Yet in the ftreightnesse of that captive state
This gentle knight himfelfe fo well behaved,
That notwithstanding all the fubtill bait,
With which thofe Amazons his love ftill craved,
To his owne love his loialtie he faved:
Whose character in th' adamantine mould
Of his true hart fo firmely was engraved,
That no new loves impreffion ever could
Bereave it thence: fuch blot his honour blemish should.
Yet his owne love, the noble Britomart,
Scarfe fo conceived in her iealous thought,
What time fad tydings of his balefull fmart
In womans bondage Talus to her brought;
Brought in untimely houre, ere it was fought:
For after that the utmost date affynde
For his returne she waited had for nought,
She gan to caft in her mifdoubtfull mynde
A thousand feares, that love-ficke fancies faine to fynde.
Sometime the feared leaft fome hard mishap
Had him misfalne in his adventurous queft;
Sometime leaft his falfe foe did him entrap
In traytrous traine, or had unwares opprest;
But most she did her troubled mynd moleft,
And fecretly afflict with iealous fearé,
Leaft fome new love had him from her poffeft;
Yet loth fhe was, fince the no ill did heare,
To thinke of him fo ill; yet could fhe not forbeare.
One while fhe blam'd herselfe; another whyle
She him condemn'd as truftleffe and untrew :
And then her griefe with errour to beguyle
She fayn'd to count the time againe anew,
As if before fhe had not counted trew:
For houres, but dayes; for weekes that paffed were,
She told but moneths, to make them feeme more few:
Yet when she reckned them ftill drawing neare,
Each hour did feeme a moneth, and every moneth a yeare.
But whenas yet she saw him not returne,
She thought to fend fome one to feeke him out;
But none the found fo fit to serve that turne,
As her owne felfe, to ease herfelfe of dout.
Now the deviz'd amongst the warlike rout
Of errant knights to feeke her errant knight;
And then againe refolv'd to hunt him out
Amongst loose ladies lapped in delight:
And then both knights envide, and ladies eke did spight.
One day whenas fhe long had fought for eafe
In every place, and every place thought best,
Yet found no place that could her liking please,
She to a window came, that opened weft,
Towards which coaft her love his way addreft:
There looking forth fhee in her heart did find
Many vaine fancies working her unreft;
And fent her winged thoughts more swift then wind
To beare unto her love the message of her mind.
There as she looked long, at laft fhe fpide
One comming towards her with hasty speede;
Well weend the then, ere him fhe plaine defcride,
That it was one fent from her love indeede :
Who when he nigh approacht, shee mote arede
That it was Talus, Artegall his groome:
Whereat her heart was fild with hope and drede;
Ne would she stay till he in place could come,
But ran to meete him forth to know his tidings fomme.
Even in the dore him meeting, she begun ;
And where is he thy lord, and how far bence?
Declare at once: and hath he lost or wun?
The yron man, albe he wanted fence
And forrowes feeling, yet with confcience
Of his ill newes, did inly chill and quake,
And stood still mute, as one in great fufpence;
As if that by his filence he would make
Her rather reade his meaning then himselfe it spake.
There she began to make her moanefull plaint
Against her knight for being fo untrew;
And him to touch with falfhoods fowle attaint,
That all his other honour overthrew.
Oft did she blame herselfe, and often rew,
For yeelding to a ftraungers love fo light,
Whofe life and manners ftraunge she never knew;
And evermore she did him sharpely twight
For breach of faith to her, which he had firmely plight.
XIII.
And then the in her wrathfull will did caft
How to revenge that blot of honour blent,
To fight with him, and goodly die her laft:
And then againe fhe did herfelfe torment,
Inflicting on herselfe his punishment.
Awhile the walkt, and chauft; awhile fhe threw
her bed, and did lament:
Yet did fhe not lament with loude alew,
As women wont, but with deepe fighes and fingul's few.
Like as a wayward childe, whofe founder fleepe
Is broken with fome fearefull dreames affright,
With froward will doth fet himselfe to weepe,
Ne can be ftild for all his nurses might,
But kicks, and fquals, and fhriekes for fell defpight;
Now scratching her, and her loofe locks mifufing,
Now feeking darkeneffe, and now fecking light,
Then craving fucke, and then the fucke refufing:
Such was this ladies fit in her loves fond accufing.
XV.
But when she had with fuch unquiet fits
Herfelfe there clofe afflicted long in vaine,
Yet found no easement in her troubled wits,
She unto Talus forth return'd againe,
By change of place seeking to ease her paine;
And gan enquire of him with mylder mood
The certaine cause of Artegals detaine,
And what he did, and in what state he stood,
And whether he did woo, or whether he were woo'd.
Ab wellaway! fayd then the yron man,
That he is not the while in ftate to woo ;
But lies in wretched thraldome, weake and wan,
Not by ftrong hand compelled thereunto,
But his owne doome, that none can now undoo.
Sayd I not then, quoth fhe, ere-while aright,
That this is things compacte betwixt you two
Me to deceive of faith unto me plight,
Since that he was not forft, nor overcome in fight?
XVII.
With that he gan at large to her dilate
1 he whole difcourfe of his captivance fad, In fort as ye have heard the fame of late:
All which when the with hard enduraunce had Heard to the end, fhe was right fore beftad, With fodaine ftounds of wrath and grief attone; Ne would abide, till fhe had aunfwere made; But streight herselfe did dight, and armor don, And mounting to her steede bad Talus guide her on. XVIII.
So forth the rode uppon her ready way,
To feeke her knight, as Talus her did guide:
Sadly the rode, and never word did fay
Nor good nor bad, ne ever lookt afide,
But ftill right downe, and in her thought did hide The felneffe of her heart, right fully bent To fierce avengement of that womans pride, Which had her lord in her base prison pent, And fo great honour with fo fowle reproch had blent.
So as fhe thus melancholicke did ride,
Chawing the cud of griefe and inward paine,
She chaunft to meete toward the even-tide
A knight, that softly paced on the plaine,
As if himselfe to folace he were faine :
Well fhot in yeares he feem'd, and rather bent
To peace then needleffe trouble to constraine;
As well by view of that his vestiment,
As by his modest semblant, that no evill ment.
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