The Faerie Queene

by The Faerie Queen(Lit)

  Was swolne with wrath, & poyson, & with bloudy gore.

  And ouer, all with brasen scales was armd,

  Like plated coate of steele, so couched neare,

  That nought mote perce, ne might his corse be harmd

  With dint of sword, nor push of pointed speare;

  Which as an Eagle, seeing pray appeare,

  His aery plumes doth rouze, full rudely dight,

  So shaked he, that horrour was to heare,

  For as the clashing of an Armour bright,

  Such noyse his rouzed scales did send vnto the knight.

  His flaggy wings when forth he did display,

  Were like two sayles, in which the hollow wynd

  Is gathered full, and worketh speedy way:

  And eke the pennes, that did his pineons bynd,

  Were like mayne-yards, with flying canuas lynd,

  With which whenas him list the ayre to beat,

  And there by force vnwonted passage find,

  The cloudes before him fled for terrour great,

  And all the heauens stood still amazed with his threat.

  His huge long tayle wound vp in hundred foldes,

  Does ouerspred his long bras-scaly backe,

  Whose wreathed boughts when euer he vnfoldes,

  And thicke entangled knots adown does slacke.

  Bespotted all with shields of red and blacke,

  It sweepeth all the land behind him farre,

  And of three furlongs does but litle lacke;

  And at the point two stings in-fixed arre,

  Both deadly sharpe, that sharpest steele exceeden farre.

  But stings and sharpest steele did far exceed

  The sharpnesse of his cruell rending clawes;

  Dead was it sure, as sure as death in deed,

  What euer thing does touch his rauenous pawes,

  Or what within his reach he euer drawes.

  But his most hideous head my toung to tell

  Does tremble: for his deepe deuouring iawes

  Wide gaped, like the griesly mouth of hell,

  Through which into his darke abisse all rauin fell.

  And that more wondrous was, in either iaw

  Three ranckes of yron teeth enraunged were,

  In which yet trickling bloud and gobbets raw

  Of late deuoured bodies did appeare,

  That sight thereof bred cold congealed feare:

  Which to increase, and as atonce to kill,

  A cloud of smoothering smoke and sulphur seare

  Out of his stinking gorge forth steemed still,

  That all the ayre about with smoke and stench did fill.

  His blazing eyes, like two bright shining shields,

  Did burne with wrath, and sparkled liuing fyre;

  As two broad Beacons, set in open fields,

  Send forth their flames farre off to euery shyre,

  And warning giue, that enemies conspyre,

  With fire and sword the region to inuade;

  So flam'd his eyne with rage and rancorous yre:

  But farre within, as in a hollow glade,

  Those glaring lampes were set, that made a dreadfull shade.

  So dreadfully he towards him did pas,

  Forelifting vp aloft his speckled brest,

  And often bounding on the brused gras,

  As for great ioyance of his newcome guest.

  Eftsoones he gan aduance his haughtie crest,

  As chauffed Bore his bristles doth vpreare,

  And shoke his scales to battell readie drest;

  That made the Redcrosse knight nigh quake for feare,

  As bidding bold defiance to his foeman neare.

  The knight gan fairely couch his steadie speare,

  And fiercely ran at him with rigorous might:

  The pointed steele arriuing rudely theare,

  His harder hide would neither perce, nor bight,

  But glauncing by forth passed forward right;

  Yet sore amoued with so puissant push,

  The wrathfull beast about him turned light,

  And him so rudely passing by, did brush

  With his long tayle, that horse and man to ground did rush.

  Both horse and man vp lightly rose againe,

  And fresh encounter towards him addrest:

  But th'idle stroke yet backe recoyld in vaine,

  And found no place his deadly point to rest.

  Exceeding rage enflam'd the furious beast,

  To be auenged of so great despight;

  For neuer felt his imperceable brest

  So wondrous force, from hand of liuing wight;

  Yet had he prou'd the powre of many a puissant knight.

  Then with his wauing wings displayed wyde,

  Himselfe vp high he lifted from the ground,

  And with strong flight did forcibly diuide

  The yielding aire, which nigh too feeble found

  Her flitting partes, and element vnsound,

  To beare so great a weight: he cutting way

  With his broad sayles, about him soared round:

  At last low stouping with vnweldie sway,

  Snatcht vp both horse & man, to beare them quite away.

  Long he them bore aboue the subiect plaine,

  So farre as Ewghen bow a shaft may send,

  Till struggling strong did him at last constraine,

  To let them downe before his flightes end:

  As hagard hauke presuming to contend

  With hardie fowle, aboue his hable might,

  His wearie pounces all in vaine doth spend,

  To trusse the pray too heauie for his flight;

  Which comming downe to ground, does free it selfe by fight.

  He so disseized of his gryping grosse,

  The knight his thrillant speare againe assayd

  In his bras-plated body to embosse,

  And three mens strength vnto the stroke he layd;

  Wherewith the stiffe beame quaked, as affrayd,

  And glauncing from his scaly necke, did glyde

  Close vnder his left wing, then broad displayd.

  The percing steele there wrought a wound full wyde,

  That with the vncouth smart the Monster lowdly cryde.

  He cryde, as raging seas are wont to rore,

  When wintry storme his wrathfull wreck does threat,

  The rolling billowes beat the ragged shore,

  As they the earth would shoulder from her seat,

  And greedie gulfe does gape, as he would eat

  His neighbour element in his reuenge:

  Then gin the blustring brethren boldly threat,

  To moue the world from off his stedfast henge,

  And boystrous battell make, each other to auenge.

  The steely head stucke fast still in his flesh,

  Till with his cruell clawes he snatcht the wood,

  And quite a sunder broke. Forth flowed fresh

  A gushing riuer of blacke goarie blood,

  That drowned all the land, whereon he stood;

  The streame thereof would driue a water-mill.

  Trebly augmented was his furious mood

  With bitter sense of his deepe rooted ill,

  That flames of fire he threw forth frõ his large nosethrill.

  His hideous tayle then hurled he about,

  And therewith all enwrapt the nimble thyes

  Of his froth-fomy steed, whose courage stout

  Striuing to loose the knot, that fast him tyes,

  Himselfe in streighter bandes too rash implyes,

  That to the ground he is perforce constraynd

  To throw his rider: who can quickly ryse

  From off the earth, with durty bloud distaynd,

  For that reprochfull fall right fowly he disdaynd.

  And fiercely tooke his trenchand blade in hand,

  With which he stroke so furious and so fell,

  That nothing seemd the puissance could withstand:


  Vpon his crest the hardned yron fell,

  But his more hardned crest was armd so well,

  That deeper dint therein it would not make;

  Yet so extremely did the buffe him quell,

  That from thenceforth he shund the like to take,

  But when he saw them come, he did them still forsake.

  The knight was wrath to see his stroke beguyld,

  And smote againe with more outrageous might;

  But backe againe the sparckling steele recoyld,

  And left not any marke, where it did light;

  As if in Adamant rocke it had bene pight.

  The beast impatient of his smarting wound,

  And of so fierce and forcible despight,

  Thought with his wings to stye aboue the ground;

  But his late wounded wing vnseruiceable found.

  Then full of griefe and anguish vehement,

  He lowdly brayd, that like was neuer heard,

  And from his wide deuouring ouen sent

  A flake of fire, that flashing in his beard,

  Him all amazd, and almost made affeard:

  The scorching flame sore swinged all his face,

  And through his armour all his bodie seard,

  That he could not endure so cruell cace,

  But thought his armes to leaue, and helmet to vnlace.

  Not that great Champion of the antique world,

  Whom famous Poetes verse so much doth vaunt,

  And hath for twelue huge labours high extold,

  So many furies and sharpe fits did haunt,

  When him the poysoned garment did enchaunt

  With Centaures bloud, and bloudie verses charm'd,

  As did this knight twelue thousand dolours daunt,

  Whom fyrie steele now burnt, that earst him arm'd,

  That erst him goodly arm'd, now most of all him harm'd.

  Faint, wearie, sore, emboyled, grieued, brent

  With heat, toyle, wounds, armes, smart, & inward fire

  That neuer man such mischiefes did torment;

  Death better were, death did he oft desire,

  But death will neuer come, when needes require.

  Whom so dismayd when that his foe beheld,

  He cast to suffer him no more respire,

  But gan his sturdie sterne about to weld,

  And him so strongly stroke, that to the ground him feld.

  It fortuned (as faire it then befell)

  Behind his backe vnweeting, where he stood,

  Of auncient time there was a springing well,

  From which fast trickled forth a siluer flood,

  Full of great vertues, and for med'cine good.

  Whylome, before that cursed Dragon got

  That happie land, and all with innocent blood

  Defyld those sacred waues, it rightly hot

  The well of life, ne yet his vertues had forgot.

  For vnto life the dead it could restore,

  And guilt of sinfull crimes cleane wash away,

  Those that with sicknesse were infected sore,

  It could recure, and aged long decay

  Renew, as one were borne that very day.

  Both Silo this, and Iordan did excell,

  And th'English Bath, and eke the german Spau,

  Ne can Cephise, nor Hebrus match this well:

  Into the same the knight backe ouerthrowen, fell.

  Now gan the golden Phoebus for to steepe

  His fierie face in billowes of the west,

  And his faint steedes watred in Ocean deepe,

  Whiles from their iournall labours they did rest,

  When that infernall Monster, hauing kest

  His wearie foe into that liuing well,

  Can high aduance his broad discoloured brest,

  Aboue his wonted pitch, with countenance fell,

  And clapt his yron wings, as victor he did dwell.

  Which when his pensiue Ladie saw from farre,

  Great woe and sorrow did her soule assay,

  As weening that the sad end of the warre,

  And gan to highest God entirely pray,

  That feared chance from her to turne away;

  With folded hands and knees full lowly bent

  All night she watcht, ne once adowne would lay

  Her daintie limbs in her sad dreriment,

  But praying still did wake, and waking did lament.

  The morrow next gan early to appeare,

  That Titan rose to runne his daily race:

  But early ere the morrow next gan reare

  Out of the sea faire Titans deawy face,

  Vp rose the gentle virgin from her place,

  And looked all about, if she might spy

  Her loued knight to moue his manly pace:

  For she had great doubt of his safety,

  Since late she saw him fall before his enemy.

  At last she where he vpstarted braue

  Out of the well, wherein he drenched lay;

  As Eagle fresh out of the Ocean waue,

  Where he hath left his plumes all hoary gray,

  And deckt himselfe with feathers youthly gay,

  Like Eyas hauke vp mounts vnto the skies,

  His newly budded pineons to assay,

  And marueiles at himselfe, still as he flies:

  So new this new-borne knight to battell new did rise.

  Whom when the damned feend so fresh did spy,

  No wonder if he wondred at the sight,

  And doubted, whether his late enemy

  It were, or other new supplied knight.

  He, now to proue his late renewed might,

  High brandishing his bright deaw-burning blade,

  Vpon his crested scalpe so sore did smite,

  That to the scull a yawning wound it made:

  The deadly dint his dulled senses all dismaid.

  I wote not, whether the reuenging steele

  Were hardned with that holy water dew,

  Wherein he fell, or sharper edge did feele,

  Or his baptized hands now greater grew;

  Or other secret vertue did ensew;

  Else neuer could the force of fleshly arme,

  Ne molten mettall in his bloud embrew:

  For till that stownd could neuer wight him harme,

  By subtilty, nor slight, nor might, nor mighty charme.

  The cruell wound enraged him so sore,

  That loud he yelded for exceeding paine;

  As hundred ramping Lyons seem'd to rore,

  Whom rauenous hunger did thereto constraine:

  Then gan he tosse aloft his stretched traine,

  And therewith scourge the buxome aire so sore,

  That to his force to yeelden it was faine;

  Ne ought his sturdie strokes might stand afore,

  That high trees ouerthrew, and rocks in peeces tore.

  The same aduauncing high aboue his head,

  With sharpe intended sting so rude him smot,

  That to the earth him droue, as stricken dead,

  Ne liuing wight would haue him life behot:

  The mortall sting his angry needle shot

  Quite through his shield, and in his shoulder seasd,

  Where fast it stucke, ne would there out be got:

  The griefe thereof him wondrous sore diseasd,

  Ne might his ranckling paine with patience be appeasd.

  But yet more mindfull of his honour deare,

  Then of the grieuous smart, which him did wring,

  From loathed soile he can him lightly reare,

  And stroue to loose the farre infixed sting:

  Which when in vaine he tryde with struggeling.

  Inflam'd with wrath, his raging blade he heft,

  And.strooke so strongly, that the knotty string

  Of his huge taile he quite a sunder cleft,

  Fiue ioynts thereof he hewd, and but the stump him left.

  Hart cannot thinke, what outrage, and what cryes,
r />   With foule enfouldred smoake and flashing fire,

  The hell-bred beast threw forth vnto the skyes,

  That all was couered with darknesse dire:

  Then fraught with rancour, and engorged ire,

  He cast at once him to auenge for all,

  And gathering vp himselfe out of the mire,

  With his vneuen wings did fiercely fall

  Vpon his sunne-bright shield, and gript it fast withall.

  Much was the man encombred with his hold,

  In feare to lose his weapon in his paw,

  Ne wist yet, how his talants to vnfold;

  Nor harder was from Cerberus greedie iaw

  To plucke a bone, then from his cruell claw

  To reaue by strength the griped gage away:

  Thrise he assayd it from his foot to draw,

  And thrise in vaine to draw it did assay,

  It booted nought to thinke, to robbe him of his pray.

  Tho when he saw no power might preuaile,

  His trustie sword he cald to his last aid,

  Wherewith he fiercely did his foe assaile,

  And double blowes about him stoutly laid,

  That glauncing fire out of the yron plaid;

  As sparckles from the Anduile vse to fly,

  When heauie hammers on the wedge are swaid;

  Therewith at last he forst him to vnty

  One of his grasping feete, him to defend thereby.

  The other foot, fast fixed on his shield,

  Whenas no strength, nor stroks mote him constraine

  To loose, ne yet the warlike pledge to yield,

  He smot thereat with all his might and maine,

  That nought so wondrous puissance might sustaine;

  Vpon the ioynt the lucky steele did light,

  And made such way, that hewd it quite in twaine;

  The paw yet missed not his minisht might,

  But hong still on the shield, as it at first was pight.

  For griefe thereof, and diuelish despight,

  From his infernall fournace forth he threw

  Huge flames, that dimmed all the heauens light,

  Enrold in duskish smoke and brimstone blew;

  As burning Aetna from his boyling stew

  Doth belch out flames, and rockes in peeces broke,

  And ragged ribs of mountaines molten new,

  Enwrapt in coleblacke clouds and filthy smoke,