Then that brave Court doth to mine eie present;

That the world's pride seemes gathered there to bee. Of each a part I stole by cunning thefte:

Forgive it me, faire Dames, sith1 lesse ye have not lefte.

1 Sith, since.

E. S.

THE FIRST BOOK

OF

THE FAERIE QUEENE

CONTAYNING

THE LEGEND OF THE KNIGHT OF THE RED CROSSE, OR

OF HOLINESSE.

I.

LO! I, the man whose Muse whylome did maske,

1

As time her taught, in lowly shepheards weeds, 1
Am now enforst, a farre unfitter taske,
For trumpets sterne to chaunge mine oaten reeds,
And sing of Knights and Ladies gentle deeds;
Whose praises having slept in silence long,
Me, all too meane, the sacred Muse areeds 2
To blazon broade emongst her learned throng:
Fierce warres and faithful loves shall moralize my song.

II.

Help then, O holy virgin, chiefe of nyne,
Thy weaker novice to perform thy will;
Lay forth out of thine everlasting scryne 3
The antique rolles, which there lye hidden still,
Of Faerie Knights, and fayrest Tanaquill *

1 Weeds, clothes.

2 Areeds, teaches.

3 Scryne, (scrinium, Lat.,) a cabinet in which papers were kept.

*

Tanaquill is another name for Gloriana, the Faerie Queene

Whom that most noble Briton Prince so long

Sought through the world, and suffered so much ill,
That I must rue his undeserved wrong:

O, helpe thou my weake wit, and sharpen my dull tong!

III.

And thou, most dreaded impe1 of highest love,
Faire Venus sonne, that with thy cruell dart
At that good Knight so cunningly didst rove,2
That glorious fire it kindled in his hart;

Lay now thy deadly heben 3 bowe apart,

And, with thy mother mylde, come to mine ayde;
Come, both; and with you bring triumphant Mart,
In loves and gentle iollities arraid,

After his murdrous spoyles and bloudie rage allayd.

IV.

And with them eke, O Goddesse heavenly bright,
Mirrour of grace and majestie divine,

Great Ladie of the greatest isle, whose light

Like Phoebus lampe throughout the world doth shine,
Shed thy faire beames into my feeble eyne,

And raise my thoughtes, too humble and too vile,
To thinke of that true glorious type of thine,

The Argument of mine afflicted 1 stile :

The which to heare vouchsafe, O dearest Dread," a while.

1 Impe, descendant.

3 Heben, ebony.

2 Rove, shoot with a rover, a sort of arrow.

4 Afflicted, low, or humble.

Dread, object of reverence.

CANTO I.

The Patron of true Holinesse
Foule Errour doth defeate;
Hypocrisie, him to entrappe,
Doth to his home entreate.

I.

A GENTLE Knight was pricking on the plaine,
Ycladd1 in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe woundes did remaine,
The cruel markes of many' a bloody fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yield:
Full iolly knight he seemd, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.

3

II.

And on his brest a bloodie crosse he bore,

The deare remembrance of his dying Lord,

For whose sweete sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead, as living ever, him ador'd:

2

1 Ycladd, clad. Iolly, handsome. 3 Giusts, tournaments.

I. 1. — A gentle Knight.] Spenser comes at once to the action of the poem, and describes the Red-cross knight as having already entered upon the adventure assigned him by the Faerie Queene, which was to slay the dragon which laid waste the kingdom of Una's father. The Red-cross knight is St. George, the patron saint of England, and represents holiness or Christian purity, and is clothed in the "whole armor of God," described by St. Paul in the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians.

Upon his shield the like was also scor'd,

For soveraine hope, which in his helpe he had. Right, faithfull, true he was in deede and word; But of his cheere1 did seeme too solemne sad; Yet nothing did he dread, but ever was ydrad.2

III.

Upon a great adventure he was bond,
That greatest Gloriana to him gave,

(That greatest glorious queene of Faerie lond,)
To winne him worshippe, and her grace to have,
Which of all earthly thinges he most did crave:
And ever, as he rode, his hart did earne3
To prove his puissance in battell brave
Upon his foe, and his new force to learne;
Upon his foe, a Dragon horrible and stearne.

IV.

A lovely Ladie rode him faire beside,

Upon a lowly asse more white then snow;
Yet she much whiter; but the same did hide

4

Under a vele, that whimpled was full low;
And over all a blacke stole shee did throw:
As one that inly mournd, so was she sad,
And heavie sate upon her palfrey slow;
Seemed in heart some hidden care she had;
And by her in a line a milke-white lambe she lad.

So

V.

pure and innocent, as that same lambe,

She was in life and every vertuous lore;

And by descent from royall lynage came

Of ancient kinges and queenes, that had of yore

1 Cheere, air, or mien. 2 Ydrad, dreaded.

3 Earne, yearn.

4 Whimpled, gathered, or plaited