, But speechles rhetoricke at Venus mart, Doth oft as pretious merchandise obtaine, As hee that wooes his loue in th’elegantest straine.

14 This Temple was by Ninus whilome rear’d, When in the east he had great conquests wonne, And vanquish’d that Magician so much feard, For magicke art; whose conversation With angells blacke, and superstition, Could not protect him from misfortune dire: For first his foe his realme did ouerrunne, Then was he burned by prodigious fire; Thus did his blisse, disasters, and his life expire.

10.2 signes,] sighes signes, stanzas 12-38] A deleted stanza, numbered 13, immediately follows stanza 12 in the manuscript. All of the subsequent stanzas (14-39) have been renumbered in Knevet’s hand (13-38), which suggests that this deletion was both late, and authorial. The deleted stanza reads as follows: As hee (which is deepe in his Ladyes grace, Who with a message sweet doth him invite, To meete her soone at an appointed place, Where they may intermixe without affright, All accidents of amorous delight), Makes haste to meete her, brookeing no delay, Takeing but small repose, or day or night, Till in her fragrant lappe his head he lay, Which is an antidote, that driues all care away. 13.1 Sore] Written over So 15.9 prou’d to bee] prou’d ⌜to⌝ bee

Book 9 Canto 4 24 Now Sol was lodged in his westerne bed, Vpon the vpper world grimme darkenes sate, And Venus did vpreare her radiant head, Aboue th’Atlanticke seas, while her fierce Mate Rauish’d with her aspect immaculate, Expandeing his red flareing lockes, made haste, Least at her bed he should arriue too late, Then Harpax as he through a thicket pass’t, Descryd Sir Preister bound, in sleepy fetters fast.

20 This great resort of Pilgrims did invite, A mighty Thiefe, that in a caue nigh hand, Had long his wicked habitation pight, Attended strongly with a theeuish band, To make these Passengers oftimes to stand, Whom of their wealth and baggage he dispoild, And sent each packeing with a hasell wand; Hee could so wisely trace those desarts wild, That hee by any wight was neuer yet beguil’d.

25 Who though he were not very stout of hand, Yet expert was hee in all policyes, And wisely his Bandetti could command, In nightly camisades, and ambushes: This subtile Scout when first he ’gan to ghesse, That there an armed Knight was layd at rest, Cryes whist, vnto his theeuish complices, And biddes them stand: they fulfilld his behest, And like to statues fix’d, all murmure quite supprest.

21 No hardy Templars did th’auenues garde, There was no Convoy, and no Carauan, Nor Ianizars, the Pilgrims for to warde, Against the force, of this Arabian, Who had to pouerty brought many a man: Hee Harpax hight, a most impartiall Thiefe, Both to the Troiane, and the Tyrian; In him it was obseru’d a vertue chiefe, Although hee tooke mens goods, he seld did take a life.

26 With silent paces slowly did he tread, Vntill hee did approche the sleepeing Knight, Then with no whistle loud he summoned, His pliant mates, who tooke the signall right, Hasteing to a surprisall, or a fight: Sir Preister they did quickly circumsept, They from his side did wrest his fauchion bright, With manacles his hands in awe they kept, Thus vnawares they seas’d vpon him while he slept.

22 But doubtles life, is but a curt’sy small, Vnto a spirit, that had rather dye Then liue in misery a captiue thrall; Therefore Sir Harpax, for his piety, Deseru’d not mickle guerdon certainly: For when from many he their goods had hent, They could not so escape his crueltye, But they (perforce) with him to prison went, There to endure much woe, and dreary punishment.

27 As when a subtle Forrester hath caught, (Within an engine strong) a Leopard fierce, The irefull Beast with passion quite distraught, Doth with his horrid cryes the clouds empierce, And guiltles earth with his sharp pounces teares, Thus while he striues himself for to release, More fast bound, and entangled hee appeares, That (maugre all his strength and irefullnes,) Hee from the fatall pittfall cannot make egresse.

23 Nor was he wont by day to rome about, But alway chose the night, as time most fitte, For him, attended by his wicked rout, To play their prankes abroad, and bootyes gett: Nor scarcely did he any night omitt, To seeke his prey: for Pilgrims night, and day, From euery kingdome of the world did flitte, Vnto the Temple of that Goddesse gay, To whom for wealth, and honour they were wont to pray.

28 So did Sir Preister struggle with his foes, But all his strife, and struggleing was in vaine, For they had caught him in so strong a noose, That hee could not his liberty regaine, They made him sure for getting loose againe: Him a sufficient booty did they weene, Ne would they stay, a better to obtaine, But backe retreated to their filthy denne, Conducted by the lustre of nights horned Queene.

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19 This Fane of Fortune daily was frequented, By Pilgrims, bred in countreys farre, and neare, Who to their Goddesse here themselues presented, And offer’d vp their orisons to her, With much respect, and superstitious feare, In hope her Ladiship would them repay, For their deuotion, with some guerdon deare, Thus men of all conditions night, and day, Before the altar of this Goddesse blind did pray.

21.5 pouerty] pou⌜e⌝rty 27.8 That . . . irefullnes,)] (That maugre all his strength) and irefullnes,

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29 They through a Desart with Sir Preister trac’d, In vncouth pathes, o’re hills, through valleys low, Rockes almost vnaccessible they pass’d, And many rills creepeing with courses slow, But all about, did brakes, and briers growe, At length vnto a Cliffe of hideous wonder, They did approch, Which by the direfull blow, Of angry Iuppiters all teareing thunder, Or by an earthquake had long since bin cleft asunder.

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30 Within the concaue of this mighty rocke, Sir Harpax had a dwelling, out of sight: Here did he lurke, with his vngracious flocke, Where hee arriueing with the captiue Knight, Did from his weary Palfrey soone alight; A knot of Rascalls (whom it seemes the sound And trampleing of their Horses did excite) Rose from the caue, and Harpax did surround, Expecting for to know, what booty hee had found.

31 But formost, of that ragged regiment, A iolly strippleing did advance, whose face, And feature, seemed passeing excellent, For though Sir Preister were in wretched case, Hee could not choose, but on that obiect place His Wonder strucken eyne: yong Ganymed That fills care-killing wine to Ioues high grace, Was not with beaut’ous lineaments so spred, As this faire youth, nor so completely habited. 32 No cloud did maske pale Cynthias orbed browes, But lustre bright she did extend; whereby This yonkers dresse shee to Sir Preister showes; A broad hat, purffled artificially With siluer twist, and spangled prettily, His curled tresses gently did confine: His tinsell doublet glitterd gloriously, Beneath a long greene vellet gaberdine, White was his plume, his garters, and his stockeings fine. 33 His belt (that bendwise hung his brest athwart,) With gold was studded, and embroidered; A Persian sword adorn’d with cost, and art, Hung at his thigh, veild in a scabbard red, With stones, and mettalls rich embellished; To claspe this Youth, with armes expanded wide, Sir Harpax in a sudaine proffered: But like a modest, or a scornfull Bride Hee seemd to slight, and put his curtesy aside. 34 Harpax (quoth Hee) how is it come to passe, That you returning thus without a prize, Presume from mee to looke for an embrace? Forbeare: your empty hands I doe despise:

They are vnfitt to take my curtesyes: Then Harpax, with a smileing looke, reply’d: Faire Generall (quoth hee) reflect your eyes; If you will please to cast a looke aside, A prize of no meane price, may bee by you descryd. 35 (This sayd) his fellowes hee commands to shew The Prisoner, the youth with heedfull eye, Did on him gaze, and soone Sir Preister knew; Who both by lookes, and voice, did also spy His disguis’d Polydora presently: But shee, whose idle flames, long since were cold, Would take no notice of his miserye, But with a scornfull looke did him behold, Shee seem’d, as if shee did not know her Louer old. 36 It is (quoth shee) a stout and handsome swaine, Doubtles, for him your Merchants will not stand, To giue you many thankes, and mickle gaine; Hee lookes as if hee well an ore could hand, Or with his armes a burthen bigge command: These bitter taunts Sir Preisters wrath did whette, Hee hardly could his passions fierce withstand, Disdaine, and iealousy did him besett, Like to a chased Bore, he inwardly did frette. 37 Hee grindes his teeth for ire, and sometimes meant To throwe himself among the brutish rout, To finish so his life, and dreariment: The multitude encompas’t him about, And him compell’d (maugre his courage stout) Into a lothsome dungeon to descend, Where Night had pick’d her habitation out, With leane-cheek’d Care her melancholy freind; No other company hee had his mirth to mend. 38 But Harpax, with his seemeing Ganymed When they had ta’ne a plentifull repast, Betooke themselues vnto their sinfull bed, When hee his gardes, and Sentinels had plac’d, About his Fort, with diligent forecast: For hee by Wizards had bin earst foretold, That hee and his, should be surpris’d at last, And bee by cunning taken from this hold, To suffer iustly for their misdeedes manifold. 29.4-7 And many rills . . . direfull blow,] And many rills creepeing with courses slow, | At length vnto a Cliffe of hideous wonder | They did approch which by the direfull blow | But all about, did brakes, and briers growe, | At length vnto a Cliffe of hideous wonder, | They did approch Which by the direfull blow, 33.9 Hee] Written over Shee 34.1 (quoth Hee)] Written over (quoth Shee) 37.8 With] Witth

Book 9 Canto 5

Canto 5 Faire Eleutheria rauished By fierce Corauido, Th’Vtopian Lords for her reliefe To Fairy Land doe goe. 1

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Long since, immortall Ioue the Gods did cite, Vnto a Synode, in Eubœa fat, There to consult, what was most requisite, And advantageous, for Mans fraile estate: First Vulcan, from the place, whereon he sate Arose, and prais’d the fiery Element, As Natures principle indubitate, The source of generation excellent, Lifes fountaine, of all good the speciall instrument. 2 Then trident tosseing Neptune did vprise, With lockes late drenched in the blewish maine, The wat’ry element he magnifyes, And boldly did before the Gods maintaine, That Water, was the good most soueraigne: Nations (quoth hee) are in the world descry’d, That without vse of fire, can life sustaine; But vnder heauen no people doth reside, That without water may in life, or health abide. 3 Then browne-eyd Ceres, with a looke demure, For the laborious Oxe beganne to plead, (The very symbole of agriculture) In goodly language she desciphered, Those happy liues, which husbandmen doe lead, Shee did the vse of cultiuage elate, And with much reason, strongly argued, That it the pillar was of humane state, Without which Man, could not subsist, at any rate. 4 Then stood vp Hermes, with the golden beard, Who full of quirkes, and subtile sophistry, Aboue all other things a House preferr’d, As that, which Man exempts from iniury Of furious Beasts, and coldnes of the skye: Whilome (quothe Hee) the Woods, mens Cittyes were, Herbes did they eate, on beds of leaues did lye, But I them taught braue buildings to vpreare, Then ciuill gouernment, among them did appeare. 5 Then spake, the louely Issue of Ioues braine, While all the Gods, did on her lippes attend; Shee husbandry, and Townes did not disdaine, And did both fire, and water much commend: But yet she sayd, that for some nobler end, Then transitory things Man destin’d was,

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As the omniscient Gods seem’d to intend, When their immortall image they did place, In him who was first Father of the humane race. 6 For doubtles hee was made to mount vp higher, Then this low sphere of terrene substances; Nor water, nor the element of fire, Could limitt his sublimer facultyes, Nor could the starres with all their influences, Of the Celestiall Soule confine the flight, Who striues to know her Makers propertyes, Which knowledge is for Man most requisite, Therefore for him, is knowledge the best benefitt. 7 The Gods to her opinion did assent, And in the Statute Booke of Fate did write, That knowledge was for Man most excellent, In vsefullnes, in profit, and delight; And therefore was by Pallas prou’d aright, Aboue all things to bee Mans soueraigne good: Then they dissolued their assembly quite, And euer since, in force this statute stood In spite of ignorance, or her malicious moode. 8 Thus in the Synode of the Deityes, None did for riches plead, none mention made, Of glistring gold; which moues me to surmise, That they of it no good opinion had, But rather for Mans vse esteem’d it bad; Nor can wee from this censure disagree, If wee consider what conclusions sad, From it, oft in the world produced bee, Which any in authenticke historyes may see. 9 Mans vile affections onely seconded, With this ignoble Goddesse dare advance, In feilds of Microcosmus, and make head, ’Gainst vertues army, heedles of mischance In spite of order, or of ordinance: The trophyes of her conquest doe appeare, In euery land, nor hath her puissance Spar’d holy Church, but to Gods altar neare, The arche triumphall of her victory, doth reare. Arg.2 Corauido,] Corauido Arg.4 goe.] goe 1.3 what was most] what ⌜was⌝ most 1.6 Arose] Written over Aros’d 5.4 And] ⌜And⌝ But 5.5 nobler end,] nobler is end, 5.8 When their . . . did place,] of their essence they a sparke did place, ⌜When their immortall image they did place⌝ 8.2 none] or ⌜none⌝ 9.2 dare] dares 9.5 order, or of] order, ⌜or⌝ of

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10 Shee vnderneath the sacred Cydaris, Doth often shelter her abhorred head, But morall vertues, she destroyes (ywis,) As doth the strong Gerfalcon, or the Glede Prey on the teale, or strike the pidgeon dead: Shee with an apoplexy smites the tongue Of Iustice, and on chastity doth tread: A wiseman shee makes blind, weakens the strong, [wrong. Shee doth transforme the wrong, to right, and right, to

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11 Shee mou’d Corauido for to surprise, Fair Eleutheria the Vtopian Queene. For hee prick’d on, by thirsty couetise, And foule desire, with stratagems vnseene, Vpon her seas’d, in most malicious teene; And her vnto his countrey captiue led, (Hight Auritania) where hee did meane, By force, or by entreaty, her to wedde, And make her the copartner of his loathed bed. 12 No loue heroicke, or true affection, To wooe this royall Lady did him moue, But thirst of treasure, and dominion, Did him incite, to this vnworthy loue, Which doth no noble mind, or heart behoue: For among all the lands, which Sol doth see, When hee about this earthly globe doth roue, None with Vtopia might compared bee, For wealthy store, abounding in a high degree. 13 Such store of mines, this countrey did afford, That it in richesse did Peru exceed, The cause of this excesse, men thus record: Tellus vnto the Gods petitioned, Bicause the Planets had such mischiefes bred, In her precincts, through their maligne aspects, And lewd vagaryes, so irreguled; As causes of all ills, which men doe vexe; Of noisome pestilence, drought, dearth, she them detects. 14 The Gods gaue to her accusation eare, And for their heynous crimes the Planets sent, To the Vtopian mines, to labour there: Till they to Tellus had giuen full content, With wealthy mettalls, for her detriment, But others doe another reason shew, And say that Phœbus, feareing punishment, From angry Iuppiter, and vengeance due, Bicause with arrowes hee the cruell Cyclops slue; 15 Fled to th’Vtopian mines, where out of sight, In Natures officine, he forg’d pure gold: These treasures did Corauido incite,

To wooe this Queene, with leasings manifold; But his sute found an entertainment cold; With this refusall hee enrag’d became, And wicked stratagems beganne to mold, To winne the loue, of this renowned Dame: For baser loue, doth seld decline vile deedes of shame. 16 Though gentle Eleutheria did reiect His nuptiall sute, yet did she entertaine Him, with much ciuill grace, and faire respect, And from no courtly pastimes did abstaine, To giue her Louer solacement againe; Shee lib’rall was of noble curtesy, Least hee should thinke that shee did him disdaine; But shee meant not he should receiue thereby, Hopes, to enforce his former sute, with fresh supply. 17 The crafty Foxe her meaneing did descry, And pitch’d a toile, to catch this beaut’ous Hinde, Ere she should see his guile, or subtilty: Hee humbly thank’d her for this welcome kind, Applaudeing much that bounty hee did find, And ’cause shee might perceiue his will, was right, (Though meanes were wanting to his willing mind) Hee did desire in part, for to requite, Her kindnes, with some courtly showe, or fine delight. 18 But he could not thinke of a better way, Then by a maske, his seruice to present, Vnto her grace, before he went away, Wherein to act a part he was intent, With many Knights of fame, and hardyment: But further, hee to her a Sutour was, That shee with her faire Ladyes, would assent With their endeauours sweet, his worke to grace, And that they would (each one) accept a Masquers place. 19 Kind Eleutheria, that no harme did dread, Did quickly condiscend to his request, For shee in such braue pastimes, was well redde, But when the time was come for this great gest, Corauido with his Assistants drest, In goodly equipage, and rich array, 12.8 might] migh 13.1 did] doth ⌜did⌝ 14.6 shew,] showe shew, Knevet attempted to revise his original reading to shewe before deleting it; the change in spelling was no doubt prompted by his recollection of the unusual rhyme required by ll. 8-9 of the stanza. 16.4 courtly] earthly ⌜courtly⌝ 16.8 But shee] ⌜But⌝ For shee 17.st.n.] 18 17 17.1 her] Written over his 19.3 For] W For

Book 9 Canto 5

To Eleutherias court themselues addrest, While all admired their apparrell gay, [day. Whose wondrous splendour, did transforme darke night to

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20 Then thus ’gan the solemnity appeare: Aloft vpon a rich compartiment, Was written in a golden character, The word, Asotia, which shew’d the intent, Of this their masque, and triumph excellent. An Ocean then did in the scene appeare, Whose blewish bosome, no sterne tempest rent, Still calmenes mou’d vpon the water cleare, And Amphitrite seem’d to smile, with ioyous cheere. 21 Within this Sea a rigid rocke survey’d, Thee creepeing waues, whereon a Syren sate, With lute in hand, who sweetly sung, and playd: Then from a Creeke a Barke launchd forth in state, Adorn’d with workmanship most accurate, The prowe seemd burnishd gold; the poope was spred With colours faire, and worke Vermiculate: Her sides with sculptures guilt were garnished, Her sailes were taffata, her cordage silken threed. 22 A goodly Pilot, seem’d the Barke to guide, Whose crisped lockes a wreath of roses twin’d, About his necke in a red riband ty’d, His golden whistle hung, that brightly shin’d: His cassocke was greene silke, with purple lin’d: Vpon his compasse fixed was his eye, His busynes hee seem’d full well to mind, Steereing his course with mickle policy; Hee seem’d but yong, yet expert in his misterye. 23 But when the Syren, with her charmeing tongue, Had touchd the tender organe of his sence, Hee was so rap’t with her harmonious song, That hee forgot his skill, and prouidence, Besotted with her excellent concents, Then toward her hee did his vessell steere, The winds then fill’d his sailes, with blasts intense, His swift carine, the billowes stout did sheare, Nor yet did any signe of hard mishap appeare. 24 Hee saw no perill, till hee did it feele, For in a sudaine, on a rocke vnseene, His lofty ship did strike her fragile keele: The rageing waues then did rush in betweene, Her broken ribbes, with most impetuous teene, Then her maine mast that earst appear’d full high, Crown’d with a topsaile, and a streamer greene, Was by the deepes deuoured instantly; Both ship and Pilot felt, the same calamity.

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25 (The scene then chang’d) this Ocean disappeares, In whose place did a goodly mead succeed, Where gallant youthes, in strength, and prime of yeares, Among so many Ladyes reuelled, Yong, beautifull, and brauely habited: Some did carrouse sweet wines, in shady bowers: To musicke sweet others did nimbly tread; Some feasted with fine cates on beds of flowres, And some lay colleing their lasciuious Paramours. 26 Then Death, and frowneing Fortune did invade The scene, turning their ioyes to dreary care, Their bowres were ouerthrowne, their flowres did fade: Youth becomes old, their beautyes witherd are; None of this rout would Death, or Fortune spare: This fragrant mead became a stinking fenne, Where toads, and snakes of ouglynes most rare, Did hisse, and crawle, and make a horrid din: Then followd the third variation of the scene. 27 A feild appear’d rail’d in with wooden barres, Corauido with fifty Knights (saue one) With armes, and weapons fitting for the warres, Enter’d the lists, in stately fashion: Then each of these, his mate did sett vpon, The sparkes which from their batter’d sheilds did flye, Through the nocturnall shadowes clearely shone, But when they had chang’d cuffes sufficiently, The Scene was alter’d, in the twinckling of an eye. 28 A Charrett of pure Indian iuory, Appeard, drawne by ten Vnicornes milke-white, Harney’st with gold, and rich embroyderye: Enthronizd here sate Eleutheria bright, With many Dames of beauty exquisite, But as the glistring Moone, doth farre exceed The lesser starres, in splendour and in light, So did faire Eleutheria precede Her ladyes, in rare feature, and in gorgeous weede. 29 Then from their shineing Charret they descend, Beginning a fine daunce, with mickle grace, But ere their courtly sport was at an end, The Scene beganne to put on a new face: For cursed Hagges, that seem’d of Hellish race, Enveloped with flames of fire, and smoke, Disturb’d their measures, and their diapase: Their fumes did nigh the gentle Ladyes choke, Yea the whole Theatre, was filld with a stinking roke. 19.9 night to day] night ⌜to day⌝ 21.4 in state] in ⌜state⌝ 23.7 The winds then fill’d] The winds did ⌜then⌝ fill ⌜’d⌝ 28.8 So did . . . precede] So did p faire Eleutheria precede

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30 While the Spectators, thus astonishd were, Corauido the Ladyes did surprise, That were halfe dead, for very dread, and feare: Thus while the vapour had clos’d vp all eyes, Hee with his Knights away in secret flyes, Returning to his countrey with much speed, Where ioyous of his late achieued prize, Hee thought he had completely conquered, Both Eleutherias Kingdome, and her maydenhead.

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31 Th’Vtopian Lords, then hopeles to regaine Their Ladyes person, or her liberty, To mighty Gloriana did complaine, Sore dreadeing the remorseles tyranny, Of fierce Corauido, their enemy: Then shee to gentle Belcoeur license gaue, His valour, and his martiall skill to try For the releasment of this Lady braue, Whom that false Tyrant did so wickedly enslaue. 32 Sir Belcoeur, who assisted had of late Faire Synedesia in the funerall, Of Philodore, her Lord vnfortunate, Enterred vnderneath a Pine tree tall, Left her to lead a life monasticall, While he engaged in his great inquest, Did many strange adventures meete withall, And dangerous occurrences represt; By Fate, and his auspicious starres, he was so blest.

33 But as he trauell’d forth vpon a day, A pretty Damsell him encountered, That mounted was vpon a Gennett gray, And in a stole of pure lawne habited, Beseemeing well her modest maydenhead; Shee curtously Sir Belcoeur did salute, Sayeing (faire Sir) that seem’st one honored, With noble Knighthood, listen to my sute, Whereby thou mayst obtaine, much guerdon, and repute. 34 Eunomia is my name, my Lady hight Dicœa, who of late hath bin opprest, By the iniustice of a wicked wight, (Cleap’d Riccolozell) her vnworthy guest, To whom she mickle kindnes had exprest, For gently shee was wont to entertaine, All Knights, that were to actions braue addrest, Nor did she Squires of meane degree disdaine, Both high, and low did fauours at her hands obtaine. 35 But when this Giant Riccolozell found Faire entertainment, at her hands of late, Hee a vile wretch, and most vngratefull hound,

All hospitall respects did violate, And seas’d vpon her vtter Castle gate, Which hee intends to keepe by dint of sword; All Elfin Knights hee mortally doth hate, Nor will to any license free afford, In good Dicœas Castle to take bed, or bourd. 36 But they which meane to find an entrance there, With store of gold, his gripeing fist must greaze; A lothsome act to each braue Cheualier, Which onely doth ignoble varlets please, That action hate, and loue to liue at ease: But this foule Carle is passeing fierce, and strong, Well skilld to fight at all advantages, And many Knights he oft hath layd along, That haue attempted to redresse my Ladyes wrong. 37 And those (whom hee by chance of warre subdues) Hee of both horse, and armour doth dispoile, Exposeing them to shame, and base abuse. His lewd behauiour, and demeanour vile, My gentle Lady did enforce erewhile, To send mee forth to seeke for some redresse, In some adioyneing, or farre distant soile; For ill shee brookes his lawles outrages, And faine would see him suffer, for his naughtynes. 38 Thus spake Eunomia, and her speech did moue The tender passion, of the noble Knight, Who gladly condiscended for to proue, His strength, and valour on this cursed wight, And (for his wicked prankes) him to requite Thus rode he with this Lady by his side, And many pleasant storyes did recite, (To passe away the time) ’till hee descryd Another Knight, and Dame, that toward them did ride. 39 The Knight did proudly mannage a tall steed; Bright starres did on his azure corslet shine, His waueing plume was of pure white, and red: His surcote was of silke, and siluer fine; A goodly Champion seem’d hee in all eyne, A flame of fire was blazon’d on his sheild, Whereon was written in a golden line, Semper summa peto: these words reueald, [conceal’d. Those high aspireing thoughts, which his proud heart 30.6 his] the his 31.6 Belcoeur] Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 32.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 33.4 stole . . . habited,] stole of ⌜pure⌝ lawne well habited, 33.6 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 35.4 did violate,] did vitiate, ⌜violate⌝ 37.4 lewd] lew’d

Book 9 Canto 5 45 But when Sir Belcoeur, ’gan to reprehend Her causeles raileing, she did him reuile, And did Liptocleon ’gainst him incende, Who soone incited by her motiues vile, Sir Belcoeur blam’d in an vnsau’ry stile, And fiercely to the combate did him dare, The Faery Knight did at his choler smile, And him advis’d his valour for to spare; Wherewith Liptocleon, grew more enraged farre.

41 But her conditions did not well aggree, With her rare feature, for she was so proud, That of her sexe she sought the prime to bee, Shee of all parity quite disallow’d, Yet was shee not of high descent, by bloud; For noble minds doe seldome harbour pride, But are with humble qualityes endow’d, While Peasants mounted will a gallop ride, Beholding with contempt, euen all the world beside.

46 And backe retired, for to make his course; Sir Belcoeur, to the iusts himself addrest, And him rencounterd with such heed, and force, That his gay plume, was torne quite from his crest, While on the earth the Braggart tooke his rest. Sir Belcoeur left him in an extasy, The Minion proud with mickle greife opprest, Dismounts, and did his batterd helme vntye, To giue him aire, whose scalpe was brused cruelly.

42 A meete Companion was she for her Knight, Who mightily ambitious was likewise, For though he were a Champion stout in fight, And had demean’d himself in worthy guise, Full oft in many a warlike enterprise, Yet with vaineglorious boasts did he deface, The fame of his achieued victoryes, And did the worth of other Knights disgrace, With ougly calumnyes, and cauillations base.

47 Thus was improuident Liptocleon, Obserueing a vaine womans peeuishnes, Through his owne folly iustly ouerthrowne, Hee vniust strife preferr’d before iust peace, And sufferd for his foolish hardynes; But Belcoeur, with Eunomia, mild pass’d on, Leaueing the Dame to pitty his distresse, And to goe find out a Chirurgion, And too too late his sad disaster to bemone.

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40 His lady also, mounted was full high, Vpon a steed, whose trappeings were of gold, Her robes were wrought with rich embroidery, A proud Tiara did her lockes enfold, Which lustre gaue like brightest Indian mold: The iolly Knight was call’d Liptocleon, A Caualier of courage passeing bold, And much redoubted, but his Minion Philotime was cleap’t, a louely parragon.

43 Their salutations slight did well expresse, Their pride, and peeuish haughtynes of mind, When they to Belcoeur did themselues addresse, And to Eunomia who was inclin’d To placid meekenes, and behauiour kind. Nathles Sir Belcoeur, and Eunomia faire With their diportment seem’d no fault to find, But gently did repay this lordly payre, With curtesy, and countenance most debonaire. 44 But lewd Philotime, could not containe Her maligne thoughts, as one that deepely did All worth, and beauty, but her owne disdaine: Shee first in priuate manner whispered, Opprobrious words, by wretched envuy bred, Then openly shee ’gan to brawle, and scold, And loud, against Eunomia thundered; Shee call’d her painted Queane, and harlot old, And sayd that all her beauty had bin bought, and sold.

40.9 cleap’t] Written over cheap’t 41.2 with her rare] with ⌜her⌝ rare 41.7 endow’d] endud endow’d 41.8 Peasants] Beggars ⌜Peasants⌝ 43.3 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 43.6 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 45.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 45.5 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 46.2 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 46.6 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 47.6 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier

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Canto 6 Sir Belcoeur Robador subdues And Riccolozell quells, Phaulurgo him and Gratian Deceiues by cursed spells. 1

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Hee that sittes high, in the tribunall seate, Must from infectious bribes, keepe cleane his hand, A corrupt Iudge, is but a Robber great, And farre more guilty of offences grand, Then hee in bands, which at the barre doth stand: Therefore the gripeing Carle, who doth intend His proper gaine, and no way can command, His couetous desires, must not contend, The sacred throne of iust Astræa to ascend. 2 Cambyses, punish’d a Iudge for the sinne Of bribery, vncaseing him aliue, And to the iudgement seate, did naile his skinne, Where his succeedeing Sonne did sentence giue; Who warn’d by such a sad memoratiue, Might from vnlawfull gifts, his hands withold For gifts the vnderstanding doe depriue, Of sight, and the belou’d aspect of gold, Doth make the hotest zeale, of truth, and iustice, cold. 3

Pure Iustice, and vnsatiate couetise, Will not bee Innemates, or cohabitant, But are incompatible qualityes, Ne can they bee together conversant, Beeing most opposite, and litigant: ’Tis meete he should retaine a liberall heart, That is endu’d with place predominant, In great Astræas court: hee must impart Iustice to all, by rule, and measure of desart. 4 Like snaky folds, vpon Medusas pate, Or beds of Vipers foule, together twin’d, Doe ougly vices themselues aggregate; But noble vertues are together ioyn’d, Like Homers pretious chaine of gold refin’d: The lib’rall Man is clement, iust, and wise, Magnanimous, magnificent, and kind, Nor euer doth refuse, at any price, To help the weake, with all his might and artifice. 5 Sir Belcoeur, and Eunomia forth did ride, Vntill a narrow creeke their iorney stayd, But there a Fisherman they soone descry’d, That in a crazed boate asleepe was layd, They him awooke, and did demand his aide, Them to transport, vnto the farther side,

The lazy Slouen, that was ill arrayd; With manners likewise seem’d ill qualify’d, For rudely hee to them his helping hand deny’d. 6 But if necessity, had not constrain’d, Them to make vsage of this Peasant base, His seruice they had vtterly disdain’d, So nasty and so foule a Knaue he was: A filthy scurfe imbark’d his swinish face; The mammockes of some stinkeing fish, halfe broil’d, Hung on his vnkemb’d beard, his canvas case With ordure, tarre, and dirt, were all defil’d, Where vermine stragled thicke, as if they had bin wild. 7 His boate with guttes, and garbages was spred, Of dogfishes, and Sharkes, yeilding a sent, That might a noisome pestilence haue bred: Yet him the Knight entreated to assent, To wafte him to the further continent; The Churlish Wretch still grunny’d a denyall, (As one that neuer knew what curt’sy meant) Sir Belcoeur, then gan make another tryall, And downe before the clownish villaine, threw a riall. 8 Then Sordido soone finger’d vp the gold, And was content, that they should come abourd: His ragged saile then ’gan he to vnfold, And stoutly with his oares himself bestour’d, That speedily he through the billowes scour’d: But from the landward, rush’d a sudaine blast, When they were almost ready to bee shor’d, Which ouer bourd did blow both saile, and mast, While both the Pilot and his freight were sore agast. 9 Nor did the frequent gusts their rage allay, ’Till farre into the furrow fronted maine, They had inforc’d these passengers away, That now small hope of safety did remaine, With broken ores they labour’d all in vaine, The leakeing Vessell dranke the waues full fast, Arg.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier Arg.2 quells,] quells 1.1-2 Hee that . . . his hand,] Hee that sittes high, in the tribunall seate, | In the tribu | Must from infectious bribes, keepe cleane his hand, 2.4 sentence] ⌜sentence⌝ iudgement 2.6 withold] ⌜withold⌝ withhold 4.4 ioyn’d] ioyne’d 5.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 6.5 imbark’d] em imbark’d 7.8 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 8.3 to vnfold] vnto vnfold 8.9 While] (While 9.1 frequent gusts] qu frequent gusts

Book 9 Canto 6

And on his left arme, did his target reare: They him assaile, but hee such hauocke made Among the rogues, that soone their courages ’gan fade.

10 They on the blew-eyd Gods did freely spend, Their prayers, and their votiue promises, Nor can I tell which of the Gods did send, A supersedeas to the windes, or ghesse Which of the Nymphs did pitty their distresse, For sudainly the Seas their rage did slake, The windes, and tempests did their fury cease, And gentle calmenes did their places take, The Ocean then became as smooth as any lake.

15 From some he lopp’d of heads, while others leap’t Into the sea (his fury to eschue) And many trembling, vnder hatches crep’t: The Captaine then his folly ’gan to rue, Who on his knees did for compassion sue, Sir Belcoeur daign’d to spare the wretched wight, Though hee had death deserued, as his due, For hee had thought to haue surpris’d the Knight, And made him a rich booty, with Eunomia bright.

11 But so the seas, had torne their wretched Boate, That it was craz’d, and almost founderd quite, And could vnneath vpon the water flote, While they remain’d thus in this wofull plight, Ready for death, a Frigote came in sight, Which their discourag’d hearts did somewhat cheere, They toward her did steere their course aright, The Frigote also toward them drew neare, As meaneing to deliuer them from deadly feare.

16 Sir Belcoeur, haueing thus subdu’d his foes, A mournfull sound from vnder hatches heares, It was a womans voice, hee did suppose: Then hee enquires of him, what prisoners, Hee had in hold: none, none, the Pyrate sweares: The angry Knight, him menaced to wound; Then hee confest (for feare to loose his eares) That hee a famous Robber late had found, Who with his company, lay vnder hatches bound.

12 The Captaine of the Frigote gaue them leaue, To come aboard, and with his helping hand, Sir Belcoeur, and the Lady vp did heaue, Into his Vessell, that was throughly mann’d: Hee also did his Mariners command, With slings, their horses for to lift abourd, (Which done) he of Sir Belcoeur did demand, The yeilding, and surrender of his sword, Since he had him from instant death, to life, restord.

17 Sir Belcoeur, him commands for to descend, And to discharge, what captiues he had there: Hee durst not disobey, but downe did wend, And from their giues and fetters did them cleare, Who on the deckes appear’d with gladsome cheare: The Knight surveyd them with a curious eye, And one among them spyd, whom he whilere In Faery Court had knowne, then by and by, That it Sir Preister was, he plainely did descry.

13 I craue your pardon Belcoeur then reply’d: To mee this sword great Gloriana gaue, Her owne faire hands it girded to my side, And if I ere forgoe a gift so braue, Let me become a Villaine, and a slaue: Yea curtesy forbiddes you to depriue (If you respect of honord knighthood haue) Mee of my armes, which I to none will giue, (Maugre despite or danger) while I breathe or liue.

18 Nor could he silence keepe, but thus did say, (Oh gentle Preister) how is’t come to passe, That thou ar’t dight in such a sad array? I needes must pitty thy distressed case, That thus ha’st bin abus’d by varlets base: By what vile couine, or foule treachery,

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They powr’d the seas, into the seas againe: Euen to the center of the Ocean vast, The waues did gape, and Death appeard with euery blast.

14 The Pyrate sly, thus wanting of his will, Vnto his lippes he sette his whistle cleere, Wherein hee blew a blast, full loud, and shrill: Then from beneath the hatches did appeare, A rout of villaines, seemeing voyd of feare The Knight then did vnsheathe his glistring blade,

10.9 The] Then 12.3 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 12.4 that was throughly] that ⌜was⌝ throughly 12.7 Sir Belcoeur] Sr Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 13.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 13.3 Her] She Her 13.6 you] Written over yee 13.7 you] Written over yee 15.6 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 16.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 17.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier,

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Wer’t thou enforced to this wretched place? Sir Preisters lookes his shame did signify, Nor could hee (for mere griefe) afford a quicke reply.

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19 In fine his story sad he did relate, Of Polydora, that false Minion, Who had him promis’d, for to bee his mate, But through her breach of faith, he was vndone, And brought vnto this vile perdition: The melancholy Dame thus heard him plead, Against her self with sore vexation; For shame shee in her bosome hung her head, And wept, with guilt of her offences ill bested. 20 Hee shew’d, how shee to Harpax vile had fled, Who him surpris’d vnworthily by night, And in a dungeon deepe him fettered, And how this Pyrate, who Robador hight, A Painim bold, a faithles Ismaelite, (Who wont to buy what captiues Harpax tooke) At length deceiued, that deceitfull wight, For of his denne hee knew each hurne, and nooke, And there arriu’d by night, ere hee for him did looke. 21 (Quoth hee) hee follow’d by a swarme of roagues, Takes Harpax, Polydora, false and mee, With all the residue, and vs embogues Within this Frigote swift, where nights thrice three, Wee fasting haue remain’d, and but for thee, Might haue bin famish’d quite, or at the best If wee had liu’d, wee had liud slaues to bee; For hee had sold vs vnto dogges vnblest, Which in perpetuall thraldome should haue vs possest. 22 Thus Preister spake: Sir Belcoeur then commands, The Pilot, to make toward the next shore, Where hee with all the ioyfull captiues lands, And biddes adieu to theeuish Robador, Adviseing him to vse his trade no more; Or if he still resolued was to ply, The territoryes blew of Neptune hore, Hee might protect himself from pouerty, By many courses honester, then theeuery. 23 Now Preister had regain’d his sword, and armes, And faine on Harpax, would haue wreak’d his spite, But gentle Belcoeur his fierce choler charmes, Perswadeing him to spare the wretched wight, The worthles obiect of his force, and might: Thus Harpax, with his ragged regiment, Consorted also with his mistris light, Escaped his deserued punishment, Returning gladly, to his theeuish tenement.

24 As when a wolfe toward the shady wood, A tender kidde in his wide chappes doth beare, Delayeing for to spill his captiues bloud; Vntill (by chance) hee meetes a Forrester Who makes him to let loose his prisoner, Which to her damme returnes, with mickle haste, Whose swiftnes is encreased much by feare, Ne doth she once a looke behind her cast, But out of danger plyes, her nimble feet full fast. 25 So Harpax fled, with Polydora gay. Sir Preister tooke his leaue of Sir Belcoeur, Who with Eunomia went another way, For they their course without delay did steere, Vnto the Castle of Dicœa deare. When they arriu’d, the Giant stout appeares, As one that did expect a stranger there; Hee was arm’d ready for the barriers, A huge robustious Carle hee was, and passeing fierce. 26 The Knight did from his Courser tall descend, And hastily his beuer, closed hee, Hee softly to the Castle-ward did wend, But Riccolozel, his approch did see, And him commanded to lay downe his fee: Hee him advised, for to draw his purse, Since there he could not expect entrance free; You must sayd hee perforce some coine disburse, But if you money want, in pawne I’le take your horse. 27 These base demandes, incens’d Sir Belcoeur so, That hee his fauchion drew (without delay) And valyantly ’gan to assault his foe, Nor did the mighty Riccolozell stay, But did with furious strokes, his blowes repay: While that Eunomia fraught with fearefull doubt, Expecting stood the issue of the fray, For Riccolozell was a Champion stout, And many combates had with wondrous fortune fought. 28 With equall valour, they the fight maintain’d, And many wounds were giuen on either hand, That with their bloudy gore the earth was stain’d, Then Riccolozell did on tiptoes stand, Lifteing aboue his head his fatall brand, 20.8 For of . . . hee] O For of his denne he hee 21.8 vs vnto] vs in vnto 22.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 23.3 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 24.1 As when . . . toward] As when a she-wolfe ⌜toward⌝ to 25.2 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr Belchier, ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 27.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 27.2 fauchion drew] fauch⌜i⌝on drew it

Book 9 Canto 6 The blow did light vpon Sir Belcoeurs crest, Whose violence he hardly could withstand, For had his helme not bin of temper best, It had him cleft in twaine, vnto the very brest.

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29 But while he made this blow with all his power, Vpon the gory sand his feet did slide, And downe he tumbled like a massy tower, With filthy dyrt was his haberieon dy’d, And as hee to recouer footeing try’d, Sir Belcoeur such a cruell knocke him lent, That in his caske he made a rupture wide, Then hee for mercy cryd (death to prevent) Or els a second blow had him to Limbo sent. 30 His trembling hands did let his weapon fall, And humbly hee for mercy sweet did pray, Desireing that hee might become his thrall, And that he would not take his life away; His prayers did Sir Belcoeurs wrath allay, Hee gaue him life, but also made him sweare, That hee would neuer more by night, or day, Armes or defensiue, or offensiue beare, And or by deed, or word, wrong any Caualier. 31 Thus Riccolozell, the Oppressour was, Condignely bafful’d by Sir Belcoeur iust; For armes of Knighthood, fitte not Peasants base, That grope for golden pelfe, in mire, and dust, Which they in iron Chests commend to rust: Nor is there any more apparant signe, Of a base mind, then that ignoble lust, Of wealthy store, which Knights of antique line, Ought like an ougly toad, or viper to decline. 32 Dicœa fairely, did Sir Belcoeur greet, Reioyceing for his happy victory, And him receiu’d with entertainment meete, For such a parragon, of Chiualry, That had subdu’d her hated enemy, Whom from her land shee did exterminate; But Belcoeur shee did feast full Iouially, Where he his spirits did well recreate, And had his wounds recur’d by med’cines accurate. 33 Then hee Dicœas habitation left, And follow’d his late vndertaken quest, Through many countreys traceing like a weft, Oftimes with many hard adventures prest, And with enraged enemyes obsest. The garland of true honor’s neuer wonne,

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Without great perill, and that glorye’s best, Which is by hideous death and wounds begunne, In which no Coward vile, may haue a portion. 34 The greedy Merchant doth with fragile keele, Plowe on the ruthles wat’ry element, Whose terrours, might euen melt a heart of steele, Yet hee to purchase wealth, and gaine intent, Doth at no sight of danger dire relent, Hee feares no froward windes, that threaten wrackes, Nor mighty rockes, with claps of thunder rent, Nor monsters, that disclose their horrid backes, Presageing tempests, and impetuous cataracts. 35 If these themselues expose (through hope of gaine) To such great perills, and calamityes, Then hee that seekes immortall worth t’obtaine, Must not from greater perills turne his eyes, Since hee adventures for a nobler prize; For gold shall perish soone, and bee forgot, The long-liu’d Phœnix in her owne flames dyes, The lasting Cedar shall decay, and rotte; But Vertue onely scapes deaths penetrateing shot. 36 Sir Belcoeur, in his voyage mett by chance, A Knight in goodly equipage arrayd, Dight in rich armes, and wielding a stiffe lance, A bleedeing heart was on his targe displayd, Pierc’d with seuen golden darts, a louely maide, In comely habite drest, rode by his side, Whose modest smiles, her gentle mind bewray’d, Her beauty, and behauiour testify’d That shee was honorably borne and well ally’d. 37 The Knight (Sir Gratian hight) who was no lesse, For debellation of the proud renown’d, Then for relieueing of the succourles, 28.6 Sir Belcoeurs] Sr ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ Belchiers 29.4 dyrt] gore dyrt 29.6 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 29.9 Or els . . . had] Or els h a second blow had 30.5 Sir Belcoeurs] Sr Belchiers ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ 30.9 wrong any Caualier] to wrong no ⌜any⌝ Caualier 31.2 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 31.9 an ougly toad] a⌜n ougly⌝ toad 32.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 32.7 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 33.5 obsest.] obsest;. 34.2 Plowe] Plough Plowe 36.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr Belchier, ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 36.8 Her beauty . . . testify’d] That shee deseru’d to bee a right good Knights faire Bride ⌜Her beauty, and behauiour testify’d⌝

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A gentler Knight then hee, nere trod on ground, Nor was a sweeter Lady to be found. They greet Sir Belcoeur with much curtesy, For they with ciuill courtship did abound, Not that dissembling art, and faculty, In Citty, and in court now vs’d so frequently.

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38 Sir Belcoeur hardy, and Sir Gratian strong Had knowne each other well in Faery court, In knightly armes haueing bin brothers long; Each other they embrac’d in loueing sort, And mutually did their affaires report, And what rare accidents had happen’d late, In countreys whither they wont to resort: While thus they passe the time in pleaseing chatte, A dreary spectacle did sorely them amate.

39 A mighty Beare, did crosse them in their way, That in his chappes a naked infant bore, The babe with pierceing shrikes did them dismay, And with vpreared hands, seem’d to implore Their help, and aide, (to saue him from deaths doore). The Beast, when hee this sudaine rescue spy’d, Into the Forrest thicke fled them before, They after, in a full carreere did ride, Hopeing him to compell, to lay his load aside. 40 As when a Lion fierce, doth beare away, From the Numidian heards a Calfe well fed, Hee to the Desart, hastens with his prey, Beeing pursu’d, and hotely followed, By Netheards, and their dogges, with mickle speed: Yet hee nathlesse doth beare away his quarry; Their outcryes, nor their hububs doth he dread, Hee will not lett his prey behind him tarry, But (maugre all their anger) it from them doth carry. 41 So did these Knights pursue this Robber wild, But still as they approch’d, and drew him nigh, Thinkeing he must be forc’d to leaue the child, Or instantly must by their weapons dye, His speed he mended, and did faster fly: Into such bushy, vncouth dells, he drew His egre followers, with cunning sly, That they on horsebacke scarce could him pursue, And with no little labour, kept him still in view. 42 Now ’gan the Sunne t’approch his wonted Inne, And stoupe to kisse great Amphitrites brest, While Night the Mistris of light-hateing sinne, Prepared to vnfold her sable vest, All creatures summoning to sleepe, and rest, When these two Knights were forc’d to leaue the chase,

Haueing lost sight of the pursued Beast, Who sad, and weary, with their painefull race, Desirous were to light vpon a resting place. 43 At length, a Temple ruinous they found, Whose walls lasciuious iuy did embrace, [crown’d; Whose roofe with shrubbes, and noxious herbs was It seem’d an vncouth, superstitious place, Which by some Dæmon earst possessed was, That there gaue answeres to his votaryes, When they with lewd libations sought his grace: Darkenes did here these Errant Knights advise, Themselues to shelter, from the coldnes of the skyes. 44 They from their lofty Coursers here alighting, Enterd the Fane, where nigh a wearish light, A hoary headed Father they saw writeing, They thinkeing, ’twas some holy Heremite, Were glad t’haue found so good an Hoste that night: The subtile Faitour, did his eyes vp cast, And seemed much offended with the sight, Of these vnbidden guests, like one agast, Hee stood, the Knights beholding, and the Lady chast. 45 In verity (quoth hee) it ill beseemes All Knights, to trouble with intrusion rude, One busy’d in celestiall theoremes, Who much abhorreing bruite, and tumults lewd, From worldly vanity, doth here himself seclude: Bee pleasd (quoth they) as it doth thee behoue: For wee are forc’d vpon the to intrude, This Ladyes safety to it, did vs moue, Who is vnmeete (God wot) to lye beneath cold Ioue. 46 Then his mysterious papers he wrappes vp, And in a corner thrusts his figur’d wand, Hee also did remoue his magicke cup, And tooke a booke, of sacred lore in hand, That they his piety might vnderstand, And him vnguilty deeme of wicked art; His figures hee effaced on the sand, And gentle welcome did to them impart, Hee seemed to receiue them with a loueing heart. 37.6 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 38.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 39.5 doore).] doore) 39.6 hee] shee 39.9 him] Written over her 39.9 his] Written over her 40.8 Hee will not lett] Hee l will not lett 42.7 Haueing] A Haueing 42.8 sad,] sad,, 45.4 Who] ⌜Who⌝ And 46.8 did to them] did ⌜to⌝ them 46.9 receiue them] receiuem them

Book 9 Canto 6 47 Hee from his sory Magazine forth layd, Those syluane cates, whereon he wont to feed, With which his guests their hungry stomackes stayd; But this old Caitife (ere they went to bed) A cup of licour for them tempered, Hee many poisons somnolent did mixe, Which hee in sundry climes had gathered, Blacke water fetch’d from the infernall Styx, Was the Vehiculum of his Hypniotickes.

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48 Intoxicateing Betel, which enmoues The chast Cambaian Wiues, for to pursue Their husbands dead, to the Tartarean groues; That herbe which from the Stygian Dogs fome grew, Cicuta, which th’Athenian Wiseman slue, Cacauate, which doth abhorre the Sunne, Impia, which all creatures doe eschue The sleepy Mandrakes, and Chenomychon, These were the simples, of his dire confection. 49 Phaulurgo (haueing ta’ne an antidote) Beganne a lusty cup to Sir Belcoeur, The Knight his curtesy refused not, And dranke vnto his fellow Caualier, They it did swallow like Nepenthe cleare, No harme suspecting, or deceitfullnes; But soone this licours vigour did appeare, Their braines were troubled with a giddynes, Ne could their eyes resist a fatall drowsynes. 50 With iron sleepe their sences fetterd were, The old Magician then did mumble out, His potent spells, and did their browes besmeare, With vnctions nocumentall all about, While sad Pulcheria, amaz’d, shrik’d out; But all her lamentation, was in vaine, So strongly vpon them the poison wrought, Then hee assur’d they should nere wake againe, Ascending his enchanted Charrett fled amaine. 51 Now it would aske a hundreth pennes, to showe Pulcherias most vnfortunate distresse; Thamantes pencill could not paint (I know) Her visage sad, or halfe her greifes expresse, Shee was so miserably comfortles, While curs’d Phaulurgo hurry’d through the aire, By winged spirits, with all speedynes, Did vnto great Corauido repaire, To whom hee did recount, all his successes faire. 52 For when Corauido, had rauished Faire Eleutheria, hee beganne to feare A iust reuenge, for that iniurious deed,

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And deemeing hee could not by valour meere, Himself from all ensueing perills cleere, With rich rewards, and mighty promises, Hee did suborne this wicked Coniurer, Him to assist with all his skillfullnes, That by his help hee might his stoutest foes represse. 53 This old Magician haueing by his art, And by espyalls, perfectly descry’d, That Sir Belcoeur, from Faery Court did part, For to abate Corauidos lewd pride, And to make Eleutheria his Bride, By magicke trickes him to delude was bent, And from that enterprise him to misguide, Therefore a Spirit like a Beare he sent, Whom while they did pursue, they were in his snare hent. 54 Now while Pulcheria, with ruthfull cryes, And bootles grones, did her two Knights lament, The Morne withdrew Nights curtaine from the skyes, And to the Lady some small comfort lent, That was with greife vncessant, almost spent; Exhausted were her tender scortched eyes, Her hayre disheuel’d was, her dressing rent: And further to expresse her miseryes, Of teares, and suspirations, shee did want supplyes. 55 But while in this sad plight shee did remaine, Propitious heauen, did pitty her distresse, Restoreing her from death, to life againe, For or by chance, or by command expresse, Of some high pow’r, a sacred Hunteresse, Who cleap’d was Erothæa arriu’d there, Where this vnhappy Lady comfortles, Bewail’d Sir Belcoeur, and Sir Gratian deare, That on the ground, did in a deadly traunce appeare. 56 Her awfull presence, made Pulcheria reare Her fainting spirits, for in feature rare, Shee like a mighty Goddesse did appeare, With true loue knots, her lockes embraided are, In lustre, threeds of gold surpasseing farre, A glistring belt athwart her brest was seene, A quiuer by her proper thigh she bare, Fraught well with golden headed arrowes keene, Her doublet silke, and siluer was, her kyrtle greene. 49.2 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr Belchier, ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 50.8 Then hee assur’d] Then ⌜hee⌝ assur’d 53.3 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 55.8 Sir Belcoeur . . . Gratian deare,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Gratian, and Sr ⌜Gratian deare⌝ Belchier,

192

Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 62 Symptomes of life beganne then to arise; As when some creature by sharp cold dismayd, Is quite depriu’d of liueing facultyes, But before Vulcans flames it beeing layd, Recouers motion by heates strength, and aide. Euen so these Knights did by degrees regaine, Their former strength, vpstarting well apayd, (Such vertue rare did in this herbe remaine) It Herbe of Grace is called by each Shepheard swaine.

58 Shee was deriu’d from an eternall race, Beeing a Goddesse borne in the right line, Of supreme Ioue: nor shall Time ere deface With age, or sickenes, her portraiture fine, Her beauty in eternity shall shine: Shee was endu’d with skill in magicke art, Not magicke diabolicke, but diuine, Which metaphysickes doth to vs impart, And with philosophy sublime, adornes Mans heart.

63 As when resplendent Phœbus peepeth through The guilded hornes, of the Phryxœan Beast, Each Bird then chants vpon the buddeing bough, And then the Adder doth himself devest, Of his old hide, and in a new is drest: Euen so these knights, their health recouered, While faire Pulcheria much ioy exprest, But Erothæa through the Forrest fled, As swift as lightening, and left them astonished.

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57 Her buskins siluer palletts did dispart, In her hand ready was a bended bowe, By which she pierc’d had many a tender heart, But from her arrowes did such vertue flowe, That neuer from their wounds, did mischiefe growe, Her wounds were soueraigne cures, and did alway, To noble actions quicken spirits slow, Tigers, and Lions, did her hests obey, Yea ouer mortall things, she bare the greatest sway.

59 Shee Lions turn’d to lambes, and tigers fell, To tender kiddes, (so wondrous was her skill) In medicine she was redde passeing well, And could confect a potion, or a pill, Cureing diseases (were they nere so ill) This mighty Goddesse Erothæa faire, (Whose worth cannot be blaz’d by humane quill) Came in a fitting season to repaire, Pulcherias greifes, who stood on the brinke of dispaire. 60 She did entreate Pulcheria to relate, By what mischance, and dreary accident, These Knights were brought vnto that wretched state; The Damsell, then againe ’gan to lament, Declareing how Phaulurgo pestilent, By deadly poison, had her Knights vndone; But Erothæa badde her bee content, Sayeing, that if life were not fled and gone, Her Knights might bee restord, to perfect health anon. 61 Shee to their pulses did her hand apply, And haueing found that life did still abide, Shee went into the Forrest presently, To seeke an herbe, of strength and vertue try’d, Nor was it long ere shee a plant descryd, Which hight Thelygonum; shee wondrous glad No other simple did for them prouide, But when the iuyce thereof she squeazed had, Into their mouthes, and it vpon their temples spread.

Canto 7 Chrysophila and Maldesir, The Muses doe distresse: Sir Belcoeur is subdu’d in fight, While he seekes their release. 1 Where thirst of golden pelfe doth domineare, And wealth, is deem’d mans chiefest benefitt, No vertue can find entertainment there, For as the Pepper-tree will not permitt, That vegetall, which planted is neare it, To grow, or thriue, euen so this foule desire, Will not a vert’ous quality admitt, Whose blossom’d branches dye, and soone expire, If once they feele the breath, of this contagious fire. 2 If that a Wolfes taile, bee hung vp (they say) The manger of the toileing Oxen by, The Beasts refuse both prouander, and hay, And rather will for lacke of fodder dye, By force of some occult antipathye; But this apparently oft prou’d hath bin, That when vile couetise in place most high, Of humane minds is fix’d, then vertue greene Her verdant hue doth loose, and will no more bee seene. 57.4 her] their ⌜her⌝ 59.7 (Whose worth cannot] (Whose ⌜worth⌝ cannot 61.9 spread.] spr⌜e⌝ad. 62.9 swaine.] swaine 63.9 them astonished] them all astonished Arg.3 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 1.6 or thrive] or, thrive

Book 9 Canto 7

The brutish Beares, and Lions doe disdaine, To make their prey vpon dead carkasses, Yet wicked auarice doth not abstaine, From liueing, or from liueles substances, But rauines all, with hunger pittyles, Breakeing both Natures, and religions tyes, Makeing the Sonne desire his sires decease, Intoxicateing holy mysteryes, With sacriledge, and other sinnefull prodigyes.

8 (Yee snowy Swannes) Appollos darlings deare, Now leaue Mæander crooked, and swift Po, With songs, to end your liues, and sorowes here: Here vent your dreary tunes, and sounds of woe; Stout Technophil, yee ought to mourne for so. Not with sad Cypresse, but with wither’d bayes, Twine your white neckes, and offer vp unto This Man of honour, such renowned layes, That in th’Elysian shades, he may your dutyes praise.

4 Shee is a vice extreme, and odious, In those which be in ciuill things employ’d, But when that Officers religious, Cannot the guilt of that offence auoyd, Yea when the holy Altar is annoy’d, By her vnsanctifyed neihbourhood, Then Heauen with such wickednes accloy’d, Doth seld desist, in most reuengefull moode, To powre downe punishment, in direfull showres of blood.

9 (Yee starres) that glitter in your azure spheres, (Yee meteors) which in the aire are bred, (Yee plumed swift harmonious Quiristers) (Yee Beasts) that bee on hills, and valleys fed, And scaly people, in seas nourished; (Yee plants) of force, and vertue exquisite, (Yee stones) and mettalls, in earth prisoned; (Yee all) ought to bewaile this honourd Knight, Hee of ye all could wisely speake, and well endite.

5 Sir Belcoeur, had from Ioue a strong commission, Quite to subvert all gripeing tyranny, And of the bountifull to take tuition, Who did with all his strength, himself apply, To gentlenes, and liberality. Ne did Sir Gratian, of him come short, For pious charity, and curtesy; Hee did demeane himself in such a sort, That hee from Knights, and Ladyes, wonne a good report.

10 The Ladyes finishd thus their elegye; The stranger Knights then did themselues disclose, To those nine Ladyes, with much curtesy, Who them to bee fierce Ruffians did suppose, Not takeing them for freinds, but deadly foes, And that Pulcheria was a harlot vile, A copesmate meete for such Camrades as those, That did in wicked enterprises toile, Envr’d to rapine violent, and lawles spoile.

6 These Knights as they trac’d through the pleasant vales, And mountaines, deck’d in beautifull array, A noise of heau’nly musicke them recalls; Them moueing, not to make such haste away, They turne their horses heads about, and stay: The sound they heard, came from a neihbour groue, Where fun’rall cypresse, mix’d with liueing bay, Vpreard their heads, the lower shrubbes aboue, And did the radiant beames of Phœbus hote remoue.

11 But when Sir Belcoeur ’gan them to advise, With fluent rhetoricke, their doubts to cease, Then they their feares, and terrours did demise, Recomforted with thoughts of harmeles peace; While Belcoeur, them besought in gentlenes, Themselues to nominate, and that braue Knight, For whose deare sake, they did such griefes expresse, And what fierce Foeman, (through disastrous spite) Had him dispatch’d vnto the realme of endles Night.

7

12 Then stepp’d a Dame forth, from among the Nine, With amiable gestures, and aspect: From her faire lippes did flow much language fine, But of her speech this was the maine effect,

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3

They from their lofty Coursers did alight, And went, to know what this sweet musicke meant, Where Damsells nine in mourning garments dight, They did behold, with mickle wonderment, That stood before a fun’rall monument: They fingerd well their lutes of ebonye, With tragicke Myxolydian concent, And sung this canzonett, in memory, Of some deceased Knight, that there enterrd did lye.

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5.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 10.9 rapine] rapine, 11.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 11.5 Belcoeur,] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 11.7 they did . . . expresse,] they had ⌜did⌝ such griefe ⌜s⌝ expresse, where expresse has been written over exprest 11.9 endles] endes 12.4 her] his her where Knevet has written her over the original reading, before deleting it

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Faire Knights (quoth shee) that seeme with honour deck’d, Bee pleas’d, to vnderstand, that wee are all, The Daughters of th’Olympian Architect, Mnemosyne, Men doe our Mother call, A Dame of birth, and quality celestiall.

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13 Wee (whilome) dwelt vpon the forked Mount, Which from these Atticke plaines doth threat the skyes, Whose foote is wash’d by the Castalian fount, There did wee flourish long, in happy guise, Feareing no force of forraine enemyes: Among the learned throng, wee Orpheus sent, For to dispense poeticke mysteryes, Wee to Musæus, Hesiod, and to Homer lent, To Virgill, and to Ouid, raptures excellent. 14 For wee were Keepers of that sacred well, Whose pretious draughts doe wondrous force containe, Wee onely in the sacred Groue did dwell, Which by strange dreames wont to enrich the braine, Kings at our springs to drinke did not disdaine: Yea thirsty Monarkes there did drinke their fill, Of Nectar, and Nepenthe soueraigne: Great Emperors haue slept vpon our Hill, Ambitious to partake of our great art, and skill. 15 But lewd Chrysophila, did late envuy Our happynes, and pleasures manifold; Shee was begotte by Ioues adultery, When hee descending in a showre of gold, Did in his armes, the Argiue harlot fold, Shee vsherd by a sturdy Champion, Who Maldesir is cleap’t, a Giant bold, Did our dominions intrude vpon, Vs driueing from our proper habitation. 16 They sette a price on the Castalian fountaine, Nor will they for large summes of coine stand out, To let each peasant sleepe vpon our mountaine; This is the cause, that there is such a drought Of witt, of late among the rimeing rout: For Pedants to weare bayes doe now attempt, And with their quills doe rudely lay about, As if they had vpon Parnassus dream’t, Sending abroad their Muses ill dight, and vnkemp’t. 17 The Times are quite reuers’t, for Oxen slow Doe weare caparisons, while Coursers braue (To gette their liueings) are compelld to plowe. The ignorant Buffoone, and worthles Knaue, Vsurpe that guerdon which wee ought to haue; Ne yet did any wight, commiserate

Our wretched case, or to vs comfort gaue, Till gentle Technophil, by adverse Fate Was mou’d, vs to restore, vnto our first estate. 18 Braue Technophil, that lyes enterred here, By honourable high respects prick’d on, Did vndertake our fortunes to vpreare, And from Parnassus, to eiect our fo’ne: But hee (alas) like dareing Phæeton, Fell from a great attempt, for Maldesir Doth not in martiall skill excell alone, But also is an expert Coniurer, And many conquests doth by hellish arts acquire. 19 For when our Technophil, of matchles might, Had brought the Giant vnto such distresse, That hee vnneath was fitte to mannage fight, And seem’d surpris’d with deadly giddynes, Through wounds, and losse of bloud, in such excesse, Then he did to his cursed trickes retreat, And pitty seem’d to craue with humblenes, Which caus’d our Knight, to slake his irefull heate, And to reioyce at his fierce Enemyes defeate. 20 Then his advantage Maldesir espy’d, And as hee did perceiue his armour rent, He made a sudaine thrust, at his left side, While Technophil to parlye was intent: The cruell steele through vena caua went; Thus hee by treason did our Knight subdue, And from him dead his pretious armour hent, Yea scarce would he forbeare his rage to shew, Vpon the senceles carkasse, of our Champion true. 21 Hee (by his idol Gods) did sweare and threaten, That hee would throwe the murtherd Technophil, To Dogs, by them to bee deuourd, and eaten, Except wee did according to his will, His couetous, vniust commands fulfill, A raunsome large hee vs compell’d to pay, His carkasse to redeeme from shame, and ill, Which vnderneath this monumentall clay, But in a simple solemne manner, wee did lay. 22 Seuen times hath Phœbus lodg’d his glistring head, In those celestiall Innes successiuely, Since this Knight numberd was among the dead, 14.4 dreames] s dreames 15.1 Chrysophila] The terminal a of this word is heavily blotted, perhaps suggesting a correction from an earlier reading. 17.3 plowe.] plowe 20.3 He] A He 20.5 the] Thre

Book 9 Canto 7 Whose mournfull obite anniversary, Wee here are wont to keepe religiously, Vntill some hardy Knight, shall vndertake To render vs a happy remedy, And mannage combate (for our Champions sake) Against him who all lawes of armes so basely brake.

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23 Thus spake this Damsell, who Vrania hight, While bothe the Knights, amazed at her story, Desirous were to doe these Ladyes right, And to achieue a worke of endles glory, By prowesse high, and valour meritory. They them advis’d to stint their greife, and woe, And to forget all troubles transitory, Since they were bent to question their fierce foe, For all the Villanyes, which these did vndergoe. 24 But least these Knights, should doe each other wrong, They from a caske, to drawe lots condiscend, To know who first should this adventure strong Beginne, which if he haply should not end, He ought to bee releiued by his freind: The formost lot vnto Sir Belcoeur fell, Who wondrously his fortune did commend, And ioyfully himself accouterd well, The combate to darraine against that infidell.

25 When hee arriued at the learned Hill, There hee the pure Castalian Well did view, Where euery peasant did his pitcher fill, And plentifully of that water drew, Payeing their tolle to Maldesir vntrue: Thus was the world surcharg’d with pamphlets rude, For from some hidden cause it did ensue, That when this drinke was sold for siluer lewd, Then it no more was with it’s wonted force endu’d. 26 When Maldesir, Sir Belcoeur did descry, Without delay he mounted his fierce steed, And to th’encounter hasten’d furiously; A Heart with flames of fire enveloped, Was on his target broad desciphered, Also vpon his rich caparison, Resemblances of burning hearts were spred, So fiercely they did at each other runne, That bothe were forced to forsake their sadles soone.

27 But Maldesir, sore brused with his fall, With much adoe his footeing did regaine, For him Sir Belcoeur did so soundly malle, Ere hee his body could vpreare againe, That hee his caske had almost clouen in twaine, The Giant (like a chafed Bull) did fume,

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And on his foemans sheild did beat amaine, For on his mighty strength he did presume, But as he rag’d, and toil’d, his vigour did consume. 28 When hee beganne to feele himself too weake, To ouermaster his fierce enemy, And found himself vnable for to wreake, His teene, on him, by manly chiualry, Then hee betooke himself to subtilty: And as he was expert in magicke art, And practis’d well in diue’llish sorcery, So cunningly, he ’gan to play his part, Endeauoureing his sturdy foe quite to subvert. 29 Hee vomited huge flames of scortcheing fire, Mix’d with a blacke sulphureous smoky cloud; The Knight involued in this fornace dire, In miserable sort perplexed stood, Parch’d was his flesh, enflamed was his bloud; Like to Alcides on th’Œtæan Hill, On whom his iealous Lady had bestow’d A shirt with poison sprent, (against her will) Which did with pangs his very bones, and marrow thrill. 30 So was Belcoeur tormented greiuously, That hee for very paine could vnneath wield His fauchion keene, the Giant inwardly Was wonderfully glad, when he beheld His enemy with dolour, almost quell’d, And in his armes he grasp’d the fainting Knight, Who to his foe enforced was to yeild, For still he powr’d forth flames, with fell despite, Which of all strength, and vigour, him depriued quite. 31 As in that season, when the Sirian starre, With heate torments the weary trauellour, And from his nostrills puffes contagions rare, Then fiery exhalations oft doe rore, Affrighteing Man, and Beast, with terrours sore: But as the lightening, with a direfull glaunce, 24.6 Sir Belcoeur] Sr Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 25.6 rude,] ⌜rude,⌝ lewd 26.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 26.3 th’encounter] th’encounter d 26.5 target] The terminal t has been clumsily written over, or added to, an earlier reading. Since there is some doubt as to Knevet’s intention, we have preferred his customary spelling of this word. 27.3 Sir Belcoeur] Sr Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 28.1 hee] Written over hea 30.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 30.7 foe] foes 31.3-5 And from . . . terrours sore:] And from his nostrills puffes contagions rare, | Affrighteing Man and beast with terrours sore | Then fiery exhalations oft doe rore, | Affrighteing Man, and Beast, with terrours sore:

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

Strikes through some shady groue with foule vprore, It smites some oke, that doth his crest advance, Whose leaues are wither’d instantly, by that mischance,

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32 Thus blasted was Sir Belcoeurs force, and might: But Maldesir his armour did of teare, And led him captiue, in a pittous plight: His hand hee was vnable to vpreare, And yeilded to the ioyfull Coniurer, Who of his conquest proud, did him present Vnto Chrysophila, with gladsome cheere; But shee him doom’d to vile emprisonment, And his afflicted limmes, in weighty fetters pent. 33 Great lamentation did the Muses make, For their vnhappy Champions downfall; Pulcheria likewise mourned for his sake, But cheualrous regards did Gratian call, Him to redeeme, or els in fight to fall: Ne was hee any whitt discouraged, Through Belcoeurs fate, and fortune tragicall, But hastily himself accoutered, And fitted for the fight, in armes well tempered.

34 But his Pulcheria, to him gaue a ring, Of wondrous force, and pretious quality, Which some graue Sire, the world abandoning, Had long agoe composed skillfully, By some good Angells help, most happily; For it with strength, and vigour was supplyd, To frustrate necromanticke villany; The fiends of Acheron, could not abide The vertue of this gemme, which did abate their pride. 35 Hee of his Mistris, and the Muses Nine, A solemne farwell tooke, and voyd of dread, But fraught with hope, and courage masculine, To meete his cruell Foe, made mickle speed: But Maldesir, of late much hartened, With spoiles achieu’d, and mighty conquest wonne, Deem’d that no foe him vnderfoot could tread, But that he should subdue each Mothers sonne, That durst in combate perillous, him set vpon.

36 As when the Giants of the Forrest greene, The Elephant, and the Rhinoceross, In terrible encounters oft are seene, When th’Elephant with fury perillous, Labours to defeate his foe rigorous, Who garded safely, with his armed hide, Against his enemy makes many thrusts, Who doth those strong stoccados turne aside, And with his tuskes, doth striue to gore his belly wide,

37 So did Sir Gratian and Maldesir, Continue an encounter truculent, But when the Giant, full of deadly ire, Perceiud he could not by plaine hardiment, Represse his adversary violent, His hellish pranks he lewdly ’gan to play, Thinkeing by sleight him for to circumvent, But his deceits could not the Knight dismay, Who with fierce knockes, did still more strongly him assay. 38 As when a furious Bull with hoofe, and horne, Doth teare the senceles earth, in hideous guise, Holding the rage of mastiues fierce in scorne, ’Till to a figgtree him his Keeper tyes, Then all his strength, and fury quickly dyes, Euen so the hidden force of Gratians ring, Did quite destroy his magicke subtiltyes, And all his stratagems to nothing bring, Which did his trembling heart, with wofull horrour sting. 39 With truce the combate he would faine haue ended, For hee vnhorsed was, and wounded sore, Full ill his broken target him defended, His weaken’d arme, made but resistance poore, And all defil’d he was with bloudy gore, Vnable was he, both for fight, and flight, But Gratian prest vpon him more, and more, And him with many wounds yslue outright, Then from his shoulders, hee his head diuided quite.

Canto 8 Sir Gratian (haueing slaine his foe) Parnassus doth ascend: Chrysophila her self destroyes, But Hee redeemes his freind. 1 Sir Gratian, haueing slaine his mortall foe, Chrysophilas most hardy Seneschall, Did hasten to redresse Sir Belcoeurs woe, And boldly ’gan to clime that mountaine tall, Which is the throne of science liberall, Whose hard ascent did make him toile, and sweat: But he subdueing difficultyes all, Surmounts the craggy cliffes, with actiue heate: For no resistance can a noble mind defeate. 31.9 mischance,] mischance. 32.1 Sir Belcoeurs] Sr ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ Belchiers 33.7 Belcoeurs] ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ Belchiers 34.8 The fiends] The ougly fiends 34.9 The vertue of] The ⌜vertue⌝ of 34.9 which] whiche 36.9 wide,] wide. 1.3 Sir Belcoeurs] Sr ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ Belchiers

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7

When at the mountaines toppe, he was arriu’d, There goodly arborets hee did behold, By wondrous witt, and artifice contriu’d, All sorts of plants, grew in that pretious mold, Vnhurt by Sommers heate, or winters cold: The cristall brookes through shady groues did glide, Melodious birds, with musicke manifold, Did strike the eare, and Flora with her pride, Our eldest Grandames feature had diuersifyd.

And as he did diuert his eye aside, In a darke glade, he happen’d to behold A Father graue, that wholy was employd, In poreing on a parchement Legend old, That was inscrib’d, with characters of gold: When hee on him, had cast a second view, His fancy then his vnderstanding told, That it was Merlin wise: he found it true, And boldly nearer to the old Magician drew.

3 This was the learnd Elysium; here the ghosts Of men, sublim’d for knowledge rare abode: Perpetuall blisse inhabited these coasts, None here did feele the smart of Fortunes rodde, But each was changed to a Demigod, The mercenary Peasant, and that Beast, Which daily dotes vpon a golden clod, And hee which is Alcinous slothfull guest, Might in this blisse clayme neither right, nor interest.

8 How happens it (oh Merlin graue) quoth hee That thou so soone ha’st left the Brittish land? In Maridunum I deem’d t’haue found thee, In darkesome caue, on Riuer Touyes strand: The Tages old then shooke his magicke wand, And sayd (faire Sonne) deeme not that any wight, The vnchang’d law of Fate can ere withstand; Death on fraile flesh will worke his vtmost spite, Though on the soule, he cannot shew his strength, or might.

4 From these faire bowres, were daily sent abroad, Into th’vngratefull world, those heroicke soules, That did confine their steppes, to vertues rode, Searcheing for sacred lore, in antique roules, Abstaineing from Dame Circes poisond bowles: On earth they dwelt, attir’d in robes of clay, Till Death, (Which all terrestriall things controules) Did of their fleshy robes them disarray, Then to the place, from whence they came, they haste away.

9 I aw’d th’infernall fiends, with my Venite, And all th’intentions of the starres knew well, But while men wonder’d at my knowledge mighty, The fabricke of my corps to ashes fell, My skill could not the force of Fate repell; Long did I wooe the Lady of the Lake, And for to winne her spard nor charme, nor spell, Who while of loue faire semblance she did make, (Ere I suspected harme) my life away did take.

5

10 Shee did impeach me in my mighty feate, And Maridunums walls, must still remaine A prey for Time, and ruine rude to eate; But if shee had not made my labour vaine, A Wall of brasse, about that Towne had layne, Vnto whose battlements no Saxon bold, Should by a stout scalado ere attaine, Neither should any engine, new, or old, It shake, or iniure, by intusions manifold.

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2

There subtile Aristotle he did spy, With diuine Plato, in a shady groue, Readeing graue lectures of philosophy, Vnto the youth as it did them behoue, Ere to the lower world they should remoue, That by those learned hests, which they them told, They might apt, actiue, and ingenious proue, For arts, and sciences, when as they should, Emplanted bee, in mortall transitory mold.

6 Homer, and Orpheus eke, hee did descry, With Virgill, and faire Iulias am’rous freind, Feeding their Auditors, with raptures high, But among all the rout that did attend, These Masters sage, foure goodly Soules he kenn’d, That had not yet put on the fleshy vest, In stature these, their fellowes did transcend, And in diportment seem’d to passe the rest, On these faire obiects hee his visiue rayes imprest.

2.8 with] ⌜with⌝ in 2.9 eldest] aged ⌜eldest⌝ 3.6 Peasant,] Pleader ⌜Peasant,⌝ 6.6 put] bin put 7.8 Merlin wise:] Merlin sage wise: 8.2 land?] land,? 9.1 fiends,] feind fiends, 9.9 (Ere I . . . take.] This line has been added to the end of the stanza; the cramped hand makes it clear that it was originally omitted. The original numeration of the following stanza (10) appears directly under harme; it has been deleted and re-written below. 10.5 Towne] d Towne

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene 16 Vnletter’d Fooles, and Buffoones impudent, Whose freindship is the source of drunkennes, Whose valour’s othes, and language insolent, Base Flatterers, whom gaine, or fearfullnes, Tempts to approue of any wickednes, In future times shall obtaine all respect; Your great Magnifico’s shall gather these, And for their dearest Cam’rades them select, While worth, and honesty, gaine nothing but neclect.

12 Basilius ’tis, whose mind concileing lyre, Shall kingdomes great vnite, and hearts accend, With loue, that whilome burnt with hatefull ire: When hee the fatall Chayer shall ascend, Of the Plantagenets, and shall extend His laureate scepter, o’re the Brittish shore, Then arts, like starres, their gloryes shall ostend, And from him borow life, and lustre more, Then ere they did receiue from any Emperour.

17 Thus Merlin spake: and more then this; for hee Vnto Sir Gratian shewd those Pers’nages, That should in after ages famous bee, For all ingenious arts, and sciences: But Gratian mindfull of Belcoeurs distresse, Merlin besought to make discouery, Where great Chrysophila that Tyrannesse, Inhabited, whose pride, and cruelty, Against the Muses vtter’d was knowne farre, and nigh.

13 Hee by his sweet pacificke influence, An Oliue garland shall deserue to weare, And since that by his heauenly sapience, Hee shall himself garde, and his people deare From hidden mischiefe, and from danger neare, He merit shall an oaken Garland too, Such as Romes Senate did bestowe (whilere) On great Augustus, and wise Cicero, To guerdon the expulsion, of an inbred foe.

18 Then Merlin thus reply’d: know that this Hill, Whereon the Muses to inhabite daigne, Doth with two toppes, the middle Region thrill In one of which the Gods did first ordaine, A nursery, where those soules might remaine, That should in learned arts, proue exquisite, But on the other toppe, amidde a plaine, The Muses dwelt in peace, and sweet delight, Vntill the proud Chrysophila put them to flight.

14 Behold, likewise renowned Astrophel, Whose temples are with Cypresse shaded o’re, Which his too early funerall foretell, Hee great affaires shall mannage, and before Hee bee a Man, be an Ambassador, Hee Britaine shall ennoblize with his witt, The fierce Sarmatians shall his worth adore, Among all Europes Worthyes, him most fitt, They shall esteeme, vpon their regall throne to sitt.

19 Nor durst her sturdy Champion Maldesir, Our territoryes touch: wee nought sett by His mighty strength, or hideous flames of fire; Behold vpon yon’ other summity, Chrysophila dwells in her Castle high, Returne by that same way, in which you came; And clime yon’ other mount couragiously, So may you find out that vnworthy Dame, Who to the Muses nine hath wrought such woe, and shame.

15 Behold there elder Tityrus likewise, Who shall the warbleing Swannes of Po constraine, To listen to his various melodyes, The Brittish Muse, from him shall pinions gaine, Whereby shee may vnto the skyes attaine; Looke where, poore melancholy Colin sittes, Whose elbowe doth his thoughtfull head sustaine, His mighty learning small respect begetts, Great Men are often most vnkind, vnto the greatest witts.

20 Then Gratian did the Brittish Augur leaue, And gladly hasten’d her abode to find, But ere Night did the world of light bereaue, Her Castle he beheld, that brightly shind, For it was veyl’d with slates, of gold refind, Whose lustre did withstand the shades of Night,

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11 Thus Merlin spake: Then Gratian did enquire, What gallant youths those were which he beheld, Whose features rare he could not but admire, The Father sage to him their names reueal’d, And thus with a propheticke fury filld, ’Gan to discourse, behold quoth hee (Sir Knight) Yon’ Heroe, which a golden rodde doth wield, Whose browes are with a laurell garland dight, Where royall maiesty, appeares enthroniz’d bright.

12.9 did receiue] ⌜did receiue⌝ had 17.5 Belcoeurs] Belchiers ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ 17.8 Inhabited] H Inhabited 20.6 Whose] Which ⌜Whose⌝

Book 9 Canto 8

But when Apollo had his place resign’d, Vnto his Sister, then the weary Knight, Betooke himself to rest, nigh to her Castle bright.

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21 But when the chirpeing Birds ’gan to bewray, Auroras sweet approch, with anthemes cleere, The Knight arose, as early as the day, Boldly advanceing, to the Castle neare: And (as it fortun’d) hee arriued there, Iust as the Porter had vnlock’d the Gate, Sir Gratian rush’d vpon him, without feare, And gaue him such a salue on the pate, That hee no leysure found to call for help, or prate.

22 Then hee disseis’d him of his bunch of keys, And for the lothsome dungeon search’d about, Where his deare freind lay mew’d vp, ill at ease: Auspicious Fate did so direct his foote, That hee in fine, an iron doore found out, Which fitteing with a key, he open’d soone, And ventur’d in, without least feare, or doubt: A foule stinche first his sence did sett vpon, Then were his eares assaild, with many a rufull grone. 23 Downe to the dungeons depth did he descend, Where rattleing fetters, and the mournfull cryes, Of Captiues, did him but harsh musicke lend, Hee for his freind in euery corner pryes, And calls Sir Belcoeur loud, or twice, or thrice; A hollow voice then faintly answer’d: here; As when a slender Echo doth arise, Through repercussion of the welkin cleere, Which from the Speaker but one syllable can beare. 24 In such a low, and feeble tone he spake, Laden with chaines Sir Gratian him found, But he his manacles did from him take, And knock’d his shackles of, thus hee vnbound, Could hardly stand vpright, vpon the ground, Hee was so weake through cold, and hunger fierce: His pitt’ous plight Sir Gratians heart did wound, Who likewise loos’d the other Prisoners, And forth he led this band of meegre souldiers. 25 By this time, had the houshold ta’ne th’alarme, And musterd in a hurliburly meint, To sett vpon the Knight: they cry arme, arme, As when a flocke of rookes (at Sols descent) Envelopeing part of the firmament, With noises harsh, doe rende, and teare the skyes, When to their nightly stations they are bent, So did this rout, with clamours, and loud cryes, Each other hearten on, against their enemyes.

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26 Ne of the nicest choyce their weapons were, But such as did to each mans lot befall, They had no sword, no target, bill, or speare, The Kitchin was their chiefest Arsenall, They wanted armes, and armour martiall: One for a helme a comely Possnett wore, A formidable spitte twice sixe foot tall, (That mickle beefe and mutton whilome bore) Another tooke in hand, the common foe to gore. 27 A goodly latchpanne, in stead of a targe, One did vpreare, and with a flesh hooke keene, Stood ready to be summon’d to the charge; Another with a leuer huge, betweene His shoulders, like yong Hercules was seene: A lusty Scullion, with a fireforke fell, That look’d so fierce, and grimme as hee had bene, Enraged Neptune, or the God of Hell, Strouted, as one that meant full deare, his life to sell. 28 This throng of Rascalls did assaile the Knight, But hee did soone their freindship separate, Some fell beneath his blade, and some by flight, Escap’d his wrath, and death immediate; Thus quickly hee this storme did dissipate, But then a noise of womanish outcryes, With lamentable sounds, his eares did grate, Hee wonders whence these clamours should arise, But the occasion soone he euidently spyes. 29 For when Chrysophila, had vnderstood, That her great Champion Maldesir was slaine, And that her Hall was stained with the blood, Of her owne seruants, she cry’d out amaine, Deemeing all hope of safety fond, and vaine, And to a lofty turret, madly fled: Her women followd fast in a long traine, But shee halfe drest, with haires disheueled, Her self to the infernall powers offered. 30 Herself she from the precipice did throwe, Her Castle walls were with her owne bloud sprent, Her braines the stony pauement did bestrowe, Her teenefull ghost to Acheron was sent, (For her misdeeds) to suffer punishment: Thus did Sir Gratian reuoke from exile, The Muses nine, who for a monument, Of his desert, a poeme did compile, Wherein his matchles worth, they blazond in a lofty stile. 20.8 Sister] Written over sister 23.5 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 24.9 souldiers.] souldiers,

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31 Chrysophila, great treasures left behind, All which the noble Victour did bestowe, As a free donatiue, with willing mind, Vpon the Muses, who then ’gan to flow With wealth, though now their stocke bee wondrous low: Whether this want, from vast expences grew, Or from their necligence, I hardly know, Or whether they were robb’d by Theeues vntrue, Tis doubtfull, or by Knaues defrauded of their due.

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32 But Ignorance (perhaps) and flaunting folly, Which now esteemed are of mickle grace, May bee the cause of all their melancholy, For now hee is reputed meane, and base, That beeing bred, and borne of gentile race, Will labour in the lib’rall sciences; Yea hee his gentry forfeites (in that case) Or doth abate, and make his gentry lesse, In the opinions of our gallant nouices. 33 These metamorphos’d sottes, with vices soil’d, Entombeing their dead liueing carkasses, In rich attire; lookeing like flesh halfe boild, Doe with a supercilious scornfullnes, Looke downe on art, as if those rotten chests, Whence their foule soules, striue daily to breake out, Might match the liueing Cedars stablenes, When they assailed by a feuer stout, May dye (perhaps) before a yeare be come about. 34 It argues but a mind with dullnes fill’d To summon monuments, and Statues dry For proofe of gentry, or a name to build On what the wormes haue left; such vanity Growes from no roote of true nobility. That Man which can his gentry no where find, But in a tedious genealogye, Is more ignoble, then the clowne, or hinde, And nothing but the shame of all his race, and kind. 35 Nor large possessions, neither long descents, Doe th’essence of a Gentleman containe; These are but mere externall ornaments, And where no ground of vertue doth remaine, Are but things superficiall, and vaine, Addeing no more repute, esteeme, or grace, To any hee, to whom they appertaine, Then golden trapperrs, doe to hackneys base, That neither bee for seruice fitting, nor the race. 36 But when these bee link’d with braue qualityes, Then gentry doth with greater grace appeare, And shines with treble glory, in all eyes,

Like some faire Dame, (whose beauty hath no peere,) That doth most gorgeous apparrell weare: But pitty ’tis that vertue without these, Should be esteem’d a vagrant wanderer, Who (bee she clad in scarlet, or in freese,) Is the foundation of all gentile noblenes. 37 Now when Sir Gratian had the sacred Nine, Restor’d vnto their habitation, They him refresh’d with plent’eous cheere, and wine: But Belcoeur, whose weake state, and ill condition, Did rather stand in need of a Physician, Then dainty diet, they did fairely cheere, With many a drugge, and healthfull potion, The Knights then tooke leaue of these Ladyes deare, And went to find adventures out, some other where.

Canto 9 Sir Belcoeur doth Liberta free From great Maltortos hate, And from her false Accusers doth Basilia vindicate. 1 When that the Faery Knights, had left behind The mountaine of the Muses, they did part, Leaueing each other with embraces kind, Belcoeur rode forth alone, with pensiue heart, As much perplex’d for Eleutherias smart, But Gratian, had Pulcheria for his mate, Whom no distresse, or danger, could diuert, From her most deare belou’d associate, Whose presence shee aboue all goods, did estimate. 31.5 stocke bee wondrous] stocke ⌜bee⌝ wondrous 33.1 metamorphos’d] ⌜metamorphos’d⌝ bestiated 34.1-5] The first five lines of this stanza have been crossed out and replaced with those printed above in the text; the lines originally read: I speake: for loosers must haue leaue to speake; Mere griefe, and anguish, doe my tongue vnty; Should I forbeare to speake my heart would breake, But euery word which from my lippes doth fly, I with my penne, or sword will iustify; 35.5 but] m but 35.9 bee] bin ⌜bee⌝ 36.1 link’d] knitte ⌜link’d⌝ 37.4 Belcoeur,] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, Arg.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier Arg.1 Liberta] Maltorto ⌜Liberta⌝ Arg.2 hate,] hate Arg.4 vindicate.] vindicate 1.3 each other with] each ⌜other⌝ with 1.4 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier

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2 But as Sir Belcoeur praunc’d vpon the plaine, A fearefull Dame brake from a forrest side, Who toward him made haste, with might and maine, For a fierce Giant after her did ride, Who with pursute so speedy, his course ply’d, That hee had nigh surpris’d her in the chase, Ere the Knight could for her defence prouide, But hee his beuer haueing clos’d apace, Boldly the Giant mette, in middle of his race,

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3 Nor did the Giant the encounter shunne, For hee the chase of the faire mayde declin’d; And furiously against the Knight did runne: As when a Leopard doth pursue a Hinde, That scuddes vpon the downes, as swift as wind, Vntill a Lion, him doth thwart by chance, Then the pursuer swift, with irefull mind, Doth leaue his prey, and with sterne countenance To combate with his foe, most fiercely doth advance. 4 So did the Giant haste t’assaile the Knight, Who brake his lance vpon his burganet, But the fierce Giant fraught with mortall spite, With a huge massy mace did Belcoeur threat, And on his target did so fiercely beat, As if hee meant to hammer him to dust, Like glasse most brittle, or the frailest ieat, But Belcoeur vnderneath the cullets iust, (In fine) gor’d through his body, with a deadly thrust. 5 Roareing out hideous blasphemyes he fell, The Earth did with his mighty burden grone, His ghost fast flitted to the deepest Hell, The centre of each cursed carrion, That loues foule rapine, and oppression: The ioyfull Damsell, then ’gan tell the Knight, How while shee in this Forrest strayd alone, This Giant who the great Maltorto hight, Did her pursue with vile intent, and lustfull spite. 6 My name’s Liberta (quoth the gentle maide) A maine occasion, hath engaged mee, To roame abroad, to seeke for help, and aide: My Lady deare from ruine dire to free, A Dame of antique stemme, and high degree, Basilia is she cleap’d, espoused to Callisthanax, the Lord of Castles three, Callisthanax ydrad of euery foe, Who doth in vertue all his ancestors outgoe. 7 On this Basilia long since did waite, A crafty Squire, who Patriosor hight, A faitour, fraught with couine, and deceit,

A lewd, and ill disposed hipocrite, Who with pretences false, and plaints vnright, Basilia wrong’d, and to a forraine land, As an vnworthy fugitiue tooke flight, Where still he sought to iniure vnderhand, The Lady innocent, with machinations grand. 8 With sundry motiues, he suborn’d of late Two wicked Knights, my Lady to accuse, Of many faults, to her beloued mate, Offences of high ranke, and great abuse, Which much doubt, and suspicion did infuse, Into Callisthanax his troubled head, That he beganne her bed for to refuse, And many wayes to her discouered, That discontent, which these two Carles had in him bred. 9 Hee frownd on her, the Lady wept againe, And him besought, to shew his discontent, And what had mou’d him thus, for to refraine Bothe from her company, and solacement: Her importune desires, made him consent To tell his greifes, then shee did him request, By all their forepast loue, and blandishment, That shee might face to face with them contest, That falsly had with iealous thoughts, him thus possest. 10 A day was sett, when her accusers bold Their accusation false did iustify, Their impudence her innocence controld With attestations ioynt, they bothe did cry, That they had seene her sport lasciuiously, With diuers yonkers, and how they could proue, By testimonyes good, sufficiently, That to her Lord, shee bare not such true loue, And coniugall respect, as it did her behoue. 11 My Lady (then to shew her innocence) Desir’d by sacred ordeale to bee try’d, Since shee no other way could shunne, or fence, The poys’nous strokes of their malicious pride, Shee on the iudgement of iust heauen rely’d; 2.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 2.8 haueing] a haueing 3.1 Giant . . . shunne,] Giant s the encounter shunne, 3.1 the] s the 3.6 thwart] tw thwart 4.4 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 4.8 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 5.9 Did her . . . lustfull spite.] With vile intent did | Did her pursue with vile in tent intent, and lustfull spite. 6.1 Liberta] Libert e ⌜a⌝ 9.5 made] t made

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But they in combate, profferd to maintaine, What they ’gainst her had falsly testifyd, And with affections boldly vrg’d againe, That shee a woman was vnworthy, light, and vaine.

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12 They threw their gages downe amidde the throng, Then Anticar, and Paillard, look’d about, Bothe hardy champions, and exceeding strong, To see, if any Knights durst bee so stout, To answere their appeale, or it misdoubt: Their brazen confidence made all to quake, Nor was there any hee, among the rout, That durst accept the chalenge they did make, Or fight in lists, for my deare guiltles Ladyes sake. 13 Th’Accusers then did swell, and domineare: But poore Basilia, did for respite craue, Then forty dayes allotted were to her, Within which limitt, if shee could not haue Two Knights of dignity, and honour braue, To make good her purgation, then she must Perforce endure a censure sharp, and graue, When her offences throughly were discust, And suffer really, but for pretended lust. 14 Thus spake Liberta; while Belcoeur resolu’d T’accept the chalenge, for Basilias sake, And their foule treason, in his mind reuolu’d, But as they through a forrest wide did take, Their iourney, an adventure made them slake Their speed, for vnderneath a mountaines side, A gallant Knight, they saw fierce combate make, Against another, who with mickle pride, Vpon a many headed roreing Beast did ride. 15 A fierce encounter did these two maintaine, But hee which on the hideous Monster rode, (When he beheld Sir Belcoeur) fled amaine, Hee fear’d to meete withall advantage odde, And durst not (for his eares) make least abode, For hee all errant Knights had iniurd long, And vnderfoote nobility had trod, Hee had attain’d to greatnes, by great wrong, [strong. And tam’d that monstrous Beast, by his enchantment 16 Sir Belcoeur, and Liberta fairely meete The noble Knight, who his bright helme vnlac’d, And them repayd with words, and gestures sweet, (His head disarmd) Sir Belcoeur him embrac’d, For they two had through many dangers pass’d; This Knight ycleaped was Sir Philanax,

Who had by many Princes oft bin grac’d, For hee achieued had illustrious acts, A doughty Knight in fight, with speare, and curtle axe. 17 Then Philanax to Belcoeur did relate, How that same wight, with whom of late he fought, Was call’d Demochares, a crafty mate, Who oft had many deprædations wrought, In the adioyneing countrey round about, And many valyant Knights, in fight had foil’d, Whom, when he had beneath his power brought, Hee them of horse, and harneys, quite dispoil’d, And sent them packeing with shame, and reproch defil’d. 18 Nor was he wont to spare his vanquish’d foe, But his ignoble Nature did bewray, By his insulteing on distresse, and woe: A Captiues sad estate, could not allay His bestiall spite, or driue his rage away; Thus spake Sir Philanax, then Sir Belcoeur, Basilias danger did to him display, Entreateing him in lists for to appeare, From ignominious villany to rescue her. 19 Kind Philanax did gladly condiscend, To his request, then with Liberta they, Did to Callisthanax his Castle tend, Where in braue equipage, and faire array They did arriue: when the prefixed day Of combate was at hand, the Chalengers Accouterd well, with scarfes, and surcotes gay, Advanc’d into the lists, like hardy peeres, Arm’d cape a pee, and mounted vpon Coursers fierce. 20 Vpon the targett of Sir Anticar, A great imperiall Eagle was displayd; But on his glistring sheild Sir Paillard bare A Cockatrice, which his ill thoughts bewrayd, And his malicious proiects open layd; Thus thee Appellants in the field appeard, Then the defendants (while the trumpets brayd) Basilia with their stately presence cheerd, Who on a scaffold stood that by the lists was rear’d. 11.8 vrg’d] A single character (perhaps r ) has been deleted before vrg’d 12.8 chalenge] chalenger 14.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 15.3 Sir Belcoeur)] Sr Belchier ⌜Belcoeur⌝ ) 16.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 16.4 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 17.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 17.3 Demochares,] Demochar⌜e⌝as, 18.6 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 18.7 Basilias] Basil ⌜i⌝ as 19.9 cape a pee,] capp cape a pee,

Book 9 Canto 9 21 When that the Heralds silence had proclaym’d, They to the Knights gaue signall of the fight, Sir Philanax, at Paillards beuer aym’d, And with a counterbuffe, vnhorsd him quite: While Belcoeur did so greet the other Knight, That he his pouldrons lost, and a wound tooke Which did so deepely in his shoulder bite, That strength, and vigour, his right arme forsooke, And from his sadle rudely throwne, the ground hee shooke.

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22 Great shouts, and acclamations then were rais’d, By the surrounding ioyfull multitude, The valour of the victours stout they praisd, But chast Basilia, and Liberta shewd Most gladnes; then the Heralds did intrude, Vpon the vanquished, with great disdaine, Who from their bodyes of their armour hew’d, And it in pieces spurn’d about the plaine, [vaine. While they couch’d on the ground, like Peasants vile and 23 And though they iustly had their deaths deseru’d, (For accusation false and treason foule) Basilias intercession them preseru’d, But each afflicted, to the very soule, With shame forth wanderd (like a forlorne Owle) But Paillard (his repentance to expresse) Vpon his shoulders tooke a monkish cowle, Teacheing posterity, for to professe, And imitate, his hypocriticke holynes. 24 Nor is it meete, that here I should omitt, How two other vnworthy Knights were vs’d, And sufferd for their leasings guerdon fitt, For they Basilia noble, had abus’d, With naughty termes, whereof they were accus’d, But beeing guilty found, by true report, Themselues the wretches faine would haue excus’d, But they adiudg’d were, by the Marshalls Court, To bee digraded quite, in most vnseemely sort.

25 They from their Coursers, forc’d were to alight, Their swords, and speares, vpon their helmes were crack’d, A yeoman from their heeles hewd their spurres bright, Their armour was torne of, and fouly hack’d, Their martiall ruffe, and brauery was wrack’d: Then to bestride the barres each forced was, And were with wands (like Villaines) soundly thwack’d, The Heralds, after all this vile disgrace, Proclaym’d them to be euer held, for Peasants base. 26 (These digradations done in legall guise) Callisthanax his spouse in armes did take, Reioyceing for that valorous emprise,

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Which these Knights had achieued for her sake, When her repute, and honour lay at stake, But both Basilia, and Callisthanax Of gratitude, did much true semblance make, Neither of these or cost, or courtship lackes, To shew respect, to Sir Belcoeur, and Philanax. 27 But as by order due, and decent course, Triumphant ioyes, doe warlike broiles succeed, And when the God of Warre hath spent his force, Then Hymen oft doth warre more gentle breed: So now it fortunately happened, That Philanax did wooe Liberta chast, And her enioyed in the marriage bed, Their nuptualls were with solemne triumphs grac’d, And twenty dayes this iocund bridall feast did last. 28 Then Belcoeur badde his noble freinds adieu, Who sadly parted from this worthy Knight, But his adventure, he went to pursue, Desirous to redeeme, his Lady bright, From wofull thraldome, and malicious spite: But as he raunged on a spatious plaine, His eye encounterd with a pitt’ous sight, A spectacle, that did his heart constraine, For to relent, and it transfixe, with dreary paine. 29 For as he rode along, he there did kenne, A world of gibbets, pight on euery side, Which laden were with carkasses of men, The winde, and sunne, had some shrunke vp, and dry’d, Ne could vile ragges their naked members hide; Some lay on wheeles, with broken bones halfe dead; Whose flesh both Wolues, and foxes satisfy’d, Foule Birds of rapine, likewise on them fed, And often tore their entrailes, out ere life was fled. 30 But as on euery side he cast his eyes, He saw a Castle, in a valley low, That seem’d besieg’d by many enemyes, 21.3 at] had ⌜at⌝ 21.5 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 22.3 The valour . . . praisd] This line has been inserted between its neighbours; an asterisk in the left margin marks the point of insertion. 22.3 praisd,] praisd 23.1 had] t had 23.8 Teacheing] Teach⌜eing⌝ 24.8 the Marshalls Court,] the martiall ⌜Marshalls⌝ Court, where the is written over a 26.6 Callisthanax] Philanax Callisthanax 26.9 Sir Belcoeur,] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 28.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 28.1 adieu,] du adieu, 29.4 vp, and dry’d,] vp, d and dry’d,

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Whose tents, and ensignes made a goodly showe, Vpon the hills sides, in a circled rowe, Which as the Knight, did curiously survey, Desirous the occasion for to know, Of all this bloudy sturre, and martiall fray, A sory Passenger him crost vpon the way.

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31 Sir Belcoeur, him entreated to relate, What land this was, that had endur’d the rage, Of cruell foes, and warres vnfortunate, The Man, who seem’d a father graue, and sage, Both by his habite, his aspect, and age, Did make him thus a sorowfull reply, (Faire Sir) quoth hee this countrey is the stage, Of direfull Mars, and each calamity, That on him doth attend, here meetes concentrically.

32 The people (that whilome inhabited These now depopulated villages) Were Helots cleap’t, a nation meanely bred, Envr’d to sordid labours, and excesse, Of swinish gourmandise, and drunkennes, In warlike discipline small skill they had, Vnmeete they were for martiall skirmishes, But fitter for the basket, and the spade, Then to defend themselues in feild, with glistring blade. 33 A Neihbour Nation, who the Griffons hight, So called for their bloudy crueltyes, Expert on foote, and horsebacke for to fight, Presumeing on their weakenes, did arise, Against these Helots poore, in warlike guise, Who quite vnable, themselues to defend, Were forc’d to yeild to their fierce enemyes, Who did them peace, on hard conditions lend, Thus they in bondage vile, were forc’d their dayes to spend.

34 Wicked Idolaters these Griffons were, Who yearely wont in their infernall groue, With humane sacrifices to appeare, Before their cursed Idol, who did loue No victimes, nor of any gifts approue, But bloud of Men, which oft in currents full, (As damned superstition did them moue) They offerd to their Deuill Irmensull, For whom they did their fairest youths, and virgins cull. 35 But when they had these Helots poore subdu’d, They them in way of tribute forc’d to pay, Children of either sexe, that were endu’d With chiefest grace, which yearly they did slay, To please their God, and turne his wrath away: Thus they them kept long time, in bondage base,

Vntill a Lady chanc’d to come that way, Who was bred of the royall Brittish race, Shee much commiserated their distressed case. 36 This Dame (Elisa hight) Queene of a land, Which is Leuconia cleap’t, famous for armes, And formidable vnto Tyrants grand, Euer prepared to redresse the harmes, Of the distressed, (vpon all alarmes) Shee did with pitty on the Helots looke, And with the rayes of her assistance warmes, Their frozen courages, then they of shooke The yoke of bondage, and vile seruitude forsooke. 37 Elisa was a Dame, of dreaded might, A stout Virago, chast like Britomart, Shee did the sturdy Griffons put to flight, And follow’d by her Knights, of high desert, The Helots freed from miserable smart, From that vnhumane taxe she ridde their land, And cleared it from foes in euery part, Shee many hardy Knights, did eke command, There to remaine, all new invasions to withstand. 38 But shee returned to her natiue shore, Where haueing raign’d in peace, and honour great, Shee quietly left her throne inferiour, Exchangeing it, for a celestiall seate; When cruell Death, had giuen her this defeate, These Helots then, by pride, and ease prick’d on, And puff’d vp with those victoryes complete, Which they had from the hardy Griffons wonne, By her conduct, forgot what shee for them had done. 39 As when Apollo doth extend his rayes, On the vile dung hill, it with vapours blacke, And stinkeing fumes, his splendour bright repayes; So the ingratefull Man is wont to make, Requitall for the good turnes hee doth take; The gratefull Storke, (who wont in lieu of rent, To leaue a yong one, for her Landlords sake, When shee to change her habitation’s bent) Vnthankfull offices might teach vs to preuent. 40 (Oh crooked Soules) deuoide of heauenly gifts, What blacke Erynnis did ye so compell, What machinations fond, what headles drifts, What policyes, hatch’d in the deepest Hell, Did make ye thus your great Protectors sell? 31.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 32.1 The] These 32.5 swinish] swinish, 32.6 warlike discipline] warlike sk discipline

Book 9 Canto 10

Canto 10

Nor durst these Helots in an open warre, Against Elisas Knights shew rigour fell, Though it had bin more iust, and better farre, So to haue done, then to haue vs’d such treason rare.

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41 For in their franticke Orgyes (on a season), When that their braines in wine well sowsed were, They on Elisas Knights did act their treason, Whom all vnarmed they surprised ere They could discouer any danger neare, Pretending them from these truth to extort, They tortures vs’d so horrid, and seuere, That the Sicilian Kings of them came short, Nor did Busiris, kill his guests, in such a sort. 42 The sauage Getes, and Scythians, (wee reade) That on the Euxine Sea are borderers, On straungers flesh accustom’d are to feede, Lycaon likewise fraught with fury fierce, The hearts of the Molossian youths did pierce, But no example renderd was till then, That Men should murther their Deliuerers; Androdus safe was in the Lions denne, But who can bee secure, among vngratefull men. 43 When that the subtile Griffons did descry, The Helots of their gardes disfurnished, Through their owne folly, and vile treachery, Then they by Ioues reuengeing anger led, With triple force those wretches menaced, But them dispaire, and feare, did so transport, That from their foes they basely turn’d, and fled, Yet in the chase were multitudes cut short, And others doe these wheeles and gibbets sad support. 44 But those which by their heeles escap’t away, For safegard fled vnto a Castle strong, Where now they bee beleaguerd night, and day; Nor is it thought that they can hold out long, Since there prouision lackes for such a throng, The aged Sire did thus his speech conclude, Blameing the Helots, for iniurious wrong, For cruelty, and foule ingratitude, Which with seuerest vengeance, ought to bee pursu’d. 45 Nor did Sir Belcoeur pitty their distresse, But inwardly reioyced, and was glad, That they were punish’d for vnthankfullnes, And to ingratefull wights examples made, Which in remembrance, euer should be had: Then he clapp’d spurres vnto his speedy steed, And left in haste those territoryes sad, Where thankles persons iustly suffered, Those miseryes, which their ingratitude had bred.

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Sir Belcoeur doth a Lion saue From a fierce Dragons spite: The Beast with mickle gratitude His kindnes doth requite. 1 Though men vngratefull bee, yet must not wee, Our deedes of liberality forbeare: Thee Gods themselues bestowe their gifts (we see) Vpon the Thiefe, and the Adulterer, The sacrilegious, and the Murtherer: And Phœbus doth his brightest rayes extend, Vpon both good, and bad, then let none feare, By beeing liberall, to erre, or offend, Although his gifts, light on a most vnworthy freind. 2 Hee that expects requitall for a gift, Deserues to bee deceiu’d: his curtesy Outvalues not a rush, bicause his drift No better is then basest vsury; And hee that knowes his freinds necessity, Yet (ere he giue) will looke to bee entreated, That Man destroyes his liberality, Which in a willing heart is alway seated, [defeated. But wanting wings, and speed, growes weake, and is 3 And vaine it is to thinke, that hee which is, Of tenements, and Mannours, great the lord, Can better practise lib’rall offices, Then hee which is not with a penny stor’d; Gifts are but outward signes, that doe record The inward bounty, of a noble mind, Which poore Mens brests, doe oft as soone afford, As they which boast themselues of proudest kind, And daily pockets weare with tempting pieces lin’d. 4 It often hath bene seene, that Pilgrims poore, Haue with an earthen vessell, or a cake, From the iust Gods, obtained fauour more, Then they who with the bloud of Beasts did make, Each Temple, for to seeme a crimson lake: Euen so that wight, who with relenting heart, And water cold, his neihbours thirst doth slake, Oftimes may reape more guerdon, and desart, Then hee that doth with wealthy bagges of treasure part. 41.4 surprised, ere] surpris⌜e⌝d whilere ere, 43.9 wheeles] wheel wheeles 45.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier Arg.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier Arg.2 spite:] spite 1.2 Our deedes . . . forbeare:] Our gifts ⌜deedes⌝ of liberality decline forbeare:

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5 But hee, who with ingratitude requites His Benefactour, is farre worse then hee, That nere did part with any benefits; Brute Beasts doe teach vs gratitude (wee see) Both Mules, and horses, seruiceable bee, Vnto their Masters, and the Falcon proud, Reclaym’d by time, and patience, doth aggree, To let her quarry bee her Keepers foode, Whether she fly in feild, at brooke, or in the wood.

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6 The Cuckoe onely of vngentle brood, Destroyes the Guardian of her infancy, Shee doth deuoure the Bird, that gaue her foode, Ne doth a viler foule in welkin flye, Shee is the Bird of shame, and obloquye, Like to this creature foolish, and vnkind, Let him be thought, that doth discourtously, Forgett to beare a freindly turne in mind, Let his acquaintance bee, by all good men declin’d. 7

Through vncouth pathes Sir Belcoeur trauelled, O’re Hills, and valleys, feilds, and boscages, But as vpon a day he wandered, Within a wood, where trees, with branched crests, To Phœbus bright prohibited accesse, A mighty Lion he discouerd there, Pull downe a stagge with mickle egrenes, Thus beeing furnish’d well with sau’ry cheare, A fierce Intruder, forc’d him his meate to forbeare. 8 A Dragon huge, whose enemity innate, By hunger was encreas’t, whose sparkeling eyes, Like cometts blaz’d, portending mortall hate, Came bustleing from his denne, with hideous cryes, Warneing the Lion to defend his prize, The lordly Beast, his banquet then forsooke, And with a horrid murmure specifyes, His discontent; his bristled mane he shooke, And (wrath t’enflame) himself oft with his taile hee strooke. 9 His furious foe, with wings expanded wide, Vpon him rush’d, with brest erected high, As when a tall ship, in her ruffe, and pride, A Gally, in the Leuant Seas doth spy, Which shee intends to stemme, and terribly, Doth her encounter, with her brazen prowe; The Gallye her withstands couragiously, And though shee bee a vessell built more low, Yet in the combate doth much strength, and courage showe. 10 So did the Lion make his party good, And fiercely ply’d the fight, with tooth, and naile: The Dragon him more pow’rfully withstood,

Whose armed hide was like a shirt of maile, That nought the Lions fury could preuaile, For hee with many wounds was torne, and rent, And (weake through loose of bloud) beganne to faile: The Dragon when he spy’d him almost blent, Vpon him prest with force more fierce, and violent. 11 Sir Belcoeur (who beheld the combate hote) Flew to the rescue of the noble Beast, And on the scaly scalpe the Dragon smote, The blow did little harme vnto his crest, But his sterne choler, and his rage encreast, Hee turning from the vanquish’d enemy, Vpon the Knight with all his fury prest, His ashen lance hee made to splinters fly, And forc’d him leaue his horse, on foote the feild to try. 12 One foote, vpon the bassnet of the Knight, Hee strongly fix’d, the other on his sheild, And pull’d him forward, with such strength, and might, That hee vnneath his legges, and footeing held, But almost was throwne flat vpon the feild: Then recollecting strength, and actiuenes, The Dragons wombe vnarmed he beheld, While his right hand, with manly hardynes, A grisly wound, among his bowells did impresse. 13 With horrid clamours, then he pierc’d the skyes, The bloud from his torne entrailes gush’d apace, His sensitiue fraile soule forth quickly flyes, Dissolued into aire, his carkasse base, Did with it’s pond’rous weight oppresse the place, The Lion when he saw his foe subdu’d, And stretch’d at length, vpon the gory grasse, With fawneing gestures to the Knight he su’d, Expressing semblance faire, of humble gratitude. 14 Low louteing, not vnlike a Spaniel kind, Hee did obeysance to the Conquerour, Lickeing those warlike hands, with humble mind, That had preserued him from ruine sore, And giuen him life, when hee was at Deaths doore, Yea though the Beast were wondrous ill apayd, And weaken’d with large wounds receiu’d before, Yet through the Desart hee the Knight conveyd, That els might haue into more deadly danger strayd. 7.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 7.2 feilds,] launds ⌜feilds,⌝ 7.9 forbeare.] forbeare;. 9.8 shee bee] shee s bee 11.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 11.1 beheld] beho⌜e⌝ld

Book 9 Canto 10 15 Hee like a gentle Lackey did attend, And waited at his stirrop many dayes, Most ready euer the Knight to defend, In any dangers, and at all assayes, When any foes did crosse them in their wayes: Thus did this brute, a great example showe, Of gratitude, which doth deserue most praise, Bicause from it the greatest vertues flow, And to this quality doe their beginnings owe.

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16 Nor did this noble Beast him onely guide, Through Desarts wild, but when he wanted foode, His Cater was, and victualls did prouide: But when he slept hee as a Watchman good, Him to protect from any danger stood: And as (vpon a time) the weary Knight Himself reposed, in a shady wood, A cruell monster did vpon him light, While hee securely lay asleepe, in careles plight. 17 A Raunger of this Desart blacke, he was, A Satyre, of aspect most truculent, Whose height of stature did ten foote surpasse, Mans flesh his diet was, in pieces rent, To hunt for which, abrode hee daily went: His lust with frequent rapes he satisfy’d, And all those wretched women which he hent, Were first forc’d to serue his luxurious pride, And then (for to abate his rage of hunger) dy’d.

18 Hee comeing to the place, where in deepe sleepe, The Knight was layd, him thought to haue surprisd, But the stout Lion, a true watch did keepe, Of his intrusion beeing well advis’d; And stood to hinder what he enterprisd, But as he did advance his loyall brest, As one that death, and danger both despis’d, The Villaines borespeare gor’d him through the chest, His dyeing grones (in time) vprais’d his Lord from rest. 19 Needes must this Monsters most mishapen feature, At first amaze, the new awaken’d Knight, Who seld before had mett so foule a creature, Yet soone himself he fitted for the fight, And made defence with sheild, and fauchion bright: For fiercely on him did the Monster fall, Spareing no hideous outcryes (him to fright) Such sounds as might a heart of flesh appall, But they his resolution daunted not at all. 20 Hee strongly busk’d himself vnto his taske, A cruell thrust hee with his targe did warde, Another blowe hee tooke vpon his caske,

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And threw himself, into the Villaines garde, Then his right arme, hee from his shoulder par’d; His limme, and weapon, downe together fell, A second blow his rage, and fury marr’d, Dischargeing life from her infernall cell, Thus fled his furious ghost downe to the deepest Hell. 21 Although Sir Belcoeur, was well pleas’d, and glad, For the achieuement of this victory, His faithfull seruants death, yet made him sad: But his affection true to testify, Vnto this Beast, that for his sake did dye, Hee with the Satyres borespeare digg’d a graue, Wherein he layd this Lion carefully, His tombe, with boughes, and flowres, hee did embraue, And on a tree thereby, these lines hee did engraue. 22 If that Great Alexander did lament, The obite of Bucephalus the stout, Building a Citty for his monument, Bicause with him hee many feilds had fought, Then why should any of my iudgement doubt, That haue this faithfull Lion here repos’d, (Who sau’d by mee) so well my safety wrought, That hee for mee, himself to death expos’d, [Belcoeur. Whose Death I did auenge; and here haue him enclos’d. 23 (These exequyes concluded) Sir Belcoeur That Desart desolate did soone forsake, But as hee on a plaine his course did steere, While bright Apollo his retreate did make, To earth surrounding Amphitrites lake, A goodly Palace to him did appeare, Inviteing him a lodgeing there to take, Hee not dispaireing for to find good cheere, Gladly resolu’d to bee a guest (for one night) here. 24 This Palace, on a Mountaine seated was, On euery side with beaut’ous prospects deck’d, In stead of lead, it couer’d was with brasse, And thence a glistring splendour did reflect, Against all eyes that did their rayes direct, 16.5 as] was 17.8 forc’d] w forc’d 17.9 dy’d.] dy’d 19.3 seld] nere ⌜seld⌝ 20.9 Thus fled . . . Hell.] Which on the ground lay sprauleing in a gory well. ⌜Thus fled his furious ghost downe to the deepest Hell.⌝ 21.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 21.3 death,] death; 22.9 Belcoeur.] Belchier./ ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 23.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sr ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 23.9 here.] here

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Vpon the same: seuen towres were there descry’d, Extending farre a luculent aspect, Whose spires with purest gold were beautify’d, And seem’d to emulate the starres, in lofty pride.

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25 But as he did approch the Castle gate, A iolly Champion in faire harneys dight, That proudly on a lusty courser sate, Him ouertooke, iust in the verge of Night; A squire him follow’d, briske as a yong Knight, The stranger Knight vnciuilly did greete Sir Belcoeur kind, in language vnpolite: Yon’ Palace which you see (quoth hee) I weete For such as thou ar’t, hath no entertainment meete. 26 Thy painted sheild, and party-colourd plume, No passeport bee for thy free entrance there, Therefore bee not so bold, as to presume, Further to passe, least I, with my keene speare, Make thee repent full sore thy beeing here, (Discourt’ous Knight) then did Sir Belcoeur say, I long to curbe thy insolence seuere, Yet rather had by daylight thee assay, Since now the time, for warlike iusts, is past away.

27 In this one thing then quoth the stranger Knight, I will vouchsafe, to fulfill thy request, And at th’appearance of to morrowes light, Will daigne to meete the, with my speare in rest, Which many a sheild hath pierc’d, crack’d many a crest: I onely feare that thou (ere peepe of day) To goe some other where wilt thinke it best; Thou look’st as if thou hadst no mind to stay, And seem’st to loue a feast, farre better then a fray. 28 Then Belcoeur thus reioind: These termes forbeare, Vnmeete for thee to giue, or mee to take: Assure thy self, that I dare breake a speare At any time, or season, for thy sake, If tryall of me thou wilt please to make: Although I dye for’t, I had rather stand, Then flee, and leaue my honour at the stake, Feare neuer yet had mee at such command, To make me with base cowardice, my credite brand.

29 With swelling lookes, then quoth the Boaster fell, The guilt of thine owne bloud, vpon the light, If that this lance shall send thy soule, to Hell; Or if but from thy sadle I thee smite, For this ill lucke thanke thy foole-hardy sp’rite: But if this matchles sword shall cut the short, Which sheilds of steele hath cleft, like wainscot slight, Then to the ghosts below doe thou report, That thou the honour hadst, to dye by Sanglamort.

30 And if thou meet’st old Hectors angry ghost, Hector, that was Troyes strongest muniment, Who durst alone make head against an hoste, Tell him that Hypsibremetor hath sent Thee, to him in the way of complement, And bidde him tell King Priam his old sire, That I a Troiane true, of braue descent, Troyes ruine will auenge, with sword, and fire, And Greekish Cittyes trample downe, in martiall ire. 31 Thus spake insulteing Hypsibremetor, While Belcoeur inly did his bragges despise, And his brauados great esteem’d no more, Then Cynthia pale, doth the vncessant cryes Of froward Curres, that howle when shee doth rise: Nathles supposeing, that at morow next, Hee should requite him for his vanityes, His thoughts he couer’d, with a faire pretext, And him advis’d not to be troubled much, or vex’t. 32 They at this famous Castle did arriue, And found admission there: the Castellane Was deem’d as proud, as any flesh aliue, Of linage noble, yet absurd, and vaine; Large meanes he had, his pride for to maintaine: Hee Cenodoxon hight, one more renown’d For words, then deedes, of no deepe reacheing braine, Yet proud Hee was: Ne did his heart abound With Bounty braue, yet his expences were profound. 33 Though large reuenues hee did yearly spend, Yet this expence came from no lib’rall heart, For hee was franke, for a sinister end, And freely did his benefits impart, To men of little worth, and no desart: (To wit) that these ignoble Sycophants, Might with smooth gloses, and blanditious art, The bounty of his noble heart advance, And make the world acquainted with his iouissance. 34 Hee also wont his gifts for to dispense, So openly, that all might notice take, Of his braue heart, and high magnificence: Hee strangers wondrous welcome wont to make, But not for charity, or true loues sake, 25.7 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 26.5 full] that full 26.6 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 28.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 31.2 Sir Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 32.8 Yet proud . . . heart abound] Yet a high mind did ⌜proud Hee Hee was: Ne did⌝ in his heart abound This revision appears to be linked to a deleted word, now illegible, at the start of the succeeding line.

Book 9 Canto 10 But that they might in euery place report, How learnedly hee at the table spake, And to the starres extoll his noble port, And bourd well furnished, with dishes of each sort.

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35 Thus hee by ostentation did destroy, His curtesyes, for hee that gifts bestowes, That others may his bounty magnify, To giue a benefit no better knowes, Then hee which wheate vpon the seashore sowes, Hee is as wise as hee, which his freind lent A Persian vest, to keepe of Scythian snowes; And no discreeter, then that youth which sent Egges, to his Romane Mistris, in the midst of Lent.

36 But Cenodoxon, with much curtesy, Welcomd his guests: with Hypsibremetor, Hee had bin well acquainted formerly, But Belcoeur hee had neuer seene before, Yet was hee not vnwelcome ought the more, But Hypsibremetor hee did embrace, Him like the God of Warre hee did adore, The Boaster in his fauour had such place, Vaine Man was hee, to bee abus’d by outward grace. 37 His parlour was adorn’d with pictures light, And many obiects friuolous, and vaine: His pedigree trick’d out on parchment white, In colours, and in mettalls did remaine, To shew his race, and linage soueraigne: Buffoones, and Knaues, were his associates, No man of worth his houshold did containe, But all were like vnto Vlysses mates, [cates. Sluggards, and drones, borne to consume good drinke, and 38 Apicius gluttonous, who did expend So many Sesterces in gourmandise, Might not with him for costly fare contend, Nor yet Lucullus, who in riotise, Layd out the spoiles of Ponticke victoryes; So well his bourd was seru’d with fish, and foule; But to the poore did no releife arise, Hee had no licour for the Beggers boule, His Porter wisely could keepe out each needy Soule. 39 Now while he sate at supper with his guests, A vaine discourse hee ’gan for to commence, Of his high parentage, and noblenes, Sir Belcoeurs eares could very ill dispense, With his vnpleasant glorious impudence, But Hypsibremetor occasion tooke,

To blazon his owne races excellence, With mighty words, and an elated looke, As one that could full ill anothers glory brooke. 40 Long ere that wanton wench of Greece (quoth hee) Became a prize to Priams am’rous sonne, Scamander braue, who now with siluer lee, Doth swiftly through the Phrygian champaine runne, (As Heralds sage report) our race begunne From which most antique stemme, did often rise, Such mighty miracles of action, That it as well with Gods hath filld the skyes, As frighted earth with victours, terrible, and wise. 41 A story too long ’tis to bee rehearst, To shew what Cittyes, and what Monarchyes, My Ancestors haue raised, and reuerst: It is impossible for to comprise, In a Symposiacke each enterprise, Which they did brauely act: nor euer since The subtile Greekes, did careles Troy surprise, And Priams people driue from their precincts, Did any of our line, or race, write lesse then Prince. 42 For when my Predecessors were expell’d, From Phrygian coasts, by adverse chance of warre, Their spirits yet vnvanquish’d, and vnquelld, Did them conduct to forraine countreys farre, Where they by manly force, and prowesse rare, From bloudy Tyrants did great scepters wrest: They Giants slue in combates singular, And dreaded were by all from east to west, Their vertues with such fortunate successe were blest. 43 The antient Latines, and the furious Gaules, The wary Spanyards, and the Almans stout, They did subdue; nor could those wat’ry walls Of Neptune, circleing all the world about, Confine the conquests of this heroicke rout: With sliceing oares they check’d the Brittish maine, Where they against both Men, and monsters fought, A regall throne there first they did ordaine, And Kings begate, which ouer all the world did raigne. 44 While thus Sir Hypsibremetor did prate, Sir Belcoeur interrupted his discourse, Sir Knight (sayd hee) it sutes not with thy state, To vaunt thus of thy rotten ancestours, 36.2 with] for ⌜with⌝ 36.4 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 39.4 Sir Belcoeurs] Sir ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ Belchiers 44.1 Sir Hypsibremetor] Sir ⌜Hypsibremetor⌝ Hysibremetor 44.2 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier

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Whose worth, and vertue you cannot call yours; For graunt that truth dwells in this talke of thine, Yet ar’t not thou, the better, but the worse, For what thy Grandsires did, if thou decline To doe those noble feates, which made them so diuine.

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45 For as darke Night, succeedeing gladsome day, From it no grace, or glory, doth resume, But doth appeare more ougly farre away, So if in sloth, thy dayes, thou shalt consume, Their worth cannot thy sluggardise perfume; But as a staine on cloth of purest dye, Or sable spot vpon the whitest plume, So shall thy vice bee more apparently, A spectacle of shame, and lothsome infamye. 46 But that thou do’st succeede them, if wee graunt, As well in vertue, as in progenye; Yet of their deedes thou ought’st not for to vaunt, Thy part it is to cast a silent eye, Vpon their acts, and magnanimity, By them thy course of life to regulate, While others reare their praises to the skye, Who also shall thy prowesse high elate, That do’st not from such Heroes braue degenerate.

47 Though valour may descend from sire, to sonne, Yet ’tis not alway an inheritance: But as when Sol is sett, the day is done, So without vertues sacred ordinance, Can no nobility it self advance, Hee therefore that on ancestry alone, The building of his honour seekes t’enhance, Is like that heedles foole, which raisd vpon A slideing quicksand, his vnstable mansion. 48 But since thou ar’t so bold, for to maintaine, That thou art borne, of Brittish royall seede, I list not to beleeue thy tattleing vaine, For that braue stemme, which doth in worth exceed, Could neuer any smoky Boaster breed: Bee thou perswaded to fetch thy descent, From Frenchmen proud, stouter in word, then deed, Or braueing Spanyards passeing insolent, No bloud of Brittish Kings is in thy body meint. 49 This sharp reply, the Boaster sore did gall, And inwardly did daunt his coward brest, Yet outwardly he shew’d no feare at all, But with a count’nance bold, his feare did vest: And haueing paus’d, hee thus himself exprest: Thy malice, and thy envuy vile, (quoth hee)

(Disloyall Knight) thou ha’st made manifest, Thus disalloweing of my pedigree, For which I shortly meane to be aueng’d on thee. 50 Now Cenodoxon, with much language sweet, Besought the Braggart fierce (in any case) To spare his choler, till he next should meet With Belcoeur, in an opportuner place; Which counsell hee did willingly embrace, Yet seem’d like Lion fierce, to rampe, and rage, As if he meant to fly in Belcoeurs face, And instantly requird the combate-gage, Sir Belcoeur, threw his gauntlet downe, his wrath to swage. 51 The pledge By Hypsibremetor was tane, Then to their lodgeings they retird away, But ere the Vsher of the Morne beganne, His feather’d ensignes to spread, and display, And giue a salue to th’approcheing day, With his shrill horny trumpe, this worthles wight, ’Gan to repent him of th’appointed fray, And out at doores he slipp’d, in depth of night, Spurreing amaine, till he got out of danger quite. 52 Sir Belcoeur, when the morning did appeare, Did soone shake of the gentle charmes of rest, And armed cape a pee, with sword, and speare, Did for his adversary make inquest, But it (in fine) was by a Groome confest, That Hypsibremetor with his base Squire, When Night had all things hid beneath her vest, To help them to their horses, did him hire, And to conceale which way they fled, did him desire. 53 Sir Belcoeur did the basenes wonder at, Of this vnworthy wretch, who was indeed That very Braggadochio, who of late Was at those iusts vncas’d, and baffulled, When Marinell faire Florimel did wedde, Who though he there receiued much disgrace, Yet that disgrace in him no mendment bred, But beeing whipp’d out with his varlett base, They boldly did beginne, new proiects to embrace. 46.7 skye] skyes 47.1 valour may] valour mad may 47.8 raisd] ba raisd 50.4 Belcoeur,] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 50.7 Belcoeurs] ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ Belchiers 50.9 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir Belchier, ⌜Belcoeur⌝ 52.1 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 53.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 53.5 Marinell] Flor Marinell

Book 9 Canto 11 54 Then hee of Braggadochio left the name, Himself ycleapeing Hypsibremetor, Admir’d by silly sottes, where ere he came, And by Plebeian noddyes feared sore, For bigge he look’d, like to some Emperor: Nor wanted hee advantage personall, Or limmes vnmeete a valiant Warriour, His armour was with gold embellish’d all, Mounted hee was vpon a Courser proud, and tall.

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55 Thus like a iolly Knight did hee appeare, The world deceiueing with brauadoes vile, Many such Knights the world hath now (I feare) Knights not in deedes, but Knights alone in stile, Who with mere showes thinke all men to beguile, Vnder protection of a glorious case, They gaine respect, with little care, or toile, Yet may wee sweare it that the golden Asse, As good a Gentleman, as any of these was.

Canto 11 Faire Thalastena triumphes makes Where feates of armes are done: Prince Arthur and Sir Merhoneur There greatest honour wonne.

1 With mickle blame, some Censour graue (I weene) May checke my Muse, that hath forborne so long, To speake of Arthur, or that matchles Queene, The Chiefest subiect, of this heroicke song, Whose worth by silence I may seeme to wrong, Nathles, let none too quicke, and hasty bee, Mee to assaile with a malignant tongue, For they, (when Time and season serue) shall see That I their acts, will blazon in a high degree.

2 Nor doe I Glorianas praise conceale, While of her Knights, I sing th’achieuements great, Since her rare beauty, and her bount’ous zeale, Did spurre them on, vnto each noble feate That they might honour winne, with bloud, and sweat: But among all that did her court frequent, Or spend attendance, on her royall seate, None might the Brittish Prince match, for descent, For wisedome, valour, and for port magnificent. 3 Therefore hee best deseru’d his Ladyes grace, And daily her did court, with actions high, Well corresponding with his royall race, But (as vpon a day) her Maiesty

Feasted her Knights, with all solemnity, A Herald in an vncouth habite dight, Arriued in the Hall: full greedily, Each Squire, and Groome gaz’d on this mister wight, And made him roome, that hee his message might recite. 4 His bonnett, was made of a wreathed shell, Such as old Neptune, casts vpon the shore; When Æoles Sonnes, with anger make him swell: A wreath of seaweedes, intermix’d with store Of corrall red, he for a hat band wore: His Heralds coate was like a Dolphins hide, With finnes, and scales of siluer couer’d o’re, His buskins were made of a seales skinne dry’d, With files of glistring gold empal’d, on euery side. 5 An oyez thrice he made, with a shrill cry, Proclaymeing thus, a tilt, and tornaument. Yee Knights (quoth hee) of armes, and chiualry, That are to honorable action bent, Know that faire Thalastena, hath me sent, From that great Land, which Britomaria hight, To you, her loue, and seruice to present, Shee likewise doth all to her court invite, That expert are to mannage sword, or speare in fight. 6 For shee determind is to celebrate, Two dayes, in all triumphall brauery, Which dayes she will to honour dedicate, When euery noble Cheualier may try, His courage, strength, and his actiuity, But him that shall himself most brauely beare, And quitt himself with most agility, Shee meaneth to requite with guerdon deare, An ample meede, and prize, he shall receiue from her. 7 For shee a Mayde, of royall linage bred, The Empresse, of a large dominion, Will him invite vnto her nuptiall bed, That shall be Victour, when the iusts are done, And will her regall crowne his head put on: The time prefix’d, for this solemnity, Shall bee expired, when the pallid Moone, Hath thrice with circled light, appeard in sky, Her Brothers roome, with weaker splendour to supply. Arg.2 done:] done 1.9 I] high I 2.1 praise] praises 2.7 seate,] feate seate, 6.5 courage,] courage 6.9 he] she

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8 When thus the Herald had his message told, A gen’rall murmure through the Hall did rise, Each Knight replenished, with courage bold, Did secretly within himself surmise, That hee might haue the lucke, to winne the prize. They leaue of Gloriana did require, To try the fortune of this enterprise; Shee (that wont not t’extinguish honors fire) Did gently graunt, what they most humbly did require.

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9 Prince Arthur also (though desireing least, To winne a Mistris, or a crowne to gaine, But thirsteing after honour) did request His Ladyes license, for to entertaine This rare emprize, and did his sute obtaine. Sir Merhoneur he for his consort chose, Sir Merhoneur deriu’d from royall straine, Sir Merhoneur so dreadfull to his foes, Through Faery Land renown’d for prowesse valourous.

10 The rumour of these famous iusts was spred, From East to west, and many Painims fell, From Indye, and from Africke hastened, Who did in martiall feates, and worth excell, Each hopeing for to beare away the Bell: Yea such a rout of Knights assembled was, From Christian realmes, and Kingdomes infidell, That seld at any triumph (in like case) So many Caualiers, did euer come in place. 11 Nor is it needles, that I should display, In some particulars, how gloriously, Those triumphs rare presented were that day: An artificiall Ocean to the eye Did first appeare, rouleing but lazily, Whereon faire Thalastena first was seene, Enthroniz’d in a carre of iuory Drawne by a teme of Dolphins, like that Queene Which is the soueraigne Lady of the Waters greene. 12 A golden crowne her sparkeling lockes confin’d, In antique manner shap’d, and like to those, Which whilome Romes Patricians graue assign’d, To them that brauely grappled with their foes, And in a seafight had to honour rose; Her dangleing tresses like a surcote bright, Her slender corps did daintily enclose, And almost quite obscur’d her mantle white, [exquisite. That was embroiderd all with pearles, and gemmes most

13 A troupe of Naiads waited on her carre, Which most deliciously did sing, and play, Nor did the Tritons, their loud musicke spare,

But in their writhen shells, did loudly bray: Thus Thalastena did herself convey, Vnto her scaffold, and triumphant throne, Which like a rocke of siluer, did display Such splendent beames, and lustre, that each one Was dazled, and amaz’d, that fix’d an eye thereon. 14 Then the Appellants, vsherd by a sound Of martiall musicke, enterd the lists wide; And first the braue Prince Arthur chose his ground, As principall of the Appellants side, And next to him Sir Merhoneur did ride; A crowne vpon his helme Prince Arthur wore, By which his regall stemme might bee descryd, And on his sheild, hee passant Lions bore, A sheild that (whilome) was of all ydrad full sore. 15 His horses furniture resembled neare, The Oceans wau’y feature, and aspect, Like him accouter’d was Sir Merhoneur, Whose helmet with a nauall crowne was deck’t, Hee was a complete Knight, in each respect. A story long t’would make for to display, Th’impreses, and deuices most select, That equipage, and accurate array, Which was in feild there to bee seene, this solemne day. 16 When the Appellants had in lists advanc’d, Then the Defendants did in feild appeare, Sir Amadis de Gaule before them praunc’d, While brazen trumpets, did their voices reare, And with shrill clangour the thinne welkin teare: Sir Amadis, Sir Belgan seconded, Who did a many headed Hydra beare, Vpon his target round, then followed A troupe of Knights, well armed, and accoutered. 17 Prince Arthur first (like lightening from a cloud) Broke fiercely from his strong battalion, Sir Amadis flyes from the adverse crowde, And boldly ’gainst the Britton Prince gaue on, 8.5 prize.] prize 8.9 require.] require 9.1 least,] least,) after 9.5] Knevet appears to have written Sir Merhoneur, deleted it, and then begun afresh on the following line. 11.4 eye] eyes eye 11.7 Enthroniz’d . . . iuory] This line has been inserted between its neighbours at some point after the original copying process; an asterisk in the left margin marks the point of insertion. 12.4 grappled] grappl ⌜e⌝ d 12.7 daintily] to daintily 14.6 vpon his helme] vpon ⌜his⌝ helme

Book 9 Canto 11 Each shooke the ground with his incursion; Nor was the Frenchman able to withstand This furious shocke, but from his courser throwne, Did measure out his length vpon the sand; Hee had the honour thus to fall by Arthurs hand.

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18 Sir Belgan (grieued for his freinds disgrace) Sought to auenge his shamefull ouerthrow, And with his lance, aym’d at Prince Arthurs face, Who on his sturdy sheild, receiu’d the blow, And him beside his fellow layd full low: Then Agramant did from his troupe advance, Like a keene arrow from a Scythian bowe, But his ill happe it was, and hard mischance, To bee hurt, and dismounted, by the Princes lance. 19 Then the Defendants fraught with wrathfull ire, Did like an Ocean, on Prince Arthur breake, Like rageing seas, or rageing flames of fire, On him they sought their cruell teene to wreake, But Merhoneur (least hee should proue too weake To mannage fight against a multitude) Did make his lance sing in the welkin bleake, Greeteing the rout, with a salute so rude, That many from their sadles fell, with bloud embru’d.

20 A Troupe of hardy Knights did him attend, Who did so fiercely to the rescue fly, That they the Prince, a breatheing space did lend: But Merhoneur so well the fight did plye, That all admird his worth, and chiualry, For ’twas obseru’d that hee vnhors’d that day, Twice twenty Knights: but when the euen drew nigh, The Enemyes affresh ’gan on him lay, Him thinkeing vtterly to quell, or to dismay. 21 But then Prince Arthur, did relieue his freind, And fifty Knights before him forc’d to fly, His valour, did the first dayes triumph end: The trumpets then did sound, most ioyfully, And summon’d euery Knight from feild to hye; But that dayes chiefest prize allotted was, Vnto the Britton Prince vndoubtedly, The second to Sir Merhoneur did passe, Who next the Prince, deseru’d that day the greatest grace. 22 But when the Morning next her eyes ’gan reare, And dewy tresses from the easterne waue, In feild appeared stout Sir Merhoneur, To whom Prince Arthur leaue and license gaue, That day to lead on the Appellants braue; Sir Huon stout on the Defendants side,

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The goodly gouernance deseru’d to haue, For through deepe wounds Sir Amadis his pride, Was so asswag’d, that hee could hardly walke, or ride. 23 As when two Bulls, that in the mountaines late, A furious fight did make, till Heardsmen stout, Did force them to conclude their fierce debate, But parted, they each other single out, The next day, from among the horned rout, And then each other terribly assay, That all the Heards, stand quakeing round about, Admireing at the fiercenes of the fray, And doubtfull, who shall beare the victory away. 24 So did Sir Merhoneur, and Huon bold, Each other with much hardynes assaile Their speares were turn’d to shiuers manifold, Nor with their trenchant brondirons did they faile, To hew each others helmes, and coates of maile: But ’twixt them two their mates the fight conclude, Exchangeing blow, for blow, as thicke as haile, And mingled in a confus’d multitude, With rage, vncessantly each other they pursu’d. 25 As swift Araxes, with impetuous course, Roules from Mount Taurus, to the Caspian Lake, Whose waters hee invadeth, with such force, That for some miles, hee will no mixture take, Of those salt waues, that sterne resistance make; These waters intermixeing yet (in fine) In the same waues seeme not their strife to slake, Although no taste, or eysight can designe, Which is the fresh water, and which the brackish brine. 26 Euen so (these Knights in a tumult’ous fight, Beeing engaged) no spectators eye, Distinguish could this Man, from that aright, Or shew by obseruation certainly, Which was a freind, and which an enemy, For all alike, with bloudy gore were sprent, Their sheilds were mall’d, and batterd terribly, That none could see, what their Impreses meant; [rent. Their plumes, and fauours, from their broken helmes were 27 But Merhoneur, by his example braue, At length his party so encouraged, That to his foes a shamefull foyle he gaue, 18.4 sturdy] ⌜sturdy⌝ seuen-fold 20.7 nigh,] night, 20.8 ’gan on him] ’gan her on him 24.2 assaile,] assaile 26.1 tumult’ous fight,] tumult’ous rout fight, 26.9 rent.] rent

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Who quite discouraged, before him fled, Each seekeing from a knocke, to saue his head, While the Appellants thus with manly might, Had the Defendants euen discomfited, Into the lists there rushd a Pagan Knight, Who fiercely with his troupe, ’gan to renue the fight.

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28 This Pagane cleaped was Sir Bramarant, A hundreth Champions brought he in his traine, On sheild he bore a Tiger salyant, Hee was descended of a Moorish straine, Yet was a natiue thought of southerne Spaine, At Merhoneur hee ranne with his huge lance, Fraught with excessiue fury, and disdaine: The Knight as fiercely did ’gainst him advance, Their terrible encounter, made the earth to daunce. 29 Sir Merhoneur, the blow fenc’d with his sheild, Wherein the weapons broken point did rest, But Bramarant was throwne flat on the feild, Kisseing th’inglorious earth, with his proud crest, And daungerously wounded in the brest, His fall dismayd his stoutest followers, But in his foes couragious might encreast, For they resumeing strength, and vigour fierce, The fortune of the new come Knight, did quite reverse. 30 Now did Sol hasten to his wat’ry bed, Leaueing the vpper world disconsolate, When the Defendants were quite vanquished, Lamenting that ill happe, and vnkind fate, Which had bereft them of the palme of late, While trumpets shrill, a loud retreat did sound, And Heralds, Merhoneur did nominate, As one that did for valour most renown’d, Deserue with honours prize, and garland, to be crownd.

31 (The iusts thus done) then in triumphant state, Faire Thalastena to her palace went, To welcome there the victours laureate, With all respect, that could produce content, Or procreate delightfull solacement, And to fulfill, what late she promised, To bee his spouse, shee freely did consent, Who for her sake himself had hazarded, And at these iusts himself, most brauely carryed. 32 Now though Prince Arthur, of all Knights aliue, Deseru’d best the fruition of this prize, Both for his birth, and worth superlatiue, Yet since he was to Gloriana wise, Engag’d in loue, and true affections tyes, Hee could by no meanes, this rich iewell weare,

But to Sir Merhoneur did it demise, Who did bothe dayes himself so brauely beare, That all men deem’d he well deseru’d to bee her feere. 33 The Princely Dame this motion did embrace, And gladly chose him for her Lord, most deare, Whose fortitude, might merit well such grace, Since from her foes, he stoutly could garde her, And perills with vndanted courage beare: No tongue, or penne, the gladnes can expresse, Which then refresh’d the noble Merhoneur; Yet constant Louers at this blisse may guesse, That haue enioy’d their Ladyes, after much distresse. 34 But Thalastena’s people with much glee, With all applause, and acclamations loud, Reioyc’d this nuptiall vnion to see, The Bridegroome to behold, they neare did crowde, And before him with meeke submission bow’d; Much labour it would aske, for to declare What pastimes, and what courtly sports were show’d, To grace this Bridall feast, there was no spare Of ought, that might adde glory, to these triumphs rare. 35 But in the midst of all their iollity, An odde occurrence did disturbe their sport, For (on a day) a Giant sudainly, Arriued at the Britomarian Court, Rusheing into the Hall, in boistrous sort: Hee seem’d, as one, that valu’d welcome least, So insolent, and rigid was his port, Hee enterd like a bold intrudeing guest, And look’d as if he came to fight, and not to feast. 36 A turbant huge, about his head was roul’d, A scimitar was pendant at his thigh, A siluer Cressant in a feild of gold, Hee bare vpon his targe, hee was as high, As three Men, of a middle quantity: Mischiefe, and warre, did in his lookes appeare, Pale murther sate triumphant in his eyes, Sterne fury on his browe, did domineare, And cruelty likewise did seeme to vmpire there. 37 His hollow voice, like thunder rent the aire, And thus hee vtterd his defiance bold, Listen (quoth hee) ye Knights, and Ladyes faire, I Nigropont the Sonne of Neptune old, That am the Lord of Ilands manifold, Doe here defye the false Sir Merhoneur, 29.4 th’inglorious] the’inglorious 37.6 the] the e

Book 9 Canto 11

Whom for a lewd disloyall Knight I hold, And before all the world will make’t appeare, That hee hath mee bereft, of my betrothed deare.

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38 And though I could by testimonyes strong, Make good what I affirme, yet since ’tis meete, That I should vse my sword, and not my tongue, A weapon fitt for Cowards vndiscreete, And Carpet Knights, that study language sweet, I with my scimitar, will here approue, Vpon thy carrion corps, to thy regreet, By the chiefe aide of Mahomet aboue, That thou a Recreant false, ha’st robb’d me of my loue. 39 (Thus spake the Giant) then a murmure low Ranne through the Hall; in such a gurgleing tone, Pebbles are wont to speake, in riuers slow, When they the current seeme to chide, and grone, Bicause it will not tumble faster on; But dreary doubt, mix’d with suspicious feare, Faire Thalastenas visage sate vpon, Her change of hue, bewray’d her mournfull cheare, This Giants chalenge fierce, did so astonish her. 40 As when the wicked Dames of Thessaly, (With their stupend’ous witchcraft) doe pursue, Apollos sister sad nocturnally, Then shee doth often variate her hue, Now lookeing red, then swarty, pale, and blew, And quiuering doth her trouble strange bewray, So Thalastena did appeare in view, Deepely perplex’d, her Ladyes sad did stay, Her fainting corps, enfeebled with this sad affray. 41 But dreadles Merhoneur did thus reply; What moues thee (most iniurious Miscreant) To bee the Authour, of so foule a lye, As thou ha’st vtter’d here; what Fiend doth haunt Thy soule? that thou shouldst such an vntruth chant, If iustice failes not to assist the right, This sword shall make the thy false tale recant, And from thy throte that tongue disseuer quite, That guilty is of leaseing, and such sland’rous spite.

42 As when a fierce wild bore, is round besett, With hounds, and hunters, fraught with wrathfull ire, Hee to th’assailants, death, and wounds, doth threat, His sterne eyes sparkeling like to coales of fire, And grinding his white tuskes, with rancour dire: So did the Giant rage, and from his throte, Did such prouokeing menaces expire, That Merhoneur, to make him change his note, In haste, call’d for his sword, his sheild, and steely coate.

43 (The Champions thus accouterd for the fight) With equall rage, they mett in equall feild, Yet did their strength vnequall seeme to sight, For Nigropont was for the stronger held, But him, in skill Sir Merhoneur excelld, The Giants valour did consist in rage, With sauage cruelty, his brest was fill’d: But valiant Merhoneur, by iudgement sage, And courage most vndaunted, did fierce combate wage. 44 Pale horrour the spectatours did invade, They fear’d th’euent of this monomachy, The Giants force, and rage was so y’drad: But none him wish’d successe, or victory; Ne for their wishes, did he care a fly, He hack’d, and hew’d, he madly lash’d and foin’d, But Merhoneur did on his garde relye, And seldome made a blow, or thrust design’d, Which did not in his foemans carkasse, entrance find. 45 These smarting wounds enrag’d the Giant so, That choler him bereft of common sence, Hee roar’d aloud, as seas are wont to doe, When they impell’d by Æoles violence, Doe beate the chalky cliffes, with force intense, Stroweing with frequent wrackes the sandy shore, And for to witnes their impatience, Appeareing hoary all, with foamy gore, A spectacle of horrour vnto seamen poore. 46 But while the Giant, thus did lay about, Sir Merhoneur, stood as secure as hee, Which in a stresse of weather rides it out, And doth himself from deadly perills free, With ropes, and anchors, that most trusty bee; Hee warily his fury did preuent, And strooke, but when hee did advantage see, Yea though it were a dreadfull bickerment, And wondrous long, yet little bloud and sweat he spent. 47 But then the Giant, with a single blow, The fatall controuersye thought to end, And with contracted might, aboue his browe, His sword in bothe his hands hee did extend, Which like Ioues direfull fire-bolt did descend, He aym’d this stroke at Merhoneurs high crest, Nor did he misse the marke, hee did intend, Yet faild hee in his purpose, and behest, So by his kinder starres, the noble Knight was blest. 42.4 sterne] se sterne 45.4 Æoles] Neptunes ⌜Æoles⌝

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48 For whether through miscarriage of his hand, Or whether Heauen did his two hands misguide, Vpon his helme the Giants steely brand, Did flatlings light, then twang the mettall cry’d, The broken blade skipp’d twenty yards aside; So when the blew skyes bee enameled, With starres, a meteor hath bin oft descryd, Through aire to dart it self, all flameing red, With speed, and swiftnes, not to bee imagined.

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49 But this huge souce the Knight did so astound, That pitt’ously hee reeled to and fro, The Giant quickly his advantage found, And mad ’cause hee had lost his weapon so, Sought desp’rately to grapple with his foe, Now were all the beholders thrill’d, with feare, And inwardly transfix’d, with mickle woe, When they saw how strong Nigropont had neare, Grasp’d in his mighty armes, this gentle Caualier. 50 But soone the proffers of his rude embraces, Did waken, and rowse vp, th’astonish’d Knight, Who did the Giant hurt in sundry places, And as hee did outstretch his arme forth right, Hee smote it of, fast by the elbow quite, Then language foule, against the Gods he spu’d, Defyeing heauen, and Hell with cursed spite, Till Merhoneur, his head from’s shoulders hewd, And did both life, and blasphemyes attonce conclude.

51 Great was the ioy, and melody that day, Which was beheld in Thalastenas Court, Where the braue Britton Prince, made no long stay, Who to his Lady Gloriane did resort, (Of these achieuements great) to make report But Merhoneur hee left with his faire Bride, With whom hee liued long, in happy port, Beloued much, and feared on each side, So wisely hee his actions, could direct and guide.

Canto 12 Sir Belcoeur Eleutheria frees From her Oppressour dire: The filthy Temple he destroyes Of Hellish Chrysargyr. 1 Euen as some Merchant, who hath struggled long, With fickle Gods, of the deepe Ocean, That oft haue brus’d his barke, with tempests strong, In his returne, from China, or Iapan, And made him oft for dread, looke wondrous wanne, When hee beholds (at hand) his natiue shore, Then hee transformed to a ioyous Man, With flagges, and streamers, trimmes his vessell poore, While gunnes on starbourd, and on larbourd side doe rore. 2 With pleasant solace, so refresh’d am I, After sad stormes of fortune, and dispaire, To see a happy hauen, and harbour nigh, Where if I may find trade, and trafficke faire, I gladly shall againe to sea repaire, Then if sweet gales of well affected minds, Shall swell my sailes, with fauourable aire, I need not feare those ill, and adverse winds, Of Critickes rough, whom malice, and detraction blinds. 3 When Belcoeur, had forsooke the palace vaine, Of vainer Cenodoxon, Fate him led, To that realme, where Corauido did raigne, And Eleutheria, had emprisoned, Bicause shee did refuse his loathed bed; This land which Auritania was clept, Seem’d with all benefitts replenished, That humane life concern’d; faire riuers crept Through meadows greene, which many heards of cattell fed. 4 With snowy flockes, the vplands were yclad, The boscages did lodge the nimble deere, The skippeing Goates did on the mountaines gadde, The fertile feilds, did Ceres liuery weare, And cherry-cheek’d Pomona did appeare, In euery groue: the trees of Bacchus stood, Laden with pendant clusters, euery where, Some white like pearles, and others red as blood, Th’Oenotrian land (I weene) had neuer grapes so good. 49.8 strong] fie strong 50.5 quite,] right quite, 51.4 to] ⌜to⌝ with Arg.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier Arg.2 dire:] dire 3.1 Belcoeur,] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier,

Book 9 Canto 12 5 Now ’gan old Beldame Night with poppy crown’d, To approch slowly from the Stygian strand, Mumbleing mysterious spells, and charmes profound, And shakeing in her hand, a magicke wand, Where with she creatures moues, on sea, and land, The gentle God of sleepe, to entertaine, Who while he could for drowsynes scarce stand, Did with an ebone staffe, his limmes sustaine, And with somnif’rous moisture did the world distaine.

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6 Then Belcoeur (to eschue nocturnall cold) And penetrateing serenes, did retreat, Into a wood, where Okes, and poplars old, Were wont to hasten night, and to defeate, The rayes of Phœbe, and her Brother great, Here hee dismounted, from his trusty steed, And vnderneath a Tree, did take a seate, At roote whereof, hee did repose his head, A lodgeing good enough, for want of better bed. 7 But ere sleepe had seal’d vp his twinckling eyes, Hee heard a bustling in a thicket nigh, Which made him hastily from rest, to rise; For feare, least some vnwelcome ieopardy, Might on him sease, ere hee could it descry; Hee actiuely leap’t on his feet vpright, And stood vpon his garde, with wary eye, Before him then appeard a forlorne wight, That seem’d surprised, with a terrible affright.

8 This wretched mizer, wondrously astound, With the vnlook’d for view, of an arm’d Knight, Fell flat downe with his face, vpon the ground, Sir Belcoeur wondring at this vncouth sight, Ask’d him if hee were man, or cursed sp’rite, That haunted those darke woods, with fell intent, Poore mortalls to misguide, in depth of night; The wretch then fraught, with dole, and dreryment, Confest himself a humane creature impotent. 9 The Knight, ask’d whence he was, and what him mou’d, To trauell in that Forrest blacke, so late, When him to bee at rest, it best behou’d; I am a Squire (quoth hee) of meane estate, Tost to and fro, by stormes vnfortunate, I on Sir Tristram (whilome) did attend, Whose company, I lost, through vnkind fate, To find whom I, through many realmes did wend, Yet could I not heare of my dearest Lord, and freind. 10 At length, it was my most vnhappy lot, For to arriue in this vnhumane land, A most vnhospitall, and wicked plot,

Where a fierce Tyrant beares the chiefe command, Raigneing by awfull strength of bloudy hand, A damn’d and mercyles Idolater, For whatsoeuer strangers touch this strand, As victimes, they are sacrificed here, Vnto a cursed Idol, cleaped Chrysargyr. 11 Among a rout of other strangers, I Was for this cruell sacrifice design’d, But scap’d (by chance) their bloudy butchery, For I my opportunity did find, As they by night led vs through pathwayes blind, Into the bushes, for to slippe aside, And so this ruthles massacre declin’d, Since which I was compell’d, my self to hide, In gloomy grottes, and caues, for feare to bee descryd. 12 Like to a sauage Beast, that lyes all day, Within his denne, and dares not once bee seene, At midnight goeing forth to seeke his prey, To lurke obscurely, so forc’d haue I bene, Least I by them should bee surpris’d agen, For many troupes of horse, and armed bands, Doe garde the auenues, with weapons keene; It is impossible to scape their hands; So strictly they obserue their Lords seuere commands. 13 This is the cause (god wot) oh gentle Knight, That at this season, in this place vnfitt, I wander thus, who rather had by light, If from this hellish countrey I could gett, My self in honest seruices acquitt, And lead my life, as I haue done whilere, In duetyes, for a poore Squire requisite, But if I could find out my Master deare, My gladnes then should bee sans-paralell or peere. 14 So spake the Squire: then Belcoeur thus reply’d, (Vnhappy Man) I pitty thy distresse, And wonder at this peoples cruell pride, Whom diuelish superstitious lore doth presse, To put in vre, such horrid wickednes; But who’s the Patrone of this mischiefe rude? 6.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 7.2 nigh.] night, 7.9 affright.] affright, 8.4 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 12.1 lyes] lurkes ⌜lyes⌝ 12.4 lurke] Written over liue 12.4 forc’d] long ⌜forc’d⌝ 13.7 duetyes,] duety⌜es⌝, 14.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier

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How is the Tyrant call’d, whose foule excesse, His wicked altars hath with bloud embru’d, With bloud of Innocents, a custome vile, and lewd.

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15 Hee hight Corauido, then quoth the Squire, Then fiercest Tiger farre more pittyles, Who gouern’d by incontinent desire, Intends to act a direfull wickednes, Vpon a Dame of peereles worthynes; For when Aurora bright, shall next arise, And from the Ocean showe her rosy brests, With purple surcote couering the skyes, A feast is to be kept with all solemnityes. 16 Monthly, this feast they wont to celebrate, In honour of their hellish deitye, To whom, they faile not then to immolate, Both youths, and tender virgins cruelly, And strangers of each sort, and quality: But on the morrow next, this Tyrant proud, Egg’d on by lust, and damned villany, Determin’d is to sprinkle o’re his God, With an vnspotted royall virgins vitall bloud. 17 This Lady Eleutheria men call, Her natiue countrey is Vtopia faire, Her worth, and beauty bee admir’d by all, Vnto a Kingdome, shee’s the legall heyre, Yet dares this fiend of Hell attempt to slay her. The ougly bulke of his Tartarean brest, With Phlegetonticke flames, and Stygian aire, Were fill’d, lust and ambition him possest, Lust, and ambition, would not suffer him to rest. 18 For when, by gloses faire, and fained loue, Her grace, and freindship he sought to obtaine, Shee wisely did his purposes reproue, And his addresses, would not entertaine: Thus could he not vnto his ends attaine, Yet her denyall could not his flames swage, But added mickle fewell to his paine, Hee inwardly full sore did frette and rage, To loose so faire a Dame, with such an heritage. 19 As the sly Wolfe, that in a thicket lyes, Vieweing fat flockes, that straggle here, and there, Vpon the grassy downes, with greedy eyes, And longing sore, to taste of such good cheare, Yet dares not for his eares, or life appeare, While radiant Phœbus, from his burning seate, Continues to looke on the hemisphere, Bicause the swaines prepar’d, with bandogs great, He ready spyes, his ambuscadoes to defeate.

20 So did Corauido hide his intent, And made faire semblance; as one well apayd, But in the meane time, sought to circumvent By guile, and foule deceit, this royall mayde; For whom in secret wise, a snare he layd, And in a maske surpris’d this Virgin pure, Whom sudainly hee to his home conveyd; And lock’d her vp within a prison sure, Vnto his wicked lust her seekeing to allure. 21 With threats, entreatyes, hope of liberty, Hee sought to winne her to his wicked mind, By charmes, and philters, likewise did hee try, With passion her to weaken, or to blind: But still his loue shee vtterly declin’d: Then he beganne her to disdaine, and hate, And to a closer Prison her confin’d; Thus was she brought vnto such wretched state, That shee desir’d to see her lifes extremest date. 22 Proud Philargyra, was glad of this change: Shee is the sister of Corauido, With her hee hath committed incest strange, The Preist of Chrysargyr, shee is also, And euer was faire Eleutherias foe, Whose vtter ruine shee did thus conspire, Shee humbly did vnto her brother goe, And him besought, to fulfill her desire, In offering the royall maide to Chrysargyr. 23 Shee to the Tyrant proud did intimate, That by a victime, of such worth, they might Their angry God to them conciliate: And that her virgin bloud, must needes delight, Their Idol great, with odour exquisite: Hee soone to her request did condiscend, And her deuotion did with praise acquite, Her piety and care he did commend: That did the honour of their God, so well intend. 24 He willd her, to stand out for no expence, And to see rites, and ceremonyes done, With all the glory, and magnificence, That can imagin’d bee, or thought vpon: The Time’s at hand, and day is nigh begunne, Appointed for this bloudy sacrifice; (Stay, stay, oh Night) doe not so swiftly runne, Thou that with ougly crimes delightst thine eyes, Forbidden ar’t this horrid fact to supervise. 15.9 solemnityes.] solemnityes;⌜.⌝ 19.8 swaines] sq swaines 23.3 God] God s 24.3 magnificence,] magnificen s⌜c⌝e,

Book 9 Canto 12 25 (Oh mighty Ioue) the Lord of flitting aire, Forbidde the Sunne, his charrett to remoue, From the transparent court of Thetis faire, And as (whilome) thou for Alcmenas loue Didst night extend, thy lustfull sports to proue; So now giue thou a supersedeas, To Sol, (for pittyes sake) oh gentle Ioue; Or rather bring all things to that same passe, Which they were at, when all the world a Chaos was.

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26 But if it bee thy fatall ordinance, That dissolution yet must not appeare, Then, then, doe thy reuengeing arme advance, Thy triple headed fiery dart vpreare, For to preuent this cursed action neare. Thus spake the Squire, in most patheticke wise; His speech did somewhat alter Belcoeurs cheare; Not feare, but greife, did in his heart arise, Yet hee with cheerefull words, his passion did disguise. 27 And must she dye without redresse (sayd hee)? May shee not bee releiu’d by humane hand? Can the iust Gods, an act so vniust see? (Vnhappy Squire) oh let me vnderstand, Where the abode is of this Tyrant grand: I am resolu’d for to preuent her fate, But if shee shall bee slaine by bloudy brand; If to her rescue I shall come too late, I will auenge her horrible assassinate. 28 (Renowned Knight) then quoth the Squire, whose glory Shall euer shine like an eternall starre, And bee recorded in a liueing story, Thy resolution braue transports mee farre, And makes mee wondrous glad, beyond compare: Not many leagues from hence, a groue there stands, Replenished with trees, of bignes rare, Whose broad vmbragious arche Sols rayes commands, To keepe a distance, and intrudeing light withstands. 29 This place, to their foule Idol sacred is, There is the stage, where they are wont to play There bloudy scenes, and hideous tragedyes: There Chrysargyr stands in most faire array, Adorn’d with pretious stones, and mettalls gay: Faire Eleutheria in this place must dye, And for her death, to morow is the day: An houres delay your purpose may destroy; You must make haste, to giue her life, or liberty. 30 Thus spake the Squire, and now the Daughters bright Of heauen supporting Atlas, did appeare, Who watchfull Sailers guide, in depth of night:

High were they mounted in the hemisphere; But sad Electra, onely was not there, Some hold that shame forc’d her to bee away, Cause her sixe Sisters, with Gods coupled were; Shee onely ioyn’d to man; but others say, Shee still laments (vnseene) Troyes ruine, and decay. 31 Then did the Knight ascend his lofty steed, And tooke this Squire him to conduct, and guide, Who faithfully, him through the Forrest led: Ne yet by any mortall were they spy’d; For Night beneath her wings did them still hide, But when faire Venus rose from Mars his bed, With flareing tresses all (for haste) vnty’d, As if she had too soone from her sports fled, For feare least Vulcan, should haue her discouered, 32 Then to this denne of Deuills they came nigh, Which did at first their hearts with sorowes fright, But Belcoeur was recured sudainly; A Hill, it self then offerd to his sight, That was with shrubbes, and bushes thicke bedight: In ambush here he was resolu’d to lye, Vntill occasion fitt, should him invite, To breake forth, on his cruell enemy, That did nor perill dread, nor dreame of ieopardy. 33 Now the chiefe Chauntresse of the sylvane brood, Her Aues to Aurora bright ’gan reare, And all the meaner Singers of the wood, The morning welcom’d, with their voices cleare: As not presageing, that sad proiect neare, Or they (perhaps) did by their melody, Foretell the rescue of the Lady deare, So sweetly they their tender throtes did ply, That hollow rockes seem’d to applaud their minstralcye. 34 But when Apollo, from the brackish streames, In his triumphall Charrett did appeare, Gildeing the towres, and mountaines with his beames, Driueing on high wayes pau’d with saphires cleare, To the meridian, in a full carreere: Then Belcoeur, from his ambuscade beheld, 26.7 Belcoeurs] ⌜Belcoeurs⌝ Belchiers 28.9 withstands.] withstands 29.8 An] And 30.6 bee] keep bee 31.9 discouered,] discouered. 32.3 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 33.1 Chauntresse] Cha⌜u⌝ntresse 34.6 Belcoeur,] Belchier, ⌜Belcoeur⌝

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The damned crew, come from a Castle neare, That was vprear’d in the adiacent feild, Whose turretts seem’d so high, as if they heauen vpheld.

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35 First like a forlorne hope, by three, and three, A rout of Moores, march’d with distorted faces; Their habites, with their features did aggree, Illustrateing full well, their natiue graces, Mishapen were their doublets, and their bases, A Hellish musicke did these Villaines make, (I weene) such as was in th’infernall places, When Pluto, Proserpine to wife did take, And all the Furyes daunc’d, vntill their heeles did ake. 36 A troupe of boyes of little better features, Mix’d in a confus’d rout, then came in sight, They were attir’d (as it became such creatures) And all in long blacke gaberdines were dight, With cappes like sugar loaues, that stood vpright: These wretches carry’d (as it did appeare) What vtensiles were meete, and requisite, For such a sacrifice; some did vpreare Tapers, and torches, some perfumeing pannes did beare. 37 A Sacrificer, then these followed, Who carry’d water in a bason round; The wat’ry element, this signify’d, Which is for man so necessary found: Then two (each with a Cidaris was crownd) A siluer altar on their shoulders bare, Wherein the holy fire was kept embound, Which did through crossed barres so brightly glare, That it like to a comet seemed from afarre.

38 Then Eleutheria bright, who was design’d, For this blacke sacrifice, came next in view, Her weede was like her pure vnspotted mind, Of satten white, embroyder’d with a crew Of siluer doues, her innocence to shew: Her snowy browes were with a chaplet crown’d, Compos’d of fragrant flowres, of fairest hue: No signe of feare was in her feature found: Shee seem’d an Angell, compass’d in with Deuills round. 39 A cruell Cutthrote, then did follow her, Drest in a linnen sleeueles Vesture light, Hee in his hand a glistring sword did beare, That destin’d was, to kill this virgin bright, Blacke were his thoughts, although his robe were white, Then cursed Philargyra did succeed, In a rich gowne of purple veluet dight, That was with gold, and gemmes embellished: Shee wore a miter, on her lockes disheueled.

40 A siluer charger great she did support, There did a payre of golden scissors lye, Wherewith she wont in superstitious sort, To toppe the hayres, of those ordain’d to dye, At this vnhumane damn’d solemnitye: Corauido himself her followed, As the Archflamen, at this mysterye, His robes were goldsmiths worke, with gemmes bespred, A royall crowne was plac’d, vpon his wicked head. 41 A rabble of lewd Preists, shutte vp the traine, Two wings of horse arraung’d were on each side, In goodly equipage, vpon the plaine, Which seru’d as gardes, resistance to prouide ’Gainst any ieopardy, that might betide. Sir Belcoeur, from the thicket, where he lay Them as they march’d, at leysure thus descry’d, And for the rescue, did himself array, While they expected least disturbance or affray. 42 As the fierce Panther, by sharp famine vext, To some darke holt, is wonted to retreat, That beast to sease on, which shall come by next, Through quicke surprisall, and a sudaine feate; But when he spyes a stagge of stature great, Securely browzeing, on the shrubbes hard by, Then he assures, himself of dainty meate, And waites a meete advantage to espy, When hee may breake vpon his heedles enemy. 43 So did Sir Belcoeur long full greedily, To fly vpon this superstitious rout, Which when he saw within a distance nigh Like lightening from a cloud, he bolted out, And gaue vpon them, with such courage stout, That all which did resist he ouerthrew, And chargeing home, from front, to rere, he sought Wicked Corauido, whom there in view, Hee with his truncheon layd along, amidde the crew.

34.7 crew, come from] crew, ⌜come⌝ from 36.1 of] in ⌜of⌝ 37.4 man] n man 39.3 a glistring] g a glistring 41.6 Sir Belcoeur,] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 42.4 Through] ⌜Through⌝ By 42.8 waites] me waites 43.1 Sir Belcoeur] Sir ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 43.3 nigh] night

Book 9 Canto 12 46 But Philargyra mad, with greife, and hate, On Eleutheria sought to wreake her teene, But Belcoeur, from her spite inveterate, Preseru’d the maide: (like franticke Hecube then) Shee rag’d, and did with flames of malice brenne; Vnto the hellish groue, she fled in haste, Climeing a fatall tree, in a darke glenne, Whence shee her self, did desperately cast, Haueing her necke knitte to it, with her girdle fast.

45 So Belcoeur charged this amazed rout, Who (to redeeme their Lord) vs’d all their might, But with his sword, the Knight so playd about, That (maugre all their rage and deadly spite) With many wounds he slue the Tyrant quite; When they beheld their mighty Chieftaine dead, The fight they ended, with a speedy flight, Like to affrighted hares full fast they fled, And left the royall Mayden, for the victours meed.

47 But Belcoeur, did that Idol huge o’rethrow, Which had bin worship’d so religiously, Hee caus’d those lofty okes to bee layd low, (That whilome shelterd such idolatry) And those foule rites abolish’d vtterly, Then hee with Eleutheria did repayre, To the Vtopian countrey ioyfully, Where for his paines, he reap’d a guerdon faire, For both her bed shee gaue him, and her regall chayre.

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44 As when a flight of pigeons scoure about, The champaine wide, to seeke for sustenance, Without all feare, or least suspicious doubt; A Falcon swift at passage, them (by chance) Vieweing a prey so fitt, through skyes doth glaunce Without a plaine, much like a bullet blacke, Disgorged from a piece of ordinance, And this, or that, with an impetuous thwacke, [backe. Strikes dead, lames two or three, and breakes anothers

FINIS.

45.1 Belcoeur] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier 46.3 Belcoeur,] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier, 47.1 Belcoeur,] ⌜Belcoeur⌝ Belchier,

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Commentary

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Preface

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Knevet’s Preface draws abundantly upon Spenser’s ‘Letter of the Authors . . . expounding his whole intention in the course of this worke’, commonly known as the ‘Letter to Ralegh’, printed in the 1590 edition of FQ: as well as attempting to write a document with an equivalent scope, Knevet cites Spenser’s ‘Letter’ at considerable length, and paraphrases other sections. I haue knowne ... committ adultery with the clouds] Ixion fell in love with Hera and, in some versions of the myth, tried to rape her. Zeus, then, created a cloud that looked like Hera, with which Ixion had sex, leading to the birth of the Centaurs, half men and half horses; Ixion was bound to a wheel in Hades as a punishment. The story was commonly allegorised, e.g. at the beginning of Plutarch’s Agis: ‘Not without rhyme or reason is the supposition of some writers that the tale about Ixion—how it was the cloud that he embraced instead of Hera and begat from thence the Centaurs—has an application to lovers of glory. For such men, consorting with glory, which we may call an image of virtue, produce nothing that is genuine and of true lineage, but much that is bastard and monstrous, being swept now along one course and now along another in their attempts to satisfy desire and passion.’ Knevet’s sentence, though, contains a striking verbal parallel (commit adultery with...) with the following passage from Thomas Goodwin’s The Vanity of Thoughts (1637), as well as sharing an association between Ixion and crimes that please the fancy: ‘Take all the pleasures of sinne, when they are never so fully, solidly, really, and substantially enjoyed, they are but shadows, a meere outside and figure, as the Apostle cals the world. It is opinion of imagination that casts that varnish of goodnesse on them, which is not truly in them [...] now this speculative enjoying of them onely in imagination, (which many mens hearts take so much pleasure in,) the pleasing our selves in the bare thoughts and imaginations of them, this is but a shadow of these shadows, that the soul should Ixion-like embrace and commit adultery with clouds onely; this is a vanitie beyond all other vanities, that maketh us vainer than other creatures, who, though subject to vanity, yet not to such as this’(pp. 77-8). Unless Knevet composed this Preface after 1635, the date given on the first page of his poem, one might suppose he shared a common source with Goodwin. Monsters] In this sense, creatures combining features from two or more different animals. that absurd picture ... Arte Poet] Horace begins his treatise De Arte Poetica by asking ‘If a painter chose to join a human head to the neck of a horse, and to spread feathers of many a hue over limbs picked up now here now there, so that what at the top is a lovely woman ends below in a black and ugly fish, could you, my friends, if favoured with a private view, refrain from laughing? Believe me, dear Pisos, quite like such pictures would be a book, whose

idle fancies shall be shaped like a sick man’s dreams, so that neither head nor foot can be assigned to a single shape’(ll. 1-9). The subject of Horace’s criticism is a lack of uniformity: poems that begin in one way and end in another. the Thebane Sphinx] A winged monster with the body of a lion and head of a woman, sent by Hera to Thebes. It asked the Thebans to provide an answer to a riddle: what has one voice, and is four-footed, two-footed, and three-footed in turn? None of the citizens could answer the riddle, until Oedipus arrived and solved it (the answer of which was ‘man’). See Apollodorus, Library, 3.5.8, and also Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus. or ... or] either ... or. the Ghost of Euridice] In classical myth, Orpheus travelled into the underworld to rescue his wife, Eurydice, and was permitted to bring her back to the world on the condition that he did not look back upon her as they were journeying. When he did so, she vanished. See Ovid, Met., 10.1-63. Omne ... dulci] ‘He has won every vote who has blended profit and pleasure’ (Horace, De Arte Poetica, l. 343). a Grace ... a Muse] The Muses were nine daughters of Jove and Mnemosyne, patrons of the arts. According to Hesiod, Theogony, l. 64, they were accompanied by the Graces (or Χάριτες ), themselves daughters of Jove. that Tree] the laurel. Arbor ... Poeti] ‘Victorious, triumphal tree, honour of emperors and of poets’, Petrarch, Rime, 263, ll. 1-2. The same two lines are quoted in EK’s gloss to SC, ‘Aprill’, l. 104. Quod ... arces] ‘Which neither the Cecropian towers of Pandion’, Martial, Epigrams, 1.25, l. 3. Knevet has mistranscribed Cecropia: in Martial’s text, the correct reading is ‘Cecropiae’. The epigram is a plea to a certain Faustinus to make his books (‘libellos’) public. temper the affections] control the passions. Wee reade of Agamemnon ... vertue] This incident is recorded in Homer, Odyssey, 3.253-75. Knevet’s source, however, seems to be chapter 17 of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s treatise Of the Vanitie and Vncertaintie of Artes and Sciences (originally published in 1527 as De Incertitudine et Vanitate Omnium Scientiarum & Artium; English translation published 1575): ‘King Agamemnon, also goyng to the Troiane warre, lefte at home a Musician that played the Dorian tune, who with the foote Spondeus preserued his wife Clitemnestra in Chastitie and Honestie, wherefore shee coulde not be deflowred by Ægisthus, before he had wickedly slaine the Musitian’(fol. H4v). The Doricke, or Dorian, is one of the Greek musical modes, of which Agrippa writes that it is ‘the grauest and honestest [...] in all measures modeste, conueniente to the grauest affections of the minde, and mouinges of the bodie’(Of the Vanitie, fols. H4r-H4v). graue spondaicke numbers] In quantitative verse, spondaicke verse (i.e. numbers) contains or comprises spondees: feet with two long syllables. Because of their weight, they tend to slow down a line of verse: see Thomas Campion’s Obseruations in the Art of English 225

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Poesie (1602), p. 29: ‘The first three verses therefore in our English Saphick are meerely those Trochaicks which I handled in the sixt Chapter, excepting only that the first foote of either of them must euer of necessity be a Spondee, to make the number more graue’. Platos Academye] The school founded in Athens by Plato in the fourth century BC. Aristotles Lycæum] The school founded by Aristotle, c. 33534 BC, in the Athenian gymnasium and meeting-place of the same name. Troiani ... dicit] ‘While you, Lollius Maximus, declaim at Rome, I have been reading afresh at Praeneste the writer of the Trojan war; who tells us what is fair, what is foul, what helpful, what not, more plainly and better than Chrysippus or Crantor’ (Horace, Epistle 2, ll. 1-4). Homer ... priuate Man] Knevet adapts Spenser’s account in the ‘Letter to Ralegh’: ‘In which I haue followed all the antique Poets historicall, first Homere, who in the Persons of Agamemnon and Vlysses hath ensampled a good gouernour and a vertuous man, the one in his Ilias, the other in his Odysseis: then Virgil, whose like intention was to doe in the person of Aeneas: after him Ariosto comprised them both in his Orlando: and lately Tasso disseuered them againe, and formed both parts in two persons, namely that part which they in Philosophy call Ethice, or vertues of a priuate man, coloured in his Rinaldo: The other named Politice in his Godfredo’ (p. 167). ˜ ] In the Odyssey, Agamemnon is frequently ποιµήν λαων ˜ [‘commander of described with the epithet ποιµήν λαων men’]. πολύτροπος ] Either ‘much-travelled’ or ‘versatile’. See, for instance, Odyssey, 10.302. Virgill . . . Orlando] Referring to Virgil’s Aeneid and Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. The comparison between the two texts is made by Sir John Harington in the Preface to his English translation (1591), but instead of extolling Aeneas for being pius, he writes that ‘whatever is praiseworthy in Virgil is plentifully to be found in Ariosto; and some things that Virgil could not have, for the ignorance of the age he lived in’. contriu’d] What follows suggests that Knevet is referring, in this word, to Spenser’s planned work, rather than the apparently unfinished creation. so symmetrically] with such formal perfection or balance. exquisite] careful, apt. twelue Bookes] Promised by Spenser in the ‘Letter to Ralegh’: ‘I labour to pourtraict in Arthure, before he was king, the image of a braue knight, perfected in the twelue morall vertues, as Aristotle hath deuised, the which is the purpose of these first twelue bookes’ (pp. 167-8). tractation] handling. branches, allyes, and opposites] Sub-divisions, similar virtues, and corresponding vices. This is perhaps an indication of the Aristotelian nature of Knevet’s moral scheme, since in the Nicomachean Ethics, each virtue is discussed

alongside corresponding vices (which result from the insufficiency and excess of that virtue). sapience] wisdom. series, and contexture] narrative (sequence) and structure. a Personage ... times] Sir Walter Ralegh (1552-1618), whom Spenser describes as ‘Right noble, and Valorous’. This Romance] The Faerie Queene: a Romance, in this context, is a story of chivalry and noble deeds. Reges ... futuris] ‘He surpasses all kings, better than those that have gone and greater than those that will come.’ These lines come from a fragment of Joseph of Exeter’s lost poem, Antiocheis; they were printed in both John Leland’s Assertio Inclytissimi Arturii Regis Britanniae (1544), fols. K1r-K1v (translated as A Learned and True Assertion of the Original, Life, Actes, and Death of the Most Noble, Valiant, and Renoumed Prince Arthur (1582), fols. L2r-L2v), and William Camden, Remaines of a Greater Worke, Concerning Britaine (1605), fols. a2r-a2v. In the person ... Soueraigne] Closely adapting Spenser: ‘I labour to pourtraict in Arthure, before he was king, the image of a braue knight, perfected in the twelue morall vertues, as Aristotle hath deuised, the which is the purpose of these first twelue bookes: which if I finde to be well accepted, I may be perhaps encoraged, to frame the other part of polliticke vertues in his person, after that hee came to be king.’ Apelles] Renowned Greek painter, associated with the court of Philip and Alexander of Macedon. His painting of Venus is described by Pliny in his Natural History, 35.9: ‘The nether part of this picture had caught some hurt by a mischance: but there never could be found that painter yet, who would take in hand to repaire the same and make it up againe as it was at first: so as, this wrong & harm done unto the worke, and continuing still upon the same, turned to the glorie of the workeman. This table remained a long time to be seene, untill in the end for age it was worm-eaten and rotten’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), p. 540. Cf. 8.9.42.1-5 and note, below. onely sixe whole Bookes] Knevet omits mention of the fragmentary Cantos of Mutabilitie, published only in 1609. This should not, however, be taken as evidence that Knevet did not know the Cantos; see e.g. 9.7.1-2 and note, below. circumstance] surrounding, contextual material. remonstrance] statement. to seke her out, in Faery Land] Cf. Spenser: ‘to seeke her forth in Faerye land’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 168). And yet in some places I doe] Cf. Spenser: ‘And yet in some places els I do’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 168). applyable to the same Vertue] Cf. Spenser: ‘applyable to that vertue’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 168). twelue other Vertues] Cf. Spenser: ‘the xii. other vertues’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 168). a Lady in whom] Cf. Spenser: ‘a Lady knight, in whome’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 168).

Commentary: Book 7 Proem

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recourseing to things forepast] Cf. Spenser: ‘recoursing to the thinges forepaste’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 169). in these twelue seuerall Bookes seuerally handled] Cf. Spenser: ‘in these xii. books seuerally handled’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 169). dureing the Feast] Cf. Spenser: ‘during that feast’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 169). Saint Paul vi: Ephes.] Cf. Spenser: ‘Saint Paul v. Ephes.’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 169). he could not proceede] Cf. Spenser: ‘he could not succeed’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 169). with due furnitures therevnto belonging] Cf. Spenser: ‘with dewe furnitures thereunto’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 169). there came a Palmer] Cf. Spenser: ‘ther came in a Palmer’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 169). had in hold] Cf. Spenser: ‘had in hand’ (‘Letter to Ralegh’, p. 170). auiso] information, advice (from Spanish). an exact ... Romance] Cf. Spenser’s remark about his ‘Methode’, for which he anticipates disapproval from those ‘which had rather haue good discipline deliuered plainly in way of precepts, or sermoned at large, as they vse, then thus clowdily enrapped in Allegoricall deuises’. fountaine of Nilus] The unknown source of the River Nile was proverbial, in classical as well as early modern writing. See, for instance, Pliny, Natural History, 5.10: ‘The riuer Nilus arising from unknowne springs’ (The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), p. 97). a threed ... Labyrinth] Referring to the myth of Theseus, who, having slain the Cretan Minotaur, found his way out of the labyrinth that housed it by means of a threed, given to him by Ariadne. See, for instance, Ovid, Met., 8.171-73. pitch] cast, set. the ground of each history] the starting point or basis for each story. Zodiacke] The portion of the heavens through which the motions of the sun, moon, and planets seem to pass; it is divided into twelve parts, corresponding to twelve constellations. Iamque ... exegi &c.] Knevet cites the beginning of the final section of Ovid’s Met.: ‘Iamque opus exegi, quod nec Iovis ira nec ignis | nec poterit ferrum nec edax abolere vetustas’ [And now I have completed my work, which neither the wrath of Jove, nor fire, nor sword, nor the gnawing tooth of time shall ever be able to undo] (15.871-72). ‘Spencero Posthumo’ This short commendatory poem in Latin seems to reflect Knevet’s aborted plan to publish the Supplement, an event that would have required this and perhaps other wellwilling commendations from Knevet’s friends and fellow poets. The poem’s title and text are both in Knevet’s usual hand. Robert Jegon was a Norfolk and a Cambridge man a few years Knevet’s junior; son of John Jegon, once Master

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of Corpus Christi and afterwards Bishop of Norwich, Jegon matriculated as a fellow-commoner at Corpus Christi in 1624 – an exact contemporary of Knevet’s future patron William Paston, who matriculated at the same college in the same year. The coincident arrival of these two young men at Corpus was almost certainly not an accident: Jegon had recently inherited an estate at Buxton, Norfolk, a very short distance from the Paston seat at Oxnead. During the Civil War, Jegon like Paston supported the king, which caused him considerable difficulties. The poem may be translated as follows: To the posthumus Spenser You undertake (Spenser) to complete Herculean labours; Alas, the fates hostile to undertakings refuse their completion; But your sister Muses prevent you from coming to nothing. Lo here Posthumus will give sails to your fame: And just as the bird nursed on the coast of Pharia rejoices to renew its ancestor in its own funeral pile, by no means otherwise do the ages rejoice that our poet, by his own pen, has revived Spenser. You restore poetry, worthy of yourself and of the Muses, and if your virtue is not wanting, your fame will be eternal.

1 Herculeos ... labores] The twelve labours of Hercules are proverbial for their difficulty; on the history of the labours, see Apollodorus, Library, 2.5. Cf. also 8.5.13.14 and n., below. 3 Pierides ... sorores] The nine Muses are sometimes known as the Pierides. This byname or patronymic reflects either their origin and worship in the region of Pieria, or their association with Pieros, king of Emathia. This king is said by some writers to have committed hubris by naming his nine daughters (the Pierides) after the Muses; Ovid records that the sisters challenged the Muses to a singing contest after which, having lost, they were turned into magpies (Ovid, Met., 5.300-678). But other writers ascribe the Muses’ paternity to Pieros. 5 Phariâ Volucris nutritus in orâ] the phoenix, described by Pliny in the Natural History, 10.2. The phoenix was usually said to live in Arabia but, following its regeneration, it was supposed to carry the nest of its parent to the city of Hyperion, and to leave it there at the temple of the sun. Some classical writers suggested a migration from Arabia to Egypt. See e.g. Ovid, Met. 15.391-407. Pharos (Lat Pharia) is the island situated directly off the coast of the Egyptian city of Alexandria, site of the famous lighthouse; Knevet uses it poetically here for Egypt generally.

Book 7 Proem 1.1 Most mighty Prince] King Charles I; the Proem (and Book of the Supplement as a whole) praises both Charles

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and his father, King James, and in Albanio the latter seems more often figured than the former. 1.1 prudence] The meaning of this word, never used in FQ, will be examined as Knevet proceeds. Rather than Aristotelian φρόνησις, the form of practical wisdom that grants a capacity to perceive what is best for oneself and for humankind (Nicomachean Ethics, 6.5), Knevet seems to have in mind a more general ‘foresight’ (see 7.Pr.4.8 below). 1.2 This ... Empire] The accession of King James VI of Scotland after the death of Elizabeth in 1603 meant that England and Scotland were governed by the same king, even if James’s attempts to achieve political union between the two nations were frustrated by early parliaments. 1.3-5 that ... brest] Such vnity (though not union), achieved by Charles’s Sire, his father James, allows Knevet to speak with more geographical appropriateness of a single Iland. 1.7 numbers] verse. 1.8 aspect] sight. 2.2 Arthurs seate] Knevet alludes to the historiographical tradition that had claimed the descent of King Henry VII and successive Tudor monarchs from King Arthur, a tradition questioned by Polydore Vergil’s Anglica Historia but strenuously supported by John Leland’s Assertio Inclytissimi Arturii Regis Britanniae (1544) and others, and thus connects the Tudor and Stuart lines, at the same time as making a claim, on behalf of Kings James and Charles, for the Arthurian praise in poems such as FQ. But Arthur’s Seat is also the name of a hill overlooking Edinburgh; Knevet’s phrase thus refers to the specifically Scottish heritage of the Stuart line. 2.3 antique] ancient. 2.4 Astræa] Daughter of Titan and Aurora, representative of justice, who lived on earth during the Golden Age, by legend the first age of the world and a time of natural virtue and untroubled ease (Met., 1.89-112), and abandoned it during the Iron Age (Met., 1.149-50). See also FQ, 5.1.11-12, in which her departure is described. 2.6 Legend meane] humble story. 2.7 glasse] looking glass, mirror. Cf. the ‘enchaunted glasse’ in which Britomart sees Artegall (FQ, 4.6.26.6), and also the ‘mirrours more then one’ in which Spenser offers to show Elizabeth to herself (FQ, 3.Pr.5.6). 2.8 splendent] resplendent. 3.1 Ilustr’ous Queene] Henrietta Maria (1609-1669), daughter of Henri IV of France, who had married Charles in 1625. 3.1 geniall] nuptial; pertaining to generation. 3.2 royall Babes] Charles (b. 1630), Mary (b. 1631) and James (b. 1633) may have been alive when Knevet was composing this book; an earlier child was stillborn in 1629. The lines, in their final form, were therefore composed or revised no earlier than about 1630-1. 3.2 Britaines Crowne] Resulting from the union under Charles (and before him James) of the Scottish and English crowns: not from the union of the two nations (which did not take place until 1707). 3.3 The claymes ... heires] Rather than referring to the succession of Charles, Knevet seems to allude to uncertainty in the final years of Elizabeth’s reign. Although the succession of James was effectively managed in the 1590s, partly through the diplomacy of Robert Cecil, but also by per-

sonal communication between Elizabeth and James themselves, Elizabeth did not publicly name James as her heir. 3.4 Maiesticke Sphere] The royal court. A phrase particularly in tune with the neoplatonic iconography used about Henrietta Maria in courtly entertainment and literature in the early 1630s, such as Aurelian Townshend’s Tempe Restored (1632). See Erica Veevers, Images of Love and Religion (1989). 3.5 Table] description, record. 3.6 Gloriana] Another explicit Spenserian (and Elizabethan) allusion. ‘Greatest Gloriana’ (FQ, 1.1.3.2, and passim) is the name of Spenser’s Faerie Queene. 3.6 Lady bright] Cf. ‘Goddesse heauenly bright’ (FQ, 1.Pr.4.1). 3.7 British Arthur] King Charles. See 2.2n. above. 3.7 wonne] won (in marriage). 3.7 maugre] despite. 3.7-8 maugre ... Fate] It is difficult to know whether Knevet is referring to any specific event(s). Negotiations for Charles to marry the Spanish Infanta, Maria, involved (at their height in 1619) Charles travelling to Spain with the Duke of Buckingham, and attracted much controversy, including numerous verse satires and libels. Marriage to Henrietta Maria was swiftly negotiated, again with Buckingham’s assistance, before James’s death in 1625, shortly after which it took place. 3.8 blazon’d] set forth. The Queen’s virtues and beauty are set out in Gloriana: her (line 8) refers to Gloriana, and thy (line 9) to Henrietta Maria. 4.2 th’orbe ... state] the English court. 4.3 Sonnes of Mars] men of martial valour; Mars was the Roman god of war. 4.4 Nurslings ... vndefil’d] children of the Muses, the sources not just of poetic inspiration but of various knowledge (line 5), the arts in a more general sense. 4.7 not happily compil’d] Conventional modesty, but also conventionally Spenserian. Cf. ‘the argument of mine afflicted stile’ (FQ, 1.Pr.4.8).

Canto 1 1.1-2 Aurora ... teares] Memnon, son of Aurora, goddess of the dawn, was by legend killed at Troy by Achilles. Ovid, too, describes the morning mists as her grieving tears (Met., 13.578-82). 1.3-4 And Philomela ... Tereus fierce] The nightingale’s song here presages the end of the night. Philomela was raped by Tereus, the husband of her sister Procne, with whom she conspired to kill his children and feed them to him; pursued by Tereus, she changed into a nightingale. The story is told by Ovid (Met., 6.424674) and in many early modern allusions and imitations. In the classical tradition, the myrtle was sacred to Venus (see Virgil, Eclogues, 7.62), but is not usually mentioned in contemporary versions of this myth or mythographic texts. 1.7 massy] large, bulky. On this sheild, cf. the ‘siluer shielde’ of the Redcrosse Knight (FQ, 1.1.1.2). 1.9 Whereon ... was spred] With James’s accession, a red lion on a golden background (or, to use the armorial description, rampant within a double tressure flory contraflory gules) was incorporated into the English royal coat of arms. Albanio, like the lion on his shield, is riding out of a wood.

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 1

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2.1 Albanio] From medieval L. Albania (‘Scotland’), deriving from Gaelic alba, and thus alluding to the Scottish ancestry of the Stuarts. 2.1 cleap’t] called. 2.3 Irenes] From Gr. εἰρήνη (‘Peace’): Irene’s role, in this canto and later, is to reconcile warring foes and pacify the angry. But also suggesting Éire (genitive Éireann), the Gaelic name for Ireland. The double signification seems present in Spenser’s Eirena (FQ, 5.1.4.1), a name corrected to ‘Irena’ in 1609: Hamilton (2001) writes that she ‘represents a peaceful Ireland paying homage to the English Queen, as ‘myld Eirene’ attends Mercilla at 5.9.32.6’ (p. 511). 2.4 Polemon] From Gr. πόλεµος (‘Warfare, battle’). Lavender (p. 592) sees a reference to the 1608 uprising of O’Doherty, ‘which disrupted the relatively peaceful situation that resulted from Tyrone’s submission in 1603’, and to the plantation of Ulster. 2.4 immur’d] imprisoned. 2.5 enur’d] accustomed, habituated. 2.8 mew’d] shut up, confined. 2.9 embru’d] imbrued; stained, defiled. 3.1 snowy steed] Cf. Una’s ‘lowly Asse more white then snow’ (FQ, 1.1.4.2). 3.2 Disported] frolicked. 3.3 weede] clothing. 3.4 in a ... cord] The horn is suspended from the cord; given Irene’s allegorical role (see 7.1.2.3n. above), Knevet may intend a pun on accord, or concord. 3.5 Cornucopia] horn of plenty. Originally deriving from the cornu copiae, the horn of the goat, Amalthea, broken off by the infant Zeus but given back, in recompense, with supernatural powers; see Ovid, Fasti, 5.115-28. By the sixteenth century, such a horn was often described independently of this mythography. 3.7 Phœbus] Apollo, god of the sun, thus the sun itself. 3.7 pitch] height. 3.9 accident] event, occurrence. 4.5 Ioues Bird] the eagle. 4.5 close] fight, grapple. 4.6 stoupe] swoop upon (as a hawk or bird of prey). 4.9 rampeing] raging, ranging. OED notes contemporary uses in connection to female vice (‘ramp’, v.1 , 5a), and heraldry (‘ramp’, v.1 , 1), in which it denotes an animal on its hind legs with raised arms, continuing the heraldic motifs of stanzas 1 and 3 above. 4.9 surquedrye] pride. 5.4 prouide] prepare himself. 5.5 Malfida] From L. mala fides or possibly It. mala fede, (‘False or bad faith’). Like Spenser’s Duessa, Malfida will come to have a variety of allegorical meanings, many relating to falsehood, and more specifically the Roman Catholic Church. 5.5 descryd] saw, made out. 5.8 caitife] villain. 5.9 perdye] by God. 6.3 For a small ... fire] Seemingly proverbial, though not in Tilley. Cf. ‘Of a lytell sparke cometh great fyer’. Hugh Rhodes, The Boke of Nurture (1545), f. C1v. 7.2 gaue ... steed] allowed her horse to run free. 7.3 recoyl’d] retired. 7.4 bested] beset. 7.5-6 nor ... Nor] neither ... nor. 7.8 His clemencye ... ouerflowes] His mildness overcomes his anger. 8.1-3 when ... coach] when the sun was about to set (in the west). Knevet may be accidentally exchanging the name Thetis (sea nymph and mother of Achilles) for Tethys, the greatest of the sea goddesses, and thus the seas themselves. Cf. the account of Phaeton and Sol’s chariot in Ovid, Met.,

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Book 2, especially the reference to Tethys and her reception of the sun, 2.69-70. 8.1 Sols] the sun’s. 8.2 addrest] ready, prepared. 8.7 cote] cottage. 8.8 wrye] turn, change. 9.1 vncouth] unfamiliar. 9.2 nights horned Queene] the moon (horned because crescent shaped). Cf. ‘Nights horned Queene’. Du Bartas, Second Day of the First Weeke, l. 1026. 9.4 cedars] Not apparently emblematically significant, but proverbially tall and straight; perhaps alluding to the ‘Cedar proud and tall’ (FQ, 1.1.8.6) mentioned among Spenser’s catalogue of trees. 9.6 bawleing curres] howling dogs. Stanzas 10-12] Knevet’s account of this drowsy Sluggard (13.2) imitates in numerous details Ovid’s description of Somnus (Met., 11.592-615). 10.1 At length ... spy’d] Spenserian formula denoting the start of a new episode. Cf. ‘At length they chaunst’ (FQ, 1.1.29.1), ‘A shadie groue not farr away they spide’ (1.1.7.2), etc. 10.2 spires] spirals. 10.3 tide] time. 10.7 For Somnus ... chose] This line leaves it uncertain whether the figure inside the cottage is Somnus (L. somnus, ‘Sleep’) himself, or just a man of whom sleep (personified as Somnus) has taken hold. 10.8 brooke] tolerate. Ovid’s Somnus has chosen to live in a house without doors, so that he will not hear the noise of the hinges (Met., 11.608). 11.1 crested fowle] cockerel. 11.4 geese more wakeing] Geese are splendid guard-animals, ‘[canibus] sagacior’ [more watchful than dogs], according to Ovid, Met., 11.599. 11.5 Night rauens] A night raven is ‘a nocturnal bird, which is sometimes identified as a night-owl, night heron, or nightjar, and sometimes imagined as a distinct species. Also in extended use’ (OED, ‘night-raven’). 11.5 shrike owles] screech owls. 11.6 mandrakes] mandragora, a plant proverbial for its narcotic qualities: Gerard, Herball (1633), p. 352, for instance, notes ‘the drowsie and sleeping power thereof ’. 11.7 poppyes] Mentioned here for their narcotic qualities. 12.1 Lethe] One of the rivers of hell, from which the dead were said to drink, making them forget what they had been and what they had done (Gr. λὴϑη, ‘Oblivion’). 12.3 In fine] in the end. 12.3 Cinthias beames] the light of the moon. Cynthia was a common poetic name for Queen Elizabeth, referring mythographically to her virginity. 12.4 loupe-hole] peep-hole. 12.7 ebon] ebony. 12.9 lee] shore. 13.6 at the wicket rumbles] makes a noise at the gate. 14.2 Lubbers] idle person’s, lout’s. 14.3 brakes] overgrown land; either thickets (OED, ‘brake’, n.2 ), or ferns, bracken (‘brake’, n.1 ). 14.7 firmament] heavens. 15.1 Which being runne] when the sand had run out. 15.3 Æolus] King of storms and winds (sometimes described as god of the winds), encountered by Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey, 10.1-75. 15.5 port] gateway, door. 15.7 two Lions] In this episode, especially in the details in stanza 16 below, Knevet seems to remember the lion tamed by Una, in FQ, 1.3. 15.7 prest] ready. 15.9 trenchant blade] sharp sword.

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16.1 teenefull] harmful. 16.6 white wand] Cf. the ‘siluer wand’, 7.1.36.4 below. 16.8 ear’d] tufted. 16.9 fawn’d] Cf. Una’s lion, which ‘lickt her lilly hands with fawning tong’ (FQ, 1.3.6.2). 17.5 drearyment] dreariness, melancholy. 17.8 curious] intricate; a term that in much early modern poetic and aesthetic theory denotes excessive or superfluous artifice. George Puttenham’s Arte of English Poesie (1589), for instance, says of periergia (or the curious, as he translates it): ‘we call it ouer-labor [...] for his ouermuch curiositie’ (p. 216). 17.9 anticke] antique, ancient. 18.1 Lycurgus] Spartan legislator and administrator of c. ninth century BC, by legend the establisher of the city’s laws and government. He is described in Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus. 18.1 Numa] Numa Pompilius, by legend the second king of Rome after Romulus, and establisher of Roman religious institution and ceremony. See Plutarch’s Life of Numa, and Plutarch’s parallel between Numa and Lycurgus (line 1). 18.1 Solon] Celebrated Athenian legislative reformer of the 6th and 7th centuries BC. The subject of Plutarch’s Life of Solon. 18.4 coast] place. 18.5 policy] statecraft. 18.7 Democracyes ... lost] Perhaps referring to the collapse of republican government; Thomas May’s interest in the ‘loss’ of republican vitue at the end of the Roman Republic, in his translations of the early 1630s, is discussed in Markku Peltonen, Classical Humanism and Republicanism in English Political Thought, 1570-1640 (1995), pp. 282-83. 18.8] A metrically deficient line, lacking one syllable, perhaps the result of changes made to the previous line. 18.8 optimacyes] governments of the best. 18.9 oligarchyes] governments of the few. 18.9 in ample guise] in many forms. 19.1 Vigilantio] From L. vigilans (‘Watchful’). Identified by Lavender (p. 597) as a figure for Richard Bancroft (15441610), Archbishop of Canterbury 1604-10, ‘through whose vigilance the printers of the Marprelate tracts [...] were detected and whose zealous efforts contributed to the success of the King James Bible’. 19.2 Addicted] devoted. 19.3 doughty Knight] Taken by Lavender (p. 597) as referring to Bancroft’s actions in 1600, when he gathered a troop of pikemen to repulse the Earl of Essex and his followers at Ludgate. 19.3 bothe fortunes] fortune good and bad. 19.8 trust] security. Stanza 20] At Bancroft’s death in November 1610, he bequeathed his library to the see of Canterbury for the use of his successors. George Abbot, who succeeded Bancroft as Archbishop, commissioned a catalogue of these books, in which he described him as a ‘greate gatherer together of bookes’. In 1633, Lambeth Library contained 8,732 books, 6,065 of which had come from Bancroft (Ann Cox-Johnson, ‘Lambeth Palace Library 1610-1664’, Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society, 2 (195458), 105-26). 20.4 inquest] study. 20.7 science] knowledge. 20.7 profest] taught; was acquainted with. 20.8 told ... ensue] foretold the events that would take place.

21.2-3 Whose reuerend ... iuory] Vigilantio’s beard and hair are so white that snow, ivory and white roses (described through the subsequent parenthesis) seem stained by comparison. 21.5 him ... was slaine] Adonis, son of the Cyprian king Cinyras, beloved of Venus, and killed by a boar. 21.8 new come traine] group recently arrived. 21.9 vndertooke] addressed. 22.1 seconds] supports; i.e. the gestures come after but corroborate his words. 22.3 cates] food. 22.6-9 What could ... royall cheere] In Spenser’s allegory of the temp’rate (line 8) body, the House of Alma, on the other hand, the Marshall of the Hall goes by the name of Appetite (FQ, 2.9.28.1-3). 22.9 cheere] entertainment; food. 23.2 riot] luxury. 23.4-5 When vnder ... swine] The enchantress, Circe, gives a banquet for Odysseus’s men (as recorded in Homer, Odyssey, Book 10), and turned them into swine. See also 7.11.46.1 and n. 23.7 hugge] embrace. 24.3 nor any ornament] Apparently at odds with the ornament and artifice of 7.1.17.7-8 above. 24.5-6 our sires with akornes fed] Cf. ‘quae deciderant patula Iovis arbore glandes’ [acorns which fell from the spreading tree of Jove], Ovid, Met., 1.106, part of the description of the gentle life enjoyed in the golden age. 24.6 fraught] filled, stuffed. 24.8 light] trivial. 24.8 the affections caught] ensnared the liking. 24.9 distraught] distract, terrify. 25.1-2 No sooner ... curtaines] See 7.1.1.1-2n. above. 25.5 acquite] thank. 25.7 slight] brush off, dismiss. 26.1 shew] provide. 26.2 wights] people. 26.6 webbe] fabric. 26.8-9 Good men ... suppe] Seemingly proverbial, but not in Tilley, Proverbs. 26.9 Peasants] base men. 27.2 smart] feel pain. 27.3 Must Vertue ... ride] Proverbial, though not in Tilley, Proverbs. 27.4-5 Or is ... better bee?] Cf. Tilley, Proverbs, W644. 27.7 Louers] friends. 27.8 Sans] without (Fr., though also accepted in English poetic diction). 27.8-9 or whether ... scanne] These clauses should be read in conjunction, rather than opposition. To scanne, here, is to behold attentively, to criticize or pass judgement on. 28.1 Fond] foolish. 28.1-2 doubt | But] think but that. 28.3 descry] see, observe. 28.6 wee must ... sweet] Cf. Tilley, Proverbs, S1036 (where the first recorded instance is dated 1639). 28.7 Hinde] farmer, peasant. 28.8-9 thus is ... and feet] Here, unlike in Spenser’s House of Holiness (‘see the way, | That neuer yet was seene of Faries sonne, | That neuer leads the traueiler astray, | But after labors long, and sad delay, | Brings them to ioyous rest and endlesse blis’, FQ, 1.10.52.2-6), labour seems instrumental to bliss, rather than a prelude to it. 29.1 No garland ... got] A felicitous, but fortuitous, anticipation of Milton’s Areopagitica (‘that immortal garland [...] not without dust and heat’). 29.3-5 The shot ... dyes] In this simile, the shot that dyes in the earthen rampart corresponds to the virtue that is demonstrated in the face of opposition. 29.5 rampire] rampart, defensive mound of earth. 29.7-9 Therefore ... Romane name] Articulating the fear that the Romans would become weak since they

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 2

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no longer had an adversary. Carthage was burned at the end of the final Punic War (146BC). 30.1 grutch] complain. 30.4 mast] The fruit of woodland trees, used as fodder, especially for pigs. 31.1-2 True blisse ... lead] Cf. ‘On the steepe, the rough and craggie hill | Of vertue, standes this blis’. Edward Fairfax, Godfrey of Bulloigne, Book 17 stanza 61. 31.1 precipicious] high, steep. 31.6 Alcides] Hercules, son of Alceus. 31.7 Quirinus] Mars, god of war. Knevet seems to allude in this line to the way in which he achieved fame, rather than his immortality. 31.9 Elfe] A common Spenserianism. Cf. ‘valiant Elfe’ (FQ, 1.1.17.1) and passim. 32.2 mickle] much. 32.3-6 For Traitors ... o’rethrow] Very likely an allusion to the Gunpowder Plot, allegorized in the following canto. 32.6 policyes] plots. 33.4 elate] rise up. 33.7 accommodate] prepare. 34.1 burganet] helmet. 34.3 prick’d] spurred. 34.3 in rest] supported by an attachment on his body armour. 34.7 Sir Albion] Albion is a traditional poetic name for England. Knevet has corrected this name from ‘the Redcrosse Knight’; this Spenserian figure would have had similar English associations, but Knevet’s emendation of his manuscript provides evidence of his changing appreciation of the relationship between FQ and A Supplement. 34.9 saltire white] The white cross of St Andrew, denoting Scotland. 35.5 Neptune] In classical mythology, god of the sea; thus, the sea itself. 35.7 assay] attempt. 35.9 paralell] peer, equal. 36.3 surcease] desist. 36.6 whist] silent. 36.8 blist] blessed. 37.1 Calydon] From L. Caledonia (‘Scotland’). 37.2 iarres] dissensions. 37.3 youths first wooll] an immature beard. 37.4 Votaryes] devotees to religious service. 37.6 Superias] ‘The greater one’ (L.). Lavender (p. 601) sees ‘a passing allusion to Queen Elizabeth and the problem her spinsterhood created in the matter of the succession’. 37.8 Diana’s] Diana, chaste Roman goddess of the moon and hunt, was a common figure for Queen Elizabeth. That Knevet intends an Elizabethan and Spenserian allusion here is clear from the textual correction; but that he has corrected ‘Gloriana’ to ‘Diana’ demonstrates a move away from explicit acknowledgement of FQ. 38.1 Syluane] sylvan, associated with the woods. 38.5 sort] consort. 38.6-7 Long had ... fort] For another figure of Elizabeth’s chastity as a fort, see The Four Foster Children of Desire, performed in 1581.

Canto 2 1.3 blaz’d] recorded; proclaimed. 1.4 wights] people. 1.59 Make fortune ... arise] In FQ, fortune is sometimes granted a quasi-providential force that drives the narrative, but more often than not it is a byword for the misfortunes of chance; see e.g. FQ, 1.12.16.4-8. 1.6 wasteing] fading.

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2.2-3 Light-footed ... lye] Under the figure of Time, Knevet brings together, whether deliberately or mistakenly, Cronos, the classical father of Zeus and other gods, who castrated his own father, Uranus, with a sickle (line 3), and who devoured his children on learning that he would be overthrown by them, and Chronos, a personification of time. Cf. ‘Whose flowring pride, so fading and so fickle, | Short Time shall soon cut down with his consuming sickle’ (FQ, 7.8.1.8-9). 2.2 brats] children. 2.7 lowre] scowl, frown. 3.2 adamant] A rock of proverbial hardness. 3.5 Gaules] Frenchmen. 3.5 Gotish Termagant] barbarous (literally, Gothic) Termagant; a stock name for an imaginary Muslim or eastern deity, or for a braggant or tyrant. 3.9 cope] contend, encounter in battle. 4.3 Whose ... made one] The definition of friendship as the dwelling of a single soul dwelling two bodies is attributed to Aristotle by Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 5.20. See also 8.10.40.3 and n. below. Knevet may also have had in mind the fourth book of FQ, e.g. the description of the three brothers, Priamond, Diamond and Triamond: ‘These three did loue each other dearely well, | And with so firme affection were allyde, | As if but one soule in them all did dwell’ (4.2.43.1-3). 4.5 stay] detain. 4.7 meridian point] highest point in the sky. 4.8 kenn’d] saw. 4.9 might, and maine] the utmost force. 5.1 accoast] accost, hail. 5.4 arrant] errand, mission. ‘Knight arrant’ was a current variant of ‘knight errant’. 5.7 dignityes] privileges, rights. 5.9 alarmes] unexpected attacks. 6.2 period] end. 6.5 despite] spite, malice. 6.9 stoure] battle; turmoil. 7.1 honord order] Of knighthood. 8.6 Desart] uncultivated land. 8.7 okes ... skill] Cf. ‘The builder Oake, sole king of forrests all’ (FQ, 1.1.8.8). 9.1 noysome] harmful. 9.2 Dames of Thessaly] Notorious for their use of magic, and poisonous herbs. See, for instance, Lucan, Pharsalia, 6.434-42. Thessaly is a country in Greece. See also 7.2.11-12 and n. below. 9.6 NightRauens] nocturnal birds: see 7.1.11.5 and n. above. 9.8 Ascalaphus] Changed into an owl by Proserpine when he saw her eating a pomegranate in the underworld, and by reporting this deed prevented her from returning thence. See Ovid, Met., 5.538-50. 10.1-2 The Troiane ... kingdome] Aeneas, who is led into hell by the Sibyll of Cumae in Virgil, Aeneid, Book 6 (see especially ll. 262-63). 10.6 precipicious] over a steep precipice. 10.9 pell-mell] in a confused group. 10.9 kind] type, nature. Stanzas 11-12] Although Knevet does not say so explicitly, this place appears to be Thessaly (see 7.2.12.1-3n. below), the location of his pastoral play, Rhodon and Iris (1631). 11.2 Apollo’s snowy Birds] swans, sacred to Apollo. 11.3 descryd] seen. 11.4 fragrant ... Queene] Roman goddess of flowers and gardens, celebrated by the Floralia festival in April and May. In Rhodon and Iris, written to be presented

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to the Society of Florists in Norwich, Thessaly is also populated by a variety of characters with floral names, as well as Flora, who enters in the final act. 11.5 diaperd] adorned. 11.7 myrtles] Evergreen shrubs, often associated with love or Venus. 11.7 weene] believe. 11.8 Paphos] City on the island of Cyprus and site of a great temple dedicated to Aphrodite (i.e. Venus). 11.9 shades] sheltered places. 12.1-3 And if ... did liue] In revenge for the death of his son Aesculapius, who was killed by Jove’s thunderbolt for raising the dead to life, Apollo killed the Cyclops, and was banished from heaven. He went to the court of King Admetus of Thessaly, and became a shepherd there. See Apollodorus, Library, 3.10.4. 12.2 doome] judgement. 12.5 proue] try, sample (from L. probare). 12.7 Elysium] The blissful place in classical mythology where the souls of the virtuous resided after their death; by the seventeenth century, the word was used by extension for any happy and peaceful place. 13.1 admir’d] marvelled at. 13.3 beard] oppose defiantly. 13.3 checke heauens lights] reach toward the sky, blotting out the light of the sun and moon. 13.7 ciuill bodyes] commonwealths. 13.7 vnkest] unknown, unacknowledged. As in EK’s letter to Gabriel Harvey in SC: ‘Vncouthe vnkiste, Sayde the olde famous Poete Chaucer’. The spelling is not Spenserian, though it appears in Robert Salter, Wonderfull Prophecies (1626), p. 42: ‘[Spenser] hath brought forth our Noble Saint George; at the first onely in the state of a Swayne, before his Glorious Queene cast downe on the ground (Vncouth, vnkest)’. 13.8-9 The bonds ... connect] Misanactus threatens not only positive human law (the bonds of lawfull gouernment), imposed externally by princes and governors, but the divinely implanted natural law, which Renaissance legal philosophers saw as inhering in native reason and understanding. This distinction between positive and natural law is common to the early modern period, expressed for instance in Christopher St German’s much reprinted Doctor and Student (1528). See, for instance, R. S. White, Natural Law in English Renaissance Literature (1996). 14.1 Misanactus] Perhaps from Gr. µις ... ἄναϰτος (‘Bad lord’), or deriving more obliquely from L. agere (past participle actus), ‘do, set in motion’. 14.2 science] knowledge. 14.5-6 Yea ... maiesty] Anticipating the account of the Gunpowder Plot that follows in this canto. 14.7 case] exterior, show. Stanza 15] The Gyants (or Gigantes), who according to myth warred against Jove, were defeated at Phlegra by the gods, along with Hercules. This story is repeated in many classical sources, but Knevet’s account, in which the blood drunk by mother Earth (line 6) gives rise to pregnancy, may be indebted to Ovid, Met., 1.151-62. 15.4 mountaine vpon mountaine] In an attempt to ascend to heaven, the Giants placed Mount Pelion upon Mount Ossa. See, for instance, Apollodorus, Library, 1.7.4. 15.9 trauell] labour.

16.2-4 th’Hyrcanian ... yeare] Hyrcania was an Asian country, north of Parthia. In Virgil’s Aeneid, Dido, in her fury at the departure of her lover Aeneas, alleges that he has been suckled by Hyrcanian tigresses (Hyrcanaeque [...] tigres), 4.367. 16.4 commend] give. 16.4 suck’d] taken milk. 16.7 Furyes] In classical myth, the ministers of vengeance. 17.1 Prometheus] Brother of Atlas, who stole fire from the gods and brought it to earth, and was punished by being chained to a rock and having his liver eaten continually by a vulture that was eventually killed by Hercules. See, for instance, Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 521-25. Here, a figure of illicit knowledge. 17.3 lib’rall arts] The subjects of study at the seventeenth-century university (including the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and dialectic), and quadrivium (arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and music). 17.3 content] reward. 17.6 swarue] swerve; divert. 17.7-9 For hee ... the knot] Perhaps alluding to declamationes and disputationes: the formalized academic exercises and exchanges of question and response, at which early modern students were expected to display their proficiency in rhetoric and debate. 17.7 conne] learn, master. 18.1 downy wooll] an immature beard. 18.2 His Tutour] the teacher who supervised him (a common term in the seventeenth-century university) 18.4 rang’d] roamed. 19.2 weakely founded] built with weak foundations 19.3 artificiall] cleverly built, built for show. 19.4 brand] torch, flame. Perhaps in anticipation of the allegorized Gunpowder Plot, below. 19.5 posted out of hand] rode immediately, at full speed. 19.7 her freind to stand] to act as her friend, supporter. 20.3-4 The old ... Gallery] Long galleries, rooms occasionally though not always decorated with paintings and hangings, were a common feature of grand domestic architexture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and were, according to Henry Wotton’s Elements of Architecture (1624), among the rooms ‘appointed for gentle Motion’ (p. 8). 20.5 cassocke] Long coat or frock, proverbially worn by clergymen, but also by shepherds and usurers, among others. 20.5 sable] black. 20.7 zone] belt. 20.9 shauen temples] the tonsure. Stanza 21] Cf. Spenser’s description of Duessa: ‘From that day forth Duessa was his deare, | And highly honourd in his haughtie eye, | He gaue her gold and purple pall to weare, | And triple crowne set on her head full hye, | And her endowd with royall maiestye’ (FQ, 1.7.16.1-5). Both passages allude to Revelation 17.3-5. 21.1 shallow shread] thin strip. 21.3 payre of beads] set of rosary beads (OED, ‘pair’, n.1 , 7). 21.6 rich purple] Not necessarily denoting Catholicism pejoratively: cf. ‘th’old men, as if Diuine, | Apparreld in rich purple’. Thomas Heywood, A Marriage Triumphe (1613), f. B2r. 21.7 pappes] breasts. 21.7 twist] girdle; thread, cord. 21.8 high triple diademe] The triregnum, or three-tiered Papal tiara, symbolic of the Catholic Church. 22.1 light] alight. 22.2 frontispiece] face, front. A term applied initially to buildings, and only later to the front pages

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 2

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of books. 22.2 deuice] emblem, allegorical image. 22.3-5 An image ... likewise] Denoting perhaps Catholic opposition to the ecclesiastical authority of the English crown, or perhaps Knevet’s Protestant belief in the hypocrisy of the papacy disdaning temporal power. 22.7 glutte] feast. 22.8 conceits] depictions (possibly elaborate, fanciful). 22.9 historyes] pictorial accounts of events, narratives, either historical or mythological. 23.5 prodigall] extravagant. 23.9 fil’d] polished, refined. 24.3 brauery] finery. 24.4-5 Arachnes webbe ... To this] Arachne, a weaver of great skill, challenged Athene to a contest; when the goddess struck her, out of envy for her perfect handiwork, Arachne attempted to hang herself and was transformed into a spider. See Ovid, Met., 6.1-145. 24.5-6 Thee Queene ... fled] Helen, who was said to have been born from an egg produced after Zeus had visited Leda in the form of a swan (see Apollodorus, Library, 3.10.7); who ran from Sparta, or Lacedæmon, with Paris. 24.7 attach’d] seized (i.e. by desire). 25.2 empeach’d] hindered. 25.3-6 So on ... slaine] The crocodile was proverbially said to weep, deceitfully, while (or after) devouring its victims. See Tilley, Proverbs, C831. Knevet may have had in mind Spenser’s description of the ‘cruell craftie Crocodile’ (FQ, 1.5.18.4), within a simile for Duessa’s false tears, or the Egyptian Cleopatra (7.2.26.8n. below). 25.3 outswell] flood, break. 26.6 will’d] asked, encouraged. 26.6 combrous] heavy. 26.8 Ægipts Queene] Cleopatra. 27.1-4 Sweet Wines ... appetite] Perhaps still thinking of Cleopatra; see Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, 2.2.242-44: ‘Other women cloy | The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry | Where most she satisfies’. 27.1 their golden bankes] the brim of the cup. 27.9 cheere] food; also, more generally, entertainment. 28.2 discreete] cautious, circumspect. Knevet may have decided that ‘prudent prouidence’, his original version, would have been tautologous. 28.4-5 Knoweing ... designe] Albanio’s prudence allows him to discern truth from appearance, an opposition that is frequently emphasized in this episode (see 7.2.19.3, 7.2.23.3-4 above). 28.7 shunne] avoid. 28.9 dights] clothes. Stanzas 29-39] In this clear allusion to the Gunpowder Plot, Knevet links Albanio’s quest all the more closely to the reign of King James I. In 1605, a group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby and including Guy Fawkes, disappointed in their desire for greater religious tolerance, plotted to blow up King and Parliament with barrels of gunpowder. They were discovered on 5 November, and attempted to flee. Some were subsequently killed, others captured and executed. The plot gave rise to abundant popular nationalist literature, some of which is referred to below. 29.2 whist] silent. 29.3-4 strange . . . man] See 7.2.30n. below. 29.5 Partisan] co-plotter, participant. 29.6-7 damn’d plot] A conventional description. ‘What strange deuice had Roman traytors got, | The diuell from hell their hellish

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practise cald. | To be an agent in that damned plot’. Robert Pricket, The Iesuits Miracles (1607), f. E3r. 29.7 Gloriane] Gloriana, the Faerie Queene of Spenser’s epic, and thereby the English crown. Stanza 30] Knevet is presumably aware of the epic convention deploring the unchivalric use of gunpowder and firearms; see, for instance, FQ, 1.7.13. See also 8.4.6.6 and n. below. 30.1 Salmoneus] Not typically cited as an inventor of gunpowder, but in Virgil’s Aeneid, 6.585-86, he is described as suffering punishment on account of his imitation of the flames of Jove, and the thunder of Olympus (dum flammas Iovis et sonitus imitatur Olympi). Cf. the account in 8.4.6 below. 30.2 dust] powder. 30.4 gust] blast (of wind). 30.5 opposites] adversaries. 30.7 fiery engines] explosive machines, devices. 30.8 in a vault] Just as the plotters concealed their explosives in the vaults beneath the House of Commons. 30.8 couch] place, set; or perhaps conceal. 30.9 fir’d] ignited. 30.9 spoile] destroy. 31.1-3] Conventional; cf. ‘noctis equi’. Ovid, Amores, 1.13, l. 40. 31.2 carre] chariot. 31.4 Cinthias] the moon’s. 31.5 hemisphere] heavens. 31.7 horrid stratageme] terrible plot. 31.8 Fairy land] Cf. 7.2.29.6-7 above. 32.3 vrne] burial urn, receptacle for the ashes of the dead. 32.4 imperious charmes] commanding spells. 32.5 Hagges] evil spirits (in female form). 32.5 store] abundance, numbers. 32.7 Night-Rauens] See 7.1.11.5n. above. 32.8 Renting] tearing, splitting. 33.1 graue foresight] serious prudence. Apparently alluding to ‘The rugged forhead that with graue foresight | Welds kingdomes causes, and affaires of state’ (FQ, 4.Pr.1.1-2). 33.2 dreary prodigyes] terrible omens. 33.7 guise] fashion. 34.2-9] With clear allusion to Spenser’s disrobing of Duessa (FQ, 1.8.46-49), and her exposure as ‘a loathly, wrinckled hag’ (1.8.46.8). 34.4-5] Cf. Duessa’s breasts: ‘Her dried dugs, like bladders lacking wind, | Hong downe, and filthy matter from them weld’ (FQ, 1.8.47.6-7). 34.5 dragge] suck. 34.6 Blacke gauly driuell] bitter slavering, dribbles; gall is here the bitter secretion of the liver, i.e. bile. See also Knevet’s allusions to Spenserian Envy: 7.3.7.7-9n. below. 34.6 chappes] jaws. 34.7 cragge] neck. 34.9 riuelld] wrinkled. 35.2 bands] bonds. 35.4 cited] called on. 35.4 Furyes ... brands] The Furies of classical mythology were avenging deities sent from the underworld, often depicted carrying burning torches. Cf. ‘I beheld the Furies iarre, | Sparkling abroad their blazing brands | Amongst thy troopes of armed bands’. Lucans Pharsalia, trans. Arthur Gorges (1614), p. 82. 35.5 designe] plot. 35.7 The match was kindled] Seemingly proverbial (though not in Tilley), as well as literal: events were set in motion. 35.7 Hellish sands] gunpowder. 35.8 Phlegeton] In classical mythology, one of the rivers of hell, its waters burning (see Virgil, Aeneid, 6.550-51). 35.9 the fires impression] the application of fire; i.e. the spark that will set the powder alight.

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36.1 fraught with] full of. 36.3 let driue amaine] struck with all his might. 36.7 bedight] covered, protected. 36.8 wicket] gate. 36.9 astound] stunned. 37.1 Hurry’d] carried at speed. 37.2 inly] inwardly. 37.3 crost] thwarted. 37.4 and’s] and his. 37.8 glance] gleam. 37.9 glistring] shining. 38.2 garde] fighting position. 38.3 fauchion keene] sharp sword. 38.4 rudely] violently, roughly. 38.5 Pell mell] in a mass, in a mêlée. 38.5 no whit] not at all. 38.6 shrewd requitalls] sharp blows in return. 38.7 nooke] corner. 39.1 vpbraid] reproach, accuse. 39.2 crouch] grovel. 39.3-4] Possibly referring to Henry Garnet (1555-1606), Jesuit superior in England, who was executed for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot (in spite of having tried, ironically, to counsel against violent conspiracy). See also 7.4.11.89n. below. 39.4 hests] behests, demands. 39.6 pittifully fond] foolishly pitying. 39.9 the Stygian strand] the shore of Styx, i.e. hell. In classical mythology, hell was encircled by the River Styx. See, for instance, Virgil, Aeneid, 6.439. 40.1 rosy-cheekt Aurora] Goddess of the dawn, thus dawn itself. See 7.1.1.1-2n. above. 40.2 the bay ... orient] The eastern sky. A bay window forms a bay or recess at the side of a room. The metaphor is unique to Knevet, but he may be transforming Du Bartas, Second Day of the First Weeke: ‘Like as when the Sunne | At a bay-window peepeth in upon | A boule of water, his bright beames aspect | With trembling luster it doth farre reflect’ (ll. 767-70). 40.9 earst vnkest] previously unknown. 41.2 elate] praise, magnify. 41.9 Ill ... shrubbes] Evil and harmful plants. Stanza 42] With a likely reference to the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, punished with destruction for disobeying God’s word, and popularly believed to lie beneath the waters of the Dead Sea. The flames of fire in Knevet’s original version (see textual note) are even closer to the Biblical account of the two cities. 42.1 vnhappy tract] miserable land. 42.3 brinish] salty. The Dead Sea (see stanza 42n. above) is many times more salty than the ocean. 42.4 quickesand] sand saturated with water, which pulls down everything that stands on it. 42.7 drest] furnished. 42.9 fenne] marsh, quagmire. Not specifically an East Anglian term, in spite of contemporary English usage, and Knevet’s Norfolk and Cantabrigian heritage.

Canto 3 Arg.1 disseuer’d] separated. 1.1 wights] people. 1.1 enioy] experience. 1.2 dreryment] anguish; gloom. 1.3 annoy] harm, trouble. 1.5 preuent] cut short; forestall. 1.7 improuident] failing to foresee events; lacking prudence (and thus, like ‘heedless’, an important word in the ethical scheme of the book). 2.2 Crœsus] Wealthy Lydian king of the sixth century BC; Herodotus writes in his Histories, 1.30-33, that he was visited by the wise Solon, who denied that rich men were

any more fortunate than those who had only what they needed. 2.2 Crassus] Marcus Licinius Crassus (c. 11553BC), a powerful and wealthy Roman, consul and triumvir alongside Pompey and Caesar, described for instance in Plutarch’s Life of Marcus Crassus. 2.4 Alexander] Alexander the Great (356-323BC). Knevet may have read about him in Plutarch’s Life of Alexander. 2.6 scann’d] judged. 2.9 For ... hand] Croesus was defeated by Cyrus the Great, but his life was spared (Herodotus, Histories, 1.86-87); Crassus, as described in Plutarch’s Life of Marcus Crassus, was defeated in battle against the Parthians, and decapitated; Hercules was killed by a shirt soaked in the blood of the Centaur, Nessus, presented to him by his wife, Deianera (see, for instance, Ovid, Met., 9.159ff.). 3.1 pelfe] riches, spoil. 3.2 brittle] fragile, impermanent. 3.3 elate] glorify. 3.4 fugitiue] fleeting. 3.6 Vertue ... outweare] A conventional image, though with a felicitous and perhaps deliberate echo of Spenser’s Complaints: ‘Lastly I saw an Arke of purest golde | Vpon a brazen pillour standing hie’ (‘Ruines of Time’, ll. 659-60). See also 7.3.20n.below. 3.8 abiect] something low or downtrodden. 3.9 Iezabel] Jezebel, the infamous wife of Ahab, turned him to the worship of Baal and subjected her people to tyranny (1 and 2 Kings); a woman of the same name is mentioned in the New Testament (‘Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols’, Revelation 2.20). By the sixteenth century, her name was used in general attacks upon vice, especially that of women (OED, ‘jezebel’). 5.1 infirme] unsound. 5.1 slide] err. 5.2 vnheedy] heedless. The OED’s first attribution of this word is Spenserian, from a gloss on SC, ‘Aprill’, l. 26, where it is likewise used to describe the offence of a poet, the ‘præsumptuous and vnheedie hardinesse’ of ‘the worthye Poete Stesichorus’, who, making Himera his ‘Idole’, ‘is sayde by vengeaunce of the Gods, thereat being offended, to haue lost bothe his eyes’. 5.3 Him] Christ. 5.4 ruthfull eyne] piteous eyes. 5.4 bend] cast. 5.5-6 Those blessed ... Lord] Not a direct scriptural allusion, but Knevet refers to Peter’s tears, shed in three of the four Gospel accounts of his betrayal of Christ (Matthew 26.75; Mark 14.72; Luke 22.62). 5.6 Dastard-like] like a coward. 5.8 remission] forgiveness. Stanza 6] The notion that the veil of allegory hides its meaning from common understanding, and thus from censure, is a commonplace of allegorical writing; see Michael Murrin, The Veil of Allegory (1969). The language of this stanza recalls Spenser’s dedicatory poem to Burghley in FQ: ‘Vnfitly I these ydle rimes present, | The labor of lost time, and wit vnstayd: | Yet if their deeper sence be inly wayd, | And the dim vele, with which from comune vew | Their fairer parts are hid, aside be layd. | Perhaps not vaine they may appeare to you. | Such as they be, vouchsafe them to receaue, | And wipe their faults out of your censure graue’ (‘To the right honurable the Lo. Burleigh Lo. high Threasurer of England’, ll. 7-14). Knevet alludes to

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 3

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another Spenserian reference to Burghley in this stanza: see 7.3.6.1n. below. 6.1 Then ... rimes] Cf. ‘The rugged forhead that with graue foresight | Welds kingdomes causes, and affaires of state’ (FQ, 4.Pr.1.1-2). 6.4 descryd] seen. 6.6 cabinets] boxes. 7.3 my Soueraignes brest] Unless some early draft of the poem, containing these lines, was written ten years earlier, this apparently refers to Charles I, in spite of the frequent identification of Albanio with James I. 7.6 Vnseene vnheard] Recalling the opening words of the Epistle to SC, ‘Vncouthe vnkiste’. 7.6 ne certes] nor certainly. 7.79 That wee ... spitte] Cf. FQ, 5.12.28-43, in which Envy and Detraction, alongside the Blatant Beast, join against Artegall, and FQ, 1.4.30-32, in which a figure of Envy appears in the House of Pride. Both of Spenser’s figures of Envy have venome on their mouths: the former ‘still did chaw | Betweene his cankred teeth a venemous tode, | That all the poison ran about his chaw’ (1.4.30.2-4), and the latter ‘held a snake with venime fraught, | On which she fed, and gnawed hungrily, | As if that long she had not eaten ought; | That round about her iawes one might descry | The bloudie gore and poyson dropping lothsomely’ (5.12.30.59). 8.1 smart] hurt. 8.2 Detractions] Cf. 7.3.7.7-9 and n. above. 8.2 scourge] attack; more specifically, a whip or lash. 8.4 Confreres] companions. 8.6 the other Knight] Sir Calydon. Stanzas 9-10] Cf. the Palmer who accompanies Guyon in FQ, Book 2. 9.1 Sire] elderly man. 9.2 ebene] ebony. 9.4 front] face. 9.4 hore] grey. Cf. the ‘haires all hoarie gray’ of Spenser’s Palmer (FQ, 2.1.7.3). 9.5 scor’d] marked. 9.8 Elfe] knight (a Spenserian usage). 9.9 Faitour] impostor. 9.9 buggebeare] frightening monster. 10.1 Palmer] pilgrim, itinerant monk. 10.7 mus’d] wondered. 10.8 passion] suffering. 11.1 Distilling] trickling, flowing. 11.3 peale] sound (often of bells). 11.5 deposd] put. 11.7 scoffe of danger] laughter at danger. 11.9 hard] cruel. 12.1 subtile] cunning, crafty. 12.2 anfract’ous] anfractuous; winding. 12.2 immur’d] walled in, about. 12.4 blandishments] flatteries. 12.6 Dysnomia] From Gr. δυσνοµία, ‘Bad laws, lawlessness’. 12.6 froward Elfe] perverse person. 12.7 iangling iarres] discordant dissensions. 12.7 enur’d] accustomed. 12.8 pelfe] wealth. 13.2 Hymens yoke] marriage. The depiction of Dysnomia here associates her with the account of Superia, 7.1.37-38 above. 13.4 at a becke] under their control. A becke is a nod or gesture. 13.5 recke] care for. 13.6 roue] shoot; more generally, look, gaze. 13.7 checke] hold off. 13.9 Peasants] base people. Stanza 14] Danaë was confined in a tower by her father, Acrisius, king of Argus, after he had heard a prophecy that he would be killed by her son. But Jupiter visited her in the form of a shower of gold, and impregnated her (see Apollodorus, Library, 2.4.1). For many classical and early

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modern commentators and poets, her story illustrated the power of money and bribes; see Horace, Odes, 3.16, for instance, for whom the metamorphosed Jove is described as a pretium (line 8), a payment or bribe. But its sexual metaphor, the gold poured into Danaë’s lappe, is also clear. 14.1 Bandogs] guard-dogs. 14.2 coup’t vp fast] securely confined. 15.1 Thiefe] villain. 15.1 Pseudophron] From Gr. ψε˜υδης ‘False’, φρονέω, ‘Be wise, prudent’. 15.2 wardes] guards. 15.6 engines] devices. 15.8 intercepted] captured, trapped. 15.9 Carle] churl; base man. 16.1 Their ... doffe] A knightly disgrace. See Artegall’s fate at the hands of Radigund in FQ, 5.5.20, and also FQ, 5.4.31. 16.2 to the sheild ... betake] give themselves over to patient suffering. 16.4 varlets] menial persons, rascals. 16.4 mickle] much. 16.6 case] condition. 16.9 dreryment] melancholy, gloom. 17.1 betimes] in good time. 17.3-4 Courage ... vice] An Aristotelian ethical injunction, in which virtue is found in the mean between two vices. Excesse is an important term in FQ, Book 2, where Spenser’s similarly Aristotelian allegorization of temperance often employs figures of excess and mean; e.g. Perissa, who ‘in excesse exceeded her owne might’ (FQ, 2.2.36.7). 17.6 meed] reward. 17.9 Remember ... late] Laocoön warned the Trojans not to accept the Greeks’ gift of a wooden horse; but having been deceived by the treacherous Sinon (see Virgil, Aeneid, 2.57-198, and 8.4.2.6-7n. below) into taking it into the city, they were attacked by the Greek soldiers concealed inside. 18.2 zealous wrath] righteous anger. 18.4 beads] rosary. 18.6 fane] temple. 18.9 Caitife] villain, wretch. 18.9 bane] death. 19.1 Dracontes] ‘Like a Dragon’ (from draco, L.). Albanio’s horse. 19.1 sore] sharply. 19.2 like an arrow ... bowe] The Parthians were renowned among classical authors for their skill as horsemen and archers, by which they fired arrows in retreat. See Plutarch’s account in his Life of Marcus Crassus: ‘For, as fast as the Romanes came apon them, so fast did the Parthians flie from them, and yet in flying continued still their shooting’. Plutarch, The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes, trans. Thomas North (1579), p. 615. 19.3 Courser] horse. 19.4 footeing] tread. Stanza 20] A stanza which in its original and revised form contains echoes of Spenser’s Complaints (1591). See individual notes for references to the poems. Nimrod was a Mesopotamian monarch mentioned in Genesis 10, and traditionally held to be the builder of the Tower of Babel. 20.1-4 As those ... Castle farre] Cf. ‘In vaine doo earthly Princes then, in vaine | Seeke with Pyramides, to heauen aspired’ (‘Ruines of Time’, ll. 407-08) ‘Nylus nurslings their Pyramides faire’ (‘Ruines of Rome’, l. 18). 20.6 trophyes ... vanity] Cf. ‘Not that great Idoll might with this compaire, | To which th’Assyrian tyrant would haue made | The holie brethren, falslie to haue praid’ (‘Ruines of Time’, ll. 495-7). On vanity, see Complaints throughout, and their subtitle: ‘Containing sundrie small Poemes of the Worlds

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Vanitie’. 20.7 Semiramis] After the death of her husband Ninus, this queen disguised herself as her son and performed many brave acts. But she lusted for her son, and was killed by him. Her story is told in Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 2.1-20. Cf. ‘Semiramis, | Whom antique history so high doth raise’ (FQ, 2.10.56.2-3); but earlier in Spenser’s poem, she is shown within the House of Pride, among other ‘Proud wemen, vaine, forgetfull of their yoke: | The bold Semiramis’ (FQ, 1.5.50.2-3). 20.9 ouercrowe] overpower, dominate; exult over. 21.2-3 that impure ... passe] Presumably the murky River Styx, one of the rivers of hell in Classical mythology. 21.4 Sol’s hot mettalld teme] the horses that drew the chariot of the sun. 21.5 guilded] covered with gold; i.e. illuminated. 21.8 vncleane] of ill omen. 21.9 Houering ... wings] Cf. ‘His flaggy wings when forth he did display, | Were like two sayles’ (FQ, 1.11.10.1-2). 21.9 flaggy] like flags, perhaps drooping. Stanza 22] Knevet’s allegorization of religious dissension and discord here takes on a phonic turn, with the clam’rous [...] gaggleing geese, the braules of the ducks (stanza 22), harshe sounds, and voices inarticulate (stanza 23), the harsh voices, iangling, and aire tormenting cryes of the frogs (stanzas 27-28). 22.1-2 The siluer ... Death] By legend, the swan sings only at its death. 22.2 bide] abide. 22.5 braules] squabbles. 22.7 sort] group, band. 23.3 Latona] The mother of yong twinnes (line 5), Apollo and Diana. Suffering at the hands of the jealous Juno, she came to Caria, in Asia Minor, where she was insulted by peasants whom she asked for water while they were working on a marsh. As punishment for their insolence, Jove changed them into frogs. The story is recounted in Ovid, Met., 6.317-81. 23.5 shent] killed (p.pl. of shend). 23.6 pappes] breasts. 24.2 comfortable iuyce] strength-giving liquid. 24.3 rout of Clownes] band of peasants. 24.4 oziers] osiers; willow branches, used e.g. for basket-work. 24.5 fix’d a foule abuse] used her foully. 24.8 Submissiue] humble; pleading. 25.7 grutch] begrudge. 25.9 Nectar] the drink of the classical Gods. 25.9 whilere] erewhile, previously. 26.2 iniur’d] injured; outraged. 26.6 dopp’d] immersed. 26.9 lopp’d] loped. 27.1 braules] squabbles. 27.4 iangling] babbling. 27.6 pight] set, attached. 27.7 paunch] belly. 27.9 noisome] harmful, noxious. 27.9 paddockes] frogs, toads. 28.3 lights] alights; dismounts. 28.6 dights himself] makes himself ready. 28.7 marishes] marshes. 28.9 circumiacent fennes] adjacent bogs. 29.2 quell] kill. 29.4 grassy flagges] turfs. 29.5 graue foresight] See 7.2.33.1 and n. above; here, a reminder of Albanio’s prudence. 29.6 ten to one] the odds of ten chances to one, hence ‘an expression of very strong probability’ (OED, ‘ten’, 2c).

30.1 scap’d] avoided. 30.4 strouted] strutted. 30.5 Eurymedon] No figure of this name appears among the Gigantes in the various accounts of their war against the Olympian gods (e.g. Apollodorus, Library, 1.6). Knevet may have in mind Porphyrion, whose name is specially mentioned by Apollodorus. 30.6 Ossa] Mountain of Thessaly; one of those which the giants, in their war against the gods, heaped on top of one another in an attempt to scale the heavens. See 7.2.15.4n. above. 30.7 force] enter, conquer by force. 31.3 brooke] bear, tolerate 31.3 aspect] appearance, countenance. 31.5 bayes] bay-trees, whose leaves were used in laureate wreaths. 31.5 Helicon] Mountain sacred to the Muses. 31.6 Muses nine] Goddesses, daughters of Jove and Mnemosyne, and patrons of poetry, dancing, music, and all of the arts. Cf. Spenser’s Teares of the Muses, published in his Complaints (1591). 31.6 mournfull Niobe] Daughter of Tantalus, punished for her pride in her children by having them killed by Apollo and Artemis. The myth is recounted, for instance, by Ovid, Met., 6.146-312 and Apollodorus, Library, 3.5.6, who record that Niobe was transformed, in her grief, into a continually weeping statue or stone respectively. 31.9 passion] fear; emotion, suffering. 32.1 as cronicles expresse] This is probably licence on Knevet’s part. 32.2 Polypheme] Polyphemus, the Cyclops (one-eyed giant of Sicily) who fed on human flesh and was encountered by Odysseus. See Homer’s Odyssey, Book 9. 32.3-5 proud Grantorta ... second hell] Not part of classical myth. The name of the Giantess (meaning ‘Great wrong’) may have been suggested by Spenser’s Grantorto; see FQ, 5.1.3.9. 32.9 panting] throbbing. 32.9 chappes] jaws. 33.2 captiu’d] captured. 33.7 silly] helpless. 33.8 plucke] tear. 34.2 batte] club. 34.4 club law] ‘The use of the club to enforce obedience; physical force as contrasted with argument; law or rule of the physically stronger’ (OED). 34.5 parlye] discussion of terms for truce. 34.7 Neptune] the sea. 35.2 euasions] movements to escape. 35.2 shunn’d] dodged. 35.3 seuenfold target] shield with seven layers. Cf. Guyon’s ‘seuenfolded shield’ (FQ, 2.5.6.3), and also Arthur’s ‘shield enueloped seuenfold’ (FQ, 3.2.25.7). This is a common classical figure, though; sevenfold shields are carried by Ajax (in Iliad), and Turnus (in Aeneid). 35.9 quarrell] combat. 35.9 quite] altogether. 36.1 Mastiffe] A large, powerful dog, bred to guard and fight. 36.5 vantage] advantage. 36.7 whit] jot. 36.8 baule] cry. 37.1 heed] care. A word frequently associated with prudence throughout this book. 37.2 discharge] make. 37.6 choler] rage. 37.7 engine] device, trap. 38.2 Mulciber] Vulcan, blacksmith and armourer of the Gods. 38.3 Welch hooke] billhook; a heavy knife mounted on a pole, with a hook at its end, used either as a

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 4

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weapon or for cutting and pruning brushwood. 38.8 dint] blow. 39.1-2 With that ... blasphemyes] In Greek mythology, the Gyants, primeval offspring of Gaia and siblings of Cronos, attempted to scale Mount Olympus and depose Ioue and his fellow gods. See 7.2.15 and n. above. 39.3 had] would have. 39.3 asswag’d] lessened. 39.6 eschu’d] avoided. 39.7 refuge] resource, practice. 39.9 sleight] cunning, guile. 40.1 artificall] skilfully made. 40.3-4 Those subtile ... God of warre] Vulcan manufactured a net to discover his wife, Venus, in bed with Mars, god of war. The story is variously told, e.g. in Homer, Odyssey, 8.266-369. 41.1 Impostour] deceiver. 41.2 ginnes] traps. 41.3 Betooke] applied. 41.4 Proteus] God of the sea with the gift of prophecy; capable of changing his shape into various animal or elemental forms to avoid having to prophesy, since he needed to speak only to those who could capture him, as did Menelaus (see Homer, Odyssey, 4.382-569). 41.8 natiue] natural, innate. 42.1 Achelous] River god, one of the competitors with Hercules for the hand of Deianera. Fighting with Hercules, he changed himself into a snake, and then an ox, but was defeated. See Ovid, Met., 9.1-97. Knevet’s figuring of Albanio as Hercules seems at odds with his earlier doubts over Hercules’s status as moral exemplar: see 7.3.2.6-7 above. 42.4 Griffon] Mythical creature with the body of a lion, and head and wings of an eagle. 42.5-9 But when ... night] Perhaps recalling the escape of Spenser’s Blatant Beast: ‘he broke his yron chaine | And got into the world at liberty againe’ (FQ, 6.12.38.8-9). But unlike Spenser, Knevet locates the escaped malefactor within dissent, rather than as an agent of discord at large. 42.6 worke no feates] not achieve his purpose.

Canto 4

Stanza 1] Knevet begins by returning to the figure of the Golden Age, but here he places Albanio in the wake of Astraea’s departure, rather than the herald of her return. Cf. 7.Pr.2.4n. 1.7 snowy stole] white robe. 1.7 wee read] Although Astraea’s departure from the world is part of conventional accounts, none of them mention her white stole; in the verse of Knevet’s contemporaries, though, such garments do betoken purity or chastity, and in some cases victory. Cf. ‘In her white Stole; now Victory do’s rest | Enspher’d with Palm on Your Triumphant Crest’ (Robert Herrick, ‘To the King, on his Taking of Leicester’, ll. 3-4). 1.8 they say] Again, the association of Astraea and Falsehood may be Knevet’s invention (cf. previous note); Spenser’s Astraea leaves the earth ‘when the world with sinne gan to abound’ (FQ, 5.1.11.1). 1.9 contempt’ous] contemptible. 2.1 halfe drest] Spenser likewise figures the undressing of Duessa as exposure of falsehood. See FQ, 1.8.46-49. 2.2

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stroutes] struts. 2.3 vest] garment. 2.6 personated] disguised; from L. persona (mask). 2.9 shadow’d] concealed. 2.9 so faire a veyle] Although Knevet is referring to the disguise that Falsehood adopts in her impersonation of Astraea, this figure recalls his defence of his own poetry (cf. 7.3.6n. above). 2.9 complements] the behaviour, and perhaps fine language (even compliments), that disguise her as Astræa. 3.1 mate] companion. 3.2 bide] abide; live. 3.9 tortious wrong] A pleonasm, but a Spenserian one; tortious means ‘full of wrong’. Cf. ‘Ne ought he car’d, whom he endamaged | By tortious wrong, or whom bereau’d of right’ (FQ, 2.2.18.7-8). 4.2 subtile foe] Pseudophron (see canto 3 above). 4.4 replenish’d] full. 4.6-9] The liberall sciences, like the liberal arts, are the subjects of study at the early modern university. See 7.2.17.3n. above. The seuen ... Colledges (line 8) presumably refer to the seven subjects of the trivium and quadrivium. 4.9 whilome] formerly. 5.1 astound] amazed, astonished. 5.2 nigh hand descryd] saw nearby. 5.3 pure golden foyle] A common Spenserian figure for empty promises and hypocrisy; cf. ‘all was forg’d and spred with golden foyle, | That vnder it hidde hate and hollow guyle’ (FQ, 4.2.29.4-5). 5.4 awfull] dreadful, frightful. 5.4 chide] scold, drive (because the sun-beams are less bright). 5.6 Dianas ... vaine] Probably referring to the Temple (or Fane) of Diana at Ephesus (in modernday Turkey), one of the seven wonders of the world. Cf. 8.7.5.4-6n. below. 5.8 appertaine] belong. 5.9 Plutus] Classical god of wealth. Cf. Spenser’s Mammon, FQ, 2.7.8. 5.9 pelfe] money, riches. 6.2 wight] person. 6.3 profane] unclean; with a possible pun on ‘Dianas Fane’ (7.4.5.6 above). 6.9 oblations] offerings. 6.9 ply] make, present. Stanza 7] This stanza recalls in detail the description of Malfida (see 7.2.21 and n. above). The purple robe and triple crowne are both Catholic, indeed papal, symbols. 7.2 Idoll] Cf. the ‘Idole’ (FQ, 5.10.13.8) set up by Spenser’s Geryoneo to his father, Geryon. 7.3 triple crowne] The Papal, three-tiered crown. 8.2 file] line; ‘list, roll’ (OED, n.2 , 3c). 8.3 Monstrous Oppression] Spenser describes Geryon (see 7.4.7.2n. above) as ‘He that whylome in Spaine so sore was dred, | For his huge powre and great oppression, | Which brought that land to his subiection’ (FQ, 5.10.9.3-5). 8.5 passeing] surpassingly, exceedingly. 8.7 reekeing] steaming. 9.1 sunne-scortch’d] Perhaps because he spends his time searching the earth for gold, or perhaps because Knevet associates this search for gold with voyages to America (see 7.4.9.6n. below). 9.2 Vnhumanely] unnaturally. 9.3 as sad ... Marsyas] Marsyas, a celebrated piper, lost a musical contest to Apollo and was flayed alive. The story is told in Apollodorus, Library, 1.4.2; Ovid, Met., 6.382ff., and elsewhere. 9.4 carriage] bearing, demeanour. 9.4 Malecontent] malcontent, figure of disaffection; a common theatrical type in the early seventeenth century (as

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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in John Marston’s play of the same name). 9.6 shineing Indian mold] gold. Spenser typically uses the word mold to describe either soil or human flesh. 9.7 Which from ... rent] An Ovidian trope of the bronze age, in which humans delve ‘in viscera terrae’ [into the bowels of the earth] (Met, 1.138) to extract wealth. Cf. Guyon’s reproach to Mammon: ‘Then gan a cursed hand the quiet wombe | Of his great Grandmother with steele to wound’ (FQ, 2.7.17.12). Ops was, in classical mythology, a goddess representing the earth and of labour upon it, a daughter of Terra (or Tellus) and mother of Jupiter. 9.8 dropsy] insatiable thirst, or a disease causing it. 10.1 Rapine] As the following stanza makes clear, one object of this rapine is the Church. Cf. Spenser’s Kirkrapine (FQ, 1.3.15-18). 10.1 yawneing] gaping. 10.2 mawe] belly 10.3 supply’d] satisfied, filled. 10.8 lanke] hollow, thin. 10.8 blent] OED (‘yblent’) gives ‘blinded; dazed; clouded’, but the sense here is ‘struck, wearied’. 10.9 As fleshles ... Lent] An Ember Weeke was one of the four periods of fasting specified by the Church in the four seasons of the year (see OED, ‘ember’2 ). One of these weeks took place after the first Sunday in Lent. Knevet’s simile denotes both the emaciation of a participant in this fasting, and the fleshlessness of the Lenten diet. 11.1 spoile] plunder. 11.2 masse of store] accumulation of goods, money. 11.3 estates] levels of society (cf. rich and poore, line 4). 11.3 shift] device, strategy. 11.6 oblations] offerings. Often used, as here, to refer to money given to the Church. 11.8-9] This attack upon equiuocations and mentall reseruations is characteristic of anti-Jesuit and anti-Catholic writing of the time. Certain Jesuit writers of the sixteenth century held that certain truths could be reserved or withheld from human interrogators and spoken to God in the mind; the doctrine of equivocation, moreover, held that the double meaning of words could be employed in speaking untruths (for instance, about one’s faith) to human ears while still remaining truthful to God. These practices became a concern in England in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, for instance with the trial of the Jesuit priest and poet Robert Southwell, and with Henry Garnet’s widely circulated defence of Southwell. See also 8.7.7n. below. 12.1-2] Spenser provides no personification of Vsury (the practice of lending money at interest), though he does say of Avarice that ‘accursed vsurie was all his trade’ (FQ, 1.4.27.8). 12.1 succeed] follow. 12.3 obligations forfeyted] written bonds of unpaid debt. 12.4 louteing] bowing. 12.5 reuerend Simony] Simony is the selling of ecclesiastical preferments and indulgences, and thus a figure of anti-Catholic satire; reuerend means ‘worthy’, though also here a churchly pun. 12.6 Submisse ... strooke] Caused humble looks in all who came before him (since they are fawning for preferments and indulgences). 12.8-9] Lavender (p. 633) sees an indirect allusion to St Peter, the ‘fisherman’ and first bishop of Rome; his previous name, Simon, makes this more plausible.

13.1 Nunnes] Knevet seems to have forgotten that Simony is a man. To an early seventeenth-century English writer, nuns would have been relics of Catholicism. 13.2 weedes] clothes. 13.3 Erebus] According to Hesiod (Theogony, ll. 123-25), a son of Chaos, and father (with his sister, Night) of Aether and Day; the name is often used as a poetic term for Hades, or hell. 13.6 meager] thin. 13.7 eyne] eyes. 13.7 to ... quite] deep-set; perhaps also inward-looking, selfpreoccupied. 13.9 port] bearing. 14.1 stareing] standing on end. 14.1 bewrayd] betrayed, revealed. 14.5 silly Dastard] foolish coward. 15.1 targe of proofe] strong shield. 15.3 Peasant] base man. 15.6 Thiefe] scoundrel (as well as robber). 15.7 ragges] Cf. Spenser’s Despayre, ‘his garment nought but many ragged clouts’ (FQ, 1.9.36.1). 15.8 A fatall ... knife] The corpse next to Spenser’s Despayre holds a ‘rustie knife’ (FQ, 1.9.36.8), and he himself hands Redcrosse a ‘dagger sharpe and keene’ (1.9.51.2), before trying to hang himself with a ‘halter’ (1.9.54.4). 16.3 fauchion] sword. 16.4 zeale] fanatical worship. The word could denote righteous anger, but here is clearly pejorative. 16.7 to piece-meale] into small pieces. Cf. Arthur’s destruction of Geryoneo’s idol, ‘all to peeces’ (FQ, 5.11.33.8). 17.3 eagre] hungry, keen. 17.7 at the last cast] near to ruin. 18.1 stint] cease, relent. 18.3 dint] stroke. 18.4 brenn’d] burned. 18.5 incende] set on fire. 18.7 crooked] Apparently hinting at Church abuses, in line with the allegory of the episode. 18.8 welkin] sky. 18.8 sable] black. 19.1 euery element] Fire, earth, air, and water; as described in the rest of the stanza. 19.4 fire ... throne] Of the four elements, fire was anciently believed to occupy the highest sphere. See Plato, Timaeus, 57b-c and passim; also Ovid, Met., 1.26-27. 19.5 skippeing] flashing. 19.7 Whist] silent. 19.9 countenance] face, show. 20.1 whilere] formerly 20.7 low gestures] Presumably humble gestures of praise and thanks. 21.3 Heptarchy of Colledges] See 7.4.4.6-9n. above. 21.5 Eugh] yew, the berries and leaves of which are poysnous. 21.5 willowes sad] Traditionally emblematic of grief, especially that of heartbroken lovers: ‘the Willow worne of forlorne Paramours’ (FQ, 1.1.9.3). 21.6 bayes, and Myrtles] Sacred to Apollo and Venus respectively, patrons of the learned heads and louers true of the following line. 21.9 Straite Pines, and cedars tall] Perhaps remembering Spenser’s juxtaposition of these two tall, proverbially proud trees (FQ, 1.1.8.6). 22.1 fennes] bogs. 22.1 sauours] Probably not tastes, but smells, although the term covered both meanings. 22.6 knot] Intricately patterned flower-bed or garden. 22.8 Loues Queenes] Venus, wife of Vulcan and lover of Mars. 22.9 bloodthirsty Thracian feild] Thrace, the ancient Balkan country, was said to be home to a cruel but warlike people. Herodotus speaks of them as powerful in battle but disunited (Histories, 5.3). The country took its name from Thrax, son of Mars.

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 4

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Stanzas 23-36] This long catalogue of flowers not only anticipates the shorter, but similarly copious passage on trees at the end of 8.2, but also provides further epic, and Spenserian, imitation. Cf. Spenser’s catalogues of trees (FQ, 1.1.8-9), and rivers (4.11); Knevet may also have in mind Spenser’s catalogues of flowers in Muiopotmos, ll. 187-200, and SC, ‘Aprill’, ll. 136-44, both of which he outdoes in length, as well as Virgil, Eclogues, 2.45-50. His botanical interest is likewise in evidence in Rhodon and Iris (1631). He appears to be working very closely from John Parkinson’s Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris (1629), following Parkinson’s sequence of plants and repeating many of his details, some of which are recorded below. Parkinson’s account is often conventional, and similar in many points to other texts such as Gerard’s Herball (1597, repr. 1633). 23.1-2 Amidde ... sweet amity] Beginning with an allegorization of the unity between England and Scotland, a preoccupation of Knevet’s throughout this book. Cf. 7.1.36-7 and passim. 23.3 prickes] thorns. 23.5 Lilly] The heraldic fleur-de-lis appears on the royal arms of France. 23.6 mickle] much. Stanza 24] Tulips, natives of western and mid-Asia, were brought to western Europe in the sixteenth century, when they were not only an extraordinarily fashionable luxury item, but also a financial commodity, as they and their bulbs became the subject of intense speculation. The market for tulips exploded in the 1630s, and crashed catastrophically in 1637. 24.3 vertue] property, often medicinal; the term is used in Parkinson, Gerard, et al., but the allegorical dimension of these stanzas gives it an explicitly moral meaning too (see line 8 below). Cf. also 7.4.26.8 below, and the plants described in Spenser’s Muiopotmos, ‘of vertue good or ill’ (l. 201). 24.4 elate] lift itself up. 24.6 parts] appearances. 24.7 terminate] close. 24.9 any entertainement find] receive any welcome. 25.1 Narcissus] Botanical and common name for a group of flowers, also known as daffodils: some are white, others yellow. In mythology, Narcissus fell in love with his reflection in a pool, and died (the flower springing from the place where he died). The myth is recorded in Ovid, Met., 3.339-510. 25.6 Hyacinthus] In classical mythology, a beautiful youth beloved by Apollo and the west wind, Zephyr, who died when he was struck by a discuss thrown by Apollo. According to Ovid’s account (Met, 10.162-219), the hyacinth flower sprang from his blood. 26.1 Starre of Bethleem] A plant with white, star-shaped flowers; ‘wilde field Onions’. Gerard, Herball (1633), p. 165. 26.1 Asphodill] Or asphodel. Flowering plant of genus asphodelus; often used as a synonym for ‘daffodil’. 26.2 cordiall Crocus] Both Gerard and Parkinson call all plants from this family saffron; it ‘is very cordiall’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 170), i.e. good for the heart. 26.3-4 Blacke ... brumall aire] Among the various and often highly poisonous aconites, Knevet may mean the winter-flowering aconitum hyemale, winter’s wolfsbane; all of them ‘grow

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naturally on Mountaines, in many shadowie places of the Alpes, in Germany, and elsewhere’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 215). The flowers of this genus are of various colours, but not blacke: this adjective may perhaps refer to their highly poisonous qualities. 26.4 controules] overpowers; withstands. 26.4 brumall] winter. 26.5-6 The noble ... craz’d] Also known as the golden trefoil, ‘thought to coole and strengthen the liuer’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 226). 26.5 repaire] cure. 26.6 craz’d] diseased. 26.6 Crowfootes] Plants of genus ranunculus, of the buttercup family; they ‘haue driuen away the fits in Feuers’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 223). 26.7 Fritillaire] Flowering plants, many species of which have domed, beautifully chequered flowers: their name comes from L. fritillus (‘dice-box’). The more common spelling is (and was) fritillary, but Knevet retains the rhyme. 26.8 Cranesbill] Plants of the geranium genus, ‘accounted great wound herbes, and effectuall to stay bleedings’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 230). 26.9 healeing Sanicle] The plants of the genus sanicula are, according to Parkinson (1629), p. 231, ‘great healers’. 27.1 spotted Nauel-wort] Plant of the genus cotyledon (see Parkinson, 1629, p. 232), with a navel-like dimple on their leaves and spotted flowers. 27.1 Spiderwort] Plant of genus Anthericum (the leaves of which, touching the ground at their tips, give the plant the appearance of a spider). 27.2 Moone-wort] Small plant (also known in the early modern period as lunary), which ‘groweth on the Alpes, which are couered with snow the greatest part of the yeare’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 234). 27.3 Orchis] Gerard’s notes on the various species of orchid makes clear that they were generally thought to have force ‘in procuring of lust’, Herball (1633), p. 228; their tuberous roots have the appearance of testicles, and the common names of the plants (e.g. stones, cullions) make reference to this. 27.4 Cephalicke Beares eares] A form of cowslip (genus auricula): ‘all the sorts of Beares eares are Cephalicall, that is, conducing helpe for the paines in the head’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 241). 27.4 Primrose] Perhaps low because of their short stems. 27.6 Coole Borage] Perhaps from Parkinson (1629), p. 252, who writes that ‘Borage and Buglosse are held to bee both temperate herbes’. Gerard, Herball (1633) writes that it is ‘in a meane betwixt hot and cold’ (p. 797). 27.6 Red Rose Campion] One of the species of Campion, and the first mentioned by Parkinson (1629), pp. 252-53, having a ‘perfect red crimson’ flower. 27.7 Toade-flaxe] Generic name for plants of the genus linaria, some but not all of their flowers purple. Gerard writes that a decoction of the plant ‘doth [...] prouoke vrine, in those that pisse drop after drop, vnstoppeth the kidneies and bladder’. Herball (1633), p. 556. 27.8 Stocke ... alone] ‘These haue no great vse in Physick that I know’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 262). 27.9 Columbines] Flower of the genus aquilegia. ‘Some in Spaine, as Camerarius saith, vse to eate a peece of the roote hereof fasting, many dayes together, to helpe them that are troubled with the stone in the kidneyes’ (Parkinson, 1629, pp. 272-74).

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28.1 sullen Melancholy Gentleman] A form of stock gilliflower mentioned by Parkinson, though not by Gerard, its flowers said to have ‘large leaues [...] standing in such like long huskes, but of a darke or sullen yellowish colour’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 260). 28.2 Gladiolus] A plant with a tall spike of colourful flowers. 28.2 Willowflowre] Or willow-herb, a large group of flowering plants. 28.3 Hollow Roote] Or radix cava, now also known as the hollow-rooted fumitory, a flowering plant with a large, ball-like root mass, ‘most truely to bee reckoned Vernall plants, for that they rise not out of the ground vntill the Spring bee come in, and are gone likewise before it be past’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 276). 28.4 vernall] of spring. 28.5 bowre] chamber. 28.6 Larkes-heele] Common name for the delphinium (Parkinson, 1629, p. 276). 28.6 Barrenwort] A group of plants of the genus epimedium. ‘It is thought of diuers to agree in the propertie of causing barrennesse’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 284). 28.8 Poppy ... eyes] The narcotic effect of poppies was a poetic commonplace. 28.9 Hearts-ease] Or the viola or pansy (Parkinson, 1629, p. 282). 28.9 guise] shape; fashion. 29.1 Fennel-wort] This term is unrecorded in OED (and is listed in neither Parkinson nor Gerard); Knevet may have in mind the fennel flower (nigella). 29.1 double Featherfew] Of the genus parthenium; see Parkinson (1629), p. 289. 29.2 Red-hayr’d Adonis] The red Adonis flower; see Parkinson (1629), p. 293. Its petals are ‘set about with many blackish threads, without any smell at all’. 29.2 wild Pellitory] Flowering plant of the genus ptarmica; see Parkinson (1629), p. 288. 29.3 Cammomill] camomile. An accepted early modern spelling. 29.3 faire flowre of Peru] Described by Parkinson (1629), p. 295, as a ‘goodly and stately plant’, listed among the marigolds as chrysanthemum peruuianum, or flos solis, but apparently the flower known today as the sunflower. 29.5 Vipers Grasse] Parkinson lists a number of virtues for this plant (genus scorsonera), including its use against stomach and heart complaints, and snakebite (Parkinson, 1629, p. 301). 29.5 Oxe-eye] Flowering plant of the genus bupthalmum; see Parkinson (1629), pp. 293-95. 29.6 Starre-wort] Or aster. ‘They are held [...] to bee good for the biting of a mad dogge’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 300). 29.7 Golden Mouseeare] Or pilosella maior. ‘The French [...] vse it for the defects of the lunges, but with what good successe I know not’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 300). 29.8 MaryGold] ‘The grace and glory of a Garden in the time of his beauty’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 303). 30.1 Goatsbeard] Of the genus tragopogon. ‘Because the flower doth euery day close it selfe at noone [...] and openeth not againe vntill the next Sunne, some haue fitly called it, Goe to bed at noone’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 302). 30.2 cropp’t] cut down; i.e. died. 30.3 house of clay] body. Proverbial, but although Spenser often refers to the body as clay, he never uses this phrase. See, for instance, Du Bartas, First Part of the First Day of the Second Weeke, ll. 751-52: ‘The tree of life the strife did stay |

Which th’humors caused in this house of clay’. 30.4 Carnation ... peeres] Knevet may be speaking metaphorically rather than horticulturally: Parkinson writes of it that ‘for his beauty and statelinesse [it] is worthy of a prime place’, and that its bearing ‘sheweth a kinde of statelinesse, fit to preserue the opinion of magnificence’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 306). 30.5 Gilliflowre] Described alongside carnations in Parkinson (1629), pp. 310-14. 30.6 Pinkes] Small carnations. 30.7 Blew-Bottles] cornflowers, which ‘grow many times in the Corne fields of our own Countrey’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 327). 30.7 eares] heads of corn or grain. 30.8 Dittanye] Said by Virgil (Aeneid, 12.411-15) to be used by wild goats to expel arrows with which they have been shot (a detail repeated by Gerard), but Knevet’s line may come from Du Bartas: ‘Candian Dittanie, | Which wounded Deare eating, immediatlie | Not onely cures their wounds exceeding well, | But ‘gainst the shooter doth the shaft repell’. Third Day of the First Weeke, ll. 763-66. 30.9 Wallflowres] According to Parkinson (1629), p. 258, these flowers had largely decorative purposes. 31.1 Blacke-Hellebore] Or bearsfoot; ‘safe [...] to be vsed for all Melancholicke diseases’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 345). Such an association with melancholy (or blacke bile) may explain Knevet’s adjective here. 31.2 bitter Gentian] ‘The wonderfull wholsomnesse of Gentian cannot bee easily knowne to vs, by reason our daintie tastes refuse to take thereof, for the bitternesse sake: but otherwise it would vndoubtedly worke admirable cures’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 353). 31.2 exceed] excel. 31.3 cleapt] called. 31.3 Peony] ‘The male Peony roote is farre aboue all the rest a most singular approued remedy for all Epilepticall diseases’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 344). 31.4 Meruaile of Peru] mirabilia peruviana, a plant brought from the New World via Spain. The flowers ‘doe open for the most part, in the euening, or in the night time, and so stand blowne open, vntill the next mornings sun beginne to grow warme vpon them, which then close themselues together’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 365). 31.5 leaues] petals. 31.9 horizon] sky, hemisphere. 32.1 Bell-flowre] A group of flowers described by Parkinson (1629), pp. 353-57. 32.1 Lilly Convally] Now known as lily of the valley. 32.2 Flower-Gentle] Of the genus amaranthus; ‘in a backward or cold yeare they will not thriue, for that they desire much heate’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 372). 32.3 Thorne-Apples] Group of plants of the genus stramonium. Among the psychological properties, Parkinson (1629), p. 362, writes that ‘the East Indian lasciuious women performe strange acts with the seed’. 32.4 Goldilockes] Its beauty is remarked upon by Gerard (1633), pp. 645-47, though not by Parkinson. 32.5 Indian Reed] ‘This beautifull plant riseth vp with faire greene, large, broade leaues, euery one rising out of the middle of the other, and are folded together, or writhed like vnto a paper Coffin’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 376). 32.6 Mandrake] mandragora, the fruits of which ‘haue a soporiferous propertie’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 378). 32.7 Moth-Mullein]

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 4

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Parkinson (1629), p. 384 writes that one of the Mulleins has ‘the colour of cloth of gold’. 32.7 hu’d] coloured. 32.8 Foxe-gloue] See Parkinson (1629), pp. 380-83. 32.8 red Valerian] One of the flowers of the genus valeriana, with flowers ‘of a fine red colour’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 386). 32.9 Ladyes smockes] Or cuckoo-flower, of the genus cardamine. See Parkinson (1629), p. 388-89. 32.9 Perwinkles] Or periwinkles (Knevet may omit the vowel to preserve the metre). The verb ranne is no accident: this plant ‘hath diuers creeping branches, trayling or running vpon the ground’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 391). 33.1-5 Tabacco ... bee] Parkinson (1629) writes that tobacco is ‘out of question, an excellent helpe and remedy for diuers diseases, if it were rightly ordered and applyed, but the continuall abuse thereof in so many, doth almost abolish all good vse in any’ (p. 364). Spenser describes it as ‘diuine Tobacco’ (FQ, 3.5.32.6). Others were less taken by its medicinal virtues: King James’s Counterblaste to Tobacco (1604) begins by condemning the ‘manifolde abuses of this vile custome of Tobacco taking’ (f. B1r). 33.2 weed ... greene] dark green garment (with a vegetable pun). 33.3 prostituted to] made use of, sold off to. Stanza 34] This account of the passion-flower, or Maracoc, is heavily dependent on a long passage in Parkinson: ‘Some superstitious Iesu-ite would faine make men beleeue, that in the flower of this plant are to be seene all the markes of our Sauiours Passion; and therefore call it Flos Passionis: and to that end haue caused figures to be drawne, and printed, with all the parts proportioned out, as thornes, nailes, speare, whippe, pillar, &c. in it, [...]: but these bee their aduantagious lies [...] wherewith they vse to instruct their people’. These pictures, he goes on, ‘are but the fictions of superstitious brains: for the flower it selfe is farre differing from their figure’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 396). 34.6 passion] crucifixion and suffering. 34.8 side] religious faction. 34.9 braues, and vaunts] boasts. 35.1 Iasmine] ‘The white Iasmines haue beene in all times accepted into outward medicines, [...] for the pleasure of the sweete sent’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 407). 35.2 Honysuckles] Described by Parkinson (1629), pp. 40406. 35.3 vertue] See 7.4.24.3n. above. 35.3 consolidate] close, heal, make whole. 35.4 Rosemary] Among its many properties, Parkinson mentions rosemary’s capacity ‘to strengthen the memory’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 427). 35.5 Pomegranates ... fluxibilityes] ‘The vse of all these Pomegranets is very much in Physicke, to coole and binde all fluxibility both of body and humours’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 431); a fluxibility is a flux or discharge. 35.6 Indian Iucca] Given this name by Parkinson (1629), p. 434, but apparently he and Gerard (to whom he refers) are using it to describe the cassava. 35.6 tree Trefoyle] A number of plants of the genus cytisus, including the broom. See Parkinson (1629), p. 439-40. 35.7 tree of Life] The redwood, arbor vitae, a native of America; ‘abiding greene on the branches Winter and Summer’ (Parkinson, 1629,

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p. 436). 35.9 Lauender] Lavender oil, writes Parkinson (1629), p. 448, is used ‘for cold and benummed parts’, and also ‘to perfume linnen, apparrell, gloues, leather, &c.’. 36.1 Cassidony] Also known as French lavender. 36.1 cleap’t] called. 36.2 Basill ... heart] Basil’s ‘Physicall properties are, to procure a cheerefull and merry heart’ (Parkinson, 1629, p. 450). Cf. ‘Bazill hartie-hale’ (Spenser, Muiopotmos, l. 198). 36.3 Germander] A form of Hysope (i.e. hyssop). 36.3 Time] thyme. 36.3 sweet Marierome] marjoram. 36.4 curious] ornate, artful. 36.4 part] divide. 36.5 Boxe] A very low shrub, characteristically used in garden design. ‘The lowe or dwarfe Boxe is of excellent vse to border vp a knot, or the long beds in a Garden, being a maruailous fine ornament thereunto, in regard it both groweth lowe, is euer greene, and by cutting may bee kept in what maner euery one please’ (Parkinson, 1629, pp. 606-07). 36.7 storyes ... desart] images depicting worthy events, of history or myth. 36.8 iouissance] pleasure, delight. 36.8-9 Loues Queene ... Adonis] Venus, whose dalliance with her beloved Adonis was ended when he was killed by a boar; the story is told in Ovid, Met., 10.503-739, Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis, and many other texts. 37.1 Alcides] Hercules. 37.1 his twelue labours] In penance for the killing of his wife and children, Hercules was instructed to perform twelve difficult tasks, described in Apollodorus, Library, 2.5. See 8.5.13.4 and n. below. 37.2 Romances] tales. 37.3 Semiramis] On the Babylonian queen, Semiramis, see 7.3.20.7n. Her Gardens were the subject of proverb, and are described, for instance, in Strabo’s Geography, 16.1.2. 37.3 weene] think. 37.5 varietyes] different species. The OED’s first cited usage is from Parkinson (1629). 37.6 phantasy] The faculty upon which sensory impressions are made. 37.7 seuen Ladyes bright] The ‘Seuen Sisters’ mentioned below (7.4.40.1), representative of the aforementioned ‘seuen famous Colledges’ (see 7.4.4.8 and 7.4.4.6-9n. above) 37.8 minstralcye] Usually referring to a group of minstrels, or the music made by them, but they seem incongruous here: it makes more sense to think of this appearance merely heralded by music. 37.9 port] deportment, bearing. 38.1 Goddesse ... emperye] Venus, goddess of love. 38.2] May was not always described as the month in which Venus made her progresse (her regal journey), though love is traditional to the spring. See the argument to SC, ‘March’, describing ‘love and other plesaunce, which to springtime is most agreeable’. Spenser’s ‘Maye’ eclogue begins with the couplet ‘Is not thilke the mery moneth of May, | When loue lads masken in fresh aray?’ 38.3 launds] glades. 38.3 Thessaly] Land in central Greece, and the location of Mount Olympus, the mythical home of the classical gods. 38.4 timbrells] Percussive instruments like tambourines. 38.5 array] dress; order. 38.8 Champion] knight. 38.9 benison] blessing. 39.2 compeeres] companions. 39.6 seruitude] enslavement. 39.8 thy worth] your merit; but almost an antonomasia (implying ‘you, of great worth’). 39.9 requite] repay.

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40.4-5 race ... pedigree] Family and ancestry. A rather tautologous hendiadys. 40.7 so hard our case] so harsh our condition. 40.8 earst] formerly. 40.8 helmes] rudders (as of ships). 40.9 vnletter’d pate] uneducated head, i.e. person. 41.1 A hundreth ... seene] A hundred years have passed. The tropickes (of Cancer and Capricorn) are lines of latitude north and south of the equator, the furthest points at which the sun can be directly overhead (and having reached which, it apparently turns and resumes its journey away). 41.2 Looseing] freeing. 41.4 deuice] plot, stratagem. 41.5 Dysnomia] See 7.3.12.6n. above. 41.7 In feild ... thrice] Lavender (p. 643) surmises that Knevet ‘has three instances in mind, probably antedating the reign of James I, in which Roman Catholicism, aided by England’s imprudence, had triumphed over the established Church, either in England or Ireland, but the evidence is too scanty to allow any specific conjectures’. 41.8 fell] fierce, cruel. 41.9 hight] is called. 41.9 Aphronymon] From Gr. ἄφρων (‘senseless, thoughtless’), in opposition to Aristotelian φρονήσις (see 7.Pr.1.1n. above). 42.5 Colledges] See 7.4.4.6-9n. above. 42.5 ras’t] razed; destroyed. 42.8 Plutus] See 7.4.5.9n. above. 42.8 guilt] gold; with a clear moral pun. 43.1 auspice] propitious, and well-omened, act. 43.2 Subverted] overthrown. 43.3 Hagges] See 7.4.13.1n. above. 43.4 whilome] once, formerly. 43.7 Subsiste] still lives. 43.9 set on] incite. Often used of dogs or other animals (OED, ‘set’, v.1 , 148c). 44.3 Whis’t] silent. 44.5 Syrens] Nymphs described in Book 12 of the Odyssey and elsewhere, whose bewitching songs led all sailors who heard them to their deaths. 45.2 abate] put down. 45.4-7] Perhaps associating Arthur and the Order of the Garter, through Albanio’s affiliation to both. 45.8 convince] vanquish. 46.2 Gloriane] See 7.2.29.7n. above. 46.3 thrill’d] pierced. 46.5 badge of my beleife] Probably the cross; cf. the ‘bloudie Crosse’ worn by the Redcrosse Knight as a ‘glorious badge’ (FQ, 1.1.2.1-3). The design on Albanio’s shield is heraldic: see 7.1.1 above. 46.6 Caitifes] villain’s. 46.9 what in ... read] A Spenserian formula; cf. the final lines of FQ, 3.8 and 5.7.

Canto 5

Arg.3 slakes] extinguishes. 1.7 That can’st ... command] This ambiguous line seems to construct Albanio’s virtue as partly stoic (in his capacity for self-control in the face of fortune, good or bad) and partly victorious (in which he governs his own fortune). 1.9 dint] blow, stroke. 2.1-2 But that ... thee] ‘In order that you may more easily and quickly discover the whereabouts of this enemy of ours, and yours.’ 2.3 daigne] grant. 2.4 vncouth] unknown, remote, desolate. 2.5 concauitye] hollow. 2.6

Caitife] villain, wretch. 2.6 wonne] live. 2.7 Innemates bee] dwell together. 2.9 seld] seldom. 3.1 tract] country, region. 3.3 gyrt] enclosed, wrapped. 3.4 when ... appeare] On 21 June, the sun enters the astrological sign of Cancer. 3.9 moile] Perhaps a mole (working in the darkness of the north), although this spelling is not cited elsewhere in OED. Perhaps ‘trouble, vexation’ (OED, ‘moil’, n.1 , 1), or even ‘mule’ (see 9.3.7.1 and n. below). 4.2 low] humble, base; or just physically small. 4.3 rockehiu’d] sheltered by rocks. 4.4 th’Ætnæan forge] The Sicilian volcano, Mount Ætna, taken in classical mythology as the location of the forge of Vulcan. 4.4 Curtian quaue] earthquake. Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome), 7.5 records that ‘by earthquake or some other forcible violence, the common place called Forum, clave and opened wide, welneere in the mids, and suncke downe to an exceeding depth’ (The Roman Historie, trans. by Philemon Holland (1600), p. 252); a young man called Curtius, calling upon the gods to close it, leapt into the chasm. Cf. 8.5.14.5 and n. below. 4.5 regresse] the possibility of return. 4.6 wight] person. 4.7 meed] reward. 4.9 carroll forth] sing out. 5.1 Spartane valour] The Spartans were proverbial for warlike courage. 5.2 invade] enter. 5.4 monster-quelling] monster-slaying. Knevet’s reading may possibly be traced to a passage in John Harington’s translation of Orlando Furioso, Book 33, stanza 112, describing the Harpies, monsters which Knevet is about to depict: ‘The Duke with blade of mettall sharpe and keen, | Strikes at the monsters, thinking them to quell’. See 7.6.33.6-9 and n. below. 5.8 appall] daunt, cause to fail. 6.5 Theife] villain. 6.9 rauine] consume. 7.2 repaire] return. 7.3 acquite] discharge from obligation. 7.4 debonaire] gracious, courtly. 7.6 whilere] some time ago. 7.8 surpris’d] seized, overcome. 8.4 dent] struck. 8.5 shent] astonished, overwhelmed. 8.6 twine] entwine; clasp. 8.7 Surcharg’d] full to the brim, overwhelmed. 8.7 solacement] solace. 8.8-9 As is ... Embrac’d] That the vine and elm embrace is proverbial; see Tilley, Proverbs, V61. 8.9 Palladine] knight, champion. 9.1 serenes] showers. 9.4 Dwarfe] Lavender (p. 646) identifies the dwarf as Count Christopher of Dohna, Elector Palatine Frederick V’s envoy to the court of James I; such dwarfs are conventional messengers and attendants in Spenserian (and Arthurian) narrative. 9.6 winde] blow. 9.8 Lackeys] foot-servant’s. Stanzas 10-14] These stanzas introduce Knevet’s allegorical account of the events of the Thirty Years War, which will be extended in Book 8. At this point, Knevet’s concern is for the Palatinate, the region of Germany ruled by the Protestant Emperor Frederick V (1596-1632), who in 1613 married Princess Elizabeth (1596-1662), daughter of King James. Frederick’s army suffered defeats in 1619-20, but James resisted popular and political calls for England to send aid. Aquilino’s molestation of Leucippe will be taken up again in 8.3.

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 5

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10.1 accoast] accost; address. 10.2 Thrice worthy Sir] Perhaps referring to England, Scotland, and Ireland, but the expression could be conventional and hyperbolic, e.g. ‘Thrice welcome then vnto our English shore, | Thrice worthy Monarch of faire Albion’. Anthony Nixon, Elizaes Memoriall, King Iames his Arriual, and Romes Downefall (1603), f. C4v. 10.3 coast] region, place. 10.4 auspicious] well-omened. 10.5 of the Riuer] the River Rhine. 10.6 strene] strain, line. A Spenserian, if archaic, usage, e.g. ‘sacred Reuerence, yborne of heauenly strene’ (FQ, 5.9.32.9). 10.8 teene] anger. 11.1 Aquilino of the West] Representing the Holy Roman Empire, the arms and insignia of which (as of the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand II) were dominated by an eagle (L. aquila). See 8.3.22-29n. below. In Knevet’s Stratiotikon, the eagle (as a symbol of the Holy Roman Empire) conspires with the dragon (the Pope), the griffon (the Spanish monarchy), and the toad (Catholic France) to attack the protestant ‘Lyons of the North’; see Stratiotikon, ll. 800-26. 11.3 diademe] crown. 11.3 dispossest] bereft. 11.5 spoil’d] despoiled, bereft. 11.5 her Townes depopulated quite] Germany suffered gravely from both rural and urban depopulation during the Thirty Years War. 11.9 availe] help, assist. 12.1 Holy-Ile] England, as the home of the Church of England. 12.2 Deuided] separated. 12.2 maine] mainland. 12.3 cleap’t] called. 12.3 Asyle] refuge, haven. 12.5 doubt] fear. 12.6 a graue, and learned Sire] Knevet may have King James in mind, or perhaps no specific figure: the Church of England itself. 12.7 entertaine] receive. 12.9 the true faith] the Church of England. 13.2 receptacle] repository, haven. 13.3 the great Architect] God. A conventional and commonly-used epithet: see, for instance, ‘great Architect of wonders’. Du Bartas, First Day of the First Weeke, l. 13. 13.3 fenc’d] protected, as with a fence or wall. 13.5 constrain’d] compelled. 13.5 or] either. 13.5 turne taile] run back away. 14.1 Doxorthus] From Gr. δόξα, ‘Doctrine, opinion’; ὀρϑός, ‘Correct’. Thus, ‘Correct doctrine’ or the Church of England (as opposed to Dysnomia). 14.1 onely] sole. 14.3 superstitious rites] Perhaps a general denunciation of Catholic practices, or a more specific criticism of the Catholic doctrine of transubstantion. ‘Transubstantiation, or the change of the substance of bread and wyne, into the substaunce of Chrystes body and bloud, cannot be proued by holy wryt: But is repugnaunt to the playne wordes of scripture, peruerteth the nature of a Sacrament, and hath geuen occasion to many superstitions’. Articles (1563), ff. B5v-6r. 14.4 to their pristine splendour] to their former, ancient splendour. A common sixteenthand seventeenth-century claim on behalf of the Church of England. See, for instance, John Jewel, An Apologie or Answere in Defence of the Churche of Englande (1564), f. K3r, ‘As for our doctrine whiche wee may rightlier cal Christes catholik doctrine, it is so farre of from newe, that God who is aboue all most auncient, & the father of

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our Lorde Iesus Christe, hath left the same vnto vs in ye Gospel, in ye prophets & Apostles woorkes, beinge monuments of greatest age. So that no man can nowe thinke oure doctrine to be newe, onlesse the same thinke either the prophetes faithe, or the Gospell, or els Christe himselfe to be newe’. 14.5 thewes] customs. 14.5 adore] worship. 14.7 waft her ore] carry her over, by wind and water. 15.2-3] Stoical philosophy held that wise men would be impressed by passions, but that they would resist them, and not be overcome. That Albanio is ouerwhelm’d (line 2) seems at odds with this. ‘Nor do the Stoickes meane, that the Soule of their wisest man in any sorte resist the first visions and sodaine fantasies, that surprise the same: but rather consent that, as it were vnto a naturall subjection, he yeeldes and shrinks vnto the lowd clattering and roare of heaven, or of some violent downefall; for example-sake, vnto palenesse, and contraction. So likewise in other passions, alwayes provided, his opinion remaines safe and whole, and the situation of his reason, admit no tainting or alteration whatsoeuer: and hee no whit consent to his fright and sufferance’. Michel de Montaigne, ‘Of Constancy’, in The Essayes; or, Morall, Politicke and Millitarie Discourses, trans. by John Florio (1603), p. 22. 15.7 Let mee ... goe] May I be accounted an unknightly, lowly person. 16.1-2 dispense ... With] permit. 16.5 garboiles] tumults. 16.7 seas’d] seized; alighted upon. 16.9 eyne] eyes. 17.1 Elfin Knight] Knight of Faeryland. 17.2 liefest] dearest. 17.4 glee] happiness. 17.6 recall] distract. 17.8 mew’d vp close] tightly closed up. 18.3 officiously afford] dutifully offer. 18.5 trimme] wellequipped. 18.7 Pilgrims] In this religiously partisan context, this phrase refers to travellers through life, beset with troubles, rather than those journeying to a sacred shrine. 18.7 y’gride] pierced. OED cites three Spenserian usages of this word, including FQ, 3.9.29.5 as its earliest figurative usage. 19.3 Pinnasse] Small boat, often with two masts. 19.3 scourd] cut. 19.5 waftage] conveyance. 20.2 earst] formerly. 20.3 Malfida] See 7.1.5.5 and n. above. 20.6 shriue] question, demand confession of. Albanio’s angry question seems a little wrong-headed, given the Dwarf ’s account of Aquilino’s terror (stanza 11 above). 20.9 Mars] Roman god of war. 20.9 charret] chariot. 21.3 clamours] noises, alarms. 21.4 Bellona] Roman goddess of war. 22.3 neihbour mead] adjacent field. 22.4 braueing] confronting. 22.5 bent] set, determined. 22.6 horse] cavalry. 22.7 marshal’d] drawn up. 22.7 head] vanguard. 22.9 countenance] face. 23.2 oh faithfull Knight] Drawing attention to the Protestant, as well as chivalric, connotations of faith. 23.3 prest] ready, prepared. 23.4 partyes] sides, armies. 23.5 bale] evil, woe 23.6-9] The war pitches Catholic against Protestant. 23.8 Cressants] A symbol of Islam and of various eastern kingdoms, part also of the symbol of the Ottoman

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Empire. See 7.5.29.1-3 below. 23.8 band] join in company. 23.9 prouoke] challenge, defy. 24.1 Prince of peace] Used elsewhere for James, especially at his accession. Cf. ‘O welcome Prince of Peace and quietnesse’. Samuel Rowlands, Aue Cæsar: God Saue the King (1603), f. B2r. 24.1 attone] reconcile. 24.3 interpone] interpose. 24.6 thewes] actions. 24.6 slake] quench, diminish. 24.6 vnhallow’d] unholy (ironically, given their religious causes). 24.7 fife] small, high-pitched flute, used in military music. 24.8 like the Threician lyre] Apparently a reference to Orpheus, whose music could charm wild beasts, and who was said to be buried in Thrace. Orpheus was described in numerous classical and early modern texts, and no specific reference is implied here; see, for instance, Ovid, Met., 10.1-85. 25.3 Battells] armies (ready for battle). 25.9 rest] A fixture on armour, into which a lance could be inserted for a charge. 26.2] Recalling the Redcrosse Knight, ‘Y cladd in mightie armes and siluer shielde’ (FQ, 1.1.1.2). 26.2 glistring] shining. 26.5 constantly] continually; perhaps also referring to his constantia, stoic steadfastness in the face of trouble. 26.6 the Badge ... Lord] the Cross, with another echo of Redcrosse (‘But on his brest a bloudie Crosse he bore, | The deare remembrance of his dying Lord’, FQ, 1.1.2.1-2). Cf. 7.4.46.5 and n. above. 26.7 obiect] sight. 26.7 thrilld] pierced. 27.1 many headed multitude] Proverbial seventeenthcentury description of crowds (Tilley, Proverbs, M1308). 27.2 Fraught with] full of. 27.3 riot rude] violent disturbance. 27.8 vertue] virtuous qualities; martial strength. 28.1 awfull] awe-inspiring. 28.2 whist] quiet. 28.4 the tender welkin thrill] pierce the fragile sky. 28.5 expected] waited. 28.8 enur’d] hardened, accustomed. 28.8 than] then. 29.1 Painims] This word might refer to any non-Christians, not merely Muslims, even though the canto does contain a number of references to Islam. 29.1 rout] rabble. 29.2 Mahomet] Mohammad. As the rest of the stanza makes clear, the reference seems to rely upon a genuine anxiety of eastern encroachment upon Europe. Throughout the sixteenth century, the Ottomans had taken lands in the south and east of Europe, as well as the Mediterranean; they continued to be a military threat, and as late as 1683 could mount an attack upon Vienna. 29.3 broiles] wars, conflicts. 29.3 flout] jeer. 29.4 variance] contention. 29.69] Aesop’s fables were printed in several Latin editions (as well as various vernacular languages) throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The bird that carries off the mouse and frog is usually described as a milvus (a Kite, line 8). The only English edition that Knevet could have consulted, that of William Caxton (1484) likewise speaks of a ‘kyte’, but describes the mouse as a ‘rat’: it seems likely, therefore, that Knevet was consulting a Latin copy. 29.9 Champion] warrior, fighter.

30.1 ensueing mischeifes] the harms that will follow. 30.2 iarres] battles. 30.3-9] Jerusalem (or Salem) had been conquered by the Ottomans early in the sixteenth century. 30.3 Ismæelite] Muslim (as a descendant of Ishmael). 30.3 vaunt] boast. 30.7 whilome] once. 30.7 clad ... veyle] in flesh, as Jesus. 30.8 that tombe] The Holy Sepulchre, ancient Christian church in the old city of Jerusalem, demolished and then rebuilt in the eleventh century. 31.1 maine ground] general cause. 31.4 presently] quickly. 31.5 Cæcozel] ‘Bad zeal; from Gr. ϰαϰός (‘Bad’), ζ˜ηλος (‘Zeal’). Perhaps less likely, an allusion to ‘cacozelia’, the specific rhetorical term for ‘fonde affectation, [...] when we affect new words and phrases other than the good speakers and writers in any language, or then custome hath allowed’. George Puttenham, Arte of English Poesie (1589), p. 210, though see the reference to his weak arguments at line 9 below. 31.5 choler] anger; from the humoral association of bile and irascibility. 31.6 Transported ... bounds] Characteristic of his choler (see previous note), but continuing Knevet’s rather ambiguous attitude to the passions in this canto: occasionally a sign of nobility (see 7.5.15.2-3n. above), occasionally something to be conquered, stoically, by reason. 32.3 on him] against him. 32.5 frette] chafe, seethe. 32.6 stiffely] resolutely, steadfastly. 32.7 he] Caecozel. 32.7 stoure] dispute. 33.2 fain’d deuotions] With a specifically religious attack upon Caecozel’s falsity. 33.3 silly] innocent, foolish. 33.4 vnseale] reveal. 33.7 Common weale] the res publica, body politic (cf. line 6 above); probably, by extension, England. 33.9 Empiricke] quack doctor. Stanza 34] Lavender (p. 657) sees here a reference to James’s dissolution of Parliament in 1621, and his imprisonment of Coke and Pym, perhaps suggesting that Caecozel is a figure for a more Puritan faction. 34.3 obeysance] a show of humble obedience. 34.4 for to perswade] to persuade him. 34.5 y’drad] frightening. 34.6 reprehend] rebuke. 34.7 Fond] foolish. 34.9 wouen] (monosyllabic). 34.9 piecemeale] pieces. 35.1 stoupe] submit; bow. 35.2 exchange] answer back. 35.3 His combe was cut] he was humiliated; a comb is the red, fleshy excrescence on the head of a cock, emblematic of pride. 35.6 sute] plea. 35.6 regard] consideration. 35.9 to his palace-ward] in the direction of his palace. 36.1 founded] built, grounded. 36.1 submisse] low. 36.3 contriu’d ... skill] designed (and built) with surpassing skill. 36.4 deepe] profound, serious. 36.5 artificiall] artful. 36.7 Though long agoe] Knevet identifies the Church of England with an ancient Roman version of the Church; see 7.5.14.4 and n. above. Cf. ‘Wee are come to that Churche wherein they themselues cannot denye (if thei wil say truely and as thei thinke in their owne conscience) but all thinges be gouerned purely and reuerently, and asmuch as we possibly could, very neere to the order vsed in the olde time. Let them compare our Churches and theirs togither, and they shall see that themselues haue

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 6

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moste shamefully gon from the Apostles, and we moste iustely haue gon from them’. John Jewel, An Apologie or Answere in Defence of the Churche of Englande (1564), f. M2r. 36.7 swift Tibers bankes] Cf. the description of the River Tiber, ‘with swift eddies’ (verticibus rapidis), Virgil, Aeneid, 7.31. 37.2 precipicious] steep, beetling, forming precipices. 37.3 munited] fortified. 37.5 Assaylants] attackers. 37.6 attempt ... scalado] attack it with scaling ladders. 37.7 locke] barrier. 37.8 brauado] bravery, daring, or an ostentatious show of such. 37.9 valueing a rush] caring a straw, at all. 37.9 Armado] Usually a navy, but the ‘Assaylants’ (line 5 above) suggest an army. Stanza 38] Fortifications are also a prominent part of Knevet’s allegory in the forthcoming canto: see 7.6.8-25n. below. But although he had written on ‘military discipline’ in Stratiotikon (1628), Knevet is less interested in the practical and theoretical study of fortifications, than in their allegorical use. 38.1 quadrate forme] square shape. 38.2 wat’ry trench] moat. 38.3 descents] slopes. 38.3 surpasse] stand over. 38.5 burthen] capacity. 38.6 ‘gainst] upon the face of. 38.7 counterscarfe] outer wall. 38.7 edify’d] built. 38.8 Sconces] forts, works. 38.8 furnish’d] equipped. 39.1 that great Fort] Antwerp (see line 8 below), greatly fortified and one of the richest mercantile cities in Europe. 39.1 Scheld] the River Scheldt, on which Antwerp is built. 39.2 tribute] Referring, presumably, to the mercantile trade leaving the city by sea. 39.4 that strong hold] The circular Castel Sant’ Angelo in Rome (see line 8 below). A hold is a fortress. 39.4 Romes Fathers] The Pope and Vatican officials. Knevet perhaps refers to the attack upon Rome in May 1527 by the troops of King Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in which Pope Clement VII took refuge in St Angelo. 39.5 When ... bee] Saint Peters is the basilica in the Vatican; Knevet may mean that metaphorical sea stormes are raging there, or (punningly) that stormes are raging in the see of the Church. 39.9 rare] fine.

Canto 6

Arg.4 guests] With a defective rhyme. Stanza 1] Knevet’s likely reference here is Ovid’s account of the Golden Age (Met., 1.89-112), in which the world is likewise untroubled by danger, and by winter (line 9). 1.2 Erebus] The lower part of Hades; from the name of the son of Chaos and representative of darkness. See 7.4.13.3n. above. 1.3 superior Orbe] higher globe, i.e. the earth. 1.6 rigid Boreas] the hard north wind. A felicitous, and original coinage, perhaps suggested to Knevet by the following lines in Virgil, Georgics, 2.315-16: ‘Nec tibi tam prudens quisquam persuadeat auctor | tellurem Borea rigidam spirante movere’ [Nor let any counsellor so wise persuade

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you to dig the rigid soil when the north wind is blowing]. The English translations of the Georgics most current to Knevet, by Abraham Fleming (1589) and Thomas May (1628), do not use the word ‘rigid’: if this is Knevet’s source, he must have had the Latin to hand. 1.7 candy’d stuffe] frost. 1.7 Hyems] winter (L.). 2.1 try’d] employed. 2.3 sinuous] curved. 2.4 shaft] arrow. 2.7 pelfe] money, riches. 2.8 clod] soil, earth. 3.1 advanc’d her crest] proudly put forth her head. 3.2 Centre] world, earth. 3.5 Prodigious] portentous, ill-omened. 3.5 brenne] burn. 3.6 contagious] rife with contagion, pestilent. 3.9 dearth] insufficiency, famine. 3.9 wrackes] shipwrecks; or, more generally, disasters. 4.3 obtenebrate] cast in shadow. 4.4 aspects] relative positions (determining their influence). 5.2 contriue] plan. 5.3 iarres] combats. 5.7 Penny-fathers] miser’s. 5.7 riue] wrench open. 5.9 despite] malice, hatred. Stanzas 6-7] Knevet brings together an account of Ovid’s brazen age (in which, as Ovid writes, humans delved ‘in viscera terrae’ [into the bowels of the earth], Met., 1.138) with a set of biblical references that conflate the wicked deeds of Cain and Nimrod. 6.1-2 to harden ... fornace] in making bricks. 6.2 Vulcans] Vulcan was the blacksmith of the classical gods. 6.7 the nippeing ... yeare] winter. 6.9 first Architect] ‘And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch’ (Genesis 4.17). 7.1 the second World] The world after the flood, described from Genesis 10 onwards. Knevet’s phrase may also recall his Ovidian interest in the different ages of the world. 7.1 Nimrod] Proud, mighty monarch mentioned in Genesis 10.8-12. 7.2 bituminous] made with bitumen, pitch. The materials of the Tower of Babel are described in Genesis 11.3, but this word suggests that Knevet may be using the Vulgate (‘bitumen pro cæmento’) rather than, or as well as, the King James version (‘slime had they for mortar’), or earlier English translations. 7.3 Babels imperfect worke] The construction, and destruction, of the Tower of Babel, is described in Genesis 11. 7.4 a period adde] put an end. 7.7 confines] borders. 7.8 eschue] avoid. Stanzas 8-25] These stanzas, describing the Church of England in allegorical guise as the Fort of True Religion, follow a tradition of allegorizing virtues as castles and fortifications: on which, see Cornelius, The Figurative Castle (1930). 8.3 fond] foolish, vain. 8.6 dight] dressed. 8.7 Prest] ready. Stanzas 9-11] The four Cardinal Virtues with which Knevet begins, and which guard the Fort of True Religion, bring together two Spenserian virtues (Iustice and Temperance) with those represented by two of Knevet’s knights (Prudence and Fortitude). 9.1 Sconces] fortifications, earthworks. 9.7-9 a Dame ... brand] A common emblem of Justice: many classical and modern representations of the goddess Themis, mother of

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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Astraea, picture her in this way. 9.8 poys’d] balanced. 9.9 brand] sword. 10.3 crest] parapet. 10.4 winged seeing heart] Not a common figure of prudence, but emphasizing the equation that Knevet makes between prudence and foresight. 10.8 O’relook’d] rose higher than; i.e. no arrow ever flew over this sconce. 11.2 Rais’d by] built with. 11.2 artificiall] artful, skilful. 11.3 Pennon] flag or banner (often specifically a triangular flag). 11.4-9 And therevpon ... cue] A figure demonstrating both self-moderation and the tempering of unruly forces. 11.4 curiously] intricately, artfully. 11.6 eure] ewer, pitcher. 11.7 Lyæus] Or Bacchus, the Roman god of wine; thus, wine itself. 11.7 qualify] Literally by diluting the wine; an allegorical application of moderation. 11.9 cue] A very small quantity: the term referred in University accounts to half a farthing (from quadrans, abbreviated to q), and was extended to describe a small quantity of bread, or drink. See OED, ‘cue’, n.1 , 2. 12.4 auspicious] favourable. 12.6 Holy Fathers] The early bishops and theologians of the Christian Church. 12.6 start] flee, depart. 12.7 vile earthy clod] Descriptions of the earth of the human body extend back to Genesis 2.7, where man is formed from ‘the dust of the ground’. 13.3 deuoires] duties. Stanza 14] The Articles (1563) of the Church of England write that ‘Holy Scripture conteyneth al thynges necessary to saluation’ (f. A3r). 14.2 Port] gate. 14.2 holy writt] Scripture. 14.3 squar’d stones] George Herbert describes patience as ‘that square and speckled stone’ in ‘The Church-floore’, l. 1. 14.4 flitte] fly. 14.6 the Booke ... word] the Bible. 14.6 Bastile] fortress. 14.7 celestiall witt] divine intelligence. Stanzas 15-25] Having described the four cardinal virtues, Knevet goes on to the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity, described in 1 Corinthians 13. 15.1 Caualiers] Raised platforms, built to overlook the adjacent parts of the fortification (OED, ‘cavalier’ n., 4). 15.1 permunite] fortify; not in OED, but from permunire (L.). 15.3 Bulwarkes] defensive ramparts. 15.6 Faith] The first of the theological virtues, given additional prominence by the Protestant concentration upon faith as a means of salvation. ‘We are accompted ryghteous before God, onlye for the merite of our Lorde and Sauiour Iesus Chryste, by fayth, and not for our owne workes or deseruynges. Wherefore, that we are iustified by fayth only, it is a moste wholsome doctrine, and full of comforte’. Articles (1563), ff. A5v-6r. 15.9 a crosse ... was] Heraldic description of a red cross on a silver (or white) background; i.e. the same shield as that of Spenser’s Redcrosse, and the English flag of St George. 16.2 Knowledge] Perhaps with 2 Peter 1.5 in mind: ‘And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge’. 16.4 welkin] sky. 16.5 certaine posture] steady position. 16.7 except] take exception. 16.8

Caduceus] The rod held by Mercury, and emblematic of his power, encircled at one end by two serpents. 17.2 vpon ... seene] Presumably depicted upon another banner, to judge from portraiture (line 5 below). 17.5 weene] think. 17.7 strene] flow. 17.9 spurne] strike. 18.4-6 An azure ... Anchor] The emblematic anchora spei, anchor of hope, used in a variety of locations, e.g. as the device of the printer Richard Field. The identification of hope with the anchor originates in Hebrews 6.19, ‘hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil’. 18.8 piece] fortress, stronghold. 19.3 descipher’d] represented. 19.4 ply] handle, play. 19.6 A booke ... praise] The book of Psalms. 20.4 ranke] strong, proud. 20.5 precipicious] steep. 20.7 franke] free. 21.1-5] On the superiority of Charity, see 1 Corinthians, 13.13: ‘And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity’. 21.4 asseuer] affirm, assert. 21.7 wise clearkes] Probably not a specific reference (especially given the textual alteration that has taken place here), but Knevet may be referring to St Paul, author of the Letter to the Corinthians (see 7.6.21.1-5n. above). 21.7 professe] affirm. 22.1 mickle consequence] great importance. 22.7 spritefull] spirited, brave. 23.7 tainted] applied balm to. 24.2-9] Recalling the lion which encounters Una in Book 1 of FQ, which relents in its angry force, and ‘lickt her lilly hands with fawning tong’ (1.3.6.2): not in Spenser, though, an emblem of mercy. 24.6 eleuated] upturned. 24.9 almes] gift of charity. 25.4 blith] glad. 25.5 Cornucopia] See 7.1.3.5n. above. 25.7 dole] distribution of gifts. 25.8 degrees] ranks, classes. 25.9 delt abroad] distributed. 26.4 ciuill blowes] internal dissension. 26.5 brethren] As a common (and oft-satirized) term of address among Puritans, this term locates Knevet’s attack upon Puritan dissent rather than Catholicism or the Jesuits. 26.6 airy noueltyes] empty new doctrines. 26.9 intendments] intentions. 27.3 god wot] God knows. 27.4 fraught] full. 27.6-8 A sect ... they did] The following stanzas suggest that the vice of this sect is likely to be avarice. 28.2 Science] knowledge. 28.3 The Thebane Kilcow] Hercules, of Thebes, who while carrying out his twelfth labour, the capturing of Cerberus in hell, was allowed to bring back his dearest freind (line 4 below), Theseus, who had been imprisoned there. A Kilcow (or, in a frequent early modern spelling, ‘Kill-cow’) may be a ‘swashbuckler, bully, braggadocio’, ‘a terrible or great person’, or ‘a man of importance’ (OED, ‘kill-cow’, n. and a.). 28.4 baile] rescue, release. 28.9 Commonwealth] The state, res publica. 29.1 functions] duties, offices. 29.2 Atlanticke] great, like those of Atlas, the Titan who bore the heavens on his shoulders. 29.3 vnweldy] unwieldy, onerous. 29.7 Prefer-

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 7

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ments ... key] Preferments are advancements, or posts giving advancement. The line may mean that they should be guarded carefully, or, more cynically, that money will always make them available; see Tilley, Proverbs, K24, L406. 29.9 larded] covered. 30.1 Simonist] Seller of preferments, indulgences, or benefices. See 7.4.12.5 and n. above. 30.3 temporizeing Dogmatist] Figure who subscribes to new doctrines according to the pressures of the time. 30.9 Inly surcharg’d with] Inwardly full of. 30.9 hardyment] boldness. 31.1 earst] lately. 31.1 make head] advance. 31.7 beyond the Cataracts of Nile] Referring generically to the remote parts of Africa. 32.1 broiles] disputes. 32.3 noble entertainement] a banquet; but also, more generally, a fine reception. 32.4 diet] food. 32.7 astound] astonished. 33.1 rout] pack. 33.2 excite] call forth. 33.3 Plutos Kingdome] Hell. Pluto, or Hades, inherited this realm when the world was divided between him and his two brothers, Zeus and Poseidon. 33.6-9] This description of the Harpies draws upon Virgil, Aeneid, 3.216-18, ‘virginei volucrum voltus, foedissima ventris | proluvies, uncaeque manus, et pallida semper | ora fame’ [The faces of these birds were those of maidens, a disgusting discharge from their bellies, and clawed hands, and faces always pale with hunger]. Cf. Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, 33, stanza 120. 33.8 sinke] pit, or any receptacle for dirt, sewage or effluent (or here, its contents). 33.8 paunches] bellies. 34.1 cates] foods. 34.3 vnsau’ry mates] repulsive companions. 34.4 Curres] dogs. 34.8 gobbets] unchewed, undigested lumps. 34.8 spue] vomit. 35.2 descry] understand. 35.5 inexpiable] impossible to be atoned for. 35.6 hal’d] summoned. 35.9 vnsatiate couetise] insatiable greed. 36.6 peccadillo] small sin. 36.7 The Thunderer] Jove, wielder of the thunderbolt. 36.7 suff ’rance] sanction, permission. 36.9 wight] person. 37.3 His passion ... vanquished] Thus showing Stoic virtue. Cf. 7.5.15.2-3n. above. 37.6 rehearse] tell, recite. 37.9 weene] believe. 37.9 Cronographers] chroniclers.

Canto 7 Arg.3 bowe of Hercules] See 7.7.25.3-4 and n. below. Stanzas 1-2] The first two stanzas of this canto, arguing that the vnconstancy of fortune comes from the continual change of the world, clearly alludes to Spenser’s Cantos of Mutabilitie and sixteenth-century neo-Stoic literature on constancy, such as Justus Lipsius’s De Constantia, which flourished in the final decades of the sixteenth century. But unlike Spenser, Knevet presents no vision of the ‘stedfast rest of all things firmely stayd | Vpon the pillours of Eternity’ (FQ, 7.8.2.3-4) to countermand the claims of Mutabilitie, no constant response of faith to the changes

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of the world: as Knevet’s stanza 7 suggests, change is akin to calamity (7.7.7.7), and takes the intervention of Albanio to undo it. 1.1 reproue] reject, condemn. 1.2 late ... Copernicus] Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) published his theory of the earth’s revolution around in the sun in De revolutionibus orbium coelestium [On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres] (1543). 1.5 friuolous] insignificant. 1.6 that oneeyd Charriotter] the sun. 1.7 so glorious] Referring to the throne, rather than ought vnderneath it; cf. 7.7.3.2 below. 1.8 condition] state. 2.2-3 this worlds ... againe] Cf. ‘For, th’Ocean moueth stil, from place to place; | And euery Riuer still doth ebbe and flowe’ (FQ, 7.7.20.3-4). 2.5 scanne] explain, interpret. 3.3 bridles] restrains. 3.4 three worlds] As described below, heaven, earth, and hell. 3.8 fraught] supplied. 4.1 The second world] the earth. 4.1 transitory tract] region subject to change and vicissitude. 4.2 a meere stage] Cf. Tilley, Proverbs, W882. 5.1 The third World] Hell. 5.7 vicissitude] change. 5.8 dell] pit. 6.2 bale] evil; suffering. 6.3-5 let ... lesse] Repeating the Church of England’s orthodox teaching about mankind’s inheritance of Adam’s sin: ‘Originall synne [...] is the fault and corruption of the nature of euery man, that naturally is engendred of the ofspringe of Adam, wherby man is very far gone from his former ryghteousnes which he had at his creation’. Articles (1563), ff. A4v-5r. 6.3 wight] person. 7.2 state] condition. 7.4 ampler circumstance] more copious evidence. 7.9 threne] song of lamentation. 8.3 crystall Euphrates] The river passing through Babylon, ancient site of the present-day Iraq. Not a conventional epithet: contemporary writers more normally describe the river as ‘great’, ‘swift’ or ‘silver’. 8.6 that Monarch ... Macedon] Alexander the Great (356-323BC), king of Macedonia. 8.7 from sea to sea] Proverbial, yet Alexander’s empire stretched at its height from Greece and Egypt in the west to Persia in the east. 9.2 endowments] gifts, qualities. 9.9 surquedry] arrogance. 10.3 guerdon] profit. He was prompted to leave by the great good it would do her. 10.5 cautelous] cautious, careful. 10.7 Maximus] ‘The Greatest’ (L.). 11.3 intense] determined. 11.5 policy] statecraft. 11.9 smoothest ... bee] Cf. Tilley, Proverbs, C24. 12.1 ensue] follow. 12.2 Eusebia] ‘Piety’ (from Gr. εὐσέβεια) 12.3 or ... or] either ... or. 12.4 afford .. reliefe] grant her the proper protection. 12.5 Theife] scoundrel, villain. 12.6 Whom ...dell] The description that follows, in particular the claim that he is of all ... Apostates ... the cheife (line 7), alludes strongly to Lucifer and the rebel angels. 13.1 Ophioneus] Serpent, ruler of the world until he was cast down by Cronos and Rhea, thus in his fall an archetype of Satan (see Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1.496ff.). In his impious striving against his maker, though, Knevet may also be recalling Mutabilitie, a strong presence at the

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start of this canto (see 7.7.1-2n. above). 13.1 whilome] once, formerly 13.7 crafty leasings] cunning lies. 13.8 traines] tricks, snares. Stanza 14] Knevet lists three thieves of notorious cruelty, all captured and killed by Theseus. He may have encountered them together in the second of Ovid’s Epistles, though probably not in George Turberville’s much-reprinted translation, which renders ‘torvusque Procrustes’ as ‘fell Procrustes’. The Heroycall Epistles of the Learned Poet Publius Ouidius Naso, trans. by George Turberville (1567), f. 8v. 14.1 Scyron] Scyron threw his victims to their deaths from high rocks, after he had forced them to wash his feet. 14.2 surprised Passenger] captured traveller. 14.5 Scinis] Scinis tied his victims to the boughs of trees which he had bent to the ground; upon his releasing the boughs, they would be torn to pieces. Having captured him, Theseus enacted the same fate upon him. 14.5 whilere] once. 14.8 Procrustes] Mythical thief and bandit of Attica. Having invited travellers to sleep in his bed, he euen’d [them] with [it] (line 9), amputating parts of their body or stretching them until they were the same length as the bed itself. 14.8 sort] fashion. 15.1 subtile] crafty. 15.1 seduce] persuade into dishonesty. 15.5 addresse] direct. 15.7 ill hests] evil promises. 15.8 policyes] devices 15.9 horrid arts] Possibly necromancy. 16.1 imperious] commanding, powerful. 16.4 blusheing] Referring to the reddish colour of the moon during a lunar eclipse, as well as suggesting shame. 16.4 sphere] The Ptolemaic cosmology (unlike the Copernican, stanza 1 above) saw the moon, sun, planets and stars revolving round the earth in transparent spheres. 16.4 decline] fall. 16.7 Hippomanes] Pliny writes in his Natural History, 8.66 (§ 165) that new-born foals ‘have growing on their forehead [...] a little blacke thing of the bignesse of a fig, called Hippomanes, and it is thought to have an effectuall vertue to procure and win love’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 222. 16.8 Hart] male deer. In his Natural History, 28.39 (§ 145), Pliny records the efficacy of the marrow of deer, though he does not mention its use as a love potion. 16.8 hent] took. 16.9 turtles] turtle dove’s. 16.9 me’int] mixed (see OED, ‘ming’, v.1 ). 17.1 Night-rauen] See 7.1.11.5 and n. above. 17.1 ShrikeOwle] screech owl. 17.1 plum’d] plucked feathers from. 17.2 chappes] jaws. 17.3 dust] ashes. 17.3 Colchian flames] The eastern land of Colchis, and its inhabitants such as Medea, had a mythical reputation for the use of magical herbs and potions. On the association with flames, cf. ‘Do you intend to blaze away, a veritable factory of Colchian poisons [venenis ... Colchicis], until I am reduced to dry ashes and blown away by the wind?’ Horace, Epodes, 17.3335. 17.6 Auernus] A lake formed by a volcanic crater in southern Italy, held to be deathly (its name deriving from Greek words for ‘without birds’); a cave near to the lake forms the entry to the underworld in Aeneid, Book 6. 17.7

simples] ingredients. 17.8 vncouth] strange. 17.8 Desarts] possibly deserts, but possibly also uninhabited lands. 18.3 Caitife] villain. 18.5 reaue] bereave. 18.6 foreseeing] anticipating. 18.7 Surcharg’d] Filled. 18.9 fortunate asyle] happy shelter. 19.1 eschu’d] escaped. 19.7 entertainement] hospitality. 20.1 Echidna] According to Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 295-305, a flesh-eating monster dwelling below the earth, with the face of a woman and the body of a snake. 20.1 fell] cruel, terrible. 20.7 Harpyes] Winged creatures with the faces of women. See 7.6.33.6-9 and n. above. 20.8 infest] afflict. 21.5 witt] ingenuity, intelligence. 21.5 affray] attack, frighten away. 21.8 tortious] hurtful. See 7.4.3.9 and n. above. 22.1 Aello] A name not found in Virgil, though see Ovid, Met., 13.710, and Hesiod, Theogony, l. 267 (see 7.7.22.4n. below). From Gr. ἄελλα (‘Storm’). 22.1 cleap’t] called. 22.2 rapine] theft. 22.2 drift] inclination. 22.4 hight] is called. 22.4 Ocipete] Or Ocypetes: along with Aello, one of the two harpies mentioned in Hesiod, Theogony, l. 267. From Gr. ὠϰύπους (‘Swift’). 22.5] This hexametric line may intended to be mimetic of Ocipite’s swiftness, or it may be a mistake on Knevet’s part. 22.6 Celæno] The name of a harpy in Virgil, Aeneid, 3.211; unique to that source. 22.7 shift] evasively conceal. 23.2 thrill’d the heartstrings] pierced the heart. 23.2 Fay] fairy; that he is royall points back to King James I. 23.6 regards] feelings. 24.6 suffrage] petitions. 25.1 the Oracle] Not necessarily the famous Oracle of Delphi, though Knevet may have this in mind. 25.3-4 the bowe ... Thebane Hercules] Before being charged to carry out his labours, Hercules received a bow and arrows from Apollo, among other divine gifts (see Apollodorus, Library, 2.4.11). 25.7 Endu’d] invested. 25.8 all sleight] any deceit, tricks. 26.4 edicts] proclamations. 27.4 a period ... smart] put an end to our suffering. 27.5 poste] ride. 27.7 Brandimart] Not a Spenserian knight, but in Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, a Christian knight and friend of Orlando. 27.8 Launcelot] Another non-Spenserian knight; one of the knights of Arthur’s Round Table, and the subject of much Arthurian literature (e.g. Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur). 28.6 fatall engine] deadly instrument, weapon. 28.7 hornes] the ends of the bow. Stanza 29] Such a sacrifice was made annually to Jove. Perhaps recalling Tiresias from Seneca, Oedipus, trans. Alexander Neville (1581), 5.2.11-14: ‘I would take in hande, | My selfe in presence of the Gods, in temple for to stande. | A mighty Oxe all coulourd white, vp on the Aulters reare, | Which neuer yet on weried necke, the croked yoake did beare’, and the ‘pleasaunt odors’ (5.2.18) that accompany this sacrifice, Seneca his Tenne Tragedies, Translated into Englysh (1581), f. 83v.

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 8

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29.4 ouerthrowes] kills, strikes down. 29.5 fane] temple. 29.9 amazed rout] astonished crowd. 29.9 reft all sence] taken away all reason. 30.3 sinewy] strong. 30.5 perplexed] troubled. 31.1-2 gaue ... Vnto] brought to an end. 31.3 sanction] promise. 31.4 Alcides] Hercules. 32.3 apply] bring. 32.7 admire] marvel at. 32.8 various] conflicting; vacillating. 33.4 Hinde] workman, herdsman. 33.5 winde] bend; entwine. 33.7 thrall] bondage, captivity. 34.7 scalpe] surface. 34.8 filtched cates] stolen food. 34.9 rauined] devoured voraciously. 35.3 The trees ... Ioue] The vine, laurel and oak were sacred to Bacchus, Apollo (Phœbus) and Ioue respectively. 35.4 Nor Sunne ... shine] Cf. ‘Not perceable with power of any starr’ (FQ, 1.1.7.6). The ‘gobbets late deuoured’ of the following stanza (7.7.36.8) may also derive from a reading of FQ, 1.1: the ‘great lumps of flesh and gobbets raw’ which the monster Errour vomits up (FQ, 1.1.20.3). 35.7 shaft] arrow. 36.4 pinion] wing. 36.6 gorge] throat. 36.8 gobbets] lumps of food. 37.2 teene] anger. 37.5 slea] slay. 37.6-9 So Phœbus ... slight] The Thebane Queene is Niobe, who scorned Leto, mother of Apollo (Phœbus) and Artemis, and boasted of her own more numerous children; as punishment for her spite, her children were killed by Apollo and Artemis. On her fate, see 7.3.31.6n. above. 37.8 fraught with] full of. 38.2 residue] rest. 38.4-9] Suggesting a connection between the Harpies and Furies, and their effect on the consciences of the guilty. The old Historyes may include, for instance, Aeschylus’s Eumenides. 38.8 rapines] plundering, acts of violence. 39.5 prest] laden. 39.7 spiceryes] spices. 40.2 publish’d] proclaimed. 40.3-9 Such as ... might] The Olympic Games were founded, according to legend, by Hercules, son of Alcmena. 40.6 guerdon] reward. 40.8 hurle-bats] Somewhat obscure, according to OED, ‘hurlbat’, n., 1, 2: perhaps weapons in the stlye of clubs, or weighted boxing-gloves for fist-fighting. OED cites the word as a frequent translation of L. cestus. 41.1 out of mind] forgotten. 41.7 licour] liquid, water. 41.8 ordinary] customary; plain. 42.1 vestures] garments. 42.2 homely sable stole] simple black robe. 43.3-5] Apollo’s son, Phaeton, was given control of the sun’s chariot, but failed to control it and was killed by a thunderbolt when he got too close to the earth. See Ovid, Met., 2.1-324. The mourning weed (line 4) of the sun, described in Met., 2.381-83, presumably refers to the darkness before the dawn. 43.4 enchac’d] ornamented, adorned. 43.8 cárkanet] necklace. 43.9 frett] intricate, ornamental border. This pearly frett is, according to Lavender, also ‘symbolic of purity and chastity’ (p. 687). 44.1 vest] garment. 44.2 Tyrian dye] Costly red-purple dye, used for the very finest (and regal) garments. 44.4 costly

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ermine] The fur of the stoat in its white winter coat (during which time it is also known as an ermine), used characteristically for the trimming of royal garments. 44.5 zone] belt, girdle. 44.9 Gyges] Shepherd of Lydia who, after an earthquake had opened up a cave containing a tomb, took a golden ring from the corpse that he found there. The ring allowed him to become invisible, and he used this power to kill his king, seduce the queen, and become King of Lydia. The story is recounted in Plato’s Republic, 359d-360b. Gyges’s ring is also mentioned in Stratiotikon, ll. 771-72, along with that of Polycrates (see following note), with a marginal gloss to Cornelius Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia, Book 1, where Gyges’s story is also related. 44.9 Polycrates] Tyrant of Samus; advised to renounce some of his possessions, he threw into the sea a ring bearing his seal, but was presented some days later with a fish which was found to have the ring in its belly. See previous note. 44.9 y’wis] certainly. 45.1 Cleopatra] Queen of Egypt (69-30BC), touchstone for lavish beauty after Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, and lover of Marcus Antonius (see 45.5 below). 45.1 dight] clothed. 45.2 Hydaspes] Now known as the Jhelum, a river in present-day Pakistan, and the scene of a famous victory of Alexander the Great. Knevet’s geography seems erroneous here, though the confusion may arise for a number of reasons. Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander, married a woman called Cleopatra in his old age: Knevet may be connecting Cleopatra to Hydaspes through Alexander’s victory there. He may believe that the Egyptian pharaohs derived their wealth from Alexander’s campaigns in India. Or he may feel that Cleopatra’s opulence was greater than (robd, i.e. robbed) the sumptuousness of India. 45.2 robd] robbed. 45.5 proud Triumvir] Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony), with Octavius Caesar and Lepidus part of the triumvirate. 45.7 Semiramis] On this Babylonian queen, see 7.3.20.7n. above. 46.3 rarityes] delicacies.

Canto 8 Arg.4 repriue] reprieve. 1.1 Pilot] helmsman, ship’s captain. A common Spenserian figure: Knevet may have in mind, or before him, FQ, 2.7.1.1-5 (‘As Pilot well expert in perilous waue, | That to a stedfast starre his course hath bent, | When foggy mistes, or cloudy tempests haue | The faithfull light of that faire lampe yblent, | And couer’d heauen with hideous dreriment’) or FQ, 3.4.53.3-5 (‘Like as a ship, whose Lodestarre suddenly | Couered with cloudes, her Pilot hath dismayd; | His wearisome pursuit perforce he stayd’). 1.1 barke] ship. 1.2 Maugre] in spite of. 1.2 stout ... spite] the violence of the wind and sea. Æoles, or Aeolus, was in classical mythology a king of storms and winds, and Neptune god of the sea. 1.4 sea-marke] conspicuous object, guide

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to maritime navigation. 1.8 froward] perverse, ungovernable. 1.9 this stormy Ocean wide] life. 2.1 Vlisses] Not always identified as a figure of prudence, though he is described in George Chapman’s translation of the Iliad (3.237) as ‘the prudent Ithacus’. The Iliads of Homer (1616), p. 42. 2.1 eschue] escape. 2.2 Calypsos] Calypso was a sea goddess who detained Odysseus upon her island for seven years during his return from Troy; in Book 5 of The Odyssey she is persuaded by Hermes to release him. 2.2 shee] Athena, goddess of wisdom. 2.3 the Syrens hue] the form of the Sirens: monstrous women who, with their magical and alluring voices, induced sailors to forget their homes and lured them to their deaths. Odysseus encounters them in Homer, Odyssey, 12.165-200; Athena warns him against them, though not, in spite of this line, against looking on them (Odyssey, 12.37-52). 2.4 her] Notwithstanding this singular pronoun, the Sirens were three in number. 2.4 elegies] songs. 2.5-6 When hee ... armes] After the death of Achilles, Ajax and Odysseus argued for the right to possess his armour, a debate in which Odysseus was victor; in some versions of the story (such as Sophocles’s Ajax), Ajax awoke after the debate under the influence of a spell of Athene’s, slaughtered a flock of sheep, believing them to be Odysseus and his men, and killed himself when he realized his shame. That Knevet omits this detail suggests that he is influenced by the account in Book 13 of Metamorphoses, as does the description of Ajax as empurpled (line 9 below), which might suggest the ‘purple flower’ (purpureum [...] florem, 13.395) which, in Ovid, springs from his blood. Cf. 8.4.2.1n. below. 2.7 prompting] advising; or, more actively, moving. 3.1 the Criticke Momus] Momus, the satirist of the classical Gods, criticized Vulcan for not placing a glasse (line 2 below), or window, in man’s breast, through which his thoughts might have been seen. The detail may come from Lucian’s Hermotimus (in which it is also followed by ridicule for Momus). 3.1 fleerd] mocked, laughed. 3.4 carping] fault-finding. 3.7 Ianus] Janus, an ancient king, was often portrayed with two faces, looking forwards and backwards (possibly to represent his knowledge of past and future: see 7.8.4.3-6 below). 3.9 fond] foolish. 4.2-3] Knevet may mean that God has set reason in the highest part of the soul (the Microcosmes high sphere, line 2, the microcosm being man himself), by which the wise make prudent decisions; he may, on the other hand, mean to write about the macrocosm (meaning that God has fixed his image in the universe and nature, or in the entirety of history), a reading which would be reinforced by the universal sphere. 4.3 proper] own. 4.8 From ... acte] Knevet here provides an Aristotelian account of prudence, in which the prudent man obtains, from his knowledge of particular facts, a capacity to act (δὲ φρόνησις πραϰτιϰή); Nicomachean Ethics, 5.7. 5.4 precedent accidents] events of the past. 5.5 careles] heedless. As often in this book, an inverse of prudence.

6.1 regulate] govern. 6.2 braue example] example of bravery. 6.2 Philips sonne] Alexander the Great, who (as recounted by Plutarch in his Life of Alexander, 15.4-5) gave offerings at the grave of Achilles on his way to Persia. 6.4-6 Who wept ... Homer was] ‘Saying, that Achilles was happy, who while he liued had a faithfull frend, and after his death an excellent herauld to singe his praise’. Plutarch, The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes, trans. Thomas North (1579), p. 729. 6.6 bayes] Garlands made from the leaves of the bay tree were used to reward poets; the term is a figure for the fame of poetry. 6.7-9] A traditional and nostalgic complaint, perhaps recalling SC, ‘October’. Stanzas 7-9] The details of these three stanzas suggest that Knevet is describing King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, the subject of Book 8. They may have been written after his death in November 1632 (as Death, or hate, 7.8.8.5 below, and the subsequent concern for legacy and fame may suggest), even though stanza 7, with its present tense (‘com’st thundring’), may indicate otherwise). 7.2 mirrour] model. 7.4 Hyems] winter. 7.4 Hyperborean waue] The sea of the far north (the Hyperborean region was that beyond the north wind, Boreas); perhaps translating the ‘Hyperboreas [...] undas’ of Claudian’s panegyric on the Third Consulship of Honorius, l. 56. Cf. 9.2.32.2 below. For a comparable description of winter, see 7.6.1 and nn. 7.4-5 forbiddeing ... Ioue] The aspireing drops from the frozen waters of the sea cannot rise into the sky and wash (laue) Jove’s beard, which may be a poetical periphrasis for clouds. 7.9 fortitude] Gustavus Adolphus’s fortitude will be allegorized in Book 8 of A Supplement, under the figure of Callimachus. 8.1 estiuall solstice] height of summer, when days are longest. 8.2 Phœbus] the sun. 8.4 thousands] Gustavus Adolphus had many enemies among not only the Catholic powers of Europe, such as the Habsburgs, Holy Roman Empire, and Spanish empire, but also among the Protestant princes of Germany. 8.4 repine] grumble. 8.6 Phaeton] The son of Apollo, killed when driving his father’s chariot; see 7.7.43.3-5n. above. 8.7 designe] plans. 9.3 desarts] deserts, actions deserving appropriate reward or praise. 9.4 wee ... name] ‘we will always owe you more praise than we can give’. 9.5-6 gratify ... applause] reward [your name] with appropriate praise. 9.7 Forrests winged Tyrants] eagles; see next note. 9.8 Eagle fierce] The Holy Roman Empire, allegorized in Book 8 as Aquilino (see 7.5.11.1 and n. above). 9.9 Griffons of Iberia] Griffons are mythical creatures, half lion and half eagle. Lavender (p. 684) speculates that they may stand allegorically for the Spanish because of the presence of both eagles and lions on the Spanish coat of arms; he also notes that a griffon was included on the arms of Styria, held by the Austrian Hapsburgs since the thirteenth century. On another use of Griffons in anti-Catholic, though not explicitly antiSpanish invective, see 9.9.33-34 and nn. below. In the beast

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 8

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fable that concludes Knevet’s Stratiotikon (ll. 800-26), the griffon appears to stand for the Spanish monarchy. 11.3 Stayes his pursute] pauses in the chase. 11.3 to euery coast] in every direction. 11.4 Ringwoods yelpeing base] Ringwood’s low barking. Ringwood is a commonplace name for a hound, used for instance by Arthur Golding, in his translation of Ovid’s Met., Book 3, for one of Actaeon’s dogs (in his case, with a ‘shryle loude mouth’); see The xv Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis (1567), f. 33v. 11.7 dreary] doleful, dismal. 11.8 Dracontes] Albanio’s horse; see 7.3.19.1 and n. 11.9 mister wight] kind of person. A typical Spenserian formulation; cf. ‘The Redcrosse knight toward him crossed fast, | To weet, what mister wight was so dismayd’ (FQ, 1.9.23.1-2). 11.9 affray] terror, disturbance. 12.1 furlong] One eighth of a mile. 12.3 Delphian God] Apollo, who was worshipped at Delphi, and by extension the sun. 12.4 guild] gild, brighten. 12.4 dusky] dark. 12.5 descry’d] saw. 12.6 vncouth] strange. 12.6 ammusd] astonished. 12.7 Like Phineus ... face] Phineus was turned to stone at the sight of the head of the Gorgon Medusa, as he attacked Perseus at his wedding with Andromeda. See Apollodorus, Library, 2.4.3. 12.8 amaz’d] astonished. Stanza 13] The fate that Knevet imagines for Epimetheus, brother of Prometheus, combines that of Ixion (who was tied to an eternally revolving wheel in hell) and Prometheus (who was tied to a rock and condemned to have his liver eaten continually by a vulture). For his account of Prometheus (and Epimetheus and Pandora), Knevet may be following classical accounts in Ovid, Apollodorus, Hesiod, and others. See notes below. 13.1 expanded] outstretched. 13.4 knot] tangled. 13.8 Mizer] wretched person. 14.1 amazement] astonishment. 14.6 adiure] charge, entreat. 14.8 procure] bring about. 14.9 recure] save, relieve. 15.3 bedight] bestowed. 15.4-9] The story of Pandore (or Pandora) is told by Hesiod, Works and Days, ll. 59-105. Pandora was sent to earth from Olympus, where she was accepted by Epimetheus (forgetting Prometheus’s advice to be cautious of her). Pandora opened the jar that she had been given, and unleashed all manner of woe upon the world, leaving only hope there. 15.6 entertainement] welcome. 15.6 that sly Dame] Hesiod is not so condemnatory; a marginal note in George Chapman’s translation, though, reads that ‘by the woman is vnderstood, Appetite, or effeminate affection’. The Georgicks of Hesiod (1618), p. 5. 15.9 proper] own. 16.5 Iapetus] Father of Prometheus. His age seems to have been proverbial: see Plato, Symposium, 195b: ‘Love by his account is more ancient than Cronos and Iapetus’. 16.6-9] Epimetheus’s brother, Prometheus, was fabled as having stolen fire from the gods and given it to humans, and in some accounts (e.g. that of Apollodorus, Library, 1.7, and Met., 1.76-88) as having created humans from clay. 16.7 Phœbus Charret wheele] The chariot of the sun. Servius’s

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note on Virgil’s Eclogue, 6.42 (which refers to Prometheus) remarks that he stole fire ‘e solari curru’ [from the chariot of the sun], by means of his ‘ferula’ (rod or cane), and may be Knevet’s source here. See also 7.8.18.5n. below. 16.9 Minerua] Roman goddess of wisdom and the arts. 16.9 wisedome] skill. Stanza 17] Although this invitation to heaven is not a common feature of classical accounts of Prometheus’s theft, it may have been suggested by Plato’s Protagoras, in which Prometheus stole fire from Hephaestus and wisdom in the arts from Athena, but ‘civic wisdom he had not, since this was in the possession of Zeus; Prometheus could not make so free as to enter the citadel which is the dwelling-place of Zeus, and moreover the guards of Zeus were terrible: but he entered unobserved the building shared by Athena and Hephaestus for the pursuit of their arts, and stealing Hephaestus’s fiery art and all Athena’s also he gave them to man’ (321d-e). 17.1 Pallas] Greek name for Minerva (see 7.8.16.9 and n. above). 17.3 accomplish’d] complete. 17.7 waue] turn, move to and fro. 17.8 supernall] heavenly. 17.8 contriu’d] made. 17.9 enliu’d] given life, brought to life. 18.1 burning carre] See 7.8.16.7n. above. 18.4 envite] encourage. 18.5 His rodde] In many classical versions of the myth (Apollodorus, Hesiod), Prometheus steals fire with a fennel stalk (trans. by Chapman, The Georgicks of Hesiod (1618), p. 3, as a ‘hollow Cane’). But for a possible source for the rodde, see also 7.8.16.7n. above. 18.8 reft] stolen. 19.1 attempt] attack. 19.6 hight] was called. 19.8 vndermine] ruin. 19.9 decline] refuse; avoid. 20.3 free entertainement yeeld] offer open hospitality. 20.5-6 hee as one ... ensues] That Prometheus should foreknow in this way makes him, in Knevet’s moral scheme, a figure of prudence. 20.6 successe] consequence. 20.7 allow] grant. 20.9 pittfall] trap. 20.9 eschues] avoids. 21.6 Hippolitus] Hippolytus was famous for extreme chastity: a virtue that led to his death after he rejected the approaches of his stepmother, Phaedra. See Ovid, Met., 15.497-529, as well as Euripides’s Hippolytus. 21.7 engaged] ensnared. 21.8 want] lack. 22.4 Don] University fellow or tutor. 22.6 taken with] attracted by. 22.9 extinguish’d] killed. 23.1 piece] person; OED reveals that the term was used as a derogatory description as early as the seventeenth-century and before. 23.2-9] This stanza summarizes the history of the Trojan war: the Queane of Greece (line 3) is Helen, taken from Sparta by Paris, son of Priam. 23.2 fond] foolish. 23.3 Queane] whore; with pun on queen. 23.4 darraine] deraign; wage. 23.5 Phrygian feilds] Phrygia was an Asian kingdom, situated in present-day Turkey. 23.5 amaine] in full force. 23.6 the aged Knight] Priam. 23.8 despite] hatred. 24.2 noxious] harmful. 24.2 conferre] bestow. 24.3 done] gift. 24.4-5 That shirt ... Feere] Deianeira, wife of Hercules, jealous of his attention to the princess Iole, gave him

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as an intended love-charm a shirt soaked in the blood of the Centaur, Nessus. Unknown to her, it acted as a terrible poison, and Hercules was killed. See Apollodorus, Library, 2.7.6-7. 24.4 whilere] some while since. 24.5 Vnweeting] unwittingly. Perhaps translating ‘nescia’ [unwittingly], in Ovid’s account of the event (Met., 9.155). 24.5 Feere] fere; companion, spouse. 24.6-7 And that ... deare] Medea killed Creusa, Jason’s new bride, with a poisoned shirt with which she presented her on her wedding. See, for instance, Euripides, Medea. 24.6 sprent] sprinkled. 25.1 o’regone] overcome. 25.4 Diuers diseases] ‘Diseases; Day, and Night; with naturall wings, | And silent Entries stole on men their stings’. Chapman, The Georgicks of Hesiod (1618), p. 6. 25.4 amaine] in full force, at full speed. 25.6 Agues] diseases. 25.7 Apoplexyes ... braine] A general term for various kinds of fit and distemper. 25.8 gout ... maladye] Form of arthritis, traditionally identified as the disease of the wealthy because it may arise from excessive consumption of rich food and alcohol. 25.9 Poxe] syphilis. 25.9 guerdon] reward. 26.1 Phrygian-like] Like the Trojans; Knevet returns to the simile of stanza 23, taking the Trojans as exemplars of imprudence. He follows the Athenian tragic tradition of calling the Trojans Phrygians, even though Homer had kept the two races distinct. See Edith Hall, ‘When Did the Trojans Turn into Phrygians? Alcaeus 42.15’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 73, (1988), 15-18, as well as Strabo, Geography, 12.8.7: ‘After the Trojan War the migrations of the Greeks and the Trerans, and the onsets of the Cimmerians and of the Lydians, and, after this, of the Persians and the Macedonians, and, at last, of the Galatians, disturbed and confused everything. But the obscurity has arisen, not on account of the changes only, but also on account of the disagreements of the historians, who do not say the same things about the same subjects, calling the Trojans Phrygians, as do the tragic poets, and the Lycians Carians; and so in the case of other peoples. But the Trojans, having waxed so strong from a small beginning that they became kings of kings, afforded both the poet and his expounders grounds for enquiring what should be called Troy; for in a general way he calls “Trojans” the peoples, one and all, who fought on the Trojan side, just as he called their opponents both “Danaans” and “Achaeans”’. 26.2 Surcharg’d] replete. 26.2 improuidence] lack of prudence. 26.4 intense] inclined, directed; applying to Epimetheus rather than the solitude. 27.1 fix’d] settled. 27.4 crafty] skilled; cunning. 27.4 Caitife] villain. 27.6 Metamelus] From Gr. µετάµελοϚ (‘Regret’). Knevet follows Spenser’s description of Despaire, beginning with Metamelus’s hair (in Spenser, ‘griesie lockes, long growen, and vnbound’) and eyes (in Spenser, ‘hollow eyne’, FQ, 1.9.35.4-6). 27.6 hight] is called. 27.8 scalpe] forehead. 28.1 glinne] glen. 28.2 thrill’d] pierced, moved. 28.4 distill’d] poured. 28.7 cates] foods.

29.1 Argos-sighted Night] Argus (or Argos) was the hundred-eyed guardian of Io, whom Mercury lulled to sleep and slew. See Ovid, Met., 1.568-746. The many stars in the night sky are imagined as his eyes. 29.2 cipresse] light fabric, often black. 29.4 Fancy] imagination. In his Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soule of Man (1640), Edward Reynoldes takes the two words as interchangable. He describes imagination as the faculty that supplies the mind ‘with varietie of objects whereon to worke’ (p. 18), and which also serves the will, insofar as its ‘office [...] is to quicken, allure, and sharpen its desire towards some convenient object’ (p. 19): note Epimetheus’s emphasis in the previous stanza on Metamelus’s power of persuasion. Reynoldes also states that it is the fancy which produces the ‘strange and yet strong delusions, whereby the Mind of melancholy men (in whom this Facultie hath the most deepe and piercing operation) have beene peremptorily possessed’ (p. 25), and that ‘the ministry of evill Angels [...] can easily cast into the Fancie strange and false species, with such subtletie, as shall easily gaine them plausible credit and admittance’ (p. 27). See further 8.5.5-8n. below. 29.5 fone] foes (an archaic plural form). 29.8 crue] crew; band. 29.8 behest] command. 29.9 distrest] afflicted. 30.4 dreary dolour] wretched suffering. 30.5 affright] terror. 30.7 Put ... vre] apply yourself to your duty; vre means ‘practice’. 31.1 Vnbedde] dislodge. 31.2 these wofull bonds disseuer] Asking Albanio either to untie him from the wheel (see stanza 13 above), or to sever the bonds tying him to life. 31.7 fence] protect oneself from. 31.8 adamant] A proverbially hard rock. 31.9 Whom] Epimetheus refers to himself, and his own enchantment by Pandora’s ‘words, and beauty’ (7.8.22.1 above). 32.2 Fond] foolish. 32.3 euent] outcome, consequence. 32.3 temerity] rashness. 32.7-9 The Gods ... through thee] Reading Epimetheus explicitly here as a type of Adam, whose act brings about the sin of all mankind. 33.1 improuidence] lack of prudence, foresight. 33.5-6 Vaine Man ... fraile] Developing the relationship between this narrative and the Fall. 33.8 annihilate] reduce to nothing, annul. 34.5-7] Knevet seems to conflate (or at least syntactically confuse) two aspects of a story from Ovid, Met., 7.159-293, with Ramme meaning both the ram which Medea slaughters to collect its blood and create a potion, and Æson, father of Jason, whose throat she cuts and whose health and youth she restores with this elixir. 34.6 crudled] curdled. Possibly suggested to Knevet by the word cruor in the Latin: ‘veteremque exire cruorem | passa replet sucis’ [and letting the old blood all run out, she filled his veins with her brew] (Met., 7.286-87). 34.6 Æmonian blade] Ovid’s account does not mention this detail, but it is possibly suggested by another line, in which Medea is described gathering herbs of Haemonia (or Thessaly): ‘Illic Haemonia radices valle resectas | seminaque floresque et sucos

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 9

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incoquit atros’ [In this pot she boils roots cut in a Thessalian vale, together with seeds, flowers, and black juices] (Met., 7.264-65). 34.8 ill bestad] terribly beset. 34.9 lusty] vigorous, with perhaps a suggestion of lechery. Stanza 35] Cf. the end of Spenser’s Despaire (FQ, 1.9.54). 35.3 teene] anger. 35.4 bootles] useless, futile. 35.4 spent vpon] discharged against. 35.8-9 that none ... knot] So that nobody could ever lift the intractable power of his enchantment. The Gordian knot tied the chariot of Gordius, King of Phrygia, to the Temple of Jupiter, and was tied so intricately that it was impossible to unpick. By legend, Alexander the Great cut the rope with his sword, although this account is disputed in Plutarch’s Life of Alexander. 35.8 mote] might. Stanza 36] Metamelus’s metamorphosis (line 8) into an owl concludes a long passage of Ovidian allusion and imitation, here with an explicit and self-conscious nod to the title of Ovid’s poem. This stanza also draws on Spenser’s account of the transformation of Malbecco (FQ, 3.10.57). 36.1 transported] carried away. 36.2 craggy] Spenser’s Malbecco ‘chaunced on a craggy cliff to light’ (FQ, 3.10.57.7). 36.3 ouercharg’d] excessively full. 36.4 pitch] slope. 36.6 pate] head. 37.2 messenger of ill] ‘The Scritch-owle betokeneth alwaies some heavie newes’. Pliny, The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 276. 37.5 noddle] head. 37.6 pounces] talons. 37.8 resort] society. 37.9] ‘Crowes and Owles are at mortall feaud one with another. [...] Howlets also cannot agree with other little birds’. Pliny, The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 308. Iacke Dawes, or jackdaws, are small crows. 38.1 pristine] original. 38.3 successe] events. 38.5 embru’d] stained. 38.9 mortall] deadly. On the lesser Birds (line 9), see 7.8.37.9n. above. 39.1 thewes] precepts. 39.4 trimme] elegant, fine. 39.5 issue] result, consequence. 39.6 afterclaps] unexpected attacks or strokes. 39.8 eyne] eyes (archaic plural). 39.8 gappes] openings, passes (used for ambushes). 40.2 votes] vows. 40.4 hests] behests, commands. 40.7 vehemently] with determination.

Canto 9 Arg.1 Old Misanactus] See 7.2.14.1 and n. above. 1.1 force apparant] outward violence. 1.6-7 outdare, | The brau’ry] face up to the bravado. 1.8 shift] evasive strategy. 2.1 certes] certainly. 2.1 wight] person. 2.2 ginnes] traps, snares. 2.2 Faitour] villain. 2.5 compile] construct, devise. 2.7 asyle] place of safety, refuge. 2.9 subtile Synon] A common early modern epithet for Sinon, the Greek soldier who convinced the Trojans to accept the wooden horse, which led to their downfall (see 7.3.17.9n. above); cf. William Shakespeare, Lucrece (1594), l. 1541. 2.9 sleights] cunning tricks. 2.9 bend] direct.

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3.1 base brambles] low shrubs. 3.4 bigge-limm’d] with a large trunk. 3.7 Belweather] The sheep at the head of a flock, around the neck of which a bell was hung. 3.8 subdue] capture. 3.9 feature] form; person. 4.3-4] Cf. ‘What, hath Hesperus forgot to light heavens tapers up? | Or be the Charret wheeles of Night o’re loaden | with the leaden waights of sleepe, | That she delayes to throw her misty veyle | upon the face of things?’ Rhodon and Iris, ll. 34-8. 4.4 Hesperus] Venus, the evening star. 4.9 errant Knights] Knights engaged in chivalric quests: a term frequently used in FQ. 4.9 stead] With a pun on stead as bed-frame. 5.2 descry’d] saw. 5.2 Bourne] stream. 5.3 pitchd] erected. 5.4 submisse] low, humble. 5.5 iustle] jostle; push against. 5.5 forlorne] desolate. 5.6 noble Elfe] noble Faerie knight. 5.9 distillations] precipitations; drops. Stanzas 6-7] Clearly alluding to Redcrosse’s encounter with Archimago, similarly disguised as a holy man (FQ, 1.1.29ff.). 6.1 clod] piece of earth, ground. 6.2 Setled] sitting. 6.3 seem’d] Knevet imitates the mere appearance of holiness in Archimago: ‘Sober he seemde’ (FQ, 1.1.29.5). 6.6 His eyes ... sky] Less penitent than Archimago: ‘to the ground his eyes were lowly bent’ (FQ, 1.1.29.6). 6.8 Legend] Book of scriptural and devotional readings (OED, n. 5, which cites a statute of 1549 abolishing them, among other books). 7.1 amice] A cloth worn by priests around their neck and shoulders, forbidden in the Church of England after the Reformation. Spenser’s Idlenesse wears an ‘amis thin’ (FQ, 1.4.18.8). 7.3 lanke] hollow, long 7.3 zone] belt. 7.5] The old man’s bald pate, or head, clearly alludes to the monkish tonsure. 7.6 clung] shrivelled. 7.6 shent] ruined. 7.8 brinish] salty. 7.8 y’blent] blemished. 7.9 really] (trisyllabic). 8.3 curt’ous congee] courteous bow (itself a somewhat ostentatiously courtly diction); see 7.9.9.2 below, and also the reciprocal courtesy of Redcrosse and Archimago: ‘He faire the knight saluted, louting low, | Who faire him quited, as that courteous was’ (FQ, 1.1.30.1-2). 8.6 Addicted] devoted. 8.7 exquisite] full of care, cultivated, learned. 9.2 sacred hest] holy prayer. 9.3 obeysance] obedience, deference, submission. 9.8 homely] domestic; rough, rude. 9.9 couch] lay. 10.1 Oldman] Not listed in OED as a single word, though perhaps a copying error on Knevet’s part. Spenser’s Archimago is twice described as an ‘old man’ (FQ, 1.1.30.6, 35.6). 10.2 meads] meadows. 10.3 Sweet-smelling Woodbine] Probably honeysuckle, a climbing plant with fragrant flowers, mentioned in Knevet’s Rhodon and Iris (1631), l. 898; the word Woodbine was also used generally to describe other climbing forest plants, such as ivy. 10.4 shroud] cover. 10.6 slender] small, slight. 10.7 This supper ... bloud] Demonstrating the homeliness of the cottage, rather than any vegetarian religious practice. 10.8 Small cookery] little cooking preparation. 10.9 what

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boote these] why would these be necessary? 10.9 dresse] prepare. Stanza 11] Here, and in the following stanzas, Misanactus stands allegorically for Diego Sarmiento de Acuña (15671626), Count of Gondomar and Spanish ambassador to James’s court between 1613 and 1618, and again between 1619 and 1621. Gondomar exerted unusual influence over James, and excited a great deal of popular hatred and hostile contemporary representations such as Middleton’s A Game at Chesse (1624): he was commonly taken as influencing James’s reluctance to provide military aid to the Protestant nations of Europe during the Thirty Years’ War (for which Knevet, in this canto, tries to account), as well as prompting the execution of Sir Walter Ralegh and the punishment of others who had acted against Spanish interests. For an account of his diplomatic career, as well as the domestic hatred, see Charles H. Carter, ‘Gondomar: Ambassador to James I’, Historical Journal, 7 (1964), 189208. 11.1 refection] meal. 11.3 his lesson scanne] interpret his text (perhaps referring to the words that he speaks to Albanio, or describing his capacity to read his guest like a book). 11.4 hidden ... policy] secret plots and cunning craft. 11.7 Glorianes court] Throughout the Supplement, Knevet complicates Spenser’s conception of Gloriana. In spite of being one of her knights, Albanio, a figure of James, is at some distance from the court. 12.1 misdeem’d] suspected. 12.4 the peacefull maide] Irena. 12.5 bent] determined, directed. 12.7 disarray’d] disfurnished, bereft. 12.8 wonne] dwell. 13.1 sad] serious. 13.5 himself ... acquite] perform his duty. 13.8 prone] inclined (punning, of course, on his intended sleep). 14.1-3] Referring to the Golden Age, a mythical age of innocence and rustic simplicity under the reign of Saturn; Ovid’s account (Met., 1.89-112) describes the life of the people of this age, but makes no specific reference to their beds. 14.3 lusty] healthy; though here, as at 7.8.34.9, a sexual reading seems inescapable. 14.5 graine] red dye (see further 8.10.27.7 and n. below). 14.6 hinde] female deer. 14.7 pallet] modest bed. 15.5 profest] claimed to be. 15.7 vest] vestment; garment, cloak. 15.8 cankerd] malignant. 16.1 politicke] politician. 16.3 sticke] scruple. 16.6 graue foresight] See 7.2.33.1 and n. above. 16.8 Hee fled afarre] Perhaps referring to Gondomar’s return to Spain between 1618 (after Ralegh’s execution) and 1619, when resumed his position as ambassador. 16.9 Suauania] From L. suavis, ‘Pleasant’. 16.9 clep’t] called. 16.9 pight] established. 17.1 perplexd] confounded. 17.2 pate] head, brain. 17.3 ywrought] devised. 17.4 Knights of Maydenhead] A number of knights in FQ are said to belong to the Order of Maidenhead (FQ, 1.7.46.4, 2.2.42.4, 2.9.6.6), an order based upon that of the Garter. 17.4 ruinate] destroy. 18.2 voyd] devoid. 18.3 reuolue] consider. 18.4 hee] Albanio. 18.9 lay ...dust] murder him.

Stanzas 19-20] Cf. Archimago’s resort to magic when Redcrosse is asleep (FQ, 1.1.36ff.), and his summoning of a spirit in the guise of Una. 19.3 ghosts] spirits. 19.6] Cf. Archimago’s ‘Magick bookes and artes of sundry kindes’ (FQ, 1.1.36.8). 19.6 damned lore] forbidden magic, necromancy. 19.7 whist] quiet. 19.8] A characteristic act of conjurers and necromancers. See, for instance, Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, A-text, 1.3.8, and Reginald Scot’s Discouerie of Witchcraft (1584), which speaks of the circle as that which causes spirits to appear, and which protects the magician from them: ‘Then make a circle, and call vp the spirit with great intention’ (p. 393). 19.9 subtile] immaterial; perhaps also cunning. 20.5 appetite] lust, desire. 20.7 hests] behests; commands. 20.9 personate] impersonate, take the appearance of. 20.9 parragon] companion. Stanza 21] Knevet avoids the erotic connotations of Redcrosse’s encounter with the false Una (FQ, 1.1.48-9). This false Irene (line 2) does not behave in a way that is false to Irene. 21.3 blubberd] tear-stained. 21.5 surpris’d] seized. 21.6 occidentall] western. 21.7 the heau’nly Charrioter] Apollo; the sun. 22.1 thy honor’d order] See 7.9.17.4 and n. above. 22.2 that Crosse ... sign’d] This emblem of the cross provides another allusion to Spenser’s Redcrosse. 22.4 nearely] closely. 22.5 sudaine] immediate, quick. 22.7 buxome] obedient, (sexually) compliant. 23.1 wonne] won; persuaded. 23.2 condiscend] consent, make the concession. 23.5 purposd] determined. 24.1 bide] abide; live. 24.2 y’clep’t] called. 24.6 Suauania] See 7.9.16.9 and n. above. 24.7 circumsept] surround, enclose. 24.9 spilt] destroyed, lost. 25.3 perplex’d] troubled. 25.5 passion] fit of emotion; fear. Cf. the ‘great passion of vnwonted lust’ in which Redcrosse awakes from his dream (FQ, 1.1.49.1); once again, Knevet’s scene is chaster. 25.6 gelid] cold. 25.9 care of] concern for. 26.4 plac’d] standing. 27.1 Lucifer] Conventional poetic epithet for the planet Venus, appearing in the sky at dawn. 27.4 than] then. 27.6 mickle] much. 28.1-2] Cf. Tilley, Proverbs, O30. 28.6 Betimes] Early. 28.8 bested] beset, troubled. 28.9 famed] reported. 29.7 expose] display publicly. 29.8 leifest] dearest. 29.8 supply] assistance, relief. 30.3 coast] region. 30.4 wonn’d] dwelled. 30.6 hent] taken, seized. 31.1 whilome] once. 31.3 ill appayd] sadly affected. 31.4 For this crosse accident] as a result of this bad occurrence. 31.4 cheere] spirits; countenance. 32.2 Hyperion] In classical mythology, the name frequently given to Helios, son of Hyperion, and god of the sun; thus, the sun itself. 32.4 high meridian point] highest point,

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 10

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i.e. noon. 32.6 cristall] clear. A conventional epithet for fountains. 32.8 foule] owl; bird. 32.9 swimme] float. 33.2 circled] rounded, circular. 33.4 surmount] exceed. 33.5 Palfrey] A small saddle horse; in FQ, this term is used only for horses ridden by women. 33.6 burganet] helmet. 33.9 cabinet] store. 34.4 Icarus] Son of the legendary inventor, Daedalus. Father and son escaping from Crete with wings fashioned by Daedalus, Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax holding together his wings melted, and he fell to his death. See Ovid, Met., 8.183-235. Here, a figure of ambition rewarded (or punished) only with great failure. 34.5 enhumes] buries. 34.6 happe] happen to. 34.7 tickle] precarious. 34.7 fumes] expresses annoyance; with perhaps a deliberate volcanic metaphor. 34.9 to piecemeale] in small pieces. 34.9 into their Grandames lappe] to the ground, to earth. This exact phrase is used in Du Bartas, Second Day of the First Weeke, l. 522. 35.1 Damocles] A flatterer in the court of Dionysus, ancient tyrant of Syracuse, in Sicily, who obsequiously praised his master’s happy life, and was invited to sit in his throne, with a sword suspended above his head by a single horsehair, illustrating the precariousness of that life. See Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, 5.21. 35.2 pendant] suspended, dangling. 35.7 pretended feate] alleged action. 36.1 Calypso on a rocke] Knevet may be conflating two figures in the story of Odysseus: the nymph Calypso, on whose island he was marooned while returning from the Trojan War, in a storm that killed the rest of his crew, and the Sirens, whose sweet note (l. 2 below) lured sailors to their death (Homer, Odyssey, Book 12). But there may be a more deliberate conflation; in speaking of Calypso to the Phaeacians, Odysseus himself may imply that she was a Sirenic figure: ‘the fair-tressed daughter of Atlas, guileful Calypso, a dread goddess, and no one either of gods or mortals has anything to do with her; but, unfortunate that I am, fate brought me to her hearth alone, for Zeus had struck my ship with his bright thunderbolt, and had shattered it in the midst of the wine-dark sea’ (Odyssey, 7.24550). 36.2 note] song. 36.3 carines] ships’ hulls; standing metonymically for the ships themselves. 36.4 horrid] dreadful. 37.1-5] For a Spenserian example of this motif, see FQ, 2.12.74-75. 37.1 ouerlooke] look upon, watch over. 37.3 brooke] endure. 37.4 eschue] avoid. 38.5 outsize] exceed. 38.8 worthyes stout] brave noble men. 38.9 presumeing] relying. 39.3 annoy] pain, vexation. 39.5 in mortall strene engrost] written in the line (i.e. strain) of mortals. 39.6 ruminate] consider.

Canto 10 1.6 eyne] eyes. 1.6 twine] hair. 1.6-7] Suggesting the appearance and description of Belphoebe before Braggadocchio: ‘Her yellow lockes crisped, like golden wyre, | About

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her shoulders weren loosely shed’ (FQ, 2.3.30.1-2). 1.8 Pouder’d] sprinkled. 1.9 enrol’d] wrapped, trapped. 2.2] Cf. ‘Her iuorie forhead, full of bountie braue, | Like a broad table did it selfe dispred’ (FQ, 2.3.24.1-2). 2.5 hue] complexion. 2.5 symmetrye] form, proportion. 2.9 sprung] descended. 2.9 kind] birth. Stanza 3] Cf. the narcissism of Spenser’s mirror-bearing Lucifera (FQ, 1.4.10). 3.2 proper] own. 3.5 Endu’d] endowed. 3.9 fancy] imagination; also, here, desire. 4.2 Fay] Faery; knight. 4.2 accoast] address. 4.4 thewes] qualities. 4.5 coast] region. Stanza 5] Alluding to the Castalian fountain on Mount Parnassus, sacred to the Muses, its waters capable of inspiring poetry and knowledge. 5.1 circle] compass. 5.2 science] knowledge. 5.3 Pallas] Athene, goddess of wisdom. 5.4 Muses] Nine daughters of Jove, who presided over poetry and the arts. 5.5-9] This account of the bathing Diana, the Patronesse of chastity, draws the reader’s attention to Spenser’s story of Faunus and Diana (FQ, 7.6), or more broadly the myth of Actaeon, another disquieting model for Albanio’s sight of Philautia. 5.9 rigid] rough; possibly with a coarse pun. 6.1 Atticke] Athenian. Knevet alludes to the philosophical schools of Athens, e.g. the Academy. 6.5 invention] Possibly a general creative power, or more specifically, inventio, the term for the systematic discovery of rhetorical argument and narrative matter within one’s store. 6.9 estate] condition. 7.1 combrous] heavy, cumbersome. 7.2 Stoupe] Bend down; with pun on stoup, a water vessel. 7.4 eft] newt (or more generally, any lizard-like creature). 7.7 Minerua] Roman goddess of wisdom (see 7.10.5.1-2 above); Pallas (7.10.5.3) is a Greek name for the same deity. 7.8 bent] devoted. 7.9 carrouse] drink. 8.1-2] Alluding perhaps to the perils posed by Malfida and Misanactus: see 7.2.23.9. above. 8.2 fil’d] polished. 8.3 subtile] astute. 8.5 Demurely ... bosome] Looking down in a proper or modest way. 8.6 corrugate] wrinkle. 8.7 reuil’d] criticized (him). 8.9 bowe] subdue. 9.1 glasse] mirror. In its ability to present Albanio’s achievements and virtues to his eye, Philautia’s glasse allegorizes poetry (even the kind of panegyric verse in which Knevet is engaged); in its suggestion that this verse might amount to, or become, seductive flattery, though, it apparently registers a certain unease at his project. 9.1 obiect] show. 9.3 liuely] lifelike. Cf. the Proem to Book 3 of FQ, in which Spenser discusses the poetic depiction of Elizabeth, ‘liuely’ (3.Pr.4.3) and ‘in liuing colours’ (3.Pr.4.1), and offers ‘mirrours more then one’ (3.Pr.5.6) in which she can see herself. 9.3 prospect] appearance. 9.9 proper] own. Albanio’s submission to Philautia takes the form of a sudden narcissism and self-admiration. Stanza 10] This account derives not from Pliny (who tells in his Natural History that a huntsman, having stolen a tiger’s cubs, can distract it by dropping some of the cubs

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behind his horse), but, according to Florence McCulloch, ‘Le Tigre au Miroir: La Vie d’une Image de Pline a Pierre Gringore’, Revue des Sciences Humaines, 130 (April-June 1968), 148-60, from St Ambrose. 10.2 whelp] child, cub. 10.3 eschue] avoid. 10.6 intermitt] interrupt. 11.2 apparitions] images, illusions. 11.7 presumption] pride. 11.8 disclayme] deny his own. 12.2 ginne] trap. 12.3 self conceite] self-deceiving vanity. 12.5 a full carrouse begin] offer a full cup. 12.6 noxious] harmful. 12.7 good Genius] Albanio’s attendant spirit; or perhaps the prudence that his story is illustrating. Cf. Spenser’s discussion of ‘Genius’ and ‘good Agdistes’, in relation to the porter of the Bower of Bliss (FQ, 2.12.47-49). 12.9 deface] destroy. 13.1 vaine] conceited; worthless; false. 13.4 impostures fond] foolish illusions. 13.7 Palfrey] horse. But on the peculiarity of the term, see 7.9.33.5n. above. 14.1 subtile] crafty. 14.1 Philautia] From Gr. φιλαυτία (‘Self-love’). In Nicomachean Ethics, 9.8, Aristotle distinguishes between good and bad self-love, and says that in good men, it can lead to a desire to act in accordance with the highest virtue. But, notwithstanding 7.10.14.8-9 and 7.10.18.6-9 below, Knevet seems in this figure to give less emphasis to the Aristotelian than the Christian tradition (e.g. Augustine, who distinguishes between love of self and love of God), or the Christian humanist tradition (e.g. Erasmus, in whose Praise of Folly Philautia is a companion of Folly). He may also be familiar with Andrea Alciati, whose Emblem on ‘Philautia’ illustrates the subject through Narcissus (see 7.10.14.4-6 and n. below). 14.3 Cephisus, and Liriope the white] River (and rivergod), and nymph, parents of Narcissus. Ovid’s account describes Liriope not as white but ‘caerula’ (blue), Met., 3.342. 14.4-6 that Boy ... away] Narcissus. For Ovid’s account of this myth, see Met., 3.339-510. 15.2 herse] bier, grave. 15.4 mishappe] sad end. 15.7 virgin crue] company of virgins. 15.8 Surcharg’d] filled. 15.8 slighted] scorned, hence forsook. 16.1 peeuishnes] spite. 16.2 fond] foolish, doting; the word may also perhaps, hypallagically, refer to Philautia’s love for her brother. 16.4 gall] Proverbially bitter substance. 16.6 Paynims] Pejorative term for the non-Christian. 16.8 store] abundantly. 16.9 Ecclipseing] throwing into shade; i.e. obscuring their previous bravery with their new selflove. 17.2 hue] appearance. 17.5 lusty] eager (with, perhaps, an intimation of sexual excess). 17.6 language smooth] Cf. 7.10.8.2 above. 17.7 potions] draughts. 17.8 fained glose] lie. 17.9 beguile] deceive; enchant. 18.1 For while] so long as; although. Knevet seems to equate the temporal and adversative functions of this conjunction: these knights and ladies are deceived while they believe in the effect of Philautia’s waters and her pleasing language, and also in spite of that belief. 18.3 deflowre] destroy; but also frequently used in Spenser in its more

sexual sense, e.g. about Lust: ‘He with his shamefull lust doth first deflowre, | And afterwards themselues doth cruelly deuoure’ (FQ, 4.7.12.8-9). 18.6-9] An explicitly Aristotelian construction, in its commendation of the middle course (line 9), and allowing, as in the Nicomachean Ethics, the possibility of good self-love. See 7.10.14.1n. above. 18.6 weete] Not quite ‘know (a fact, the answer to a question)’ (OED); but, here, ‘think’. Stanza 19] Lavender (p. 725) sees an echo of the fear-stricken Sir Trevisan in flight (FQ, 1.9.21-22), even though he is an ‘armed knight’ (1.9.21.2). 19.2 gastly] terrible. 19.3 forgone] abandoned, lost. 19.4 distracted] out of his mind. 19.7 Arread] tell. 19.8 array] dress. 20.4 wonneth] dwells. 20.7 meed] reward. 20.8 flitt] flee. 20.9 themselues acquitt] do their duty. 21.1 engag’d] occupied, entered in combat. 21.2 Mars] Roman god of war, hence, by metonymy, war itself. 21.3 asswag’d] appeased. 21.4 figures] forms. 21.6 fell] cruel, fierce. 21.7 admired] renowned. 22.1 Bugges] terrible beings, monsters. 22.2 is preualent] can prevail. 22.3 dint of fauchion] blow of a sword. 22.4 rabblement] mob, crew. 22.6 vndiscreete] lacking in judgement. 22.6 weene] think. 22.7 hardynes] boldness. 23.6-9] The Gyants (line 6) attempted to dethrone Jove after his defeat of the Titans, but were vanquished by him. See 7.2.15n. above. 23.8 slake] quench, abate. 23.9 Stygian Lake] The River Styx, one of the classical rivers of hell. 24.5 in eloquences stead] in place of eloquence. 24.6 wight] person. 24.7 lustyhed] vigour. 25.1 haughty] proud. 25.6-8] The great Romane (line 6) is Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman lawyer and orator; Knevet may be referring to his suppression of Catiline’s conspiracy in 63BC. 25.7 exquisite] well-chosen, well-framed. 25.8 deface] destroy. 25.9 party] side. 25.9 case] instance; but also, like party, a legal term from the sixteenth century onwards, highlighting not only this knight’s failed attempt to convince him, but also the legal contexts of rhetoric (cf. ‘her cause can plead’, 7.10.24.2 above). 26.3 alarmes] attacks. 26.4 alacritye] speed, readiness. 26.5 Buggebeares] imaginary objects of fear (cf. 7.10.22.1 above). 26.6 Illusiue apparitions] illusory images. 26.7 Tartary] Tartarus; hell. OED’s first recorded instance of this use of the word in this sense (rather than as a description of the country of the Tartars) is Spenserian: Virgil’s Gnat, l. 543. 26.8 hardyment] courage. 27.1 antique] ancient. 27.2 graue] weighty, authoritative. 27.4 Alcides] Hercules, who, as the last of his twelve labours, fought the hellish fiend, the three-headed dog, Cerberus, and brought him out of hell. 27.6 irefull] angry. 27.7 filthy fome] from his mouth. 27.8-9] The Aconite, or wolfsbane, was well known to be ‘very poisonfull and deadly’, Parkinson, Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris (1629), p. 216, though not without medicinal properties. The poison that was derived from it was used to kill animals, as the name suggests, but as Pliny, Natural History,

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 10

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27.2 makes clear, it was also proverbially used against unwanted wives (and, presumably, husbands). In Ovid, Met., 7.415-19, it is said to spring from the foaming spittle of Cerberus. 28.1 legends sage] wise writings, stories. 28.1 reuolu’d] considered. 28.2 enchantments] spells. 28.3 dissolu’d] defeated, turned into nothing. 28.4 direfull] terrible. 28.4 dusky] dark. 28.5 dight] dressed, framed. 28.7 blacke gardes] servants of the god of the underworld. The term had not yet acquired its modern sense of vagabond, rogue. 28.8 indignation] disgrace. 29.2 clapp’d spurre to] dug his spurs into. 29.2 Coursers] horse’s. 29.3 Franion] Perhaps, although not necessarily, the proper name of this character. The term denotes wanton frivolity, and occasionally courtly gallantry. 29.5 ranke] strong. 29.7 banke] side. 29.9 roue] move. 30.1 obscure shades] dark shadows. 30.1 the worlds Eye] the Sun. 30.2 dubious] uncertain, wavering; according to the OED, the more moral contemporary meaning (pertaining to questionable character) emerged only in the nineteenth century. 30.3 prye] look. 30.4 hemisphere] Referring to the half of the world in darkness during the night, witnessing the first of the dawn’s rays. 30.5-6] In this account of the Howres, or Horae (line 5), three daughters of Jupiter, yoking the horses of Apollo as the day approaches, Knevet seems to recall Ovid’s account of Phaeton, Met., 2.116-21. 30.5 cheere] disposition; face. 30.7 Olympus cleere] the court of Jove; thus, the heavens, sky. 31.2 Neptune] Roman god of the sea; thus, the sea itself. 31.3 the Northerne Blusterer] the North wind, Boreas. 31.4 iustles] jostles; strikes against. 31.7 vncouth] unusual, strange; marvellous. 31.7 rout] mob, band. 31.8 Chymæras] Specifically, a mythical creature with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and tail of a serpent; but the word may describe any monster or fabulous creature comprising the parts of various beasts. 31.8 Centaures] Mythical race of Thessaly, half human and half horse. 31.8 Tragelaphes] Mythical creatures combining stag and goat. 31.8 light] wanton. 32.1 rampeing] rearing up. 32.3 slight] ignore, dismiss. 32.5 appearances] apparitions. 33.1 Cytherea] Venus, so named after the island of Cythera, where she first landed after being born at sea, and where there stood a famous temple in her honour. 33.2 Her self disported] played. 33.2 Adonis] The beautiful young lover of Venus, depited in FQ, 3.6.46-49. 33.3 crispe] curl. 33.4 As in ... along] A detail that does not appear in Spenser’s description of Venus and Adonis, but which does seem to recall the first sight that Guyon and the Palmer make of Acrasia and her lover in the Bower of Bliss: ‘That wanton Ladie, with her louer lose, | Whose sleepie head she in her lap did soft dispose’ (FQ, 2.12.76.89). 33.5 distilling] dropping. 33.5 belgards] loving looks. 33.6 launds] glades. 33.7] The first impression of the Bower of Bliss, too, is of its melodious music (FQ, 2.12.70-

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71). 33.9 beds of flowres] Cf. the description of Acrasia: ‘Vpon a bed of Roses she was layd’ (FQ, 2.12.77.1). 34.1 trippe] tread lightly. 34.2 sort] fashion (with a pun, perhaps, on consort). 34.2 twine] embrace. 34.3 As close as cockles] Describing the two shells of the mollusc, clasped tightly together. 34.4 refine] increase, enhance. 34.5 confections] delicacies (often made from fruit, sugar, spices, etc.). 34.5 lusty] potent; perhaps also tending to lust. 34.6 It thrill’d ... heart] Albanio’s manly heart is pierced (thrill’d) because Knevet, like many seventeenth-century writers, associates amorous dalliance with wanton effeminacy. 34.7 like swine] Perhaps remembering the hoggish Grille from FQ, 2.12, and perhaps through Spenser the swine into which Circe turns Odysseus’s men, though the equation of sin and swinishness is conventional. 34.8 baytes] enticements. 35.2 braue] courageous; also splendid (in dress). 35.3 ensignes] banners. 35.4 the buxome element] the air, given to motion. OED’s first use of the word buxome in this sense is Spenserian; and see, like it, ‘with wide wings to beat the buxome ayre’ (FQ, 3.11.34.2). 35.5 admiration] wonder. 35.7 comely equipage] attractive, proper uniform or armour. 35.7 vauntgard] soldiers at the front of the army. 35.8 foot] infantry. 35.9 battell] main division of the army. 36.1 port] deportment; bearing. 36.2 Generalissimo] supreme commander. Not a term necessarily reserved for foreign generals. 36.4 curueated] curvetted; frisked, leaped. 36.6 surcote] outer garment. 36.8 target] shield. 37.2 baudricke] belt. 37.3-6] On the Parthians, see 7.3.19.2n. above. 37.5 champaine] field, plain. 37.6 cope] fight, engage. 37.7 plume] Ornamental headpiece, perhaps of feathers, upon a helmet. 37.7 fauours light] small, frivolous marks of favour and endearment, given by ladies. 37.8 cimitar] curved sword. 37.8 curiously] highly elaborately. 37.9 enchased] ornamented. 38.1 Paris] Trojan prince, lover of Helen. Not a propitious simile for this soldier. 38.1 earst] once. 38.1 Scamanders shore] The River Scamander flowed near to Troy; Knevet’s phrase, by extension, refers merely to the battlefields of Troy. 38.2 Phrygian] Of Phrygia, a region of Asia Minor near to Troy. 38.2 gorgeously] (tetrasyllabic). 38.2 dight] dressed 38.3 pouderd o’re] ornamented. 38.4 brauely] not courageously here, but in finery. 38.5 trappeings] garments, especially ornamental; or simply embellishments. 38.7 accoutred] dressed, arrayed. 38.9 Bellonas] of Bellona, the Roman goddess of war; by metonymy, war’s. 39.1 array] order. 39.3 affray] tumult. 39.5 vent] outlet. 39.6 decay] destruction, death. 39.7 astound] astonished, dumbstruck. 39.8 clangour] noise. 40.3 Æole] Aeolus, god of winds; the wind itself. 40.3 fraught ... spite] full of forceful anger. 40.4 teene] anger. 41.1 ioyne] meet in combat. 41.2 shiuer’d] splintered, shattered. 41.3 knocke] blow. 41.7 allayd] brought down, laid down (see OED, ‘allay’, v.1 , 7a). 41.8 surprise] seize.

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Stanza 42] The Spanish references or allusions here suggest that Knevet may be thinking of Spanish military involvement in European wars in the early seventeenth century. 42.3 Dan Phœbus] Lord Phoebus, the sun. 42.4 Granado] A variant spelling of the southern Spanish city of Granada; possibly used here as a metonymy for Spain. 42.5 caps] peaks (with obvious pun). 42.5 brand] torch. 42.6-9] Catalonia had flooded, catastrophically, in November 1617; Knevet may be referring to this here. 42.6 amaine] with force. 42.9 ouerwhelm’d] inundated. 43.1 wise] fashion. 43.2 earst] formerly. 43.3 Alferez] standard-bearer, ensign. 43.5 brauery] splendour, rather than courage. 43.8 haples] luckless. 43.8 speed] swiftness; but punning on another meaning of the term, i.e. success, of which this Cheiftaine has none. 44.1 phantasmes] illusions. 44.7 vnbridled] unrestrained. 44.8-9] This one more bold may suggest the stabbing of Julius Caesar in 44BC by Marcus Junius Brutus, leader of the conspiracy against him. 45.5 represse] put down. 45.6 pinch] corner, surround; or perhaps bite. 45.6 embosted] exhausted. 45.7 haunches] legs, loins. 45.9 start] jump back. 46.3 dismay] daunt. 46.5 Lethes streames] the River Lethe, one of the rivers of Hell, the waters of which induced forgetfulness of life. 46.6 balefull stoure] dreadful battle (or period of turmoil). 46.7 bestadde] beset. 46.8 Stygian shore] Hell. The River Styx, in classical mythology, former the boundary between earth and Hell. 47.4 delusions rare] airy illusions. 47.7 brinish] salty. 47.7 make spare] exercise moderation. 48.1 eyne] eyes (archaic plural). 48.2 distill] drop. 48.3 mizzeling] raining. 48.4 Whilome] once. 48.6 nigh hand] nearby. 49.2 froward chance] ill luck, adverse occurrence. 49.5 tended] attended; looked upon, took cares over. 50.1 Fortunio] Referring simply to his reliance on Fortunes wheele (7.10.49.1), indicating that he is a minion of Fortune. 50.4 my party ... make] to enforce my side of the dispute. 51.1 worthyes] noble supporters. 51.6 Atropos] The eldest of the three Fates, who ended the life of mortals by cutting their vitall threed (line 7), the thread of their life. See Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 217-22, 904-06. 51.9 crosse] adverse. 52.3 terrene] earthly. 52.4-5 Or ... Or] either ... or. 52.4 fragrant feilds] of Elysium. The Elysioan Fields were the destination after death for the souls of heroes. 52.9 Styx] See 7.10.46.8n. above. 53.1 Minos] According to Virgil, Aeneid, 6.431-33, Minos sits at the gates of Hades, judging souls. 53.3 inhumation] burial. 53.4 Stygian Wherryman] Charon, who ferried souls across the Styx on his wherry (ferry). 53.7 nether] lower. 54.1 Pallas] Athene, goddess of wisdom. 55.4 temerarious] rash, heedless. 55.7 witt] intelligence, thought.

56.1 subtile] thin. 56.4 fancyes] phantasies, imaginations. 56.5 affray] disturbance. 56.6 leifest] dearest. 56.9 Leachour] lecher.

Canto 11 Arg.4 quell] kill, suppress. 1.1-3] As the book nears its conclusion, Knevet prepares to remedy some of the wrongs mentioned in Canto 4 of this Book: cf. 7.4.1 above. 1.2 domineare] rule, prevail. 1.4 hemisphere] the half of the globe, of the world, in darkness. 1.5 cheere] face. 1.8 Machiuelian plots] Although it is possible that Knevet sees Machiavelli’s statecraft as a bad version of prudence, he seems in this stanza to equate it more generally with Falsehood. The first English translation of Il Principe did not appear until 1640, and although Knevet may have been familiar with the Italian, he may simply have read the widely published Discours contre Machiavel (1576) by Innocent Gentillet, translated into English in 1602 by Simon Patericke. 1.9 place] high rank, esteem. 2.1 The Dwarffe] See 7.5.Arg and ff. 2.8 certify] make certain. 3.3 Fairely ... sport] decently occupied with modest, decorous pastimes. 3.7 wights] persons. 3.7 prodigall of eares] apt to listen, all ears. 3.8 record] tell. 4.2 surpris’d] taken, overthrown, seized. 4.2 snare] trap. 4.5 my mischiefes to outdare] to overcome, outbrave my misfortunes. 4.7 fare] state, plight (and see textual note). 4.8 fone] foes (archaic plural). 5.2 Faitour] deceiver, villain. 5.4 craue] request, call for. 5.4 erewhile] formerly, some while ago. 5.8 dreary doubt] dreadful fear. 5.9 Tyrant stout] strong tyrant, i.e. Aquilino. See 7.5.11.1n. 6.1 these newes] The plural usage is conventional in seventeenth-century writing. 6.2 least] lest. 6.4 palfrey] horse. 6.6 aptly ... dights] she dresses appropriately. 6.6-9] These lines allude strongly to Spenser’s description of Belphoebe (FQ, 2.3.21-31), with her ‘gilden buskins’ (2.3.27.3) and ‘golden bauldricke, which forelay | Athwart her snowy brest’ (2.3.29.5-6). 6.7 kyrtle] tunic, gown, coat. 6.7 buskins] short boots. 6.8 Amazonian doublet] Warlike tunic. The Amazons were a mythical nation of female warriors, described in FQ, Book 5, under the rule of Radigund. 6.8 envest] clothe. 6.9 athwart] obliquely across. 7.1 Virago] warlike woman. Neither this term, nor proudly praunceing (7.1), is to be taken pejoratively. 7.2 Thermodoons bankes] The River Thermodon marked one boundary of the kingdom of the Amazons, a tribe of female warriors described in Greek mythology and history (see for instance Herodotus, Histories, 9.27), as well as early modern texts (see 7.11.6.8 above). 7.2 accoutred] dressed, equipped. 7.4 sore] dearly 7.8 walkes] paths. 7.8 cunning sly] knowledge; deviousness. In its numerous appearances in this canto, this word is made to connote various meanings between artful skill and dishonest plotting.

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 11

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7.9 pose] perplex. 7.9 ammuse] confound. 7.9 regardfull] attentive. 8.1 contriu’d] fashioned, designed. 8.2 artificiall] artfully made. 8.4-5] This anfractu’ous edifice, i.e. winding building, is the Cretan Labyrinth, built by the legendary inventor, Daedalus, for King Minos (see stanza 9 below) and housing the Minotaur, the ofspring of Pasiphae, Minos’s wife, and a bull that Minos had angered Poseidon by failing to sacrifice (see Apollodorus, Library, 3.1.3-4). The following stanza transcends this simile, by making this building not merely like Daedalus’s labyrinth, but also constructed by him. 8.8 touch] arrive at. 8.9 snares] traps. 8.9 guilefull bands] treacherous bonds, fetters, traps. 9.4 invious] impassable, without paths. 9.7 curious] elaborate, artful. 9.8-9] See 7.11.8.4-5n. above. 9.8 whilere] formerly. 9.9 Minotaure] Knevet’s original word, ‘Mountebank’, now corrected, could only have been a copying error: after his stanza about the Labyrinth, he must have originally written (or at least intended to write) Minotaure here. 10.2-3 Malfida ... quitt] In Canto 2 above, after their plot had been foiled by Albanio. 10.5 stratagems] plans, schemes. 10.8 annoy] trouble, assail. 10.9 toy] trifle. 11.1 Matæa] From Gr. µάταιος (‘Idle, ineffectual, vain’). 11.2 coast] region. 11.3 Æthiopian land] Ethiopia, an African country, south of Egypt; but the term is often used in the Renaissance as a metonym for Africa (or the far-off world) as a whole. 11.4 vassalage] submission, tribute. 11.6 Semiramis] On this Babylonian queen, see 7.3.20.7n. above. 11.6 excell] exceed. 11.7 confound] defeat. 11.8 fell] fierce. 11.9 Granvanio] Italianate name probably suggesting ‘Great Vanity’. 11.9 sans] without (Fr.). 12.3 Beeing ... speed] ‘he thought he would be most successful, quickest, on foot’. 12.4 invade] enter. 12.5 Maugre Mæanders] In spite of detours, winding paths. The Mæander was a proverbially winding river in Phrygia. Ovid describes the Cretan Labyrinth as being constructed like this twisting river (Met., 8.162-68). 12.7 digresse] lose his way, get off the path. 12.9 erroneous place] place of error, with obvious reference to the Wandring Wood in FQ, 1.1. 13.2 minstralcy] music (literally, of minstrels, though they do not seem to be present here). 13.3 musicke of the spheres] Pythagorean theory, adapted by Johannes Kepler in his Harmonices Mundi (1619), which held that analogies and connections existed between the distances and spatial relations between the planets and other heavenly bodies, and the harmonies of music. 13.4 Orpheus] Legendary poet and musician, whose playing could charm animals. For an account of his tale, see Apollodorus, Library, 1.3.2. 13.4 Arions] Arion was the most skilled lyre-player of his age, said in Herodotus, Histories, 1.23-24 to have been rescued from the sea and brought to shore by a Dolphin. 13.5 cunningly] artfully, skilfully. 13.6 recollects] gathers. 13.8 obiects] offers, interposes.

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14.1-5] Alluding to FQ, 1.1, in which Redcrosse sees a false Una embracing another knight. 14.1 habite light] wanton (or skimpy) clothes. 14.2 dispos’d] inclined. 14.2 blandishment] allurement. 14.4 vitiously bent] set upon vice. Vitiously is tetrasyllabic. 14.5 paillardise] debauchery. 14.7 wise] way, fashion. 14.9 Vouchsafe] grant, deign. 15.1 fram’d] formed, shaped. 15.2 draw] attract. 15.3 rapes] seizures, assaults; also with the modern meaning, in which Albanio’s statement reverses the conventional gendering of the action. 15.4 infus’d] poured in. 15.6 of the Sea ... Loue] Hesiod writes in Theogony, ll. 173-200, that Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love, was created when Cronos cut off the genitals of his father, Uranus, and cast them into the sea. 15.7-8] A sentiment, and a wording, that seems taken from the Mutabilitie Cantos. Cf. ‘Ne is the water in more constant case; | Whether those same on high, or these belowe. | For, th’Ocean moueth stil, from place to place; | And euery Riuer still doth ebbe and flowe’ (FQ, 7.7.20.1-4). 15.9 Affecting] seeking. 15.9 proue] try. 16.1 light] wanton, fickle, loose. 16.1 she] Aphrodite (see 7.11.15.6 above). 16.1 bequest] gift. 16.2 bane] death. 16.4 seuenfold] made of seven layers. On the history of this motif, see 7.3.35.3n. above. 16.4-7 which did ... threw] In Book 16 of the Iliad, Ajax is driven back by Hector and his spear is broken; upon this, the Trojans attempt to set fire to the Greek ships. See 8.4.3 and n. 16.5 dints] strokes, blows; cf. FQ, 1.1.1.3, where the word is used to describe the indentations made by those blows. 16.5 crue] company. 16.8 yeilds] offers, affords. 16.9 stratagems] actions, tactics. 16.9 abrayd] reproach (OED, ‘abraid’, v.2 ). 17.1 that armour] In Homer’s Iliad, 18.468-617, Hephaestus makes new armour for Achilles, his old having been lost when Patroclus is killed. 17.2 Brigandine of proofe] impregnable armour. 17.2 pertaine] belong. 17.3 him, that ... kill] Achilles. 17.7 Warde] ward off; fend off. 17.9 impetuous rigour] violent force. 17.9 teene] rage. 18.1 Renegado] traitor, turncoat. 18.2 target] shield. For a Spenserian knight to lay aside his shield is a disgrace to the code of chivalry (see FQ, 2.12.80), but Knevet attaches more shame to the disrespect that the (false) Redcrosse Knight is doing to the cross on his shield, the holy target. 18.4 badge] emblem, sign. Cf. ‘The deare remembrance of his dying Lord, | For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore’ (FQ, 1.1.2.2-3). 18.6 fauchion] sword. 18.7 that tide] at that time. 19.3 feere] mate, partner. 19.4 Haggard] wild hawk, often specifically used for the female, and sometimes for the peregrine falcon. 19.4 moue] incite. 19.5 eyne] eyes. 19.6 spray] twigs, branches. 19.7 Turtles] turtle doves. 19.8 stoupes] swoops. 19.9 drift] course; intention. 20.2-3] Cf. Archimago’s disguise as Redcrosse in FQ, 1.3. 20.4 dight] dressed, arrayed. 20.5 St George] Redcrosse gains the title of St George in FQ, 1.10.61.8-9; the name is also anticipated in FQ, 1.2.11-12. 20.7 egre] eager. 21.1 hardyment] bravery, boldness. 21.3 drearyment] grief. 21.6 Corinthian brasse] A celebrated metallic compound

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of antiquity. In his discussion in his Natural History, 34.3 (§ 6), Pliny speaks about its decorative uses, and the great admiration that it had won: ‘how the minds of many great men was affected to this compound mettall’. There could be no other reason, he writes, why Anthony should have banished Verres, ‘but onely this, For that he vaunted that he had as goodly vessels and peeces of Corinth mettall as himselfe, and would not part with any of them to Antonie’. Pliny, The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), ii, p. 487. 21.7 curiously] intricately. 21.8 pendant] hanging. 22.1 sinuous] curved. 22.3 the portall skippes] the gate rises up. 22.4 ingresse] entry. 22.7 demure] reserved, proper. 22.7 debonaire] gentle, courtly. 22.8 male content] malcontent; discontented, melancholy. 22.9 lightnes] Perhaps the ‘leuity’ of 7.11.23.6, or perhaps happiness, cheer. 23.2 embleme] symbol. 23.4 raine-bow] Mentioned perhaps because of its evanescence. 23.5 a changeing Moone] The waxing and waning of the moon forms a central figure in the Cantos of Mutabilitie: ‘Besides, her face and countenance euery day | We changed see, and sundry forms partake, | Now hornd, now round, now bright, now brown and gray: | So that as changefull as the Moone men vse to say’ (FQ, 7.7.50.6-9). 23.6 leuity] frivolity, fickleness, unchastity. 23.8 physiognomicke arts] The art of judging character from facial features. 23.9 search] examine, see inside. 24.1 Matæa] See 7.11.11.1n. above. The classical genealogy that follows is Knevet’s invention, to suggest an insubstantial, inconstant character. 24.2 Zephyrus] the west wind, in Greek mythology. 24.2 Æthra] Several women in Greek mythology go by this name; Knevet is most likely thinking of the daughter of Pittheus, with whom both Aegeus and Poseidon slept in the same night, resulting in the birth of Theseus (Apollodorus, Library, 3.15.7). 24.3 fickle] changeable. 24.3 flood] waters. 24.4 vnconstant] Not in the strict stoic sense (of a person swayed by circumstances), but changeable, fickle. Cf. ‘Inconstant Chaunge’ (FQ, 3.12.25.6). 24.7 gloses] words of flattery, deceit. 24.7 swasiuely envite] persuasively invite, summon. 24.9 louting] bowing. 24.9 idle] frivolous. 25.4 follyes] foolish misdeeds. 25.4 eschue] avoid, escape. 25.7 frowardly] perversely. 25.7 askue] askew; askance. Stanza 26] Hercules, in service to Omphale, was in various versions of the myth forced to spin, or to wear female clothing while she and her maids spun. See Diodorus Siculus, 4.31.5-8. Artegall suffers a similar fate at the hands of Radegund, FQ, 5.5.21-23. 26.1 Thebane Knight] Hercules, born in Thebes. 26.3 Lions rigid spoiles] The skin of the Nemean lion (killed by Hercules), rigid either in death, because it was won through hard labour, or because it was impregnable. 26.3 dight] dress. 26.4 habite] clothing. 26.4 Minion] servant; or, more likely, given the adjective wanton, lover. 26.5 sinewy palme] strong hand. 26.6 Oetæan plant] club made from a tree on Mount Oeta, where Hercules built his pyre. 26.7

whilome] once. 26.8 spindle] instrument for spinning. 26.9 vaine enticements] the temptations of vanity. 27.1 fifty Kings] The Greek kings who competed for the hand of Helen are listed by Apollodorus, Library, 3.10.8. 27.2 light-heeld] unchaste, loose. 27.3 resorted] travelled. 27.4 ere] ever. 27.5 shee] Knevet’s syntax leaves it unclear as to whether he is referring here to Helen, Vanity, or both. 27.6 degrees] ranks. 27.7 vassalls] servants, subjects. 27.7 submisse liege people] humble servants. 27.8 captiuates] keeps captive. 28.1 lore] knowledge. 28.2 Venite] L., ‘come’ (imperative). The name was given to Psalm 95, which, under the term invitatorium, was used to call monks to worship; but here a more general command. 28.3 amulets] magic charms. 28.3 philters] potions. 28.6 blade] the leaf, or entirety, of the corn before the eare, or spike of grain, appears. 28.7 allay] quell. 28.9 impetuous] violent, rushing. 28.9 retrograde] backward-flowing. 29.3 characters] letters, signs. 29.5 pristine] original, unsullied. 29.6 earst] formerly. 29.7 sublimated] exalted. 29.9 fond] foolish. 29.9 addrest] devoted. 30.1 subtile] clever, wily. 30.4 akin] alike. 30.5 Acrasia] The temptress of Spenser’s Bower of Bliss (FQ, 2.12). 30.8 in charmes] in incantations, perhaps suggesting the reading ‘in chains’, although the rhyme clearly demands the word in the text. 31.2-5] Knevet may well have read the story of Sardanapalus, last King of Assyria (that luxurious Monarch), fabled for his voluptuous and womanish behaviour, who burned himself and his entire palace when besieged by rebels, in Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 2.23-27. 31.6 Bellonas] Bellona was the Roman goddess of war. 31.6 brute] noise. 31.9 Madrigalls] Vocal songs of many parts; most often sung in a perceivedly lascivious court context, and therefore with the implication here of erotic or amorous song. 31.9 humour] disposition. 32.1 Tyrian] Aeneas encounters Dido in Virgil’s Aeneid, not in Tyre, where she originated from, but in Carthage, whither she had fled. Knevet may mean that Tyrians were living in the place where Aeneas landed, or may just be mistaken in his use of Virgil. 32.2 princely] regal (not merely appertaining to a masculine prince). 32.4 constrain’d] forced. 32.6 minded not] had no care for. 32.7 Lauinian land] Aeneas was said to have founded Lavinium after defeating Turnus on coming to Italy. 32.8 guerdon] reward. 32.9 his Corriualls] Turnus (see 7.11.32.7 and n. above). The text of the Aeneid actually describes Aeneas plunging his sword into Turnus’s breast (sub pectore, 12.950). 33.2 intent] purpose, quest. 33.2 Faery land] Spenserian term, much used by Knevet, for the kingdom ruled by Gloriana. 33.3 quitt] abandon, forsake. 33.4 Bending] devoting, turning. 33.4 game] play, recreation. 33.5 Reckles] heedless. 33.6 beneath cold Ioue] under the open sky; Jove is the god of the heavens. 33.7 Apollos] the sun’s; Apollo is god of the sun. 33.8 stoue] warm, heated room.

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 11

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33.9 Phosphorus] Venus, the morning star. 33.9 remoue] withdraw, depart. 34.1 bent] determined. 34.2 champaine wide] open country, fields. 34.4 prickeing] riding. 34.5 tide] time, moment. 34.7 Entreat] treat. 34.7 want] lack. 34.7 guide] military escort. 34.8 hee] man. 34.8 controld] overmastered; restrained. 35.1 accoast] accost; address. 35.8 parted] departed. 35.8 Glorianes shore] Faeryland. 35.9 walke] travel. 36.1 liefest] dearest. 36.2 opprest] subjected, troubled. 36.3 misdoubt] fear. 36.4 profest] declared. 36.6 hight] is called. 36.8 Feere] companion. 37.2 Sol] the sun. 37.3 Fane] temple. 37.4 subtile] cunning. 37.8 admir’d] wondered, marvelled at. 38.3 pertaines] belongs, is owing. 38.4 retire] withdraw. 38.7 require] ask. 38.9 well apayd] very pleased. 38.9 condiscend] grant, agree, consent. 39.2 fraught with] full of. 39.2 blisse] delight. 39.4 Addicted ... sports] given over to dalliances. 39.5 white] pure; cf. Irene’s ‘white wand’ (7.1.16.6). 39.6 molest] trouble, bother. 39.7 acquists] accomplishments, achievements. 40.2 brooke] stream. 40.3 flight] pursuit of prey (a term from falconry). 40.5 foule] fowl; bird. 40.5 the foot] its claws. 40.6 Obstrep’rous] noisy. 40.6 plaine] field. 40.8 neihbour] neighbouring, nearby. 40.8 vaine] An adjective that signals a common moral concern of this canto. Cf. the name of Granvanio (7.11.11.9 and n. above). 40.9 Bucke] male deer. 40.9 amaine] in full flight. 41.2 Hart] male deer, stag. 41.4 launds] glades, fields. 41.5 the chace ply’d] exerted themselves in the pursuit. 41.7 slide] fly. 41.8 vitall] life-giving. 42.2 knell] Sound made by a bell (or resembling that of a bell), often associated with funerals or dirges. 42.3 layd on ground] brought down, brought to ground. 42.5 conge] bow. 42.7 massy] heavy. 42.8 mandilion] loose overcoat. 42.9 Taffata] Glossy, silken cloth. 42.9 purfled] embroidered, decorated with trimmings. 43.1 horrid helme] fearful helmet. 43.1 bonnet] soft hat. 43.2 wanton] moving gaily, briskly; but also morally loose. 43.3 loue toyes] tokens of love. 43.4 embraue] adorn. 43.6 condiscend] accept, grant. 43.7 graue] serious. 43.9 pendant] hanging. 43.9 bend] sash, riband, band. 44.4-5 sonne, | of Mars] man of war. 44.5 mickle] much. 44.7 base companion] lowly person, fellow. 45.1 sad Irenes sight] the sight of sad Irene. 45.1 thrill] pierce. 45.3 dolour] pain, sorrowful distress. 45.5 did so exceed] was so excessive, great. 45.7 seed] lineage, stock. 46.1 Circæan] The enchantress Circe is encountered by Odysseus and his men, in which she gives a potion to a number of them, which turns them into pigs: ‘In the food she mixed evil drugs, that they might utterly forget their native land. Now when she had given them the potion, and they had drunk it off, then she immediately struck them with her wand, and penned them in the pigsties. And they had the heads, and voice, and bristles, and shape

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of swine’ (Homer, Odyssey, 10.235-40). 46.1 carroust] drunk. 46.2 manly heate] Early modern physiology regarded men’s bodies as hotter than those of women. See Gail Kern Paster, ‘The Unbearable Coldness of Female Being: Women’s Imperfection and the Humoral Economy’, English Literary Renaissance, 28 (1998), 416-40. 46.3 Carian fount] In which Hermaphroditus, while bathing, was joined to the body of Salmacis, the nymph who presided over it. See Ovid, Met., 4.274-388. 46.3 souc’t] immersed. 46.4 gests] exploits. 46.9 made forfieture] forfeited. 47.1 reprehensiue] reprehending, reproving. 47.2 spritely] spirited; also spiritual. 47.3 wholsome lore] honest, restorative teaching. 47.6 targe ... keene] shield and sharp sword. 47.9 enveigled] blinded, beguiled. 48.3 suppliant] imploring, petitioning. 48.5 raile] rant. 48.7 as thicke as haile] Cf. Tilley, Proverbs, H11. 48.8 gape] open up. 48.9 light] frivolous, unchaste. 49.2 leaseings] lies. 49.3 silly] defenceless, innocent. 49.5 betrothed] plighted, engaged. 49.6 stipulation] engagement. The stipulatio (L.) was the formal betrothal that formed part of the Roman marriage ceremony. 50.3 strouted stiffe] strutted proudly. 50.6 agone] ago. 50.8-9 hee ... Endymion] This classical parentage allows Knevet to link Granvanio closer to the shifting influence of the moon. Knevet’s mythography is slightly suspect here: the conventional myth of the shepherd Endymion describes him as beloved of Selene, a titaness associated with the moon, rather than the goddess Hecate, who is associated with the underworld. Some sources, though, merely describe him as being in love with the moon (see Apollodorus, Library, 1.7.5); this lack of specificity could have led Knevet to inset the name of Hecate. 51.1 Luna ... Patronesse] the Moon, whose influence governs the tides. 51.2 proportion] portion, amount. 51.4 Vice-gerent] Deputy of the king or queen, governing in their stead. 51.8 A hundreth hands] Perhaps remembering the many hands of Geryoneo, who has ‘th’armes and legs of three’ (FQ, 5.10.8.9). 52.2 delightfull thrall] thrall to delight. 52.3 dull ... Sleepe] Somnus. Cf. 7.1.10-12n. above. 52.4 mandrakes] mandragora, a plant noted for its narcotic qualities. 52.4 stupid] dulling. 52.4 vapors ... stomacke] Aristotle, ‘On Sleep and Waking’, in Parva Naturalia, 456a-457b, holds that sleep results from the vapours created in the process of digestion. 52.5 requiem] rest. 52.7 function ministeriall] prescribed duty. 52.9 cressets] lanterns, fire-baskets. The lesser cressets are the moon and stars. 52.9 blend] dazzle, put out of sight. 53.2 disableing ... act] preventing them from performing. 53.3 offices] duties. 53.5 protract] extend, waste. 53.7 wrack’d] ruined. 54.2 Faery] knight of Faery Land. 54.3 light] alight; fall. 54.4 garde, and distance] defensive position. 54.6 vantage fitt] position of superiority, appropriate for attack. 54.8 flitte] fly, pass quickly. Stanza 55] Cf. the fall of Orgoglio, FQ, 1.8.22.6-9.

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

55.3 endur’d] suffered. 55.3 vtmost] final. 55.4 megrim] dizziness, staggering. 55.8 blacke gory bloud] Typically Spenserian: see FQ, 1.11.22.3-5. 55.9 execrations] curses. 56.2 augments] increases. 56.3 vent her gall] let out her bitterness. 56.7 abilliments] gear, armour. 56.8 equipage] armour. 56.8 packe] depart. 56.9 balefull wracke] unhappy ruin.

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Canto 12 Arg.4] Albanio marries Irene, as Knevet notes zeugmatically. 1.1 Morpheus] Classical god of sleep and dreams, son of Somnus (7.12.1.2n. below). 1.1 phantasmes light] insubstantial illusions. 1.2 gate of iuory] In Aeneid, 6.893-96, Virgil writes that there are two gates of sleep: true shades pass through a gate made of horn, and false shades pass through an ivory gate. It is this gate that is used by the dream in FQ, 1.1.39-44. Cf. 8.5.8 and n. below. Knevet also imitates this passage of the Aeneid in Stratiotikon, ll. 636-38: ‘For the dull God of sleepe, that hates the morne, | And from his gate of Iuorie, and horne, | Sends silent troupes of dreames forth euerie night’. See also Knevet’s ‘Threnode Vpon the Death of those two Honourable Gentlemen’, printed with Stratiotikon, ll. 19-22. 1.4 Mans trobled phantasy] Perhaps recalling ‘As one then in a dreame, whose dryer braine | Is tost with troubled sights and fancies weake’ (FQ, 1.1.42.7-8). The phantasy is the imagination. 1.5 dole] sorrow, distress. 1.5 ieopardy] danger. 1.6 iron sleepe] Cf. George Chapman’s translation of Iliad, 11.208: ‘He fell and slept an iron sleepe’. The Iliads of Homer (1616), p. 146. 1.7 the Soules most noble faculty] reason. 2.1 admir’d] was astonished, marvelled. 2.2 whilome] lately. 2.6 stout] brave; magnificent. 2.7 thankes great store] an abundance of thanks. 2.9 route] company. 3.1 certes] certainly. 3.3 vndiscreete] lacking in judgement. 3.6 ill bested] beset. 3.9 perturbations] agitations, disturbances. Stanzas 4-6] These three stanzas, describing the sins and penitence of King Solomon, employ a traditional early seventeenth-century iconographic connection between Solomon and King James. As William Tate shows in Solomonic Iconography in Early Stuart England (2001), James was frequently styled as Solomon (e.g. in Bishop Williams’s funeral sermon of 1625, entitled ‘Great Britains Salomon’), alluding to his aspirations as peacemaker (especially in a European context), to wisdom, and to a place in history; Knevet’s justification of Albanio through a justification of Solomon employs and reinforces that connection. 4.1 the eternall light] God. 4.2 sapience] wisdom. 4.3 King Salomon the Wise] See James Montagu in The Workes of the Most High and Mightie Prince Iames (1616), f. e2r: ‘GOD hath giuen vs a Solomon, and GOD aboue all things

gaue Solomon Wisedome’. 4.4 King of Kings] God. 4.5 clime] region, place. 4.6 science] knowledge. 4.6-7 hee lewdly ... crime] Solomon was traditionally charged with his faith in gods other than the true God (see 7.12.6.4n. below), and also, given his numerous wives, with sensuality. 4.8 Clerkes] clerics; scholars. 4.9 curious] abstruse, difficult. 4.9 y’wis] certainly. 5.1 Reprobate] In the language of Calvinist theology, a person damned or rejected by God (as opposed to the elect). 5.2 Sauiours type] A figure of Christ, anticipating Christ. ‘King Salomon was a figure of CHRIST in that, that hee was a King of peace’. King James, A Meditation vpon the Lords Prayer (1619), p. 93. 5.2 princely Ancestor] Perhaps ‘kingly predecessor’; but perhaps ‘ancestor of my prince’, referring to the typological relation between Solomon and James. 5.3 arithmeticke surpasse] go beyond what could be told. 5.5 store] abundance. 5.7 score] number 5.8 rubricke] figure written in red ink; sum total. 5.8 descry’d] discerned, read. 6.4 convert] In 1 Kings, 11.4-8, it is said that Solomon turned away from God in his old age: ‘It came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. [...] Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.’ 6.5 Sweet Ecclesiastes] Aphoristic book of the Bible, whose author identifies himself as ‘the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem’ (Ecclesiastes, 1.1), but who is only occasionally identified as Solomon. 6.9 flitte] fly away. Stanza 7] A figure used by Spenser in the final canto of his first and sixth books (FQ, 1.12.1, 1.12.42, 6.12.1). 7.1 iolly] glad; hearty; brave. Cf. ‘iolly Mariners’ (FQ, 1.12.42.1). 7.2 stagg’ring] tottering. 7.2 surgeing maine] rough sea. Cf. ‘she her selfe in stormie surges tost’ (FQ, 6.12.1.5). 7.3 kennes] sees. Cf. ‘fairely to be kend’ (FQ, 1.12.1.4). 7.5 sustaine] endure; remain in a state of. 7.8 vnbend] relax. 7.9] Cf. ‘Well may she speede and fairely finish her intent’ (FQ, 1.12.42.9). 8.3 the realme ... Aphronimon] See 7.4.41.9 above. 8.4 Euphues] From Gr. εὐφυής (‘Goodly’). 8.4 bands] bonds. 8.5 Captiued] imprisoned, kept captive. 8.6 Sophia] From Gr. σοφία (‘Wisdom’) 8.6 betrothed Mate] fiancée. 8.8 despite] malice, spite. 9.1 Sabian Land] An uncertain term. The name pertains to a religious sect mentioned in the Koran (OED, ‘Sabian’), but the conventional seventeenth-century spelling of this term was ‘Zabian’. In Strabo’s Geography, 15.1.8, while describing the Ganges (see line 7 below), he mentions a people called the Sibae, and also a nation ruled by a king named Sabus: it is possible that either of these terms has

Commentary: Book 7 Canto 12

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influenced Knevet here. 9.2 Sabæa] An ancient Arabian nation. In the following account of the aromatic substances produced there, Knevet may be dependent upon Strabo, Geography, 16.4. 9.3 Cassia] Cinnamon-like spice, derived from the bark of the cassia tree, cinnamomum cassia. 9.4 Sabia] (trisyllabic). 9.5 laurells greene, and oliues] Sacred to Apollo and Athena respectively. 9.6 Nigh ... Sunne] In the East. 9.7 Ganges] River of northern India. See 7.12.9.1n. above. 9.8 mighty Cityes] Strabo’s description of the Ganges in Geography, 15.1 (see 7.12.9.1n. above) mentions a number of the cities that it adjoins. 9.9 vnlade ... freight] disburden himself of cargo-bearing ships. 9.9 vast Indian deepes] The Ganges flows into the Bay of Bengal, east of the Indian subcontinent; Knevet’s phrase sounds more poetic than geographically specific. 10.2 to fill ... bed] to be their bride; Hymen was the Greek god of marriage. 10.3 royaltyes] regal, royal qualities. 10.3 grace] favour. 10.5 maydenhead] virginity; i.e. Sophia herself, a virgin. 10.8 lustre] glow. 10.9 feere] mate, lover. 11.1 intent] resolved, devoted. 11.3 shafts] arrows. 11.4 leuell’d] aimed, shot. 11.5 that tender part] her heart. 11.7 Sir Euphues his desart] Sir Euphues’s merit. Early modern English grammarians believed that the English genitive ending –s was a truncated vestige of ‘his’ – a misprision convenient for versifiers. 11.8 grace] Grazia is the mark of courtly distinction in Baldessare Castiglione’s Courtier: it is thus perhaps no surprise that the following stanza traces his relation to Sir Calidore, Spenser’s knight of courtesy. On Calidore’s grace, and the grace that he obtains, see FQ, 6.1.2-3. See also 7.12.13.8 and n. below. 11.8 port] bearing. 11.9 battery] attack, assault. 12.1 Fairy linage] descent from Faeryland (and Gloriana’s court). 12.2 Sir Calidore] The knight of courtesy, from Book 6 of FQ. 12.3 Blatant Beast] A ravenous monster, hunted and captured by Calidore in FQ, Book 6; it escapes its bonds at the end of that book. 12.4 bruite] report, repute. 12.5 Sabian shore] See 7.12.9.1 and n. above. 12.6 tilt, and tourney] knightly jousts, and tournaments. 12.7 y’wore] wore. 12.8 beare away the bell] take first place. 12.9 excell] surpass. 13.1 numbers] verses. 13.2 sonnetts] Often used generally to refer to lyric poems of love. 13.3 apply his feet] dance. 13.7 Worthyes nine] Nine heroes of ancient and medieval history: Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus, Hector, Alexander, Julius Caesar, Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon. Mentioned by Spenser at FQ, 3.3.4.3-4. 13.8 complete Courtier] fully accomplished courtier (OED, ‘complete’, adj., 5). The discussion that frames Baldessare Castiglione’s Courtier takes as its subject (in the words of Thomas Hoby’s translation) the ‘perfect Courtyer’; Knevet may also have in mind the title of Henry Peacham’s Compleat Gentleman (1622). 14.3 coy-nes] shyness, reluctance. 14.3 swage] assuage; diminish. 14.4 gentle] complaisant, willing; but Knevet may also mean well-born, implying a courtly propriety in her

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acceptance of Euphues. 14.6 princely] royal. 14.6 in fine] in conclusion. 14.9 incline] turn, yield. 15.1 meete] suitable, appropriate. 15.1 league] alliance, oath. 15.7 estates] ranks. 15.7 puissance] martial bravery. 15.8 enthrall] captivate, ensnare. 16.1 miscreants] infidels, villains. 16.5-9] Cf. ‘In that same land are the hils of Caspy that men cal Uber and enclosed within those hils are the Jewes of the x. kindes, that men call Gog and Magog, and they may come out on no side. There were inclosed xxii. kings, with their folke, that dwelled betweene the hils of Syche: and King Alexander chased them thither among those hils, for hee trusted to haue enclosed them there, through the working of men, but hee might not, and when hee saw he might not, hee prayed to God that hee would fulfil that which hee had begun, God heard his prayer and enclosed the hils all about them but at the one side, and there is the sea of Caspy. Here some men might aske, if there be a sea on one side, why goe they not out there: thereto answere I, that although it be called a sea, it is not a sea, but a poole standing among hils, and it is the greatest poole of all the world, and though they goe ouer that poole, yet they wot not where to ariue, for they can no speech but their owne’. The Voyages and Trauailes of Sir Iohn Mandeuile Knight (1618), ff. R1v2r. 16.7 Æmathian Prince] Macedonian prince, Alexander the Great. 16.8 The Caspian gates] A pass between Persia and the Caspian Sea. 16.8 penury] poverty, misery. 16.9 ingrate apostasy] ungrateful faithlessness. 17.2 meane] poor, paltry. 17.5 prodigall] extravagant. 17.6 Beldame] old woman. 17.7 durst commend] was willing to commit, entrust. 18.3 Cockatrice] serpent or monstrous creature, said to be hatched from a cock’s egg by a reptile, and able to kill by a mere glance. 18.3 crafty Crocodile] The false tears of the crocodile, crying as it kills its prey, are not apparently mentioned by Pliny, but had long been proverbial. 18.7 design’d] planned to take, marked out. 18.8 fell despite] fearsome anger. 18.9 solacement] pleasure, recreation (see OED, ‘solace’, n.1 , 2). 19.2 suffer] permit, allow. 19.4 spend his gall] express his anger. 19.7 fall] engage. 19.8 regard] matter. 20.1 treates] deals. 20.2 stupefy] astonish; make unfeeling. 20.3 prest] willing, quick; or perhaps induced. 20.5 vse] treat. 20.8 dreaded no mishap] feared no misfortune. 20.9 proditions] treachery’s. 21.2 shades] shadows. 21.3 complices] accomplices. 21.5 Turtles] turtle-doves, proverbial for their loving affection. 21.5 wreake] inflict. 21.9 surpris’d] taken by surprise; seized. 22.1 Scylla] Daughter of Nisus, king of Megara, who promised to deliver the kingdom into the hands of King Minos if he would marry her (see Apollodorus, Library, 3.15.8). Both she and Tarpeia (line 3) were disappointed in their expectations of reward: having entered Megara, Minos murdered Scylla, and Tarpeia was killed by the Sabines. 22.2 Enveigled] blinded, beguiled. 22.2 brauery]

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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finery, splendour. 22.3 lewd] base; lascivious. 22.3 Tarpeia] Daughter of Tarpeius, Roman governor, who promised to open the gates of the city to the Sabines, in exchange for their golden bracelets; having admitted them into the city, she was killed. See Livy, Ab Urbe Condita (History of Rome), 1.11. 22.8 shineing drosse] gold. 23.1 Plutus] classical god of wealth. See 7.4.5.9 and n. 23.1 forlorne] abject, dejected. 23.3 sooty heapes] In his description of Mammon’s cave, Spenser many times mentions the ‘heapes’ of gold (FQ, 2.7.5.2, 2.7.7.3, 2.7.7.9), and writes of Mammon himself that ‘his head and beard with sout were ill bedight’ (FQ, 2.7.3.7). 23.3 with sunken eye] Mammon’s eyes ‘were bleard’ (FQ, 2.7.3.6). 23.5 libertyes] personal domains, within which suzerainty is exercised. 23.8 kenn’d] known. 23.9 Phœbus] the sun. 23.9 lend] bestow. 24.2 repayre] go. 24.3 besotted] stupefied, made sottish. 24.5 debonaire] gentle, courteous. 24.6 wight] person. 24.8 deuise] plan; get up to, do. 25.3 hinde] deer (female). 25.4 stand] standing-point. 25.5 leysure] time, opportunity. 25.6 ambuscade] ambush. 25.8 invade] bite into, penetrate. 25.9] Cf. ‘wide passage for his soule to flitte’ (7.11.54.8). 26.3 surmise] suppose, expect. 26.4 Addicted] devoted (without the modern pejorative sense). 26.4 iouissance] pleasure, enjoyment. 26.7 eschue] avoid. 26.7 chance] event. 26.9 indigence] destitution, want. 27.1 requited] rewarded. 27.2 errant] adventuring, wandering; the term ‘errant damozel’ is used in FQ to describe Una (FQ, 2.1.19.8, 3.1.24.7), but here it also has the negative overtones of fault suggested by the modern sense of ‘error’. 27.3 thewes] powers. 27.3 incited] urged. 27.4 vnkest] unknown, strange. 27.5 molest] trouble, assail. 27.7 opprest] burdened. 27.8 case] plight. 28.1 Gloriane] See 7.2.29.7n. above. In the ‘Letter of the Authors’ in FQ, Spenser claims that all of the projected knightly quests originated in suits made to Gloriana. 28.2 enterprise] quest. 28.3 license] permission. 28.6 maugre] in spite of. 28.8 wretched Ile] The following brief account, of an uncultivated land inhabited by itinerant hovel-dwellers, may perhaps suggest a typical sixteenthor seventeenth-century English account of Ireland (such as Spenser’s A View of the Present State of Ireland). 29.1 clime] region, realm. 29.4 crests] spires. 29.7 eard] ploughed; perhaps also furnished with ears of corn. 29.8 cultiuage] tillage, cultivation. 30.1 Troglodites] A legendary cave-dwelling people of Africa. 30.1 parch’d] burnt. 30.2 Phœbus] the sun’s. 30.3 Within ... arch’d] Referring to the caves in which the Irish were said to dwell (their common Mother being the earth). 30.5 darkesome dell] dark hollow. 31.1 mister wight] sort of man, quasi-man. See 7.8.11.9n. above. But OED also notes that this phrase is often wrongly understood by later writers to denote a particular type of man, e.g. a craftsman; Knevet may possibly be guilty of this misprision here. 31.2 weede] clothing.

31.7 breed] produce, create. 31.8 constraine] force, oblige. 31.9 mizer] wretch. 32.1 admireing] wondering, marvelling. 32.1 sot] fool. 32.3 abideing plot] dwelling place. 32.4 stay] pause, interrupt. 32.7 insipid stocke] lifeless plank. 32.8 scuddeing] hurrying, darting. 32.9 shunne] escape, evade. 33.1 Palfrey] horse. 33.3] Perhaps symbolizing poetry or victory; a slightly unclear detail, but this Damsell has little part to play in the remaining narrative. 33.4 store] an abundance. 33.6 reflected] turned back. 33.8 accident] event. 33.9 feature] shape; facial appearance. 34.1-6] Knevet’s description of this monster seems based upon Pliny’s account in his Natural History, of the Blemmyi, an African race who ‘by report, have no heads, but mouth and eies both in their breast’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 96. Their domain, though not their appearance, is also described in Strabo, Geography, 17.1.2. 34.2 confines] borders, region. 34.3 vncouth] strange. 34.8 oken plant] oak tree; cudgel made from the trunk of an oak tree. 35.1 hinder’d] stood in the way of. 35.4 moode] temper. 35.5 as hee ... wood] as if he were crazed. 35.6 constantly] continuously; steadfastly. 35.7 make ... good] advance on his side. 35.9 actiuity] agility; energy, vigour. 35.9 boistrous] cumbersome; violent. Cf. the ‘boystrous club’ of Spenser’s giant (FQ, 1.8.10.1). Stanza 36] In this complicated simile, the Rouer (see 36.1n. below) chases the heavy-laded barke to windward. Upon overtaking her, the Rover steals her wind, causing her to slow, at which point the captain of the Rover can manoeuvre his ship close, prest (ready) for boarding. With both ships moving slowly, the two of them are overtaken by the sturdy Man of Warre (line 6), again to windward. This third ship, blocking the Rover’s wind, allows the barke to pull clear and make its escape, while the Rover’s sails continue to luff. Having the advantage, the Man of Warre can now pull away to windward, leaving the Rover behind; but then the Rover tacks, changing its heading to the wind and cutting astern of the Man of Warre. In this position, the Rover is able to fire the full complement of its cannons at the stern of the Man of Warre, which itself cannot afford to tack: should it do so, it will find itself to leeward of the Rover and thus without manoeuvrability, even while it gets pounded by the Rover’s guns. The pun on enclin’d (line 9) suggests the visual precision of Knevet’s vision of this sea-fight: the Rover is both determined to attack the Man of Warre (OED, ‘encline’, v., 9), and also, as a result of the tack, at an oblique angle with its opponent (OED, ‘encline’, v., 11). 36.1 Rouer] pirate. 36.2 barke] boat. 36.2 fraught] laden. 36.3 clappes on] sets for action. Cf. ‘Clap on more sails! Pursue!’ (Shakespeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, 2.2.132). 36.3 scuddes] moves swiftly. 36.5 prest] ready. 36.6 vp the wind] against the direction of the wind. 36.8 irefull mind] angry intention.

Commentary: Book 8 Proem

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37.1 Thiefe] evil man. 37.2 bereft] deprived. 37.4 Foeman] enemy. 37.5 th’Elfin Knight] knight of Faeryland; a typical Spenserian term. 37.5 his prize did play] engaged in the contest; see OED, ‘prize’, n.3 , 2a. 38.8 prouide] prepare. 38.9 abate] suppress, extinguish. 39.2 iette] jet, a black stone. 39.3 Accoutred] equipped. 39.3 caparison] ornamented cloth covering the saddle. 39.4 frette] interlaced ornament. 39.5 Chaos rude] great chasm; or perhaps a terrible disorder. 39.5 burganett] helmet. 39.6 fauour braue] fine token of a lady’s affection. 39.8 crest] ridged top of his helmet. 40.1 furiously] fiercely, angrily. 40.2 Vnmanly] inhumane; also perhaps denouncing Albanio for having fought through craft and evasion, rather than manly strength. 40.3 Acephalon] From Gr. ἀϰέφαλος (‘Headless’). See 7.12.34.1-6 and n. above. 40.4 controule] constrain, overpower. 40.6 By Mahound] A traditional oath for Spenserian villains, such as Cymochles (FQ, 2.8.33.3), equivalent to ‘By God!’. 40.9 Caitife] villain. 41.1 couch’d] set, fixed (within a special socket on the armour). 41.1 prick’d] spurred. 41.2 rencounterd him amaine] engaged him with all his force. 41.4 Coursers] horses. 41.5 dazled] dazed. 41.8 ouerpower] exceed in strength. 42.2 poise] hold, carry. 42.3 keene] sharp. 42.4 amazed] stunned. 42.5 lent] gave. 42.6 dight] dressed. 42.7 Attemper’d ... subtiltyes] tempered, hardened with magic arts. 43.4 vnheedy] heedless. The term forms part of the scheme in this book of marking failures of prudence as ‘heedles’ (see 7.1.5.1 above and passim). 43.5 start] leap. 43.8 fell despite] savage rage. 43.9 gentle] well-born, noble. 44.1 thunderbolt] destructive strike. 44.3 lade] weigh down. 44.5 impetuously] violently. 44.9 shift] evade. 45.4 pouldrons] plates of armour covering the shoulders. 45.5 brigandine] body armour. 46.1 shorter ... head] Recalling, with no little irony, the physique and name of Acephalon (see 7.12.34.1-6, 7.12.40.3 and nn. above). 46.2 cell] room, den. 46.3 earst] formerly. 46.4 Cacus fell] dread Cacus. In Roman mythology, Cacus was a monstrous son of Vulcan who dwelt in a cave in the Aventine Hill, near Rome, whither he would abduct people and eat them. He was killed by Hercules after taking the cattle that Hercules had stolen from Geryon. See Virgil, Aeneid, 8.193ff. 46.8 rout] crowd. 46.9 NightRauens] See 7.1.11.5 and n. above. 46.9 compast him about] encircled him. 47.2 at soile] at pasture. 47.3 obscene] loathsome. 47.5 checkes] holds back; invades. 47.8 habite] dress. 47.8 intimate] indicate, reveal. 48.3 lust] inclination, desire. 48.5 Dotard] foolish old person. 49.3 the centre] the centre of the earth (OED, ‘centre’, n., 2a). 49.5 blend] extinguish, put out. 49.8 ill apayd] afflicted. 49.9 arrayd] placed; dressed.

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50.1 giues] shackles for the legs. 50.1 fetters] shackles for feet. 50.3 wretchedly bested] in a wretched case. 50.4 estate] state. 50.5 due releife] appropriate care; or activity. 50.5 vsage nought] lack of employment, activity. 50.6 vp mew’d] caged up. 50.7 penury] destitution, need. 50.7 drought] thirst. 50.8 Ten ... renu’d] ten months had passed. Cinthia is the moon, and her hornes refers to its crescent shape. 50.9 Apollos] the sun’s. 51.1 releiu’d] released. 51.2 chevisance] chivalrous behaviour. 51.4 hardyment] courage. 51.5 Pluto] Classical god of the underworld; i.e. hell. 51.6 contemner of] blasphemer against. 51.8 profest] devoted. 51.9 wholesome] sound, honest, edifying. 51.9 decline] reject. 52.3 sound] swoon. 52.4 sence] consciousness. 52.5 vnblest shore] wretched country. 52.7 liege people] subjects. 52.7 entertaine] receive in celebration. 52.8 triumphs] solemn celebrations upon her entrance. 52.8 cheere] happiness; festivity. 52.9 well] clearly. 53.1-4] An astrological rendering of the passage of winter into spring. The sun passes from Aquary, or the constellation Aquarius (the water-bearer, hence moist), into Pisces, on 20 February, then to Aries on 21 March, to the Bull, or Taurus, on 21 April, and Gemini on 22 May. 53.5 gelid] frozen. The meteors may refer to the Lyrid meteor shower in mid-April, or more generally, the precipitations and atmospheric conditions of the time of year (OED, ‘meteor’, n.1 , 2a). 53.6 distill] drop, fall. 53.9 shrill] high. 54.4 decently array’d] properly dressed. 54.4 vest] vestments, garments. 54.5 that knot] the knot of marriage. 54.6 graue] deep; serious, solemn. 54.6 sackebuttes] Trumpet-like instruments. 54.6 cornetts cleare] puresounded horns. 54.7 mirth] joy. 54.9 heau’nly] Implying, perhaps, that they are joined by angelic voices. 54.9 Quiere] Part of a church assigned to the singers (the choir), usually eastward of the nave. 55.4 prowesse try’d] proved excellence. 55.5 equipage] equipment, armour, gear. 55.8 sable] black. 55.9 masques] dramatic entertainments. 55.9 brau’ry] finery. 56.1 solemnityes] ceremonies. 56.3 parragon] mate, bride. 56.5 review] see again. 56.6 meed] reward. 56.9 climes] regions, places. 56.9 ydread] revered (perhaps, though not necessarily, fearfully).

Book 8 Proem 1.1 As the braue ... diademe] The eagle wears the diademe, or crown, because it is the king of birds. The association of the eagle with imperial power dates at least to the Holy Roman Emperor, whose personal arms were usually displayed mounted on a double-headed eagle; the eagle was adopted from the usual standard of the Roman army. In his treatise on Italian imprese, Insignium, Amorum, Emblematum, Hieroglyphicorum, et Symbolorum (1588),

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Abraham Fraunce notes that the eagle is the usual symbol of ‘imperatoria maiestas’ [imperial majesty], and writes, ‘ Viribus valet, pernix, concinna, polita, apta, intrepida, strenua, liberalis, minime inuida, nec petulans, non clangit, non murmurat. Omnia regia.’ [It is strong in its powers, being nimble, beautiful, polished, exact, dauntless, vigorous, noble, rarely envious or impudent, it neither shouts nor murmurs. It is regal in all points.] (f. Q1v). 1.2 feather’d people] birds; a periphrasis or antonomasia. 1.3 esteeme] honour. 1.3-5 And the fierce Lion’s ... magnanimitye] The lion’s pre-eminence among animals was traditionally linked to its supposed magnanimitye, and particularly its clemency to its captive prey. Pliny the Elder records in the Natural History, 8.19 (§§ 48-52), that ‘the Lion alone of all wild beasts is gentle to those that humble themselves unto him, and will not touch any such upon their submission, but spareth what creature soever lieth prostrate before him. As fell and furious as hee is otherwhiles, yet he dischargeth his rage upon men, before that he setteth upon women, and never preyeth upon babes unlesse it be for extreame hunger’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 201. 1.6 demerits] deserves. 1.7 The garland ... dignity] A garland was traditionally awarded to the victor of an athletic competition in ancient Greece; hence, it stands metonymically here for ‘the highest grade’ of renown and dignity. 1.9 seruile feare] In the ethical tradition deriving from the Stoic philosopher, Seneca, that man who had conquered himself (i.e. his passions) was most fit to rule others; as Seneca writes in the De Ira (On Anger), 2.15.4, ‘nemo autem regere potest nisi qui et regi’ [no man is able to rule unless he can also be ruled]. By the same logic, that man who had surrendered his reason to his passions (e.g. fear) could never rule, but only serve.

2.1-3 This is ... rageing multitude] Aristotle argues in the Politics that good kingship is an inherently moderate form of political government, unlike the comparable extremities of democracy and tyranny, which arise from the same (bad) social conditions; see Politics, 5. 10. Knevet probably also had in mind Charles’ uneasy position in the early 1630s between the dissolved Parliament and his own increasingly autocratic council. 2.4 Fraught] laden, stored, as a ship (cf. ‘freight’). 2.4 stands] remains upright, steadfast. 2.6 beyond] impervious to. 2.7 winnes aduantage ... hands] gets the advantage of him. 2.9 nought ... feares] does not at all fear the skies’ ruin. 3.3 While ... embru’d] Following defeat in France between 1627 and 1629, Charles had largely continued his father James’ policy of official withdrawal from the Thirty Years’ War, while first Christian IV of Denmark (1577-1648) and later Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden (1594-1632) led Protestant resistance to the Catholic League and the Holy Roman Emperor. 3.5 Bellonas cruelty] Bellona was variously held to be the sister, wife, or daughter of Mars, and like him a god of war. She is often associated with the Greek

Enyo, daughter of Phorcys and Ceto (on whom, see Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 270-76). 4.1-5 Thou ar’t ... Seas dominion] Knevet does not seem to be alluding to a particular engagement between French and English naval forces; indeed, he seems to have in mind an absence of engagement. The controversial ship money fleet – a national naval force financed by a tax imposed by the king without ratification by Parliament – was first assembled in 1635, and Robert Bertie, first Earl of Lindsey (1582-1642), was appointed its first admiral in the spring of that year. His repeated failure to engage the French in the channel appears to be the subject of Knevet’s paradiastolary encomium. 4.8-9 For Lillyes ... beaut’ous hue] Knevet’s ironic praise of Charles concludes with a resort to heraldic, natural imagery: Lillyes (or fleurs-de-lis) were incorporated in the arms of French kings from the twelfth century (often on an azure field; cf. ‘Ocean blew’, line 6), while the rose (white, red, or red-in-white) had been similarly used as a badge, and in heraldic arms, by English kings for hundreds of years. In the wake of Buckingham’s and Charles’ disastrous defeat by and capitulation to the French over La Rochelle, Knevet’s argument here could only seem fanciful, or bitter. 5.2-4 the vtter wall ... appall] The rapid expansion in English merchant shipping between the end of the Spanish war in 1603 and the start of the English civil war has been well documented; both tonnage and the overall number of ships, even by modest estimates, multiplied quickly during these years, and especially from 1630. For a summary discussion, see Kenneth R. Andrews, Ships, Money and Politics: Seafaring and Naval Enterprise in the Reign of Charles I (1991), pp. 16-33. English merchant ships tended to be stouter and more heavily armed than their continental competitors, in part because of government support in the form of bounty payments – in use between 1558 and 1618, and resumed in 1625 – whereby the crown subsidised the construction of large ships at the rate of 5 shillings per ton. This effectively made the king part owner in the largest merchant vessels of the realm, which he could command at preferential rates in time of war. This situation began to change with the advent of the infamous and highly unpopular ‘Ship Money’ tax in 1634, by which Charles and his Privy Council sought to construct a royal fleet to support the coastal defences. Knevet’s pairing of an emphasis here on the merchant marine, on the one hand, with Charles’ ‘liege Peoples loyalty’ (line 6) on the other, makes this stanza seem decidedly critical of royal policy in about 1635. The topicality of the reference suggests a late date of composition for this proem. 5.4 appall] dismay. 5.8 imperiall vertue] The ‘imperiall’ status of the English crown had been first asserted by 24 Hen. 8. cap. 12 (1532), an act preventing legal appeals to Rome and asserting the sufficiency temporal and spiritual of English government. The act bases its claim for imperial government on ‘old autentike Histories and Chronicles’, as well as on ‘sundry ordinances, lawes, statutes, and prouisions

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 1 for the intire and sure conseruation of the prerogatiues, liberties, and preheminences of the said imperiall Crowne of this Realme, and of the iurisdictions spirituall and temporall of the same, to keepe it from the annoiance as well of the see of Rome, as from the authoritie of other forren potentates’ made by Edward I, Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV. Spenser had similarly, though more cautiously, celebrated Elizabeth’s ‘imperiall’ status in FQ, 5.Pr.10-11.

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Canto 1 Arg.2 fell] fierce, terrible. 1.1 cells of clay] chambers of earth: here a metaphor for the mortal body. 1.3 doubtfull combate] an uncertain battle (i.e. against foes not easily vanquished). 1.8 Varro-like] Marcus Terentius Varro, the Roman author (116-27 BC), was one of Pompey’s lieutenants in Spain during Caesar’s campaigns against him in 49 BC. He capitulated to Caesar and was pardoned twice for his service to Pompey, both before and after Pompey’s defeat at Pharsalia in 48 BC. See Cassius Dio, Roman History, 41. 1.8 targe] To throw away one’s targe, or shield, is to change allegiances (whereas to throw away one’s sword – see 1ine 9, following – is to give up the fight and capitulate). 1.9 assay] endeavour, trial. 2.1 like a Spartane youth] The courage of Spartan warriors was proverbial. The military education of Spartan boys was so severe that, as Plutarch records (Life of Lycurgus, 18.1), they were encouraged to die rather than fail at their training. See also Plutarch’s Instituta Laconica in the Moralia, where Plutarch notes of the Spartan youth that they ‘would endure to be lashed & whipped all the day long, yea, and many times even to death, upon the altar of Diana, surnamed Orthia, taking joy and pleasure therein, striving a vie for the victorie who could hold out longest; and looke who was able to abide most beating, he was best esteemed, and caried away the greatest praise’. The Philosophie, Commonlie Called the Morals, trans. Philemon Holland (1603), p. 478. 2.2 the palme] A conventional sign of victory. 2.4-9 For as the thirsty Dragon ... bowells so] Knevet here imitates Du Bartas, Sixth Day of the First Weeke, ll. 25-74, where the same simile occurs at much greater length. 3.3 weltring] wallowing, writhing. 3.3 swarty] black, dark. 3.7 hugges] clings to. 3.8 meed] reward, prize. 3.9 prizeing] valuing. 4.1-5] For the tradition that Prometheus created humans out of clay, see Ovid, Met., 1.80-86. Knevet’s claim that Prometheus gave men the courage of lions appears to be his own invention. 4.3 battailous affray] warlike assault. 4.5 Ne to be dash’d ... ydrad] ‘nor to be cowed by the most fearful dangers’. 4.6 dastard] cowardly. 4.8 For anger ... Reason blind] This passage clearly echoes FQ, 1.2.5.69, where Redcrosse becomes enraged after (as he thinks) viewing Una’s faithlessness.

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5.1 the spurre of honour] The distinguishing mark of a knight was his gilt spurs; Knevet is thus defining here the office of knighthood. 5.6 Masters sage ... set downe] Knevet’s general account of knightly duties, presented in the following stanzas, derives from the medieval chivalric tradition, set out most famously in Ramon Llull’s Libre del Ordre de Cavayleria, a thirteenth-century sourcebook on the chivalric code. 6.4 sacred lore] religious teaching. 6.6 plight] sworn. 6.7 free ... his store] generous, open-handed. Liberality is the titular virtue of the succeeding book, the legend of Sir Belcoeur. 7.1 certes] certainly. 7.1 Maximes] principles, rules (trisyllabic). 7.2 obseruance and religion] dutiful and painstaking respect. 7.3 Clime] region, place. 8.1-2 the Dwarfe ... Leucippes name] This dwarf first appeared as a suppliant at Gloriana’s court at 7.5.9-14 above. 8.1 whilome] before, some time ago. 8.6 foil’d] beaten. 8.7 mickle] much, great. Stanzas 9-10] For the history of Corleon’s attempt against Aquilino, see below, 8.4.9-12. 9.2 hardyment] courage, strength. 9.7 designe] purpose, intention. 9.8 meed] reward. 9.8 betide] befall. 10.1 Cato-like] Cato of Utica, one of the last leaders of the Roman Republic, was celebrated by Stoic philosophers, and above all by Seneca, for his constancy and courage. He took his own life when Julius Caesar advanced on Rome in 46 BC. His readiness to accept the will of the gods was, for Seneca, his defining virtue; see e.g. Seneca, Epistles, 71, where he gives an account of Cato’s last moments before his suicide: ‘“The whole race of man, both that which is and that which is to be, is condemned to die. Of all the cities that at any time have held sway over the world, and of all that have been the splendid ornaments of empires not their own, men shall some day ask where they were, and they shall be swept away by destructions of various kinds [...]. Why then should I be angry or feel sorrow, if I precede the general destruction by a tiny interval of time?” Let great souls comply with God’s wishes, and suffer unhesitatingly whatever fate the law of the universe ordains.’ Cato’s life and moral constitution are also described in Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. 10.7 combin’d] colleagued, confederate. 11.2 Callimachus] The patron knight of fortitude and central hero of Book 8. His name derives from Gr. ϰαλός (‘beautiful, fair, noble’) and µάχη (‘battle’). As will quickly become clear, the details of his quest identify him closely with the career of Gustavus Adolphus, protestant king of Sweden from 1611 and the indisputable protestant hero of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). 11.9 on his sheild ... three garlands] John Guillim discusses emblazoned garlands, or chaplets, in A Display of Heraldrie (1632), section 4 chapter 16. As Guillim notes, ‘the Ancient rewards for victory obtained in the field, borne in Armes, are Garlands, which the Armorists call Chapletts, and in Latine they were anciently called Coronæ militum: and of these

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there then were diuerse sorts, which were conferred on the victours, and were significant demonstrations of the manner of the victory obtained’ (p. 352). Callimachus’ shield adds further emphasis to the canto’s insistence on a connection between fortitude and victory. The symbolism may also reflect the important historical allegory of this part of the poem, in which Callimachus’ narrative recalls the history of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden and champion of northern European protestantism during the Thirty Years’ War. The coat of arms of the Swedish royal house – three crowns – is close to the repeated detail of Callimachus’ three garlands. Cf. 8.6.33.8 below. 11.9 in faire port] (displayed in) a pleasing manner. Stanzas 12-15] The flight of the squire Tendron from the giant Sans paour recalls a similar scene in FQ, where the squire Placidas appears fleeing the giant Corflambo (FQ, 4.8.38ff.). Another similar scene, in which the giantess Argante appears, being chased by the lady knight Palladine, recruits an epic simile turning on a goshawk and a culver (or pigeon), as here; see FQ, 3.7.37-39. 12.3 affray] attack, assault. 12.7 Gennet] small horse. 12.8 flitte] speed, fly. 12.9 prick’d] spurred, rode. 13.8 with speare in rest] with his lance lowered, and fixed in the socket (or rest) in his armor; i.e. ready for combat. Cf. 7.1.34.3 above. 13.9 prest] ran, hurried. 14.1 Tercel Gentle] male falcon. 14.2 Culuer] pigeon or wood-pigeon. 14.2 Ioues emperye] the sky or air. When Jove divided the universe between himself and his two brothers Pluto (Hades) and Neptune (Poseidon), they took the underworld and sea, respectively, leaving him with the sky (and the earth beneath it). Following Homer, Spenser calls him ‘sky-ruling Ioue’ (FQ, 6.10.22.1). 14.3 welkin] sky. 14.5 His sinew’d ... ply] ‘so vigorously does he beat his muscled wings’. 14.6 gorge] neck or throat. 15.1 Cockney] pampered child; hence a term for an effeminate man. 15.5 poinant] sharp, piercing. 15.7 in full carreere] at full speed. 15.8 braine-panne] skull. 16.8-9 Sans paour ... Vale Perillous] The name Sans paour (Fr., ‘without fear’) describes the giant’s fearlessness (cf. the following stanza), and the incautious state of his vulnerable victims. A vale perillous is a dreadful valley, or one that ought to be feared. The post-positive construction associates Sans paour’s seat with the Arthurian tradition of the Siege Perilous – the vacant seat at the Round Table, to be filled only by that knight (in Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, Galahad) who could achieve the quest of the Grail. 18.4 warlike equipage] knightly apparel, with the armour and weapons thereto incident. 18.5] Callimachus’ implication is that to be dressed for the theatre is to be dressed effeminately. Here he echoes the polemical sexual politics of the anti-theatrical books of Elizabeth’s and James’s reigns, e.g. Stephen Gosson’s Schoole of Abuse (1579) or his Playes Confuted in Fiue Actions ([1582?]). 18.9] As followers of Diana (the huntress), the Amazons carried bows and arrows (darts).

19.1 what bootes it] what good is it. 19.1-2] The Hart and Roe are the male and the female of the red deer, respectively. To hunt deer is to live the life of a forester, a path Callimachus considers to be effeminate. 19.3 Delia, and her Nymphs] Diana, called Delia after her birthplace, the island of Delos. Woods and forests were sacred to Diana and her nymphs, who were usually described as chaste huntresses. 19.7 melting vanityes] fleeting or ephemeral trivialities. 19.9 blisse] Knevet’s use of this term, roughly equivalent to Aristotle’s eudaimonia, or ‘happiness’ (see his Nicomachean Ethics), suggests both a moral and a metaphysical end. Virtuous action will lead to the good life, and thus to moral happiness, but it will also allow the knight to ‘ascend’ (line 8) (by a Platonic scheme familiar to Renaissance humanists after Pico della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man) to its divine destiny. 20.1 Tendron] Probably from Fr. tendre (‘soft, delicate’). 20.2 nere] never. 20.2 mannage] manage, handle. 20.3 haberieon] A sleeveless jacket of mail or armor. 20.4 towring Hauke] A hawk is said to ‘tower’ when it soars or climbs into the air, so to swoop down with force on its prey. The skill of the hawker consists not in releasing the hungry bird to its hunting – to which it inclines naturally – but in ‘reclaiming’ it after the kill. 20.5 Brache in lyam] A brache is a hunting bitch-hound, while a lyam (from Fr. lien, ‘bond’) is a leash. To lead a brach in lyam is thus to track quarry by scent. 20.6 well ... armes] ‘I strongly desire to take up knighthood’. 20.7 in list of knighthood] among the company of knights. The term list originally referred to a roll of names of those entered, for example, in a particular contest or tournament. The ‘lists’ (from Fr. lisse) were the barriers that enclosed a tilting or tournament ground. Stanzas 21-22] Cf. Spenser’s account of Belphoebe’s nativity (FQ, 3.6.2-3). Callimachus’s rebuke to Tendron that ‘the starres are mortall things’ suggests a more sceptical, even critical, regard for the beliefs that lay behind this poetic convention. 21.3-5 frowneing Mars ... ieopardy] The ascendent is the ‘house’ of the zodiac directly upon the eastern horizon at any given time (e.g. as here, at the moment of the birth of the person for whom the natiuity, or horoscope, is being calculated). The planet in this house was considered to be at its most influential. Tendron reports that Mars was in this position at his birth, and was in trine or ‘trigonal’ aspect with the sun – that is, Mars ascendant was at a 120° angle with the position of the sun, a configuration held by astrologists to be of particular force. The combined influence of Mars and the sun would have been held, as Tendron reports, to portend danger and hazard. 21.6 Pauenta] From L. pavere (‘to be frightened’): hence, ‘fearful’. 21.8 foresight] prudence. 21.9] Paventa’s advice to Tendron is that of Thetis to her son, the hero Achilles. Knowing from an oracle that he would die in battle with the Trojans, she strove to make him immortal by purifying his body in a fire, and later hid him from the Greek army,

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 1

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dressed as a girl, in the court of Lycomedes on the island of Skyros. Afterwards, she sought to keep him from fighting at Troy. See Apollodorus, Library, 3.13.6-8; Ovid, Met., 13.162-70; and Homer, Iliad, 18.65-96. Thetis’ attempts to keep Achilles from battle provide a common motif in FQ; cf. Cymoent’s care for her son Marinell (FQ, 3.4.24-26) and the fay’s care for her sons Priamond, Diamond, and Triamond (FQ, 4.2.46-54). Stanza 22] Callimachus counters Tendron by ridiculing the ideas and technical language of astrology. A quadrate (or quartile) aspect, like the trine, described the relation of the planet in the ascendant (say, at a nativity) with some other planet, or Sol or Luna, in the zodiac; unlike the trine configuration, the quadrate or 90° relation is, according to Lilley’s Christian Astrology (1647), p. 106, ‘a signe of imperfect enmity’. Planets were said to be in ‘conjunction’ when they occupied the same house of the zodiac, and in opposition when they were diametrically opposed (i.e. by 180°). Early modern cosmography generally accepted that the sublunary world occupied an inner sphere within the embrace of larger ‘orbs’ – those containing the moon, the sun, the planets, and the fixed stars, among others. 22.2 To feare] in fearing. 23.3 tenent] tenet. 23.6-9] It was fundamental to Renaissance Christian humanist metaphysics that the human soul, the essence or absolute reality underlying human existence, should be immortal. As such, Knevet claims that it occupies a more privileged position in the hierarchy of creation than the stars, which can influence only bodies (mortal things prone to decay) and other inferior substances. 23.7 their commissions strength] the power committed to them by their creator. 24.1-5 Magicke vanityes ... a supply] Callimachus’ attack on magic seems to owe something to Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, in its connection between magic, the devil, and the fall from grace. 24.3 excrements] outgrowths; from L. excrescere, ‘to grow out’, but with pun on the now more common meaning, ‘faeces’, which derives from the L. excernere, ‘to sift out’. 24.8-9] According to the popular English cosmology of Thomas Blundeville, Exercises, Containing Sixe Treatises (1594), there were three spheres beyond that of the fixed stars: the imperial heaven, the primum mobile, and the christalline or watery heaven (ff. 135v-138v). Callimachus thus urges Tendron to reach beyond cosmology toward divinity, beyond human knowledge to divine knowledge. 25.5 deprau’d desert] debased deserving, 25.5 guerdon] reward. 26.3 Yonkers] young gentleman’s. 26.5 envest] invest, initiate. 26.8 gentle accollade] The accollade, literally a ‘clasping around the neck’, is the ‘technical name of the salutation marking the bestowal of knighthood’ (OED, ‘accolade’), which might be a kiss, an embrace, or the striking of the shoulders with the blade of a sword. Stanza 27] For this widespread story, see e.g. Apollodorus, Library, 3.13.6-8.

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27.7 habite] dress. 28.1 Springold] young man. 28.3 theme] argument. 28.9 burganett] visored helmet. Stanzas 29-33] Tendron here incites Callimachus to the adventure that will inaugurate his campaign against Androgeus and Aquilino later in the book. In later episodes, it is clear that Knevet intends Callimachus’s adventures as a historical allegory of the interventions of Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, in the Thirty Years’ War. (The historical allegory begins in earnest in canto 6 below; see 8.6.33.9 and n., for its inception.) This more ethical allegory shows Callimachus encountering and defeating the vicious qualities from which he must be purified before he can achieve his scheduled greatness. First Codardia herself (‘cowardice’; see 8.1.29.3n. below), and then her eight champions, signalling eight distinct vices, must be overcome (see stanzas 35-53 and n. below). The present stanzas indicate that, in addition to the ethical dangers represented by Codardia and her knights, Knevet is also writing against a method and ethos of warfare prevalent in Europe during this period – a baldly mercenary set of practices, wherein soldiers fought neither for religion nor for glory, but for the ransoms and summe[s] (8.1.33.3) they could demand for cities, fortifications, or prisoners taken. 29.3 ycleapt] called. 29.3 Codardia] From It. codardia, ‘cowardice’. 30.8 fond Gallants] foolish knights. 30.9 crost] thwarted, opposed. Stanza 31] The suitors of Paventa in Codardia recall the suitors of Penelope, who similarly occupied Odysseus’ home in Ithaca, wasting his wealth and disinheriting his son Telemachus, during his prolonged return from Troy. The first several books of Homer’s Odyssey set the scene in Odysseus’ household. 31.3 rapines] plunders, robberies. 31.5 agitate their sutes] urge their claims (on Codardia). 31.6] ‘like lazy bees (idle drones), they collect no pollen, but lie in the hive waiting to consume the honey made by others’. 31.7 all on ... score] A score is an account or tally used in an alehouse to record the credit extended to clients. Tendron effectively compares his mothers’s parasites to drunkards leeching off another’s credit at the pub. 31.8-9] Codardia’s suitors are consuming the estate (empayr[ing] that weale) that should one day (in future seasons) descend to Tendron, as her heir. 32.2 policy] shrewd and stratagemical devising. 32.2 y’redde] studied, experienced. 33.1 happe] fortune, chance. 33.4 captiue thrall] prisoner. 34.8 touch] short burst, or single note. Stanzas 35-53] Callimachus here defeats all eight of Codardia’s knights in turn: Sanglant (Fr. sanglant, ‘bloody’), Asebion (Gr. ἀσέβεια, ‘ungodliness, impiety’), Tracyon (Gr. τραχύς, ‘rough, harsh’, or by homophony associated with Eng. ‘treason’), Auarient (L. avarus, ‘greedy, grasping’), Truand (OF truant, ‘idle, wandering’), Embidiant (probably from L. ambedere, ‘to consume, waste, ravin’),

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Calonniant (Fr. calomnier, ‘to slander, calumniate’), and Disperant (L. desperare, ‘to despair, give up hope’). The knights’ devices, or emblems, simply picture their names: Sanglant’s bloody nature is represented by a heart pierced on a sword; Asebion is figured by an ungodly cur, spurning holy writ; Tracyon carries the rugged and savage image of a crocodile; Auarient’s greed is associated with the dragon who jealously guards the garden of the Hesperides; a slothful youth is emblazoned on the shield of the wantonly idle Truand; all-consuming Embidiant is paired with the omnivorous and levelling cockatrice (or basilisk), who kills with a glance; Calonniant is reflected in the barking dog on his shield; and Disperant, who throws away his shield altogether, trusts to nothing. 35.4 Accouterd] furnished, provided. 35.4 darraine] wage, maintaine. 35.5 curveate amaine] leap with a frisky vigour. 35.9 deuice] emblem. 36.3 fraught with fell despite] filled with fierce cruelty. 36.7 due sepulture] customary burial. 36.9 ominous] The success of the rhyme here depends on the length of the terminal vowel, which was longer in the seventeenth century than today it is. 37.2 Fay] fairy knight. 37.3 vmbriere] helmet’s visor. 37.7 y’weltring] wallowing. 37.8 ghost] spirit or soul. 37.8 whilome] earlier, once. 37.9 the infernall floud] One of the rivers of Hades, or hell – probably Lethe, from whose waters dead souls drank the waters of oblivion. On the drinking of Lethe’s water – a key element in the metaphysics of Pythagoras as well as Plato – see Conti, Mythologiae, 3.20. 38.8 her riuen cell] the broken body. 39.2 surquedry] pride, arrogance. 39.4-5 Beast of Nile ... Crocodile] On the crocodile’s reputation for dissembling, see e.g. Erasmus, Adagia, 2.4.60. Cf. also 7.2.25.3-6n. and 7.12.18.3n. above. 39.7 foile] throw, repulse. 39.8 swound] faint, stupor. 40.1 himself addrest] prepared or presented himself. 40.3 imprest] engraved, painted. 40.7 baffuld] disgraced (with infamy). 40.8 Grandame earth] It was poetic convention to refer to the earth as a grandmother (magna parens) after the story of Pyrrha and Deucalion in Ovid, Met., 1.348-415. 42.2 noisome] noxious. 42.2 Cockatrice] The basilisk, or cockatrice, was a serpent said to be able to kill with a glance of its eyes. Cf. Pliny, Natural History, 8.33 (§ 78). 42.7 Parthian-like] The Parthians were famed for fighting in mounted retreat; on this, see 7.3.19.2n. above. 42.8 amaine] at full speed, thickly. 43.1 scour’d] hasted, ranged across. 44.5 dint] dent, blow. 44.9 hauberke] long mailed coat or tunic. 44.9 embrue] soak, stain. 45.1 Caitife] base. 45.7 mend] improve, quicken. 45.8 hent] taken. 45.9 yblent] blinded. 46.5 Fetching ... eare] drawing or reaching his hand across his right ear (to throw his lance). 47.8 fauchion] sword.

49.2 ventaile] The hinged visor of a helmet (originally the lower part covering the mouth and neck; latterly the whole of the visor). 49.6 volee] volley, salvo (as of missiles shot in a clump). 50.2 sad] serious, grave. 50.3 puissant] powerful, strong. 50.9 did the brunt abide] endured the impact. 51.2 awhitt] at all. 51.5 vnneath] scarcely. 51.6 disarmed ... head] his helmet was struck off. 51.7 remitt] ease, slacken. 51.8 fraught with] full of. 51.8 bountyhed] bounteousness, liberality (a Spenserianism). 52.1 choler] anger. One of the four humours of late classical, medieval, and early modern physiology, choler (or bile) was thought to circulate in the body, and if predominant could cause wrath. 53.8 besprent] besprinkled. 54.5 vitall sence] consciousness, awareness.

Canto 2 1.1 Hesperus] The evening star; the planet Venus. 1.8 Sospetto] The hundred eyes of Sospetto (It. sospetto, ‘suspicion’) recall Argus, the hundred-eyed son of Agenor set by Hera to guard Io. Hermes played to Argus on a pipe, charming him to sleep before killing him. See Apollodorus, Library, 2.1; and Ovid, Met., 1.664ff. A figure named Sospetto features in the second canto of Ariosto’s Cinque canti, in which the sorceress Alcina abducts him from his castle and compels him to enter the heart of Desiderius, king of Lombardy; see the Cinque canti, 2.124. 1.8 clept] called. 2.1 harneys] The armour of a knight and his horse, taken together. 2.2 wicket] inset door. 2.5 vnloose] open. 2.7 in comely sort] with a decorous or graceful fashion. 3.1 inly] within. 3.1 nothing blith] not at all happy. 3.1 sad] serious, grave. 3.6 apayd] pleased, contented. 3.9 vnbewrayd] unbetrayed, undisclosed. 4.4 priuy motions] inward thoughts, feelings. 4.4 glose] cloak, dissemble. 4.5-7 the bloudles slow Chamæleon ... flowes] It is not clear why Knevet calls the chameleon bloodless, though it may reflect a misreading of a passage in Joshua Sylvester’s translation of Du Bartas, Sixth Day of the First Weeke, ll. 147-50, where the chameleon (said to live only on air) is called ‘food-less else’ – the word ‘blood’ appears on the following line, directly under ‘food’. Pliny comes near to calling the chameleon bloodless (Natural History, 8.51): ‘all his blood is in his heart, and about his eyes: among other his bowels, he is without a splene’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 215. Its ability to blend in with its surroundings was (and is) proverbial, though it is noticed at length by Pliny: ‘his colour naturally is very straunge and wonderfull, for ever and anon he chaungeth it, as well in his eye, as taile and whole bodie besides: and looke what colour he toucheth next, the same alwaies

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 2

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he resembleth, unlesse it be red and white’ (p. 215). 4.9 boone] goodly, gracious. 5.1 gustfull] delicious, tasty. 5.5-9 Such drinke as that ... rest present] Knevet may have been recalling the wine offered by Hecuba to her son Hector in the Iliad, 6.25862, where she tells him, ‘But stay till I have brought you honey-sweet wine so that you may pour libation to Zeus and the other immortals first, and then you shall yourself have benefit of it also, if you will drink. When a man is weary with toil, wine greatly increases his force, just as you are weary with defending your fellows.’ 5.6 ysprent] sprinkled. 5.7 Phrygian fields] Phrygia is a region of central Anatolia, now modern Turkey; it is not far distant from Troy, and Phrygians numbered among the Trojan armies during the war. 6.8 eke] also. 6.8 priuily] in secret. 6.9 darts of envuy] jealous looks. Stanzas 7-18] Callimachus’s defeat of Codardia’s eight knights (see above, 8.1.35-53 and n.) may have suggested his innocence of the various vices that they represent; but his subsequent entrance into Codardia’s castle, and acquiescence to her varied entertainments, leaves him again vulnerable. Here Embidiant and Tracyon mount a second attack that further exposes their unknightliness, even as it also exposes Callimachus’s susceptibility to the particular vices they represent – roughness and brutality (see 8.1.35-53n. above). These were vices of which Gustavus Adolphus, too, would be accused, especially in the early part of his German campaign in 1630-1631. It was the Imperial general Tilly (allegorized as Androgeus; see 8.6.29.2n. below) who inaugurated a new phase of brutality in the German wars when, in March 1631, he put to death the entire garrison of 3,000 Swedes at NeuBrandenburg; but Gustavus Adolphus returned the favour when, on 13 April of that year, the king took Frankfurt-onthe-Oder, and failed to prevent his soldiers from slaughtering 2,000-3,000 Catholic troops. As a whole, however, this episode seems to reflect Gustavus Adolphus’ retreat from the Thirty Years’ War between 1625 and 1630, after being slighted by James VI and I’s insistence that the protestant cause should be led not by Sweden, but by Christian IV of Denmark. 7.1 of] for. 7.1 for] on account of. 7.6 the cheerefull Bird of night] The nightingale is usually known by this epithet, as in Milton’s ‘amorous bird of night’ (Paradise Lost, 8.518); but, as suggested by his reference to a cornett shrill (line 7) welcoming the dawn, Knevet appears to mean the crowing of a cock. 7.7 prognosticate] foretell. 7.8 The happy regresse ... light] the cheerful return of the sun. Apollo, god of light, is conventionally (and metonymically) associated with the sun. Stanza 8] The Rascalls (line 1) and vile mercenaryes (line 3) employed by Tracyon and Embidiant probably reflect Knevet’s gentle castigation of Gustavus Adolphus for his participation in a war of dynastic and economic ambition between 1625 and 1629, when he committed Swedish

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forces to contesting the Polish armies of his Vasa cousin, Sigismund III of Poland (1566-1632, King of Sweden until he was dispossessed, in 1599, by Gustavus Adolphus’s protestant father, Duke Charles). Mercenaries were used by both Catholic and Protestant forces during the Thirty Years’ War, but it was widely claimed that the Scots, German, and Dutch troops recruited by the Swedish king were united by their faith, and not merely by their professional or political interests. If Gustavus Adolphus’ period of retirement from religious war between 1625 and 1629 is vaguely shadowed by his spell at the castle of Codardia (‘cowardice’; see 8.1.29.3n. above), the subsequent ambush by Tracyon and Embidiant reflects the criticism to which Gustavus Adolphus left himself exposed: if not engaged in a holy war, how could he presume to call his campaigns anything but vicious? 8.1 rout] crew. 9.4 affray] assault. 9.7 by his auspice] under Callimachus’ patronage, leadership. 9.9 white sheild] Probably a sign of Tendron’s innocence and inexperience. 10.2 ambuscade] ambush. 10.3 posteing on the spurre amaine] spurring their horses to a fast gallop. 10.8 targe] shield. 11.4 mickle] great. 11.5 the midland seas] the Mediterranean. 11.6 Argier] Algiers, capital city of Algeria. ‘Argier’ was a common alternative spelling during this period (as in the F1 text of Shakespeare, Tempest, 1.2.262, where Ariel recalls it as the birthplace of Sycorax). Galleys setting forth from the Barbary (or north African) coast were likely to be crammed with pirates. 11.7 wooden finnes] oars. 12.3-4 some forceing ... beds of sand] Forcing some (of the rout of mercenaries) to their deaths on the ground. 12.8 By vantage of their oddes] by virtue of their superior numbers. 13.9 impatience] anger, fury. 15.1 embosted] i.e. embossed, exhausted. 15.1 standing at bay] taking a final stand (when the hounds bay for the kill). 15.5 pinch] nip. Stanza 16] Embidiant’s success against Callimachus may shadow, in part, the success achieved against Gustavus Adolphus by his Catholic cousin Sigismund III, at Honigfelde (or Stuhm), in June 1629 – where the Swedish force was crushed by a combined Polish-Imperial force, and Gustavus Adolphus himself nearly killed. This defeat for Gustavus Adolphus in his Polish campaign followed closely on another, related, defeat: that of Christian IV of Denmark, leading the Protestant alliance, at Wolgast. Knevet’s historical allegory here unites the misfortunes of Gustavus Adolphus and of the Protestant alliance in northern Europe more broadly: riven by ambition and internal divisions both political and economic, between 1628 and 1629 the fortunes of Protestant princes across Europe were at a decided low. 16.8 ouerlay] overburden, overwhelm.

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17.5 hold them tacke] hold his ground against them. See OED, ‘tack’, n.1 , 11. 17.5 play] To hold an enemy force ‘in play’ is to keep it engaged, and by thus engaging it to delay and distract it. See OED, ‘play’, n., 3b. Stanzas 18-22] The advent of the British Prince, Arthur, seems to suggest that Knevet saw England’s role as a central one in the revitalization of Protestant fortunes during the Thirty Years’ War. Probably the most that can be said for Charles I’s involvement, between 1629 and 1630, though, is that he sent his ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe (1581-1644), to participate in the negotiations that led to Gustavus Adolphus’ conclusion of his Polish campaign. Roe was instrumental in disengaging the Swedish king from Livonia and the Prussian coast, and redirecting his energies to German conflicts – though the French emissary Hercule de Charnacé, probably played a more central role. Together, Roe and Charnacé convinced Gustavus Adolphus and Sigismund to sign the Treaty of Altmark (1629), which gave Sweden control over the province of Livonia, but returned most of captured Prussia to Polish sovereignty. Crucially, however, the treaty also granted to Sweden, for six years, all tolls on Baltic shipping in both Prussia and Poland – a lucrative source of income that, the negotiators hoped, would finance the forthcoming Swedish campaigns in Germany. 18.3 with speare in rest] with his lance lowered and fixed in his armor, ready for battle. 18.6 kenn’d] perceived, knew. 18.8 moe] more (in number). 20.2 that same purple element] blood. 20.7 curiasses] breast- and back-plates. 21.2 parly] negotiation under truce. 21.3 rampires] ramparts. 21.3 ports] gates. 21.3 gain’d] overcome, won. 21.4 Bulwarkes] fortifications. 22.2 the fountaine of all liuely heate] the heart. Cf. William Harvey, Two Anatomical Exercitations Concerning the Circulation of the Blood (1653), p. 79: I will say and propound it without demonstration, (with the leave of most learned men, and reverence to antiquity) that the heart, as it is the beginning of all things in the body, the spring, fountain, and first causer of life, is so to be taken, as being joynd, together with the veins, and all the arteries, and the blood which is contained in them’. 22.6 The Brittish Prince] Prince Arthur. 22.7 dreary] doleful. 22.8-9] There are no obvious historical connections between Gustavus Adolphus (Callimachus) and Prince Arthur (England, or perhaps its kings James VI and I and Charles I) before the Swedish king’s entrance into the Thirty Years’ War in 1630. Knevet may imagine them as fellow[s] ... in armes simply because they shared the Protestant faith. Stanzas 23-36] This episode, in which Panarete arrives and restores the wounded Callimachus to health, closely imitates Belphoebe’s discovery and cure of the squire Timias in FQ, 3.5.27-41. In terms of the historical allegory, Knevet’s interest appears to lie in Panarete’s divine resuscitation of the much-tarnished career of Gustavus Adolphus. Using a medicine described only as a gift from

heauen aboue (29.3), Panarete reinvigorates the knight and sets him back on his quest. The years 1629-1630 saw Gustavus Adolphus leave his dynastic and national interests behind, and take up the banner of the Protestant alliance in Europe. Panarete’s intervention thus seems to offer Callimachus (like Gustavus Adolphus) a kind of baptismal healing, purifying him from the mistakes of his past and readying him for the godly struggle to come. 23.3 the Goddesse of the woods] Diana. 23.3 dight] dressed. 23.4 chaplet] flowery garland. 23.6 caule] tight, net cap. 23.8 zone] girdle or belt (from Gr. ζώνη). 23.9 dainty corps] delicate body. Stanza 24] cf. Spenser’s description of Belphoebe in FQ, 2.3.26-27. 24.1 silken bases] silk skirts. 24.2 buskins] low boots. 24.2 cordouane] Spanish leather. 24.3 Empaled] bordered, edged. 24.5 keene] sharp. 24.6 flexile eugh] pliant yew. Yew is well known to joiners and greenwood carpenters for its flexibility; cf. FQ, 1.1.9.4. 24.7 of wild beasts ydrad] feared by wild animals. 24.8 Cinthia] Diana, goddess of chastity and the hunt. 24.9 arrayd] dressed, turned out. 25.4 amate] dismay. 25.7 dole] sorrow, grief. 25.9 Since bootles ... want might] ‘because profitless grief is powerless to undo the ill fortune that caused it’. 26.1 fatall spinsters] The Parcae, or Fates: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. They were conventionally figured as spinning, drawing, and cutting the thread of life. Knevet probably intended the pun in ‘spinsters’. On the Fates see Conti, Mythologiae, 3.6. 26.2 distaffe] a cleft staff about the length of an arm, around which wool or flax was wound ready for spinning. During spinning the material was released from the distaff, spun, and rewound around the spindle. 26.6 poison blew] One of the first indications of the onset of gangrene is a blue, and quickly blueblack, colour to the wound and surrounding skin. In cases of wet gangrene, in which the moist perfusion of bacteria in the wound and skin presents an immediate danger to life, the affected limb must be amputated. Panarete’s cure achieves heavenly results. 26.8 Abateing] reducing. 26.9 clodders] clots, curdled clumps. 27.3-4 No Sanicle, or bitter Centory] Of the spotted sanicle, John Parkinson (Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, 1629) says only that ‘the name imposed on these plants doe certainly assure vs of their vertues, from the first founders, that they are great healers, and from their taste, that they are great binders.’ (p. 231). Gerard (Herball, 1633, p. 949) notes that sanicle ‘is good to heale wounds’, and that ‘foule and filthy vlcers be cured by being bathed therewith’. He writes of centory that ‘Pliny reciting the words of Theophrastus, doth in his twenty fifth booke and fourth chapter write, that they were found out by Chiron the Centaure, and syrnamed Centauria. Also affirming the same thing in his sixth chapter (where he more largely expoundeth both the Centauries) hee repeateth them to be found out by Chiron: and thereupon he addeth, that both of them are named Chironia. Of some

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 3

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it is reported, That the said Chiron was cured therewith of a wound in his foot, that was made with an arrow that fell vpon it when he was entertaining Hercules into his house; whereupon it was called Chironium’ (p. 546). 27.6 no diuine Panacæan iuyce] A panace or panacea is a plant or medicine with universal healing powers; the word comes from Gr. παν- (‘all’), and ἄϰος (‘cure’). This episode may allude to that of Timias and Belphoebe in FQ, 3.5. When Belphoebe finds Timias wounded, she departs into the wood ‘to seeke for hearbes, that mote him remedy’ (3.5.32.2); Spenser does not reveal the identity of the salve she retrieves, but suggests that it might have been ‘diuine Tobacco [...] | Or Panachæa, or Polygony’ (3.5.32.6-7). 27.8 soueraigne Achillæa] Yarrow, and especially the Achilles yarrow, were thought to be good for healing wounds: ‘it stancheth bloud in any part of the body’, reports Gerard, Herball (1633), p. 1073, who also notes that ‘this plant Achillea is thought to be the very same wherewith Achilles cured the wounds of his souldiers’ (p. 1074). 28.1 fomentation] The application of a warmed, medicinal flannel or other cloth to the skin, to stimulate (‘foment’) the blood and humours; the dressing so applied. 28.2 balsame] healing balm. 28.2 weapon-salue] ‘An ointment superstitiously believed to heal a wound by sympathetic agency when applied to the weapon by which the wound was made’ (OED). 28.2 amulet] a charmed object worn or carried about the body as a preservative. 28.5 violl] vial, small bottle. 28.6 Celidony] From L. caelum, ‘heaven’ and donum, ‘gift’. Knevet distinguishes it from celandine (‘Chelidony’), sometimes called ‘celidony’ after its L. name chelidonium minus; see Gerard, Herball (1633), p. 816. 28.6 cordiall] restorative medicine, stimulant. 28.7 quintessence] refined distillation, pure extract. 29.9 confection] medicinal compound. Stanza 30] A common and much varied epic simile. For analogues in Spenser, see e.g. FQ, 2.7.1, 3.4.53, and 6.4.1, and Amoretti, 34. 30.2 vncouth] unknown, unfamiliar. 30.4 vnsensibly] imperceptibly (i.e. by minutely gradual degrees). 31.6 fancy, intellect, and memory] The fancy, or fantasy, roughly corresponds to what loosely call the imagination. For early modern metaphysicians, it served the intellect and memory by supplying them with materials on which to work. Cf. 7.8.29.4n., 8.5.5-8n. 32.3 kind conges] courteous bowing. 32.6 Panarete] From Gr. παν- (‘all’, ‘every’) and ἀρήτη (‘virtue’): a Dame [...] of sundry vertues (line 7). 33.4 curveate] leap. 33.5 Vnmeete t’affront] not yet ready to encounter. 33.8 boscages] groves or woody thickets. 34.1 arduous brow] lofty, steep summit. 34.4 anfract’ous] i.e. anfractuous, or winding, turning. 35.1 launds] lawns. 35.2 Myrrha ... offence] Myrrh is an aromatic gum exuded by trees native to the middle east and north Africa, used in incense and perfumes. Ovid recounts (Met., 10.298-502) the incestuous love of Myrrha for her father Cinyras. The similarity between the name of

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his kingdom, Panchaia, and the ‘Panacæan iuyce’ (8.2.27.6 above) may have suggested the myth of Myrrha’s guilty transformation. 35.3 aromaticke Cassia] A shrub that, like cinnamon, has a fragrant bark. It is often paired with myrrh, as by Milton, Paradise Lost, 5.292-94. 35.5 frankincense] an anciently cultivated aromatic resin. 35.6-9] Gerard records in his Herball (1633) that ‘there is neither grasse, weeds, nor any other herbes growing’ under the Cloue-tree, ‘by reason the tree draweth vnto it selfe for his nourishment all the moisture of the earth a great circuit round about, so that nothing can there grow for want of moisture’. He is also probably Knevet’s source for the claim that clove trees ‘continue bearing [fruit] for an hundred yeares together’ (p. 1535). 35.7 vnder plants] plants that grow beneath it. 36.1 The Date-tree ... Sol to view] Gerard, Herball (1633), p. 1517, records that he was unable to cultivate a date tree in his garden in England, due to the coldness of the climate. 36.3 The wondrous vsefull Baratha] ‘Now let vs speake of a tree, that doth much resemble the Date tree, and is no less worthie of wonder then it, because it serueth for bread, wine, oyle, and vineger. This tree is called by the Arabians (Baratha)’. Pierre de la Primaudaye, The French Academie (1618), p. 800. 36.6 Oliues that doe sharpen appetite] As Gerard writes, olives ‘do dry vp the ouermuch moisture of the stomacke, they remoue the loathing of meate, stirre vp an appetite’. Herball (1633), p. 1393. 36.7 Pomegranates whom noisome creatures feare] Pliny’s Natural History, 23.57-61 lists a number of properties of the pomegranate, including its noxiousness to gnats and worms, its effect against the venom of scorpions, and its effect upon snakes: ‘Whoseoeuer carieth in his hand a branch of the Pomgranat tree, shall soone chase away any serpents’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), ii, p. 165.

Canto 3 1.1 Montplaisant] From Fr. mont (‘mount’) and plaisant (‘pleasant, fair’). Classical analogues abound, including Olympus, home of the gods, and Venus’ retreats of Cytheron and Acidale (the latter of which Spenser describes as a mountain paradise at FQ, 6.10.6-9). 1.1 yclept] called. 1.2 beside] in comparison. 1.4 cold Boreas] the north wind. 1.4 bestrowe] scatter about. 1.5 wat’ry confects] Perhaps ‘precipitation’; confect is derived from the past participle of the L. conficere, ‘to put together, make up, compound’. This word does not appear to be used elsewhere in a similar sense. It was probably suggested by William Fulke’s theory of imperfect or compound (‘confected’) meteors, including rain, hail, sleet, etc.; see next note. 1.6-7 the middle Region ... flow] The title of William Fulke’s Elizabethan treatise on meteors gives a good sense of the expansive range of the term ‘meteor’ in the period: A Goodly Gallerye with a most Pleasaunt

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Prospect, into the Garden of Naturall Contemplation, to Behold the Naturall Causes of all Kynde of Meteors, as wel Fyery and Ayery, as Watry and Earthly, of whiche Sort be Blasing Sterres, Shooting Starres, Flames in the Ayre, &c. Thonder, Lightning, Earthquakes, &c. Rayne Dewe, Snowe, Cloudes, Springes &c. Stones, Metalles, Earthes &c. to the Glory of God, and the Profit of his Creaturs (1563). Knevet’s account of meteorological phenomena in this stanza seems to be wholly derived from Fulke’s treatise. Fulke divides the air into three regions: ‘the ayer is diuided into thre regions, the hyghest, the midle and the lowest. The hyghest, because it is next to the region of the fier, is exceading hoate: the lowest being next the earth and the waters, is temperat, & by repercussion or striking back of the sunne beames waxeth hoate, & by absence of them is made colde, being subiect to Wynter and Sommer. The midle region of the ayre, is always exceading cold’ (f. 5v). Because of its cold temperature, the middle region is the site of the ‘grosse and thicke’ water vapors that generate clouds, mists, and rains. Knevet seems to imagine his paradise situated just above this cold region – shielded from its cold, but still participating in the wet meteors (mists, fine rain, etc.) that, like a soft (di)stillation of the humid air, will keep its growth vigorous and lush. 2.1-5] Paraphrasing Ovid’s account of the golden age, Met., 1.101-02. 2.1 coulter] the vertical blade fixed to a plow, used to break up the soil in farming. 2.5 Without expence ... toile] without expenditure of effort (‘trauell’) or any work. 2.6 meagre chappes] lean cheeks. 2.8 pestilence ... sinne] Before the advent of epidemiology, occasional outbreaks of pestilence – in crops, animals, and human populations – were thought to be divine punishments for human sins. 3.3 brabbleing] cavilling, squabbling. 3.4 couine] collusion, conspiracy. 3.7 exoticke supplement] supply from foreign lands. 3.9 in their proper limits] within their own borders. 4.1 the superiour Bodyes] The sun and stars, considered (as by Fulke; see 8.3.1.6-7n., above) to be the cause of malign influences and diseases on earth. 4.5-6 when the date’s exact, | Of humane life] when the allotted span of an individual’s life has been completed. 4.7 transact] translate, drive across (usage unattested elsewhere). 5.5 frequent] crowding. 5.6 with sand-bagges ... combateing] practising hand-to-hand fighting skills, using sandbags. 5.8 pamperd] well fed and groomed. 5.9 Quintaine] A post or board set up as a target for tilting practice. Stanzas 7-8] At Panarete’s request, Callimachus here narrates the content of The Faerie Queene (doubtless in epitome). The history of Redcrosse’s quest against the dragon in Eden is given in Book 1; that of Guyon’s adventure against the enchantress Acrasia in the Bower of Bliss is the matter of Book 2; Britomart sets out on her quest to find Artegall in Book 3, continues throughout Book 4, and meets him in Book 5; Book 5 gives the history of Artegall’s quest to liberate the maiden Irena from the tyrant

Grantorto; while the achievement of the Blatant Beast is Calidore’s quest in Book 6. 7.1 recur’d] recovered, cured. 7.5 valiant Fay] faery knight. 7.6 ’gan] began. 7.6 high desert] great worthiness. 8.2 enthrall] capture, imprison. 9.2-5] Redcrosse fights and overcomes the dragon in Eden in FQ, 1.11. 9.6 impe] offspring. 9.7 mickle] much, great. Stanza 10] Livy recorded in a lost work that during the first Punic War (264-241 B.C.), on the banks of the river Bagrada in Tunisia, the Roman general Regulus and his army encountered a serpent 120 feet long, which had swallowed whole men. They killed it with stones fired from war engines, dyeing the river purple with its blood. A summary of Livy’s (lost) account is given in Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings [Factorum et dictorum memorabilium], 1.8.ext.19. 10.1 darraine] maintain, wage. 11.4 seuen fiery crests] See 8.3.13.4 and n. below. 11.6 Python, Hydra] Python, a mythical serpent that guarded the oracle at Delphi, was killed by Apollo (see Apollodorus, Library, 1.4. The Lernean hydra was killed by Hercules, who had to burn the stumps of its many serpentine heads to prevent them from regenerating. He subsequently used its corrosive blood as venom to tip his arrows. For the whole history, see Apollodorus, Library, 2.5. 11.7 Tartarean marishes] the fens of hell. 12.4-5 His flaggy wings ... euer was] Echoing Spenser’s description of the dragon at FQ, 1.11.10.1-3: ‘His flaggy wings when forth he did display, | Were like two sayles, in which the hollow wynd | Is gathered full, and worketh speedy way’. 12.4 flaggy] flaglike, billowing. 12.5 Carrackes] large sailing ships, fitted either for trade or war. 13.4 seuen-headed Dragon] One of Spenser’s monsters, the beast on which Orgoglio rides at FQ, 1.7, also has seven heads. In this both Knevet’s and Spenser’s beasts are modelled on the seven-headed beast of Revelation 13, often taken to allude to the seven hills of Rome. Knevet’s identification of the dragon as Rome – that is, as the power of the Roman Catholic cause in Europe – is both more insistent and more persistenth than the occasional links Spenser draws between his dragon and papal/Spanish Catholic power. The link between the dragon and the Pope is one Knevet also makes in Stratiotikon, ll. 800-26; see esp. ll. 814-21, which describe the dragon’s support for a war to defeat the ‘Lyons of the North’: ‘The Dragon much did praise their readinesse, | And promis’d that the action he would blesse, | And vow’d he would be lib’rall of his crosses | To those braue soules, that durst aduenture losses | Of liues, or limmes, in that designement; and | If any chanc’d to fall, he would command | The Angels to transport him presently | To heauen, without a Purgatorie.’ 13.5 chappes] jaw, cheeks. 13.5 embru’d] steeped, drenched. 14.4 munite] defend, fortify. 14.5 Those Cinque Portes] Five coastal towns in the south of England – Hastings, Hythe, New Romney, Dover, and Sandwich – were in the

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 3

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twelfth century granted special trading and other privileges, in return for contributing to naval defences against France. The status of the Cinque Ports had by the turn of the seventeenth century largely become ceremonial. The Cinque Ports played no major part in the repulse of the Spanish Armada in 1588, but Knevet uses them as a symbol of England’s naval defences. 15.3 Hellhounds] monster’s. The word hellhound was originally applied to Cerberus, the roaring canine defender of the Greek underworld; in the sixteenth century it was used to refer to other hellish, monstrous dogs, or more widely to monsters. 15.7 abraide] startled, terrified (?). This medieval verb was revived by Spenser in FQ, but only in the sense, ‘to waken, arouse, startle’. It seems only loosely suitable here. Stanza 16] Alexander the Great, ‘that Macedonian Heroe braue’, was said to have laid a garland at the grave of Achilles at Troy, and complained that he lacked a chronicler (or Quirister, line 4) to record his victories. See Plutarch, Life of Alexander, 15.4-5; and Arrian, Anabasis, 1.12. The illust’rous teares (line 3) are the embellishment of later writers. Cf. also 7.3.2.4, 7.7.8.6, 7.8.6.2, 7.8.35.8-9n., and 7.12.16.7 above. 17.3 haughty] lofty, proud. 17.3 swaged] softened, mollified. 17.4 swasions] perswasions. 17.9 dehort him] dissuade him, exhort him away. 18.1 adamantine] made of adamant, a mythical stone or mineral of unsurpassed hardness. 18.5 acquist] gain, profit. 18.7 Leucippes story] Leucippe’s name comes from Gr. λευϰός (‘clear’), and ἵππος (‘horse’). Her history is roughly based on the main events in the life of Elizabeth (1596-1662), daughter of James VI and I, and from 1613 wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine. The Gr. word λεύϰιππος (‘riding a white horse’) is an epithet used of Persephone (see Pindar, Olympian Odes, 6.95), who like Elizabeth Stuart – whose brief reign as Queen of Bohemia in 1619 earned her the soubriquet ‘the Winter Queen’ – only rules (in Hades, as the consort of Pluto) during the winter. 19.1 Irenax] From Gr. εἰρήνη (‘peace’), plus the L. suffix –ax, usually applied to verb stems to create adjectival forms that imply capacity for the action of the verb (e.g. audere, ‘to dare’, creates audax, ‘daring’). In the historical allegory of the poem, Irenax shadows James VI and I, who cultivated a reputation as peacemaker in the hostile religious politics of northern Europe during the first three decades of the seventeenth century. Like Elizabeth before him, James was celebrated for his skill in languages and his achievements as a poet. 19.3 Neustrian shore] Neustria was originally the name given to the western part of the Frankish kingdom that stretched from the Atlantic coast eastward past the Rhine, and from the Pyrenees north to the English Channel. The land ‘front[ing] the Neustrian shore’ must thus be the south of England. 19.4 lawes ... libertyes] By their prerogative early modern monarchs granted to some of their subjects exemptions from certain

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laws, or from the jurisdiction of the common law generally; these exemptions, and the places where they obtained, were known as libertyes. 20.1-3 Yea many Pagan ... entertaine] Knevet slightly massages James’ history. While no doubt many in England would have protested at a Catholic (Pagan) match for his daughter Elizabeth – as they did at the eventual marriage of Charles to Henrietta Maria – James’s irenicism trumped his Protestant loyalties. 20.5 Sir Riobell] ‘Beautiful river’, from Sp. rio, ‘river’, and bello, ‘beautiful’. He is named for the Rhine, the river running through the palatinate of Frederick V, Count of the Palatinate of the Rhine. 20.8 His mayden armes] the weapons of his newly-granted knighthood. 20.9 did beare the prize away] won the acclaim and honour for the day’s best fighting. 21.8 Forrest blacke] These words suggest the Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) in southern Germany, but the episode as a whole seems to reflect incidents in Frederick V’s contest with Archduke Ferdinand over Bohemia – also in Knevet’s day a densely forested country; cf. 8.3.22-29n. below. Stanzas 22-29] The departure of Riobell and Leucippe from Irenax’s court, and their immediate encounter with Aquilino and Sylvia, allegorizes the unhappy events in the life of Frederick and Elizabeth after their marriage. At the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II in 1612, the kingdom of Bohemia was left without a ruler. The Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand of Styria was elected King of Bohemia in 1617, a stepping-stone on his way to election as Holy Roman Emperor (as Ferdinand II) in 1619. Frederick led the Protestant revolt against Catholic Ferdinand when he was elected rival King of Bohemia in November 1619, but his short reign (as ‘Winter King’) came to an end at the battle of the White Mountain in November 1620. In Knevet’s narrative, Sylvia (the ‘woodland’ country of Bohemia) is oppressed by the Habsburg giant Aquilino (distinguished by the eagles – L. aquilae – on the arms and insignia of the Holy Roman Empire). To her rescue come Riobell and Leucippe, but after the promise of success, Riobell is left wounded and Sylvia carried off. The ‘King’ mentioned in 8.2.29 memorializes Rudolf II, or perhaps the line of native Bohemian kings that ended with his death. 22.3 hale] drag along. 22.5 no whit] not at all. 22.9 bested] beset 23.1 irefull teene] great anger. 23.3 The Dame holds up] Aquilino here uses his maiden victim as a hostage or shield. 23.8 in fine] at last. 23.8 him at such vantage gatt] put him at such a disadvantage. 23.9 maugre] despite. 23.9 shagged] shaggy, hairy. 24.2 tender buckler] Sylvia, the maiden he has been using as a shield (‘buckler’). 24.3 swound] faint. 24.4 did such pageants play] put in such a command performance. 24.6 hold him tacke] hold his ground against him. 25.5 His target ... rent] ‘his fine shield was destroyed’.

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26.1 plight] condition. 26.3 So lightly ... her Knight] she did not love Sir Riobell so lightly. 26.7 slake] remit, abate. 26.8 such weake passe] such a weak state. 26.9 offend] attack, hurt. 27.4 Gull] fool, simpleton. 27.7 More satisfactiue vengeance] more gratifying revenge. 27.8 so kind] That is, to kill Riobell would end his suffering; to let him live in slavery will prolong it. 28.2 feere] companion, partner. 28.3 condiscend] agree, allow. 28.8 Syluia] From L. silva, ‘wood, forest’. 29.1 the onely Daughter to a King] A Spenserian echo: cf. the beginning of Una’s narration of her history to Prince Arthur in FQ, 1.7.43. 29.8 This giant Aquilino] From L. aquilinus, ‘like an eagle’, from aquila, ‘eagle’. 30.4 a Knight] Artegall, knight of justice and hero of Book 5 of The Faerie Queene, named at 8.3.37.4 below. In his intervention into Aquilino’s defeat of Riobell, Arthegall may represent James’s attempt to negotiate between the claimants to the Bohemian throne in 1619. James dispatched James Hay, Viscount Doncaster, to deal between Ferdinand (and Catholic Habsburg interests) and Frederick (and the Protestant princes of northern Europe whom, as leader of the Protestant Union, he represented). Though he met Ferdinand in Salzburg in 1619, Hay’s embassy failed when Frederick accepted the crown of Bohemia in November of that year. 31.1 A Lady] Malfida, named at 8.3.39.6 below. 31.1 costly purple] Malfida’s costly purple vestment associates her with the ‘purple pall’ worn by Duessa in FQ, 1.7.16 – given her by Orgoglio, and a key part of her guise as the scarlet whore of Revelation, who is also dressed in purple. As the gloss in the Geneva Bible (1560) to Revelation 17.3 makes clear, the whore of Babylon is ‘the newe Rome, which is the Papistrie, whose crueltie and bloodsheding is declared by scarlet’. 31.4 assay] attack, make trial of. 31.8 plight] case, condition. Stanzas 32-34] Aquilino’s subtlety is apparent in that, recognizing Artegall’s nobility by his garbe (32.2), he appeals to his honour: not only does he accuse Riobell of attacking him while unarmed, but cloaks his outrages by appealing to the natural law principle of self-defence. The historical allegorization of the Catholic seizure of Bohemia continues: Ferdinand defended his victory against Frederick at the White Mountain by claiming his status as incumbent king: Sylvia (Bohemia) was already his, and the nationalist, Protestant rebels (a dangerous presence in the name ‘Riobell’) nothing more than dishonorable, grasping pretenders. 32.5 Vouchsafe ... to mee] condescend to listen to me, permit me to speak. 32.6 whilere] a while since, lately. 32.8 liefest] dearest. 33.2 alarmes] sudden or surprise attacks. 34.3 heauen so seconded my innocence] Aquilio claims that god has upheld his right, adding further credibility to his story. 34.7 quell] kill, defeat utterly.

35.5 reaue] steal, rob. 35.8 feere] companion, partner. 35.8 redound] return, occur. 35.9 vip’rous malice] The natural viciousness of the viper was proverbial in the Renaissance, based on the (mistaken) belief that baby vipers ate their way out of their mother’s womb. Cf. ‘Libidinis Effecta’ from Henry Peacham’s Minerva Britanna (1612), p. 152: ‘The Viper when he doth engender, loe, | Thus downe the females throate, doth put his head, | Which of she bites, as learned Authours show, | And ne’re conceiues, before the male be dead: | Eke when she forth, her poisonous broode doth send, | Her young ones likewise, bring her to her end.’ 36.1 Faitour] impostor. 36.3 fraught full of bale] fully laden with sorrow and grief. 36.8 bestad] beset (a Spenserianism). 37.2 in an extasy] unconscious, or out of his mind in pain. 37.3 glosed leasings] forged lies. 37.3 refell] refute. 37.4-9] Artegall acknowledges in this stanza a gap between the evidence (Though proofes wee want, line 7) and his suspicions about Aquilino’s character. The inward nature of Artegall’s suspicions reflects the gap between seventeenth-century common law justice – which depended on demonstrable facts introduced into evidence – and the equitable justice that a prince or his deputy (e.g. the chancellor) could provide. 37.7 palpably] manifestly. 37.8 remonstrance ... plea] A remonstrance is a formal written statement, usually submitted to a magistrate or monarch, outlining grievances and demanding redress. A plea is either used of a suit or action at law, or to describe a formal statement of the facts of a case made on behalf of one or the other parties to a lawsuit. It is fitting that Artegall, the knight of justice in FQ, Book 5, should treat Aquilino’s representations as a legal defence, and use terms of legal process to describe them. 38.5-9 For both ... diadems] Artegall accuses Aquilino of using (specious) religious arguments to justify unlawful meddling in political affairs. 38.6 Invited by religous theoremes] prompted or motivated by religious convictions. 38.7 Doe meritorious hold it] consider it worthy of reward (from God); hence, consider it a religious duty. 38.9 couine] covin, conspiracy, collusive fraud. 39.4 burthen] burden (i.e. Riobell). 39.6 false Malfida] On Malfida, see 7.1.5.5n. above. As elsewhere in the Supplement, she takes up the rich mantle left by the execution of Duessa in FQ, 5.9.50-5.10.4, and represents the power of Catholic interests in Europe. 39.8 wile] device, trick. Lavender (p. 835) suggests that this ‘wile’ may represent ongoing negotiations between James and count of Gondomar, Spanish ambassador to the English court, over a potential Catholic match for Charles (cf. 7.9.11n. above). In fact, Gondomar held out to James the prospect of a greater prize: the leverage of Philip III, King of Spain, against the continental Habsburgs, and a swift end to the antagonism of Catholic and Protestant interests over the crown of Bohemia. It may have been a real offer, but the events of 16191620 ended prospects for Spanish intervention.

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 4

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40.2 asswage] mollify, pacify. 40.9 disfurnish’d] deprived. 41.1 alleadg’d] claimed; legal language continues to define the character of this encounter. 41.3 wight] person. 41.3 by any signe] by any evidence. Malfida’s argument is a reasonable one, and points to the inherent evidentiary limitations besetting a legal system based on the trial of fact: for all that Artegall can prove, Aquilino is innocent of his suspicions. 41.6-9 She sayd ... was due] Malfida’s hypocrisy is evident in that, having discounted Artegall’s attempt to view Aquilino’s present claims within the larger context of his known character and behaviour, she immediately provides a negative character witness for Riobell. 41.6 eke] also. 42.2 litigious minion] contentious underling; but minion can also in writing of this period mean ‘paramour’. 42.7 stand vpon] insist upon, urge. 43.3 without controule] unfettered, free of restraining power. 43.5 perplexed much in mind] It is fitting that Artegall should depart troubled in his mind, because it was Aquilino’s mind that he had tried, and failed, to judge. This episode as a whole seems to refer loosely to Artegall’s encounter with the giant with the scales, in FQ, 5.2.29-54, where Artegall has an argument with another giant on roughly similar principles. In that case, Artegall argues that ‘in the mind the doome of right must bee’ (FQ, 5.2.47.6), and concludes the episode by insisting on the pre-eminence of equitable over merely lawful justice. Here by contrast Artegall is deceived of his equitable attempt to enquire further into the apparent circumstances of Aquilino’s situation, finding that the mind’s ‘doome of right’ is limited by the constraints imposed by evidence: because Riobell cannot offer any testimony, Aquilino’s and Malfida’s account remains uncontested. Artegall’s continuing association with Malfida, as the canto ends, alludes to the popular belief among militant Protestants in England that James had by 1619 fallen under the sway of a pro-Catholic European policy – or, at best, a passive Protestantism that was, in effect, no better. 43.7 his hands did daily bind] Knevet alludes to the famous medieval maxim, popularized by political theorists like the influential Jean Bodin (author of the 1576 Six livres de la République), that the sovereign does not bind his hands – that is, absolute legal power (or sovereignty) remains unfettered and ‘without controule’ (line 3). The irony of this stanza is, of course, that it is Aquilino who departs with sovereignty here, and not Artegall, the knight of justice. 43.9 fone] foes, enemies (an archaic plural form).

Canto 4 1.2 auaile] prove effective or forceful. 1.3 to perfections] to completion. 1.4 certes] certainly. 1.6 To patch a Lions skinne, with Foxes case] The lion was the usual fabular type for fortitude, and the fox for cunning. In the context of Knevet’s overall Spenserian project, it seems likely

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that this line may nod to Spenser’s own beast fable, Mother Hubberds Tale, which deals with a fox’s crafty appropriation of a regal lion’s skin. 1.7 derogates from] degenerates from. 1.7 reall] (disyllabic). 2.1 the Sonne of Telamon] Ajax, often known in Homer as Telamonian Ajax, or Ajax son of Telamon, in order to distinguish him from Ajax son of Oileus. After Achilles’ death in the war, Ajax vied with Odysseus for Achilles’ arms; when he was passed over, he flew into a rage and, in his madness, eventually killed himself. Homer alludes only subtly to the rash oafishness that Shakespeare caricatures in Troilus and Cressida. Knevet may also have been thinking of Sophocles’ tragedy Ajax, which centres on the hero’s madness and suicide. 2.6 that night-walkeing sly Dulychian Scout] The context suggests that Knevet means Odysseus, who with Diomedes undertakes a nightraid on the Trojans in the Iliad, 10.254-579. Knevet appears to call Odysseus a ‘Dulychian’ after the island of Doliche, one of the Ionian islands subject to Ithaca. Doliche’s king, Meges, led 40 ships to Troy (see Iliad, 2.625). Knevet also uses the epithet, again of Odysseus, in Stratiotikon, l. 739, and the reference is used at least twice in the Odyssey – once of Mulius, herald of Amphinomus, one of Penelope’s suitors (18.424); and once of Odysseus himself, of the shore on which he landed after returning (in disguise) to Ithaca (19.292). Stanza 3] Hector (line 1) leads the Trojans in a rout of the Greek army in Book 8 of Homer’s Iliad. The sides on this day’s fighting are evenly matched until midday: ‘when the sun had bestrode mid heaven, then it was that the Father lifted up his golden scales, and set in them two fates of grievous death, one for the horse-taming Trojans, and one for the bronze-clad Achaeans; then he grasped the balance by the middle and raised it, and down sank the day of doom of the Achaeans’ (8.68-72). Having driven the Greeks to their ships, Hector later addresses his forces: ‘now I thought to destroy the ships and all the Achaeans, and so return back again to windy Ilios; but darkness came on before that might be’ (8.498-99). Knevet’s allusion to Homer thus carefully distinguishes Hector, the day-fighter, from Odysseus, the night-walker. In the Iliad, Hector later provokes Achilles’ vengeance when he kills Achilles’ companion, Patroclus; the epic reaches its climax (22.247-404) in their combat, in which the proud and vengeful Achilles prevails. 3.3 rampe] rear raging; rush about furiously. Stanza 4] A reference to Alexander’s most famous victory over the Persian king Darius in September 331 BC. His advisors were astonished by the size of Darius’ host, and urged him to attack the Persians by night, but he refused and defeated them by day instead (Plutarch, Life of Alexander, 31.4-8). There may be an irony here, implicit perhaps in the earlier condemnation of Odysseus (see 8.4.2.6n. above): Plutarch also records an earlier episode in Alexander’s career, during the siege of Tyre, when Alexander makes a night excursion against the Arabians who lived

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around Mt Antilibanus. At one point he attacks the Arabian camp alone, kills a few soldiers, and steals their fire – fire which he and his band then propagate, and use to scare many of the rest of the enemy away. (Life of Alexander, 24.6-8). 4.2 camisade] night attack. This word, from Sp. camisa, ‘shirt’, literally means ‘an attack in one’s shirt’, because soldiers wore shirts over their armour during nocturnal attacks, in order that they might recognize one another more easily. 5.1-2 Braue were ... Exploded were] ‘Those ancient wars were honorable, when ignoble stratagems were held in contempt’. 5.2 fulmineous shot] thunderous bullet or cannon. 5.3 Tartarean abysse] hell or Hades (here a metonymy for the deep earth in which iron ore is mined). 5.6 Engenier] someone who builds or operates military attack engines. 5.7 fireworkes ... granadoes] Combustible bombs and projectiles (e.g. grenades), and the war machines that throw them. 5.8-9 artificiall fiery earthquakes ... powder-belly’d mines] Pioneers were employed to dig pits and trenches beneath enemy fortifications, which were then packed with gunpowder and blown up. Stanza 6] Virgil relates the history of Salmoneus (line 1) in the Aeneid, 6.585-94. Aeneas finds Salmoneus in Hades, punished alongside the Titans for having imitated Jove’s thunder. Cf. 7.2.30.1 and n. above. 6.6 Bertoldo ... Monke] Berthold Schwarz, a Franciscan friar living in Germany (probably in or near Freiburg) in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. He is credited with the discovery of gunpowder, and by some with the development of the first gun or cannon (murther-spitteing trunke, line 8). Unlike Salmoneus, Berthold was not punished by the gods for his discovery. Knevet uses the same words on the same subject in Stratiotikon, when he remembers a time in military history ‘before the Munke, | Inuented had his murther-spitting trunke; | That plague of valour, height of Hels dispite’ (ll. 284-86). The marginal annotation to this passage in Stratiotikon reads: ‘Bertoldus Swartz inuented Gunnes, An. Dom. 1380. They were first vsed by the Venetians’. 7.1 whether] whither, to where. 7.5 Insidious leasings] wily or cunning lies. 8.3 though] even if. 8.5 Confederates] allies. 8.6 Certes] certainly. 8.6 guerdon] reward. 8.7 Synon] Aeneas recounts the perfidy of the Greek Sinon in Aeneid, 2.57-198. Feigning to have been expelled from the Greek host, Sinon comes to the Trojans as a suppliant and is received into the city by Priam. He persuades Priam to admit the Trojan horse into the city, but proves a double-agent when a company of Greek heroes issues from the horse by night, and begins the slaughter of the city. Sinon betrayed Troy vnder religions cloke (line 9) inasmuch as his story – ratified by oaths sworn on the gods – included a prophecy of divine favour for the Trojans if only they could bring the

horse within their city walls. 8.8 The glory of the East] Troy, the city betrayed by Sinon. Stanza 9] In ‘A Letter of the Authors ... to Sir Walter Raleigh’ – an explanatory note about FQ printed in the 1590 edition of the poem – Spenser reveals that most (if not all) of the poem’s quests begin in the court of Gloriana, during a feast at which she assigns knights to adventures in response to petitions presented by suppliants. Knevet here writes Corleon’s quest into the Spenserian structure, and by Corleon’s eventual failure (see 8.4.10-12 below) suggests his own importance as Spenser’s successor. 9.3-4 Riobells swift Dwarfe ... reherse] The appearance of Riobell’s envoy recalls the visit to James’s court of Christopher, Count of Dohna, Frederick V’s English envoy. Dohna at length persuaded James, in 1620, to allow him to recruit an English force under the leadership of Sir Horace Vere, which set sail for the continent in July that year. Cf. 7.5.9.4 and n. above. 9.6 fact] deed. 9.7 his sute ... preferres] advances his petition. 9.9 protract] delay. 10.1 hardy Corleon] From Fr. coeur, ‘heart’, and leon, ‘lion’. In Corleon’s attempt to aid Leucippe Knevet allegorizes the history of Sir Horace Vere (1565-1635), a celebrated English soldier with considerable experience fighting in the Dutch wars, who was handpicked to lead an English force in support of Frederick V in 1620. After Frederick’s defeat near Prague in November 1620, the Protestant Evangelical Union – a federation of supporters from across northern Europe – more or less abandoned his cause, and Vere and the English were left exposed. He was ultimately defeated by the imperial general Tilly (with overwhelming force) at Mannheim in September 1622 – though by this time he had fought a successful defensive action, and persuaded popular Protestant opinion in England of his heroic worth. 10.9 haberieon] sleeveless mailed coat. 10.9 d’onne] don (from ‘do on’, put on). 11.6 Did roue at randon] ranged freely. 11.6 Champaine] field, plain. 11.7 ouercharg’d] overpowered. 11.8 rencounter] encounter, collision. 11.9 swound] faint. 12.1 through ... perchance] perhaps as a result of his squire’s oversight. These lines reflect the fact that Vere’s defeat at Mannheim (see 8.4.10.1n. above) was none of his own fault, but the result of the withdrawal of his allies. 12.2 accoutered] equipped, furnished. 12.6 domineare] tyrannize, swagger. 13.5 Ere] before. 13.5 noisome] noxious, troublesome. 13.9 ygride] pierced through. 14.3 beray’d] stained, defiled 14.4 sauours contagious] infectious odours or stench. 14.5 Th’vnholesome element] the air. 14.9 panting] gasping, throbbing. 15.6 concocted] digested. 15.6 mawes] bellies. 15.7 cates] victuals, delicacies. 15.8-9 whatsoere ... his iawes] ‘whatsoever the dragon had touched with his paws or jaws was afterwards poisoned’. 16.5 seuen throtes] See 8.3.13.4n. above. 16.7-8 roreing tire, | Of Ordinance] thunderous volley of cannon.

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 4

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17.1 a cables length] About 100 fathoms, or a tenth of a seamile. 17.5-6 partly flyes, | And partly goes] Recalling Spenser’s dragon, which appears ‘halfe flying, and halfe footing in his hast’ to encounter Redcrosse (FQ, 1.11.8.2). Similarly, Pliny records (Natural History, 10.1) that the wings of the ostrich merely propel it along the ground: ‘For to this end onely hath Nature given them wings, euen to helpe and set them forward in their running: for otherwise, neither flie they in the aire, ne yet so much as rise and mount from the ground’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 270. 17.9 it booted not] it was no use or advantage. 18.2 yawneing chappes] gaping jaws. 18.8 Like to a poppy] The poppy’s opiate derivatives made it a byword for nodding drowsiness; cf. Du Bartas, Third Part of the First Day of the Second Weeke, l. 160: ‘Cold poysoning Poppie, ytching, drowsie, sad’. But the poppy’s large seed-head also makes it an obvious candidate for this comparison. Cf. also the ‘stalke’ of 8.4.19.8 below. 19.3 might and maine] all his force. 19.4 inconsiderate] heedless, rash. 19.6 y’slue] smote off, killed. 20.3 burganet] helmet. 20.7 rigid gripes] unyielding grasp. 20.7 nigh quell’d] nearly overcome, killed. 20.8 plated buckler] armoured shield. 20.9 And brus’d ... full sore] And bruised his head inside his helmet (from knocking it about). 21.1 such deadly thraldome to eschue] to evade fatal defeat. 21.4 targe] shield. 22.2 disanimate] dismay, discourage. 22.5 puissant] powerful. 22.8 beneath the pinion ... payes] strikes him at the shoulder of his wing. 23.1-2 of stirrage slow ... assists her not] slow, because of an adverse wind, to respond to changes in steering. If the prevailing wind and the ocean’s current work with opposed effect, a ship can become sitting prey for an attacking ship. 23.3 Galley] A low, single-deck ship, often driven by a combination of sails and oars. 23.4 tacklings] rigging. 23.4 volees hote] damaging barrages of artillery fire. 23.5 ‘twixt wind, and water] in that part of the ship’s side that lies between the low- and high-water marks, where damage from enemy cannon will be most dangerous (because, when the ship plunges or sits evenly on its keel, the damage will be submerged, causing the ship to take on water). 23.7 vpon her weather-gage] The weather-gage is a screen mounted to windward on the deck of a ship, placed to protect the helm and officers from bad weather. To ‘get the weather-gage’ on a ship, then, is to take up a position to windward that, by blocking the ship’s wind, leaves it prone to an attack. 24.5-6 vt’most date ... Expired] Cf. FQ, 4.3.1.1-3: ‘O why doe wretched men so much desire, | To draw their dayes vnto the vtmost date, | And doe not rather wish them soone expire’. 24.9 the full breadth ... neare] An acre was traditionally reckoned to be the area of land a pair of oxen could plough in a day; it was later limited by statute to a piece of land 4 by 44 poles in size (where a pole is equiva-

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lent to five and a half yards). The full breadth of an acre is thus four poles, or 22 yards. 25.6 extasy] unconsciousness, stupor. 25.7 poynant] sharp, piercing. 25.8 gorge] neck, throat. 26.1 Bastile] small fortress. 26.6 peale] a ringing of bells; a set of bells. 26.6 her fatall knell] The ominous tolling that portends the fall of the castle. 26.9 proper] own. 27.3 blent] blinded. 27.4 dint] blow (i.e. that which he struck in the dragon’s neck). Stanza 28] Jason, son of Aeson king of Iolcus (old Æsons valiant Sonne, line 1), led an expedition to Colchis to recover the golden fleece. The adventurers sailed on Jason’s ship, the Argo, and so were called Argonauts. The fullest account of the voyage is that of Apollonius Rhodius (an Alexandrian of the 3rd century BC), in his Greek poem the Argonautica. Knevet’s account of Jason’s return may be an amplification of a similar passage in Ovid, Met., 7.159-62. For Knevet’s wealthy spoiles adorn’d (line 3), cf. also Ovid’s ‘spolioque superbus’ [and proud of this spoil] (Met., 7.156). 28.9 welkin] sky. 29.2 brauely] richly, gloriously. 29.3 caparisons] saddletrappings. 29.4 bannerolls ... pennons] Banderols and pennons are small flags or ribbands, during tournaments usually fixed to knights’ lances or helmets. Plumes are ornamental feathers, also used for decoration. 29.6 targets ... deuice] shields painted with allegorical emblems. 29.7 diapere] wash with colours. 29.9 stoures] combats. This word was occasionally used by Spenser’s imitators to mean ‘occasion, place’. 30.1 oliue garlands] The olive was a symbol of peace. 30.2 timbrells lutes, and Orpharions] The Orpharion is a large relation of the lute and guitar, strung with doubled metal strings. Timbrell is another name for the tambourine. 30.3 sonnetts] Either sonnets, fourteen-line verses, here set to music and sung; or sennets, brief exclamations on shrill instruments (usually trumpets) used to signal arrivals and entrances, particularly in stage plays. 30.9 charrett] chariot. Stanzas 31-33] Knevet’s gem-lore is derived from Pierre de La Primaudaye’s The French Academie (1618), pp. 84752. Of the diamond, for example, La Primaudaye reports its reputation for purity and hardness before noting that, ‘beeing tied to the flesh of the left arme, it doth hinder and withstand the feares of night’ (p. 849). The emerald is said, ‘being drunke, [to] much resist poysons’, while the ruby ‘hath the propertie to quicken the spirit, and make it ioyfull’ (p. 849). La Primaudaye records that the sapphire ‘being drunke is profitable for melancholy people’ (p. 850), and of the amethyst he cites the opinion of Serapio that ‘the good iacinth keepeth men that beareth it out of the perill of thunder, and defendeth them from the plague’, though he is skeptical of both claims. The amethyst ‘is thought to hinder drunkennesse if it bee tyed to the nauell; and to stir vp dreames’ (p. 850). The crysolite, opal, topaz, agate, and turqoise La Primaudaye discusses in turn, in

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the following chapter (pp. 851-52), but he does not mention the jasper until much later (p. 856). 31.1 lawne] a fine linen, verging on netting. 31.2 purffled] bordered, (or more generally) ornamented. 31.4 plaites] pleats. 31.7 frette] wear away. 32.3 deface] destroy. 33.3 vertue rare] exceptional power. 34.1-2 twelue vertues ... Panarete adorne] Knevet presumably intends the ‘XII. Morall vertues’ promised by the subtitle of FQ, which in his ‘Letter of the Authors’ Spenser calls ‘priuate morall vertues’. 34.4 Psyche] ‘The most pleasaunt and delectable tale of the Marriage of Cupide and Psyches’ occupies chapter 22 of Lucius Apuleius’ The Golden Asse, trans. by William Adlington (1566) and often reprinted. Apuleius writes that, after her many trials, Psyche was delivered from Venus’ enmity and married to Cupid: ‘Incontinently after, Iupiter commaunded Mercurie to bring up Psiches the spouse of Cupide, into the pallayce of heauen. And then he toke a potte of immortalitie, and said: Holde Psyches and drinke to the ende thou maist be immortall, and that Cupide may be thine euerlastinge husbande’ (f. 63r). In Apuleius’ allegorical story, Psyche’s firstborn child is Pleasure. 34.4 impe] offspring, child. 34.7 to nullitye returne] return to insignificance (and mortality). 35.2 accoast] approach, address. 35.3 port] bearing, behaviour. 35.4 bountyhed] liberality. 35.9 vnmaske] reveal, discover. 36.1 both maskes, and Masquerades] Knevet appears to suggest a difference between the two, probably that between a formal, allegorical pageant (mask, i.e. masque), and a masked ball (Masquerade). 36.2 Braue tilts ... barriers] In a tilt or joust, two knights met with lances in opposed lanes, divided by a barrier fence, while knights fighting ‘at barriers’ duelled with short swords. A tourney or tournament was a larger staged combat, using blunted or bated weapons, involving many knights. 36.9 dilate] spread.

Canto 5

1.1 admirable] awe-inspiring. 1.6 well seated] favourably situated. 1.8 Dædalus] The most renowned inventor of the classical world, about whom many myths are told. For a summary synthesis of these traditions, see Conti, Mythologiae, 7.16. Cf. 7.9.34.4n. and 7.11.8.4-5n. above. 2.2 surpasse] excel. 2.3 Ichnographer] architectural draughtsman. 2.4 plotte] plan. 2.7 that great Architect] God. Cf. 7.5.13.3. Stanza 3] Cf. the description of Alma’s castle at FQ, 2.9.22, which also combines dimensions ‘partly circulare’, ‘part triangulare’, and part ‘quadrate’. Stanzas 4-12] Panarete’s three galleries correspond to the rooms of the ‘three honorable sages’ (Phantastes, the sage of philosophy, and Eumnestes) at FQ, 2.9.47-58.

4.3 Corinthian marble columnes] Corinthian columns, topped by capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls, are the most elaborate of the four major Greek orders, or styles (the other three are Tuscan, Doric, and Ionic, though a composite order – combining Ionic and Corinthian elements – was also widely used). The comparatively slender columns and ornate capitals were generally considered to be more effeminate than the squatter, thicker proportions of the other orders. Henry Wotton, in his Elements of Architecture (1624), calls the Tuscan ‘the rudest Pillar’ (p. 35), and says of the Doric it ‘is the grauest that hath beene receiued into ciuill vse, preseruing, in comparison of those that follow, a more Masculine Aspect’ (p. 35). The Ionic may ‘represent a kinde of Feminine slendernesse’ which has, according to Vitruvius, ‘much of the Matrone’ (p. 36); but the ‘Corinthian, is a Columne, lasciuiously decked like a Curtezane, and therein much participating (as all Inuentions doe) of the place where they were first borne: Corinthe hauing been withoiut controuersie one of the wantonest Townes in the world’ (p. 37). Stanzas 5-8] The first of Panarete’s galleries is the fantasy, seat of the imagination. This corresponds closely to Spenser’s representation of the room occupied by Phantastes in FQ, 2.9.49-52. Early modern theories of the soul and mind were broadly Aristotelian, and preserved many of the concepts and terms he had used to describe the soul’s faculties, operations, and objects. The imagination or fantasy (regularly shortened to ‘fancy’) was thought to serve both the reason and the will. In the account of Edward Reynoldes (A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soule of Man, 1640), ‘its assistance to the Vnderstanding, is principally in matter of Invention, readily to supply it with varietie of objects whereon to worke, as also to quicken and rayse the Minde with a kind of heat and rapterie proportionable in the inferior part of the Soule, to that which in the superior, Philosophers call Extasie; whereby it is possessed with such a strong delight in its proper object, as makes the motions thereof towards it, to be restlesse and impatient’ (pp. 18-9). Similarly, ‘the office of the Imagination to the Will, is to quicken, allure, and sharpen its desire towards some convenient object: for it often commeth to passe, that some plausible Fancie doth more prevaile with tender Wills, than a severe and sullen Argument, and hath more powerfull insinuations to perswade, than the peremptorinesse of Reason hath to command’ (p. 19). Reynoldes further shows how the imagination serves the mind by the ‘multiplicitie of Operations’ or thoughts, and the ‘abundance of Objects’ (pp. 22-23) that it presents to both the will and the reason, bound not only by forms that exist in nature, but enlarged by ‘Creation ... and new making of Objects; Composition, or new mixing them; and Translation, or new placing them: unto some of which three, will be reduced all Poeticall Fictions, fabulous Transmutations, high Metaphors, and Rhetoricall Al-

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 5

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legories; things of excellent use, and ornament in speech’ (p. 24) 5.1 Phantasia] fantasy, fancy (Gr.); another name for the imagination. See 8.5.5-8n. above. 5.4 Limm’d out] painted, depicted. 5.7 Ounce] A big cat, such as the lynx or puma. 6.6 welkin] sky. 6.7 Ocean] (trisyllabic). 6.7 mew’d] confined, penned. 6.8 in proper colours dight] painted in its own colours. 7.2 Meteor] Fiery exhalations that we know as shooting stars, widely thought in the early modern period to be portentous. Cf. 8.3.1.6-7n. above. 7.3 or ... or] either ... or. 7.4 obiected] presented as an object. 7.5 beeing apposite] suitable nature. Knevet’s distinction is between things that can be represented to the senses (such as chairs and dogs) and those (e.g. five, love) that cannot. As Reynoldes (A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soule of Man, 1640, pp. 22-23) points out, the imagination or fancy works with objects (‘whatsoeuer can imagin’d bee’, line 8) that can be represented to the will or to the reason. Stanza 8] Morpheus is the most devious of the sons of Somnus (Sleep), described by Ovid in the tale of Ceyx and Alcyone in Met., 11.410-748. Knevet’s distinction of true and false dreams, and the two gates of horn and ivory, is derived ultimately from Virgil, Aeneid, 6.893-96, though he may well have been following Spenser, FQ, 1.39-44. Cf. 7.1.10-12 and n., 7.11.52.3, and 7.12.1 above. See also Knevet’s Stratiotikon, ll. 636-38. 8.2 vncouth] unfamiliar, unusual. 8.5-7 Some horrible ... guilty Persons variously] Fearful dreams were thought to afflict the consciences of guilty people in their sleep. Here variously means ‘in various ways’ (i.e. depending on the nature of the guilt). 9.3 visiue] visible; seeing. 9.4 lib’rall sciences] Knevet appears to use the terms ‘liberal sciences’ and ‘liberal arts’ interchangeably, as above at 7.2.17.3 and 7.4.4.6-9. By both he indicates the seven subjects of the trivium (grammatica, rhetorica, and dialetica) and the quadrivium (arithmetica, astronomia, geometria, and musica). 9.6-9 Pictures of Ladyes ... sphere] The ladies depicted in the pieces (or artworks) have been endowed with distinctive qualities (i.e. qualifyd, line 7), each of which represents one of the vertues cleare (line 8), normally invisible to the physical eye. The gallery of the intellect can perceive truths and objects unavailable to the senses, particularly (as here) through the use of referential symbolism. 9.7 rarely qualifyd] This combination creates a pun of philosophical interest. Rarely can mean ‘exceptionally, excellently’, but also ‘thinly, sparsely’; while qualified, similarly, can mean ‘invested with (particular) qualities’, or ‘modified, diminished’. What makes the paintings expressive of metaphysical truths is the way in which their exceptional visual qualities actually diminish the impact of the visual experience, leading to a transcendent vision that foregrounds the picture’s meaning. 9.9 the Soules high eternall sphere] It was conventional in the metaphysics

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(and metaphysical poetry) of this period to figure the human soul as a sphere – a perfect and divine shape, as far excelling the angular discontinuities of polygonal shapes as divine being surmounted the physical and mortal. A characteristic example of this geometrical metaphysics is Kenelm Digby’s Observations on the 22. Stanza in the 9th. Canto of the 2d. Book of Spencers Faery Queene (1643), where he writes that ‘as a Circle of all Figures is the most perfect, and includeth the greatest space, and is every way full and without Angles, made by the continuance of one onely line: so mans soul is the noblest and most beautifull Creature, that God hath created, and by it we are capable of the greatest gifts that God can bestow, which are Grace, Glory, and Hypostaticall Union of the Humane nature to the Divine, and she enjoyeth perfect freedome and libertie in all her Actions, and is made without composition’ (p. 6). 10.2 Effigies of a Parragon] Effigies is borrowed from the L. in the same sense, meaning ‘picture, likeness, representation’; it was often used in this period to distinguish painted portraits (including miniatures) from pencilled drawings or pictures, which were not considered true likenesses. A parragon was originally a touchstone, and thus was used of people or things exemplary of their kind. Knevet’s second room depicts the abstract perfections, only instances of which could be ‘objected’ in the gallery of Phantasia. 10.4 Apollo’s burning throne] the sun. 10.5 vnderfoote ... Moone] The Empress’s subordination of the moon symbolizes the permanence of the universal idea or substance, which surpasses the material impermanence of the sublunary, mortal world. In classical astronomy, the universe was thought to be composed of a series of nested spheres, the innermost (the sublunary) that contained by the moon, with the earth at its centre. Everything within this sphere was changeable, whereas the higher spheres, including those of the sun, the planets, and the fixed stars, were thought to be permanent. Cf. 8.1.22-24 and nn. above. 10.8 A sprigge ... palme] The palm was a conventional emblem for victory (and thus, by metonymy, often used for victory itself). 11.1 brauely drest] richly furnished, decorated. 11.4 gests of chiualry] feats of knightly valour. 11.6 tables faire] As succeeding lines make clear, these tables were boards on which paintings had been pictured – or, hence, the pictures themselves. 11.6 was] The terminal s of this word was not voiced in the seventeenth century. 11.7 Whilome] formerly. 12.2 pricke on] excite, spur on. 12.5 cauteles] precautions, warnings. 12.9 true happynes] That of the soul. Knevet has in mind ethical happiness, Aristotle’s eudaimonia (see his Nicomachean Ethics). Ethical instruction by example (known to modern historians and literary critics as ‘exemplarity’) was a central part of moral philosophical teaching in the classical and early modern periods. Much of the ethical history written and read during these periods – Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, for

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example, or A Mirror for Magistrates – was explicitly directed both by authors and translators at young readers, who were encouraged to imitate the virtues of great men and to avoid the evils practised by their enemies. 13.4 Of Hercules the labours] After he had murdered his wife and children during a deranged hallucination, imposed upon him by the goddess Hera (Juno), Hercules was ordered by the oracle to submit himself to his cousin Eurystheus, king of Tiryns. Eurystheus imposed twelve impossible tasks upon Hercules. These labours are described in Apollodorus, Library, 2.5. For Knevet’s moralizing account of the labours, see stanzas 18-30 and nn. below. 13.6 limmers] painter’s. 14.1-2 Those doughty ... plum’d] ‘Desire to outdo the famous history of Hercules gave wings to Callimachus’ ambitions’. Emulation is a key component of early modern theories of literary imitation (L. imitatio): authors strove both to imitate (follow) their predecessors, and to emulate (outdo or overgo) them. It was also a core concept in early modern ethical theory, which stressed the importance of exposing young boys to exemplary histories of virtuous action, then inciting them to emulation. 14.3 Alcmenas sonne] Hercules. 14.4 Œtas flames] After being given the shirt of Nessus (on which, see 7.8.24.4-5n. above), Hercules is said to have gone to the peak of Mt Œta, in central Greece, to die. There he built a pyre and, writhing in agony, succeeded in persuading the shepherd Poeas to light it for him. See Apollodorus, Library, 2.7.6-7. 14.5 enhum’d] swallowed up by the earth, buried in a grave. Knevet alludes here to Livy’s story of Marcus Curtius, a young Roman who sacrificed his life for the city. When a crack opened in the earth of the Roman forum – probably as a result of an earthquake – seers revealed that the gods required the gift of Rome’s most valuable treasure. Contesting that the city’s strength lay in its arms and its youth, Curtius left into the chasm wearing full armor. See Livy, Ab urbe condita (The History of Rome), 7.5. 14.9 emulations stound] ambitious daydream or stupor. 15.2 Kilcow] braggart, bully. Cf. 7.6.28.3n. above. 15.416.9] The Reason (15.5) that Panarete recommends to Callimachus at first interprets Hercules’ history in the euhemerist tradition; that is, she sees the mythic elements of his history as amplifications of real historical events, and the monsters and giants of legend as exaggerations of real criminals and tyrants. 15.6 Alcides] Hercules (grandson of Alceus). 17.4 elogyes] eulogies, or poems of praise. 17.9 achieu’d] Knevet leaves ambiguous whether the errant knights should imitate Hercules in achieving similar labours, or obtain and learn (‘achieve’) the songs in which those labours are recorded. The latter may seem more likely, given the moralized catalogue that follows in the ensuing stanza. Stanzas 18-30] In this section of the poem Panarete moralizes Hercules’ twelve labours, seeing them as allegories of ethical truths.

18.1 that many headed snake] the hydra of Lerna. See Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.2. 19.1-3 the fierce Hyæna ... appetite] Pliny claims in the Natural History (8.44, §§ 105-06) that hyenas dig up graves to eat the corpses, a myth that was repeated in medieval bestiaries, and often illustrated. 19.4 teene] rage, despite. 19.5 spleene] anger. 19.9 amandated] committed. Apparently Knevet’s coinage, from ‘mandate’. 20.2 the golden-headed Hart] On Hercules’ hunt for the Cerynitian hind, see Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.3. The mountain Mænalus (line 1) was a favoured haunt of Diana (cf. Ovid, Met., 2.409-16), to whom the golden hind belonged. 20.3 Eurystheus] See 8.5.13.4n. above. 21.1 that Lion] The Nemean lion, usually reckoned the first of Hercules’ labours; see Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.1. 21.69 But as ... cannot abide] The righteous (iust, line 8) anger of the true Christian is urged by Paul to the Ephesians, 4.26-27. 22.1 King Diomed] Hercules’ eighth labour was to capture and lead the man-eating mares (or Iades, line 2) of Diomedes the Thracian tyrant to Mycenae. Diomedes ruled the Bistones, as Apollodorus records in Library, 2.5.8. Hercules is said by some mythographers to have fed Diomedes to his horses: see Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.15.3. 23.1 the bristled Bore] Hercules’ fourth labour was the hunt for the Erymanthian boar. Knevet exploits the boar’s conventional reputation for gluttony. 23.5 consent] agree, please. 23.7 gurmandise] gluttony, greed. 24.1 that sturdy Heardsman] Geryon, the triple-headed tyrant of Erythia, or perhaps his shepherd Eurytion. Hercules killed them both in his tenth labour, and brought back Geryon’s cattle to Mycenae. See Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.10. 24.2 deprædations] spoils. 24.3 The Bœticke prouince] Andalusia, known as Hispania Ulterior during the Roman Republic, was under the Empire called Boetica. Most mythographers (e.g. Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.10) locate Geryon and his famously rich herds in Erythia, later called Gadira, or Cadiz. 24.7 engag’d] bound, committed. 25.1 those golden Apples] Eurystheus insisted Hercules complete an eleventh and a twelfth labour, because Hercules had received aid in two of his labours (the killing of the hydra, and the cleaning of the Augean stables). For the eleventh labour, Hercules was ordered to the Garden of the Hesperides, to fetch some of the golden apples growing there. One mythographical tradition has it that, at Prometheus’ advice, Hercules tricked Atlas into picking the apples for him; another that Hercules killed the dragon guarding the orchard, and picked them himself. Apollodorus records both versions in the Library, 2.5.11. Knevet prefers the latter tradition, for its moral clarity. 25.6 policyes] tricks, sleights. 25.7 extrude] drive out, expel. 25.9 reall] disyllabic. 26.1 those vncleane Birds] The Stymphalian birds, that used their claws and beaks of bronze to prey on human flesh,

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 5

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menaced the coasts of Arcadia. Hercules used a rattle to rouse them from their nests in the Stymphalian lake, and then shot them with his arrows. This was his sixth labour; see Apollodurs, Library, 2.5.6. 26.3 rapines] robberies, plunderings. 27.1 Hippolite] The retrieval of the girdle of Hippolyte, the queen of the Amazons, was Hercules’ ninth labour; see Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.9. Knevet sees Amazonian chastity as an emblem of pride, drawing on a tradition that goes back to Livy’s account of Lucretia (and her rape) in the History of Rome, 1.57-59, and Augustine’s deconstruction of that history in The City of God, 1.19. 28.1 the Augæan stable] The cleaning of the Augean stables was Hercules’ fifth labour. See Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.5. 28.5 luxurious gore] decadent filth. 28.6 Paillardise] lechery (from Fr. paillard, ‘beggar, rogue’). 29.1 Busyris] The killing of Busiris, tyrant of Egypt, was not set Hercules as a labour. Apollodorus says that Hercules travelled through Egypt on his way to the Garden of the Hesperides (his eleventh labour). Busiris had been told by an oracle that Egypt would be free of famine if he sacrificed a stranger once every year, so he tended to slaughter anyone who landed on his shores. See Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.11. 29.9 cognisance] A badge or device by which someone can be known; used especially of liveried retainers in an aristocratic household. 30.2 Antheus great] According to Apollodorus (Library, 2.5.11), Hercules killed the giant son of Earth, Antaeus, in Libya on his way to the Garden of the Hesperides. Antaeus drew vigor from contact with the earth, so Hercules was forced to hold him in the air and suffocate him. 30.8 louteing] bowing, prostrate. 31.1 morallize] interpret the moral meaning of. 31.2 the Tyrinthian braue] Hercules was a native of the city of Tiryns. 31.5 documents] instructions (from L. docere, ‘to teach’). 32.4 stately port] dignified bearing. 32.8-9 Ne did ... accumulate] It is tempting to see this as a moment of authorial intrusion into the moral scheme of the poem, distinctive primarily because Spenser’s original poem takes such a strong stand (in ethical, political, and metaphysical terms) in support of marriage. See also 8.5.45 below. This part of Knevet’s allegory seems to bear little relation to its historical referent: Gustavus Adolphus married in 1620 Maria Eleanora, daughter of John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg. 33.3 Cenoclea] ‘Vainglory’, from Gr. ϰενός (‘empty’), and ϰλέος (‘glory’). 33.7 subtile fucacyes] cunning artifices. A ‘fucous’ was a red dye or rouge, which could be used as a cosmetic for the face. Knevet’s form fucacye appears to be a coinage. 34.1 Crocodiles foule ordure] The efficacy of crocodile excrement as a cosmetic is urged by Pliny in the Natural History, 28.28 (§ 109). 34.2 cerusse] ‘white lead’, or a similar whitening cosmetic. 34.3 vermilion ... perfuse] A scarlet dye used as a cosmetic, with which the cheeks could

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be covered (or perfused). 34.4 Mercuriall lotions] Cosmetic preparations including mercury. 34.6-7 Shee did ... Her tawny skinne] A fricacye (or ‘fricace’, ‘frication’) was a cosmetic rub, used to scrape (corrade) and thus soften the skin. 34.7 tawny] light, yellowish brown. 35.1-5 As when ... colour trimme] Pliny records in the Natural History (8.23, § 62) that the panther allures its prey by its sweet scent. Colour here can mean either the colour of its coat, or – perhaps more likely, playing on the common early modern legal use of ‘colour’ to mean ‘fiction’ or ‘sleight’ – the subtle disguises it uses to attract its prey. 36.2 Thrason] ‘braggart’, from the character Thraso in Terence’s Eunuch. 36.7-8 comply | With] accord with, suit. 36.9 Brabbler] brawler. 37.1 attempts] undertakings, enterprises; but also ‘assaults, attempted rapes’. 37.1-2 he wont ... wrong] ‘he was not accustomed to act on moral scruple’. 37.3 truth ... equity] Thrason was unconcerned with the fact, and didn’t care what was just or fair. 37.8 strout] strut. 38.6-7 Ladies iewell ... locke ... ring] All slang terms for the vagina. 38.8 for the wall] The wall was the inner, and thus both cleaner and safer, side of any pavement adjoyning a street. In cities where the streets were full of human and animal waste, and unregulated horse and carriage traffic could appear suddenly, the privilege of walking near the wall was accorded to the man of the highest rank. To fall out for the wall was thus to fall out over a trivial mark of respect. 38.9 refusall of a health] To drink someone’s health is to show him or her a mark of respect; thus to refuse to drink is to show, again, a trivial mark of disrespect. Stanza 39] The narrator moralizes here on a theme familiar to historians of the period: many anti-duelling polemics were written in the early seventeenth century, including The Charge of Sir Francis Bacon Knight, his Maiesties Attourney Generall, Touching Duells (1614) and A Publication of his Maiesties Edict, and Severe Censvre against Priuate Combats and Combatants (1614). Despite a vigorous campaign against the honour culture and its murderous excrescences, James I was unable to stamp out the problem among the gentry and aristocracy. 39.6 But if ... to good] ‘But if the open air is too fine a burial ground for you’. 41.3] ‘But, because he was devoted to arms and exercise’. 41.8-9 Such as Medea ... did circumvent] Medea is fabled to have used magical charms to help Jason (the noble Argonaute, line 9) win the golden fleece, in exchange for which she demanded that he take her as his wife, and carry her from Colchis. See Apollodorus, Library, 1.9.23; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 3.1246ff.; and Ovid, Met., 7.1158. 42.4 Cupids fane] the temple of the god of love; hence, the worship of Cupid, or love itself. 43.2 trend] skirt, travel alongside. 43.3 passe] surpass. 43.7 diapere] overspread with colour. 43.9 out of hand] immediately, at once.

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44.4 delights effeminate] voluptuous or delicate pleasures. 44.6 to soile] to pasture. 44.9 toile] work; but with a pun on ‘till’, to make or spread nets. Stanza 45] This stanza takes a distinctively cynical view of love, which runs completely counter to the way in which Spenser writes on the same subject. See e.g. FQ, 4.Proem.1-4. 45.8 gage] engage, bind. 45.9 dole] grief, sorrow. 45.9 presage] foresee.

Canto 6 1.3-5 Neptune ... Tritons ... Æole] The god of the sea, Neptune, was often depicted as king of a race of Tritons, or mermen. Aeolus is the god of the four winds. 1.4 in his poope doth beate] pushes him from behind. The poope (i.e. poop) is the stern of a ship. Wind from astern is the most effective, and drives a ship fastest. 1.6 Syren] The moral danger represented by sirens in romance narratives goes back to the Odyssey, in which Odysseus is instructed to stop his men’s ears with wax, and have himself bound to his ship, in order to evade their seductive music (12.3954). 1.8 layes] songs. 2.5 minion] lover or paramour, either male or female. 3.1 Strong Dioxippus] Knevet’s source for this anecdote is Plutarch’s essay ‘Of Curiositie’, from the The Morals [Moralia]: ‘Diogenes verily upon a time seeing Dioxippus, when he entred in his triumphant chariot into the citie for winning the best prise at the Olympian games, how as he rode he could not chuse but set his eie upon a certaine faire damozell, who was in place to behold this pompe and solemne entrance of his, but evermore his eie followed her, whether she were before or behinde him: Behold (quoth he) our victorious and triumphant champion, how a yoong wench hath him sure enough by the necke, and doth writhe him which way she list!’ The Philosophie, Commonlie Called the Morals, trans. Philemon Holland (1603), p. 141. 3.9 silly] trifling, foolish. 4.2 thewes] ordinances, instructions. 4.3 raught] dealt, struck. 4.7 suspirations] sighs. 4.9 incende] kindle, inflame. 5.4 In fine] in the end. 5.4 curious discouery] enquiring exploration. 5.5 casket] Small box or chest for the secure keeping of valuables such as jewels or letters. 5.6 want not Argos eyes] do not need the hundred eyes of the mythical monster Argos – set by Hera to guard Io, and afterwards killed by Hermes; see Apollodorus, Library, 2.1.3. Cf. 7.8.29.1 above. 6.3 Flora] goddess of flowers, here used as a metonym for flowers generally. 6.8 Maugre] despite. 7.5 Dispayreing ... releast] ‘completely losing faith that he would one day be released (from his woes)’. 7.6 for his eares] Equivalent to ‘for his life’ (i.e. he dared not risk his life). The expression, apparently only used during this period, seems to have arisen as a response to the infamous

corporal punishment, occasionally meted out by the Elizabethan Star Chamber, of cutting off the ears. 7.9 liefest] most precious. 8.5 prease] press (of people). 8.9 God of sleepe] Somnus. 9.2 aged Beldame] an old grandmother, a crone. 9.5 Iade] worn-out horse, nag. 9.5 founderd] lame (after stumbling). 9.7 crazye] flawed, cracked, frail. 9.9 ebone] ebony. 9.9 stayd] supported, steadied. 10.2 Arreede] declare. 10.6 Leaches] physician’s. 10.9 God of Loue] Cupid. 11.7 the drinke of Ioue] The nectar known as ambrosia, drunk by the classical gods (Gr. ἀµβροσία, ‘immortality’). 11.8 Panacæa] sovereign remedy, cure-all. 11.9 Contend ... dare] Both verbs should be construed with ‘may’, from the previous line. 12.1 cruse] pot, jar. 13.2 pestif ’rous] noxious, pernicious. 13.5 Cold vapours] Moist gases or exhalations produced by the organs of the body and thought to impair the health. Robert Burton records in the Anatomy of Melancholy, 2.5.1.4, the opinions of several physicians who insisted on the efficacy of cauteries and hot irons, or even drilling, ‘to let out the fuliginous vapours’. The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), p. 469. 13.6 helme] seat of authority, direction. 14.1-6] Following the death of Achilles, Odysseus and Aiax competed for the honor of inheriting his arms. Agamemnon and Menelaus, the generals of the Greek army, ultimately awarded the prize to Odysseus, whereupon Ajax fell into a frenzy. In his madness he attacked a flock of sheep, believing them to be his enemies among the Greeks: this is the subject of Sophocles’ play, Ajax. Cf. 7.8.2.5-6 and n., and 8.4.2.1n. above. 15.1 Buggebeares] Imagined terrors. 15.6 Zelotype] From Gr. ζηλοτυπία (‘zealotry, jealousy’), perhaps via Fr. zelotypie. Stanza 16] Reputed the most debauched and dissolute of Roman emperors, Heliogabalus, line 2 (or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, born Varius Avitus Bassianus) ruled the empire between AD218 and 222. His brief rule was marked by religious innovation in the state and sexual depravity in the imperial palace. See Cassius Dio, Roman History, 7980; and Herodian, Roman History, 5.5-8. Neither source records this particular event, but Cassius Dio claims that Heliogabalus, together with his mother and grandmother, made profane sacrifices to his new gods, ‘slaying boys and using charms, in fact actually shutting up alive in the god’s temple a lion, a monkey, and a snake, and throwing in among them human genitals, and practising other unholy rites’ (Roman History, 80.11). 16.5 amaine] deeply. 17.4] ‘She feeds on the most inward organs of the body’. 17.9 besotte] stupefy with infatuation. 18.3 at a becke ... Mistris had] ‘had her wrapped around his little finger’. A becke is a wave of the hand, nod, or other minimal gesture by which someone in authority indicates

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 6

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assent or conveys an order. To have someone ‘at a beck’ is thus to have them in your power. 19.3 bested] beset. 19.5 as versatile ... tennis ball] Cenoclea bounces readily between lovers with the versatility (or changeability) of a tennis ball. Tennis (now often called real tennis, to distinguish it from lawn tennis) was a game played in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by aristocrats. 20.4 curveate amaine] leap with frisky vigour. One of Knevet’s favourite collocations; cf. e.g. 8.1.35.5 above. 20.6 caparison] ornamental saddle covering. 21.5 hebene] of ebony (a hardwood). 22.1 fierce Hyæna] The hyena symbolizes that vice of envy that defines the braggart knight; see 8.5.19.1-3n. above. 22.4 white, and red] The colour scheme of the boaster reflects that of the fickle lady; see 8.5.34 above. 22.5 horrid brauery] terrible adornment, display. 23.6 posted] made haste, sped. 23.9 Callimachus his sway] Callimachus’ power. 24.3 affection] inclination. 24.4 weft] waif, bit of light property. 25.2 Leaches art] skill of a physician. 26.2 surcharg’d] overburdened. 26.6 gennett] A small Spanish horse. 27.1 Vittoria] ‘Victory’ (It.). 27.2 Cleander] Perhaps ‘Human glory’ or ‘Manly glory’, from Gr. ϰλέος (‘glory’), and ἁνήρ (‘man’) or ἀνδρε˜ιος (‘manly’). Lavender (p. 878) suggests that Cleander memorializes the career of Bethlen Gabor (or Gabriel Bethlen), prince of Transylvania and champion – throughout the 1620s – of Hungarian protestants. It seems more likely that the significance of both Cleander and Vittoria lies in the clear (historical) goods they symbolize: glory and victory. 27.4-6 Where ... old Oceanus] The course of the Danow (line 5), or Danube, between Budapest and Bucharest travels through modern Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine before emptying into the Black Sea at Vylkove. Macedonia, the country of Alexander, lies immediately to the south of this section of the Danube. 27.6 his Father old Oceanus] the sea. Oceanus was a titan son of Uranus and Gaia (Sky and Earth); his union with his sister Tethys produced the Oceanids (ocean nymphs) and all the world’s rivers. See Conti, Mythologiae, 8.1. 28.5 complete] accomplished, perfected. 28.5 port] carriage, bearing. 29.2 Androgeus] From Gr. ἁνήρ (‘man’), and possibly γ˜η (‘earth’), meaning ‘man of the earth’. Knevet’s original name for this figure in the poem, Dontilly, makes the historical allegory clear. Johann Tserklaes, Count of Tilly (1559-1632), commanded the joint forces of the Catholic League and, later, the Holy Roman Empire during the first half of the Thirty Years’ War. He enjoyed considerable success in his Bohemian campaigns (beginning with the victory over Frederick V at the White Mountain in 1620) and, thereafter, was infamous among Protestants for his capture of Magdeburg in 1631. 29.5 That him ... dare] ‘that

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scarcely anyone alive dares to provoke him’. 29.6-8 Hee to ... lofty pride] On Artegall’s fight with Grantorto, see FQ, 5.12. Knevet’s historical allegory thus shadows Tilly’s (Androgeus’) joint service to the Catholic League and its Spanish masters (Grantorto) and to the Holy Roman Empire and its Habsburg princes (Aquilino). 30.3 out of tune] unreceptive, intractable. 30.6 feere] companion, partner. 31.3 in lists] within the barriers set up to enclose the tilting or tournament yard. 32.2 Doth make ... the game] is confident that he will win the contest. 32.3 assumeing] attracting. 32.6 clime] region. 32.8 meed sublime] (the promise of) lofty or noble reward (i.e. honour and renown). 32.9 prefix’d time] the year appointed for the combat (see 8.6.31.4 above). 33.6 Sibyll] prophetess. 33.7-8 a Knight ... on his sheild] Callimachus. On the symbolism of the golden garlands, see 8.1.11.9n. 33.9 For hee ... in feild] A prophecy of Callimachus’ eventual victory over Androgeus (see 8.11.36 below), itself a memorial of Gustavus Adolphus’ victory over Tilly, at the river Lech in Bavaria, on 15 April 1632. 34.6 targe] shield. 35.4 that haughty Cheualier] Androgeus. 36.4 Ycleaped] called. 36.5-9 Worthy is hee ... thither led] Spenser’s ‘Legend of Cambel and Telamond’ in Book 4 of FQ stresses the importance of mutual consent in love, marriage, and friendship. The Spenserian flavour of this idealized vision of marriage sits uneasily against Knevet’s forceful indictment of love (see 8.5.45 and 8.6.1-3 above). 37.3-9] ‘Her heart rejoices with the sudden change in her prospects, just as the heart of the shepherd lifts when, after a bitter winter, he hears the first nightingale of spring’. On the nightingale as the harbinger of spring, see Homer, Odyssey, 19.518-23. 37.3 Swaine] youth, shepherd. 37.4 gelid Hyems] freezing winter, or freezing winter winds; cf. 7.6.1.7 and 7.8.7.4 above. 37.5 hore] hoar, white and frosty. 38.8 mau’gre] despite. 38.8 chiefe] leader (of the combined foes). Stanzas 39-50] The inset narrative of Androgeus and Parthenia recalls the most infamous of Tilly’s campaigns against German protestants: the sack of Magdeburg in May 1631. Tilly’s forces had been besieging the city in central Germany for two months when, on 20 May, with the threat of Swedish forces nearing the city, Tilly ordered his army to storm the defences. The city was captured and almost the entire population of 30,000 slaughtered; it was said that the only survivors were women whom Tilly’s soldiers preferred to rape than to kill. 39.3 whilome] earlier, once. 39.4 vsage] handling, dealing. 39.4 passeing bad] very poor. 40.1 Parthenia] ‘Virginal’, from Gr. παρϑένος (‘virgin’). 40.6 demesnes] estates, territories. 40.8 weenes] thinks, supposes. 41.1-3 For when ... his messages] Lavender (p. 881) sees here an allusion to the attempts by the emperor and the Catholic League to woo Johann Georg, Elector of Sax-

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ony, to the Catholic cause before the siege and sacking of Magdeburg. Though a committed Lutheran, Georg had long collaborated with Catholic imperial policy, and had helped to dislodge Frederick V from Bohemia in 1620. He was only driven into the arms of Gustavus Adolphus – and that only temporarily – when Tilly’s troops ravaged the Saxon countryside in late 1630. 41.6 prouide] prepare. 41.8-9 And many ... Tyrants pride] A conference of German protestant princes was held in Leipzig in early 1631, where the militant states attempted to convince their more conservative peers that a protestant alliance was not inconsistent with their obligations to the empire. The principle was agreed, and on 12 April 1631 the protestant German states formed a league (the Leipziger Bund) committing them to raising an army of 40,000 men. This force could not be mustered before the sack of Magdeburg in May, but it gave Gustavus Adolphus critical support in his preparations for the confrontation that would take place in Breitenfeld, near Leipzig, in September 1631. 42.8 mainly did assay] employed with full force. 42.9 policy] cunning, stratagem. 44.4 belay] forestall, waylay. 45.4 feate] action. 45.9 cruell Fates] In Greek mythology, the Moirai (L. Parcae), known in English as the Fates or Destinies, presided over human fortunes. Clotho spun the thread of human life, Lachesis measured and Atropos cut it. They were usually depicted as remorseless hags. See also 7.10.51.6n. above. 46.7 salues, and balsams store] abundant lotions and balms. 47.1 submisse] subordinate, low. 47.3 Minerua] Roman goddess of wisdom, known to the Greeks as Athene. 47.9 Cyprian ... porphirye] Pliny (Natural History, 37.37) says that Cyprian jasper ‘is verie hard, and of a greyish fattie colour, between white and green’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), ii, p. 619. Porphyry, a hard purplish-red stone quarried by the Romans in Egypt, was extensively used in decorative building. Red or white crystals of embedded feldspar give it its distinctive spots. 48.3 Cypresse ... iuory] Although Pliny records that the wood of the cypress was sacred to Hades, or Pluto (Natural History, 16.60), he also insists on the durability and longlasting polish of the wood, which made it a natural selection for the doors of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, one of the wonders of the ancient world (Natural History, 16.79). Cf 8.7.5.4-6 and n., below. The whiteness of ivory suits the virgin (‘parthenic’) goddess Minerva. 48.8 trac’d] filed, processed. 49.5 stygian deepes] Hell or Hades, so called because it is the region of the river Styx. 49.6-9 But his ... shamefully] An allusion to the massacre that ensued – whether by design, or because Tilly lost control of his troops – after the city was taken. Of the roughly 5,000 citizens who survived, most were reported to be women, who purchased their lives with their bodies.

50.5 Valetts] grooms. 51.2 empeach] impede. 51.7 against] in anticipation of, in preparation for. 51.8 welkin] sky. 51.9 empreses witty] It was conventional for knights at tournament to bear emblems (It. imprese), often accompanied by witty mottoes, on their shields. Cf. the emblems of Codardia’s knights at 8.1.35-53 and n. above. 52.2 Worthyes] honourable knights. 52.4 Heraclea] ‘Sacred glory’, from Gr. ἱερός (‘holy, sacred’), and ϰλέος (‘glory’); or ‘city of Hercules’ (conj. Lavender, p. 885). 53.4 promisse] pendent, hanging (from L. promissus, in the same sense). 53.5 inferrd] induced, caused. 53.9 asterisme] constellation (or, more loosely, any bright celestial object).

Canto 7 1.6 Who fill’d ... peripherye] Either the walls of the lists were a mile in circumference, or they enclosed (fill’d) an area of a square mile. 1.7 Amphitheater] (pentasyllabic). 1.8 faire degrees] tiered levels of seating. Stanza 2] It is tempting to see in the diction of this stanza an allusion to the location of Gustavus Adolphus’ celebrated and decisive victory over Tilly in September 1631, which this episode allegorizes: Breitenfeld, a small town about five miles north of Leipzig, in Saxony. 2.2 stately scaffold ... ascent] princely stage of a good height. 2.5 cloth of Arras] A costly and sumptuous tapestry fabric. 2.5 besprent] overspread, covered. 3.7 Fane] temple. 3.9 Aletheia] ‘Truth’ (Gr.). 4.1 anticke images] ancient or old-fashioned figuration, whether painted on the walls or represented in the glass of the temple’s windows. Such ornamentation was common in churches across Christian Europe before the Reformation, but was condemned by Protestant reformers and most of it defaced or removed. 4.2 weake Votaryes] ignorant worshippers: such as those who are drawn to books by pictures, and to a religion by icons and images. Stanzas 5-8] The temple to Pseudoxa offers Knevet a vehicle for anti-Papal criticism and satire. Protestant reformers had attacked the use of images and icons in Catholic liturgy and devotional practice, emphasising instead the primacy and sufficiency of scripture to spiritual health and salvation. Reformers also strongly condemned the institutions and practices represented in the ornamentation in Pseudoxa’s temple, described in more detail in the notes below. 5.3 Pseudoxa] ‘False teaching’, from Gr. ψε υδος, ‘falsehood’, and δόξα, ‘opinion, teaching’. 5.4-6 that miracle ... to Diana] For a description of the miraculous temple of Diana at Ephesus – one of the wonders of the ancient world – see Pliny, Natural History, 36.21 (§§ 9597). 5.8 descipherd] represented, portrayed. 6.2 triple diademe] Popes have since the fourteenth century traditionally worn a triple crown, symbolizing their

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 7

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diverse spiritual, moral, and temporal authorities. 6.4 Simony ... trimme] Simony is the practice of buying or selling ecclesiastical positions or privileges, and thus a form of institutionalized corruption – one widespread in the medieval Christian church. Trimme (trim), a general positive term like ‘nice’ or ‘good’, was already being used ironically, as here, in the sixteenth century. 6.5 Assassinates] assassins. 6.6 reuerent Hipocrisy] As OED records (see ‘reverent’, adj.), early writers tended not to distinguish between ‘reverent’ and ‘reverend’. Knevet’s sneer may thus take in pious hypocrites more broadly – that is, anyone who makes a public show of Christian faith and conduct, but privately believes or acts otherwise – as well as the special case of Roman priests, who professed Christian humility and faith but were, according to their Protestant detractors, wholly given to vanity, avarice, and ambition. Stanza 7] This stanza presents a catalogue of practices and traditions that protestants considered to be abuses in the seventeenth-century Catholic church. An Indulgence (line 2) was a formal remission of sin granted by the church in exchange for a fixed payment, while a Dispensation (line 2) was a papal licence to infringe a specific church law (e.g. that against divorce). Workes of Supererogation (line 3) – or godly works beyond those required or expected by God – could create a surplus of merit (line 4) which the church could then distribute to others, in compensation for their committed sins. The doctrine of mentall Reseruation (line 4) was first developed by Christian writers on casuistry in the thirteenth century, as a means to permit Christians to tell lies while avoiding lying (a sin). By the seventeenth century mental reservation had come to include both ‘wide’ and ‘strict’ forms: wide mental reservation (often called Equivocations, line 5), whereby a speaker might knowingly use an ambiguous construction or otherwise permit a hearer to interpret a statement in a way that was not true; and strict mental reservation, whereby a speaker ‘reserved’ some qualification or other part of the statement to her or himself, knowingly allowing the hearer to misinterpret what was said. The Inquisition (line 8) was an ecclesiastical tribunal, operating across Catholic Europe at this time, that enquired into and punished heresies; the Spanish Inquisition of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was a byword among protestants for severity. 7.8 sprent] sprinkled. 8.4 surbated] footsore. 8.5 trumperyes] frauds, vain ceremonies. 9.2-3 when Aurora ... Memnons tombe] For the story of Aurora’s grief for her son Memnon, killed by Achilles on the plains of Troy, see Ovid, Met., 13.576-622. 9.5 rent] rend, tear. 9.8 dight] dressed. 10.1 port] gate. 10.7 blaz’d] blazoned, described. 10.9 carroled] sang. 12.4 invade] enter. 12.5 in high pride] in great pomp. 12.79 Where on ... besmeard] The black (sable) Eagle (line 8) on Androgeus’ banner is the imperial eagle of the Holy

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Roman Empire, fouled with the blood of protestants killed at Magdeburg and elsewhere. 13.3 Torismund] The name of a Visigothic king who ruled from Tolosa (Toulouse) between AD 451 and 453. Thorismund son of Theodoric was famous for his heroism at the battle of Chalons in AD 451, in which he turned the tide for the combined Visigothic-Roman force against the attack of Attila. The history was probably known to Knevet through the account of Jordanes’ Getica, a summary of a lost work on the Goths by the historian Cassiodorus. The name may have appealed to Knevet as a soubriquet for Gottfried Heinrich von Pappenheim – Tilly’s field marshal at the Battle of Breitenfeld and the commander of his cavalry on the left flank of the imperial attack – because, like Thorismund, Pappenheim was a ‘collaborator’ with the Roman cause. Born to a protestant family in Bavaria in 1594, he converted to Catholicism in 1614, and rose through the ranks of the imperialist forces, distinguishing himself at the White Mountain in 1620 and at Garda in 1623. If Knevet does intend the figure of Torismund to shadow Pappenheim, the reference to the westerne Indyes (13.4) is obscure. 13.6 caparison] ornamental saddle covering. 14.8 trappers] Defensive armour for a horse, of metal (as here) or leather. 14.9 frontstall] An extension to the bridle, covering the forehead of the horse. 14.9 pight] fixed. 15.1 Phœnician dye] Tyrian purple, a precious and famous dye manufactured from molluscs local to the region. 15.3 curiously] skilfully, exquisitely. 15.6 Teuton] or ‘German’; Knevet’s name for the temporizing and not entirely reliable (‘wauering’, line 8) Johann Georg, Elector of Saxony (see 8.6.41.1-3n. above). Georg joined the field with Gustavus Adolphus at Breitenfeld, but his forces on the left flank (‘sinister wing’, line 6) almost immediately buckled under Tilly’s first infantry charge. 15.6 sinister] left-side. 16.3 deuoires] duties. 16.6 croupers] Leather straps securing the saddle of a horse to its rear haunches; the horse’s haunches themselves. 17.1 curtleaxes] short, broad swords. 17.2 cliue] cleave. 17.4 malles] hammers or maces. Stanza 18] Unlike Torismund, Pappenheim did not perish at Breitenfeld, but his cavalry charge on the Swedish right flank was decisively repelled by Gustavus Adolphus himself, and Pappenheim played no further part in the battle. 18.1 cop’d with] contended with, encountered. 18.4 in fine] at last. 18.9 realme of grisly Dis] Hades. Stanza 19] Knevet’s association of Callimachus with a hungry wolf, and his victims with sheep, is a startling inversion of our natural expectations. Stanzas 20-22] After routing Pappenheim’s cavalry, Gustavus Adolphus moved to the Swedish left flank, where the rout of Georg’s Saxon infantry had left the Swedish line exposed. After capturing the imperial artillery, Gustavus Adolphus enveloped Tilly’s infantry and began firing at it, heavily, from two directions. Knevet gives Androgeus

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more of a fighting chance than Tilly himself enjoyed; he was lucky to escape with his life. 21.6 good cheere] feast, repast. 21.7 giue content] make satisfaction. 22.3 disengag’d him] released him (from his bind, engagement). 22.6 mickle] great. 22.7 fauchions] swords. 22.8 rill] run in rivulets. 23.1 Orke] Used of various kinds of sea monster, both real and imagined. 23.5 monomachy] single combat. 23.8 Syrens] Mythical sea-monsters – part woman and part bird (or as here, part fish, and confused with mermaids) – said to lure sailors to their deaths with seductive singing. For Circe’s account of the sirens, by whose island Odysseus must pass on his return to Ithaca, see Homer, Odyssey, 12.37-54. 24.4 votes] voice of support. 25.1 the Prince of our diurnall light] the sun. The battle of Breitenfeld ended with decisive victory for Gustavus Adolphus just before sunset on 7 September 1631. 25.2 occidentall] western. 25.8 eftsoones] again, once more. 26.1-5] Knevet is careful to note Callimachus’ clemency, which stands in pointed contrast to the wanton destruction of Parthenia. Both Pappenheim and Tilly survived the battle, and many of their soldiers were captured alive. 26.9 vulgar] common people. 26.9 wood] mad. 27.7 port] carriage, manner. 27.9 clarrett ... sacke] red and white wines. Stanza 28] The gods fought the giant sons of Earth on the plain of Phlegrea, and with Hercules’ aid defeated them. Knevet supposes that the victory effaced old enmities and jealousies: Bacchus, god of wine, provided the drinks and Apollo the music, while Vulcan, the lame blacksmith and Venus’ husband, left his wife to her adulterous canoodling with Mars. Hera, for once, stopped jealously antagonizing Jove for his serial amorous misadventures. The battle of Phlegra is one of Knevet’s favourite myths; cf. 7.2.15, 7.3.30.6, and 7.10.23.6-9 and nn.. 29.6 the Faery state] The distinction between Spenser’s and Knevet’s conceptions of Faery is neatly pointed here. Spenser indicates in the proem to Book 2 of FQ that the ‘happy land of Faery’ (FQ, 2.Pr.1.7) is unknown to all alive, and even its place in antique histories can only be found by diligent pursuit of ‘certaine signes here set in sundry place’ (FQ, 2.Pr.4.2). Knevet, by contrast, sees Faery as a state among other states, on the model of contemporary European polities. 30.4 auspice] (prosperous) direction. 30.8 grisled] grey. 31.1 Almansor] The King of Spain, Philip IV (also King of Portugal, as Philip III, until 1640). The Tagus (line 3) is the longest river on the Iberian peninsula, and flows through both Spain and Portugal before emptying into the sea at Lisbon; it was famed in the classical period for the gold it yielded (cf. e.g. Ovid, Amores, 1.15.34). 31.6 Sir Hieron] The Pope; Hieron comes from Gr. ἱερός (‘sacred, holy’). 31.7 Tiber] The chief river of central Italy, and the

seat of the city of Rome. 31.7 Latian meades] The fields of Latium, in central Italy. 32.1 Marinella] A feminized version of the name of Spenser’s chaste knight Marinell (see e.g. FQ, 3.4.12-44): likewise playing on ‘marine’ and ‘martial’. In this episode, Marinella’s story closely follows the history of the Dutch provinces (like England a maritime or ‘marine’ nation), who revolted against Spanish (Habsburg) rule in 1581, and fought for decades against various Spanish attempts to assert reinstitute imperial control. Marinella is delighted at Androgeus’ defeat because, as Lavender points out (p. 899), Tilly had served under the Duke of Parma in the Spanish Netherlands in the 1580s. 32.7 pill’d, and poul’d] plundered, ‘stripped bare by robbery or pillage’ (OED, ‘pill’, v.1 , 10). 33.1 got the tutelage] obtained the guardianship. Tutelage or wardship is a legal relationship, often financially advantageous for the guardian. 33.3 pupillage] minority. 33.5 alleageance soueraigne] total mastery; in legal terms, Almansor subjects Marinella to vassal status, depriving her of her political freedom much as a daughter or wife might be made subject to the legal control of her father or husband. 33.7-8 did her libertyes ... heritage exile] withheld her lands from her, and kept her from entering into her estates. Knevet’s language here is conspicuously legal. The constraints Almansor imposes on Marinella are those to which Catholic Spain subjected the revolted Dutch provinces under William the Silent in the late 1570s and 1580s. 33.9 pressures] oppression. Stanzas 34-37] Marinella’s appeal to Gloriana recalls the Dutch embassies to the court of Elizabeth I, which began in 1576, appealing for aid against the Spanish. Elizabeth supported Dutch resistant to the Spanish both by tacit collusion with her militant subjects, and by occasional bursts of decisive intervention – the most important of which was the signing of the Treaty of Nonsuch in 1585, which effectively opened up a Dutch front in an English war with Spain. In Knevet’s retrospective view, Elizabeth’s support of the Dutch led directly to the Spanish armada – and its defeat – in 1588, when her navy, and a severe storm, humbled the ambitions of Philip II (that proud Iberian Stallion, 36.1). 34.6 facile] lenient, courteous. 35.1 braueing] vaunting, boasting. 35.2 Maugre] despite. 37.6-38.9] In a bid to secure French allies against the Spanish, the United Dutch Provinces in 1580 offered sovereignty to François, Duc d’Anjou (Sir Aniou, 37.7), the youngest son of Henry II and Catherine de Medici. It quickly became clear that Anjou was driven not by ideological support for the protestant cause, but by selfinterest, and when he attempted (and failed) to seize direct control of certain key Dutch cities in 1583, the Dutch enthusiasm for French intervention cooled. 39.2 tortious] wrongful, illegal. 39.3 of her ... repossest] put Marinella back in possession of her native land. 39.9 noble Astrophell] Sir Philip Sidney, appointed governor

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 7

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of Flushing, who died after being wounded at the battle of Zutphen in 1586. Sidney uses the name for the lover of his sonnet sequence Astrophel and Stella, compoased in the early 1580s and first published in 1591; after his early death, it was used by several writers, including Spenser, as an epithet for Sidney himself, in elegiac poems in tone not unlike the ensuing stanza here (stanza 40). 41.1 Volume of large bignes] enormous book. 41.3 In her behalfe] on behalf of Marinella. Stanzas 41-43] Following the death of his brother Ernst in 1595, Archduke Albrecht (or Albert, here Albret) of Austria resigned his office as cardinal and assumed the governorship of the Spanish Netherlands; in 1598 he married his cousin, Philip II’s daughter, Clara, and became co-sovereign of the Catholic Netherlands until his death in 1621. In July 1600 Albert caught Maurice of Nassau, Stadtholder of the United Provinces and later Prince of Orange (Auranion, a phonetic rendering of the Dutch pronunciation of ‘orange’), at Nieuwpoort. Maurice was one of the younger sons of William the Silent, prince of Orange, and had emerged as the leading general of the Dutch resistance. While the Dutch suffered heavy casualties at Neiuwpoort, Maurice decisively defeated Albert, driving the Spanish from the field. One of his key lieutenants in the battle was Sir Francis Vere (elder brother of Horace Vere; see 8.4.10.1n. above), here memorialized as Veriflore. The Netherlands were known to the Romans as insula Batavorum, after the Germanic Batavi tribe who lived there; hence, the Batauian shore indicates the Dutch coast around Nieuwpoort. 43.7 obloquye] disgrace. 44.3 Ate] Goddess of discord. Spenser describes her at great length at FQ, 4.1.19-30. 44.5 Ianus gates] Numa Pompilius built a temple to Janus in Rome (see Livy, History of Rome [Ab urbe condita], 1.19); the gates of the temple were opened when Rome went to war, and closed when Rome (with its empire) was at peace. 44.6 Aspinol] Ambrogio di Spinola (1569-1630), a Genoan who first won fame for taking the city of Ostend in September 1604. Thereafter he was given overall command of the Spanish forces in Flanders, and continued to serve with success against the Dutch. Stanzas 45-46 Sir Gorman] Sir Charles Morgan (1575-1642), a Welsh gentleman who followed his father Sir Thomas into the Dutch service. He fought under Sir Francis Vere at Neiuwpoort in 1600, and garrisonned Ostend between 1601 and its fall in 1604. Morgan also led the English defence in 1622 when Spinola unsuccessfully attempted to capture the strategic city of Bergen-op-Zoom, the victory that Knevet commemorates here. Mab-Vter is an epithet of the legendary king Arthur, preserved in some manuscripts of Nennius’ History of the Britons. 47.2-9] Following his failed attempt to take Bergen-opZoom, Spinola continued to mass Catholic troops in the Netherlands, with the eventual aim of taking the city of Breda (finally accomplished in June 1625). Knevet’s cat-

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alogue of rivers indicates the regions of Catholic Europe from which Spinola’s forces were drawn: the German imperial forces (Rhine), the eastern Austrian and Hungarian forces (Danube), the papal and Italian troops (Po), and the Spanish troops (Iberus). The river Po rises (as Pliny records, in the Natural History, 3.20) on mount Vesulus, and falls into the plains of Liguria in northwest Italy. The Spanish had discovered the cells (or storerooms) of Pluto, the metal-rich god of the classical underworld, in their New World colonies, whence plate or treasure fleets returned to Europe bearing enormous quantities of precious metals. 48.6-9] Toward the end of 1622 two German (Almaine) soldiers – Christian of Brunswick and Ernst von Mansfeld – joined their forces in support of Maurice of Nassau at Bergen-op-Zoom. Their combined forces met the Spanish at Fleurus in August 1622 and pierced their line, opening up a channel for the relief of Bergen, which contributed directly to raising Spinola’s siege. 49.3 ycleaped] called. 49.3 Granvere] Henry de Vere, eighteenth Earl of Oxford, first served in the Dutch wars in 1624. He died of fever at the Hague two years later. 49.5 Mars his] Mars’. On this form of the possessive, see 8.8.1.4n. below. 50.1 Montagon] Obscure. 50.4 acquists] conquests, achievements. 50.5 catastrophes] conclusions, fatal ends. 50.6 Sir Deueron] Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex (1591-1646), served alongside Maurice of Nassau between 1621 and 1624. 50.6-8 Lamias lust ... dust] An allusion to Essex’s unhappy and abortive marriage to Frances Howard (1590-1632), who was granted an annulment in 1613, and immediately afterward married Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset and the favourite of James VI and I. In 1613 Howard and Carr had conspired to murder Sir Thomas Overbury, at one time Carr’s adviser but now a prisoner in the Tower, and in 1615 they were both tried (and eventually pardoned) for the crime. This affair, in combination with Frances’ earlier history with Essex, left an indelible spot on her public reputation – as a whore, witch, and murderer. 51.1 Sir Bertufort] Sir Robert Bertie, first Earl of Lindsay (1582-1642), served as a colonel in the Netherlands in 1623. 51.4 rampeing] rearing, as for attack. The lion rampant is a common heraldic symbol, associated with English royalty. 51.9 Vranion] Maurice of Nassau died in April 1625, during the siege of Breda. Just before his death, he arranged to pass his various dignities and offices (including the position of Stadtholder in the United Provinces, and the leadership of the house of Orange) to his brother Frederick Henry, Knevet’s Vranion. This name, like Auranion, clearly reflects the Dutch pronunciation of oranje, ‘orange’.

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Canto 8

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1.4 Mars his honord sonne] Mars’ honoured son. Early modern English grammarians mistakenly believed that the English genitive ending –s was a truncated vestige of ‘his’ – a misprision convenient for versifiers. 2.1 clangour] din, clang. 2.4 impiety] Catholic critics decried the protestant faith of the United Provinces, but Knevet may also have in mind English critics of the ‘Scrooby separatists’ – a group of non-conformist evangelical protestants who escaped persecution in England by emigrating to Leiden. Many of them eventually settled in Massachusetts. 2.7 This quarrells iustnes ... equity] As Aristotle explains in Nicomachean Ethics, Book 5, a judgment or practice can be good in law, and therefore just, without achieving that fairness – or equity – that is the spirit of justice. Knevet here discriminates between the legal and equitable aspects of the contest between Spanish and Dutch interests in the Netherlands, only to claim that neither interest him as an epic poet. 3.1 Bird of happy Araby] The phoenix, which at death is consumed by fire, and is then reborn from its own ashes. Pliny calls the phoenix the ‘famous bird of Arabia’ (Natural History, 10.2), and notes that it builds its next from cassia bark (similar to cinnamon), sprigs of incense, and other perfumes. See also 9.6.35.7 and n. below. 3.6 Fires] sets fire to. 3.7 vrne] the urn containing his ashes. 3.9 pinions] wings. 4.1 actiue heate] busy fervour, quick courage. 4.4 many knights] Frederick Henry’s campaigns after 1625 relied on troops drawn from many countries. In his memoir, Mémoires de Frédéric Henri (Amsterdam: Pierre Humbert, 1733), he records that, of the eighteen regiments he took to the siege of Hertogenbosch, four were French, three Scottish, four English, two German, three Netherlanders, one Frisian, and one Walloon. 4.6 Francon] Signifying the French soldiers in Frederick Henry’s forces. 5.3 Grobbendoncke] Anthony Schetz, Catholic Baron of Grobendonc (or Grobbendonck), an experienced soldier, had been in command of the Spanish defences at Hertogenbosch for over thirty years. 5.6 Hylarcha] ‘First matter’, from Gr. ὕλη (‘matter’), and ἀρχή (‘first, beginning’). In Knevet’s historical allegory, Hylarcha stands in for Hertogenbosch (or Bois-le-duc), a heavily fortified Spanish fortress near Breda. 5.6 tane] taken. 5.8 Chattelaine] chastelain, warder of the castle. 6.5 tenents] tenets, customs. 7.2 a gentle Squire] The gentle squire executed by Grobendonc, at whose death the French took exception, remains unidentified. 7.9 seconded] supported. In addition to 3,000 Spanish troops inside the fortress, Grobendonc could also rely on 5,000 well-armed citizens. At news of Frederick Henry’s siege, Archduchess Isabella’s government in Brussels dispatched Hendrik van den Bergh – Frederick Henry’s cousin – to ’s-Hertogenbosch with an army of 37,000 men.

8.6-9 But sage ... combates light] Frederick Henry’s tactical ingenuity at the 1629 siege of ’s-Hertogenbosch quickly passed into military legend. The fortified city was positioned in the middle of a marsh, making usual siege tactics more or less impossible. The Spanish considered the situation impregnable. Frederick Henry hired 4,000 peasant labourers to build massive dykes through the marsh, which were themselves heavily fortfied (a siege strategy called ‘circumvallation’). By the time van den Bergh arrived with his army, the Dutch troops themselves occupied so defensible a position that van den Bergh didn’t even attempt to attack; instead, he pushed north into the Republic, trying to weaken the attack on ’s-Hertogenbosch by luring the Dutch away. Meanwhile, Frederick Henry drove his earthworks forward until he was able to attack the city’s outer fortifications – the massive defensive towers of Fort Isabella and Fort St Anthony, both of which fell in the middle of July. Frederick Henry did not reach the outer gates of the city until the middle of September. 9.6 Phalarica] The largest of the missiles used in classical warfare, usually fired from a siege tower (fala, from which it derives its name); it had a head of iron, which was wrapped in pitch and tow. Knevet likely encountered the phalarica, complete with a careful description of its features and use, in Livy’s History of Rome, 21.8 10.1 Testudo] The ‘tortoise’ (L.), a form of attack in which Roman soldiers, moving in a coordinated group, covered their heads and flanks with their shields, thus advancing impervious to projectiles. 10.6 a wooden towre] A kind of siege engine, used to help attackers scale the battlements of a fortified city under cover. 10.9 entertainement sowre] a poor reception. 11.1 Bulwarke] defensive rampart. 11.3 Bastile] a small fortress or tower; here, a kind of siege engine. 11.5-6 Vulcans flames ... wildfire] A highly inflammable compound, very difficult to extinguish, used during warfare in this period. 12.3 Sir Anglent] The historical allegory alludes either to Sir Edward Vere, who died fighting at ’s-Hertogenbosch, or to the seasoned English regiments on whom Frederick Henry relied for the final push on the Vught gate. 12.4 his ill lucke] Francon’s misfortune. 12.5 exasperate] made more violent. 12.7 them] the defenders. 13.1 his crossed ensigne] his battle standard, the cross of St George. 13.4-5 While Grobbendoncke ... keys] Grobendonc surrendered the city on 14 September 1629. 13.7 demise] execute. 13.8 from ... quitt] released him from the dishonour of captivity (a fate worse than death). 14.3 carrolls] panegyric songs or poems. Frederick Henry was associated with several Dutch poets, including his secretary Constantijn Huygens, but it is not clear to whom – if anyone at all, apart from himself – Knevet here refers. 14.5 Traiecta] The city of Maastricht, under Spanish control from 1579, was the object of Frederick Henry’s next major campaign. The Romans had called the city Traiectum

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 8

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superius (the Upper Ford) and later Traiectum ad Mosam (the Ford on the river Maas, or Meuse). 14.7 Dianas hests] the vows of chastity. Diana (or Artemis), goddess of chastity, was a fabled huntress. 15.2 Mosa cleare] The Maas or Meuse river, which flows through Maastricht. 15.3 crook’d Mæanders] wandering turns. The river Mæander in Phrygia (modern Turkey) was proverbial in the classical world for its wandering course. Cf. 7.11.12.5 and n. above. 15.4 long standing deare] A deer (or fox) is said to ‘stand’ when it holds out during a hunt. See OED, ‘stand’, v., 69e (though this instance far antedates recorded usage). 16.1 embay] bathe, soak. 16.3 circumiacent coasts] the coasts roundabout. 17.4-9] The goddess Calypso (line 4) held Odysseus (Vlysses, line 5) on the island of Ogygia during his return from Troy (see Homer, Odyssey, 12.447-50). Knevet claims that, like the Sirens, Calypso was part human, part fish. His source for this claim is unknown, but he may simply be following the Cratylean etymological tradition of interpreting Homer (popularized by Jean Dorat), which saw Calypso’s allegorical significance in the meaning of her name, from Gr. ϰαλύπτω (‘to conceal’). The epithets usually associated with this goddess in the Odyssey include δολόεσσα (‘subtle, wily’). Cf. 7.9.36.1n. above. 18.7 bright Apollos brand] the sun. A brand is a torch, and Apollo the god of the sun. 18.9 Sir Ferraugh] One of the minor knights of books 3 and 4 of The Faerie Queene – where he also first appears abducting a lady (the False Florimell, from Braggadocchio, at FQ, 3.8.15-19). Knevet’s historical allegory seems to links Ferraugh to Alessandro Farnese, Duke of Parma (1545-1592), who captured Maastricht for Philip II of Spain in 1579. But the allegorical identification is not historically fixed, for Ferraugh also represents the Spanish grip on Maastricht as late as 1632, during Frederick Henry’s campaign to liberate the city. 19.1 Sarasin] saracen, Arab or (more generally) pagan. 19.5 gracious] (trisyllabic). 19.9 the Mase] the river Maas (or Meuse); cf. 8.8.15.2 and n. above. 20.1 fact] deed. 20.4 A cartell ... endite] ‘he drafted a formal written challenge’. 21.8 try masteryes] join in a contest of strength. 22.6 false Malfida] On Malfida, see 7.1.5.5n. above. As often, Malfida’s appearance in Knevet’s allegory here symbolizes the activity of Catholic European powers dominated by the imperial and Spanish Habsburg houses. 22.6 wend] go, travel. 23.1 Sir Arthegall the iust] Patron knight of justice and hero of Book 5 of FQ. Spain had long sought an alliance with James VI and I that would break English support for the Dutch republican cause in the Netherlands. This was the primary agenda of Spain’s envoy to the English court, Count Gondomar. These negotiations finally broke down at the marriage of the newly crowned Charles I to Henrietta Maria in 1625. 23.6 Sir Tuiscon] Tacitus notes (in Germania, section 2) that the ancient Germanic peo-

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ples derived themselves from ‘an earth-born god’ (deum terra editum) called Tuisto. Here Sir Tuiscon memorializes Gottfried Heinrich von Pappenheim, the German soldier who led imperialist forces during the 1632 Maastricht campaign. Knevet writes that he is drawn from the banks of the Danow, or Danube (line 7), because he fought for Ferdinand II, the Holy Roman Emperor, whose imperial capital was Vienna, now in Austria, on the Danube. 24.3 fraught] filled, overrun. 24.9 condiscend] agree. 25.2 Into the Lists] within the barriers enclosing the tournament ground. 25.4 rent] tore, i.e. filled. 25.6 scaffold] an elevated platform. 26.1 in an antique guise] either in the old Roman fashion (cf. line 3 below), or in a fantastic (‘antic’) manner. 26.2 murall parapets embattelled] ornamented with a design imitating castle fortifications; but see next n. 26.3-5 Like that ... colours spred] It was the custom in the Roman army to bestow a crown or wreath, known as a muralis corona, or ‘crown of the wall’, to that soldier who first scaled the wall during an assault on a fortified castle or town. The muralis corona was known in English, from the fifteenth century, as a ‘mural crown’ or ‘mural wreath’, and was generally held to have been embattled (or crenellated) in imitation of the defensive wall the breaching of which it commemorated. 26.9 Polymachon] ‘Many battles’, or ‘very contentious’, from Gr. πολύς (‘much, many’), and µάχη (‘battle’). Probably a fleeting mention of Don Gonzalez de Cordoba, Archduchess Isabella’s general in the Spanish Netherlands, who was recalled from fighting in the Palatinate in order to raise the Dutch siege of Maastricht. He arrived at Maastricht on 2 July 1632, with 18,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. Stanzas 27-31] The triplet of Auranion, Arthur, and Francon represents the combined forces of the Dutch, English, and French contingents at Maastricht. Frederick Henry remained in command of the siege, but the English and French regiments directed separate approaches to the city’s defences, the French on the north and the English to the south. 27.1-3 Now ... tryd] The initial combat being three against three, Trajecta’s champions select a trio from their number by casting lots – thus avoiding any dissension within their own ranks. 27.7 by his lots arbitrement] by the judgment of the draw. 27.9 Prince Arthur] Arthur’s regular appearances in FQ also tend to come in the latter third of each book, as the patron knights begin to slack or struggle with their quests. Spenser writes in ‘A letter of the Authors ... to Sir Walter Raleigh’ that Arthur is perfected in the twelve private moral virtues, and so his interventions in FQ, and here, have the force of an ethical exemplar, which the other knights can follow. Knevet breaks with Spenser in imagining that Arthur has already visited the court of Gloriana (see 8.8.28 below), whereas in FQ it is Arthur’s constant but apparently unachievable quest to find the queen whose image only he saw in a dream. In Knevet’s histori-

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cal allegory, Arthur’s contribution represents the English contingent in Frederick Henry’s forces at Maastricht. 28.1 brute] bruit, report. 29.3 cherisance] Perhaps an error for ‘chevisance’, itself a Spenserian innovation meaning ‘chivalry, feats of chivalry’. 29.4 a Leopard on his crest] The House of Nassau bore a lion rampant in its coat of arms; why Knevet represents Vranion bearing a leopard on his crest is unclear. 29.5 caparison] ornamental saddle garment. 29.6 with orange trees] Signifying the House of Orange. 29.7 bunch of shafts] bundle of arrows. The sheaf of arrows was used in early modern heraldry and emblem books to signify concord or consent, as in Ben Jonson’s entertainment for James VI and I’s coronation entertainments in 1603/04, where Omothymia, or Unanimity, was shown with a sheaf of arrows in her lap. A sheaf of arrows also featured in the coat of arms used by the Dutch Republic during the seventeenth century, taken from the seal of the States General. This usage derived originally from the seventeen arrows depicted in the arms of Spanish Habsburg princes, representing the seventeen provinces of the Spanish Netherlands. A marginal annotation in Knevet’s Stratiotikon (against ll. 450-53) remembers that ‘A Lyon with a sheafe of Arrowes in his paw [represents] the Armes of Holland’. 29.7 imprest] stamped, painted. 30.2 surcote] An outer coat or cape worn over a knight’s armour, usually ornamented with heraldic arms or a badge. 30.5 roses, white and red] The traditional symbol of the unification of the royal houses of York and Lancaster under Henry VII, and thus the symbol of a unified England – a symbol which the Stuart monarchs, descended from Henry VII’s daughter Margaret, inherited. 30.8-9 a golden Lion ... crosse deuine] The lion and the cross of St George were traditional elements in the royal arms of England. 31.1 equipage] dress, furnishings. 31.2 diportment] carriage, bearing. 31.4-7] The cloak covered in the fleur-delis, symbol of the kings of France from as early as the twelfth century. Fleurs-de-lis on an azure field were used in various heraldic and ceremonial contexts, above all in the coat of arms of the French monarchy. 31.8-9 Vpon his target ... oliue greene] The emblem tradition offers two conflicting traditions for the relationship of the olive tree to the vine (symbolizing wine). Andrea Alciato’s Emblematum libellus (1534, and many subsequent editions) includes an emblem depicting a vine supported by a dead elm, under the title, ‘Amicitia etiam post mortem durans’ (Friendship endures even after death). In this reading of Francon’s shield, the vine and olive may symbolize the mutual support of friendship. But the volume includes another emblem, under the title, ‘Prudentes vino abstinent’ (the wise abstain from wine), which depicts an olive tree resisting a climbing grape vine. Here the olive tree (sacred to Minerva, goddess of wisdom) is seen as incompatible with the vine (sacred to Bacchus). The incompatibility of the emblematic tradition is appropriate to the historical

allegory, for Henry IV brought peace in the religious wars that had rocked France since 1584 – the country of the vine was, in that, sense, joined to the olive; but he was ultimately assassinated in 1610 in direct response to his support for French protestants in the north of the country. 32.3 The Marshall] In a royal or noble household, the master of formal ceremonies; in early modern law courts, the marshalls kept order before the judge, and were charged with the keeping of prisoners. 32.3 th’Appellants] the challengers: Ferraugh, Tuiscon, and Polymachon. 33.1 trust] faith. 33.1-5] ‘They committed themselves entirely to the goodness and justice of God, in this as in all matters, who would justify their claims (make [. . . ] good [. . . ] their quarrell)’. 34.2 deuoires] duties. 34.5 iurament] oath. 35.3 linstocke] A staff or stick used by gunners to hold and deploy their lighted matches. 35.5 brazen cells] bronze barrels. 35.7 malle] hammer, pound. 36.4 fauchions] swords. 36.7 cornell] The term cornel is usually used of the fortified battlement of a tower or castle. Either Knevet has mis-used the word, or it enjoyed an undocumented extension to some piece of armour, probably covering the head. Stanza 37] The unusual rhyme scheme here – where Knevet has used the same a and b rhyme – may create added pace. 37.1 gaine the crouper] To gaine or get the crouper (or crupper) of an enemy’s horse was to position oneself, during mounted combat, at the enemy’s rear (crouper), so as to be able to strike blows that could not be easily defended. 37.5 ere] ever. 37.6 sell] seat. 37.8 chine] split asunder. 37.9 well] well up, flow. 38.9 impetuously] violently. 39.1 Spanyard] Ferraugh: an odd moment in which Knevet’s understanding of the historical allegory punctures its literary surface. 39.4] ‘And only with a great struggle did he manage to get to his feet’. 40.6-7 While stout ... and paine] Pappenheim arrived in August 1632 with 12,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry, joining his forces with Cordoba. The two-pronged attack on Frederick Henry’s earthworks, however, came to nothing, and though the imperial army sought to break the Dutch supply lines, Frederick Henry was already well enough provided to see out the siege. 40.9 should neuer ... be shriuen] ‘would never again require absolution from a priest (because he would never again commit sin, because he was dead)’. 41.5-6 For ere ... Neptunes lake] before evening fell, and the sun set behind the ocean. 41.7-9 Sir Ferraugh ... did make] The Spanish garrison of Maastricht delivered up the fortress on 23 August. 41.8 her cloister] the body. 41.8-9] It is tempting to hear in the diction of this short passage (cloister, shrines, pilgrimage) echoes of Roman Catholic religious life appropriate to Ferraugh’s allegorical associations with Farnese and Spanish government of the Netherlands (see 8.8.18.9n. above).

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 9

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42.3 For honour’s ... sans ieopardy] ‘A knight never achieves honour except by peril’. This is a conventional romance claim; cf. FQ, 3.11.24.5-9. 42.4 the illustr’ous palme of conquest] A sign of victory; cf. 8.1.2.2, 8.5.10.8 and nn. above. 42.7 enarche] make an arch over. Stanzas 43-44] In his emphasis on Traiecta’s marriage with Vranion, Knevet appears to reflect the decisive blow that Frederick Henry’s victory at Maastricht inflicted on Spanish hopes to regain territory from the Dutch Republic. So important was Maastricht’s position and power to the security of the republic’s borders that, following its capture, the Spanish gave up attempts at a full-scale invasion. Vranion’s marriage with Traiecta thus symbolizes the Dutch Republic’s achievement of military and political security. 43.2 Clarions] shrill trumpets. 43.4 wise] manner. 44.9 This louely ... combine] Hymen, god of marriage, joined the couple in wedlock.

Canto 9 1.5-9 Tanaïs ... Po] The Greeks knew the river Don, which rises southeast of Moscow and drains into the Azov Sea, as the Tanais. It was by Strabo (Geography, 7.4.5) regarded as the boundary between Europe and Asia, and ran through the western part of the large Eurasian region known to the Romans as Scythia. The river is not warmed by the sun (Phœbus heate, line 5) because it lies in the north. The Po, by contrast, rises in the Italian Alps and runs eastward through northern Italy to drain into the Adriatic. 1.7 more complete] fuller in volume. 2.4-6 Poore Ottoman ... gaue] Osman I (1258-1326) was the historical founder of the Ottoman empire. As the son of a Turkic tribal chief (or Bey) who established a rich emirate in the Seljuk sultanate of Rum, his origins were hardly obscure, as Knevet suggests; but contemporary English histories, such as Richard Knolles’ Generall Historie of the Turkes (1603), made much of the way in which this humble ‘man of great spirit and valour [...] by little and little growing vp amongst the rest of his countreymen, and other the effeminate Christians on that side of Asia, at last like another Romulus tooke vpon him the name of a Sultan or King, and is right worthely accounted the first founder of the mightie Empire of the Turks’ (Knolles, f. A4v). 2.5 infime] very low or base; cf. ‘infimous’. Apparently one of Knevet’s own coinages. 2.9 this Cedar braue] Recruited as a symbol of the Ottoman imperial line, here, because of the cedar’s giant size, lofty height, and evergreen nature, and of course because of the tree’s native habitat in Lebabon, Syria, and Turkey. Cf. Gerard, Herball (1633): ‘The great Cedar is a very big and high tree, not onely exceeding all other resinous trees, and those which beare fruit like vnto it, but in his tallnesse and largenesse farre surmounting all other trees: the body or trunke thereof is

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commonly of a mighty bignesse, insomuch as foure men are not able to fathome it’ (p. 1352). Stanza 3] Great Tamerlane (1336-1405), or Timur i Leng (Timur the Lame, known to Christopher Marlowe as Tamburlaine), was the son of a Mongol tribal leader in Transoxiana, near Samarkand in modern Uzbekistan. Between 1360 and 1405 he established himself at the head of a huge empire stretching from the river Volga in modern Russia to the Ganges in India, where his descendant Babur founded the Moughal dynasty; among his many military victories was one over the Ottoman sultan, Bajazeth, a campaign that drew him southwest across the Caspian seas (line 2) towards Constantinople, seated on the Bosphorus (line 4) – the narrow straits lying between the Black Sea and the sea of Marmara, which through the Dardanelles pours into the Mediterranean. Knevet may have known Tamerlane’s history through Marlowe or, again, from Richard Knolles (see 8.9.2.4-6n. above), who reports of him that he was ‘poorly borne, of base and obscure parents: and so himselfe also in his youth to haue liued as a poore shepheard or heardsman in the mountaines; where consorting himselfe with other sturdie companions of like qualitie and disposition, such as there liued by robbing of marchants and other passengers, hee became a masterfull theefe amongst them: vnto whom other such leaud mates daily still more and more resorting, hee in short time grew (as they say) to that greatnesse, that he is reported to haue beene of such power, as neuer man but hee euer yet came vnto. A matter almost incredible’. Generall Historie of the Turkes (1603), pp. 211-12. It is Knolles, later in this passage, who first connects Tamerlane with Othoman, a parallel Knevet apparently adopted in these two stanzas. 3.6 Netheards] cowherd’s. 3.7 offices] duties, responsibilities; hence, activities. 4.1-2 How many ... old Troy] It was common for sixteenthcentury European royal houses to claim descent from one or another of the exiled heroes of Troy. The Tudors had at various points encouraged the claim that they were descended from Brutus, a legendary descendant of Aeneas, who had settled in Britain. This mythographic tradition appears in Nennius’ Historia Britonum, and in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae – a key source for many passages in FQ. 4.4. some vnhappy boy] Astyanax, son of Hector, was said by some medieval and Renaissance writers to have survived the destruction of Troy. Knevet was probably thinking of the (fanciful) tradition established by Boiardo and Ariosto in their respective works, Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso. For example, Ariosto claims that Astyanax escaped to Sicily, and eventually became king of Messina (Orlando Furioso, Book 36, stanzas 70-73). 4.6-9 Or from some wandring Varlet ... Vulcan hote] From Aeneas, who recounts to Dido in the Aeneid (2.730-95) how he was forced to abandon his wife, Creusa, to the war (rage of Mars, god of war) and flames (Vulcan, Olympian blacksmith and so god of forges and

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of weapons) in conquered Troy. Roman mythographers – and above all Virgil, who popularized the tradition in the Aeneid – had claimed Aeneas as the first founder of a kingdom in Latium, which through his descendant Romulus would become Rome. 5.2 principles] germs, seeds. Cf. OED, ‘principle’, n., 8b. 6.2 yet were] yet there were. 6.4 maintained ... port] did not bear himself with ostentatious nobility. 6.5-6 Ne of ... a Knight] Gustavus Adolphus, whose campaign in the Thirty Years’ War lies behind Callimachus’ quest, was sworn a Knight of the Garter by Charles I in 1627. 6.9 did at tilt ... acquite] proved himself at the joust, and in the mock battles of the tournaments. 7.6 Æole] God of winds, Aeolus. 7.7 Neptune] God of the sea. 8.1 Callimachus his foes] See 8.8.1.4n. above. 8.6-9 heroicke vertue ... th’vniversall ball] Marsilio Ficino in his Platonic Theology had divided all living creation into vegetal, animal, human, angel, and divine, and had argued that it was the special property of humans – placed in the middle of creation – to aspire to higher forms of being. Knevet sees heroicke vertue as the animating spark that drives the human toward both fame and spiritual elevation. Stanza 9] This stanza repeats Knevet’s earlier emphasis on the military successes of Androgeus, who in the historical allegory memorializes Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, commander of the German Catholic League forces throughout the 1620s and early 1630s; cf. 8.6.29.2n. above. Tilly had won engagement after engagement before he met Gustavus Adolphus at Breitenfeld. 10.8 Valett] groom. Stanzas 11-15] The marriage between Callimachus and Vittoria symbolizes, in the historical allegory, the ascendancy of Gustavus Adolphus after his victory at Breitenfeld. 11.3 old Hymens bonds] Callimachus is joined to Vittoria in marriage, sacred to the god Hymen. 12.1 liueing bayes] In the classical period (and so in the Renaissance) bay (or laurel) leaves were sacred to Apollo, god of poets, but were also used more generally as trophies of victory. 12.4-6 Iuye ... myrtle ... Lyæus exhalations] Ivy was sacred to Bacchus, god of wine, who is usually depicted wearing a wreath of ivy around his temples (cf. Pliny, Natural History, 16.62, § 144). Lyaeus was one of Bacchus’ many epithets, and thus Lyaeus exhalations is a periphrasis for drunkenness. Pliny (and after him Gerard) claims that myrtle in various forms ‘withstandeth drunkennesse’. Gerard, Herball (1633), p. 1414. 12.7-9 Did roses weare ... restraine] Gerard writes in his Herball that ‘the distilled water of roses is good for the strengthening of the heart, & refreshing of the spirits, and likewise for all things that require a gentle cooling’ (p. 1263). Similarly, ‘the oile doth mitigate all kindes of heat, and will not suffer inflammations or hot swellings to rise, and being risen it doth at the first asswage them’ (p. 1264).

13.1 frankincense] Or olibanum, a fragrant gum taken from one of the varieties of the tree Boswellia (esp. Boswellia sacra). It is still customary to burn frankincense at religious rites in various traditions. 13.3-5 The modest spouse ... consecrate] In an ancient Roman marriage custom, the bride wound wool around the doorpost’s of the groom’s house before entering, in order to deflect enchantments or evil influences. 13.3 purple fine] Purple garments are traditionally associated with royalty. 14.1 Vesper] The evening star (the planet Venus, also known as Hesperus). 14.1 votes] wishes. 14.3 geniall bed] The lectus genialis, or marriage bed. 14.5 her mayden dressing] clothes appropriate to virgins (especially the white garment in which a woman was traditionally presented at the wedding). 15.3 Epithalamium] marriage hymn. 15.7 of limme] of stout limbs, hence ‘of strength’. 15.9 change cuffes afoote] try boxing (see OED, ‘cuff’, n.2 ). 16.7 accoutrements] furnishings, equipment. 16.8 sober] serious. 17.3 surcease] discontinue, end. 17.6 Sir Eupraton] ‘Welldoing’, from Gr. εὐ- (‘well’), and πράσσω (‘do’). Gr. εὐπραξία means ‘good conduct’. 17.8 laurell crownes] Laurel crowns, signs of victory (cf. 8.9.12.1 and n. above), are appropriate symbols of Eupraton’s performative virtue. 17.9 caparison] ornamental saddle covering. 18.1-5 A Lion fierce ... to sight] The import of Eupraton’s shield appears to be that the heroic spirit (the Lion) achieves immortality (the promise of apotheosis symbolized by Ariadne’s crown) by means of valorous struggle. As both Apollodorus (Epitome, 1.7-8) and Ovid (Met., 8.169-82) record, Ariadne, princess of Crete, was abandoned on the island of Naxos by Theseus after she helped him to defeat the Minotaur. The god Bacchus married her and gave her a star-studded crown, which after her death was set in the sky as the constellation corona borealis (the ‘northern crown’). 18.1 targe] shield. 18.3 arduous] steep, difficult to climb. 18.7 Deinopascon] ‘Terrible suffering’, from Gr. δεινός (‘dreadful, terrible’) and πάσχω (‘to suffer’). 18.7 sadder] more serious, graver. 18.9 palme trees] The palm trees on Deinopascon’s saddle represent peace and victory. 19.1-4 An anvile ... smoky fornace sweat] The anvil and hammers reinforce the Stoic virtue of the knight suggested by his name: it is through suffering that Deinopascon has been forged and made worthy. Vulcan (or Hephaestus), the blacksmith god, had great forges under Mt Etna, worked by cyclopes. His lameness – the result of a fall from Olympus when, according to Homer (Iliad, 1.58694), he was thrown by Jove upon the island of Lemnos – similarly makes him an emblem of suffering: so Homer makes the story of Vulcan’s fall, and his lameness, an argument and emblem for Juno’s patience in her relentless contest with her husband. 19.6 dints] dents. 19.7 burganet] visored helmet.

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 9

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20.2 low obesiance] grand gesture of homage. 20.7 From Tagus ... to Ganges] The Tagus flows from Spain to Portugal, and drains into the Atlantic at Lisbon. The Ganges is the greatest river of the Indian subcontinent. The geographical frame bounded by these rivers recalls the paired exploits of Hercules (in France and Spain) and Bacchus (in India); cf. for example FQ, 5.1.2, and Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.8-39. 20.7 boisterous] rough, violent. 21.1 complementall cause] courteous impulse. 21.4-5 Though all ... then it] ‘Although even if we had only come out of courtesy, or to see for ourselves your person and manner, that would have justified all the trouble and time we took to get here.’ 22.1 Phrasia] Possibly from Gr. φράζω (‘to show, tell’). Both Eupraton and Deinopascon represent the ideal of achieving worth through the demonstration (showing, telling) of valor – Eupraton by valiant accomplishment, Deinopascon by valiant suffering. 22.4 puissance] power. 22.5 great King Porus] An Indian king of the fourth century BC, whose wars against Alexander the Great are chronicled in Arrian, Anabasis, 5.9-19. Alexander defeated him in a battle on the banks of the river Hydaspes (the modern river Jhelum) in 326 BC, on the borders of Porus’ kingdom in Punjab. Stanza 23] The power of love to break as well as make friendships is a recurrent theme in the opening cantos of Book 4 of FQ. 23.1 Sol] the sun (L.). 23.3 Luna] the moon (L.). 24.6-9] Eupraton shows his lady’s portrait at tilts and tournaments, offering to fight with any knight who claims greater beauty for his mistress. This is a common romance motif in the period; cf. for example Phalantus’s challenge in Book 1 of Philip Sidney’s The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia (The New Arcadia) ‘to give [Artesia’s] beauty the principality over all other’, p. 93. 25.2 made ... apayd] dishonoured. 25.4-9 For beauty ... containes] Beauty is imperious (line 4) because, by its comparative (rather than absolute) nature, it must always enter into contention with other beauties, and seek to define itself by subordinating them. It is impotent (line 8) in this desire, however, because its comparative excellence must be achieved and judged not by itself, but by others (and especially by men, or the knights who fight in its justification). 25.8 Such impotent ... raignes] Cf. FQ 5.12.1.1-2. 26.5 guerdon] reward. 26.7 reuert] return. 27.6 chalenge for a property] claim as his own. 28.2 dight] dressed. 28.6 ebone staffe] A walking stick of ebony was traditionally carried by pilgrims. 28.7 coatearmour] Vest worn by knights over their armour, on which were embroidered their arms and badges. 28.7 amice] Cloth wrap worn about the head and shoulders, used as ceremonial costume, in various contexts, in the Christian tradition. 28.8 contempt’ous geare] contemptible stuff (mean clothing).

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29.3 Midland seas] Mediterranean ocean. 29.3-5 To westerne Cyprus ... likes best] The islands of Cytheron and Cyprus competed in antiquity for the honour of being Venus’ seat. In classical literature Venus was often known as the ‘Cyprian’, or shown coming from and going to Cyprus; see e.g. Ovid, Met., 10.717-18. Cf. also Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 192-200. 29.7 frozen Caucasus] It is not clear why Deinopascon would travel from India to Cyprus via the mountains of the Caucasus – a rugged isthmus between the Caspian and Black Seas; but it is true that the high peaks of this region are covered in snow, even in summer. 29.7 simple vest] plain or homely gown. 30.2 distill’d] trickled, rained. 31.2 vorticous] eddying, whirling. From L. vortex, ‘eddy, whirlpool’; apparently Knevet’s own coinage. 31.8 counterfeit] portrait. 32.1 alabaster] A white, transparent limestone (or lime sulphate). 32.3 guilt] gilt, covered with gold leaf. 32.6 vtter] outermost. 32.7 Iuuenta] youth (L.). 32.8 greenish weed] clothing made of green – living or freshly-cut – vegetation. 33.2 Scholœa slow] From Gr. σχολή (‘leisure, rest, ease’). 33.7 supernall] heavenly, celestial. 34.3 lutes, and violls] stringed intruments (the lute picked, the viol bowed) during this period associated with the lyric diversions of courtly culture. 34.9 distaues] distaffs. On the use of the distaff in spinning, see 8.2.26.2n. above. Stanza 35] Cf. Thomalin’s emblem to ‘Marche’ in SC: ‘Of Hony and of Gaule in loue there is store: | The Honye is much, but the Gaule is more’. 35.7 gall, or wormewood] bitter drinks. Gall was made by steeping in water or wine the galls (see OED, ‘gall’, n.3 ) produced by various trees, especially oaks; the liquid, rich in acid, was then used to produce ink. Wormewood, a proverbially bitter plant, was the base for many purgative medicines. 36.7 Ougly Dispaire] cf. Spenser’s Despaire, described at FQ, 1.9.35-36. Stanza 37] Lavender (p. 944) notes a parallel in this stanza with Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, ll. 1925-30. 37.2 leasings] lies, deceits. 37.5 glistring brauery] glittering pomp. 37.7 thoughtfull] pensive, ruminative. 37.7-9 Iealousy ... Cuckoe had] Yellow clothing (and particularly stockings) were conventionally associated with jealousy. The cuckoo is an appropriate symbol of jealousy because of its fabled habit of laying its eggs in other birds’ nests. Its babbleing presumably represents the public shame feared by the cuckold. 38.2 eke] also. 38.2 curiously arrayd] skilfully ornamented. 39.3 fauchion cleare] shining sword. 39.8 iuye iauelin] The thyrsis, Bacchus’ distinctive rod. 39.9 Neptune with his mace] The god of the sea, with his customary trident. 40.3 teene] anger, rage. 40.5 Caduceus] The snakywreathed wand of Hermes. On its powers, see Conti, Mythologiae, 5.5. 41.3 forme triangular] The altar’s triangular shape may refer to Venus’ association with bodily – as opposed to divine

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– appetites and love. Cf. Kenelm Digby’s analysis of FQ, 2.9.22, where Spenser describes the partly triangular form of the human body: ‘By the Triangular Figure he very aptly designes the body: for as the Circle is of all other Figures the most perfect and most capacious: so the Triangle is most imperfect, and includes least space. It is the first and lowest of all Figures; for fewer than 3 right Angles cannot comprehend and inclose a superficies, having but 3 angles they are all acute (if it be equilaterall) and but equall to 2 right; in which respect all other regular Figures consisting of more then 3 lines, do exceed it [...]. A Triangle is composed of severall lines, and they of Points, which yet do not make a quantitie by being contiguous to one another: but rather the motion of them doth describe the lines. In like manner the Body of man is compounded of the foure Elements which are made of the foure primarie qualities, not compounded of them (for they are but Accidents) but by their operation upon the first matter. And as a Triangle hath three lines, so a solid Body hath three dimensions, to wit, Longitude, Latitude and Profunditie. But of all bodies, Man is of the lowest rank, (as the Triangle is among Figures) being composed of the Elements which make it liable to alteration and corruption’. Observations on the 22. Stanza in the 9th. Canto of the 2d. Book of Spencers Faery Queene (1643), pp. 8-9. 41.4 Fane] temple. 41.6 Like that ... Vestas vrne] The fire maintained by the virgins sacred to Vesta, god of the hearth and home, was said to burn forever. See e.g. Ovid, Met., 15.777-78. 41.7 the Sunne meridian] the sun at its midday zenith. 42.1-5 The statue ... immote] Knevet may have in mind the famous statue of Aphrodite carved by Praxiteles (early fourth century BC), which stood in the temple of Aphrodite at Cnidos. It was apparently so lifelike that, as Pliny records (Natural History, 36.4, §§ 20-21), male devotees sometimes lost their heads. Or he may have been thinking of the Venus Anadyomene, painted by the fourth-century Greek master Apelles (see Pliny, Natural History, 35.36, § 91), which dramatizes Hesiod’s account of Venus’ birth from sea-foam (Theogony, ll. 192206). Apelles’ lost masterpiece was recreated by the Florentine painter Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), probably influenced by a description of Venus’ birth in Angelo Poliziano’s Stanze per la giostra (c. 1478), published in 1541. Poliziano’s account contains many of the elements Knevet mentions here; Knevet probably drew directly on Poliziano or on his many imitators. 42.4 escallope] scallop shell. 42.5 immote] immobile. 42.9 scaly Tritons] mermen. 43.2 seaborne] borne by the sea; born from the sea (cf. 8.9.42.1-5n. above). 43.3 orisons] prayers. 43.7 parragon] (ideal) mistress. 44.5 commodityes] goods. 44.6 disbarked] unloaded. 46.2 condiscend] agree, concede. 46.7 incende] kindle, inflame. 47.2 Fortezza] From It., ‘strength; fortress’ (cf. Eng. ‘fastness’). 47.9 splendent] shining, brilliant.

48.9 arbitrement] judgment. 49.9 vnneath] scarcely. Stanzas 52-53] The intervention of Callina in the battle between Eupraton and Deinopascon recalls the similar intervention of Cambina in the fight between Cambel and Triamond, in FQ, 4.3.37-49. 52.8 Warn’d] signalled, prompted.

Canto 10 1.3 puissance] power. 1.5 the orientall Iles] the East Indies, and especially the island of Java. The English East India Company was given a royal charter in 1600, and merchants from London swiftly began to compete with the already well-established Dutch trade in spices. Many accounts of the islands of the East Indies were published in the early part of the seventeenth century; see, e.g., Joseph Acosta, The Naturall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies, Intreating of the Remarkeable Things of Heaven, of the Elements, Mettalls, Plants and Beasts which are Proper to that Country: Together with the Manners, Ceremonies, Lawes, Governements, and Warres of the Indians (1604). 1.8 On which ... eyes] ‘On which the sun first shines when it rises’. 2.2 peereles lineaments] unequalled features. 2.6 Altiua] From L. alta, ‘high’ – a suitable name for an ambitious queen. 3.6-7 Shee thus ... abourd] When the conditions were perfect, she struck. 4.3 Vouchsafe] condescend. 5.2 passant Time] passing time; but the use of passant suggests the heraldic context in which the word is still regularly used to describe the attitude of pictured animals. 5.8 ciuill broiles] civil wars, domestic strife. 6.4 ingenious] ingenuous: noble, honest. 6.5 towardly] affable; promising. 7.2 in fine] at length. 7.7 doome] judgment, sentence. 8.1 Andronica] ‘Victory over men’, from Gr. ἀνήρ (‘man’), and νίϰη (‘victory’). 8.5 scap’d] escaped. 8.5 inquest] search. 8.6 to lye downe] to go into labour. 9.1 Lucina] Goddess, the daughter of Latona, often invoked during childbirth. 10.3 barnes] children. 10.4 the Day-starre] The planet Venus, known at dawn as Lucifer or Phosphoros, also called the morning star. 10.8 errd] wandered. 11.4 hent] taken. 11.7 horrid drearyment] terrible suffering. Dreariment is a Spenserian coinage, often used by his imitators. 12.3 rowleing billowes] swelling waves. 12.4 Tritons] mermen. 12.4 ciuill iarres] civil war. 12.8 ladeing rich] costly cargo. 13.7 balefull stoure] wretched distress, or time of distress. This use of stoure is another distinctively Spenserian usage (though the word has a longer history in other senses). 13.8 eyne] eyes (an archaic plural form).

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 11

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14.3 rampeing] rearing; often used in heraldic descriptions of the attitudes of animals in arms, crests, and badges. 15.6 kenne] perceive. 16.1 redeeme] rescue, liberate. 16.2 heauy cheere] sorrowful mood. 17.4 Druide] hermetic priest or wiseman. An unusual use of the word, for this period, in the singular number. 17.5 orisons] prayers. 17.7 accede] approach. 18.3 Viands] victuals, provisions. 19.3 silly] innocent, helpless. 19.4 vncouth Desart] unknown wilderness. 19.7 impotent] unrestrained, after L. impotens. See OED, ‘impotent’, adj., 3. 20.5 abstrusest] most hidden. 20.7 proffer] offer, proposal. 22.1-3 When that ... viewes] The palefac’d Lady of the night (line 1) is the moon, who puts away (or mews) her horns when the moon becomes full. Then, turning her eyes toward the earth (the moon’s centre), she views it directly. 22.3 Amphitrit’] Neptune’s consort, queen of the seas. 22.6 Æole] God of the wind. 22.6 sideing with the iniurd maine] rivalling the fretted seas. 22.9 doubtfull] uncertain, i.e. evenly matched. 24.1 indigence] poverty. 24.9 education exquisite] the choicest learning. 25.3 the daylights Emperor] the sun. 25.4-5 Had finished ... rayes cleere] had completed nine revolutions, and had nine times altered its apparent inclination (really the earth’s, in its own revolution around the sun) between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer. 25.7 mansion] remaining, stay. The word is also used of the astrological ‘house’ in which the sun may at any time rest during its journey through the zodiac, a meaning that links the Druid’s life and death to the preceding lines. 26.1 bewray] betray, reveal. 26.6 enure] habituate, harden. 27.6 haberieon] a mailed vest. 27.7 Phœnician graine] Tyrian purple, a rich and expensive purple dye first prepared by the ancient Phoenicians (whose capital city was Tyre) from Mediterranean sea snails. The word graine was originally used only of the crimson kermes dye, thought (incorrectly) to be derived from the grains or seeds of the kermes oak, but later became a general term for dye and stain (cf. OED, ‘grain’, n.1 , 10, 11). 27.8 caske] casque, helmet. 27.9 cone] ‘The conical top of a helmet or other headpiece’ (OED, n.1 , 13). 28.3 poynant] piercing. 28.5 rout] band, crew. 28.6 weed] clothing. 28.8 dreary] violent, bloody. Another distinctively Spenserian (archaic) usage. 28.9 accoutered] equipped, furnished. 29.6 ydrad] dreaded, terrible. 30.3 made good this combate hard] got the better of this difficult fight. 30.6 reliques] remainder. 30.6 lewd] base, evil. 30.7 trebled teene] increased rage, fury. 30.9 That they] with the result that they. 31.4 Forrester] wild woodman. 31.6 elmen plant] trunk of an elm. 31.6 hasell wand] The shoot or branch of a hazel tree, often used for whipping. 31.8 vnkemb’d] unkempt. 31.9 crisped] frizzed.

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33.6 the Night ... sable tent] the black night took up her residence. 33.9 syluane] wooded, situated in the forest. 34.3 Phœbus] the sun. 34.3 Boreas] the north wind. 34.5 Vulcans flame] his hearth fire. 35.1 diportment] bearing, manner. 35.5 plant] young man. 35.8 whilome] in time past, long ago. 36.4 To Ioue ... fosteresse] Rhea hid her youngest son, Zeus (or Jove) from his father Cronus (Saturn); he was suckled by the goat Amalthea. See Apollodorus, Library, 1.1.57. 36.5-6 that yong Grandchild of Astyages ... receiue] Cyrus, king of Persia, was said to have been nursed by a dog. See Herodotus, Histories, 1.122. 36.7-9 But a fierce Wolfe ... deriue] Remus and his twin brother Romulus, mythical founder of Rome, were said to have been suckled by a wolf. See Livy, Ab urbe condita (History of Rome), 1.4. 37.6 a Lion rampant] A birthmark in the shape of a lion rearing – a heraldic device associated with English kings. 38.2 nere] never. 38.6 Foster] forester; see 8.10.31.4. 39.3 port, and carriage] bearing and behaviour. 39.6 Where ... hand] On Arthur’s presence at Gloriana’s court – a clear departure from the narrative scheme of FQ, in which the search for Gloriana is the whole of Arthur’s quest – see 8.8.27.9n. above. 39.7 demean’d] conducted. 40.3 As if ... selfsame mind] This definition of friendship is attributed to Aristotle by Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, 5.20. 40.6 synastrie] A confluence of astral influences in the fortunes of two people, which brings them into harmony or agreement. From Gr. συναστρία, via L. synastria; in English, possibly Knevet’s own coinage. 42.1 her intendments couers] conceals her intentions. 42.8 Betimes] before it was too late. 43.1 Callina] ‘Experience’, from L. callere, ‘to be hardened; to be experienced, to know by experience’. 43.7 massy targets] heavy shields. 44.9 deface] extinguish, efface.

Canto 11 1.1 Rouers] pirates. 1.1 kenne] perceive, descry. 1.2 Armado] navy; or perhaps a (single) heavy warship. 1.4-5] Pikes – long staves, often tipped with a sharp metal headpiece – were greased with tallow (line 4), or fat, so that the weapons could not be pulled from the hands of attackers during a battle. A ship’s guns could be loaded and primed in advance, and spare powder (in cartredges, line 5) laid by for handy later access. 1.6-8 They sling ... none slackes] Various activities discharged to prepare a ship for battle. In setting the sails for battle, the sailors sling the yards, or bind the (square) sails to the masts for tight handling; they then double the sheets (ropes attached to the corners of the square sails, by which they are controlled) and the tacks (ropes or cables used to secure and control the fore-and-aft sails). They face or cover the nettings on

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the side of the ship, which if left unexposed would allow the enemy to get purchase on, and board, the ship; and they place men at the tops of the masts, shielding them from view with wasteclothes. 2.4 prowesse preualent] prevailing or victorious valour. 2.5 shent] disgraced. 2.9 Mars ... decide] ‘this matter must be settled by war’. 3.1-2 His Vlyssæan wiles ... too well] Callimachus (here compared to an honest Trojan) could see through Aquilino’s crafty stratagems – for which Ulysses (or Odysseus) was famous in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. 3.5 fell] cruel. 3.7-9 Nor would ... not brooke] Lavender notes (p. 964) that – although Vittoria represents the victorious protestantism of Gustavus Adolphus’ German campaign after Breitenfeld – nonetheless Knevet’s narrative may here allude to the Swedish king’s reunion with his wife, Marie Eleanore Regina, immediately after the battle at Hanau. 4.1 wander like a weft] In law (and thus in general use) a waif (var. weft) is a stray chattel (e.g. an animal) that, found ownerless, can under certain conditions be claimed by the lord of the land on which it is found. 4.8 Forrests blacke] Perhaps suggesting the Schwarzwald in southwest Germany; cf 8.3.21.8 and n. above. 4.9 slender] meagre. 5.2 Crenepolemo] ‘Source of war’, from Gr. ϰρήνη (‘source, spring’), and πόλεµος (‘war’). As the ensuing narrative will make clear, in the historical allegory Crenepolemo represents Maximilian I (1573-1651), Duke and later Elector of Bavaria, one of the leaders of the German Catholic League between 1609 and 1616, and again (following resolution of his disputes with Ferdinand II) from 1618 to 1635. Tilly (represented in Knevet’s historical allegory by Androgeus) joined Maximilian at Ingolstadt after being defeated by Gustavus Adolphus at Breitenfeld. As Knevet’s stanza makes clear, Maximilian was throughout the Thirty Years’ War a near ally of Ferdinand II (Aquilino). 5.3 descriue] impart, describe. 5.5 Callimachus his foe] See 8.8.1.4n. above. 5.7-8 many Giants ... abide] Other Catholic princes in western Europe. 6.3 deiected] cast down. 6.4 vnkemb’d] unkempt. 7.4 Minion] favourite, client. 7.5 paramour] mistress, lady. 7.6 Whether] to where. 7.6 that blind Goddesse] Fortune (L. Fortuna) was usually depicted holding or standing on a wheel, symbolizing her mutability, and was often shown blindfolded, indicating her indiscriminate injustice. Here Knevet imagines her shifting from the lofty cedars (virtuous people, such as Androgeus is ironically imagined to be) to base shrubs. 7.7 whilome] formerly, once. 8.2 eyne] eyes (archaic plural form). 8.3 holosericke] silken, after the Gr ὁλοσηριϰός of the same meaning. Knevet’s ‘coate holosericke’ translates the holoserica vestis glossed in Sir Thomas Elyot’s 1538 Dictionary as ‘a garment all of sylke’; See Elyot, Dictionary (London: Thomas Berthelet, 1538), sig. K1v. The term is also glossed in Thomas Cooper’s Thesaurus linguae Romanae & Britannicae (London, 1578), sig. Mmm3r. 8.4 targe] shield.

9.5 ten to one] ‘the odds are’, ‘it is probable’. 9.9 rent] tore, stripped. 11.2 Hymenæan vnion] marriage. Vnion here is trisyllabic. 11.3 Epithalamiums sound] the music of the marriage hymn; cf. 8.9.15.3 above. 11.5 shrike owle] screech owl. 11.5 Quirister] chorister. 11.6 me ply’d] ‘took myself ’, went. This reflexive construction of ‘ply’ is apparently formed on the model of ‘hie’ in the same sense (e.g. ‘I hied myself ’). 12.6 resume ... cheere] recover his courage and his bearing 12.7 Misanactus] As in the previous book, Misanactus appears to represent the hypocrisy and political cunning that, protestants alleged, characterized Catholic policy during the Thirty Years’ War. In some instances, Knevet seems to suppose a close identification between Misanactus and the Pope himself. 12.8 policy] cunning; political government. 13.5 weighty carriage] serious nature. 13.6 Without his priuity] ‘without acquainting him of it first, and asking his advice’. 13.8-9 From him ... dwell] From Misanactus, Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1529) – the sixteenth-century Italian political philosopher celebrated (and infamous) for his cynical views on government – derived his tenents (tenets, or positions). Machiavelli was from Florence, one of the chief cities of Tuscany. 14.3 by custome, and by kind] by habit and by nature. 14.6 Plutos cheifest agent] the devil’s right-hand man. 14.8 broiles] contentions, wars. 14.8 deface] destroy. 15.2 intellectualls] intellectual abilities. 16.1 inquest] inquiry. 16.2-4 Giant ... father call] Because rivers pour into the ocean, Neptune is often considered the father of the earth’s rivers. Conti (Mythologiae, 2.8) also records his paternity of some of the eighty giants he is said by various classical writers to have sired. 16.7 Lycus] Named as one of the sons of Neptune in Apollodorus, Library, 3.10.1, where Apollodorus records that he was sent by his father ‘to dwell in the Islands of the Blest’. As for Knevet’s historical allegory, ‘Licas’ was the Latin name for the river Lech, which runs through Bavaria. Here it was that Gustavus Adolphus met again with Tilly (Knevet’s Androgeus) at the Battle of Rain in April 1632. 17.6-9 Hee bade ... and hard] As Gustavus Adolphus marched into Bavaria in 1632, Tilly chose a defensive position on the river Lech at Rain because its swift current and steep banks would make an assault difficult. 17.7 puissance] power. 18.3 Augurs] soothsayers. 18.5 magnifyd] praised, glorified. 20.1-5 Hee bides her ... his bone] As Conti records (Mythologiae, 3.2), both Herodotus and Pausanias mention the Styx as a well and river in Arcadia, thought to flow into hell because, at one point in its course, it plunges beneath a rock. Thetis was said to have steeped the body of her son, Achilles, in the river Styx, which made the greater part of his body – except the heel, from which she held him – impervious to weapons. 20.1 poste away] ride away in haste. 20.7 gelid lotion] icy bath. 20.9 rebated] blunted.

Commentary: Book 8 Canto 12

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21.6-9 This Fort ... Castle pas’t] The Lech is a tributary of the Danube, which it joins a few miles north of Rain. Together the rivers form a semi-circle around the city of Munich, at a distance of about fifty miles – much like a defensive moat, to which Knevet here compares them. 22.5-6 or ... Or] either ... or. 22.9 sleight] stratagem, artifice. 23.1-5 Now had ... emprisoned] Callimachus here renews his quest to free Leucippe (the Palatinate) from Aquilino (Ferdinand II, the Holy Roman Emperor), and to restore her to Riobell (Frederick V). 23.8 dight after th’amazonian guise] dressed like an Amazon. The Amazons were mythical female warriors who figure in the legends of Hercules and Theseus (cf. e.g. Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.9 and Plutarch’s Life of Theseus, 26-27). 24.9 recur’d] recovered, restored. 25.3 make good] secure, defend. 26.1 temerarious] rash, reckless. 26.6 those crownes] The three garlands or crowns on Callimachus’ shield, which in turn represent the three crowns (or the triple crown) in the royal arms of Sweden. See 8.1.11.9n. above. 27.4 giuen] (monosyllabic). 27.4 abate] reduce, knock down. 27.7 at an easy rate] easily. 28.6 ayer] (disyllabic). 28.7 giu’st ... reyne] give too much scope to your anger. 28.9 endu’d] endowed. 29.7 represt] withstood. 29.9 straine] clasp, constrict. 31.1 Callimachus his lot] See 8.8.1.4n. above. 31.4 stoppeing his arteriall passages] In an interesting departure from the analogue in the myths of Hercules (where Hercules strangles Antaeus, crushing his windpipe; cf. Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.11), here Callimachus defeats Lycus by crushing his carotid arteries. Knevet’s specificity may (as Lavender suggests at p. 972) reflect a familiarity with William Harvey’s Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis (1628) – the first medical work to describe the circulatory system in accurate detail. Callimachus’ strategy for quelling Lycus also reflects Gustavus Adolphus’ tactics in the battle of Rain. The night before the battle, his troops assembled a bridge of boats across the river which they used, at dawn, to establish a small but vital beachhead on the heavily defended Bavarian shore. The breaking of the Lech’s current with this bridge of boats is imaginatively conjured as an obstruction to the Lech’s arteriall current. 31.9 Pluto] God of Hades. 32.7 resolution store] great resolve. 32.8 vnhospitall] inhospitable. Stanzas 33-35] While Gustavus Adolphus moved the major part of his infantry over the Lech river, his cavalry was crossing – out of sight – ten kilometres to the south. The forces joined in a crushing pincer movement, and threw the defending Catholic League forces into disarray, especially after Tilly received a mortal wound in his thigh and had to be carried from the field (see stanza 36, below). 33.5 buggebeare threats] empty boasts. A bugbear is an imaginary terror. 34.1 elated] exalted. 35.6 rout] company (of hunters).

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Stanza 36] Tilly, like Androgeus, received his death wound at Rain, while Maximilian (Crenepolemo) fled the field – leaving Gustavus Adolphus unfettered access to Munich and the whole of the Duchy of Bavaria. 36.7 posterne] back door; concealed tunnel or exit (esp. from a fortification or castle).

Canto 12 1.2 froward] adverse. 1.3 The humane Microcosme] the body, a ‘little world’ that reflects the grander architecture of the wider universe, the macrocosm. 1.5 sublimate] purified, elevated. 1.6 Let Death ... sanious clay] ‘Let Death become fat by feeding on human flesh.’ ‘Sanies’ is ‘a thin fetid pus mixed with serum or blood, secreted by a wound or ulcer’ or, more generally, any serum issuing from an animal body (OED); thus sanious clay is the moist organic matter of which animal and human bodies are composed. 1.7 macerate] waste away. 2.3 staue the caske] break up a cask (of wine) into its component staves. 2.4 wired cloister small] its little cage. 2.5 Disiointed] broken asunder (used here of the cage, not the bird). 2.7 th’inhabitants æthereall] airy creatures, birds. 3.3 misericordious] merciful. 3.4 Strong ... debellate ill] ‘Made strong to overcome and vanquish evil’. 4.6-7 although thy vest ... darkenes lyes] ‘although you are long since dead’. The vest of clay is, again, the body. Knevet looks forward here to the shocking conclusion of the book, in which Callimachus dies before the completion of his quest. Gustavus Adolphus was killed at the battle of Lützen, in Saxony, on 16 November 1632. 5.1 Crenepolemos strong Cittadell] Munich, the seat of Maximilian, Elector and Duke of Bavaria. Gustavus Adolphus occupied the city in May 1632, immediately after the battle of Rain. 5.5 as hee prickeing ... plaine] A clear echo of FQ, 1.1.1. 5.6 iolly] fair, debonair. 5.8 Dight] dressed, fitted. 5.8 haberieon] mailed vest. 6.4-5 A crowned Lion ... and spill’d] The lion rampant against a red field was the distinctive heraldic badge of the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar allied himself with Gustavus Adolphus in 1631, and met his army upon its return from Bavaria in the summer of 1632. 6.5 leaues] petals. 7.1 Sir Wymar] Bernard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (1604-39), a veteran of the siege of ’s-Hertogenbosch and, from 1631, one of Gustavus Adolphus’ more successful commanders. 7.8 noueltyes] news. 7.9 in comely equipage and guise] fair in both furnishings and manner. 8.9] Callimachus’ freedom from insolence, and emulation allows him to accept Wymar as a partner with no mean suspicion of rivalry. 9.2 kenn’d] perceived, sighted. 9.5 impetuous] violent. 9.6 ambassage] mission, embassy. Stanzas 10-11] In the historical allegory, Knevet’s Berginora represents the city of Nuremberg in Bavaria, which Gustavus Adolphus occupied in July 1632. Protestant troops

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were besieged and repeatedly attacked in the city by the combined forces of the Catholic League, now under the leadership of Maximilian of Bavaria (Crenepolemo), and the Holy Roman Emperor, under the command of Albrecht von Wallenstein (Knevet’s Steinwald). Wallenstein had served as general of the imperial forces up to 1630, when the emperor, fearing that Wallenstein was becoming too powerful and ambitious, deprived him of command. After Tilly’s defeat at Breitenfeld, and death at Rain, Ferdinand consented to Wallenstein’s return, and – bringing Pappenheim (Tuiscon) as marshal – he swiftly joined Maximilian to intercept Gustavus Adolphus at Nuremberg. 10.6 Seneschall] steward; governor. 11.8 neither sexe, nor noble kind] neither her rights as a woman, nor her status as as an aristocrat. 13.9 apayd] pleased. 14.1 cates] delicacies, fine food. 14.2 vs’d] treated. 14.6 from his Cimmerian caue] In his narrative of Ceyx and Alcyone, Ovid describes the dwelling of Somnus, god of sleep, in a cave in Cimmeria; see Met., 11.593-94. 15.2 frontstalls] The part of the horse’s bridle that covers the head. 15.3 the Gangeticke streame] The Ganges, a river of the east and thus the first place on which the new-risen sun would cast its light. 15.6 holpe] helped. An archaic preterite form. 16.1-5] Gustavus Adolphus sought to hold the Bavarian city of Nuremberg against Wallenstein in the summer of 1632. Nuremberg had figured in the 1552 revolt of Protestant German princes against Charles V, when it was attacked and forced to surrender by Albrecht Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach; either this military past, or the city’s prominent participation in the Lutheran reformation of the 1520s, makes it for Knevet an honorable monument (line 6). 16.4 trophye] monument. 16.5 whilome] once. 16.7 his seuenfold sheild] An epic touch: Homer’s heroes generally carry shields made from seven layers of leather. Cf. 7.3.35.3 and n. above. 17.5 pendant] hanging. 17.6 cut their combes ... pride] check their pride (pleonastic). See 7.5.35.3 and n. above. 17.7-18.9 But Steinwald ... on it were] Wallenstein’s forces at Nuremberg, including the soldiers of the Catholic League, numbered about 170,000, including 50,000 cavalry – giving him a decisive advantage over Gustavus Adolphus who, despite reinforcements from Saxony, could only muster 120,000 troops (aided by 30,000 militia from the city). Wallenstein’s tactic was to sit out the summer, in the hope that disease and famine would wither and crush the protestant forces, but he himself faced considerable supply problems. 17.8 start] flinch. 17.9 try’d] proved, tested. 18.3 bray] call out. 18.8-9 Least ... on it were] ‘For otherwise Callimachus might need to search for his shield somewhere else (i.e. after Steinwald had removed it), or he might find that its emblazoned arms had been defaced’.

Stanzas 19-20] Gustavus Adolphus finally attacked Wallenstein at the Battle of the Alte Veste (the ‘Old Fortress’), in late August 1632. His aim was to take a fortified hill outside the city, which would give his artillery a vantage on Wallenstein’s camp and allow them to break the siege. Instead, Gustavus Adolphus’ exhausted cavalry was savaged, and several of his key officers were captured. Knevet represents Callimachus’ encounter with Steinwald as a victory because Wallenstein shortly after withdrew from the Nuremberg siege, leaving the protestants to claim triumph – but in reality, the overall engagement could be called little better than a draw. 19.9 had bin brained with a leuer] had had his head split with a metal bar. 20.3 astound] stunned, knocked out. The archaic use of this past participle is, in this period, distinctively Spenserian. 21.6 station] position. 21.8 attone] join together with them. 23.1-5 He made ... and greiue] When he received reinforcements at Nuremberg, Gustavus Adolphus quickly quit the city in pursuit of Wallenstein, eventually settling at Neustadt near Leipzig. When Wallenstein refused to answer the Swedish king’s challenge, he took his army south again. 23.3 bore] boar. Stanzas 24-26] Wallenstein was joined by Pappenheim at Leipzig (Knevet’s Lipsia) in September 1632, and together they took the city, capital of Saxony (Knevet’s lady Sanoxia). Gustavus Adolphus joined forces at Naumberg with Johann Georg, Elector of Saxony, who had fought with him at the battle of Breitenfeld; and in November 1632 he and Bernard of Saxe-Weimar (Knevet’s Wymar) met Pappenheim (Tuiscon) and Wallenstein (Steinwald) at the battle of Lützen, near Leipzig. 25.4 vernall tide] springtime. 26.2 condiscend] agree, submit. 26.5 wend] go. 26.7 mickle] great. Stanza 27] Gustavus Adolphus’ attack at Lützen on 16 November 1632 caught Wallenstein by surprise, and he had only a single night in which to dig trenches and defensive works before the protestant assault began. More importantly, Pappenheim’s forces had already withdrawn to Leipzig, and only his cavalry managed to field in time to participate in the battle. 27.7-9 his sheild ... did show] Wallenstein (or Waldstein, Steinwald) is betrayed to Callimachus by his shield: in German, Waldstein means ‘forest stone’. 28.3 solacement] refreshment, entertainment. 28.6-7 Meere shame ... that tide] Shame kept them from beating a hasty retreat, because their enemies were already so close. 29.4-7 Echo ... Dryads ... Naiads] Because she distracted Juno with her babbling – providing cover for Jove’s amorous escapades – the goddess punished Echo by depriving her of the power of original speech; instead she was only able to repeat things said to her. See Ovid, Met., 3.356ff. The Dryads are woodland nymphs, and the Naiads nymphs of the rivers.

Commentary: Book 9 Proem

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Stanzas 30-32] At Lützen Gustavus Adolphus attacked up the right with the cavalry, eventually encountering Pappenheim as he rode onto the field with his advance forces. In the ensuing battle, both Pappenheim and Gustavus Adolphus were killed. Meanwhile Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, assuming command of the main protestant forces, assailed Wallenstein on the left, and eventually – as evening fell – drove him into retreat. The late arrival of Pappenheim’s infantry allowed the imperialist forces to cover their withdrawal back to Leipzig. 30.2 cantells] pieces, sections. 30.6 brand] torch. 30.8 vnneath] scarcely. 31.7 pia mater] the innermost membrane separating the skull from the brain; the brain itself. 31.8 vnblest] evil, unholy. 33.3 embayd] washed. 33.4 the roote of his left pappe] the base of his left breast. 33.6 gelid] chill, cold. 33.6 perfused] permeated, diffused throughout. 34.2 abstruse] hidden. 34.3 elixir ... aqua vitæ] ardent spirits, or unqualified alcohol, used for various medical purposes. 34.5 vnction, cataplasme, or potion] ointment, poultice (medicinal dressing), or medicine. 35.6-8 They that ... children sweete] As Ovid tells the story in Met., 6.146ff., Niobe boasted of the number of her sons and daughters, impiously comparing herself to Latona, mother of Apollo and Diana. Latona had her revenge when her children killed all of Niobe’s sons and daughters. So great was her grief that Niobe was transformed to a mountain stone that poured water – her tears – incessantly. 36.6 Proserpine] Pluto’s queen in Hades, known to the Greeks as Persephone. 37.7 Gloriane] (disyllabic). 38.2 common Hospitall of Death] death imagined as a universal place of refuge or residence, like the hospitals that in this period cared for pilgrims and travellers, as well as the old and infirm. 39.4 purple hyacinthe] This passage loosely imitates Ovid, Met., 10.185-95, which describes the accidental death of Apollo’s beloved Hyacinthus, afterwards transformed to a flower. 39.4 by chance ingrate] by an unhappy accident. 39.5 sarculate] hoe.

Book 9

Proem 1.1 Philips Sonne] Alexander the Great (356-323BC), son of Philip of Macedon, conqueror of Greece and Persia, whose empire extended as far as northern Africa and India. Plutarch’s Life of Alexander would have been one of Knevet’s likely sources. 1.2 From Niger, vnto Ganges in the east] The Niger is a river in western Africa; although Alexander did not reach that far, it stands for his conquests in Egypt. The Ganges is a river of India, for Knevet often proverbial for the countries of the east. See 8.9.20.7

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and n. 1.4 bounty] generosity. 1.5 lib’rall] Liberality is the virtue analysed in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, 4.1; Knevet’s use of the name ‘Eleutheria’ (see 9.1.4.7 and n. below) suggests strongly that he has Aristotle in mind. For Aristotle, liberality consists in a right and discriminating attitude in the giving of money: having in mind the ‘nobility of giving’ in the right way, the liberal person will ‘give to the right people, and the right amount, and at the right time, and fulfil all the other conditions of right giving’ (Nicomachean Ethics, 4.1.12). Knevet’s choice of Alexander as an exemplar of liberality is curious, because although Plutarch, in his Life of Alexander, emphasizes that Alexander was a great giver of gifts, saying that ‘the goods and riches he gaue vnto his familliars and gard about him, were very great, as it appeareth plainly by a letter which his mother Olympias wrote vnto him’; this is glossed with a marginal note pointing out ‘Alexanders prodigalitie’, one of Aristotle’s vicious counterparts to liberality (Plutarch, The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes, trans. Thomas North (1579), p. 744). Later, on his conquests, Alexander is met by an Indian king called Taxiles, who says to him, ‘What should we neede, Alexander, to fight, and make warres one with an other, if thou comest not to take away our water, and our necessary commoditie to liue by: [...] As for other goods, if I be richer then thou, I am ready to giue thee of myne: and if I haue lesse, I will not thinke skorne to thanke thee, if thou wilt giue me some of thine.’ Alexander embraces him, says that ‘I will fight and contend with thee in honestie and curtesie, bycause thou shalt not exceede me in bowntie and liberalitie’, and gives him a thousand talents in gold. Plutarch notes, meanwhile, that ‘this gifte misliked Alexanders friendes’ (p. 754). 2.1-5] ‘He who adores that pretious Idol (line 1), i.e. gold, which, bred in the bowels of Don Pluto, requires the refiner’s art to scour it, must never look to tread on that starry path that leads to the palace of true bliss’. 2.2 in the bowells of Don Pluto] in the earth. The underworld was, in classical mythology, ruled over by Pluto, or Hades, brother of Zeus. Knevet also prefixes the title, Don, originally Sp., to Pluto’s name in Rhodon and Iris, l. 1461. 2.3 the refiners art] smelting, the process of obtaining metal from its ore. 2.3 scoure] purify (by removing the other earthy components). 2.6-8] These lines combine the language of metallurgy with that of a Platonic (and neo-Platonic) metaphysical opposition between divine aspirations and terrestrial preoccupations, and the effect of those preoccupations on the soul: souls orientated toward the divine are elevated, whereas those encumbered with terrestrial mire sink far away from that happiness. Cf., for instance, Spenser’s Fowre Hymnes: e.g. ‘Mount vp aloft through heauenly contemplation, | From this darke world, whose damps the soule do blynd, | And like the natiue brood of Eagles kynd, | On that bright Sunne of glorie fixe thine eyes, | Clear’d from grosse mists of fraile infirmities’ (‘Hymne of Heavenly Beautie’, ll. 136-40). 2.6 sur-

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charg’d] burdened, laden. 2.7 so sublime a pitch] so high a place. 2.7 dull as lead] Cf. Tilley, Proverbs, L134, L135. 2.8 Centre] Possibly the centre of the earth (OED, ‘centre’, n., 2a), or hell; also a byword for baseness (see 9.Pr.2.6-8n. above), and, given the metallurgic language of the stanza, a reference to the smelting process, by which metals and slag would separate at the top and bottom of a furnace. 2.9 blot] stain. 3.3 base Mammon] evil wealth. Following Spenser (FQ, 2.7), Knevet makes Mammon the figure of earth-born wealth. Knevet’s use of the word base may pun on its metallurgic meanings: non-precious or alloyed (OED, ‘base’, adj., 14, 15). 3.6 subterraneous] underground-dwelling. 3.9 participate his pelfe] share his money. Stanza 4] Lines 1 and 5 of this stanza are hypermetric, perhaps (though not evidently) the result of copying error or imperfect revision. 4.1 swayd on by Couetise] driven on; ruled by covetousness. 4.2 eyne] eyes (archaic plural). 4.3 Pincheing] tormenting, afflicting. 4.3 niggardise] miserliness. 4.4 betimes] early in life. 4.6 wooden dish] coffin.

Canto 1 Arg.2 curbe] restrain. 1.1-5] Knevet’s account of Africa seems too conventional to be associated with a specific source; Book 17 of Strabo’s Geography (a text which Knevet uses on other occasions) describes the African continent. 1.2 verdant vegetall] green vegetation. 1.3 wonne] live. 1.4 mortif ’rous gall] deadly venom. 1.9 breedes] fosters within himself. 1.9 rapine] plunder. 2.1 Hybla] A town in Sicily often associated with a mountain of the same name, famous for its honey: see Pliny’s remark (Natural History, 11.13, § 32) that some of the best honey is found ‘in Sicilie within those territories about Hymettus and Hybla’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 316. See also Virgil, Eclogues, 1.53-55, as well as Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 1, 1.2.41. 2.1 diaper’d] adorned, speckled. 2.3 lusty] healthy. 2.4 lade] fill up, and thus load down. Knevet’s description of the bees gathering honey and wax, rather than making them, follows in part the traditional account, as of Pliny’s Natural History, 11.10-12: ‘They gather and make both honie and waxe: the substance whereof they sucke from the flowers of trees and hearbes’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 312. Pliny goes on to say that honey is naturally deposited from the air, and is ‘sucked and drunke [...] by the Bees from the leaves of trees and grasse, and so gathered and laid up in their little bellies or bladders’ (p. 315). 2.7 largesse] liberality with gifts. 2.7 in a guise discreete] in a discerning way, with discretion. 2.8-9 that Lord ... kind] Suetonius, in his Lives of the Caesars, begins his account of the reign of Emperor Titus (AD79-81)

by saying that he ‘was the delight and darling of the human race; such surpassing ability had he, by nature, art, or good fortune, to win the affections of all men’. ‘Divus Titus’, 1. 3.4 wont was to requite] was accustomed to repay, reward. 3.6 guerdon] reward. 4.1 Belcoeur] From Fr. belle, coeur (‘good heart’). As the textual note reveals, Knevet settled on this name only after many revisions and alternatives. ‘Belfier’ may derive from Fr. adjective fier (proud), or verb fier (to trust); ‘Belcher’ and ‘Belchier’ perhaps from Fr. cher (dear, beloved), or English cheer. 4.2 meanest] lowest. 4.3 whilome] in former times. 4.3 mickle] much. 4.7 Eleutheria] From Gr. ἐλευϑερία (‘Liberality, freedom’). It is this word (in its various cognates) that is used by Aristotle in his discussion of liberality, in Nicomachean Ethics, Book 4. See 9.Pr.1.5n. above. 4.7 redeeme] free, rescue. 4.9 license] permission. 5.1-2] Suggesting Redcrosse, the ‘Gentle Knight [...] pricking on the plaine’, at the start of FQ, 1.1; Redcrosse is also accompanied by a dwarf, as well as Una (FQ, 1.1.6). 5.2 silly] lowly; foolish. 5.3 amaine] with all speed. 5.4 base Esquire] low-born or mean attendant (to a knight). 5.7 maugre] despite. 5.8 pate] head. 5.9 stupid swound] stunned stupor. 6.3 dastard] coward, wretched fellow. 6.3 shrewd] hard, sharp. 6.4 wise Albanio] On the adventures of Albanio, see Book 7 above. 6.9 choler] anger (from the bile which was held to cause it). 6.9 thy fury so sett out] cause you to display your anger. 7.2 varlet] menial, attendant. 7.3 bee conversant with] live with, have the company of. 7.4 cleaped Gruager] called Gruager. This name may derive from a Fr. legal term, gruager: ‘terme usité dans quelques co utumes, pour exprimer la maniere de vendre & exploiter les bois; c’est proprement l’exercice des droits de grurie ou grairie, tiers & danger segrairie’; see Denis Diderot, Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences des arts et des metiers (1751-65), vol. 7, p. 971. But the historical allegory here is obscure. If Gruager represents a historical figure who has abused the privileges granted to him by Albanio (King James) and was stripped of his power, he may point toward a disgraced favourite such as Robert Carr (15871645). The possible etymology of his name, on the other hand, may suggest a French figure, such as King Henri IV (1553-1610), who had renounced Protestantism in 1593, and thus might be aptly shadowed in this tale of broken trust. Alternatively, the name may have been prompted by the close phonetic similarity to Eng. ‘grudge’. 7.5 conditions] circumstances. 7.6 insinuateing] ingratiating. 7.7 heedles] With Albanio’s return, Knevet returns to a term that in Book 7 frequently signals a failure of prudence, and thus occupies a crucial place in the moral schema of that book. See e.g. 7.1.5.1. 7.9 durst haue pawn’d] would have boldly staked. 8.2 Theeuish Peasant] miserable thief. 8.3 reft] stole. 8.5 wight] man.

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 1

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9.3 cheere] expression. 9.4 Craueing remission] begging for forgiveness. 9.4 expence] outpouring. 10.1 digrade] depose. 10.3 course] exchange. 10.3 iade] sorry, worn-out horse. 10.8-9] On the Cornucopia, or horn of plenty, carried at the start of Book 7 by Irene, see 7.1.3.5 and n. above. 10.8 enras’t] depicted, set. Knevet may mean erased, a heraldic term for a part of an animal’s body, represented with a jagged edge (OED, ‘erased’, ppl. a., 2b). 10.9 diuers] various. 10.9 burgeon] sprout, grow. 11.5 in stately guise] of a noble, majestic appearance. 11.8 the sage Sir Iulian] Probably deriving his name from St Julian (the Hospitaller), a patron saint of travellers. 12.1 sable palle] black mantle, cloth. 12.4 cheere] food, entertainment. 13.2 Porter] keeper of the door, gate. 13.3 Accorto] Perhaps from It. accorto (shrewd), or It. accordo (accord, harmony), and perhaps suggesting court or courtesy. 13.3 Vsher of the Hall] The officer responsible for admitting guests to the hall, escorting them to their seats, and so on. 13.8 obeysance requisite] rightful humble submission. 13.9 hindrance light] little trouble, difficulty. 14.2 damaske] A rich, ornate silken fabric (originally produced in Damascus). 14.3 cordwaine gilt] gilded leather. 14.3 habited] attired, decorated. 14.4 plate] Decorative gold or silver tableware. 14.4 lade] fill up, load. 14.8 hee ... passages] The terms postures and passages are ambiguous; the former may mean deportments, dispositions, or mannerisms, the latter either actions or speeches. The meaning of the line as a whole is clear: Julian is conversant in all courtly behaviour that pertains to a host. 14.9 th’effect] the accomplishment. 15.1 Philoxenia] From Gr. φιλόξενος, -α (‘loving strangers, hospitable’). 15.4 nurtured] educated. 15.5 brauely] finely, nobly. 15.8 simulation] deceit, dissimulation, i.e. offering courtesy to which one’s heart does not agree. 15.9 race] family. 16.1 meate] food. 16.3 rank’d ... thinne] lined up, anything but scantily. 16.4 cates] foods. 16.6-9] Bacchus, the Roman god of wine (Gr., Dionysus), was held to have travelled through Asia, demanding worship. See for example Apollodorus, Library, 3.5.1-3; Strabo, Geography, 15.1.7. His triumphant bay (line 7) is a laurel wreath, symbolic of victory. 16.9 route] band, crew. Stanzas 17-28] The tale told by Sir Belcoeur is another obscure part of the historical allegory of this canto. One possibile interpretation is that Knevet intends his readers to hear in the name of Celesia (9.1.24.4) a reference to Silesia, a region in central eastern Europe (extending into presentday Germany and Poland), and that the battle between Justine and Lereall may reflect the struggles for succession in the Duchy of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (in present-day southern Germany) after the death of Duke John William in 1609. The succession was contested between his two sisters: the protestant Anna of Prussia, Electress of Brandenburg (whose daughter, Maria Eleonora, would later marry King Gustavus Adolphus), and the catholic Anna

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of Cleves. The eventual victor in these struggles was Wolfgang William, Count Palatine of Neuburg, son and heir of Anna of Cleves (who, as a male heir, may perhaps represent the cunning masculine (9.1.25.9) of Lereall’s lance). The possible Catholic implications of Lereall’s name (see 9.1.18.6n. below) may further suggest that Knevet sees this as a contest between catholic and protestant interests, ultimately won by the catholics. The mourning of Celesia, in this reading, might reresent the defeat of Anna of Prussia (with an equation of Prussia and Silesia). 17.1 tane a meete repast] eaten a fitting meal. 17.8 weighty diff ’rence] serious quarrel. 17.9 Atyn] Possibly from Atin, Pyrochles’s squire in FQ (see 2.4.42.5), whose name may be derived from Gr. ῍Ατη (‘strife’), with possible connections to the English words tine and teen, i.e. trouble, suffering. 18.1 Sir Iustine] Possibly named after the Byzantine Emperor and legal reformer Justinian (AD 483-565), or perhaps simply an extension of the word just. 18.6 Y’cleap’t (Sir Lereall)] named Sir Lereall. The origin of this name is unclear; Lavender suggests ‘Read All’ (p. 997), but there may also be suggestions of laurel (see 19.6 and n. below), lex (L., ‘law’), reall (a Spanish coin, and thus perhaps suggestive of Catholicism: see 9.1.17-28n. above), or royal. 18.7 brauery] courage; finery. 18.9 outspeed] surpass, exceed. 19.1 earst] formerly. 19.6 a laurell wreath] Symbolic perhaps of victory or command. 19.8 In chiefe] Heraldic term for the upper third of the escutcheon. 20.1 cassocke] cloak, gown. 20.2 asseuere] assert, affirm. 20.4 tort] wrong; specifically, in legal terminology, a breach of duty. 20.5 target] shield. 20.5 port] carry. 20.6 pertaine] belong. 21.6 gage] glove, gauntlet; thrown down as a formal challenge. 21.7 monomachy] single combat. 21.9 armes] Either the shield itself, or the heraldic coat upon it. 22.2 lists] tournament space. 22.8 pouldron] shoulderarmour. 23.1-2 or ... Or] whether ... or. 23.3 ieopardy] peril. 23.5 his crouper] the back of his horse (or the straps fixed there). 23.6 crowne] head. 24.4 Celesia] Probably from L. caelestis (‘heavenly’), though see 9.1.17-28n. above. 24.6 those Virgins nine] The Muses: see 7.3.31.6 and n. 24.8 Forbeare to weepe] refrain from weeping. 24.9 disaster] downfall. 25.1 dismay] defeat. 25.2 Vnhappy] unfortunate. 25.4 compos’d] fashioned. 25.4 Merlins] Merlin is the magician of Arthurian legend, also depicted in FQ, 1.9.5, 3.2.18-21, 3.3.7ff. 25.5 dight] endowed. 25.7 aspects, and influences rare] exceptional positions and powers (an aspect is the relative angle between two heavenly bodies as they are observed from earth). 25.9 cunning] knowledge. On its masculine quality, see 9.1.17-28n. above. 26.2-3 or ... Or] either ... or. 26.5 indu’d] endowed. 26.5 vertue] force; a forceful quality. 26.6 cleaped Chrysaker] called Chrysaker; the name alludes to Artegall’s sword, Chrysaor (FQ, 5.1.9.7-8), and derives from Gr. χρυς-

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(‘golden’) and possibly αἰχµα (‘spear’). 26.7 made astound] stunned. 26.8 in a full carreere] at a full gallop. 26.9 in heauy cheere] in low, despondent spirits. 27.2 durst darraine] dared to wage. 27.9 sheild of adamant] On Arthur’s adamantine shield, cf. FQ, 1.7.33; 5.11.10.7. 28.1-5] The Lady of the Lake appears in a number of versions of the Arthurian legend, including Thomas Malory’s Tale of King Arthur and his Morte d’Arthur: she is said to have given Arthur his sword, Excalibur, and to have retrieved it after it was cast back into the water on his death (see Malory, Works, ed. Vinaver, pp. 52-54, 123840). Knevet’s account of Arthur’s targe (shield) is his own elaboration; nor does it appear in Spenser. 28.4 inventions] devices, spells. 28.6 maugre his heart] in spite of his bravery. 28.8 deprau’d desart] evil desert. 29.3 arme, arme, arme, arme] ‘arm yourselves!’ See OED, ‘arm’, v.1 , 4. 29.4 Brigants] either brigands (pirates, robbers), or the barbarian race mentioned in FQ (‘Brigants hight of yore’, 6.10.39.3 and ff.), who attack the shepherds, abducting Coridon and Pastorella. 29.5 Dispatch] make haste! 29.8 Eftsoones] shortly. 30.2 allayes] relieves, abates. 30.4 hubbub] confused cry; battle-cry (OED, ‘Hubbub’, 1). 30.5 take th’alarme] respond to the alarm, the call. 31.6 the palefac’d Queene of night] the moon. 31.7 her royall brothers] the sun’s. 31.8 cheere] countenance, expression. 32.2 Ply the pursute] set themselves to the chase. 32.2 impetuous] violent, hasty. 32.6 empierce] instil, pierce through. 32.8 Night-Rauen] A nocturnal bird; see 7.1.11.5n. above. 32.8 quiristers] singers, choristers. 33.6 pitch of happynes] height of good fortune. 34.4 clapp’d] struck, pressed (i.e. he pressed the spurs into his horse’s side). 34.5 crowde] press. 34.6 descry’d] made out, perceived. 34.8 Lubber] lout. 35.2 Prest] ready. 35.2 Prisoner] He has two prisoners; Knevet presumably takes the singular for the rhyme. 35.3 winde] blow. 35.5 knot] band. 35.8 the realme of ougly horrour] hell. 36.5] ‘The rest got back to their den’. 36.9] A heptametric line. 36.9 kennel’d] lodged, hidden. 36.9 slight] disdain. 37.1-5] In Book 9 of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus (or Vlysses) recounts that his men were captured and confined by Polyphemus, the one-eyed Cyclops, who intended to kill and eat them. But having made Polyphemus drunk at the end of a day in which he had consumed a number of his men, Odysseus blinded him with the sharpened end of his club, and devised a plan (a cunning sleight) to escape from the cave: he waited for Polyphemus to open the entrance to his cave, and instructed his men to tie together the sheep that he kept and cling to their bellies, so that he would not be able to feel them as the sheep left the cave. 37.6 grotte] cave. 37.7-8 all mankind ... did reside] Cf. Spenser’s Brigants, who lived by raids ‘Vpon their neighbours, which did nigh them border’ (FQ, 6.10.39.6). 37.9 pranks] acts of mischief.

38.1 Mæanders] twists, turns. The Mæander was a proverbially winding river in Phrygia. See 7.11.12.5, 8.8.15.3 and nn. 38.3 retriu’d] caught. 38.6 Bandetti] bandits. This Italian form (from which the English derives) was common in the seventeenth century. 38.8 subtile] cunning. 38.9 abstruse] hidden. 39.3 Phosporus] The morning star; the name given to Venus (poetically) as it appears in the morning. 39.3 glistring rout] glittering company. 39.4 Neptunes lake] the sea. Neptune was the Roman god of the sea. 39.5 the bright lampe of day] the sun. 39.6 massy] huge. 39.8 welkin] sky. 39.9 cantells] fragments. 40.4 egresse] exit. Spenser’s Calidore fights with the Brigants at the entrance to their cave, but from within; he fills up the entrance with their bodies, so that no further thieves can attack him (FQ, 6.11.46-7). 40.6 pin’d] wasted away, starved. 40.8 confin’d] bordered. 41.1 mew’d] walled up. 41.3 embru’d] defiled, stained. 41.6 In fine] finally. 41.7 trimmeing] dressing, arranging. 41.9 sort] fashion. 42.3 stand] stay. 43.2 linage] ancestry. 43.4 estate] condition. 43.6 patrone] champion, defender, protector. 43.8 condiscend] agree. 43.8 shew] reveal, recount. Stanzas 44-53] In this story of Angela and Scota, Knevet returns to the allegorical representation of England and Scotland, of their estrangement and reunion, also undertaken in his account of Albion and Calydon in 7.1.34-38 above. His interests here begin from a more antiquarian than contemporary position, with a description of Pictish and Anglo-Saxon inhabitants of Britain; his assertion that the early Pictish Britons were in fact derived from Scythians conforms to a historiographical tradition exemplified by Bede’s Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (esp. ch. 1). 44.1 Angela] Suggesting medieval L. Anglia (‘England’). Bede records that Pope Gregory encountered Saxon slaves from England at a market in Rome. Impressed with them, he enquired as to their origins, and was told that they were Angli (Anglians). He is reputed to have replied, ‘Bene [...] nam et angelicam habent faciem, et tales angelorum in caelis decet esse coheredes’ (It is well, for they have an angelic face, and it is fitting that they should be companions to the angels in heaven); and to have dispatched St Augustine on a mission to convert them; see Bede, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, 2.1. Knevet’s name for the English draws on the currency of this well-known, apocryphal story. 44.2 Scota] Similar to (or from?) medieval L. Scotia (‘Scotland’). 44.3 Thetis] One of the daughters of the sea-god, Nereus. Knevet may intend Tethys, though: see 7.1.8.1-3n. above. According to classical mythology, Tethys bore to Oceanus (not Neptune) a great number of nymphs; see Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 346-63. 44.6-7 the tongue | The faultring tongue] This rhetorical conduplicatio neatly expresses Angela’s hesitant speech (faultring tongue).

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 2

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45.2 sedgy Mæotis] The classical name for the reed-filled Sea of Azov (at the north-eastern end of the Black Sea), identified with the land of Scythia. See, for instance, Strabo, Geography, 7.3.17-18. 45.3 A famous Archer] Knevet identifies this knight with the Scythians, legendary warriors and mounted archers (see Herodotus, Histories, 4.46); it was from Scythia that the Pictish peoples were often held to have travelled to Britain. 45.7 long after this] In Knevet’s allegorized antiquarian history, he moves many centuries forwards, from the Picts to the invasion of the Angles and Saxons in the fifth century AD. 45.8 saliant] leaping (a heraldic term). The device of a leaping horse (the Sachsenross) was prominent on the arms of the Dukes of Saxony. 45.9 the branched ... Albis cleare] Probably referring to the River Elbe of northern Germany. 46.1-3 but now ... slow] Referring to the bloody fighting of the Thirty Years War, some of which is allegorized at length in Book 8. 46.5 lore] instructions, commands. 46.7 coheires ... store] inheritors, heirs of our dear father’s possessions and titles. 46.8 while’re] previously. 47.1 habitude] disposition. 47.2 natiuityes] births; a nativity may also be the astrological conditions at a person’s birth or the horoscope taken to chart them. 47.3 succeed] follow, come out. 47.4 sires] fathers’. 47.9 in few] in few words, briefly. 48.2 fast places] secure natural hideouts. 48.5 lewd] bad. 48.5 lucre] money. 48.6 vs detain’d in hold] kept us in captivity. 48.9 happy shift] successful attempt. 49.4 Grimald] In choosing this name, Knevet may have had in mind Antonio Grimaldi, the pirate and title character in Philip Massinger’s play, The Renegado (first performed 1624, printed 1630). David Delison Hebb, Piracy and the English Government, 1616-1642 (1994) records that piracy had reached such an extent by 1616 that King James began in the following year to attempt to eliminate it through military expeditions. 49.4 Colonell] leader. 49.8 with might and maine] with our utmost strength. 50.3 oblig’d] bound. 50.5 requite] return. 50.6 vouchsafe] grant, agree. 51.4 the white Castle] Presumably referring to the white cliffs of Dover, on the south-east coast of England. 52.3 maintaine such braules] continue, wage such conflicts. 52.6 expostulate] remonstrate. 53.6-9] See 9.1.51.4n. above.

Canto 2 1.2 Roe] deer. 1.3 mickle paines] much difficulty. 1.4 the fodder ... so] the food that he most likes. 1.6 rigid] hard, difficult. 1.8 embas’d] made base. 2.3 envreing] accustoming, hardening. 2.3 martiall sport] Knevet seems to have in mind both the knightly tournaments that the knights engaged in, and the martial habits that they thereby accustomed themselves to. 2.5 the spotted cards] playing cards, which were in use in Europe

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from the fifteenth century onwards; spotted may denote the design of the cards, but also suggests their sinfulness (OED, ‘spotted’, adj., 2). 2.6 the Deuill Theut] In his Phaedrus, Plato mentions the god Theuth, whom he credits with the invention of ‘numbers and arithmetic and geometry and astronomy, also draughts and dice, and, most important of all, letters’ (274d). This text is cited by Thomas Gataker, Of the Natvre and Vse of Lots (1619): ‘Plato writeth in Phædrus (a Dialogue of his so intituled) that a Spirit or a Deuill called Theuth inuented letters, Arithmetick, Geometrie, Astronomie, and Dice, and præsented them to Thamus who was then King of Ægypt’ (p. 213). 2.8 wooden men] possibly ninepins, though perhaps many other games (such as chess) could be meant here. 3.1-5] On gold as an idol, see 9.Pr.2.1 above. Here, though, the manufacturing of coins (rather than just the hoarding of gold) more explicitly leads to the idolatry of graven images (as condemned in Exodus 20.4). 3.6 the Indians poore] Knevet metaleptically moves to the Indians, the Native Americans in whose lands the Spanish discovered huge quantities of gold during the sixteenth century. That they are wretched and poore seems most explicitly to bespeak their baseness, but the word poore certainly puns on the riches that do no good to those Europeans that acquire them. 3.6-9 for these ... sacrifice] The Indians sacrifice their enemies to their gods, unlike those who worship gold and thereby sacrifice themselues (line 9) to the devil. 4.2 Gigglot] strumpet. 4.4-5 No golden ... deflowre] Although locked in a tower by her father, Danaë was visited by Jupiter, in the guise of a shower of gold, and impregnated. Horace, Odes, 3.16 reads the myth as an allegory of bribery and corruption: see further 7.3.14 and n. above. 4.7 for her dower] for her dowry. The sense of this line is that in such days of liberality, gold was given freely, by discerning liberal benefactors, to the recipients who had chosen virtue. 4.8-9] In the former age, when worth was measured only by virtue, virtue was so widespread that gold could be distributed (i.e. allocated to virtuous recipients) much more widely. Knevet may intend no distinction here between the classical virtue of liberality, and the Christian virtue of Charity (commended for instance in 1 Corinthians 13). On the other hand, that charity is dispensed on euery side may suggest that he sees it as less discriminating, given where it is needed and not where it is felt to be deserved. 5.6 vncouth] unfamiliar. 5.7 straggleing, on either hand] wandering left and right. 5.8 Phœbus] The sun. 6.2 ebony] A black hardwood. 6.3 clutches] (claw-like) hands. 6.6 bleared] blurred, dimmed (through tears or other excretion). 6.6 eyne] eyes (archaic plural). 6.6 Carle] rude, base man; churl. 6.7 requiteing] repaying, responding to. 6.9 euill nurtur’d] poorly educated, uncivilized. 7.4 repast] food. 7.5 Where ... exprest] ‘Where his grumpy host gave him meagre hospitality’. 7.7 intendments] in-

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Ralph Knevet, A Supplement of the Faery Queene

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tentions. 7.8 shamrockes] Three-leaved watercress or clover. 7.9 Fay] Faery. 7.9 queasy] uneasy, nauseous. 8.2 old Galen, and Hippocrates] Famed classical physicians. Galen, a Greek doctor, lived in Rome in the second century AD, and as well as performing and recording revolutionary experiments in anatomy and physiology, developed the humoral theories of Hippocrates, Greek physician from the fifth and fourth centuries BC. 8.3 In that ... spake] Perhaps referring to the Greek language (in which both Galen and Hippocrates wrote), used also by a ‘learnd Physicion’ (line 1); but perhaps also intimating that both of these authorities were studied and used by doctors in the early modern period: the contemporary language of medicine was still indebted to them. 9.1 sluttish] dirty, wretched. 9.2 Esclauedor] From Fr. esclave d’or (‘slave of gold’). 9.4 bitt] bite; morsel. 9.6 Caitife] villain. 9.9 Lozell] worthless person. 10.2 his booke to ply] to devote himself to the study of the Bible or other religious books. 10.7 vanity] frivolous, worldly things. 10.8 tenements] dwellings. 10.9 pinch] mortify. 11.3 of the world to disallow] to reject the world. 11.5 bruite] noise (with the implication here of reputation, fame). 12.4 errant Knights] knights errant, questing knights. 12.4 despite] injury. 12.5 no credence light] no little faith. 12.6 sooty pawe] black, dirty hand (defiled, perhaps, by the digging and smelting involved in the search for gold). 13.2 this earthly Ball] the world. Cf. ‘Those Clarkes that thinke (thinke how absurd a jest) | That neither Heav’ns, nor Starres doo turne at all, | Nor daunce about this great round Earthly Ball’. Du Bartas, Fourth Day of the First Weeke, ll. 144-46. 13.3 Envr’d] accustomed. 13.9 hale] haul; pull, drag. 14.1 prowesse] bravery, gallantry; or, more generally, any sort of distinction. 14.2 mannage] handle. 14.4] A hypometric line (unless one of the monosyllabic words, perhaps Aches or limmes, is to be read as disyllabic). 14.4 palsyes] weakness, tremors. 14.7 prevent] forestall, come before. 14.7 fell] fierce. 14.9 limbo] Probably taken to mean hell. Although the term suggests a Catholic vocabulary, Knevet does not seem to be thinking of a purgatorial or liminal place. 15.1 pitt] pitfall, trap. 15.1 scape] evade. 15.2 shunne] escape. 15.3] ‘If death does not snatch away your youth’. 15.6 vagaryes] expeditions, wanderings. 16.2 distaste] dislike. 16.4 adoe] trouble. 16.4 mickle] much. 16.5 vnagast] unafraid. 17.2 for sanctimonyes sake] for the sake of, because of his holiness. 17.3 replication] reply. 17.9 vnbeseemeing] unseemly, inappropriate for. Stanza 18] At the start of his De Officiis, Cicero states that nature instils in humankind a sociability, which lies at the root of, and demands, his virtue: ‘Nature likewise by the power of reason associates man with man in the common bonds of speech and life; she implants in him above all, I may say, a strangely tender love for his offspring. She also

prompts men to meet in companies, to form public assemblies and to take part in them themselves; and she further dictates, as a consequence of this, the effort on man’s part to provide a store of things that minister to his comforts and wants—and not for himself alone, but for his wife and children and the others whom he holds dear and for whom he ought to provide; and this responsibility also stimulates his courage and makes it stronger for the active duties of life’ (1.4, §12). This stanza, and those that follow, define Knevet’s ethical project here as similarly social, concerned with the excercise of functions (18.4), that is, of offices and duties, rather than merely the possession of virtues. 18.2 receptacles] homes. 18.5 imprest] stamped. 18.9 requite] repay. 19.1 cell] A dwelling with a single room, typically used of the houses of hermits, etc. 19.2 or ... or] either ... or. 19.4 obiected] presented (as objects of sight). 19.6 Desarts] uncultivated, deserted places; wildernesses. 19.7 commerce] social intercourse. 19.8 ground] establish. 19.9 redound] result (to us in return). 20.2 diffuse] spread; i.e. it can only exist between and within a group of people, not in one alone. 20.7 formally] as a logical conclusion. Belcoeur’s language adopts the vocabulary of logic; see OED, ‘formally’, adv., 1. 20.9 vertue, cardinall] The four cardinal virtues, as described by Belcoeur, comprise Temperance (9.2.19.3-6 above), prudence (or Wisdome; 9.2.19.7-9 above), Iustice (9.2.20.2-4 above) and fortitude (9.2.20.5-6 above). The grouping of these four virtues is common to the Bible (Wisdom 8.7), Plato (Republic, 427e), Cicero (De Inventione, 2.53), and elsewhere. On these virtues, and Knevet’s allegorization of them, see further 7.6.9-11 and n. above. 21.3 wants wherewith] lacks the means with which. As in the previous stanza, Knevet’s moral allegory here sees virtue (here charity, line 1, and liberality, line 2) as social, and necessarily exercised and demonstrated in society, rather than individual. 21.6-9] Cf. ‘In like manner it is more in accord with Nature to emulate the great Hercules and undergo the greatest toil and trouble for the sake of aiding or saving the world, if possible, than to live in seclusion, not only free from all care, but revelling in pleasures and abounding in wealth, while excelling others also in beauty and strength. Thus Hercules denied himself and underwent toil and tribulation for the world, and, out of gratitude for his services, popular belief has given him a place in the council of the gods’ (Cicero, De Officiis, 3.5, §25). 21.7 lusty prime] vigorous youth, prime of his life. 22.1-2] Knevet conflates two episodes from the mythical life of Achilles, the Greek warrior and hero. He was brought up and educated as a boy by the wise centaur, Chiron, but later in his childhood, when it was prophesied by Calchas that he would take part in the sacking of Troy, his mother Thetis feared for his safety and hid him, dressed as a woman, in the court of Lycomedes. For these two myths, see Apollodorus, Library, 3.13.6-8. 22.4 numbers] poetry. 22.4 carroled] sung. 22.5 meede] reward. 22.6

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 2

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his emulatour Philips Sonne] Alexander the Great, son of Philip of Macedon. By describing him as Achilles’s emulatour, Knevet suggests not only that in his deeds was he the equal of Achilles, but also that he desired to equal or surpass him. Plutarch records in his Life of Alexander, chapter 15, that Alexander visited the grave of Achilles while on his way to Persia. See also 7.8.6 above. 22.7 Lycæum] A gymnasium and school founded by Aristotle in Athens in the fourth century BC. Aristotle was indeed retained as Alexander’s tutor, but privately, in Macedonia, rather than in Athens; the word Lycæum may, however, act here as a metonym for schooling in general. 22.9 To the Gangeticke ... Macedon] The Ganges is an Indian river, taken here as marking the eastern limit of Alexander’s conquests. See 9.Pr.1-2 and nn. above. 23.6-8] Diogenes of Sinope (born c. 412 BC), the cynic philosopher, is said in Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, chapter 14, to have been approached by Alexander one day while lying in the sun. ‘Alexander courteously spake vnto him, and asked him, if he lacked any thinge. Yea said he, that I do: that thou stand out of my sunne a litle. Alexander was so well pleased with this aunswere, and maruelled so much at the great boldnes of this man, to se how small account he made of him: that when he went his way from him, Alexanders familliers laughing at Diogenes, & mocking him, he told them: masters say what you lyst, truely if I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes’. Plutarch, The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes, trans. Thomas North (1579), p. 728. 23.8 Timon wise] Knevet may have been aware of the misanthropic Timon of Athens because of Shakespeare’s play of that name; though he appears in various classical sources including Plutarch’s Lives of Mark Antony (especially section 70) and Alcibiades. 24.1 instanced] given examples. 24.4 a Cynicke] The Cynics (such as Diogenes of Sinope, see 9.2.23.6-8n. above) preached a life of virtue, disengaged from, indeed scornful of conventional desires for wealth, status, and so on. That he is described as vncleane may not refer to any specific episode in his life, but Diogenes Laertius, in his Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, does write that ‘he saw no impropriety either in stealing anything from a temple or in eating the flesh of any animal; nor even anything impious in touching human flesh, this, he said, being clear from the custom of some foreign nations’ (6.73), and also that ‘One day, observing a child drinking out of his hands, he cast away the cup from his wallet with the words, “A child has beaten me in plainness of living”. He also threw away his bowl when in like manner he saw a child who had broken his plate taking up his lentils with the hollow part of a morsel of bread’ (6.37). 24.5 spleene] rancour, melancholy. The organ of that name was held to be the origin of the melancholic humour. 24.8 whilere] in the past. 24.9 The threshold ... weare] The Temple of Aphrodite, in Corinth, is said by Strabo to have housed ‘more than a thousand temple slaves, courtesans, whom both men and women had dedicated to the goddess. And therefore it was

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also on account of these women that the city was crowded with people and grew rich; for instance, the ship captains freely squandered their money, and hence the proverb, “Not for every man is the voyage to Corinth.”’ (Geography, 8.6.20). To weare the threshold is to wear down the doorstep. 25.1 are wont to hate] generally hate. 25.7 lurke aside] hide out of the way, retire to waste places. 25.8 with his will dispense] set aside God’s will. 25.9 beneficence] bestowing good. Stanzas 26-41] This episode clearly takes after Guyon’s encounter with Mammon in FQ, 2.7. 26.3 all his deuoire to proue] to try all he could, all in his might. 26.5 portall] gate, door. 27.1 drosse] filth. 27.2 eyne] eyes (archaic plural). 27.4 ‘gan to] began to; did. 27.6 Arbitresse] judge. 27.9 wants] lacks. 28.5 Transmute the Villaine] change the peasant; Knevet employs the language of alchemy (see OED, ‘transmute’, v., 1b), by which a baser metal would be transformed to gold. 28.7 fall into the wane] decline. 28.9 affaiers] (trisyllabic). 28.9 sway] govern. 29.3 lay his soule to pawne] give his soul in exchange for the enjoyment (of gold); the next line claims that mankind will never redeeme (line 4) his soul, that is, never surrender gold in return for the soul that he placed in pledge. 29.4 facultyes] powers, aptitudes (here given over to the acquisition of gold). 29.7 elixir] An alchemical potion with the power of changing metals into gold (OED, ‘elixir’, 1). 29.9 spendwitts] Apparently Knevet’s coinage, in parallel with spendthrifts; either those who exert great mental energy, or those who waste it. 30.8 moderated] controlled. 30.9 Emolument] profit, advantage. 31.1 admire] am amazed. 31.4 ingrosse] engross; purchase. 31.5 crosse] adversity. 31.7 embosse] decorate (as if studded with jewels). 31.8 Orion] Prominent constellation containing the bright stars Rigel and Betelgeuse, its name referring to a giant hunter from classical mythology, on whom see Apollodorus, Library, 1.4.3-5. 31.8 target] shield. 31.9 the northerne Asterismes] the constellations visible in the northern hemisphere: some of these constellations are mentioned in the following stanza. 32.1 the Northerne Beares] Ursa major and ursa minor (the great and little bears), two constellations in the northern sky; the latter contains the star Polaris, the North Star. 32.1 steepe] dip, bathe. 32.2 th’hyperborean waue] The northern sea; on this wording, see 7.8.7.4 and n. above. 32.3 the Snake, about the Pole] Draco (the dragon), a constellation seen in the northern hemisphere, which forms a rough arc with Polaris, the North, or Pole Star at its centre. 32.4 Cassiopeia] Constellation in the northern sky, named after a proud queen of Æthiopia, mother of Andromeda, who in classical mythology, as a punishment for boasting about her beauty was tied to a chair (chayer, line 5, disyllabic) and placed in the heavens by Poseidon.

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32.5 her Father] Knevet may mean Cepheus, legendary king of Æthiopia and husband of Cassiopeia, depicted in a constellation adjacent to that named after his wife. His mistake may come from a misreading of Joshua Sylvester’s translation of Du Bartas, in which these three constellations are listed as ‘Andromeda, with Cassiopea neere her, | Her father Cepheus, and her Perseus deerer’. Du Bartas, Fourth Day of the First Weeke, ll. 285-86. 32.6-8 sterne Perseus ... Orke] Perseus and Andromeda, two further constellations in the northern sky, are named respectively after the hero who killed and beheaded the Gorgon, Medusa, and Andromeda, daughter of Cassiopeia, whom Perseus rescued from the sea monster (Orke) sent by Poseidon to devour her in revenge for the pride and vanity of her mother, Cassiopeia. On their story, see Ovid, Met., 4.604-752. 32.8-9 the winged steed ... bred] Pegasus, the constellation in the northern sky, named after the winged horse that was said to have sprung from the neck of Medusa, after Perseus had beheaded her. See Hesiod, Theogony, l. 281. 33.2 terrene aspect] earthly gaze. 33.3-4 when Apollo hote ... two Brothers bright] when the sun is in the constellation Gemini, taken as representing the twins of classical mythology, Castor and Pollux; i.e. in late May and early June. 33.5 Two sences] Unclear, since Knevet mentions only the sense of sight, though he may also mean touch, the sense of the hot sun, or the smell of the flowers in bloom. 33.6 Thriftles of time] careless of the passage of time. 33.8 hore] grey. 34.4 silly] poor, wretched. 34.9 cloth] item of clothing; rag. 35.1 Tantalus] King of classical legend, consigned to a lake in the underworld, the waters of which receded when he bent down to drink them, and beneath a branch laden with fruit that withdrew when he reached out to take it. See, for instance, Ovid, Met., 4.458-59. 35.4 ill engine] evil device, scheme. 35.4 subtiltyes] tricks, guiles. 35.5 surprise] take, seize. 35.9 Indyes] In the seventeenth century, a name given not just to India and the adjacent regions, or to the gold-yielding lands of America to which Europeans journeyed, but figuratively to any place promising or providing great riches (see OED, ‘Indies’, n., 2). 36.3 sute] request. 36.3 shew this secrecye] share this secret. 36.6 partaker of this misterye] privy to this secret; also, an initiate into this rite. 36.7 discouerd] revealed. 36.9 wicket] gate, small door. 36.9 stinch] stench. 37.1 officine] workshop. 37.3 aspect] sight. 37.4-5] Cf. FQ, 2.7.35-37, especially the ‘many feends’ working in Mammon’s room (FQ, 2.7.35.6). 37.7 St Patrickes Purgatory] The name of a pilgrimage site, much visited in medieval and early modern times, on Station Island, Lough Derg, in County Donegal, Ireland, where Patrick was said to have had a vision of the terrible punishments of hell. A description appears in the chapter on ‘the strange and wonderfull places in Irelande’ in Holinshed’s Chronicles: ‘I thinke it good to beginne with S. Patrike his Purgatorie [...]. There is a poole or lake [...] in the partes of Ulster

that enuironeth an Island, in the one part whereof there standeth a Churche much lightned with the brightsome recourse of Aungelles & the other part is ougly and gastly, as it were a bedlem allotted to the visible assemblies of horrible and grisly bugges. This part of the Islande contayneth nyne caues. And if any dare be so hardye, as to take one night his lodging in any of these Innes, which hath beene experimented by some rashe and harebrayne aduenturers, straight these spirites claw him by the back, and tugge him so ruggedly, and tosse him so crabbedly, that now and then they make him more francke of his bumme then of his tongue [...]. This place is called S. Patricke his purgatorie of the inhabitours. For when S. Patrike laboured the conuersion of the people of Ulster by setting before their eyes in great heate of spirite, the creation of the worlde, the fall of our progenitours, the redemption of man by the blessed and precious bloude of our Sauiour Iesus Christ, the certayntie of death, the immortalitie of the soule, the generall resurrection, our latter dumbe, the ioyes of heauen, the paynes of hell, howe that at length euery man, small and great, young and olde, riche and poore, king and keaser, potentate & peasant must eyther through God his gracious mercy be exalted to the one, to floorish in perpetuall felicitie, or through his vnsearcheable iustice tumbled downe to the other, to be tormented in eternall miserie: these and the like graue and weightie sentences, wherewith he was aboundantly stored so farre suncke into their heartes, as they seemed very flexible in condescending to hys behest, so that some proofe of his estraunge preaching coulde haue beene veryfied’. The Description of Irelande, from Raphael Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande (1577), ff. B7v-B8r 37.9 controule] overcome. 38.3 that fantasticke nation] Egypt; see 9.2.38.6-9 and n. below. 38.4 Proteus] Prophetic sea-god, capable of changing his shape at will; any who wanted him to prophesy needed to catch hold of him. See Odyssey, 4.382-569. 38.4 variate] change. 38.5 In habites ... disproportionate] Dressed in very disproportioned forms; or most unbecoming garments. 38.6-9] The spontaneous generation of creatures in the fertile soil on the banks of the Nile is mentioned in FQ, 1.1.21.6-9, and also 3.6.8.7-9. It is also mentioned in Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, 2.7.26-27 (‘Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile’), a text imitated by Knevet on other occasions. See also Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 1.7 (on Egyptian myths of generation), and 1.34-36 (on the multitudes of creatures in the Nile). 38.6 fructifyeing] fertile, bearing fruit. 38.7 the Memphiticke shore] Memphis, the ancient Egyptian capital, was situated at the mouth of the Nile delta. 38.8 commistion] sexual union. 39.1 in respect of] in comparison to. 39.2-3] Chymæras are fabulous creatures with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a serpent (or, more generally, any monster made up of such a conglomeration); the Sphinx

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 3

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(encountered by Oedipus) had the head of a woman and the body of a lion; Harpies were rapacious creatures with women’s bodies and birds’ wings (see 7.6.33.6-9n. above); The Gorgons were three monstrous women with snakes instead of hair, by the names of Stheno, Euryale and Medusa, about whom various accounts were written (see Apollodorus, Library, 2.4.2; Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 270-83); Pythons, rather than snakes, are monstrous serpents or dragons (such as that killed by Apollo; see Ovid, Met., 1.438-44); the Hydra was a many-headed snake, living in the swamp of Lerna, killed by Hercules (see Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.2). 39.4-5 Which elder witts ... Exemplify’d] Either ‘which ancient heroes, by their great courage, conquered, leaving their conquests as moral examples to be imitated’ or ‘which the wise writers of ancient times, in their histories of courageous heroes, left as moral examples to be imitated’. 39.4 actiue fire] The fire of (perhaps youthful) imagination. 39.6 Apposd to] next to, as opposed to. 39.7 hire] payment. 39.8 offices] duties. 40.1 Dæmogorgons wombe] The depths of the earth. Dæmogorgon is a name for a fearsome primeval creator god, not apparently part of classical mythology but coined in the early medieval period and widely used during the Renaissance. See, for instance, FQ, 4.2.47.6-9. 40.2 hale] haul. 40.2 swarty] black, dark. 40.4 drossy store] Either the abundant dross, i.e. scum or waste material, that is cleansed away as a by-product from the mettall (line 4) in the process of smelting, or the drossy ore, the dirty raw material, out of which the metal is cleansed. 40.5 Cesternes] large vessels. 40.8 plyd] fed. 40.9 crucibles] pots or basins for melting. 40.9 tryd] separated out. 41.2 Ætna] Sicilian volcano, held in classical mythology to be the location of Vulcan’s forge. 41.3 disgorge] vomit up. 41.6 Obiects] things presented to his sight. 41.8 brooke] bear, tolerate. 41.9 dell] pit, cave. 41.9 irefull plight] angry condition. 42.3 Accouter’d] dressed. 42.3 Galloglasse] An Irish soldier or retainer. Knevet may have been familiar with Spenser’s A view of the present state of Ireland, in which their dress is briefly mentioned: ‘he beinge so armed in a longhe shirte of mayle downe to the Caulfe of his legge with a longe broade Axe in his hande’ (ll. 2216-18). 42.5 vnseemely dight] unbecomingly dressed. 42.8 GASTADOR] From Sp. gastador (‘wasteful, spendthrift, extravagant’). 42.9 quality] character. 43.3 felony, and theft] felonious theft (hendiadys). 43.6 preuent] forestall. 43.7 fauchion] sword. 44.2 speedeing] successful; sudden; fatal. 44.9 groat] A small coin, equivalent to four pence, but here used as a figure for something of very little value. 45.1 riote] luxury, debauchery. 45.1 paillardise] lewdness, lechery. 45.8 contentious] quarrelsome. 46.2 dreariment] dismal expression, lamentation. 46.3 Caterpillar] extortioner (OED, ‘caterpillar’, n., 2); i.e. Esclavedor. 46.8 windeing sheet] shroud.

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Canto 3 Arg.2 Distrest] defeated, overthrown. 1.1 Pilot] captain, navigator of a ship. 1.3 turgid straite] narrow stretch of water, in which the waters swell. 1.4 Tyrrhene seas] The part of the Mediterranean Sea to the west of Italy and north of Sicily. 1.4 Eurus] The east wind. 1.5 repercussed billowes] rebounded waves. 1.7 Charybdis ... Scylla] In Book 12 of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus pilots his ship between two perils that live on either side of a narrow channel: Scylla, a ravenous six-headed monster that sits upon a rock, snatching and eating sailors from ships that pass, and Charybdis, a creature that lives beneath the sea, and which by sucking in vast quantities of sea-water and blowing it out again, produces terrible whirlpools. The ‘Gulfe of Greedinesse’ and ‘hideous Rocke’ between which Guyon’s ship needs to steer on his way to the Bower of Bliss (FQ, 2.12.3-4) are an allegorical rendering of this episode. 1.9 shunne] avoid. 1.9 eddyes] whirlpools. 2.1-3] Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics repeatedly defines virtue as ‘a mean state between two vices, one of excess and one of defect’ (2.6.16). In Spenserian allegory (particularly in the Aristotelian second book of FQ), this frequently takes the form of injunctions, for example, to keep to the path, to ‘stere aright, | And keepe an euen course’ (FQ, 2.12.3.1-2); see also 9.3.1.7n. above. The place of virtue as a mean between excess and deficiency is also allegorized in FQ, 2.2 in the story of Elissa, who ‘euermore did seeme | As discontent for want of merth or meat’ (2.2.35.34) and Perissa, with ‘no measure in her mood’, who ‘in excesse exceeded her owne might’ (2.2.36.4-7), and their sister Medina, who as well as acting as a peacemaker between them, sits between them: ‘With equall measure she did moderate | The strong extremities of their outrage’ (2.2.38.3-4). 2.1 tract] piece of land, place. 2.4-5 becomes a prey, | Vnto plebeian mouthes] is traduced, destroyed by the talk of common people. 2.7 Bird-Ibis] The ibis’s habit of killing and eating snakes is frequently mentioned by classical writers (e.g. Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 1.87.6), as is that it was therefore held by the Egyptians to be a sacred bird. The hyphenated form, Bird-Ibis, may be Knevet’s coinage, perhaps from the common juxtaposition of the two words in early modern texts, to be seen for instance in many of OED’s citations (see ‘ibis’, n.), and also in the title of the chapter on the ibis in Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny’s Natural History, 10.40 (§ 75): ‘Of the bird Ibis’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 284. 2.7 stay] fill. 2.9 ioyeous game] food, prey, taken and eaten with pleasure. Stanza 3] Aristotle defines the vices corresponding to liberality as its excess, prodigality (ἀσωτία or Vnthriftynes, line 3), and its deficiency, not exactly Auarice, line 7 (since he emphasizes that liberality has to do not so much with

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how we acquire wealth but how we give it out), but niggardliness (ἀνελευϑερία). See Nicomachean Ethics, 4.1.2-5. 4.1 Prodigall] reckless squanderer of money. 4.4 calumny, and teene] slander and injury. 5.4 accommodate] satisfy, supply. 5.5 vnsatiate] insatiable. 5.6 dropsy] A disease causing the accumulation of fluid in the body; also used figuratively (see OED, ‘dropsy’, n., 2) to denote any insatiable thirst. 5.8 Dypsas] A snake whose bite was held to cause thirst: ‘the thirstie tooth of the worme Dipsas’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), ii, p. 434. 6.1 The God ... blind] Cupid, proverbially blindfolded. 6.3 weares] wears out. 6.4 pliant] accommodating. 6.7 requitall] reward. 6.9 mold] earth. 7.1 Moyle] mule. 7.3 Potosin] Potosi, the site of extraordinarily rich silver mines in Bolivia, developed in the sixteenth century. 7.3 mickle] great. 7.5 galled] sore, chafed. 7.5 lade] load, burden. 7.7 indigent] lacking, in want. 7.8 feature] face. 7.8 Mammon] money. See 9.Pr.3.3n. above. 8.1 impotent] unrestrained. 8.3 contagion] infection. 8.69] Cf. ‘Whan Costantyn of curteysye holykirke dowed | With londes and ledes lordeshipes and rentes, | An angel men herde an heigh at Rome crye, | “Dos ecclesie this day hath ydronke venym, | And tho that han Petres powere arn apoysoned alle”’. William Langland, Piers Plowman, B-Text, ed. Skeat, Passus 15, ll. 519-23. 8.7 exquisite] high, excellent; with a sense of excessive elaboration or grandeur (see OED, ‘Exquisite’, 3). 8.9 embru’d] stained. 9.1 Baud] procurer. 9.2 Potentates] people of power. 9.3 Paramore] mistress. 9.6 though shee be lame] On the slow progress of vengeance, see Tilley, Proverbs, V25. 9.9 salue] heal. 10.3 surcharg’d] overflowing, over-burdened. 10.4 shore] bank. 10.4-9] The River Pactolus, in the kingdom of Lydia (in Asia Minor) is thus said by Ovid, Met., 11.100-45 to have received its deposits of gold from King Midas, who had disastrously asked Bacchus to turn everything that he touched to gold. 10.9 reliques] remains. 11.1 doffe] take off. 11.1 Murrion] brimmed helmet. 11.2 eyne] eyes (archaic plural form). 11.8 swound] swoon, faint. 12.2 cheere] countenance, expression. 12.3 pale Cynthia] the moon. 12.4 cipresse] A light material, often black and used to denote mourning. 12.6 riuolets] rivulets; small streams, trickles. 12.8 obite funerall] Either death (tautologously) or funeral rites. 12.9 like ... Nightingale] Perhaps referring to the myth of Philomela; on which, see 7.1.1.3-4n. above. 13.1 guilt haberieon] gilded jacket of armour. 13.2 targett] shield. 13.3 Cignet] A young swan (although cygnets are more commonly grey); although there is little heraldic reason to associate a swan with Francis Bacon (see 9.3.1634n. below), Knevet’s reference may possibly be to the signet, or seal, of the Lord Chancellor. 13.5 liuid] grey-

ish blue. 13.6 fram’d so decently] so handsomely made. 13.7 specify’d] showed. 13.8 whilome] formerly. 14.4 elate] raise up. 14.5 dol’rous] pained. 14.6 happe] chance. 14.9 rue] grieve. 15.6 dight] covered, dressed. Stanzas 16-34] These stanzas provide an allegorized account of the career and disgrace of Francis Bacon (1561-1626), philosopher, politician, and lawyer. In 1621, as Lord Chancellor, Bacon was accused by Christopher Aubrey and Sir Edward Egerton of accepting bribes and gifts in his role as referee of a series of patents and monopolies that had recently come under investigation. Although Bacon admitted that he had taken the gifts, he claimed to the King that he was guilty of vitia temporis [abuses of the times] rather than vitia hominis [abuses particular to him as a man]; he also claimed variously that the gifts were received after he had made his judgements, that he had received them on occasions such as New Year when they seemed natural, and also that the blame lay with his servants. Nevertheless he was indicted, fined £40,000, imprisoned, and barred from ever again sitting in Parliament. 16.1-2 whose vitall threed ... blade] who has reached the fated (and violent) end of his life. The three Fates (or Moirae) were traditionally imagined as spinning, measuring, and cutting the thread of human life (vitall threed). The last of these tasks falls to Atropos, the youngest of the sisters. 16.3 cleaped Philodore] called Philodore; from Gr. φιλόδωρος (‘Fond of giving, bountiful’). 16.3 well nurtured] well trained. 16.4 ciuill courtship] the art of courtesy, courtly behaviour (including civil conversation). 16.4 y’drad] renowned. 16.6 Polynome] From Gr. πολυ(‘many’) and νόµος (‘law’). 16.7 Naiade] A water nymph; the Naiads presided over freshwater rivers and streams. 16.7 that blind winged Lad] Cupid, son of Venus, god of love, commonly depicted as blindfolded. 17.3 ambassage] mission. 17.4 Escurial] palace. From El Escorial, ancient residence of the king of Spain, situated near to Madrid. 17.4 clime] region. 17.7 subtilty sublime] divine plots, or rhetoric. 18.4 annon] straight away. 18.5 wonne] dwell. 18.6 insinuation] stealing into her favours. 18.7 wrought vpon] worked on. 19.1-2 But when ... orbicular] after the moon had made nine cycles (in which the horned form is a crescent moon, and the forme orbicular is full). The swelling of the moon anticipates Polynome’s pregnancy. 19.4 hopefull] promising, full of hope. 19.6 degenerate] decline. He was just like his father, Hermes (rhetorician and orator). 19.7 an Artist singular] an eminent scholar. 20.1 a Clearke so exquisite] so consummate a scholar. 20.2 new wayes of knowledge] Suggesting perhaps Bacon’s Advancement of Learning (1605), which seeks to establish the ‘dignitie of knowledge’ (fol. 27r) against human prejudices and criticism, and also to propose reforms in the various branches of learning. 20.3-5] Baconian natural philosophy, described for instance in his New Organon

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 3

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(1620), was distinguished by its commitment to the construction of scientific theories through experiment (line 3) and observation (rather than using observation as a means of confirming theories arrived at through reasoning). 20.3 antient Stagyrite] Aristotle, born in Stageira. 20.5 whilome] previously. 20.5 vnkent] unknown. 20.7 Had hee ... lent] ‘If he had kept tighter control on his imagination.’ 20.8 Before] even more than. 20.8 Chaldæans wise] Renowned for their learning, as also for their skill in occult sciences. 20.9 Mercury] The Roman name for Hermes, father in this narrative of Philodore; see 19.6 above. 21.3 the takeing hand] See 9.3.16-34n. above. 21.5 nice] careful, discriminatory. 21.6 certes] certainly, without doubt. 22.1 bruite of his desert] news of his renown. 22.4 demeaneing] conducting. 22.4 port] manner, conduct. 22.6 But chiefely ... affect] Bacon’s career saw him earn the personal favour of King James, which led to him being granted a number of political and legal honours and positions in the second decade of the seventeenth century. He was made attorney general in 1613; then, having been instrumental in the removal of Sir Edward Coke from office in 1616, he was made Lord Chancellor on Baron Ellesmere’s death in 1618, and then Baron Verulam later that year, and Viscount St Alban in 1621. 22.6 affect] like, favour. 22.9 diportment] conduct. Stanza 23] On Knevet’s use of maskes, see 9.5.18-30n. It is not impossible that Knevet was familiar with Bacon’s involvement in the Maske of Flowers (1614), performed to celebrate the marriage of Robert Carr, a favourite of King James, to Frances Howard; the printed text bears a dedication to Bacon: ‘The dedication of it could not be doubtfull, you hauing beene the Principall, and in effect the onely person, that did both incourage and warrant the Gentlemen, to shew their good affection towards so noble a Coniunction’ (f. A3r). 23.7 liefest] dearest. 24.1-2] Synedesia’s alliance to both Arthegall (the knight of justice) and Albanio (who represents the power of the prince) allegorizes the fraught tensions between conscience, common law, and residual royal power in the seventeenth-century English political theory. These tensions had come to a head in the years leading up to 1616, as a result of repeated antagonisms, both personal and procedural, between the Lord Chancellor, Baron Ellesmere, and Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, Sir Edward Coke. Coke thought himself on a mission to preserve the ancient dignities and liberties of the subject under common law, in this case by challenging Ellesmere’s right to review common law judgments in his prerogative court of Chancery, where he ruled not by common law process but ‘by conscience’. Ellesmere for his part strenuously resisted Coke’s challenges, mostly fought through the courts, and was firmly backed by an increasingly angry king, who felt that his own power (that is, the legal power ‘residual’

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in the king, from whom the judges derived their own authority) was being impugned. Bacon himself orchestrated the final resolution to this conflict, in 1616, when James deprived Coke of his judicial office, and made a speech in Parliament affirming his (and Ellesmere’s) position. When Ellesmere died in the following year, Bacon was rewarded with the position of Lord Chancellor. Upon his assumption of the office, Bacon attempted to make peace on both sides, promising to use the Chancery both to uphold the king’s prerogative judicial power, but also to cease antagonizing common law judges by the arbitrary reversal of their judgments. In effect, he offered to ally conscience to both common law justice (Arthegall) and royal prerogative (Albanio). See also 9.3.27.1n. below. 24.3 consort coniugall] wife. 24.8 inferiour] low, lowly. 24.9 period] end. 25.2 abode] lived. 25.2 ycleaped Phagodore] called Phagodore; his name derives from Gr. δωροφάγος (‘greedy for gifts’). 25.3 wight] person. 25.4 infest] harass, molest. 25.6 vngentle] ignoble. 25.8 Dadde] father. OED dates the word from the early sixteenth-century; in Knevet’s time it seems to have been a generally childish term. 25.9 conditions] qualities. 26.1 Polydora] From Gr πολυ- (‘many’), δ ωρον (‘gift’). 26.2 Minion] favourite, lover (trisyllabic). 26.3 sleights] tricks. 26.4 thrilld] pierced. 26.7 lawles] Not just illicit, but ungoverned. 27.1 Synedesia] From Gr. συνείδησις (‘Conscience’). The English word syneidesis, along with the related synteresis, were associated with the theory of conscience as it was practised by the Chancellor in Chancery. The former is concerned with acts already performed, and the latter with actions yet to be performed. The latter term is extensively examined in the first dialogue of Christopher St German’s Doctor and Student, which includes a lengthy description (chapter 13) of ‘sinderesis’: ‘a naturall power of the soule [...] in the hyghest parte therof / mouynge and sterrynge it to goode and abhorrynge euyll. [...] This sinderesis our Lorde put in man to the intent that the ordre of thyngs shuld be obseruyd’. A Dyaloge in Englysshe / Bytwyxt a Doctoure of Dyuynyte / and a Student in the Lawes of Englande (1530). Both terms are discussed in William Ames, Conscience with the Power and Cases thereof (1639). 27.3 cell] A poor dwelling with a single room, e.g. that of a hermit. 27.5 threnodes] songs of lamentation. 27.5-6 accord, | With mournfull Philomel] join in harmony with Philomela, who according to Ovid (Met., 6.424-673) was turned into a nightingale while being pursued by Tereus, whose children she had fed to him after he had raped her. See also 9.3.12.9 and n. above. 27.9 disengageing] liberating. 28.1 impetuous] violently hasty. 28.2 scoure] range across. 28.5 heauens spangled vest] The cloth of heaven, spangled because dotted with stars. 28.6 wrongs] injuries. 28.8 quell] kill.

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29.1 prone] eager. 29.4 his iron Lackey] Talus, the warlike iron servant of Artegall in FQ, Book 5. 29.6 solacement] pleasure. 29.8 lust incontinent] unrestrained passion. 30.3 Franion] reckless, idle lover. 30.7 wonted] customary. 30.8 flaunt] show off. 30.9 apologye] speech delivered in defence of himself. 30.9 enchant] captivate, influence. 31.1 balefull] injurious; sad. 31.2 addresse] prepare, dress, equip. 31.7 distresse] defeat. 32.3 beare] bier. 32.5 ieopardy] danger. 32.7 brauery] finery. 32.8 abiliments] clothing. 32.8 hent] tore, stripped. 32.9 vestures] garments. 32.9 rent] tore. 33.3 nookes] corners (of the world). 33.7 ventaile] The moveable front part of helmet. 33.9 entwin’d] embraced. 34.1 stint] cease. 34.9 curt’sy debonaire] gracious courtesy. 35.3 hearty] heart-felt. 36.2 deuest] disrobe, undress. 36.3 delu’d] dug. 36.6-9] Libations of wine and milke (along with honey) are frequently poured as acts of lamentation in Greek drama and poetry; see, for instance, ‘Cruel fate, you stripped me of my only brother and sent him to Hades! To him these libations, this mixing bowl for the dead, I shall pour upon the earth’s expanse: the milk of young cows of the mountains, the wine libation of Bacchus, and honey made by the toil of tawny bees. All these are poured out to soothe the dead’. Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris, ll. 156-66. 36.9 requiem] rest; with, of course, reference to Christian funeral rites. 36.9 Elysian bowres] The Elysian fields were, in classical mythology, the blissful destination for the souls of the virtuous. 37.2 brigandine] body armour. 37.3 a faire character] wellformed letters. 37.4 bulke] trunk. 37.5 enline] inscribe, engrave. 38.1 obsequyes] funeral rites. 38.4 orisons] prayers. 38.4 ply] devote herself to. 38.5 brooke] bear. 38.8 moniall] monastic, cloistered.

Canto 4

1-5] In Aesop’s fable, the jackdaw dresses himself up in peacocks’ feathers, hoping to distinguish himself from birds of his own kind; but the feathers are taken away from him, and he is driven away both by the peacocks and his fellows. Caxton’s 1484 English translation of the fable describes the bird as a ‘Iaye’. 1.4 mew’d] hidden, closeted. 1.5 illude] mock. 1.7 vncouth] strange, unknown. 1.7 her self intrude] enter (with the implication that she is unwelcome). 1.8 mickle] much. 1.9 Vnneath] scarcely. 2.1 weares] wears away. 2.7 cry him quitt] get even with him. 2.8 Minion] lover (trisyllabic) 2.9 the iniury ... done] The punishment of being stripped: see 9.3.32.6-9 above. 3.1 homely guise] plain, rough garb. 3.2 iolly] handsome, gallant. 3.8 liefest] dearest. 4.1 Sir Iustines] See 9.1.18.1n. above. 4.2 ragged weed] torn clothing. 4.4 Phœbus] Apollo, god of the sun, and thus

the sun itself. 4.6 lustre] bright light. 4.8 vapour] cloud. 4.9 Setts of] Used absolutely here: is set off, shown in relief. 5.5 deluges] Of tears. 5.6 vndecent] unbefitting. 5.7 recomforts] consoles, comforts. 5.8 nagge] horse. 5.8 light] alight. 6.1 vestiments] garments. 6.2 semblance] the appearance. 6.3 continence] self-restraint. 6.4 slake] quench, satisfy. 6.5 drifts] intentions, meanings. 6.8 fewell light] wanton (light) behaviour that adds fewell to the flames (line 4) of his love. Stanzas 7-8] As Knevet himself indicates, Sir Priester represents the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, a knightly order founded in the eleventh century to care for sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land. They retreated to Rhodes in the fifteenth century, and then in 1530 to Malta, after having been besieged by an Ottoman force, and fought (and won) a major battle with the Ottoman fleet in 1565. But they gradually drifted from their holy mandate into piratical activity of their own, represented in Knevet’s allegory by Kirke-Rouer (see 9.4.8.4n. below), by whom Priester has lately been overthrown, or discomfited (8.3). Sir Priester’s blacke arms, sober appearance and shepherds hooke (which he must bear vntill he [can] recouer [his lance] in knightly sort) indicate that the order’s reputation needs to be salvaged. The hooke also alludes to the papal order issued in 1630, which granted the Grand Master of the order a status equivalent to a cardinal, and made him a prince of the Catholic Church. 7.3 ieat] jet, a proverbially black stone. 7.6 sable surcote] black outer coat. 7.7 argent] silver. 8.3 discomfited] overthrown, defeated 8.4 Kirke-Rouer] ‘church-pirate’; his name alludes to Spenser’s Kirkrapine, FQ, 1.3. 8.6 iusts] jousts. 8.6 extort] take, wrest. 8.8 port] carry. 9.5 Belamore] lover. 9.6 priuy] secretive. 10.3 import] imply, mean. 10.7 Venus mart] the marketplace of the goddess of love (where lovers and favours are obtained). 11.3 priuyly] secretly. 11.4 froward cheere] Either an adverse humour, expression, disposition (i.e. she began to be ill-disposed to Sir Justine), or a perverse, deceitful expression (i.e. her good cheere was not in accordance with her real distaste). 11.5 earst] formerly. 11.6 complotted] plotted. 11.7 feere] mate. 11.8 gadde] wander off. 12.1 case] plight. 12.4 drifts] intentions, schemes. 12.5 Faitour] villain. 12.8 straggleing] straying, wandering (apart from its fellows). This straggleing ewe is Polydora. 13.2 wonted] accustomed. 13.3 whilere] shortly ago. 13.4 plighted] pledged. 13.7 Fane] temple. 13.9 a Goddesse blind] The goddess Fortuna (see 9.4.15.1 below), conventionally described, in classical and early modern traditions, as blind or blindfolded. 14.1 Ninus] Legendary early king of Assyria, conqueror of Asian lands, husband of Semiramis, and builder of the

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 4

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city of Ninevah. On his exploits, see Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 2.1-3. 14.3-9 that Magician ... expire] This Magician is Zoroaster, ancient Asian philosopher and prophet, the details of whose history are obscure. Knevet may be deriving the description of his magic arts, and their inability to save him from Ninus, from Augustine, City of God, 21.14. His legendary status as a magician is mentioned in Pliny’s Natural History, 30.2: ‘verely there is no question at all, but that in those East parts, and namely in the realme of Persia, it found first footing, and was invented and practised there, by Zoroastres, as all writers in one accord agree’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), ii, p. 372. Walter Ralegh mentions Zoroaster’s war against Ninus in his History of the World, 1.10.8, but denies in the following chapter (with reference to Augustine) that he was the inventor of magic: ‘But I doe not thinke that Zoroaster inuented the doctrine of the Horoscopes or Natiuities; or first found out the nature of hearbs, stones, and minerals, or their Sympatheticall or Antipatheticall workings; [...] I rather thinke that these knowledges were farre more ancient’. The History of the World (1614), p. 200. 15.3 since Deucalions Deluge] Deucalion was a survivor of a mythical flood sent by Zeus to cover Greece, which killed almost all of the people there. See Apollodorus, Library, 1.7.2. 15.4 The stroke ... hardened] Perhaps suggesting the strokes of swords in war, or, more likely, the stroke of axes. 16.3 fancye] imagination; in the absence of Polydora herself, Sir Priester’s fancy presents imaginary scenes to his understanding. 16.4 misdoubt] doubt, suspect. 17.6 crest] helmet. 17.7 embos’t target] shield, decorated with images. 17.8 Sleepe Deaths elder Brother] Both sleep and death are children of Night. See Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 211-14. 17.9 dwale, and poppy red] Dwale is deadly nightshade, also known as belladonna. Like the poppy, it is used here as a soporific; it also has highly poisonous qualities. 18.1-3] When the day had dawned. On the howres, and the horses of the sun (Sols fleete Horses), see 7.10.30.56n. Aurora is goddess of the dawn; a surcote is a decorative outer garment. 18.5 affected] loved, liked. 18.9 constraine] force. 19.4 orisons] prayers. 19.7 guerdon deare] rich reward. 20.1 resort] group. 20.1 invite] draw to that place. 20.2 nigh hand] nearby. 20.3 pight] set up. 20.5 stand] stop. 20.8 trace] make his way through. 20.9 wight] person. 20.9 beguil’d] outwitted. 21.1 Templars] The order of the Knights Templar was a Christian military order, founded around the beginning of the twelfth century and active during the period of the Crusades, which protected Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. 21.1 auenues] paths. 21.2 no Convoy, and no Carauan] no protective escort, and no group of fellowtravellers for protection. 21.3 Ianizars] Turkish soldiers, often acting as escorts for travellers (OED, ‘janizary’, n., 1, 2). Knevet notably declines, in this line, to portray all

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non-Christians as evil. 21.3 warde] guard, protect. 21.4 Arabian] Here, a merely general pejorative term, suggesting a brigand or vagabond. 21.6 Harpax] From Gr. ἅρπαξ (‘Robber’). 21.7 Both to the Troiane, and the Tyrian] Apparently proverbial for indiscrimination. See Dido’s line, ‘Tros Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine agetur’ [Trojan and Tyrian will be treated by me with no distinction], Virgil, Aeneid, 1.574. Dido, a native of Tyre, a city in present-day Lebanon, had fled to Carthage, where Aeneas and the Trojans land. 22.2 spirit] person. 22.5 mickle guerdon] much reward (here, praise). 22.6 hent] taken away. 22.8 perforce] by force. 23.3 rout] band. 23.4 prankes] tricks. 23.4 bootyes] spoils. 23.7 flitte] travel. 23.8 that Goddesse gay] Fortune. 24.3-4 And Venus ... seas] Venus appears in the western skies (above the Atlantic Ocean, from an English perspective) at sunset; it is at sunset and sunrise (at which hours it is also known as the Evening and Morning Star) that it appears brightest. 24.4-7 her fierce Mate ... late] Mars, the red planet, and in classical myth the lover of Venus. 24.5 aspect immaculate] perfect appearance. With the word aspect, though, Knevet also uses an astrological term, describing the relative position of stars and planets. 24.9 sleepy fetters] the bonds of sleep. 25.2 policyes] tricks. 25.3 Bandetti] bandits. See 9.1.38.6n. above. 25.4 camisades] night attacks. Deriving from Sp. camisa (‘shirt’), a nighttime attack in which the soldiers would wear their shirts over their armour. See 8.4.4.2n. above. 25.5 Scout] spy, soldier expert in reconnaissance. 25.7 Cryes whist] calls ‘Hush!’, ‘Silence!’. 25.7 complices] accomplices. 25.8 stand] be still. 26.4 pliant] obedient. 26.4 tooke the signall right] understood his sign. 26.5 surprisall] act of seizure; ambush. 26.6 circumsept] surround. 26.7 fauchion] sword. 27.2 engine] trap. 27.5 pounces] claws, paws. 27.8 maugre] in spite of. 27.9 make egresse] get out. 28.5 made him sure for] secured him against. 28.6 sufficient booty] considerable prize. 28.9 nights horned Queene] The moon, horned because crescent-shaped. See 7.1.9.2 and n. above. 29.4 rills] streams, rivulets. 29.5 brakes] bushes, thickets. 29.8 angry Iuppiters ... thunder] The lightning bolt was, in classical mythology, the weapon of Jove. 30.1 concaue] hollow. 30.5 Palfrey] horse. 30.6 knot of Rascalls] band of rogues. 31.2 iolly strippleing] handsome young man. 31.4 case] state. 31.6-7 yong Ganymed ... grace] Ganymede, a beautiful boy, was abducted by Jove (in the form of an eagle) to be his cup-bearer. In his brief telling of this myth (Met., 10.155-61), Ovid makes it clear that Jove is motivated by lust: ‘amore | Arsit’ (ll. 155-56) [he burned with love]: Knevet may be hinting here at the sexual role of this iolly strippleing. 31.8 lineaments] features, form. 31.9 completely habited] beautifully, consummately dressed.

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32.1 pale Cynthias orbed browes] The full (orbed) moon; Cynthia was another name for Diana, goddess of the moon. 32.3 yonkers] young man’s. 32.4 purffled artificially] artfully decorated with borders. 32.5 twist] braid. 32.7 tinsell] A glittering fabric, made by the inlaying of bright or metal fibres. 32.8 vellet gaberdine] velvet coat. 33.1 bendwise] diagonally. 33.1 athwart] obliquely across. 33.3 Persian sword] Probably a curved scimitar. 33.4 veild] enclosed. 33.6 expanded] outstretched. 33.7 proffered] made to. 34.7 reflect] turn aside. 34.9 descryd] seen. 35.6 idle flames] wanton, worthless passions. 36.2 stand] hesitate. 36.3 mickle] much, great. 36.4 an ore could hand] could handle an oar. 36.5 burthen] burden, load. 36.5 command] bear. 36.9 frette] chafe. 37.2 brutish rout] rough crew. 37.8 leane-cheek’d Care] The allegorical figure of Care encountered by Spenser’s Sir Scudamour has ‘hollow eyes and rawbone cheekes forspent’ (FQ, 4.5.34.4). 37.9 mend] restore. 38.2 repast] meal. 38.5 forecast] prudence, precaution. 38.8 hold] stronghold.

Canto 5

Stanzas 1-7] This episode apparently has no precedent in classical mythology. 1.1 cite] summon. 1.2 Synode] assembly, council. 1.2 Eubœa fat] Euboea is a large island in the Aegean Sea, off the east coast of Greece. It is described in Strabo, Geography, 10.1, but there is little specific precedent there for its description as fat, or rich, fertile. 1.4 fraile estate] weak condition. 1.5 Vulcan] Roman god of fire, armourer of the gods. 1.7 principle indubitate] undoubted origin, fundamental truth. 2.1 trident tosseing Neptune] Roman god of the sea, conventionally depicted with a trident. 2.2 the blewish maine] the sea. 2.3 magnifyes] extols. 2.5 soueraigne] supreme. 2.6 descry’d] seen. 3.1 browne-eyd Ceres] The Roman goddess of agriculture. Her brown eyes may be Knevet’s invention; Virgil describes her as ‘flava Ceres’ [golden Ceres] (Georgics, 1.96). 3.4 descipherd] described. 3.6 cultiuage] cultivation, agriculture. 3.6 elate] praise. 4.1 Hermes] In Roman mythology, the messenger of the gods, commonly associated with the rhetorical skill which Knevet highlights in this stanza. 4.2 quirkes] cunning arguments. 4.2 subtile sophistry] cunning rhetoric. 4.3 preferr’d] proposed. 5.1 the louely ... braine] Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, to whom Zeus (Ioue) gave birth from his head (Hesiod, Theogony, l. 924). 5.3 husbandry] the care and cultivation of the land. 5.8-9] Here Knevet’s reference seems more clearly biblical: ‘God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them’ (Genesis 1.27).

Stanza 6] Plato, for example in his Timaeus, describes a cosmos in which the four elements occupy concentric spheres, with earth, the heaviest, at the centre. In this stanza, Knevet combines this cosmology with a neoplatonic humanism in which humankind is capable of rising above its earthly influences (and higher than other earthly beings): cf. 9.Pr.2.6-8n. above. 6.2 terrene] earthly. 6.5-7] On the inability of the stars to control the soul’s essence, cf. 8.1.23.6-9 and n. above. 6.7 propertyes] attributes. 6.8 requisite] necessary. 7.7 dissolued] dismissed. 8.7 conclusions] consequences. 8.9 authenticke] genuine, authoritative. 9.1-3] Only when supported by gold (this ignoble goddess) can man’s base desires proceed in the human world. The Microcosmus is the little world of humankind. 9.4 heedles of mischance] unconcerned about ill fortune. 9.5 In spite ... ordinance] in defiance of law, or decree. 9.7 puissance] power, might. 10.1 Cydaris] The headpiece or tiara worn by Persian kings; cf. 9.12.37.5. 10.3 ywis] certainly. 10.4 Gerfalcon] Name given to large falcons. 10.4 Glede] Originally a name for the kite, but also given to various falcons and other birds of prey. 10.5 teale] A kind of duck. 10.6 apoplexy] A sudden and disabling fit or attack. 11.1 Corauido] From L. cor (‘heart’), avidus (‘eager, full of desire’). Lavender (p. 1040) suggestively connects this name with L. corvus, ‘raven, crow’. 11.1 surprise] seize. 11.2 Eleutheria] See 9.1.4.7n. above. 11.2 Vtopian] Deriving from Thomas More’s treatise, Utopia, first published in Latin in 1516 and translated into English in 1551, but from the early seventeenth century, commonly used for imaginary, unreal, or ideal commonwealths. 11.3 prick’d on ... couetise] driven on by avid greed. 11.5 teene] rage. 11.7 Auritania] From L. aureus (‘made of gold’). 11.9 copartner] companion. 12.3 dominion] rule. 12.5 behoue] befit. 13.2 Peru] Since the sixteenth century, proverbial for the stores of gold that had been discovered there. Joshua Sylvester speaks in his translation of Du Bartas, for instance, of ‘golden Peru’. Du Bartas, Third Day of the First Weeke, l. 297. 13.4 Tellus] A divine personification of the earth. 13.5-14.5] In this fanciful aetiological explanation of the rich metal deposits discovered by the Spaniards in South America, Knevet imagines Tellus petitioning the gods for redress for the maligne influences of the Planets on earth (pestilence, drought, dearth, 13.9). The gods duly order the planets to labour (14.3) in the American mines, filling them with the rich metals of which it was presumed that the planets themselves were made. 13.6 precincts] territories, lands. 13.6 aspects] The relative positions of stars and planets, which in astrology is held to influence events on earth. 13.7 lewd vagaryes, so irreguled] wanton wanderings, so ungoverned. 13.9 dearth] scarcity, famine. 13.9 detects] accuses.

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 5

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14.1 gaue ... eare] listened to her accusation. 14.4 content] satisfaction; fullness, richness. 14.5 for her detriment] in return for the injuries she had sustained. 14.7 Phœbus] Apollo. 14.9 Bicause ... slue] Apollo killed the Cyclops in revenge for the death of his son, Aesculapius; see Apollodorus, Library, 3.10.4. But in the classical legend, he was banished not to the ‘mines’ (9.5.15.1 below), but to Thessaly, where he became a shepherd. See 7.2.12.1-3 and n. above. 15.2 officine] workshop. 15.4 leasings] lies. 15.5 entertainment] reception. 15.7 mold] give shape to, devise. 15.9 seld] seldom. 16.5 Louer] suitor. 16.5 solacement] comfort. 16.9 supply] reinforcements. 17.2 pitch’d a toile] set a trap. 17.2 Hinde] female deer. 17.6 ‘cause ... right] ‘in order that she should see that his desires were honourable’. Stanzas 18-30] Knevet’s lengthy description of Coravido’s maske (18.2) suggests genuine knowledge of the language, dramaturgy and spectacle of masque entertainments. His own Rhodon and Iris, performed to the Society of Florists in Norwich in 1631 and published later that year, contains little of the dramatic spectacle that he describes in this scene – spectacle much more clearly associated with the courtly entertainments and dramatic innovations of Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones, for instance. Since texts of these masques had been published, for instance in Jonson’s Workes (1616), there is no reason to insist that Knevet must have had first-hand experience of these productions. 18.5 hardyment] bravery. 18.6 hee to her a Sutour was] he asked of her. 19.1 dread] fear, suspect. 19.2 condiscend] agree. 19.3 braue] noble, fine. 19.3 well redde] skilled, experienced. 19.4 gest] deed, event. 19.6 equipage] costume, trappings. 19.7 themselues addrest] presented themselves. 20.1 solemnity] ceremony. 20.2 compartiment] panel. 20.3 character] lettering. 20.4 Asotia] From Gr. ἀσωτία (‘profligacy’). In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (4.1.2), one of the two vices corresponding to the virtue of liberality. See 9.3.3n. above. 20.6] Here, and below, the changes of scene and appearance of new settings that Knevet describes seem to draw on the dramatic innovations pioneered by Inigo Jones in his designs, with the use of mechanical stage settings. See Stephen Orgel and Roy Strong, Inigo Jones: The Theatre of the Stuart Court, 2 vols (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973). 20.9 Amphitrite] A sea-nymph, goddess of the sea, often used (as perhaps here) to refer to the sea in general (as at Ovid, Met., 1.14). 20.9 cheere] face, expression. 21.1 survey’d] overlooked. 21.2 creepeing] slow-moving. 21.2 Syren] The sirens were nymphs who sang alluringly to sailors, causing them to forget their homes and sail to their deaths. See Odyssey, 12.39-54. 21.4-6] Almost certainly remembering Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra: ‘The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne | Burned on the water. The poop was beaten gold’ (2.2.198-99). 21.4

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Barke] boat. 21.6 poope] high rear deck. 21.7 Vermiculate] intricately ornamented, inlaid. The etymology of the word (L. vermiculus, ‘little worm’) may give this description a deliberately morbid overtone. 21.8 garnished] ornamented. 21.9 taffata] silken cloth. 21.9 cordage] ropes, rigging. 22.2 crisped] curled. 22.5 cassocke] cloak, coat. 22.8 mickle policy] great skill, prudence. 22.9 misterye] craft, occupation. 23.2 the tender organe of his sence] his ear. 23.3 rap’t] enraptured, taken. 23.4 prouidence] prudence. 23.5 concents] harmonies. 23.8 carine] keel. 23.8 sheare] cut through. 24.5 impetuous teene] violent rage. 24.6 earst] formerly. 25.2 mead] meadow. 25.6 carrouse] drink. 25.8 cates] foods. 25.9 colleing] embracing. 26.5 rout] crew, band. 26.6 fenne] swamp. 27.4 lists] The barriers that enclosed a designated tournament ground. 27.5 mate] possibly friend; or possibly the man nearby. 28.1 Charrett] chariot. 28.2 Vnicornes] These creatures denote virginity and purity. 28.8 precede] surpass. 29.2] Unlike Knevet’s Rhodon and Iris, court masques would frequently end in a daunce in which both masquers and audience would join hands. 29.3-9] The entry of these hags suggests the section of a masque known as the antimasque (e.g. of Jonson’s Masque of Queenes), often performed by professional dancers and acrobats, and marked by evocations of disorder and disharmony. But in Stuart entertainments, these moments would conventionally come early in the drama, followed by the ordered pageantry of the masque itself. See Stephen Orgel, The Jonsonian Masque (1965). Either Knevet is unfamiliar with this sequence of anti-masque and masque, or he wants to show Coravido deliberately interrupting and subverting it. 29.7 measures] music (especially its rhythm); dancing. 29.7 diapase] harmony, music. 29.9 roke] smoke. 30.2 surprise] seize. 30.7 late achieued] recently won. 31.6 license] permission, instruction. 32.6 inquest] quest. 32.8 represt] put down, resolved. 33.3 Gennett] small horse. 33.4 in ... habited] dressed in a robe made from fine linen. 33.9 guerdon] reward. 34.1 Eunomia] From Gr. εὐ (‘good’), νόµος (‘law’). 34.2 Dicœa] Probably deriving from Gr. δίϰη (‘right, justice, law’). 34.3 wight] person. 34.4 Cleap’d Riccolozell] Called Riccolozell; this name probably derives from a conflation of the words riches and losell, i.e. a worthless, profligate person. 34.5 mickle] great. 34.7 to actions braue addrest] engaged in brave enterprizes. 34.8 meane degree] low rank. 35.2 entertainment] welcome. 35.4 hospitall respects] considerations, or all things that pertain to, hospitality. 35.5 vtter] outer. 35.6 dint] blow. 35.9 bourd] food. 36.2 gripeing] grasping 36.2 greaze] bribe, fill with money. 36.6 Carle] peasant, villain. 36.7 at all advantages] Possibly ‘in any favourable circumstances, positions’ (see OED,

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‘advantage’, n., 1). 36.8 layd along] laid out (on the ground). 37.2 dispoile] strip, deprive. 37.5 enforce] compel. 37.5 erewhile] some time ago. 37.7 soile] land. 37.8 brookes] bears. 37.9 faine] gladly. 38.5 prankes] evil deeds. 39.1 mannage] ride upon, command. 39.2 azure corslet] blue body-armour. 39.4 surcote] outer coat. 39.8 Semper summa peto] ‘I always strive for the highest’ (L.). 40.5 Indian mold] gold; see 7.4.9.6 and n. above. 40.6 iolly] handsome, gallant. 40.6 Liptocleon] From Gr. λίπτοµαι (‘be eager for’), ϰλέος (‘fame, good report’). 40.7 passeing] exceedingly. 40.8 redoubted] respected, feared. 40.9 Minion] lover, mistress (trisyllabic). 40.9 Philotime] From Gr. φιλοτιµία (‘Love of honour, ambition’). Cf. Spenser’s Philotime (FQ, 2.7.49-50). 40.9 parragon] mate. 41.1 conditions] character, moral nature. 41.2 feature] countenance, appearance. 41.3 prime] greatest, nonpareil. 41.4 of all parity ... disallow’d] denied anyone to be equal with her. 41.5 bloud] ancestry. 41.8 mounted] on horseback. 41.8 a gallop ride] ride at a gallop, a fast pace (here synonymous with pride). 42.1 meete] fitting, suitable. 42.4 demean’d] conducted. 42.6 vaineglorious] proud, boastful. 42.6 deface] destroy, spoil. 42.9 calumnyes] slanders. 42.9 cauillations] cavils, charges. 43.1 slight] Either an adjective (‘their slight, i.e. meagre, salutations did well express their pride, etc.’) or a noun (‘their manner of salutation did well express slight, i.e. disdain, etc.’). 43.7 diportment] bearing, conduct. 43.9 debonaire] courtly. 44.6 brawle] denounce. 44.8 painted Queane] sluttish whore. 45.2 raileing] violent denunciation. 45.3 incende] incite. 45.6 to the combate did him dare] challenged him to combat. 45.7 choler] temper; in humoural theory, held to be produced by an excess of choler, or bile. 46.1 course] charge (with a lance). 46.2 iusts] joust, encounter. 46.3 rencounterd] met. 46.3 heed] care. 46.6 extasy] swoon, faint. 47.1 improuident] imprudent. 47.2 Obserueing] obeying, heeding. 47.5 foolish hardynes] foolhardiness, foolish bravery. 47.8 Chirurgion] surgeon.

Canto 6 1.1 tribunall seate] seat of judgement, (i.e. the judge). 1.5 bands] bonds. 1.5 at the barre] in court, before the judge. Literally, it was the barre that separated the judge from the public part of court. 1.6-7 intend | His proper gaine] seek his own profit, serve his own interests. 1.8 contend] attempt, strive. 1.9 Astræa] Classical god of justice, mentioned in FQ, Book 5, as well as at the start of Book 7; see

7.Pr.2.4 and n. above. The sacred throne of iust Astræa is thus learning in, and probably practice of, the laws. 2.1-6 Cambyses .... withold] Cambyses was a king of Persia during the sixth century BC, renowned for his tyranny. Herodotus (Histories, 5.25) writes that Cambyses killed and flayed a judge by the name of Sisamnes who had been bribed to give an unjust judgment, then covered the judge’s seat with strips of the skin, and appointed Sisamnes’s son, Otanes, to his father’s place, advising him to remember the nature of his seat. 2.2 vncaseing] flaying. Herodotus (see previous note) does not record this punishment being enacted while Sisamnes was alive. 2.5 memoratiue] memorial, reminder. 2.8 sight] judgement, scrutiny (i.e. gifts take away judgement from vnderstanding). 2.8 aspect] sight. 3.1 vnsatiate couetise] insatiable covetousness. 3.2 bee Innemates, or cohabitant] dwell together, or in the same place. 3.4 conversant] familiar. 3.5 litigant] in dispute with one another. Continuing the legal language of the first two stanzas. 3.7-8 That is ... court] who is granted the foremost place in the court of justice; i.e. whoever serves as a judge. 3.8-9 hee must ... desart] In treating of justice in the Nicomachean Ethics, 5.1-2, Aristotle distinguishes between two senses in which we commonly use the term ‘just’: one to refer to what is legal (or according to the law), and one to refer to what is fair (or in line with natural principles of conscience and equity). This fundamental distinction between legal and equitable justice issues in the famous paradox of justice articulated in this book of the Ethics (5.10), in which Aristotle imagines equity (closer to what is ison, or fair) as different from legal justice, but itself still just. The English common law system had, over the course of the sixteenth century, developed a court structure modelled on Aristotle’s division between justice by the indifferent operation of law (the common law courts of King’s Bench and Common Pleas, known as justice ad rem) and justice by the examination of the particular acts and circumstances of a case (the Chancery, dispensing justice ad personam). But Chancery justice was not generally considered, at least by common lawyers, to be outside the common law, but rather a court in which the principles that informed common law ethos were applied, in a dispassionate spirit of fairness, to the unusual circumstances of special cases. Knevet’s vision of a good Chancellor, then, is not of a judge liberated from the constraints of rule, but of a judge who successfully combines his understanding of and commitment to rule, on the one hand, with a case-specific measure of desart on the other. 4.1 snaky folds ... Medusas pate] Medusa, one of the mythical Gorgons, killed by Perseus, had snakes instead of hair (her pate is her head); see Ovid, Met., 4.769-803. 4.3 aggregate] bunch, gather together. 4.5 Homers pretious chaine of gold] Alluding to Zeus’s speech to the other gods in Homer, Iliad, 8.18-27, a moment at which he asserts his absolute and distant sovereignty over them: ‘Just try it, you gods, so that you all may know. Make fast from

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 6

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heaven a chain of gold, and lay hold of it, all you gods and all you goddesses; yet you could not drag to earth out of heaven Zeus the counsellor most high, not even though you laboured mightily. But whenever I was really minded to pull with all my heart, then with earth itself I would draw it up and with the sea as well; and the rope I would then bind around a peak of Olympus and all those things would hang in space. By so much do I surpass gods and surpass men.’ 4.6 clement] mild, forgiving. 4.7 Magnanimous, magnificent] Magnificence (µεγαλοπρέπεια), the virtue relating in Aristotle’s schema to the expenditure of wealth (rather than the giving of wealth) is dealt with in Nicomachean Ethics, 4.2, immediately after liberality. This is followed (4.3) by a discussion of greatness of spirit, µεγαλοψύχια: cf. the etymology of Magnanimous: from L. magna (‘great’), anima (‘soul’). In the ‘Letter of the Authors’ in FQ, Spenser remarks that ‘in the person of Prince Arthure I sette forth magnificence in particular, which vertue [...] is the perfection of all the rest, and conteineth in it them all’ (p. 168). 4.9 artifice] skill. 5.3 descry’d] saw. 5.4 crazed] unsound, ramshackle. 5.7 Slouen] lazy rascal. 5.7 ill arrayd] poorly equipped. 5.8 qualify’d] furnished. 6.5 scurfe] scabbiness, scaliness. 6.5 imbark’d] covered, as if a bark (perhaps punning on bark as boat, or embarked). 6.6 mammockes] scraps. 6.7 vnkemb’d] uncombed, unkempt. 6.7 case] chest. 6.8 ordure] filth, faeces. 6.9 stragled thicke] wandered around in great numbers. 7.1 garbages] entrails. 7.2 dogfishes] The dogfish comprise various families of fish, often bottom-dwelling, and related to the sharks. The chapter on dogfish in Pliny’s Natural History, 9.70, in which he describes them attacking divers, suggests that he may have sharks in mind. 7.2-3 yeilding ... bred] Reflecting the popular belief that diseases and plagues were spread by bad smells (and could be prevented by good ones). 7.4 assent] agree. 7.5 wafte] convey. 7.5 continent] shore, land. 7.6 grunny’d a denyall] grunted, growled a refusal. 7.9 clownish] base. 7.9 riall] A gold coin (also called by the names ryal and real). 8.1 Sordido] ‘Filthy’ (It.). 8.1 finger’d vp] picked up. 8.4 bestour’d] bestirred, busied. 8.5 scour’d] cut. 8.6 from the landward] from the land, in the direction of the sea. 8.9 freight] cargo, i.e. passengers. 9.1 allay] abate. 9.2 furrow fronted maine] furrow-faced sea. 9.7 They powr’d ... againe] In bailing the great quantity of sea-water out of the boat. 10.1 blew-eyd Gods] Perhaps the sea-gods. 10.2 votiue] devout. 10.4 supersedeas] From L., ‘you shall desist, refrain’. Legal term for ‘a writ commanding the stay of legal proceedings which ought otherwise to have proceeded, or suspending the powers of an officer’ (OED), and thus part of this book’s broader interest in legal terminology, theory, and practice. 10.6 slake] abate. 11.2 craz’d] broken up. 11.2 founderd] sunk. 11.3 vnneath] hardly. 11.5 Frigote] frigate; swift ship. 12.3 heaue] lift.

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13.4 forgoe] surrender. 13.5 Villaine] base person. 13.9 Maugre despite] in spite of insult, injury. 14.1 wanting of his will] frustrated of his purpose. 14.5 rout] band. 14.7 target] shield. 14.8 hauocke] destruction. 15.1 lopp’d of] cut off. 15.2 eschue] escape. 15.8 surpris’d] taken, captured by surprise. 15.9 booty] prize, ransom. 16.6 menaced] threatened. 16.7 for feare ... eares] A frequent punishment in the seventeenth century; meted out, for instance, to the Puritan writer William Prynne in 1634 after his supposedly seditious publication of Histriomastix (1632). The use of a similar phrase at 9.12.19.5 below suggests that a more mortal punishment may be at stake; cf. also 8.6.7.6, 9.9.15.5. 17.2 discharge] set free. 17.3 wend] go. 17.4 giues and fetters] shackles around their legs. 17.7 whilere] in former times. 18.3 dight in such a sad array] in such a sorry state. 18.6 couine] conspiracy. 18.7 enforced] compelled. 19.1 In fine] at last. 19.2 Minion] lover, favourite. 19.7 vexation] trouble, distress. 19.9 ill bested] sorrowfully beset. 20.4 Robador] From Sp. robador (‘robber, thief ’). 20.5 Painim ... Ismailite] These terms (meaning pagan, Arab) should perhaps best be taken as non-specific derogatory comments. 20.8 hurne] hern: a nook, or hiding place. 20.9 ere hee ... looke] before he expected him. 21.3 residue] rest. 21.3 embogues] throws. 21.8 dogges vnblest] Knevet elsewhere uses this pejorative term for nonChristians: see 7.5.30.9 above. 22.2 next] closest. 22.7 Neptune hore] Grey (i.e. whitehaired) Neptune, the Roman god of the sea. 23.7 Consorted] accompanied. 23.9 tenement] house, hideout. 24.2 tender] young. 24.2 chappes] jaws. 24.6 damme] mother. 24.6 mickle] great. 24.9 plyes ... full fast] runs quickly. 25.4 steere] The false rhymes in this stanza (cf. deare, line 5, and there, line 7, slightly awry in any case) derive from Knevet’s earlier name for Belcoeur, Belchier. 25.8 barriers] tournament combat in the lists. 25.9 robustious Carle] strong lout. 26.2 beuer] face-guard 26.3 to the Castle-ward] in the direction of the castle. 26.8 some coine disburse] pay out some money. 26.9 want] lack; require. 26.9 in pawne] as security. 27.2 fauchion] sword. 27.4 stay] hold back, stand still. 27.7 the issue of the fray] the outcome of the battle. 28.5 fatall brand] deadly sword. 28.6 crest] the crown of his helmet. 28.8 temper] hardness. 29.4 haberieon] jacket of armour. 29.4 dy’d] stained. 29.6 knocke] blow. 29.7 caske] helmet. 29.9 Limbo] In certain Catholic theologies, the destination of pagans (and unbaptized infants), who die in original sin but are not consigned to hell. It is presumably hell that Knevet intends here. 30.3 thrall] slave. 30.8 or ... or] either ... or. 30.9 Caualier] knight. This word is never used in FQ.

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31.2 Condignely bafful’d] worthily disgraced. 31.4 grope] grasp. 31.4 pelfe] riches, money. 32.3 entertainment meete] fitting hospitality, a fitting reception. 32.4 parragon] model. 32.6 exterminate] banish, expel. 32.7 Iouially] in a spirit of good cheer (OED, ‘jovial’, 6); but also in a manner befitting Jove, in a princely manner (OED, ‘jovial’, 1). 32.8 recreate] refresh, recover. 32.9 accurate] careful. 33.3 traceing like a weft] going like a waif; cf. 8.11.4.1 and n. above. Used by Spenser to describe wandering: ‘The gentle Lady, loose at randon left, | The greene-wood long did walke, and wander wide | At wilde aduenture, like a forlorne weft’ (FQ, 3.10.36.1-3). 33.5 obsest] beset. 33.6-7] Cf. Tilley, Proverbs, D35. 33.9 portion] share (trisyllabic). 34.1 keele] Metonymically, a ship. 34.2 Plowe ... element] Sail across the sea (for which the ruthles wat’ry element is a periphrasis). 34.4 intent] determined. 34.6 froward] adverse. 34.6 wrackes] shipwreck. 34.7 rent] split apart. 34.9 Presageing] foretelling, portending. 34.9 cataracts] water-spouts. 35.5 adventures] quests. 35.7 The long-liu’d Phœnix ... dyes] The phoenix was a bird that, by legend, lived for several hundred years, before dying in its nest and being reborn (see Pliny, Natural History, 10.2; Ovid, Met., 15.393407). In some versions of the myth, the bird burned itself on a funeral pyre from which, renewed, it afterwards re-emerged; Pliny himself, though, declares a scepticism about the very existence of the phoenix (‘I cannot tell what to make of him: and first of all, whether it be a tale or no’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Nauvrall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 271), and indeed Knevet, by contrasting the Phoenix’s death unfavourably with the immortablity of Vertue (line 9), seems to rebuff the common myth. Cf. 8.8.3 above. 36.4-5] The heart pierced by seven swords (or other implements) is a common symbolic representation of the sorrows of Mary (the mater dolorosa figure); why they should appear on Sir Gratian’s shield remains somewhat obscure. 36.6 habite] dress, clothing. 36.7 bewray’d] betrayed, revealed. 36.9 well ally’d] joined (by family, friendship, or other bond) to noble people. 37.1 Sir Gratian hight] called Sir Gratian; given Gratian’s accomplished courtesy, his name may derive from It. grazia (‘grace’). 37.2 debellation] conquest. 37.3 the succourles] those without aid. 38.4 sort] fashion. 38.6 rare accidents] remarkable events. 38.7 resort] retire. 38.9 amate] dismay. 39.1-2] Cf. the ‘cruell Beare, the which an infant bore | Betwixt his bloodie iawes’, encountered by Spenser’s Calepine, FQ, 6.4.17.8-9. 39.2 chappes] jaws. 39.3 with pierceing shrikes] ‘Calepine, whose eares those shrieches shrill | Percing his hart with pities point did thrill’ (FQ, 6.4.18.4-5). 39.8 in a full carreere] at full speed. 40.2 Numidian] Numidia was the Roman name given to the lands on the north coast of Africa (approximating to present-day Algeria), inhabited by nomadic tribes. 40.5

Netheards] cowherds. 40.5 mickle] great. 40.7 hububs] cries, shouts. 40.8 tarry] stay. 40.9 maugre] in spite of. 41.5 mended] increased. 41.6 vncouth dells] unknown valleys. 42.1-2] The sun is about to set in its usual place (wonted Inne). Amphitrite, a sea-nymph, is here used to mean the sea itself, the western sea into which the sun goes down (stoupe): see 9.5.20.9 and n. above. 42.4 sable vest] black gown. 42.6 leaue] abandon. 43.2 lasciuious iuy] The adjective refers to the way in which the ivy clings tightly to that which it climbs. Cf. the ‘lasciuious armes’ (FQ, 2.12.61.6) of the golden ivy on a fountain in the Bower of Bliss, and also ‘lascivis hederis’ [lascivious ivy], Horace, Odes, 1.36, line 20. 43.3 noxious herbs] harmful plants. 43.4 superstitious] magical; idolatrous. 43.5 Dæmon] spirit, lesser divinity (from Gr. δαίµων); perhaps, though not necessarily, malignant. 43.6 votaryes] devotees. 43.7 libations] poured offerings. 44.2 Fane] temple. 44.2 wearish] weak, tired. 44.3 hoary headed Father] white-haired old man (perhaps also suggesting a priest). 44.6 Faitour] villain. 45.1 ill beseemes] is unsuitable, unfitting for. 45.3 celestiall theoremes] heavenly thoughts, or perhaps astronomical or astrological calculations. More specifically, a theorem is a theory or proposition, demonstrable by reason. 45.4 bruite] noise. 45.9 God wot] God knows. 45.9 cold Ioue] the open sky. 46.2 figur’d] decorated with figures, patterns. 46.7 effaced] obliterated. 47.1 Magazine] store cupboard. 47.2 syluane cates] woodland foods. 47.2 wont] was accustomed. 47.3 stayd] satisfied. 47.4 Caitife] villain. 47.5 tempered] mixed. 47.6 somnolent] sleep-provoking. 47.7 climes] regions, parts of the world. 47.8 Styx] In classical mythology, the River Styx encircling hell. See 7.2.39.9n. above. Its waters were conventionally black; e.g. ‘the black streames of Stix’. Du Bartas, Fifth Day of the First Weeke, l. 295. 47.9 the Vehiculum of his Hypniotickes] The substrate liquid in which the sedative drugs were dissolved. 48.1 Betel] The leaf of a variety of pepper, chewed in the East Indies as a stimulant. See Gerard, Herball (1633), p. 1541. 48.1 enmoues] incites. 48.2 chast Cambaian Wiues] Knevet could have read about the wives of Cambaia (Cambay, in northern India) in The Voyage and Trauaile of M. Caesar Frederick, Merchant of Venice, into the East India, the Indies, and Beyond the Indies (1588) – ‘if a maried man die, his wife must burne hir selfe aliue, for the loue of her husband, and with the bodye of her husband’ (ff. 9r-9v) – and the ensuing account of those pyres. 48.3 Tartarean groues] The groves of Tartarus, the underworld. 48.4 That herbe ... grew] Aconite, said in myth to have grown of foam dropped from the mouth of Cerberus, the three-headed Stygian hound that guards the underworld: see 7.10.27.8-9n. above. 48.5 Cicuta ... slue] Hemlock, the mortal poison given to Socrates to cause his death. Cf. FQ, 2.7.52.5-9. 48.6 Cacauate] According to

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John Parkinson, Theatrum Botanicum (1640), an alternative name for cacao; possibly a corruption of the Aztec cacahuatl. ‘[It] must be defended from the sight of the sun by having a tall tree planted to the Sunne ward of it’ (p. 1642). 48.7 Impia] A herb resembling rosemary, according to Pliny (Natural History, 24.113), who writes that ‘there is no beast will touch or tast it’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), ii, p. 205. 48.8 sleepy Mandrakes] mandragora, a plant proverbially narcotic. 48.8 Chenomychon] Possibly deriving from Pliny, Natural History, 21.36, where chenomychos is cited as another name for nyctygretum: ‘the Magi or Sages of Persia, as also the Parthian kings use this hearbe ordinarily in their solemne vowes that they make to the gods: [...] some call it Chenomychos, because Geese are afraid of it when they see it first’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), ii, p. 91. 48.9 simples ... confection] ingredients of his terrible mixture. 49.1 Phaulurgo] From Gr φα˜υλος (‘Bad’), ἔργον (‘deed, act’). 49.2 Beganne a lusty cup] Took a hearty drinck, before offering it on. 49.5 Nepenthe] An opiate mentioned in classical legend, as also in FQ, as ‘a drinck of souerayne grace | Deuized by the Gods, for to asswage | Harts grief ’ (FQ, 4.3.43.1-3). Knevet also mentions ‘strong Nepenthe’ in Stratiotikon, l. 680. 50.4 vnctions nocumentall] poisonous ointments. Knevet’s is the first recorded English use of the adjective ‘nocumentall’, derived from L nocumentum, ‘harm, injury’. 50.5 Pulcheria] From L. pulcher (‘beautiful’). 50.9 amaine] hastily. 51.3 Thamantes pencill] The paintbrush of Iris, in classical mythology the bearer (and representative) of the rainbow. Thaumantis, or Thaumantias, was an epithet for Iris (after her father, Thaumas); see, for instance, Virgil, Aeneid, 9.5. 52.5 cleere] free. 52.7 suborne] bribe. 52.9 represse] beat back. 53.2 descry’d] seen. 53.4 abate] suppress. 53.9 hent] taken. 54.1 ruthfull] pitiful. 54.2 bootles] useless, helpless. 54.6 scortched] dried up. 54.7 her dressing rent] her clothes torn. 54.9] ‘She had no more tears or sighs (suspirations) to give; had used them up’. 55.1 plight] condition. 55.2 Propitious] gracious. 55.4 or ... or] whether ... or. 55.6 cleap’d] called. 55.6 Erothæa] From Gr. ἔρος (‘love’) ϑεά (‘goddess’) Stanza 56] This description makes a general allusion to the appearance of Belphobe (FQ, 2.3.21-30). 56.1 awfull] awe-inspiring. 56.2 feature] countenance, appearance. 56.4 true loue knots] ornamental, looped knots. 56.6 glistring] glittering, shining. 56.7 proper] correct; excellent. 56.8 Fraught well with] full of, laden with. 56.9 doublet] close-fitting jacket, or other such garment for the upper body. 56.9 kyrtle] tunic. 57.1 Her buskins ... dispart] Her boots were divided by silver stripes (see OED, ‘pale’, n.4 ). 57.8 hests] commands.

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58.2 in the right line] in direct descent. 58.4 portraiture] face, image, appearance. 58.6 endu’d] invested, endowed. 58.7 Not magicke diabolicke, but diuine] Cf. Pico della Mirandola’s distinction in the Oration on the Dignity of Man, § 32: ‘Magic has two forms, one of which depends entirely on the work and authority of demons, a thing to be abhorred, so help me the God of truth, and a monstrous thing. The other, when it is rightly pursued, is nothing else than the utter perfection of natural philosophy. While the Greeks make mention of both of them, they call the former γοητεία, in no wise honoring it with the name of magic; the latter they call by the characteristic and fitting name of µαγεία, as if it were a perfect and most high wisdom. For, as Porphyry says, in the Persian tongue magus expresses the same idea as “interpreter” and “worshipper of the divine” with us. Moreover, Fathers, the disparity and unlikeness between these arts is great, nay, rather, the greatest possible. The former not only the Christian religion but all religions and every well-constituted state condemn and abhor. The latter all wise men, all peoples devoted to the study of heavenly and divine things, approve and embrace. The former is the most deceitful of arts; the latter a higher and more holy philosophy’ (p. 247) 58.8 metaphysickes] The branch of philosophy dealing with first principles, the nature of things and of reality, and so on. 58.9 philosophy] knowledge. 59.1 fell] fierce. 59.3 redde] learned. 59.4 confect] mix, create. 59.7 blaz’d] described. 59.7 quill] pen (made from the quill, or shaft, of a feather). 60.5 pestilent] pernicious. 61.4 vertue] (medicinal) property. 61.6 Thelygonum] Perhaps thelygonum cynocrambe, the dog cabbage (see OED, ‘cabbage’, n.1 , 2). But Knevet’s reasons for citing it are slightly obscure: the only property mentioned by Pliny is its capacity to make those who take it give birth to female children (Natural History, 26.91). 61.7 simple] ingredient; herb used medicinally. 62.2 dismayd] overcome. 62.4 Vulcans flames] the hearth, or just a fire. Vulcan was the Roman god of fire and the forge. 62.7 well apayd] happy. 62.9 Herbe of Grace] A vernacular name for the ruta, or rue, not of thelygonum. Although, as John Parkinson states, it is ‘a most wholesome herbe, [which] would worke admirable effects being carefully and skilfully applyed’, Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris (1629), p. 530, Knevet may just have chosen it here for its name. 63.1-2 As when ... Beast] when the sun (Phœbus) is in the sign of Aries, i.e. in late March and early April. The Phryxœan Beast is the mythical ram with the golden fleece, on which Phrixus escaped to Colchis; see Apollodorus, Library, 1.9.1. 63.4-5 the Adder ... drest] The adder, a venomous snake, sloughs (doth himself devest | Of) its old skin to reveal a new one underneath.

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1.1 golden pelfe] money, wealth. 1.1 domineare] tyrannize, utterly prevail. 1.4-6 For as the Pepper-tree ... thriue] Gerard (Herball, 1633, p. 1539) writes of the pepper tree that it ‘is not great, yet of a wooddy substance, dispersing here and there his clasping tendrels, wherewith it taketh hold of other trees and such other things as do grow neere vnto it’. 1.5 vegetall] bush or tree. 1.6 this foule desire] the appetite for wealth. 1.7 Will not ... admitt] will not suffer any virtue to develop (in the person obsessed with money). 2.1-5 If that ... occult antipathye] The source of this claim is unknown; Knevet may have derived it from an oral tradition (i.e. they say). 2.3 prouander] dry feed, fodder. 2.6 apparently] clearly, manifestly. 2.7 vile couetise] base greed, an appetite for base objects. 2.9 verdant hue] spring colour; i.e. healthy complexion. 3.1-2 brutish Beares, and Lions ... carkasses] The source of Knevet’s claim for lions is unknown, though there are analogues, such as in Thomas Lodge’s Rosalynde (1590): ‘As thus he lay, a hungrie Lion came hunting downe the edge of the groue for pray, and espying Saladyne began to ceaze vpon him: but seeing he lay still without anie motion, he left to touch him, for that Lions hate to pray on dead carkasses: and yet desirous to haue some foode, the Lion lay downe and watcht to see if hee would stirre’ (f. L2r). According to Aelian (On Animals, 5.49), ‘when Bears have sniffed at hunters who have fallen on their face and knocked the breath out of themselves, they leave them for dead, and it seems that these creatures are disgusted by a dead body.’ Pliny also records that no other animal (including a lion) will touch a carcass once a bear has breathed upon it, so ‘pestilentiall’ is a bear’s breath (The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 355). 3.3-9 Yet wicked auarice ... prodigyes] ‘Covetousness pollutes things living and non-living, causing people to break the bonds of natural law as well as those of religion; not only does desire for money cause children to wish the death of their parents, but it contaminates even the holy rites of religious faith.’ 3.4 liueles] dead; inanimate. 3.5 rauines] devours. 3.8 Intoxicateing] corrupting. 3.9 sinnefull prodigyes] unnatural irregularities. 4.2 in ciuill things] in matters of state or government. 4.3 Officers religious] ministers and priests; but perhaps especially bishops and lords of the church. 4.5-6 Yea when ... neihbourhood] ‘When even the church is polluted by avarice’. 4.7 accloy’d] oppressed, overburdened. 5.1 commission] instruction, direction. 5.2 Quite to subvert] completely to reform. 5.2 gripeing] grasping, clutching. 5.3 of the bountifull ... tuition] ‘to care for and defend all those who are generous’. 5.8 demeane] comport, behave. 6.1 trac’d] travelled. 6.2 deck’d in beautifull array] beautifully dressed and outfitted. 6.6 neihbour] nearby.

6.7 fun’rall cypresse ... liueing bay] As Gerard notes (Herball, 1633, p. 1368), the cypress was said to be dedicated to Pluto, god of hell, and thus thought to be deadly. Spenser calls it the ‘Cypresse funerall’ at FQ, 1.1.8.9, and in his gloss to l. 145 of the ‘November’ eclogue of SC, E.K. says that the cypress was ‘vsed of the old Paynims in the furnishing of their funerall Pompe. And properly the signe of all sorow and heauinesse’. Cf. also FQ, 2.1.60. The evergreen bay, or laurel, tree was sacred to Apollo, and its leaves used to crown the temples of famous poets. 6.9] ‘And blocked the heat of the sun.’ 7.1 lofty Coursers] tall steeds. 7.3 Damsells nine] the nine Muses, patron spirits of the arts. The muses were fabled the daughters of Jove and Mnemosyne (memory), and each had the patronage of a particular art: Calliope (epic poetry, eloquence), Clio (history), Erato (love poetry), Euterpe (music, lyric poetry), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (divine poetry, oratory), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy); see Hesiod, Theogony, ll. 75-103. Cf. 7.3.31.6 and n., and 7.10.5.4, above. 7.4 mickle] great. 7.6 lutes of ebonye] The lute – a long-necked string instrument similar to the oud and the guitar – spread throughout Europe in the medieval period, and was very popular in seventeenth-century England. Classical muses were often, less anachronistically, depicted playing upon lyres. The black colour of ebony reflects the muses’ tragic mood. 7.7 tragicke Myxolydian concent] The mixolydian was one of the ancient musical modes (what we now call scales or keys), the others being the Dorian, the Phrygian, and the Lydian. To each mode certain common harmonies (or concents) were native; the mixolydian was considered to be particularly suitable to elegy and tragedy. Cf. Philemon Holland’s definition of ‘mixolidian’ in an appendix to his translation of Plutarch’s Moralia: ‘that is to say, Lamentable and pitifull: meet for Tragœdies’. The Philosophie, Commonlie Called the Morals, trans. Holland (1603), f. 5Z5r. 7.8 canzonett] from It. canzonetta, a short song for voice and accompaniment, usually secular. Stanzas 8-9] These two stanzas supply the lament of the muses for Technophil (see stanzas 17-21, below). 8.1-3 snowy Swannes ... here] Sacred to Apollo, swans were said to sing beautifully just before their deaths (cf. Pliny, Natural History, 10.32, § 63; though Pliny discounts the tradition as fabulous). 8.2 Mæander ... Po] The river Mæander (modern Büyük Menderes) flowed through Caria in Asia Minor, now the southwestern part of Turkey. It was celebrated by classical poets for its mazy course. The Po rises in the Alps, flows through northern Italy, and drains into the Adriatic. 8.5 Technophil] Gr. ‘lover of skill’ or ‘skilled lover’, from τέχνη (‘skill’), and φιλέω (‘to love’). As the ensuing allegory makes clear, Technophil’s plight represents the situation of many humanist-trained English poets of the period, whose uncertain position in the fast-changing urban and print contexts left them poor beggars at rich men’s doors – or as John Donne mem-

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Commentary: Book 9 Canto 7 orably puts it in his second satire, ‘singers at doores for meat’ (l. 22). Writing in an age dominated by Chrysophila (love of gold; see 9.7.15.1 and n. below) and her lieutenant Maldesir (evil want or desire; see 9.7.15.7 and n. below), great poets were forced to survive by working as drudges, while their less accomplished but more fortunate peers were advanced. Knevet’s Technophil may simply be a generic ideal figure, whose tragic loss is intended to epitomise the condition of English letters in the middle Stuart period; but a number of details in his description suggest a more particular focus. Unfortunately, none of these details are decisive in identifying Knevet’s subject (if he had one), though three candidates deserve mention. First, Technophil is said to have reformed English poetry and to have been a darling of the muses. This suggests probably the two most famous of the learned Elizabethan poets, Philip Sidney (1554-1586) and Edmund Spenser (1552-1599; cf. Spenser’s own 1590 poem, Tears of the Muses, itself in part about Sidney). Sidney’s early death fighting with the Dutch against the Spanish at Zutphen ended a brilliant poetic career, and made him a Protestant martyr to his many eulogists. Knevet’s onomastics here may echo Sidney’s own: in his own works, Sidney’s authorial voice took such names as Philisides and Astrophil (or –phel), under which title Sidney was thoroughly eulogized at his death, among others by Spenser in his Astrophel (pub. 1595). Cf. 9.8.14.1 and n. below. Spenser was later reputed by Jonson to have been destitute at his death, though after peace was secured in Ireland in 1603 his sons both inherited estates. By contrast, Sidney left massive debts at his death, and his body was held for three months, not released for burial until his father-in-law, Sir Francis Walsingham, found a reputed £6000 to settle with Sidney’s creditors (cf. stanza 21, below). The credibility of Spenser or Sidney as an original for Technophil, however, runs into difficulty at stanza 22 (below), where Knevet’s Muses record that it has been seven years since Technophil’s death – which would put the date of Knevet’s composition of the poem either in 1593 (before he was born) or in 1606 (when was four years old). Given Knevet’s ubiquitous reliance on, and palpable esteem for, the encyclopedic poet and translator, Joshua Sylvester (1562/3-1618), it is possible that his story may lie behind Technophil’s. The Muses’ elegy for Technophil notes that he could ‘wisely speake, and well endite’ (9.7.9.9) on a varied range of topics, from stars and meteors to birds, beasts, fish, plants, stones, and metals – transparently the material from which Du Bartas his Divine Weeks, Sylvester’s greatest translation, was composed. Sylvester’s poetic career flourished in the early years of James’ reign, during which period he received patronage from both James and Prince Henry. But after Prince Henry’s death in 1613, Sylvester’s fortunes plummetted – perhaps corresponding to the sudden reversal in Technophil’s estate in stanzas 19-20 (below). He died practically penniless in 1618 – an early but not impossible date to square with stanza 22. It is of course also possi-

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ble that Technophil’s story should, by design, reflect various elements of Sidney’s, Spenser’s and Sylvester’s biographies: such a composite picture would well suit Knevet’s satirical aim in this passage. 8.6 Cypresse ... bayes] see 9.6.7n. above. The muses call for wither’d bayes because they mourn the death of a poet. 8.8 layes] songs. 8.9 th’Elysian shades] Elysium was the fabled region of Hades reserved for the souls of virtuous heroes. 9.1 Yee starres ... azure spheres] Medieval astronomers followed classical authorities in supposing that the sun, moon, planets, and fixed stars were contained in concentric spheres, which circled the earth in different directions and at varying speeds. Despite the celebrated discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo, many writers continued to refer to the existence of the spheres – often, as here, loosely. 9.2 meteors] Not only the fiery meteors (e.g. comets and modern meteors), but all forms of precipitation, which early modern natural philosophers believed to be formed in the higher regions of the atmosphere. See 8.3.1 and 8.3.1.6-7n. above. 9.3 Yee plumed ... Quiristers] birds (a periphrasis). 9.5 scaly people] fish and sea-creatures. 9.6 force, and vertue] Plants were prized for their medicinal properties (or vertues), and particularly those of special strength (or force). 9.9 endite] write, compose (as in a poem or treatise). 10.7 copesmate] companion, partner. 10.7 Camrades] mates, fellow-soldiers. 10.9 Envr’d] accustomed. 10.9 rapine ... spoile] plunder and pillage. 11.3 demise] dismiss. 11.6 nominate] name. 11.8 Foeman] enemy. 12.4 maine effect] principal meaning, purpose. 12.7 th’Olympian Architect] Jove. 12.8 Mnemosyne] ‘Memory’, a titan, according to Hesiod (Theogony, l. 135) the daughter of Earth (Gaia) by Heaven (Ouranos), and the mother by Jove of the nine muses (Theogony, ll. 915-17). 13.1 whilome] at one time, once. 13.1-3 the forked Mount ... Castalian fount] Parnassus in Phocis, with Helicon and Pindus one of three Greek mountains sacred to the Muses. Classical writers often mention its two summits; see e.g. Ovid, Met., 1.316 (‘verticibus [...] duobus’) and 2.221 (‘Parnasosque biceps’). The peninsula of Attica (containing the city of Athens) lies to the east of Parnassus. The spring of Castalia is situated on the lower slope of the mountain. It was often named as the scene or source of poetic inspiration, as in Virgil, Georgics, 3.291-94. 13.6-9 Orpheus ... Musæus, Hesiod ... Homer ... Virgill ... Ouid] In this catalogue of ancient poets both Greek and Roman, only Orpheus is mythical; for his parentage and the story of his redemption of his wife, Eurydice, from Hades, see Apollodorus, Library, 1.3.2, and Ovid, Met., 10.1-85 and 11.1-84. Musæus, claimed by some to be the son of Orpheus, was the celebrated author of a poem about Hero and Leander. Hesiod, a contemporary of Homer (c. 8th century BCE), wrote bucolic, moral, and epic poetry; Knevet had almost

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certainly read his well-known account of the origins of the gods, the Theogony. 14.1 that sacred well] the spring of Castalia. 14.3 in the sacred Groue] on the slopes of mount Parnassus. 14.4 wont to] used to. 14.5-9 Kings at ... skill] Knevet is unlikely to have had specific kings in mind, though recent memory had supplied England with several kings and queens of unusual literary achievements: Henry VIII composed poems and music, but his daughter Elizabeth translated works from Greek and Latin, composed verse, and drafted her own letters and speeches. James VI and I, her immediate successor, had a European reputation as a poet and political philosopher. The Greek gods were said to drink nectar, and Homer (Odyssey, 4.219-32) records how Helen drugged the Greeks with nepenthe to induce them to forget their pain and sorrows. Nepenthe also features at FQ, 4.3.43.9, where Cambina uses it to stint the strife between Cambel and Triamond; Spenser calls ‘a drinck of souerayne grace’ (FQ, 4.3.41.1) 15.1 lewd Chrysophila] Gr. ‘Love of gold’, from χρυσός (‘gold’), and φιλέω (‘to love’). 15.5 Argiue harlot] Danaë was the daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos, who was informed by an oracle that he would one day be killed by his daughter’s son. In an attempt to evade his fate, he locked the maiden Danaë in a tower of brass, thus ensuring that she would never marry nor conceive a child. Through an open window, Jove came upon her as a shower of gold, and she conceived the hero Perseus, who afterward went on to slay Medusa (and kill Acrisius). Horace had interpreted the myth as an allegory about bribery, supposing that the shower of gold symbolized the corrupt means by which Acrisius’ imprisonment of his daughter was circumvented; see Horace, Odes, 3.16. Horace’s moralizing of the Danaë myth must have suggested its relevance to Knevet. He may also have been influenced by Spenser’s account of Chrysogone’s conception of Amoret and Belphoebe in the Garden of Adonis, narrated in FQ, 3.6.6-9. See 7.3.14 and n. above. 15.6 Champion] (trisyllabic). 15.7 Maldesir] ‘Evil desire’, from Fr. mal, ‘evil’, and desir(e), ‘desire’. 15.7 cleap’t] called. 15.8 dominions] (tetrasyllabic). 15.9 habitation] (pentasyllabic). 16.2 stand out] refuse 16.5 rimeing rout] company of poets. 16.9 dight] clothed, furnished. 16.9 vnkemp’t] Literally ‘uncombed’; rude, inelegant (a Spenserianism). 17.1 reuers’t] turned upside down. 17.2 caparisons] ornamental saddle coverings typically spread by knights on their coursers (horses). 17.5 guerdon] reward. 17.6 commiserate] pity. 17.8 adverse Fate] This curious detail of Knevet’s presentation of Technophil would be consistent with a Sidneian connection. Sidney composed both Astrophil and Stella and the first version of The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia while enduring banishment from court in 1580-82, following a hot-headed and poorly received attempt to influence Elizabeth’s policy over the French match. Lavender (p. 1103) champions Spenser as a candidate for Technophil, and supposes that it is Spenser’s

banishment to Ireland in 1580 to which Knevet here refers. By all contemporary accounts, however, Spenser’s appointment as Lord Grey’s secretary in 1580 was a promising preferment, and not a misfortune. 17.9 estate] dignity, position. 18.2 respects] considerations. 18.2 prick’d on] incited. 18.4 fo’ne] enemies. 18.5 dareing Phæeton] Phaëton, son of Apollo, was desperate to prove himself the son of a god, and persuaded his father to let him drive the chariot of the sun. Quickly losing control of Apollo’s horses, he scorched the heavens and earth, finally forcing Jove to strike the sun’s car with a thunderbolt. Apollo mourned him, as Ovid recalls in Met., 1.747-2.400. 19.3 vnneath] scarcely. 19.3 to mannage fight] to engage in battle. 19.6 retreat] resort. 19.8 slake] quench, reduce. 19.8 irefull heate] angry passion. 20.2 rent] torn, split. 20.5 vena caua] A large vein carrying blood to the heart from the upper half of the body. 20.7 hent] took (away). 21.4 Except] unless. 21.7 His carkasse] Technophil’s body. 21.8 monumentall clay] A mound of earth marking Technophil’s grave. 22.1-2 Seuen times ... successiuely] ‘The sun has passed through the zodiac seven times’. The celestiall Innes are the various houses of the zodiac – Aries, Pisces, etc. – through which the sun’s course passes during its annual cycle. Cf. 8.1.21.3-5n. above. 22.1 Phœbus] the sun. 22.4 obite anniversary] anniversary of (his) death. Obite comes from L. obitus, ‘a going down or setting; death’. 22.8 mannage combate] wage battle. 23.1 Vrania] The muse of Astronomy. 23.1 hight] was called. 23.5 meritory] meritorious. 23.6 stint] cease, stop. 23.8 they] Belcoeur and Gratian. 23.8 bent] determined. 23.8 question] challenge. 24.2 caske] helmet (Fr. casque). 24.2 condiscend] agree. 24.4 haply] by chance, in the event. 24.8 accouterd] prepared, outfitted. 24.9 darraine] wage, maintain. 25.1 the learned Hill] Parnassus. 25.6 surcharg’d] overburdened. 25.6 pamphlets rude] rough and undistinguished poetry, and perhaps also prose (especially polemical prose). Short books of verse and prose were often in this period sold unbound, or in paper bindings, as pamphlets. 25.9 wonted] accustomed. 26.1 descry] perceive. 26.4-7 A Heart ... were spred] Maldesir’s foul ambition is reflected in his badge and ornaments: the burning heart here represents his overweening desire, which supplants all other considerations. The emblem of the burning heart was a common element in imprese of this period, used for example by Lord Carr at Prince Charles’ masque entertaining his parents at Richmond in 1636 (The King and Queenes Entertainement at Richmond (1636), pp. 28-29), as part of an emblem signifying the subjugation of his personal ambition to the good of his country. 26.5 target] shield. 26.5 desciphered] figured, pictured. 26.6 caparison] ornamental saddle covering.

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 8

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27.2 his footeing ... regaine] got to his feet. 27.3 malle] hammer. 27.5 caske] helmet. 27.5 clouen] (monosyllabic). 27.7 amaine] with full force. 27.9 consume] waste away, diminish. Stanza 28] On Maldesir’s tactics, cf. stanzas 19-20, above. 28.3-4 wreake, | His teene] expend his bitter anger. 28.8 ’gan] began. 28.8 play his part] enact his trickery. 28.9 subvert] undermine, destroy. 29.3 involued] enfolded, caught. 29.4 sort] case, condition. 29.6-9] After sacking the city of Oechalia, Hercules took captive its princess, Iole. His wife Deianeira, fearing that Hercules had fallen in love with her, sent to him a fine garment once given her by the centaur Nessus, who had told her it was steeped in a love charm. By contrast, it was contaminated with the poisonous blood of the hydra of Lerna; and as soon as Hercules put it on, the acid began to corrode his skin. Tearing off his flesh with the garment, he returned to Trachis and ordered that his body be taken and burned on mount Oeta. There he was translated into heaven by Jove. The story is recounted by Apollodorus, Library, 2.7.7; and is the subject of Sophocles’ play, The Women of Trachis. Cf. 7.8.24.4-5 and n. above. 29.8 sprent] sprinkled. 29.9 thrill] pierce. 30.2 vnneath] scarcely. 30.3 fauchion keene] sharp sword. 30.8 fell despite] fierce cruelty and contempt. 31.1-5 As ... terrours sore] Sirius (the Sirian starre), the dog-star, is at its zenith in the night sky during the socalled canicular days, around 11 August in the modern calendar – a season of heat associated with pestilence and meteor showers. 31.4 fiery exhalations] Meteors and meteorological events, such as fierce storms. Meteors were often called exhalations in this period because it was thought they were formed out of the air of the upper regions of the atmosphere. The Perseid meteor shower, which generally occurs between the end of July and the first half of August in the modern calendar, is one of the heaviest of the annual showers. It coincides with the rising of Sirius. 31.6 direfull glaunce] terrible blow. 31.8 his crest advance] uprear his crown, top. 31.9 mischance] unfortunate event. 32.2 of teare] tear off. 32.3 pittous plight] lamentable condition. 32.8 doom’d] judged, sentenced. 32.9 pent] imprisoned, shackled. 33.4 cheualrous regards ... call] ‘the duty of knighthood required Gratian’ 33.6 any whitt] at all. 33.8 accoutered] furnished, prepared. 33.9 well tempered] strongly forged. Metal is said to be tempered when, during the forging process, it reaches the peak level of hardness and flexibility. 34.7 necromanticke villany] sorcery. 34.8 fiends of Acheron] spirits of hell. Acheron is one of the rivers of Hades, and thus is used metonymically of hell itself. 34.9 vertue] force. 34.9 abate] reduce, lessen. 35.3 fraught] filled. 35.4 mickle] great. 35.9 durst] dared. Stanza 36] In his discussion of the rhinoceros (Natural History, 8.29, § 71), Pliny calls it the ‘enemie by nature to an

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Elephant’: ‘He fileth that horne of his against hard stones, and maketh it sharpe against he should fight; and in his conflict with the Elephant, he layeth principally at his bellie, which he knoweth to be more tender than the rest’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 205. The same observations are made by Aelian, On Animals, 17.44, who also writes that, ‘if however the Rhinoceros is not quick enough to do as described but is crushed as it runs underneath, the Elephant slings its trunk round it, holds it fast, drags it towards itself, falls upon it, and with its tusks hacks it to pieces as with axes. For even though the Rhinoceros has a hide so strong that no arrow can pierce it, yet the might of its assailant is extremely powerful.’ Cf. also ‘Non invicta recedo’, in Henry Peacham’s Minerua Britanna (1612): ‘This Indian beast, by Nature armed so, | That scarce the Steele can peirce his scalie side: | Assaulteth oft the Elephant his foe, | And either doth the conqueror abide, | Or by his mightie combatant is slaine, | For never vanquisht, he returned againe’ (p. 106). 36.6 garded safely] well defended. 36.8 stoccados] thrusts or stabs. From It. stoccatta, ‘swordpoint’. 37.2 truculent] fierce, ferocious. 37.6 hellish pranks] foul (or necromantic) villanies; see stanza 28 above. 37.7 sleight] trick, deception. 38.1-5] This tradition goes back at least as far as Pliny, who records of the fig tree (figgtree, line 4) that, ‘if a collar made of the branches thereof be but [sic] about a bulls neck, it will make him perforce to stand still and not to stir, how fell and fierce soever he be otherwise; such a wonderfull vertue it hath to bridle and keepe under his courage’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), ii, p. 169. 38.3 the rage of mastiues] the barking of dogs (i.e. those assisting the farmer to control the bull). 38.7 his magicke subtiltyes] Maldesir’s sorcery. 39.8 yslue] killed. 39.9 quite] completely.

Canto 8 1.1 his mortall foe] Maldesir. 1.2 Seneschall] steward, deputy governor. 1.4-5 that mountaine ... science liberall] Parnassus, seat of the Muses, patrons of the liberal arts. By science (from L. scire, ‘to know’) Knevet intends knowledge generally. See 9.7.13 above. 2.2 arborets] groves, arbours. A Spenserianism: see FQ, 2.6.12.7. 2.4 mold] earth. 2.7 musicke manifold] varied, or possibly polyphonic music. 2.8 Flora] Goddess of flowers; here she adorns the earth with her flowers (her pride). 2.9 Our eldest Grandames feature] the appearance of the earth. Ovid had famously called the earth ‘magna parens’ [grandmother], in the story of Pyrrha and Deucalion, Met., 1.381-83, 393-94; cf. also 8.1.40.8n. above. 3.1 Elysium] The region of Hades reserved for those of heroic virtue. See 9.7.8.9n. above. 3.2 sublim’d] exalted,

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raised up. 3.3 coasts] regions. 3.4] Stoic moral philosophy – particularly in the writings of Seneca – imagined that human life was subject to the capriciousness of the goddess Fortune, whose favourable or malign influence determined the unjust and unintelligible vagaries of human experience. Her rodde was the instrument of her disfavour, impotent to reach the blessed souls in Elysium. 3.7 a golden clod] money, monetary reward. 3.8 hee which ... guest] Lavender (p. 1112) conjectures that Knevet means Odysseus, who washed up on the shores of the Phaeacians, ruled by Alcinous, after seven years’ captivity on the island of Calypso. But Odysseus was anything but slothfull, as he returned immediately to Ithaca and contrived his reinstatement both in his house and in his throne. More likely, perhaps, is the role Alcinous played in the return of Jason and Medea from Colchis, following the Argo’s expedition for the golden fleece. According to Apollonius Rhodius (Argonautica, 4.982ff.), a band of Colchians overtook the Argo at Phaeacia, and demanded the return of Medea. Alcinous promised to do so if she were still a virgin, but his wife Arete contrived to wed Jason to Medea in secret, so effecting Medea’s escape. The Colchians, who had submitted to Alcinous’ judgment, feared to return empty-handed to their homeland, and thus petitioned for, and received, licence to settle in Phaeacia. 3.9 clayme neither ... interest] A common law formula: in the early modern period (as now), a person could assert a right to the possession of a thing or an estate, or could declare some other kind of interest in it (e.g. a piece of land might be due to descend to a person after the death of the present tenant). To deny someone ‘right and interest’ is to bar her or him utterly from both present and future possession. Stanza 4] In its vision of the eventual apotheosis of philosophical souls, this stanza loosely follows the argument of Plato’s Phaedrus, 248e-249a: ‘For each soul returns to the place whence it came in ten thousand years; for it does not regain its wings before that time has elapsed, except the soul of him who has been a guileless philosopher or a philosophical lover; these, when for three successive periods of a thousand years they have chosen such a life, after the third period of a thousand years become winged in the three thousandth year and go their way [i.e. to ‘the place whence it came’].’ 4.2 heroicke] (disyllabic). 4.3 vertues rode] the path of virtue. 4.4 antique roules] ancient records. Certain English legal and historical records were during the medieval period written on sheets of parchment, which were stitched together into long rolls. 4.5 Dame Circes poisond bowles] In Homer’s Odyssey, upon landing on the enchantress Circe’s island (10.133ff.), some of Odysseus’ men dine at her table and succumb to her enchantments, so finding themselves turned into beasts. Their weakness was often read as a moral allegory for intemperance, as in Plutarch’s dialogue Gryllus, and in Spenser’s imitation of Circe’s island in the Bower of Bliss (FQ, 2.12; see esp. 2.12.84-87). To abstain from Circe’s poi-

sond bowles, then, is to resist pleasures of the flesh, and perhaps all aestheticism, in favour of virtue. 4.6 robes of clay] flesh. 4.7 controules] dominates, overmasters. 4.8 disarray] unclothe. 5.3 Readeing graue lectures] delivering learned orations. 5.6 hests] commands, instructions, teachings. 5.7 apt] prepared, ready. 5.7 proue] prove themselves, show themselves. 5.8-9 when as ... transitory mold] ‘when they (the souls of young men) were sent to inhabit bodies in our mortal world’. 6.1 eke] also. 6.1 descry] perceive. 6.2 faire Iulias am’rous freind] Ovid’s banishment from Rome in 8 CE is conventionally thought to have been the result of some entanglement with Julia, the emperor Augustus’ daughter, who was banished in the same year. His long erotic poem, the Ars amatoria (‘The Art of Love’), may have been the immediate cause of the emperor’s displeasure. 6.3 Feeding ... raptures high] ‘delighting their hearers with passionate speeches’. 6.6 the fleshy vest] mortal bodies. 6.7 transcend] surmount. 6.8 diportment] bearing, carriage. 6.9 hee his visiue rayes imprest] he looked. The emission theory of vision, popular in Europe during the medieval and even early modern periods, held that sight occurred when light (visiue rayes) emanated from the eyes. Although both Aristotle and Galen had criticised this theory, it was championed by authorities as reputable as Euclid (in his Optica). The emission was gradually displaced by the intromission theory of vision, which supposes (correctly) that light from external sources reflects off objects and enters our eyes. 7.4 poreing on] studying. 7.4 parchement Legend] The word Legend was used during this period of saints’ lives, or of other exemplary histories by which one might order one’s life. That Merlin’s manuscript is written on parchement (and illuminated: see line 5) indicates its antiquity and importance; paper had been in wide use in England from at least the early sixteenth century. 7.7 His fancy ... vnderstanding told] In conventional early modern psychology, understanding can only take place when the fancy (or imagination) has mediated between the mind and the senses, for ‘Apprehension, though it may seeme to be the most peculiar worke of Reason, yet the Imagination hath indeed the greatest interest in it: For, though the Act of Apprehending be the proper worke of the Vnderstanding, yet the forme and qualitie of that Act (which properly makes it a Thought in that strict sence, wherein here I take it) namely, the lightnesse, volubilitie, and suddennesse thereof, proceeds from the immediate restlesnesse of the Imagination’. Edward Reynoldes, A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soule of Man (1640), pp. 2324. 7.8 Merlin] The sorcerer-counsellor who guides king Arthur in medieval legends (e.g. those recorded by Sir Thomas Malory in Le Morte d’Arthur), Merlin figures at the beginning of Britomart’s quest for the love of Artegall in FQ, 3.2-3.

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 8

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8.3-4 In Maridunum ... Touyes strand] Maridunum – known as Cair-Merdin, or modern Carmarthen – was reputed Merlin’s home. Knevet may have had this Arthurian detail straight from Spenser, who uses both the Latin and Welsh names for the town; see FQ, 3.3.7, 3.3.10. The river Towy (not in Spenser’s account of Merlin, or in his catalogue of rivers at FQ, 4.11) flows through Carmarthenshire. 8.3 deem’d] expected, thought. 8.5 Tages] A prophet of the Etrurians, mentioned by Ovid in Met., 15.558; thus, ‘mage, prophet’. 8.6 wight] person. 9.1 Venite] ‘come’ (L. imperative plural), used to summon spirits. 9.2 intentions of the starres] meanings concealed in the positions and influences of the stars. 9.4 fabricke of my corps] material of my body. 9.5] This line may reflect Knevet’s direct recourse to the original of the Merlin story in Malory, 4.1. Arthur, having been warned of Merlin’s imminent death, urges him, ‘syn ye knowe of youre evil adventure, purvey for hit, and putt hit away by youre crauftes, that mysseadventure’. Merlin replies only, ‘hit woll not be’ (Malory, Works, ed. Vinaver, p. 125) 9.6-10.9 Long did I wooe ... intusions manifold] Merlin’s attempt to circle Cair-Merdin with a wall of brass, and his captivity by the Lady of the Lake, is recounted in FQ, 3.3.711. The original source for Merlin’s death – ‘putte into the erthe quyk’ by Nenyve, one of the damsels of the Lady of the Lake – is Malory’s Tale of King Arthur, 4.1 (Works, ed. Vinaver, p. 125). 10.1 impeach] obstruct. 10.1 feate] enterprise, deed. 10.3 prey] victim, spoil. 10.6 Saxon] The Saxons were Germanic invaders in England during the time of King Arthur; they later settled throughout Britain. 10.7 scalado] siege ladder, used for scaling defensive fortifications. 10.7 ere] ever. 10.9 intusions manifold] frequent poundings. The word intusion appears to be Knevet’s coinage, after L. intundo (past part. intusus), ‘to bruise, pound’. Spenser coins the word ‘intuse’, in the same sense, at FQ, 3.5.33.8. 11.6 ’Gan to discourse] began to speak. 11.8 with a laurell garland dight] adorned with a laurel wreath. The laurel crown, an attribute of Apollo, was reserved for poets. 11.9 enthroniz’d] seated. Knevet means that the young man’s face displays his royal nature. 12.1 Basilius] From Gr. βασιλεύς (‘king’). As the rest of the stanza makes clear, Knevet once again has in mind James VI and I. 12.1 mind concileing lyre] Basilius’ lyre unites (or agrees, ‘conciles’) the minds of his hearers – joining them to one another, and to him. The lyre – the instrument of king David, among others – here stands for James’ reputation as a poet. 12.2 kingdomes great] Scotland and England, repeatedly at war through the middle ages and into the sixteenth century, were finally united by the accession of a Stuart king in England in 1603. Cf. 7.Pr.1, above. 12.2 accend] kindle, inflame. 12.3 whilome] once. 12.4 fatall Chayer] awful or destined throne. 12.5 Plantagenets] The ruling dynasty in England between the accession of Henry II (1154) and the death of Richard III (1485).

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12.6 laureate scepter] James’ accomplishments in the liberal arts, and particularly in poetry, earn him this scepter adorned with laurel, the conventional adornment of poets. 12.7 ostend] extend. 13.1 pacificke] peaceful, peace-making. James styled himself a peacemaker, particularly in his efforts to avert the Thirty Years’ War, and afterwards in his attempts to negotiate a resolution of the conflict between Catholic and Protestant factions on the continent. 13.2 Oliue garland] the conventional symbol of peace. 13.6-9 an oaken Garland ... inbred foe] The oaken garland of the corona civica was the second highest honour that could be bestowed upon a Roman citizen, and was originally awarded to a soldier for saving the life of a companion in battle. Aulus Gellius (Noctes Atticae, 5.6) records that Lucius Gellius proposed the civic crown for Cicero, to recognize his part in averting the Catiline conspiracy. The emperor Augustus was awarded a corona civica, to be hung permanently above his house, for his deliverance of the Roman empire from the civil war that followed Caesar’s assassination (Augustus’ crown is recorded widely, as in Ovid, Fasti, 1.614, and 4.953-4, where he calls Augustus’ house ‘praetexta quercu | [...] domus’ [the house wreathed with oak]). James presumably deserves the oaken garland for his role in uniting the British isles in a single polity, and perhaps for quelling (at home) the religious strife between Catholics and Protestants (which had threatened, during the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, to engulf even himself – an episode Knevet has already chronicled at 7.2.29-39 above). 13.7 whilere] erewhile, some time ago, once. 13.9 guerdon] reward. 14.1 Astrophel] Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) used the name Astrophel or Astrophil in his sonnet sequence, Astrophel and Stella (first published after his death in 1591, but composed between 1580 and 1582). He died after being wounded while fighting for the Dutch against the Spanish at Zutphen in 1586. The many elegies that marked his early death freely used the persona of Astrophel to lionize Sidney as a protestant war hero – and perhaps none more so than Spenser’s own poem, Astrophel, first published with Colin Clouts Come Home Againe in 1595. 14.2 Cypresse] A tree conventionally associated with funeral rites; cf. 9.7.6.7n. above. 14.4-5 great affaires ... Ambassador] Sidney entered the fray of court and religious politics at a young age. One of his earliest extant writings, composed when he was about 23, is a defence of the conduct of his father, Sir Henry Sidney, in the government of Ireland. In the same year (1577), Sidney was despatched on an embassy to Rudolf II, and given instructions to negotiate with Protestant princes about the possibility of forming a Protestant League in Europe. Soon after, he composed an open letter to queen Elizabeth, objecting strongly to her apparent inclination toward a French match with the Catholic duke of Alençon; the disfavour he incurred in this affair stunted his prospects, but gave him the leisure to compose several literary works, including the sonnet

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sequence Astrophel and Stella and the prose romance The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia. 14.6 ennoblize] honour, dignify. 14.7-9 The fierce Sarmatians ... to sitt] Sidney was reputed to have been offered the throne of Poland (Sarmatia) during his visit to Cracow in the autumn of 1574 (see Exequiae Illustrissimi Equitis, D. Philippi Sidnaei (1587), ff. D1v-D2v), but the story is almost certainly apocryphal. 15.1 elder Tityrus] Virgil, whom Spenser calls (SC, ‘October’, l. 55) the ‘Romish Tityrus’, after a shepherd in one of Virgil’s Eclogues conventionally associated with the poet himself. In SC, Spenser also uses the name Tityrus of Chaucer – hence Knevet’s epithet, elder. The river Po flows through northern Italy and passes Mantova (Mantua), Virgil’s native city. 15.4 The Brittish Muse] By this Knevet probably intends the general culture of English letters in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, which relied heavily on the examples, in various genres, set by Virgil. Among his many English imitators, the Earl of Surrey translated the first four books of the Aeneid, and Spenser himself frequently translated, imitated, and alluded to Virgil’s (or, in the case of Virgils Gnat, Virgilian) poetry. 15.4 pinions] feathers or wings. 15.6-9 poore melancholy Colin] Spenser, in his guise as the rustic shepherd Colin Clout, a poetic persona deployed in SC (especially the ‘Ianuarye’ and ‘December’ eclogues) and in The Faerie Queene (cf. especially FQ, 6.10). The posture Knevet describes is nearly that of the final woodcut of SC, which depicts Colin sitting dejected in a wintry field. Spenser was reputed to have been mistreated by his patrons, despite the considerable estates he acquired in Ireland between 1580 and his death in 1599; and he himself cultivated the belief (cf. FQ, 4.Pr.1, 6.12.41) that a ‘mighty Pere’ (probably William Cecil, Lord Burghley) had stymied his bids for court favour in the 1590s. 16.2-3] ‘Whose friendship only consists in drunken carousing, and whose valour consists only in windy boasting and foul language’. 16.4-5] Such flatterers are driven by ambition or fear to praise (in their superiors) any kind of wicked behaviour. 16.7 great Magnifico’s] noblemen. 16.7 gather] cultivate, patronize. 16.8 Cam’rades] comrades, companions. 16.9 neclect] neglect. 18.3] ‘Surmouts the surrounding valleys with two peaks’. The middle Region is that of the air or atmosphere, which the summits of the mountain thrill, or pierce. 18.6 exquisite] accomplished, excellent. 19.4 summity] peak. 20.1 Augur] prophet, soothsayer. 20.8 his Sister] Diana, goddess of the moon. 21.1 bewray] reveal. 21.2 Auroras] the dawn’s. 21.8 salue] salutation (from L. salve, a greeting); perhaps also punning on ‘salvo’, a volley of artillery fire. 21.9 prate] speak. 22.1 disseis’d] dispossessed, deprived. 22.3 mew’d up] pent up, imprisoned. 22.5 in fine] at last. 22.8 stinche] odour, stench. 22.9 rufull] doleful, piteous.

23.8 repercussion] reverberation. 23.8 welkin cleere] empty sky. 23.9] Knevet imagines that the diffused and empty sky only has the capacity to reverberate a single (‘slender’) syllable. 24.4 of] off. 24.9 meegre] wasted, emaciated. 25.1 ta’ne] taken. 25.1 had the ... th’alarme] ‘the entire household had risen in defence’. 25.2 in a hurliburly meint] ‘all mingled (meint) in a rout’. Knevet may originally have intended hurliburly meint as a single word, on the model of ‘rabblement’. 25.4 Sols descent] evening (the setting of the sun). 25.5 Envelopeing ... firmament] occluding a part of the sky. 25.9 hearten] encourage. 26.3 bill] short sword or halberd. 26.4] Most of their weapons were kitchen implements. 26.5 wanted] lacked. 26.6 helme] helmet. 26.6 Possnett] boiling pot, usually made with a handle and three feet. 26.7 spitte] roasting spit, used for turning meat on an open fire. 26.8 mickle] much. 27.1 latchpanne] pan placed under roasting meat, to catch (‘latch’) the dripping fat. 27.1 targe] shield. 27.2 flesh hooke] or pot-hook; a hook used to remove joints of meat from a cooking pot. 27.2 keene] sharp. 27.4 leuer] Levers were occasionally used in the fireplaces of large kitchens to hoist heavy pans and pots over the fire. 27.5 yong Hercules] Apparently a general reference to Hercules’ fabled strength. 27.6 Scullion] kitchen menial. 27.6 fireforke] An implement used to stir the fire and put on fuel. 27.8 the God of Hell] Hades or Pluto. 27.9 Strouted] swaggered. 28.2 did ... their freindship separate] broke up their fellowship. 28.9 euidently] distinctly. 29.4 amaine] with full force, violently. 29.5 fond] foolish. 30.1 precipice] steep walls of her castle. 30.2 sprent] sprinkled. 30.4 teenefull] either full of or causing ‘teen’ or trouble; hence angry or grieving. 30.4 Acheron] One of the rivers of Hades; used here by metonymy for Hades itself. 30.6 reuoke] call back. 30.7-9 who for ... lofty stile] A self-reflexive reference to this poem. 30.8 desert] deserving. 30.8 compile] compose. 30.9 blazond] depicted, figured; proclaimed, trumpeted. 31.3 free donatiue] frank (or unconditional) gift. 31.5 stocke] estate, store. 31.6 want] need, penury. 31.9 doubtfull] uncertain, possible. 32.2 mickle] great. 32.4-6] ‘Any man nobly born and raised, who studies the liberal arts, is held to be low and unworthy.’ 32.5 gentile race] noble family. 32.6 lib’rall sciences] The seven liberal arts were during the medieval period divided into the trivium (grammatica, rhetorica, and dialectica, or logic) and the quadrivium (arithmetica, geometria, astronomia, and musica). Knevet probably has in mind the humanistic reform of the liberal arts (sometimes called the studia humanitatis) in the sixteenth century, which preferred rhetoric to dialectic, put a strong emphasis on classical languages including Greek, and displaced much of the quadrivium in favour of poetry, natural philosophy and, above all, history. Cf. 7.2.17.3, 7.4.4.6-9, 8.5.9.4 and nn. above. 32.7 gentry] gentlemanly status. 32.8 abate]

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 9

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reduce. 32.9 our gallant nouices] the young fashionable gentlemen of these days. 33.1 metamorphos’d sottes] fools transformed to courtiers. 33.1 with vices soil’d] polluted with vicious behaviour. 33.5 those rotten chests] their bodies. 33.7 the liueing Cedars stablenes] Cedar was famed for its resistance to rot. As Gerard writes (Herball, 1633, p. 1352), ‘the timber is extreme hard, and rotteth not, nor waxeth old: there is no wormes nor rottennesse can hurt or take the hard matter or heart of this wood, which is very odoriferous, and somewhat red: Solomon King of the Iewes did therefore build Gods Temple in Ierusalem of Cedar wood’. 34.1 It argues but] it is evidence of. 34.2 summon] cite, show proofs of. 34.2 monuments] (elaborate) funeral monuments. 34.2 dry] bloodless, musty. 34.7 But] except. 34.7 genealogye] pedigree. 34.8 clowne, or hinde] peasant, rustic. 35.1 large possessions] extensive lands. 35.1 long descents] genealogies traced back to ancient noble families. 35.4 And where ... remaine] ‘where a gentleman lacks virtue, which should be the basis (or ground) of nobility’. 35.5 vaine] worthless, futile. 35.7 hee] man. 35.8 trapperrs] trappings, coverings. 35.9 That neither bee ... the race] ‘that are suitable neither for a working nor for breeding’. 36.1 these] The superficial marks of nobility, i.e. lands and lineage. 36.8 scarlet] A rich cloth (usually red). 36.8 freese] frieze, a coarse woollen cloth. 37.1 the sacred Nine] the muses. 37.3 cheere] food, fare. 37.7 drugge] medicine. 37.9 some other where] somewhere else.

Canto 9

1.5 As much perplex’d] like one much troubled; because he was very troubled. 1.5 smart] pain, suffering. 1.7 diuert] draw or turn away. 1.8 associate] companion. 1.9 estimate] value. 2.2 brake] issued from, came out of. 2.3 with might and maine] with all her power. 2.5 his course ply’d] came on his way. 2.6 nigh surpris’d] nearly overtaken. 2.8 beuer] The lower part of the hinged face-guard of his helmet, covering the mouth and neck. 2.8 apace] quickly. 3.1 shunne] avoid. 3.2 hee ... declin’d] ‘he left off chasing the woman’. 3.4 Hinde] female deer. 3.5 scuddes] darts, runs. 3.7 irefull] angry. 4.2 burganet] helmet. 4.3 fraught ... spite] full of deadly anger. 4.5 target] shield. 4.7 ieat] jet, a brittle black stone. 4.8 cullets] Overlapping armoured plates protecting the rear of the body, below the waist. 4.9 In fine] at last. 5.3 flitted] departed; darted, flew. 5.4 centre] native home (see OED, ‘centre’, n. and a., 6b.). 5.4 cursed carrion] damned villain. Carrion – properly a dead body – is sometimes used of voluptuaries who privilege the flesh, or of desperate evil-doers who are no better than carcasses. 5.5 rapine] pillaging, plunder. 5.8 Maltorto] ‘Evil wrong’,

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from It. male, ‘bad, evil’, and torto, ‘wrong, injury’. 5.8 hight] called. 6.1 Liberta] From It. libertà, ‘freedom’. 6.2 maine occasion] important circumstance. 6.2 engaged] bound, obligated. 6.5 antique stemme] ancient family. 6.6 Basilia] ‘Royal’, or ‘Queen, from Gr. βασιλεύς (‘king’), or βασίλισσα (‘queen’). In Knevet’s historical allegory, Basilia shadows Charles I’s queen, Henrietta Maria (1609-1669). 6.6 cleap’d] named. 6.7 Callisthanax] ‘Very noble lord’, from Gr. superlative adjective ϰάλλιστος (from ϰαλός, ‘beautiful, noble’); and ἄναξ (‘lord’). Callisthanax’s Castles three suggest him as an allegory of Charles I, king in England, Scotland, and Ireland. 6.8 ydrad of] feared by. 6.9 outgoe] surpass. 7.2 Patriosor] Perhaps ‘poison to his country’, from Gr. πάτρα (‘native land, country’), and ἰός (‘venom, poison’). Lavender (p. 1129) supposes that Patriosor reflects the career of Walter Montague (1604/5-1677), second son of the Earl of Manchester, who had helped to negotiate the marriage between Charles I and Henrietta Maria, and afterwards became one of her privileged favourites. Lavender supposes that Knevet would have despised Montague for his open conversion to Catholicism – but this did not take place, or become known at court, until 1635, when Knevet must have been close to finishing his poem. A more likely candidate for the historical allegory behind Patriosor is Henry Jermyn (?1605-1684), later to become Earl of St Albans, who was also instrumental in the marriage negotiations between Charles I and Henrietta Maria, and like Montague became one of the young queen’s favourites. Indeed, so privileged was Jermyn’s access to the queen that rumours circulated, after he was appointed gentleman usher to Henrietta Maria in 1627, that their friendship was too intimate – a key element in the history of Basilia (see 9.9.10 below). This period also witnessed the only extended estrangement between Charles and his new queen (see 9.9.8 below), an estrangement that continued until the assassination of the Duke of Buckingham in June 1628 – following which Henrietta Maria returned to Charles’ bed and almost immediately became pregnant. Jermyn was sent to France in disgrace in 1633 (see 9.9.7.7-8 below), after refusing to marry Eleanor Villiers, a maid of honour in the court whom he may have made pregnant. 7.3 faitour] impostor, cheat. 7.3 fraught] filled. 7.3 couine] fraud, conspiracy. 7.4 lewd] bad, wicked. 7.4 ill disposed] evilly inclined. 7.5 plaints] complaints, suits (in court or at law). 8.1 With sundry motiues] using various means of inducement; or, driven by various motives. 8.8 discouered] revealed. 8.9 Carles] rough men, ruffians. 9.4 solacement] the entertainment or delight she might have given him. 9.9 possest] endowed. 10.2 did iustify] affirmed, maintained. 10.3 controld] challenged; overpowered. 10.6 yonkers] young gentlemen. 10.9 coniugall respect] wifely duty.

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11.2 sacred ordeale ... try’d] Trial by ordeale – a judicial test in which the accused was subjected to some extreme pain or danger, survival of which would demonstrate innocence – was abolished in early medieval England, but survived in popular memory. In trials by water, fire, or combat, the accused was thought to commit himself or herself to divine, or sacred, judgment. Unlike modern forms of trial, which are notoriously open to human bias and error, the ordeal was (at least in theory) held to be as infallible as the god who determined its outcome. For a defendant like Basilia to seek such an ordeal, then, was tantamount to demonstrating her own confidence in her innocence (line 1 above). 11.3 fence] defend against, repel. 11.6 profferd to maintaine] proposed to justify. 11.8 with affections] passionately. 11.9 light] cheap, wanton. 12.1 threw their gages downe] To throw down a gage, or glove, was formally to initiate a challenge, which would then need to be settled by combat. In taking up the challenger’s gage, a champion would accept the combat, in its declared terms, as a final resolution of the matter under dispute. 12.2 Anticar ... Paillard] The names of Patriosor’s two henchmen indicate the role they try to play in breaking up the marriage of Callisthanax and Basilia: Anticar comes from the suffix ‘anti-’ (i.e. ‘against’ or ‘counterfeit’), and It. caro, ‘dear, beloved’; while Paillard comes from the Fr. meaning ‘beggar’, but in English by this point meant ‘lewd person, lecher’. In the historical allegory of Henrietta Maria’s estrangement from Charles I, the counterfeit beloved and the lecher represent two aspects of the intimacy that the queen reputedly shared with a gentleman usher like Jermyn, which drove her apart from her husband. The use of the French name Paillard suggests another of the historical reasons for the queen’s coolness toward Charles at this time: the summary dismissal of her French retinue in 1626, following her own refusal to be crowned by a Protestant bishop. 12.4 durst] dared. 12.5 answere ... appeale] take up their legal challenge (i.e. the indictment of Basilia for lewd wantonness, to be judged by combat). During this period, the word appeale also meant ‘a criminal charge or accusation, made by one who undertook under penalty to prove it’ (OED). 12.5 misdoubt] doubt, suspect (the quality of their challenge). 12.7 hee] man. 12.9 lists] The lists were the barriers enclosing the tiltyard or tournament ground used for martial exercises and contests. To fight in lists was thus to compete in a judicial or chivalric combat. 13.1 domineare] swagger, lord it. 13.5 dignity ... braue] high standing and worth. 13.6 make ... purgation] bring about her acquittal. 13.7 Perforce] of necessity. 13.8 discust] examined, tried. 13.9 really] (trisyllabic). 13.9 pretended] supposed, alleged. 14.5 slake] slacken. 14.8 mickle] great. 14.9 many headed roreing Beast] Both Sidney (Apology for Poetry) and Shakespeare (Coriolanus, 2.3.15) refer to the common people as ‘the many-headed multitude’; cf. Tilley, Proverbs, M1308. The beast on which Demochares (9.9.17.3 and n.

below) rides symbolizes the clamorous popular response to Charles’ marriage and religious policy between 1626 and 1628. 15.1] ‘The two knights carried on a fierce combat’. 15.3 amaine] at full speed. 15.4 withall] nevertheless (i.e., although he was in the middle of a fierce combat, nevertheless he wanted to avoid bad odds). 15.4 to meete ... advantage odd] to be outnumbered. 15.5 durst] dared. 15.5 for his eares] for his life. Cf. 8.6.7.6 and n. above. 15.5 make least abode] abide (stay, tarry) at all. 16.2 helme] helmet. 16.6 ycleaped] named. 16.6 Philanax] ‘Loving lord’ or perhaps ‘Love for a lord’, from φιλέω (‘to love, hold dear’), and ἄναξ (‘lord’). Lavender (p.1133) conjectures that Philanax shadows the role of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628), in Charles’ parliamentary, military, and religious policy during the early years of his reign. Buckingham’s shrewd political insight initially enabled Charles to weather the parliament of 1626, when the lower house called for Buckingham’s impeachment, though Charles ended up dissolving the parliament in frustration in June of that year. Philanax’s role in restoring the amity between Basilia and Callisthanax, however, does not seem to fit well with Buckingham’s own policy toward Henrietta Maria: fearing the eclipse of his influence, he tried to keep Charles from his queen, and it was only after his assassination in 1628 that Henrietta Maria was reconciled to Charles. 16.9 doughty] stout, valiant. 16.9 curtle axe] curtal-axe, short cutting sword. 17.2 wight] person, man. 17.3 Demochares] ‘Joy of the people’, from Gr. δηµος (‘people’) and χαρά (‘joy, delight’). A number of activist Parliamentarians and critics of Buckingham may well be shadowed by this fugitive figure in Knevet’s allegory. Sir Thomas Wentworth, for example, was an outspoken critic of Buckingham in the Commons before 1628, and both John Selden and Edward Coke enhanced their reputations during these years by strenuous attacks on the royal prerogative. 17.4 deprædations] robberies, pillagings. 17.6 foil’d] defeated. 17.8 dispoil’d] deprived. 18.1 wont] accustomed. 18.2 bewray] reveal, betray. 18.3] ‘by the way in which he scorned and insulted his defeated opponents, even when they were beaten and humiliated’. 18.4 allay] soften. 19.1 condiscend] agree. 19.3 Callisthanax his castle] Callisthanax’s castle. On this supposedly archaic possessive, cf. 8.8.1.4n. above. 19.3 tend] proceed, make their way. 19.4 braue equipage ... array] handsome trappings and fine dress. 19.5 prefixed] appointed. 19.7 Accouterd] attired. 19.7 surcotes] ornamental coats, worn over the armour. 19.9 cape a pee] head to foot. 20.1-2] The badge of the imperiall Eagle associates Anticar with the Maximilian I and the Holy Roman Empire; see 8.Pr.1.1n. above. Henrietta Maria’s Catholicism – and the allowances Charles I made, during marriage negotiations, both for her own private practice and for remission of the penal laws for English Catholics – outraged the Com-

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 9

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mons, and contributed to the tensions of the king’s and queen’s estrangement between 1626 and 1628. 20.3-5] A Cockatrice, or basilisk, is a mythical serpent, described by several ancient writers, said to be able to kill with its glance. See Pliny, Natural History, 8.33, and cf. 8.1.42.2 above. The amorous looks typical of courtly paillardize were reputed to have driven Henrietta Maria and Charles apart. 20.5 proiects] intentions. 20.6-7 Appellants ... defendants] Those knights who offer the challenge of combat in a tournament are known as the appellants or challengers. The term is also used of someone who brings a formal legal charge, usually treason or felony, against another. Here the word admits both senses, because Anticar and Paillard have accused Basilia of a treasonous depravity, and have offered to do combat to justify their appeal. A knight who defends an accused person in a judicial combat of this kind is known, like the accused her- or himself, as the defendant. 20.8 cheerd] comforted. 20.9 scaffold] raised platform, stage. 21.3 beuer] The lower part of the visor on a knight’s helmet. 21.4 counterbuffe] exchange of blows (i.e. those given by the knights’ lances). 21.5 the other Knight] Anticar. 21.6 pouldrons] armoured shoulder plates. Stanzas 22-25] The joyful reunion of Basilia and Callisthanax, along with the punishment of Anticar and Paillard, achieves a close, but shrewdly distorted, parallel to the shifts in court power in 1628. As figureheads representing Henrietta Maria’s estrangement from Charles, the likes of both Montague and Jermyn are summarily punished in Knevet’s allegory, in a decisive shift toward marital harmony. In truth, though, Montague’s conversion to Catholicism did not take place until 1635, when he announced his determination to travel to Rome to join the Oratory of St Philip Neri (cf. the monkish cowle, 9.9.23.7 below); and Jermyn remained one of Henrietta Maria’s closest advisors throughout her life, though it is unlikely that, as rumoured, he married her after Charles’ execution in 1649. Knevet’s distortion of the history of Charles’ and Henrietta Maria’s reconciliation imagines it as a political watershed and a legal and emotional triumph, thus wishfully cementing a protestant status quo of 1635 by retrospectively reimagining the events of 1628 and their significance. 22.7 of] off. 22.8 spurn’d] kicked, trampled. 22.9 couch’d] lay. 23.5 like a forlorne Owle] The simile befits the defeated knights because, shamed, they flee public scrutiny. As Pliny records (Natural History, 10.16), the owl was conventionally associated with night and deserted places, and it ‘betokeneth alwaies some heavie newes, and is most execrable and cursed, and namely, in the presages of publicke affaires’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 276. 23.7 monkish cowle] hooded and sleeveless cloak, typically worn by monks. 23.8-9 Teacheing ... holynes] Knevet’s implication seems to be that Paillard’s transformation into

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a monk legitimates, rather than expresses true repentance for, his earlier wrongdoing – thus creating a precedent for posterity, who will not fear to follow him into the same bad actions. 24.3 leasings] lies. 24.3 guerdon] reward. 24.7 faine] gladly, willingly. 24.8 Marshalls Court] Chivalric – later military – tribunal, over which presided the earl marshal. This court of chivalry, which later gave place to the court martial, tried soldiers and others during wartime for offences committed on campaign, or for breaches of the law of arms or war. 24.9 digraded] stripped of knightly rank and dishonoured, baffled. 25.2 crack’d] broken and made unfit for use – a mark of shame. 25.4 of] off. 25.5 martiall ruffe] A decorative collar worn beneath the armour. 25.5 brauery] handsome display. 25.6 bestride the barres] mount hurdles, ready for corporal punishment. 25.7 wands] rods, staves. 25.7 thwack’d] beaten. 25.9 Proclaym’d] publicly declared. 26.1 in legall guise] according to prescribed form, and therefore legally significant and binding. The degradation of the false knights decides the open legal question of Basilia’s alleged guilt, exonerating her. 26.8] ‘They spared neither expense nor courtesy’. 27.3 God of Warre] Mars. 27.4 Hymen] god of marriage. 27.8 triumphs] celebrations. 27.9 iocund] merry, cheerful. Stanzas 28-45] In these stanzas Belcoeur is introduced to the unhappy plight of the Helots, an uncivilized people first enslaved by their neighbours, the Griffons, later emancipated by Elisa and her knights, but afterwards – through their own treachery – reduced again into the Griffons’ subjection. Lavender (pp. 1138-44) believes this episode to reflect the history of Ireland during the first decades of the seventeenth century, when Catholic Irish and Old English lords attempted to reassert control over the country in the wake of the decisive English victory over O’Neill at Kinsale in 1603, which ended the Nine Years’ War. The proximity of this episode to the history of Basilia and Callisthanax, however, suggests a different object: English support for the French Huguenots of La Rochelle, which occupied Charles’ foreign policy for the first four years of his reign. Queen Elizabeth had supported the Huguenots – French protestants – during Charles IX’s siege of La Rochelle in 1572-1573, though English attempts to relieve the city in January and in April 1573 were largely ineffective. When Henri Duc de Rohan (1579-1638) and his brother, the Duc de Soubise (?1580-1642) went into rebellion in 1625, Charles made no secret of his determination to support them against the aggressive military policy of Louis XIII and his minister, Cardinal Richelieu. Several ill-fated English expeditions took place between 1627 and 1628, the first a spectacular defeat for the Duke of Buckingham – occasioned, according to the Duc de Rohan’s later memoirs, in large part by the obstinacy of the La Rochelle citizens, who refused to offer support to Buckingham, and denied him strategic access to the harbour. This ingrati-

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tude, which ultimately led to the city’s complete capitulation to Louis XIII in 1629, is Knevet’s major theme in the Helot episode. The importance of the Helot episode to the history of Basilia lies in the complex relationship between Charles I’s domestic and international policy; the failure of Buckingham with the collapse of the French war was a disaster for Charles in one respect, but it led to an improvement in his relations with his queen, and – as Knevet perhaps hoped – might have occasioned a rapprochement with Parliament. 28.1 badde] bade. 28.5 wofull thraldome] sorrowful captivity. 28.6 raunged on] traversed, roved. 28.7 encounterd with] met. 28.8 constraine] compel. 28.9 relent] slack (in his determined purpose to rescue Eleutheria). 28.9 dreary] doleful, sorrowful. 29.1 kenne] perceive. 29.2 world of gibbets] huge array of gallows. 29.2 pight] fixed, standing. 29.6 wheeles] Instruments of torture and punishment, sometimes called Catherine wheels, after Catherine of Alexandria, who was supposed to have been tortured and killed on one. The wheel was used as a platform on which to fix the body of a criminal, the arms and legs being lashed across the wheel’s radial spokes. The body was then broken with a cudgel or hammer; if a severe punishment was ordered, the blows would be directed at the arms and legs, mangling the body and causing excruciating, but not immediately fatal, injuries. The broken limbs were then braided upon the spokes, and the wheel hung in the open air. 29.8 Birds of rapine] scavenging birds, such as vultures and crows. 30.4 ensignes] banners, standards. 30.8 bloudy sturre, and martiall fray] violent military engagement. 30.9 crost] encountered. 31.5 habite] clothing. 31.8-9 each calamity ... concentrically] ‘every kind of misfortune caused by war here occurs at once.’ 32.1 whilome] once. 32.3 Helots] The helots, a race native to Laconia and Messenia, situated around Sparta in the Peloponnese, were enslaved by the Spartans, under whom they lived as serfs. They revolted or threatened to revolt from time to time, most famously in 464 BCE when, following a serious earthquake, a combined force of Laconian helots and Messenians attempted to throw off Spartan oppression (historical accounts conflict; see Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.101-03; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History (11.63-64), and Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 28.12, Life of Cimon 17.8). The helots later became a pawn in the open conflicts between Sparta and its powerful neighbours, including Athens and Thebes (cf. Thucydides 4.41.2-3), in a series of regional conflicts the history of which probably prompted Knevet’s recourse to their story here. 32.3 cleap’t] called. 32.4 Envr’d] hardened, accustomed. 32.4 sordid labours] menial and degrading tasks. 32.5 swinish gourmandise] porcine gluttony. 32.8 for the basket ... spade] for peaceful toil at husbandry and tillage.

33.1 Griffons] Griffon is a rare French word for ‘Greek’, apparently connected, through the obsolete term Grew (‘Greek’), with L. graecus, ‘Greek’. See OED, ‘Griffon’, n.1 . 33.4 Presumeing on] taking advantage of. 33.8] ‘who granted them peace only on punishing terms’. 33.9 bondage vile] degrading slavery. 34.2 wont] were accustomed. 34.8 Irmensull] Irminsul is a name now generally given to a wooden or stone column sacred to the pagan Saxon god Irmin; but in the early modern period the name was taken to be that of the god, considered a bloodthirsty deity hungry for human sacrifice. Knevet had most likely read about Irminsul in the 1634 romance, translated from the French by Sir T. H., A Saxon Historie, of the Admirable Adventures of Clodoaldvs and his Three Children (London: Elizabeth Purslowe for Henry Seile, 1634). In this work, Clodoaldus’ daughter Hildegard is sent to the temple of Irminsul as a vestal, and her brother Iacinthus sentenced to be sacrificed to the god. As one character in the story comments, ‘onely to behold the Idol of Irminsul, and the bloody sacrifices made at his altars, where men, and children were massacred, was so hideous a spectacle, as it was able to teare out of the body a soule which stucke lesse to the flesh, then did his’ (p. 13). The violent idolatry of the Griffons appears to be another example of pointed anti-Catholic invective in the poem, here directed against the aggressive Catholic policy of Louis XIII and Richelieu, in their attempt to bridle the religious and political freedoms of La Rochelle. 35.9 commiserated] pitied. 36.1 Elisa] Undoubtedly a play on Elizabeth, protestant queen of England between 1558 and 1603 – considered by many Jacobean and Caroline protestants a golden age in which English land and sea forces engaged Spanish, Italian, and other continental Catholic powers in theatres from Ireland and the English Channel to the Low Countries. England proved formidable vnto Tyrants grand (line 3) when in 1588 it defeated Philip II’s invading armada. 36.2 Leuconia] A play on Laconia, the region of the Peloponnese in which Sparta is situated, and Gr. λευϰός (‘white, bright’), an appropriate symbol of Elizabeth’s famed virginity. 36.5 vpon all alarmes] in any encounter; whenever necessary. 36.8 of shooke] shook off. 37.2 chast] chaste. 37.2 Britomart] Patron knight of chastity in Book 3 of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene. 37.5 miserable smart] terrible suffering. 37.6 that vnhumane taxe] the demand for children to be sacrificed to the idol Irminsul; see stanza 34 above. 37.8 eke] also. 38.3 throne inferiour] earthly throne. 39.6-9] The stork’s reputed generosity appears to have figured in both Dutch and English folkloric traditions. Cf. Andrew Marvell, ‘Upon Appleton House’, in which a heron, ‘stork-like’, gives one of its young as ‘tribute to its Lord’ (ll. 535-36); and John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon the Four Evangelists, and the Acts of the Apostles (1647), who writes in his dedicatory epistle that, ‘The Stork is said to leave one of her young ones, where she

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 10

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hatcheth them: The Elephant to turn up the first sprig toward heaven, when he comes to feed; both out of some instinct of gratitude’ (f. A2v ). Knevet cites the stork as a pattern for ‘how to requite a curtesie’ in Stratiotikon, l. 100. 39.8] ‘when she intends to shift her nest to a new site’. 39.9 Vnthankfull offices] An oxymoron of sorts: an office (L. officium) is a duty or service expected or rendered; to be vnthankfull is to neglect the performance of that office. Knevet appears to intend offices in the weaker sense of ‘actions’. 40.2 Erynnis] from L. Erinnys, Gr. ᾽Ερινύς, a Fury, one of the goddesses of vengeance sprung from the blood of Uranus, also known as the Eumenides and usually (after Virgil) reckoned to be three in number. They were typically invoked as the punishers of oath-breakers. 40.3 machinations fond] foolish schemings. 40.3 headles drifts] headless or heedless purposes. 40.5 sell] betray. 40.6 durst] dared. 41.1 franticke Orgyes] wild revelry, marked by excessive drinking. 41.1 on a season] at a certain time. 41.2 sowsed] soaked, drenched. 41.8 Sicilian Kings] On the fabled cruelty of Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, see Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, 5.20-22; and Dante, Inferno, 12.100-108. His son and immediate heir, Dionysius II, was similarly infamous for cruelty. 41.9 Busiris] A mythical king of Egypt, Busiris was said to have killed and eaten strangers who landed in his country. The charges are rehearsed by Isocrates in his (ironic) defence of Busiris, in the eponymous work (section 5). See also Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.11. 42.1 sauage Getes, and Scythians] On the savage customs of the Scythians, see e.g. Herodotus, Histories, 4.64-66, in which he describes how Scythian warriors were encouraged to drink the blood of their enemies, and to trade their heads for a share in any plunder. Herodotus also records stories about the Getae, another race living on the coasts of the Black Sea (see Histories, 4.93-94), but nothing specifically about their cannibalism. Cf. also Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Lear, 1.1.116-20. 42.2 Euxine Sea] The Black Sea, euphemistically called εὔξεινος (‘friendly to strangers’) by the Greeks. 42.4-5 Lycaon ... pierce] Lycaon, king of Arcadia, was the most infamous of the mythical antediluvian princes of Greece. When Zeus came to his kingdom, Lycaon planned to murder him in his sleep, in order to discover whether he was divine or mortal. He also attempted to serve Zeus human flesh, after killing and cooking the body of a Molossian hostage living in his house. See Ovid, Met., 1.199-243. 42.8 Androdus ... Lions denne] Aulus Gellius (Noctes Atticae, 5.14) records the history of Androdus (or Androclus) and the lion, a tale he attributes to Apion. Androdus, slave to a noble Roman, escaped from his master in Africa, and in a desolate place stumbled on an injured lion. After extracting a splinter from the lion’s paw and healing the wound, the two lived together in the lion’s den for several years before they were separately captured and returned to Rome. Androdus was

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sentenced to fight lions in the Great Circus, whereupon he was fortunately reunited with his friend. When the emperor learned of the affection between the slave and the lion, he had Androdus (and the lion) freed. The story is also faithfully narrated by Montaigne in the Apology for Raymond Sebond. 43.2 of their gardes disfurnished] without their protectors. 43.6 transport] carry away. 44.5] ‘since the castle does not have enough stores to support so large a population’. 45.6 clapp’d spurres vnto] spurred, urged forward.

Canto 10 1.6 Phœbus] An epithet of Apollo, Greek god of the sun; here, the sun itself. 1.8 liberall] (disyllabic). 1.9 light on] alight on, be bestowed on. 2.1 requitall] recompense. 2.2 deceiu’d] disappointed (i.e. deceived of his recompense). 2.3 Outvalues not a rush] ‘is worth less than a rush’. Rushes were commonly in this period strewn indoor on floors, and were hence proverbial as trifles. 2.3 drift] purpose, intention. 2.4 basest vsury] The practice of lending money out at interest was considered by many in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to be uncharitable, and even irreligious; cf. Knevet’s own portrayal of ‘Vsury’ at 7.4.12 above. From time to time proclamations were issued in England, and statutes passed, restricting usury to ten percent or less. 2.5 his freinds necessity] his friend’s need for money. 2.6 will looke ... entreated] will require a proposition be made or a deal offered. 2.8] ‘Which must be offered freely and willingly, without hope or expectation of requital’. 2.9 wanting wings, and speed] lacking urgency and achievement. 3.2 tenements, and Mannours] tenured lands and estates. 3.3 lib’rall offices] the virtuous duty of generosity. 3.4 stor’d] furnished, endowed. 3.7 afford] supply. 3.8 proudest] richest, greatest. 3.9] ‘And wear out their pockets daily with the bribes and earnest-money offered them in exchange for their liberal patronage’. 4.2 cake] piece of flatbread. 4.6 wight] person. 4.6-9] Knevet alludes to the popular story from Plutarch’s Artaxerxes, chapter 5, in which the emperor gratefully accepted a handful of water from a labourer who had nothing better to give. 5.1 requites] repays. 5.3 part ... benefits] give any gifts, do any good deeds. 5.7 Reclaym’d] tamed (reclaimed from wild instincts). Falcons could only be used for hunting under very controlled circumstances, and after extensive training. 5.9 in feild ... the wood] The three habitats in which hunting birds are used, to catch game, waterfowl (cf. 7.11.40, above), and small birds, respectively. 6.1-5 The Cuckoe ... obloquye] The cuckoo is a proverbial symbol of ingratitude, due to its habit of laying its eggs in other birds’ nests, after which its young will systematically destroy the host’s eggs or new-hatched chicks. On

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the habits of the cuckoo, see Pliny, Natural History, 10.11; and Aelian, On Animals, 3.30. 6.1 vngentle brood] ignoble or base origin. 6.4 welkin] sky. 6.5 obloquye] disgrace, reproach. 6.6 vnkind] unnatural, evil. 6.8 freindly turne] good deed. 7.1 vncouth] unknown, unfamiliar. 7.2 boscages] thicket, grove of small trees. 7.7 Pull downe] catch, overcome. 7.7 mickle] great. 7.8 sau’ry] appetizing, pleasant. 8.1 enemity innate] natural disposition to hostility. 8.3 portending] signifying. 8.3 mortall hate] deadly enmity. 8.5 prize] prey. 8.7 horrid murmure] terrifying (low) roar. Horrid, from L. horridus, ‘shaggy, bristling’, leads to the hairy sequel of the following line. 8.7 specifyes] indicates. 9.3 ruffe] glory, pride. The phrase in her ruffe, used of ships, means ‘in full course’, or ‘under full sail’. Knevet uses this phrase in his ‘Threnode Vpon the Death of those two Honourable Gentlemen’, printed with Stratiotikon, l. 97. 9.4 Gally] A low single-decked ship, ususally driven by a combination of sails and oars. 9.4 Leuant Seas] The eastern region of the Mediterranean. 9.4 spy] sight, see. 9.5 stemme] ram. 9.6 brazen prowe] bronze bow or bowsprit. 10.1 make ... good] kept up his side of the fight. 10.2 ply’d the fight] fought. 10.5 nought] not at all. 10.6 rent] ripped. 10.8 blent] Spenser uses this archaic verb in its Chaucerian sense, ‘blinded’; but by it Knevet apparently means something like ‘dazed, stunned’, or even ‘confounded, undone’. This misprision may have arisen from a misreading of Spenser’s poetry; see e.g. SC, ‘Aprill’, l. 155. Also cf. 7.4.10.8 and n. above. 10.9 prest] advanced. 11.1 hote] fierce. 11.4 crest] comb, head. 11.5 choler] anger. 11.8 ashen] of ash, a hard wood commonly used for spears and lances. 12.1 bassnet] helmet. Properly speaking a bassnet (or basnet, basinet) is a small, light headpiece, worn beneath a sturdier helm or helmet. 12.4 vnneath] scarcely. 12.6 recollecting] gathering again. 12.7 wombe] stomach, belly. 12.9 grisly] horrible. 12.9 impresse] impose, inflict. 13.3 sensitiue fraile soule] The souls of animals were considered to lack those divine rational faculties enjoyed by humans, which make them (like gods) immortal. By contrast, animal souls were thought to be sensitive – connected to and capable of sensory impressions – and, by virtue of their implication in the material body, mortal. For a summary distinction between the nutritive, sensitive, imaginative, and rational faculties of plant, animal, and human souls, see Aristotle, On the Soul (De anima), 2.3. Aristotle later connects these distinctions to one of his ambiguous opinions on the immortality of the soul: ‘Since in every class of objects, just as in the whole of nature, there is something which is their matter, i.e., which is potentially all the individuals, and something else which is their cause or agent in that it makes them all – the two being related as an art to its material – these distinct elements must be present in the soul also. Mind in the passive sense is such because it becomes all things, but mind has

another aspect in that it makes all things; this is a kind of positive state like light; for in a sense light makes potential into actual colours. Mind in this sense is separable, impassive and unmixed, since it is essentially an activity; for the agent is always superior to the patient, and the originating cause to the matter. Actual knowledge is identical with its object. Potential is prior in time to actual knowledge in the individual, but in general it is not prior in time. Mind does not think intermittently. When isolated it is its true self and nothing more, and this alone is immortal and everlasting (we do not remember because, while mind in this sense cannot be acted upon, mind in the passive sense is perishable), and without this nothing thinks’. On the soul (De anima), 3.5. 13.5 pond’rous] heavy, massive. 13.8 su’d] submitted (himself), as in homage. 13.9 Expressing semblance] showing an appearance. Stanzas 14-22] The lion whom Belcoeur saves, which afterwards accompanies and does him service, is modelled on that which (similarly) serves Una in FQ, 1.3. 14.1 louteing] stooping, bowing. 14.1 Spaniel kind] affectionate dog. Spaniels were bred as retrievers, and were (as they are today) noted for their affectionate and submissive behaviour. 14.2 did obeysance] made a formal submission of homage. 14.4 ruine sore] painful destruction. 14.6 were wondrous ill apayd] had been terribly treated, was in a terrible state. 14.8 Desart] desolate, uninhabited place. 14.8 conveyd] conducted, guided. 15.1 gentle Lackey] noble footman (an oxymoron). 15.4 at all assayes] at every time of need; or, more generally, ‘always’. 16.2 Desarts wild] wildernesses. 16.3 Cater] caterer, purveyor. 16.3 victualls] food. 16.9 plight] condition. 17.1 Raunger] forester, wanderer. 17.2 truculent] cruel, savage. 17.4 rent] torn. 17.7 hent] took. 17.8 luxurious] lecherous. 17.9 abate] slake, reduce. 18.4 well advis’d] fully aware. 18.8 borespeare] boar-spear, a lance used for hunting. 19.1 Needes must] it was necessary that. 19.3 seld] seldom, rarely. 19.5 fauchion] sword. 20.1 busk’d himself] prepared himself, hurried himself. 20.2 targe] shield. 20.2 warde] parry. 20.3 caske] helmet. 20.4 into the Villaines garde] into close quarters. When fighting, a guard is a ‘posture of defence’ (see OED, ‘guard’, n., 3) used to parry blows; to get into the guard of one’s adversary is to cumber their defensive posture by moving in close. 20.5 par’d] trimmed, cut off. 20.7 marr’d] ended. 20.8 her infernall cell] her hellish chamber or seat, i.e. the body. 21.8 embraue] adorn, beautify. 22.1-4] Alexander’s grief at the death of his horse Bucephalus (line 2) is related by Plutarch in his Life of Alexander, 61. The city founded in the horse’s honour was called Bucephalia, on the banks of the river Hydaspes. See also Quintus Curtius, History of Alexander, 9.3. 22.2 obite] death. 22.6 repos’d] laid to rest.

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 10

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23.1 exequyes] funeral rites. 23.3 steere] The defective rhyme here (Belcoeur/steere) is the result of Knevet’s late alteration in the name of his patron knight of liberality, from Belchier to Belcoeur. 23.4 Apollo] the sun. 23.5 earth surrounding ... lake] the ocean. Amphitrite, a sea-nymph and daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, became the consort of Neptune. The epithet earth surrounding is a translation of Homer’s γαιήοχος (‘earth-holding, earthembracing’), cf. e.g. Homer, Iliad, 13.43 and Odyssey, 1.68. 23.8 cheere] entertainment, welcome. 24.1 seated] sited, positioned. 24.2 prospects] views. 24.2 deck’d] adorned. 24.6 descry’d] perceived, seen. 24.7 luculent aspect] luminous, shining appearance. 25.2 iolly] handsome, gallant. 25.2 harneys] harness, armour. 25.2 dight] fitted, dressed. 25.5 squire] As we learn below (see 9.10.53.3-5 and n.), this is Trompart, squire to the boaster Braggadocchio. 25.6 vnciuilly] discourteously. 25.8 weete] think. 25.9 entertainment meete] appropriate, suitable hospitality. 26.1 party-colourd plume] tuft of feathers adorning Belcoeur’s helmet, partly of one colour and partly of another. 26.7 curbe] check, restrain. 26.9 warlike iusts] Jousts could be fought with rebated (blunted) lances, or (as suggested here) in earnest. 27.2 vouchsafe] undertake, pledge. 27.4 speare in rest] A knight’s armour was fitted with a socket in which to fix the end of his lance when fighting. 27.5 crest] The ridged top of a helmet; thus, by metonymy, the helmet itself. 27.6 peepe of day] dawn. 27.8 mind] intention. 28.1 These termes forbeare] avoid such language. 28.2 Vnmeete] inappropriate. 28.3 breake a speare] fight. 28.8] ‘Fear was never so much my master’. 28.9 credite] honour, repute. 28.9 brand] stigmatize, stain. 29.1 swelling] pompous. 29.1 fell] cruel, terrible. 29.7 wainscot] thin-cut wood used for panelling. 29.9 Sanglamort] ‘bloody death’, from Fr. sang, ‘blood’, and la mort, ‘death’. The sword of the braggart knight Braggadocchio, it makes its appearance in FQ, 3.10.32.5-7. 30.1 Hectors ... ghost] Hector, prince of Troy and leader of the Trojans against the Greek invaders in Homer’s Iliad, was killed by Achilles. See Iliad, 22.247-366. 30.2 muniment] defence, protection. 30.3 durst] dared. 30.3 make head] advance, press forward. 30.4 Hypsibremetor] ‘Thundering on high’, from Gr. ὑψιβρεµέτης, of the same sense. 30.5 complement] greeting. 30.6 King Priam] Hector’s father, or old sire, the king of Troy at the time of the Trojan War. 30.7 braue descent] noble family. 31.2 inly] inwardly. 31.2 bragges] boasts. 31.3 brauados] ‘ostentatious displays of courage or boldness’ (OED, ‘bravado’, n., 1). 31.4 Cynthia pale] the moon. Cynthia is another name for Diana or Artemis, chaste goddess of the moon. 31.5 froward Curres] unmanageable dogs. 31.6 Nathles] nevertheless. 31.8 pretext] dissimulation. 32.2 Castellane] governor of the castle. 32.3 flesh] human being. 32.6 Cenodoxon] ‘empty opinion’, from Gr. ϰενός (‘empty’), and δόξα (‘opinion’). 32.9 Bounty] largesse, lib-

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erality. 32.9 profound] deep (in contrast to the reach of his brain), and hence ‘considerable, extensive’. Stanzas 33-34] In these stanzas Knevet describes Cenodoxon’s false liberality in two forms: the large reuenues (33.1) he expends in a show of franke (33.3) liberality, and the magnificence (34.3) of his gift-giving. These two hypocritical displays parody two of the virtues set out in Aristotle’s ethical scheme in the Nicomachean Ethics, µεγαλοπρέπεια (Knevet’s liberality, but usually translated into English as ‘magnificence’) and ἐλευϑεριότες (Knevet’s magnificence, but usually translated into English as ‘liberality’). The former concerns the large-scale munificent expenditure of resources, which according to Aristotle great men should commit to the public good. The latter, by contrast, concerns all aspects of receiving and dispensing benefits, and particularly munificence in particular gift transactions. These virtues obviously share much ground (as Aristotle observes, all magnificent men are liberal), but there are important differences (for example, not all liberal men are magnificent – some simply because they lack the means). On Aristotle’s handling of these virtues, see Nicomachean Ethics, 4.1-2. 33.3 franke] free, generous. 33.5 desart] deserving, merit. 33.7 gloses] flattering speeches. 33.7 blanditious art] the skill of flattery. From the verb ‘blandish’, to flatter. 33.8 advance] set forth, publish. 33.9 iouissance] enjoyment; festivity, merriment. The word suggests both the possession of something (the enjoying of it), as well as the communication of that enjoyment in generous merry-making. 34.3 braue] fine, generous. 34.3 magnificence] munificence, liberality. 34.4 wont] was accustomed. 34.8 noble port] dignified bearing, behaviour. 34.9 bourd] table. 35.1 ostentation] display. 35.2-5 for hee ... seashore sowes] ‘Because he who gives gifts in order that others should praise him for his generosity, knows no better how to confer benefits than that man, who sows wheat in the sand, knows how to farm’. 35.6-9] Both of these comparisons have the ring of proverbial or adagial wisdom, but neither appears in Tilley or in Erasmus’ Adages. A fine silk of Persia would scarcely be sufficient in the harsh, cold conditions of Scythia – the rugged lands north of the Black and Caspian seas, including the southern ranges of the Ural mountains, proverbial for snow. Eggs, a sign of fertility and often associated with Easter, would be out of place during the fasting and penitence of Lent. Both of these comparisons insist on a failure of decorum, in the rhetorical sense of inappropriateness of speech or action. Similarly, gifts may be good, but when given under the wrong conditions they are meaningless, or even harmful. 36.5 ought] aught, at all. 36.7 the God of Warre] Mars. 36.9 Vaine] foolish. 36.9 abus’d] deceived. 36.9 outward grace] the appearance of honour. 37.1 light] trivial, of no consequence. 37.3 pedigree] lineage. 37.3 trick’d out] outlined, delineated. 37.4 mettalls] In heraldic use (see OED, ‘metal’, n. and adj., 3), the two tinctures, or (gold) and argent (silver). 37.5 soueraigne]

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royal; excellent, great (here used ironically). 37.6 associates] companions, retainers. 37.8-9 Vlysses mates ... cates] Knevet appears to refer here to those of Odysseus’ companions who, during their visit to the island of the Lotus-Eaters, and later to the island of Circe, easily surrendered themselves to the sensual pleasures offered them, and especially the drinke and cates (food). For the unlimited food and wine given Odysseus’ men on Circe’s island Aeaea, see the Odyssey, 10.133-570 (and esp. 466-68). 38.1-2] Pliny (Natural History, 10.68) calls Apicius ‘the most riotous glutton & bellie-god of his time’. The Historie of the World, Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie, trans. Holland (1601), i, p. 296, while in another place he records that Apicius was ‘a man of all others most inventive and wonderfull for his wittie devises to maintaine riot and excesse’ (p. 246). 38.2 Sesterces] The Roman sesterce was a coin, worth about 3 asses. 38.3 costly fare] expensive food. 38.4 riotise] luxurious living. 38.4-5] The Roman general Lucullus (118-57 BCE) was famous for his outstanding military career in the third phase (73-63 BCE) of the long-running war against Mithridates, king of Pontus, and his eastern allies, particularly the Armenians. After returning to Rome in 66 BCE, Lucullus retired from public life and cultivated a reputation as a lavish builder of public works, and as a gastronome. As Plutarch records, in his Life of Lucullus, section 39, ‘reading Lucullus life: me thinkes that I read an auncient comedy, the beginning wherof is tedious, & the latter end ioyfull. For at the beginning of his life, you finde notable exployts done by him in warres, and great good gouernment also in peace: but in the end they all turned into feasts, and banckets; and lacking litle of maskes and mommeries, dauncing with torches, and all other such delights fitte for young men’ Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romanes, trans. Thomas North (1579), p. 573. And though Lucullus built on a massive scale, his buildings received not praise but censure, because they were private: ‘For I bring within the compasse and reckoning of his finenes and pleasures, his sumptuous buildinges, his stately walles and galleries, his hotte houses and stoues, his tables and pictures, his statues also: and the great workmanshippe and curiositie he had besides of all other cartes by him, gotten together out of all partes to his infinite charge, abusing therein the world of goodes and treasure gotten and wonne in the warres’ (p. 573). 38.7 releife] help, assistance, alms. 38.8 licour] broth. 39.2 vaine discourse] trivial and conceited speech. 39.45 dispense, | With] Indulge, tolerate (the exact opposite of the modern construction; see OED, ‘dispense’, v., 16). 39.7 blazon] celebrate, publish. 39.7 races] family’s. 39.9 brooke] tolerate. 40.1 wanton wench of Greece] Helen of Troy. 40.2 Priams am’rous sonne] Paris, prince of Troy. 40.3-4 Scamander ... runne] The river Scamander flows from mount Ida north across the plain (or champaine) beneath the city of Troy. The greater part of the Trojan War was said to have

been fought on its banks. On the identification of Troy with Phrygia, see 7.8.26.1n. above. 40.3 lee] sediment. This sense of the word ‘lee’ is more commonly used of the sediment in wine or other fermented drinks. 40.6 most antique stemme] ancient stock, race. 40.8-9] The careers of heroes in classical literature – in texts like Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Apollodorus’ Library – commonly end in mortal triumph, divine apotheosis, or both. 41.1 rehearst] recited. 41.3 reuerst] overthrown. 41.5 Symposiacke] dinner conversation. 41.6-8 nor euer ... their precincts] The story of the fall of Troy is given by Apollodorus in the Epitome, 5.8-23. 41.7 subtile] treacherous. 41.8 Priams people] The Trojans – subjects of Priam, king of Troy at the time of the Trojan war. 41.8 precincts] neighbourhoods, city. 41.9 line, or race] family. 41.9 write lesse then Prince] sign himself as less than a prince. Stanzas 42-43] Many European nations, including the English, celebrated a mythic historical tradition in which the dominant people, or reigning house, had been founded by Trojan princes fleeing the sack of their city. The original Latines (43.1), for example, were alleged by Virgil in the Aeneid to have sprung from Aeneas’ son Ascanius, while Charlemagne thought himself to be descended from a little-known Trojan prince called Francio (a tradition inaugurated by the seventh-century history now called the Chronicle of Fredegar – printed several times in the early modern period). Geoffrey of Monmouth (Historia Regum Britanniae, esp. 1.16) had made a similar claim for the English, who he supposed to be descended from Brutus, a descendant of Aeneas. 42.1 Predecessors] ancestors. 42.2 Phrygian coasts] the coasts around Troy. On the confusion between Troy and Phrygia, see 7.8.26.1n. above. 42.7 combates singular] single combats, one-to-one fighting. 43.1 antient Latines] The people of the small Latium region, in the centre of Italy. Rome was one of the foremost cities of the region, and by the close of the 4th century BCE had come to dominate it. 43.1 furious Gaules] The barbarian Celts of the Galli tribes, living in France at the time of Julius Caesar’s campaigns against them. 43.2 Almans] Germans. 43.3-4 wat’ry walls | Of Neptune] the sea. 43.5 rout] crew, company. 43.6 with sliceing oares] rowing in galleys. 43.6 check’d] struck. 43.6 the Brittish maine] the seas around the island of Britain. 43.8-9 regall throne ... raigne] Knevet alludes to the Galfridian legend of Brutus’ arrival in England, and foundation of a line of kings that stretched through King Arthur all the way to the Tudors (and thus, by Henry VII’s daughter Margaret (14891541), wife of James IV of Scotland, to the house of Stuart as well). See 9.10.42-43n. above. 44.1 prate] talk idly. 44.3 sutes not with] does not befit. 44.4 vaunt] boast. 44.4 rotten] dead. 44.8 Grandsires] forebears. 45.1 gladsome] cheerful, pleasant. 45.2 resume] receive back, receive by association. 45.5 sluggardise] slothfulness. 45.5 perfume] sweeten, improve. 45.7 sable] black.

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 11

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45.7 plume] decorative feather or crest of feathers. 45.8 apparently] conspicuously. 46.1 graunt] concede. 46.2] ‘As much in nobility, as in bloodline’. 46.5 magnanimity] greatness of soul. 46.8 elate] extol, elevate. 47.3 Sol] the sun. 47.4 ordinance] direction, regulation. 47.7 t’enhance] to raise, set up. 47.8-9] Proverbial; cf. Matthew 7.26; Tilley, Proverbs, S88; Erasmus, Adages, 1.4.57. 48.2 of Brittish royall seede] of the same family which produced the British royal line. 48.3 list] please, choose. 48.4 stemme] lineage. 48.5 smoky Boaster] Knevet appears to be drawing on an association between the type of the braggart and the use of tobacco (cf. OED, ‘smoky’, a. and n., 9). 48.6-9] The insolence of Spaniards and the pride of the French were almost proverbial in the sometimes xenophobic popular press of the period. For example, George Whetstone writes in the ‘Epistle’ to The Honorable Reputation of a Souldier (1585) that ‘the Spainiard is so insolent, and outragious where he ouercommeth, as hee is hated to death of those which obaye him for feare’. He cites an example of this insolence which may have a very direct bearing on the present episode: ‘In the yeare 1580. in which year the Pope and his confederates, hoped to haue had a great day in Englande, whose expectation God alwayes frustrate, my selfe with one other English Gentleman (who in this commendation will haue his name concealed) were at Thurin intertained into the companie of a worthy Gentleman of Picardie, named Monseur Dobart, who was then ready to trauell into Italy: and being all lodged one night in a Garrison town, in the Duchy of Millain, neare vnto the Riuer of Poo, at the middest of supper, a haughtie proude Spaniard, came and sat him downe by vs. Monseur Dobart (bearing an affectionate zeale vnto her Maiestie, & the state of England, as well for that he was an earnest protestant, as for that his sister and other frends, were honorably vsed in the Court of England, in the former troubles of Fraunce) demaunded of the Spaniard, what might bee the cause, that the King of Spaine had that yeare raised so great an Army? The Spaniard forthwith made this proude & insolent aunswere: Ah Sir, the time nowe draweth neare, that we shall haue the spoile of rich England, that we shall embrace their faire wiues, and make hauocke of their long gathered riches: And discouering that there was an Englishman in companie, that tollerated these hie wordes, hee beganne spitefully to braue him: But on the soden, the spaniard found the temper of the English-mans fingers: so that shame, to repaire his disgrace, compelled the Spaniard to offer combat: Monseur Dobart very honorably vndertooke that the English Gentleman, should the next morning by six of the clocke, be ready to crosse the Riuer of Poo, with the spaniard, to commit eithers cause to God, and their swords. This was mutually agreed vpon, but by breake of the daye, the spaniards brags vanished like bubbles, & he himselfe slipt away without giuing any bon-giorno, so that the English Gentleman could haue no further reuenge, sauing that in

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the place of this controuersie, finding this Italian sentence to be written: Le parole son femine, & i fatti son maschi. Hee in dispight, wrote vnderneath, Donques gli spanioli son femine, et gli Inglese son maschi: and truly the hoaste of the house, with many dispightful words of the spaniards proude & naughty behauiour, to his perpetual blame, hath faithfully promised, that the subscription should not be rased out, without being secretly new written againe’ (ff. A2v-A3r). 48.9 meint] mingled, blended. 50.3 choler] anger. 50.4 opportuner] more suitable, more advantageous. 50.6 rampe] rage, storm. 50.8 requird the combate-gage] demanded that Belcoeur throw down his glove (or gage), in sign that he was ready to fight. 50.9 gauntlet] glove (as sign that he accepted Hyspibremetor’s challenge). 50.9 swage] appease. 51.1 pledge] gauntlet. 51.1 tane] taken. 51.3 the Vsher of the Morne] the crowing cock. 51.4 feather’d ensignes] plumed banners (i.e. wings). 51.5 salue] salute, fr. L. salve, ‘hail, greeting’. 51.7 ‘Gan to repent him] began to have second thoughts. 51.7 fray] combat. 51.9 amaine] at full speed. 52.2 of] off. 52.3 cape a pee] head to foot. 52.4 inquest] search, inquiry. 52.5 in fine] at last. 52.5 Groome] manservant, especially one who looks after horses. 53.3-5 That very Braggadochio ... did wedde] Braggadocchio, the comic boasting knight, figures frequently in Books 3 and 4 of FQ. He last appears in Spenser’s poem at the wedding of Marinell and Florimell (those iusts of FQ, 5.3), where his theft of Guyon’s horse, and his many other criminal pretensions, are exposed (vncas’d). Artegall, the knight of justice, takes the opportunity to disgrace and degrade (or baffle) him, stripping him of his assumed knighthood. 53.7 no mendment bred] did not lead him to reform himself. 53.8 whipp’d out] driven away in disgrace. 53.8 varlett] groom, servant. 54.2 ycleapeing] calling. 54.3 silly sottes] foolish dolts. 54.4 Plebeian noddyes] vulgar simpletons. 54.6-7 Nor wanted hee ... Warriour] ‘He had all the physical attributes of a knight, including brawny arms and legs’. 54.8 all] all over. 55.2 brauadoes] displays of courage. 55.4 not in deedes ... in stile] not in action, but only in (false) reputation. A knight’s or nobleman’s stile (style) is the honorific title, or sequence of titles, by which he is known. 55.6 glorious case] sumptuous armour. The knight’s brave trappings act as a protection because other knights do not dare to oppose him. 55.8 the golden Asse] An allusion to the Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius (2nd cent. CE), translated by Thomas Adlington in 1566 as The Golden Asse. Apuleius’ hero is transformed to an ass, in which form he undergoes a series of ignoble (and often salacious) adventures.

Canto 11 1.1 mickle] great. 1.1 Censour] critic. 1.1 weene] believe, suppose. 1.2 checke] criticise, rebuke. 1.3 that matchles

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Queene] Gloriana. 1.6 Nathles] nevertheless. 1.8 when Time and season serue] when circumstances permit. 1.9 blazon] publish, celebrate. 2.6-9] These lines mark a distinct departure from Spenser’s own engagement with his Arthurian material in FQ. In Spenser’s narrative scheme – both that achieved in the extant books of the poem, and what evidence we have (from the ‘Letter of the Authors’) of the supposed plans for further books – Arthur never finds his way to Gloriana’s court, or realizes his ambition to serve, and perhaps wed, her. 2.6 frequent] visit. 2.7 spend ... seate] wait in state upon her throne. 2.8 the Brittish Prince] Arthur. 2.8 descent] family, lineage. 2.9 port magnificent] noble bearing. 3.1 grace] favour. 3.3 race] ancestry. 3.6 in an vncouth habite dight] clothed in unusual dress. 3.7 greedily] full of expectation. 3.8 Groome] manservant. 3.8 mister wight] person. 4.1 bonnett] hat. 4.1 wreathed] whorled. 4.3 Æoles Sonnes] Knevet presumably means the four winds. Aeolus, god of the wind, makes a memorable appearance in Homer’s Odyssey (10.1-24), where he gives Odysseus a hide pouch containing the storm winds that had, to that point, driven him away from his home. In Stratiotikon (l. 308), Knevet refers to the four winds as ‘Æoles ruffling sonnes’. 4.4 store] a great quantity. 4.8 buskins] high boots, usually made of leather. 4.9 files] rows, lines (with a military allusion picked up in the ensuing phrase by empal’d). 4.9 glistring] glittering. 4.9 empal’d] circled in. 5.1 oyez] Old Fr. oyez, the imperative verb ‘hear’, was used to preface public announcements made by heralds and criers. 5.2 tilt, and tornaument] joust and combat. For the distinction between tilts and tournaments, see 8.4.36.2n. above. 5.5 Thalastena] Either ‘king of the sea’, from Gr. ϑάλασσα (‘sea’), and ἄνα (‘king’); or, perhaps more probably, ‘straits of the sea’, from Gr. ϑάλασσα (‘sea’), and στεινος (‘a strait, narow, enclosed space’). The name of this princess apparently provides the key to the allegory of the whole canto, which concerns Charles I’s attempts to build the British navy into the pre-eminent seagoing power of northern Europe. Thalastena’s tournament thus functions as a theatre for trying British naval capacity against that of its Dutch, French, and even Spanish neighbours; and ultimately for asserting British sovereignty over its own neighbouring waters (the ‘straits’ to the east and south of the island, incorporated into the name of Thalastena). Knevet’s completion of the Supplement coincided, in 1635, with John Selden’s publication of his Latin treatise on the legal basis of British naval sovereignty, the Mare Clausum, Seu De Dominio Maris. Marchamont Needham writes in his preface to the 1652 English edition ‘that as [king Charles] seemed, by his naval Preparations in the year 1635, to resent the many injurious usurpations of our unruly Neighbors, and did in words also strenuously assert the Jurisdiction at Sea; so hee set a value upon this Book, as it’s main Evidence:

and in the 12 year of his Reign it was upon his special command, deliver’d by the hands of Sir William Beecher (one of the Clerks of his Council) to the Barons of the Exchequer in open Court; and by immediate Order of that Court, it was placed among their publick Records, where it remain’s to this day’. Of the Dominion, Or, Ownership of the Sea (1652), f. a1v. Charles’ high opinion of Selden’s work was earned by its direct participation in the same contentious claims that interest Knevet in this episode: as Selden writes in his own preface, ‘there are two Propositions here ... made evident; The one, That the Sea, by the Law of Nature or Nations, is not common to allmen, but capable of private Dominion or proprietie as well as the Land; The other, That the King of Great Britain is Lord of the Sea flowing about, as an inseparable and perpetual Appendant of the British Empire’ (f. e2v). 5.6 Britomaria] ‘British seas’, from L. Britannia, ‘Britain’, and mare, ‘sea’. 5.9 mannage] wield. 6.4 try] prove. 6.5 actiuity] energy, vigour, liveliness. 6.7 quitt] acquit, discharge. 6.8 requite] reward, recompense. 6.8 guerdon deare] precious reward. 6.9 meede] reward. 7.1 of royall linage bred] born to a royal house. 7.6-9 The time prefix’d ... supply] ‘the date appointed for the tournament and marriage will be three days from now, when the moon has three times displaced the sun (her Brother) in the sky’. 8.3] ‘every courageous knight’. 8.6-7] ‘they asked permission of Gloriana to try their luck at this adventure’. 8.8 wont not] was not accustomed. 8.8 t’extinguish honors fire] to suppress her suitors’ ambition for glory. 8.9 gently] courteously. 8.9 require] seek, ask. 9.4 license] permission, leave. 9.4 entertaine] pursue. 9.5 rare emprize] unusual adventure or enterprise. 9.5 did his sute obtaine] received a favourable response to his petition. 9.6 Merhoneur] ‘sea honour’, from Fr. mer, ‘sea’, and honeur, ‘honour’. 9.6 consort] companion. 9.7 deriu’d ... straine] descended from royal ancestors. 9.8 dreadfull] fearsome. 10.1 iusts] jousts. 10.2 Painims fell] fierce, cruel pagan knights. 10.4 feates] actions, exploits. 10.5 beare away the Bell] come away with the victory. See OED, ‘bell’, n.1 , 7a. 10.6 rout] company. 10.7 infidell] non-Christian. 10.8 seld] seldom, rarely. 10.8 triumph] tournament. 11.4 artificiall] made by skill or design. 11.7 Enthroniz’d] Seated in state. 11.7 carre] chariot. 11.8-9 that Queene ... greene] Amphitrite, consort of Neptune and queen of the oceans. As Conti records (Mythologiae, 2.8), it was Delphinius who sued for Amphitrite’s love on Neptune’s behalf, earning for his pains a place among the stars. Aelian (On Animals, 12.45) records Arion’s hymn in praise of Dolphins, which calls them the ‘sea-nurslings’ of Amphitrite and her daughters, the Nereids. 12.1-5 A golden crowne ... to honour rose] Knevet apparently intends the corona navalis, with ornamentation imitating the beaked prows of Roman ships, which was awarded to those who had demonstrated great bravery in

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 11

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a sea-fight, and especially to the man who first boarded an enemy vessel in a victorious encounter. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid, 8.682-84. 12.6 surcote] an outer coat or cape. 12.7 corps] body. 12.8 mantle] loose, sleeveless cloak, usually extending to the knees or below. 12.9 exquisite] rare, valuable. 13.1 Naiads] freshwater-nymphs (as opposed to the Nereids, nymphs of the ocean). 13.2 deliciously] highly pleasingly. 13.3 Tritons] mermen, usually depicted with shell-horns. See Conti, Mythologiae, 8.3. 13.4 writhen] whorled. 13.4 bray] trumpet, blow. 13.6 scaffold] raised stage or dais. 13.8 splendent] shining. 14.1 Appellants] challengers. Although this tournament has not been proclaimed to settle a question of right, Knevet still retains the formal division between appellants and defendants. 14.2 lists] The ‘lists’ (from Fr. lisse) were the barriers that enclosed a tilting or tournament ground. 14.7 regall stemme] royal lineage. 14.7 descryd] perceived. 14.8 passant] When used of animals in a heraldic context, ‘walking (usually towards the dexter [right]) and looking ahead, with three paws on the ground and the dexter forepaw raised’ (OED, ‘passant’, adj., n., and adv., 3). 14.9 whilome] once, once long ago. 14.9 ydrad full sore] very much feared. 15.1 furniture] trappings. 15.2 aspect] appearance. 15.3 accouter’d] dressed, outfitted. 15.4 nauall crowne ... deck’t] The Roman corona navalis; see 9.11.12.1-5n. above. 15.5 complete] perfected. 15.6 A story ... make] ‘it would be difficult’. 15.7 impreses, and deuices] Emblems, usually allegorical in nature, painted on the shields of tourneying knights. These emblems were often accompanied by epigrammatic mottoes. 15.7 most select] choicest, most excellent. 15.8 equipage] furnishings or equipment for battle. 15.8 accurate array] orderly disposition of the knights, their horses, and their weapons. 16.1 in lists] within the barriers enclosing the tournament ground. 16.3 Sir Amadis de Gaule] Amadis of Gaul (Amadis de Gualo) is the hero of an eponymous Spanish chivalric romance, probably originally written in the early fourteenth century, but first printed in 1508. It was known to English readers through a series of French translations made during the sixteenth century. 16.5 clangour] ringing. 16.5 thinne welkin] insubstantial sky. 16.6 Sir Belgan] An allusion to the naval power of the Low Countries, on the model of Spenser’s Lady Belge (cf. FQ, 5.10.65.11.35). 16.7 many headed Hydra] The hydra of Lerna was killed by Hercules for his second labour; see Apollodorus, Library, 2.5.2. Here it probably signifies the great capacity of the Dutch fleet which, like the hydra, after a defeat was able to recover and make new head. 16.8 target] shield. 17.3 adverse crowde] opposed forces. 17.4 ‘gainst ... gaue on] heaped blows on Arthur. 17.6 the Frenchman] Amadis. 17.7 courser] horse. 18.6 Agramant] The African king who leads the Saracen host against the Christians in Boiardo’s Orlando Innamorato and Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. 18.7] Classical historians universally recorded, and celebrated, the skill

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of both Scythian and Parthian soldiers at archery, particularly upon horseback. Cf. 7.3.19.2, 7.10.37.3-6, 8.1.42.7 and nn. above. 18.7 keene] sharp. 18.8 his ill happe ... mischance] it was his bad fortune. 19.1 fraught with] full of. 19.4 teene] fierce anger. 19.8 salute] report. 19.9 embru’d] stained, soaked. 20.3 the Prince] Arthur. 20.4 the fight did plye] fought. 20.9 quell, or ... dismay] kill or defeat. 21.2 fly] retreat. 21.5 hye] go. 21.9 next] after. 21.9 grace] reward, recognition. 22.1-2 her eyes ... easterne waue] dawned. 22.6 Huon] The knight of Bordeaux celebrated in the eponymous history translated by Lord Berners, probably in the 1520s but published (in its third, modernised edition) in 1601. 22.8 Sir Amadis his pride] Amadis’ glorious bearing. 22.9 asswag’d] reduced, impaired. 23.5 horned rout] herd. 23.6 assay] attack. 23.8 Admireing] wondering. 24.4 trenchant brondirons] cutting, sharp swords. 24.5 helmes] helmets. 24.6] ‘on either side the forces pitched the battle around around their champions’. Knevet’s intention is clear – on both sides, the knights recognized that Merhoneur’s contest with Huon would be decisive for the battle as a whole – but exactly who does what, in the confusion of subjects and verbs over succeeding lines, remains suitably unclear. Stanza 25] Herodotus calls the Araxes – which flows from mount Taurus in the east of modern Turkey westwards into the Caspian Sea – a turbulent and violent river, and Virgil (Aeneid, 8.728) records it as ‘pontem indignatus’ (a river that refused a bridge). The most copious classical account of the river, though, is that of Pomponius Mela in his De chorographia (3.35). It is not clear whence Knevet derives his elaborate account of the Araxes’ stubborn purity; it may be his own embellishment. It was however well known in the early modern period that the water of the Caspian Sea is brackish, that is to say, of considerably lower salinity than normal seawater. On the source of the Araxes on Taurus, see Pliny, Natural History, 5.27, where it is clear that the name stretches to encompass the whole chain of mountains from which this river and its tributaries spring. 25.6 in fine] at last. 26.6 sprent] sprinkled, covered. 26.7 mall’d] hammered. 26.8 Impreses] Cf. 9.11.15.7n. above. 26.9 plumes, and fauours] decorative feathers and other adornments fixed to the knights’ helmets. 26.9 rent] torn. 27.3 foyle] defeat. 27.7 discomfited] defeated, overthrown. 28.1 Bramarant] Bramarante is a pagan knight at the court of Alicandro in Diego Ortúñez de Calahorra’s Espejo de Príncipes y Cavalleros. He also figures in the early seventeenth-century play by Lope de Vega, El premio de la hermosura. 28.3 salyant] In heraldic use, said of an animal ‘having the hind legs in the sinister base [bottom left] and the fore paws elevated near together in the dexter chief [upper right], as if in the act of leaping’ (OED, ‘salient’, a. and n., 2.). 28.4 Moorish straine] northwest African her-

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itage. Moorish kings had conquered Spain in the eighth century. 29.1 fenc’d] parried. 29.4] ‘so headlong that even the crest of his helmet scraped the ground’. 30.1 Sol] the sun. 30.1 hasten ... bed] set. 30.5 bereft ... palme] taken away their victory. The palm was a conventional symbol for victory during this period. 30.7 Heralds ... nominate] ‘the heralds officiating at the tournament selected Merhoneur’. 31.1 in triumphant state] with ostentatious glory. 31.3 laureate] crowned with the laurel, as sign of victory. 31.4 respect] dignity and care. 31.5 procreate delightfull solacement] increase the pleasant entertainment. 31.8 hazarded] put in danger. 32.2 the fruition ... prize] the award of the promised prize. 32.7 demise] surrender, pass on. 32.9 feere] companion, husband. 33.1 motion] proposal. 34.1 glee] rejoicing. 34.7 pastimes] entertainments. 34.7 courtly sports] spectacles. 34.9 ought] aught, anything. 35.4 Britomarian Court] Cf. 9.11.5.6 and n. above. 35.5 boistrous] rough. 35.6 that valu’d ... least] who disdained hospitality. 35.7] ‘so discourteous and fierce was his bearing’. 36.1 turbant] turban. 36.2 pendant] hanging. 36.3 Cressant] crescent. 36.4 targe] shield. 36.5 of a middle quantity] of average height. 36.8 domineare] prevail. 36.9 vmpire] rule, act as judge. 37.1 rent] split. 37.2 defiance] challenge. 37.4 Nigropont] Negroponte was the common medieval name (adopted from the Venetian) for the headland of Euboea, or for the island of Euboea as a whole, situated east of the Greek mainland in the Aegean Sea. As the largest of the region’s Ilands manifold (line 5), it could (like Knevet’s Nigropont) justly claim a princely status. The fall of Negroponte to the Ottoman empire in July 1470 marked the beginning of a Turkish incursion into the western Mediterranean that only ended with the battle of Lepanto in 1571. 37.7 lewd] ignorant, base; unchaste. 37.7 disloyall] unfaithful. 38.1 testimonyes] proofs. 38.2 Make good] demonstrate, justify. 38.2 meete] fitting. 38.4 vndiscreete] lacking judgment. 38.5 Carpet Knights] Knights who perform ceremonial duties in (carpeted) court, and do not fight in wars. 38.6 approue] demonstrate, prove. 38.7 carrion corps] worthless body. 38.7 regreet] regret. 38.9 Recreant] treacherous, faithless knight. 39.6 dreary] melancholy. 39.8 hue] complexion. 39.8 bewray’d ... cheare] betrayed her unhappy state. 40.1 wicked Dames of Thessaly] Witches were conventionally associated with the women of Thessaly, throughout the classical period. One of their special powers was that of ‘drawing down’ the moon, to cause an eclipse. See e.g. Plato, Gorgias, 513. Knevet writes of ‘Thessalian witches utter[ing] | Their charmes to Luna’ in a dedicatory poem (to Anthony Hobart of Hales) in Stratiotikon, f. C2r. The

Thessalian witch Peonia is one of the central characters of his 1631 masque Rhodon and Iris. 40.3 Apollos sister sad] Diana, goddess of the moon; hence, the moon. 40.4 variate] change. 40.5 swarty] swarthy, dusky. 40.8 stay] support, hold up. 40.9 sad affray] distressing tumult, disturbance. 41.2 iniurious Miscreant] insulting infidel. 41.3 Author ... lye] ‘originator of so false a slander’. 41.5 chant] rehearse, repeat. 41.7 recant] retract. 41.9 leaseing] lying. 42.5 rancour dire] fierce anger. 42.9 steely coate] mailed coat; armour. 44.2 euent] outcome. 44.2 monomachy] single combat. 44.5 a fly] at all. 44.6 foin’d] thrusted, lunged. 44.7 garde] defensive posture. 45.2 choler] anger. 45.4 Æoles violence] the fury of the fretted winds. 45.6 wrackes] shipwrecks. 45.7] ‘and as a further sign of the fury of the seas’. 45.8 hoary ... gore] ‘grey with sea-foam’. Knevet may intend ‘hory’, meaning ‘foul, filthy’ (see OED, ‘hory, horry’, a.). The intrusion of gore into the epic simile – it is the giant who is covered in gore, and not the waves – mimics the leaky spread of the gore itself. 46.6 preuent] foresee and forestall. 46.7 but] only. 46.8 bickerment] contest. 47.2 fatall controuersye] mortal combat. 47.3 contracted might] all his gathered strength. 48.3 steely brand] sword. 48.4 flatlings] on its flat, rather than its sharp, edge. 49.1 souce] blow. 49.1 astound] stun. 49.2 reeled] staggered. 49.5 grapple] fight hand to hand, at close quarters. 49.6 thrill’d] pierced. 50.1 proffers ... embraces] Nigropont’s attempts to crush Merhoneur in his giant grip. 50.3 hurt] wound. 50.5 of] off. 50.5 fast by] at, near. 50.6 spu’d] spewed. 50.7 heauen] (monsyllabic). 50.8 from’s] from his. 50.9 attonce] at once, at the same time. 51.4 resort] return. 51.7 port] manner.

Canto 12 1.3 brus’d his barke] battered his ship. 1.5 wanne] pale. 1.8 trimmes] decorates. 1.9 on starbourd ... on larbourd] to the right and left of the ship, facing the bow. 2.1 solace] comfort, entertainment. 2.3 hauen] (monosyllabic). 2.4 trade, and trafficke faire] prosperous market, business. In the transparent allegory of this stanza, this trafficke faire stands for the favourable reception of his poem, and perhaps patronage. 2.5 repaire] go. 2.6 sweet gales] fair winds. 2.9 detraction] disparagement, slander. 3.1 forsooke] departed. 3.3 Corauido] ‘Greedy heart’, from L. cor (‘heart’), and avidus (‘greedy’), or It. coro avido. On the name, see also 9.5.11.1n. above. 3.4 Eleutheria] See 9.1.4.7 and n. above. 3.6 Auritania] See 9.5.11.7 and n. above. 3.6 clept] called. 3.7 with all benefitts replenished] full of all possible advantages. 3.9 fed] A defective

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 12

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rhyme: in a slip from his usual tight concentration, Knevet appears to have rhymed this stanza ababbcbcb. 4.1 yclad] dressed. 4.2 boscages] woods. 4.3 gadde] wander, rove. 4.4 Ceres liuery] the formal dress or uniform of Ceres, goddess of the harvest; hence, the ripe grains and produce that cover the fields in late summer and autumn. 4.5 cherry-cheek’d Pomona] On Pomona, a hamadryad or goddess famed for her skill at cultivating fruit trees, see Ovid, Met., 14.623-36. Here she stands for the blushing ripe fruit itself. 4.6 trees of Bacchus] grape vines. Bacchus, or Dionysius, was the Greek god of wine. 4.7 pendant] hanging. 4.9 Oenotrian land] The extreme south of Italy, named (according to Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.3.5) for Oenotrus, the youngest of the sons of Lycaon, who settled there with his people. The name occurs in Virgil’s Aeneid (1.530-33, 7.85) as an ancient name for Italy as a whole, apparently echoing Aristotle, Politics, 7.1329b. 4.9 weene] think. 5.1 Beldame] grandmother. 5.1 Night] L. Nox, according to Hesiod (Theogony, l. 124) daughter of Chaos, and (ll. 211-25) the mother of Sleep, Dream, the Destinies, and the three Fates, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. 5.1 with poppy crown’d] Night’s crown of poppies, the source of opium, suggests the narcotic or somniferous (see line 9 below) effect she has on the waking world. 5.2 the Stygian strand] the banks of the river Styx, one of the rivers of the Greek underworld. Night was conventionally depicted as rising from and returning to Hades. 5.5 Where with] wherewith, with which. 5.5 moues] impels. 5.6 God of sleepe] Somnus. 5.7 while] although. 5.8 ebone] ebony, a very dark hardwood. 5.8 sustaine] support. 5.9 somnif ’rous] sleepinducing. 5.9 distaine] stain, discolour, dim. 6.1 eschue] avoid. 6.2 serenes] A serene is a light nocturnal shower, common after sunset in tropical countries. It was thought in the early modern period to be a dew or light mist, and was held to be noxious to the health. 6.4 wont] accustomed. 6.4 defeate] block, impede. 6.5] the light of the moon and the sun. Phœbe is another name for Diana, goddess of chastity associated with the moon. Her brother Apollo (or Phœbus) was the Greek and Roman god of the sun. 6.9 want] lack. 7.4 ieopardy] danger. 7.5 on him sease] fall upon him. 7.5 descry] perceive. 7.6 actiuely] nimbly, energetically. 7.7 vpon his garde] in a defensive posture. 7.8 forlorne wight] desolate or pitiful person. 7.9 surprised] startled. 7.9 affright] terror. 8.1 mizer] wretch, miserable man. 8.1 astound] astonished. 8.2 vnlook’d for view] unexpected sight. 8.4 vncouth] unusual. 8.5 cursed sp’rite] damned ghost. 8.6 fell intent] cruel purpose. 8.7 misguide] mislead. 8.8 fraught ... dreryment] full of sadness and horror. 9.3] ‘When it would best befit (behoue) him to be at rest’. 9.4 of meane estate] of low condition. 9.6 Sir Tristram] Probably an allusion to an episode in Book 6 of The Faerie Queene (6.2.3-39), in which Sir Calidore first examines and afterwards knights Tristram. The episode in Spenser

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already has dense intertextual links with Malory’s Book of Sir Tristram de Lyones (Works, 8). 9.8 wend] travel. 10.1 lot] fortune. 10.2 vnhumane] barbarous. 10.3 vnhospitall] unhospitable. 10.3 plot] place. 10.5 awfull] terrifying. 10.6 Idolater] worshipper of idols, pagan. 10.7 strand] coast. 10.9 Chrysargyr] ‘Gold and silver’, from Gr. χρυσός (‘gold’), and ἄργυρος (‘silver’). 11.1 rout] crowd. 11.2 design’d] intended, purposed. 11.5 blind] dark, inscrutable. 11.7 declin’d] evaded. 11.9 gloomy grottes] dark caverns. 12.7 auenues] approaches and other outlying paths or roads around their encampment. 12.8 scape their hands] evade capture. 13.1 god wot] god knows. 13.3 by light] by day. 13.4 gett] get away. 13.5 acquitt] prove. 13.6 whilere] erewhile, in the past. 13.7] ‘In actions fit for a squire’. 13.9 sans-paralell or peere] without equal. 14.4 presse] incite. 14.5 vre] use, practice. 14.6 mischiefe rude] uncivilised evil. 14.8 embru’d] stained, defiled. 14.9 lewd] ignorant, barbaric. 15.2 Then] than. 15.3 incontinent] intemperate, unrestrained. 15.6 when Aurora ... arise] at the next dawn. 15.8 surcote] outer cape or coat, often bearing some kind of adornment. 15.9 solemnityes] necessary ceremonies. 16.3 immolate] sacrifice. 16.5 sort, and quality] rank and degree. 16.7 Egg’d on] incited. 17.2 Vtopia] See 9.5.11.2 and n. above. 17.4 legall] lawful. 17.6 Tartarean] hellish, after the Greek, and later Latin, name for the underworld, Tartarus. 17.7 Phlegetonticke ... Stygian] Phlegethon and Styx are two of the rivers of the Greek underworld. Phlegethon was famed for its fiery exhalations (hence late L. Phlegethonticus, ‘fiery’), and Styx for its noxious vapours. 18.1 gloses] lies, deceits. 18.6 swage] assuage. 18.7 mickle] great. 18.8 frette] chafe. 18.9 heritage] inheritance in lands and power. 19.3 downes] hills, high meadows. 19.4 sore] painfully. 19.4 cheare] fare, repast. 19.5 for his eares, or life] ‘at peril of the loss of his ears, or his life’. 19.6-7 While ... hemisphere] during the day. The hemisphere is that half of the earth lit by the sun at any given moment, here loosely applied to the perspective of the waiting wolf. 19.6 radiant Phœbus] the shining sun. 19.6 seate] position. 19.8 swaines] shepherds. 19.8 bandogs] leashed attack dogs. Dogs bred for ferocity were not safe around livestock, and so had to be kept on ‘bands’ or leads when brought in to defend against wolves. 19.9 his ambuscadoes to defeate] to repel his attacks. 20.2 made faire semblance] gave a good impression of himself. 20.2 well apayd] satisfied, much contented. 20.3 circumvent] deceive. 20.5 wise] manner. 20.6 in a maske] either while wearing a mask (across his face), or during the performance of a masque – an allegorical pageant of a kind popular at the courts of James I and Charles I. Coravido’s (masked) abduction of Eleutheria in a masque is also described in Canto 5; see 9.5.18-30 and nn. Spenser’s Amoret

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is abducted by the enchanter Busirane during a ‘mask of loue’ held to celebrating her wedding with Scudamour (see FQ, 4.1.3). 20.7 conveyd] carried off. 20.8 sure] secure. 21.2 mind] intention. 21.3 philters] potions or drugs used to kindle love. 21.6 disdaine] scorn. 21.7 closer] straiter, stricter. 21.9 to see ... date] to die. 22.1 Philargyra] ‘Love of silver’ or ‘lover of silver’, from Gr. φίλος (‘dear, beloved’), and ἄργυρος (‘silver’). 22.3 strange] unusual, abnormal. Because strange can also mean ‘foreign’, especially to one’s family, the conjunction of incest and strange is almost an oxymoron. 22.6 conspire] plot, devise. 22.8 besought] petitioned. 23.1 intimate] suggest. 23.4 must needes] could not but. 23.6 condiscend] agree. 23.7 acquite] reward, discharge. 23.9 intend] purpose (to achieve). 24.1 to stand ... expence] to spare no means. 24.5 nigh] nearly. 24.9 supervise] oversee, direct; look upon. 25.1 flitting] unstable. In the partition of the world between the three sons of Saturn, Neptune obtained dominion over the sea, Pluto over the earth, and Jove over the air. 25.23] ‘Prevent the sun from rising in the east’. Thetis was a goddess of the ocean, her transparent court. 25.2 charrett] chariot. 25.4-5] Apollodorus (Library, 2.4.8) records how Jove prolonged a single night to the space of three, in order to enjoy the love of the mortal woman Alcmena; the child of their union was the hero Hercules. 25.4 whilome] once. 25.6 supersedeas] A judicial writ ordering the suspension of legal proceedings in a court, or the temporary suspension of the powers of an officer. Here the squire suggests that Jove should deprive the sun of its office, so as to prevent the dawn that will bring Eleutheria’s execution. Cf. 9.6.10.4 above. 25.7 Sol] the sun. 25.8 passe] condition. 26.1 fatall ordinance] fated decree. 26.2 That dissolution] the return to chaos, mentioned in 9.12.25.8-9 above. 26.4 triple ... dart] the forked lightning, Jove’s traditional weapom. 26.6 patheticke wise] pitiable manner. 26.7 cheare] mood. 26.9 passion] emotion. 27.1 redresse] assistance, relief. 27.2 releiu’d] delivered, saved. 27.9 assassinate] execution. 28.3 in a liueing story] with undying fame. 28.4 transports mee farre] puts me beside myself (with happiness). 28.8 vmbragious] shadowy. 28.8 Sols rayes] the light of the sun. 29.1 their foule Idol] Chrysargyr. 29.3 There] ‘their’ or ‘there’ (ambiguous). 29.4 in most faire array] beautifully adorned. 29.5 mettalls] e.g. gold and silver. 29.8 your purpose may destroy] may make it impossible to save Eleutheria. 30.1-2 the Daughters ... Atlas] The Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione, a daughter of the ocean: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia. According to Apollodorus (Library, 3.10.1), Alcyone was mother to Aethusa, who in turn bore a son called Eleuther to Apollo. Sometimes called the Atlantides after their

father, the Pleiades were probably so called either after their mother Pleione or after Gr. πλέω (‘to sail’), because these seven stars were visible in the Mediterranean each year during the sailing season (May-November). 30.5 sad Electra] One of the seven Pleiades is more difficult to see than the others, and so was often said to be absent. In the Renaissance (as in the classical period) this missing Pleiade sister was usually supposed to be Electra or Merope, though today the faint star is usually considered to be Celaeno. See Hyginus, Fabulae, 192, and cf. 9.12.30.6-9n. below. 30.5 onely] alone. 30.6-9] Ovid (Fasti, 4.165-78) records that the Pleiades appear only six because Merope (not Electra), having married the mortal king Sisyphus, hides for shame; or because Electra, mother by Jove of Dardanus, founder of the Trojan line, having watched the destruction of Troy hides for grief. 31.6-9] Venus, known at evening as Hesperus (the evening star) and at morning Phosphorous (the morning star), is one of the brightest lights in the sky. The illicit love of Vulcan’s wife Venus for Mars, the god of war, is a conventional element in classical myth. 31.7 flareing] streaming, spread out. 31.8 sports] amusements, dalliances. 32.3 recured] recovered. 32.5 bedight] covered over. 32.7 occasion fitt] a suitable oppotunity. 32.8 break forth, on] attack. 32.9 nor ... nor] neither ... nor. 33.1 Chauntresse ... brood] Any of a number of birds associated with the dawn chorus, but probably the skylark. As the lead singer (or chauntresse) of the forest (sylvane) company of birds, she heralds the coming of the day. 33.2 Aues] salutations, from L. ave, ‘hail’. 33.2 Aurora] goddess of the dawn; hence, the dawn. 33.3 meaner] lesser. 33.5 presageing] foretelling. 33.9 minstralcye] music, singing. 34.1-5] ‘But when the sun (Apollo) reached its zenith at midday’. 34.1 brackish streames] salty currents (of the ocean). 34.5 meridian] The highest point of the sun’s daily course, reached at or around noon. 34.5 in ... carreere] at full speed. 34.6 ambuscade] ambush, place of ambush. 35.1 forlorne hope] A small company of men, chosen to lead an assault or attack; a storming party. Knevet also uses this phrase in Stratiotikon, l. 502. 35.3 Their habites ... aggree] ‘their clothes matched their physical appearance’, presumably in their dark or black colour. 35.4 Illustrateing] picturing. 35.5 doublets ... bases] The doublet and base – a close-fitting garment covering the torso, joined to a pleated skirt reaching down to just above the knee – was the standard outfit for gentlemen between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. These terms could also be used of armour of a similar style and shape. 35.6-9] Pluto, god of the classical underworld, stole the virgin Proserpina from her mother Ceres, and made her his queen. The cacaphony of their nuptials appears to be Knevet’s own invention. 36.4 gaberdines] coarse smocks. 36.4 dight] dressed. 36.5 sugar loaues] During the early modern period, sugar was manufactured and sold in conical loaves. 36.7 vten-

Commentary: Book 9 Canto 12

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siles] instruments, implements. 36.7 meete, and requisite] fitting and appropriate. 36.9 Tapers] candles. 36.9 perfumeing pannes] shallow pans in which incense and other aromatic substances, often immersed in water, were heated over a fire to produce fragrance. 37.2 bason] basin. 37.5 Cidaris] ‘The royal tiara, or cap of state of the ancient Persians’ (OED), sometimes used of Jewish religious headdresses (and see 9.12.39.9 below). Cf. 9.5.10.1 and n. above. 37.7 embound] enclosed, confined. 38.1 design’d] intended. 38.3 weede] clothing. 38.4 crew] company. 38.6 chaplet] garland. 38.9 compass’d in] encircled. 39.1 Cutthrote] executioner. 39.6 succeed] follow. 39.8 embellished] adorned. 39.9 miter] The high ceremonial turban worn by Jewish high priests, later adapted for Christian use. Often used as an equivalent term for the cidaris (see 9.12.37.5 and n. above). 40.1 charger] platter. 40.1 support] carry, bear. 40.4 toppe] cut. It was customary to cut a lock of hair from the dying or the dead, and to consecrate it as an offering to Proserpina. Cf. Virgil, Aeneid, 4.698-99. 40.5 solemnitye] ritual. 40.7 Archflamen] chief priest. 40.8 bespred] covered. 41.1 rabble] crowd, swarm. 41.1 lewd] ignorant. 41.2 wings of horse] lines or troops of cavalry. 41.5 betide] occur. 41.8 array] prepare, outfit. 41.9] ‘When they least expected trouble or ambush’. 42.2 holt] wood, copse. 42.3 sease on] attack. 42.4 surprisall] surprise attack. 42.4 feate] action. 42.6 Securely] without any sense of danger. 42.8 meete advantage] a fitting opportunity. 42.8 espy] discover. 42.9 breake vpon] assault.

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43.1 greedily] eagerly. 43.2 fly vpon] attack. 43.3 within a distance nigh] nearby. 43.5 gaue vpon] charged upon. 43.7 chargeing home] following through, finishing off the battle. 43.9 truncheon] cudgel, club. 43.9 layd along] knocked down to the ground. 44.1 scoure about] range, traverse. 44.2 champaine] plain. 44.5 glaunce] dart, streak. 44.6 Without a plaine] without breaking its downward flight, without level flight. 44.7 Disgorged] emitted, thrown out. 44.7 piece of ordinance] heavy gun, cannon. 44.8 impetuous] violent, forward. 45.3 playd about] dealt blows on every side. 45.4 maugre] despite. 45.8 affrighted] terrified. 45.8 full] very. 45.9 meed] prize. 46.2 wreake her teene] satisfy her anger. 46.3 inveterate] long-standing, deep-seated. 46.4 like franticke Hecube] Hecuba, wife of Priam and mother of the Trojan heroes Hector and Paris, was said to have become frenzied during the Greek capture and destruction of Troy. See, for example, Euripides, Hecuba, esp. ll. 1259ff., in which Polymestor informs Hecuba that she is soon to be transformed into a crazed dog, which will leap to its death in the sea. Hecube is here (unusually) disyllabic. 46.5 brenne] burn. 46.7 fatall] death-dealing. 46.9 knitte ... fast] tied securely. 47.1-2 But Belcoeur ... religiously] Cf. Prince Arthur’s overthrow of Gerioneo’s idol in FQ, 5.11.33. 47.5 those foule rites abolish’d] discontinued the rites of human sacrifice. 47.6 repayre] go, return. 47.8 guerdon] reward. 47.9] ‘For she married him, making him king of the realm’.

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