HIGH time now gan it wex1 for Una fair
To think of those her captive parents dear,
And their forwasted2 kingdom to repair:
Whereto whenas they now approached near,
With hearty words her Knight she gan to cheer,
And in her modest manner thus bespake;
'Dear knight, as dear as ever knight was dear,
That all these sorrows suffer for my sake,
High heav'n behold the tedious toil, ye for me take!
'Now are we come unto my native soil,
And to the place where all our perils dwell;
Here haunts that fiend, and does his daily spoil;
Therefore henceforth be at your keeping well,
And ever ready for your foeman fell:
The spark of noble courage now awake,
And strive your excellent self t' excel:
That shall ye evermore renownéd make
Above all knights on earth, that battle undertake.'
And pointing forth, Lo! yonder is,' said she,
'The brazen tower, in which my parents dear
For dread of that huge fiend emprison'd be;
Whom I from far see on the walls appear,
Whose sight my feeble soul doth greatly chear:
And on the top of all I do espy
The watchman waiting tidings glad to hear;
1 Beneath. 2 Immediately.
That, O my parents, might I happily
Unto you bring, to ease you of your misery!'
With that they heard a roaring hideous sound,
That all the air with terror filléd wide,
And seem'd uneath1 to shake the stedfast ground.
Eftsoones2 that dreadful dragon they espied,
Where stretcht he lay upon the sunny side
Of a great hill, himself like a great hill:
But, all so soon as he from far descried
Those glist'ring arms that heav'n with light did
fill,
He rous'd himself full blithe, and hast'ned them untill 3
Then bade the Knight his Lady yede1 aloof,
And to an hill herself withdraw aside;
From whence she might behold that battle's proof,
And eke be safe from danger far descried:
She him obey'd, and turn'd a little wide.—
Now, O thou sacred Muse, most learned dame,
Fair impe 6 of Phoebus and his aged bride,
The nurse of time and everlasting fame,
Memory. That warlike hands ennoblest with immortal name;
O, gently come into my feeble breast,
Come gently; but not with that mighty rage,
Wherewith the martial troops thou dost infest,
And hearts of great heroës dost enrage,
That naught their kindled courage may assuage:
Soon as thy dreadful trump begins to sound,
The god of war with his fierce equipage
Thou dost awake, sleep never he so sound;
And scaréd nations dost with horror stern astound.
Fair goddess, lay that furious fitt1 aside,
Till I of wars* and bloody Mars do sing,
And Briton fields with Sarazin blood bedy'd,
Twixt that great Faery queen and Paynim king,
That with their horror heav'n and earth did ring;
A work of labour long, and endless praise:
But now awhile let down that haughty 2 string,
And to my tunes thy second tenor raise,
That I this man of God his godly arms may blaze.33 Cele
By this, the dreadful beast drew nigh to hand,
Half flying and half footing in his haste,
That with his largeness measuréd much land,
And made wide shadow under his huge waist;
As mountain doth the valley overcast.
Approaching nigh, he reared high afore
His body monstrous, horrible, and vast;
Which, to increase his wondrous greatness more, Was swoln with wrath and poison, and with bloody
And over all with brazen scales was arm'd,
Like plated coat of steel, so couchéd near1
That naught mote5 pierce; ne might his corse be
harm'd
With dint of sword, nor push of pointed spear:
Which, as an eagle, seeing prey appear,
His airy plumes doth rouse full rudely dight;
So shakéd he, that horror was to hear:
For, as the clashing of an armour bright,
Such noise his rouséd scales did send unto the Knight.
*'Wars:' alluding to Spenser's purpose of singing the war between Queen Elizabeth and Spain in the closing books of the 'Fairie Queene.'
4 Laid so
close together. 5 Might.
His flaggy wings, when forth he did display,
Were like two sails, in which the hollow wind
Is gather'd full, and worketh speedy way:
And eke the pennes,3 that did his pinions bind,
Were like main-yards with flying canvas lin❜d;
With which whenas him list the air to beat,
And there by force unwonted passage find,
The clouds before him fled for terror great,
And all the heav'ns stood still amazed with his threat.
His huge long tail, wound up in hundred folds,
Does overspread his long brass-scaly back,
Whose wreathéd boughtes when ever he unfolds,
And thick-entangled knots adown does slack,
Bespotted as with shields of red and black,
It sweepeth all the land behind him far,
And of three furlongs does but little lack;
And at the point two stings infixed are,
Both deadly sharp, that sharpest steel exceeden far.
But stings and sharpest steel did far exceed
The sharpness of his cruel rending claws :
Dead was it sure, as sure as death indeed,
What ever thing does touch his rav'nous paws,
Or what within his reach he ever draws.
But his most hideous head my tongue to tell
Does tremble; for his deep devouring jaws
Wide gaped, like the grisly mouth of hell,
Through which into his dark abyss all ravin7 fell.
And, that more wondrous was, in either jaw
Three ranks of iron teeth enrangéd were,
In which yet trickling blood, and gobbets raw,
Of late devoured bodies did appear;
That sight thereof bred cold congealéd fear:
Which to increase, and all at once to kill,
A cloud of smothʼring smoke, and sulphur sear, Out of his stinking gorge 2 forth steeméd still, That all the air about with smoke and stench did fill.
His blazing eyes, like two bright shining shields,
Did burn with wrath, and sparkled living fire:
As two broad beacons, set in open fields,
Send forth their flames far off to every shire,
And warning give, that enemies conspire
With fire and sword the region to invade;
So flam'd his eyne with rage and rancʼrous ire:
But far within, as in a hollow glade,
Those glaring lamps were set, that made a dreadful
So dreadfully he towards him did
pass,
Forelifting up aloft his speckled breast,
And often bounding on the bruiséd grass,
As for great joyance of his new come guest.
Eftsoons he gan advance his haughty crest;
As chafed boar his bristles doth uprear;
And shook his scales to battle ready drest,
(That made the Redcross Knight nigh quake for
fear,)
As bidding bold defiance to his foeman near.
The Knight gan fairly couch his steady spear,
And fiercely ran at him with rig'rous might:
The pointed steel, arriving rudely there,
His harder hide would neither pierce nor bite,
But, glancing by, forth passéd forward right:
|