Next them did Gurgunt, great Belinus sonne,
In rule succeede, and eke in fathers praise;
He Easterland subdewd, and Denmarke wonne,
And of them both did foy and tribute raise,
The which was dew in his dead fathers daies:
He also gave to fugitives of Spayne,
Whom he at sea found wandring from their waies,
A seate in Ireland safely to remayne, [tayne.
Which they should hold of him as subiect to Bri-

After him raigned Guitheline his hayre,
The iustest man and trewest in his daies,
Who had to wife dame Mertia the fayre,
A woman worthy of immortall praise,
Which for this realme found many goodly layes,
And wholesome statutes to her husband brought:
Her many deemd to have beene of the Fayes,
As was Aegerié that Numa tought:

Yet twise they were repulsed backe againe,
And twise renforst backe to their ships to fly;
The whiles with blood they all the shore did staine,
And the gray ocean into purple dy:
Ne had they footing found at last perdie,
Had not Androgeus, false to native soyle,
And envious of uncles soveraintie,
Betrayd his country unto forreine spoyle. [foyle!
Nought els but treason from the first this land did

So by him Cæsar got the victory,
Through great bloodshed and many a sad assay,
In which himselfe was charged heavily
Of hardy Nennius, whom he yet did slay,
But lost his sword, yet to be seene this day.
Thenceforth this land was tributarie made
T'ambitious Rome, and did their rule obay,
Till Arthur all that reckoning defrayd:

thought.

Her sonne Sifillus after her did rayne;

And then Kimarus; and then Danius:

Next whom Moriudus did the crowne sustayne;
Who, had he not with wrath outrageous
And cruell rancour dim'd his valorous

Next him Tenantius raignd; then Kimbeline,
What time th' Eternall Lord in fleshly slime
Enwombed was, from wretched Adams line
To purge away the guilt of sinful crime.
O ioyous memorie of happy time,
That heavenly grace so plenteously displayd!

As well in that same field victorious

Against the forreine Morands he exprest;

Yet lives his memorie, though carcas sleepe in rest.

Five sonnes he left begotten of one wife,
All which successively by turnes did rayne:
First Gorboman, a man of vertuous life;
Next Archigald, who for his proud disdayne
Deposed was from princedome soverayne,
And pitteous Elidure put in his sted;
Who shortly it to him restord agayne,
Till by his death he it recovered;

But Peridure and Vigent him disthronized:

In wretched prison long he did remaine,
Till they out-raigned had their utmost date,
And then therein reseized was againe,
And ruled long with honorable state,
Till he surrendred realme and life to fate.
Then all the sonnes of these five brethren raynd
By dew successe, and all their nephewes late;
Even thrise eleven descents the crowne retaynd,
Till aged Hely by dew heritage it gaynd.

He had two sonnes, whose eldest, called Lud,
Left of his life most famous memory,
And endlesse moniments of his great good:
The ruin'd wals he did reædifye
Of Troynovant, gainst force of enimy,
And built that gate which of his name is hight,
By which he lyes entombed solemnly:
He left two sonnes, too young to rule aright,
Androgeus and Tenantius, pictures of his might.

Whilst they were young, Cassibalane their eme
Was by the people chosen in their sted,
Who on him tooke the roiall diademe,
And goodly well long time it governed;
Till the prowde Romanes him disquieted,
And warlike Cæsar, tempted with the name
Of this sweet island never conquered,
And envying the Britons blazed fame,

(0 bidepus hunger of dominion!) hether came,

Soone after this the Romanes him warrayd; For that their tribute he refusd to let be payd.

Good Claudius, that next was emperour,
An army brought, and with him batteile fought,
In which the king was by a treachetour
Disguised slaine, ere any thereof thought:
Yet ceased not the bloody fight for ought:
For Arvirage his brothers place supplyde
Both in his armes and crowne, and by that draught
Did drive the Romanes to the weaker syde,
That they to peace agreed. So all was pacifyde.

Was never king more highly magnifide,
Nor dredd of Romanes, then was Arvirage;
For which the emperour to him allide
His daughter Genuiss' in marr age:
Yet shortly he renounst the vassallage
Of Rome againe, who hether hastly sent
Vespasian, that with great spoile and rage
Forwasted all, till Genuissa gent

Persuaded him to ceasse, and her lord to relent.

He dide; and him succeded Marius,
Who ioyd his dayes in great tranquillity.
Then Coyll; and after him good Lucius,
That first received Christianity,

The sacred pledge of Christes Evangely.
Yet true it is, that long before that day
Hither came Ioseph of Arimathy,

Who brought with him the Holy Grayle, (they say) And preacht the truth; but since it greatly did decay.

This good king shortly without issew dide,
Whereof great trouble in the kingdome grew,
That did herselfe in sondry parts divide,
And with her powre her owne selfe overthrew,
Whilest Romanes daily did the weake subdew:
Which seeing, stout Bunduca up arose,
And taking armes the Britons to her drew;
With whom she marched straight against her foes,
And them unwares besides the Severne did enclose,

At last, quite ravisht with delight to heare
The royall ofspring of his native land,
Cryde out; "Deare countrey! O how dearely deare
Ought thy remembraunce and perpetuall band
Be to thy foster childe, that from thy hand
Did commun breath and nouriture receave!
How brutish is it not to understand

How much to her we owe, that all us gave;
That gave unto us all whatever good we have!"

But Guyon all this while his booke did read,
Ne yet has ended: for it was a great
And ample volume, that doth far excead
My leasure so long leaves here to repeat:
It told how first Prometheus did create
A man, of many parts from beasts deryv'd,
And then stole fire from Heven to animate
His worke, for which he was by love depryv'd
Of life himselfe, and hart-strings of an aegle ryv'd.

Great was his power and glorie over all
Which, him before, that sacred seate did fill,
That yet remaines his wide memoriall:
He dying left the fairest Tanaquill,
Him to succeede therein, by his last will:
Fairer and nobler liveth none this howre,
Ne like in grace, ne like in learned skill;
Therefore they Glorian call that glorious flowre:
Long mayst thou, Glorian, live in glory and great
powre!

Beguyld thus with delight of novelties,
And naturall desire of countryes state,
So long they redd in those antiquities,
That how the time was fled they quite forgate;
Till gentle Alma, seeing it so late,
Perforce their studies broke, and them besought
To thinke how supper did them long awaite:
So halfe unwilling from their bookes them brought,
And fayrely feasted as so noble knightes she ought.

CANTO XI.

The enimies of Temperaunce
Besiege her dwelling place;
Prince Arthure them repelles, and fowle
Maleger doth deface.

WHAT warre so

rre so cruel, or what siege so sore,
As that, which strong affections doe apply
Against the forte of Reason evermore,
To bring the sowle into captivity!
Their force is fiercer through infirmity
Of the fraile flesh, relenting to their rage;
And exercise most bitter tyranny
Upon the partes, brought into their bondage:
No wretchednesse is like to sinfull vellenage.

But in a body which doth freely yeeld
His partes to Reasons rule obedient,

And letteth her that ought the scepter weeld,

All happy peace and goodly government

Is setled there in sure establishment.
There Alma, like a virgin queene most bright,
Doth florish in all beautie excellent;
And to her guestes doth bounteous banket dight,
Attempred goodly well for health and for delight.

Early, before the Morne with cremosin ray
The windowes of bright Heaven opened had,
Through which into the world the dawning Day
Might looke, that maketh every creature glad,
Uprose sir Guyon in bright armour clad,
And to his purposd iourney him prepar'd:
With him the palmer eke in habit sad
Himselfe addrest to that adventure hard:
So to the rivers syde they both together far'd:

Where them awaited ready at the ford
The ferriman, as Alma had behight,
With his well-rigged bote: they goe abord,
And he eftsoones gan launch his barke forthright.
Ere long they rowed were quite out of sight,
And fast the land behynd them fled away.
But let them pas, whiles winde and wether right
Doe serve their turnes: here I a while must stay,
To see a cruell fight doen by the prince this day.

The second bulwarke was the hearing sence,
Gainst which the second troupe dessignment makes;
Deformed creatures, in straunge difference:
Some having heads like harts, some like to snakes,
Some like wild bores late rouzd out of the brakes:
Slaunderous Reproches, and fowle Infamies,
Leasinges, Backbytinges, and vain-glorious Crakes,
Bad Counsels, Prayses, and false Flatteries:

All those against that fort did bend their batteries.

Likewise that same third fort, that is the smell,
Of that third troupe was cruelly assayd;
Whose hideous shapes were like to feendes of Hell,
Some like to houndes, some like to apes, dismayd;
Some, like to puttockes, all in plumes arayd;
All shap't according their conditions:
For, by those ugly formes, weren pourtrayd
Foolish Delights, and fond Abusions,

Which doe that sence besiege with light illusions.

And that fourth band which cruell battry bent
Against the fourth bulwarke, that is the taste,
Was, as the rest, a grysie rablement;
Some mouth'd like greedy oystriges; some faste
Like loathly toades; some fashioned in the waste
Like swine for so deformd is Luxury,
Surfeat, Misdiet, and unthriftie Waste,
Vain Feastes, and ydle Superfluity:
All those this sences fort assayle incessantly.

But the fift troupe, most horrible of hew
And ferce of force, is dreadfull to report;
For some like snailes, some did like spyders shew,
And some like ugly urchins thick and short:
Cruelly they assayled that fift fort,
Armed with dartes of sensuail Delight,
With stinges of carnall Lust, and strong effort
Of feeling Pleasures, with which day and night
Against that same fift bulwarke they continued fight.

Thus these twelve troupes with dreadfull puissaunce
Against that castle restlesse siege did lay,
And evermore their hideous ordinaunce
Upon the bulwarkes cruelly did play,
That now it gan to threaten neare decay:
And evermore their wicked capitaya
Provoked them the breaches to assay,
Sometimes with threats, sometimes with hope of
Which by the ransack of that peece they should
attayn.

[gayn,

The noble virgin, ladie of the place,
Was much dismayed with that dreadful sight,
(For never was she in so evill cace)
Till that the prince, seeing her wofull plight,
Gan her recomfort from so sad affright,
Offring his service and his dearest life
For her defence against that carle to fight,
Which was their chiefe and th' authour of that strife:
She him remercied as the patrone of her life,
Eftsoones himselfe in glitterand armes he dight,
And his well proved weapons to him hent;
So taking courteous congè, he behight
Those gates to be unbar'd, and forth he went.
Fayre mote he thee, the prowest and most gent,
That ever brandished bright steele on hye!
Whom soone as that unruly rablement
With his gay squyre issewing did espye,
They reard a most outrageous dreadfull yelling cry:

And therewithall attonce at him let fly
Their fluttring arrowes, thicke as flakes of snow,
And round about him flocke impetuously,
Like a great water-flood, that tombling low
From the high mountaines, threates to overflow
With suddein fury all the fertile playne,
And the sad husbandmans long hope doth throw
Adowne the streame, and all his vowes make vayne;
Nor bounds nor banks his headlong ruine may sus
tayne."

Upon his shield their heaped hayle he bore,
And with his sword disperst the raskall flockes,
Which fled asonder, and him fell before;
As withered leaves drop from their dryed stockes,
When the wroth western wind does reave their locks:
And underneath him his courageous steed,
The fierce Spumador, trode them downe like docks;
The fierce Spumador borne of heavenly seed;
Such as Laomedon of Phœbus race did breed.

Which suddeine horrour and confused cry
When as their capteine heard, in haste he yode
The cause to weet, and fault to remedy:
Upon a tygre swift and fierce he rode,
That as the winde ran underneath his lode,
Whiles his long legs nigh raught unto the ground:
Full large he was of limbe, and shoulders brode;
But of such subtile substance and unsound,
That like a ghost he seem'd whose grave-clothes
were unbound:

And in his hand a bended bow was seene,
And many arrowes under his right side,
All deadly dangerous, all crueil keene,
Headed with flint, and fethers bloody dide:
Such as the Indians in their quivers hide :
Those could he well direct and streight as line,
And bid them strike the marke which he had eyde:
Ne was there salve, ne was there medicine, [tine.
That mote recure their wounds; so inly they did

As pale and wan as ashes was his looke;
His body leane and meagre as a rake;
And skin all withered like a dryed rooke;
Thereto as cold and drery as a snake;
That seemd to tremble evermore and quake:
All in a canvas thin he was bedight,
And girded with a belt of twisted brake:
Upon his head he wore an helmet light,
Made of a dead mans skull, that seemd a ghastly

[sight:

Maleger was his name: and after bim
There follow'd fast at hand two wicked hags,
With hoary lockes all loose, and visage grim;
Their feet unshod, their bodies wrapt in rags,
And both as swift on foot as chased stags;
And yet the one her other legge had lame,
Which with a staffe all full of litle snags
She did support, and Impotence her name: [flame.
But th' other was Impatience armd with raging

Soone as the carle from far the prince espyde
Glistring in armes and warlike ornament,
His beast he felly prickt on either syde,
And his mischievous bow full readie bent,
With which at him a cruell shaft he sent :
But he was warie, and it warded well
Upon his shield, that it no further went,
But to the ground the idle quarrell fell:
Then he another and another did expell,

Which to prevent, the prince his mortall speare
Soone to him raught, and fierce at him did ride,
To be avenged of that shot whyleare:
But he was not so hardy to abide

That bitter stownd, but, turning quicke aside
His light-foot beast, fled fast away for feare:
Whom to poursue, the infant after hide
So fast as his good courser could him beare;
But labour lost it was to weene approch him neare.

Far as the winged wind his tigre fled,
That vew of eye could scarce him overtake,
Ne scarse his feet on ground were seene to tred;
Through hils and dales he speedy way did make,
Ne hedge ne ditch his readie passage brake,
And in his flight the villeine turn'd his face
(As wonts the Tartar by the Caspian lake,
Whenas the Russian him in fight does chace)
Unto his tygres taile, and shot at him apace.

Apace he shot, and yet he fled apace,
Still as the greedy knight nigh to him drew;
And oftentimes he would relent his pace,
That him his foe more fiercely should poursew:
But, when his uncouth manner he did vew,
He gan avize to follow him no more,

But keepe his standing, and his shaftes eschew,
Untill he quite had spent his perlous store, [more,
And then assayle him fresh, ere he could shift for

But that lame hag, still as abroad he strew
His wicked arrowes, gathered them againe,
And to him brought, fresh batteill to renew;
Which he espying cast her to restraine
From yielding succour to that cursed swaine,
And her attaching thought her hands to tye;
But, soone as him dismounted on the plaine
That other hag did far away espye
Binding her sister, she to him rau hastily;

And catching hold of him, as downe he lent,
Him backeward overthrew, and downe him stayd
With their rude handes and gryesly graplement
Till that the villein, coming to their ayd,
Upon him fell, and lode upon him layd:
Full litle wanted, but he had him slaine,
And of the battell balefull end had made,
Had not his gentle squire beheld his paine,
And commen to his reskew ere his bitter bane.

So greatest and most glorious thing on ground
May often need the helpe of weaker hand;
So feeble is mans state, and life unsound,
That in assuraunce it may never stand,
Til it dissolved be from earthly band!
Proofe be thou, prince, the prowest man alyve,
And noblest borne of all in Briton land;
Yet thee fierce Fortune did so nearely drive,
That, had not Grace thee blest, thou shouldest not
survive.

The squyre arriving, fiercely in his armes
Snatcht first the one, and then the other jade,
His chiefest letts and authors of his harmes,
And them perforce withheld with threatned blade,
Least that his lord they should behinde invade;
The whiles the prince, prickt with reprochful shame,
As one awakte out of long slombring shade,
Revivyng thought of glory and of fame,
United all his powres to purge himselfe from blame,

Like as a fire, the which in hollow cave
Hath long bene underkept and down supprest,
With murmurous disdayne doth inly rave,
And grudge, in so streight prison to be prest,
At last breakes forth with furious unrest
And strives to mount unto his native seat;
All that did earst it hinder and molest,
Yt now devoures with flames and scorching heat,
And carries into smoake with rage and horror great,