LVII.

The yeares of Nestor nothing were to his, sanda
Ne yet Mathusalem, though longest liv'd;
For he remembred both their infancis:
Ne wonder then if that he were depriv'drow
Of native strength, now that he them surviv'd:
His chamber all was hangd about with rolls,
And old records from auncient times deriv'd,
Some made in books, some in long parchment scrolls,
That were all worm-eaten and full of canker holes.
LVIII.

Amidst them all he in a chaire was sett,
Tossing and turning them withouten end
But for he was unhable them to fett, an
A little boy did on him still attend bagama
To reach, whenever he for ought did send;
And oft when things were lost or laid amis, a bea
That boy them sought, and unto him did lend35)
Therefore he Anamnestes cleped is, indequ
And that old man Eumnestes, by their propertis.

LIX.

The knightes there entring did him reverence dew,!? And wondred at his endlesse exercised apni hra Then as they gan his library to vew,roosted hold77 And antique regesters for to avise, mert boilius oli There chaunced to the prince's hand torized its A An auncient booke hight Briton Moniments, refer That of this land's first conquest did devize,san And old division into regiments, low pui aovoyer of k Till it reduced was to one man's governements.lc10

1

LX.

Sir Guyon chaunst eke on another booke,
That hight Antiquitee of Faery Lond,
In which whenas he greedily did looke,

Th' ofspring of Elves and Faryes there he found,
As it delivered was from hond to hond:
Whereat they burning both with fervent fire,
Their countreys auncestry to understond,
Crav'd leave of Alma, and that aged sire,

To read those bookes, who gladly graunted their desire.

The Legend of Sir Guyon, or of Temperaunce, 77

Book II. Canto I.

Canto II.

79

100