The Faerie Queene, Book I, Canto 8

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Title:     The Faerie Queene, Book I, Canto 8
Author: Edmund Spenser [More Titles by Spenser]

 
                 CANTO VIII

        Faire virgin, to redeeme her deare
          brings Arthur to the fight:
        Who slayes that Gyant, woundes the beast,
          and strips Duessa quight.

                    I

Ay me, how many perils doe enfold
  The righteous man, to make him daily fall,
  Were not that heavenly grace doth him uphold,
  And stedfast truth acquite him out of all.
  Her love is firme, her care continuall,                  5
  So oft as he through his owne foolish pride,
  Or weaknesse is to sinfull bands made thrall:
  Else should this Redcrosse knight in bands have dydd
For whose deliverance she this Prince doth thither guide.

                    II

They sadly traveild thus, until they came                  10
  Nigh to a castle builded strong and hie:
  Then cryde the Dwarfe, Lo yonder is the same,
  In which my Lord my liege doth lucklesse lie,
  Thrall to that Gyants hateful tyrannie:
  Therefore, deare Sir, your mightie powres assay.         15
  The noble knight alighted by and by
  From loftie steede, and bad the Ladie stay,
To see what end of fight should him befall that day.

                    III

So with the Squire, th' admirer of his might,
  He marched forth towards that castle wall;               20
  Whose gates he found fast shut, ne living wight
  To ward the same, nor answere commers call.
  Then tooke that Squire an horne[*] of bugle small.
  Which hong adowne his side in twisted gold
  And tassels gay. Wyde wonders over all                   25
  Of that same hornes great vertues weren told,
Which had approved bene in uses manifold.

                    IV

Was never wight that heard that shrilling sownd,
  But trembling feare did feel in every vaine;
  Three miles it might be easie heard around,              30
  And Ecchoes three answerd it selfe againe:
  No false enchauntment, nor deceiptfull traine,
  Might once abide the terror of that blast,
  But presently was voide and wholly vaine:
  No gate so strong, no locke so firme and fast,           35
But with that percing noise flew open quite, or brast.

                    V

The same before the Geants gate he blew,
  That all the castle quaked from the ground,
  And every dore of freewill open flew.
  The Gyant selfe dismaied with that sownd,                40
  Where he with his Duessa dalliance fownd,
  In hast came rushing forth from inner bowre,
  With staring countenance sterne, as one astownd,
  And staggering steps, to weet, what suddein stowre,
Had wrought that horror strange, and dar'd his dreaded powre.

                    VI

And after him the proud Duessa came
  High mounted on her many-headed beast;
  And every head with fyrie tongue did flame,
  And every head was crowned on his creast,
  And bloody mouthed with late cruell feast.[*]            50
  That when the knight beheld, his mightie shild
  Upon his manly arme he soone addrest,
  And at him fiercely flew, with courage fild,
And eger greedinesse through every member thrild.

                    VII

Therewith the Gyant buckled him to fight,                  55
  Inflam'd with scornefull wrath and high disdaine,
  And lifting up his dreadfull club on hight,
  All arm'd with ragged snubbes and knottie graine,
  Him thought at first encounter to have slaine.
  But wise and wary was that noble Pere,                   60
  And lightly leaping from so monstrous maine,
  Did faire avoide the violence him nere;
It booted nought to thinke such thunderbolts to beare.

                    VIII

Ne shame he thought to shunne so hideous might:
  The idle stroke, enforcing furious way,                  65
  Missing the marke of his misaymed sight
  Did fall to ground, and with his heavie sway
  So deepely dinted in the driven clay,
  That three yardes deepe a furrow up did throw:
  The sad earth wounded with so sore assay,                70
  Did grone full grievous underneath the blow,
And trembling with strange feare, did like an earthquake show.

                    IX

As when almightie Jove, in wrathfull mood,[*]
  To wreake the guilt of mortall sins is bent,
  Hurles forth his thundring dart with deadly food,        75
  Enrold in flames, and smouldring dreriment,
  Through riven cloudes and molten firmament;
  The fierce threeforked engin making way
  Both loftie towres and highest trees hath rent,
  And all that might his angry passage stay,               80
And shooting in the earth, casts up a mount of clay.

                    X

His boystrous club, so buried in the ground,
  He could not rearen up againe so light,
  But that the knight him at avantage found,
  And whiles he strove his combred clubbe to quight        85
  Out of the earth, with blade all burning bright
  He smote off his left arme, which like a blocke
  Did fall to ground, depriv'd of native might;
  Large streames of bloud out of the truncked stocke
Forth gushed, like fresh water streame from riven rocke.   90

                    XI

Dismayed with so desperate deadly wound,
  And eke impatient of unwonted paine,
  He lowdly brayd with beastly yelling sound,
  That all the fields rebellowed againe;
  As great a noyse, as when in Cymbrian plaine[*]          95
  An heard of Bulles, whom kindly rage[*] doth sting,
  Do for the milkie mothers want complaine,
  And fill the fields with troublous bellowing,
The neighbour woods around with hollow murmur ring.

                    XII
That when his deare Duessa heard, and saw                  100
  The evil stownd, that daungerd her estate,
  Unto his aide she hastily did draw
  Her dreadfull beast, who swolne with blood of late
  Came ramping forth with proud presumpteous gate,
  And threatned all his heads like flaming brands.[*]      105
  But him the Squire made quickly to retrate,
  Encountring fierce with single sword in hand,
And twixt him and his Lord did like a bulwarke stand.

                    XIII

The proud Duessa, full of wrathfull spight,
  And fierce disdaine, to be affronted so,                 110
  Enforst her purple beast with all her might
  That stop out of the way to overthroe,
  Scorning the let of so unequall foe:
  But nathemore would that courageous swayne
  To her yeeld passage, gainst his Lord to goe,            115
  But with outrageous strokes did him restraine,
And with his bodie bard the way atwixt them twaine.

                    XIV

Then tooke the angrie witch her golden cup,[*]
  Which still she bore, replete with magick artes;
  Death and despeyre did many thereof sup,                 120
  And secret poyson through their inner parts,
  Th' eternall bale of heavie wounded harts;
  Which after charmes and some enchauntments said
  She lightly sprinkled on his weaker parts;
  Therewith his sturdie courage soone was quayd,           125
And all his senses were with suddeine dread dismayd.

                    XV

So downe he fell before the cruell beast,
  Who on his neck his bloody clawes did seize,
  That life nigh crusht out of his panting brest:
  No powre he had to stirre, nor will to rize.             130
  That when the carefull knight gan well avise,
  He lightly left the foe, with whom he fought,
  And to the beast gan turne his enterprise;
  For wondrous anguish in his hart it wrought,
To see his loved Squire into such thraldome brought.       135

                    XVI

And high advauncing his blood-thirstie blade,
  Stroke one of those deformed heads so sore,
  That of his puissance proud ensample made;
  His monstrous scalpe downe to his teeth it tore,
  And that misformed shape mis-shaped more:                140
  A sea of blood gusht from the gaping wound,
  That her gay garments staynd with filthy gore,
  And overflowed all the field around;
That over shoes in bloud he waded on the ground.

                    XVII

Thereat he roared for exceeding paine,                     145
  That to have heard great horror would have bred,
  And scourging th' emptie ayre with his long traine,
  Through great impatience[*] of his grieved hed
  His gorgeous ryder from her loftie sted
  Would have cast downe, and trod in durtie myre,          150
  Had not the Gyant soone her succoured;
  Who all enrag'd with smart and franticke yre,
Came hurtling in full fierce, and forst the knight retyre.

                    XVIII

The force which wont in two to be disperst,
  In one alone left hand[*] he now unites,                 155
  Which is through rage more strong than both were erst;
  With which his hideous club aloft he dites,
  And at his foe with furious rigour smites,
  That strongest Oake might seeme to overthrow:
  The stroke upon his shield so heavie lites,              160
  That to the ground it doubleth him full low:
What mortall wight could ever beare so monstrous blow?

                    XIX

And in his fall his shield,[*] that covered was,
  Did loose his vele by chaunce, and open flew:
  The light whereof, that heavens light did pas,           165
  Such blazing brightnesse through the aier threw,
  That eye mote not the same endure to vew.
  Which when the Gyaunt spyde with staring eye,
  He downe let fall his arme, and soft withdrew
  His weapon huge, that heaved was on hye                  170
For to have slaine the man, that on the ground did lye.

                    XX

And eke the fruitfull-headed beast, amazd
  At flashing beames of that sunshiny shield,
  Became starke blind, and all his sences daz'd,
  That downe he tumbled on the durtie field,               175
  And seem'd himselfe as conquered to yield.
  Whom when his maistresse proud perceiv'd to fall,
  Whiles yet his feeble feet for faintnesse reeld,
  Unto the Gyant loudly she gan call,
O helpe Orgoglio, helpe, or else we perish all.            180

                    XXI

At her so pitteous cry was much amoov'd
  Her champion stout, and for to ayde his frend,
  Againe his wonted angry weapon proov'd:
  But all in vaine: for he has read his end
  In that bright shield, and all their forces spend        185
  Themselves in vaine: for since that glauncing sight,
  He had no powre to hurt, nor to defend;
  As where th' Almighties lightning brond does light,
It dimmes the dazed eyen, and daunts the senses quight.

                    XXII

Whom when the Prince, to battell new addrest,              190
  And threatning high his dreadfull stroke did see,
  His sparkling blade about his head he blest,
  And smote off quite his right leg by the knee,
  That downe he tombled; as an aged tree,
  High growing on the top of rocky clift,                  195
  Whose hartstrings with keene steele nigh hewen be,
  The mightie trunck halfe rent, with ragged rift
Doth roll adowne the rocks, and fall with fearefull drift.

                    XXIII

Or as a Castle reared high and round,
  By subtile engins and malitious slight                   200
  Is undermined from the lowest ground,
  And her foundation forst, and feebled quight,
  At last downe falles, and with her heaped hight
  Her hastie ruine does more heavie make,
  And yields it selfe unto the victours might;             205
  Such was this Gyants fall, that seemd to shake
The stedfast globe of earth, as it for feare did quake.

                    XXIV

The knight then lightly leaping to the pray,
  With mortall steele him smot againe so sore,
  That headlesse his unweldy bodie lay,                    210
  All wallowd in his owne fowle bloudy gore,
  Which flowed from his wounds in wondrous store.
  But soone as breath out of his breast did pas,
  That huge great body, which the Gyaunt bore,
  Was vanisht quite, and of that monstrous mas             215
Was nothing left, but like an emptie bladder was.

                    XXV

Whose grievous fall, when false Duessa spide,
  Her golden cup she cast unto the ground,
  And crowned mitre rudely threw aside;
  Such percing griefe her stubborne hart did wound,        220
  That she could not endure that dolefull stound,
  But leaving all behind her, fled away;
  The light-foot Squire her quickly turnd around,
  And by hard meanes enforcing her to stay,
So brought unto his Lord, as his deserved pray.            225

                    XXVI

The royall Virgin which beheld from farre,
  In pensive plight, and sad perplexitie,
  The whole atchievement of this doubtfull warre,
  Came running fast to greet his victorie,
  With sober gladnesse, and myld modestie,                 230
  And with sweet joyous cheare him thus bespake:
  Faire braunch of noblesse, flowre of chevalrie,
  That with your worth the world amazed make,
How shall I quite the paines ye suffer for my sake?

                    XXVII

And you fresh budd of vertue springing fast,               235
  Whom these sad eyes saw nigh unto deaths dore,
  What hath poore Virgin for such perill past
  Wherewith you to reward? Accept therefore
  My simple selfe, and service evermore;
  And he that high does sit, and all things see            240
  With equall eyes, their merites to restore,
  Behold what ye this day have done for mee,
And what I cannot quite, requite with usuree.

                    XXVIII

But sith the heavens, and your faire handeling
  Have made you master of the field this day,              245
  Your fortune maister[*] eke with governing,
  And well begun end all so well, I pray.
  Ne let that wicked woman scape away;
  For she it is, that did my Lord bethrall,
  My dearest Lord, and deepe in dongeon lay,               250
  Where he his better dayes hath wasted all.
O heare, how piteous he to you for ayd does call.

                    XXIX

Forthwith he gave in charge unto his Squire,
  That scarlot whore to keepen carefully;
  Whiles he himselfe with greedie great desire             255
  Into the Castle entred forcibly,
  Where living creature none he did espye;
  Then gan he lowdly through the house to call:
  But no man car'd to answere to his crye.
  There raignd a solemne silence over all,                 260
Nor voice was heard, nor wight was seene in bowre or hall.

                    XXX

At last with creeping crooked pace forth came
  An old old man, with beard as white as snow,
  That on a staffe his feeble steps did frame,
  And guide his wearie gate both to and fro:               265
  For his eye sight him failed long ygo,
  And on his arme a bounch of keyes he bore,
  The which unused rust[*] did overgrow:
  Those were the keyes of every inner dore,
But he could not them use, but kept them still in store.   270

                    XXXI

But very uncouth sight was to behold,
  How he did fashion his untoward pace,
  For as he forward moov'd his footing old,
  So backward still was turnd his wrincled face,
  Unlike to men, who ever as they trace,                   275
  Both feet and face one way are wont to lead.
  This was the auncient keeper of that place,
  And foster father of the Gyant dead;
His name Ignaro did his nature right aread.

                    XXXII

His reverend haires and holy gravitie                      280
  The knight much honord, as beseemed well,
  And gently askt, where all the people bee,
  Which in that stately building wont to dwell.
  Who answerd him full soft, he could not tell.
  Again he askt, where that same knight was layd,          285
  Whom great Orgoglio with his puissance fell
  Had made his caytive thrall, againe he sayde,
He could not tell: ne ever other answere made.

                    XXXIII

Then asked he, which way he in might pas:
  He could not tell, againe he answered.                   290
  Thereat the curteous knight displeased was,
  And said, Old sire, it seemes thou hast not red
  How ill it sits with that same silver hed,
  In vaine to mocke, or mockt in vaine to bee:
  But if thou be, as thou art pourtrahed                   295
  With natures pen,[*] in ages grave degree,
Aread in graver wise, what I demaund of thee.

                    XXXIV

His answere likewise was, he could not tell.
  Whose sencelesse speach, and doted ignorance
  When as the noble Prince had marked well,                300
  He ghest his nature by his countenance,
  And calmd his wrath with goodly temperance.
  Then to him stepping, from his arme did reach
  Those keyes, and made himselfe free enterance.
  Each dore he opened without any breach;                  305
There was no barre to stop, nor foe him to empeach.

                    XXXV

There all within full rich arrayd he found,
  With royall arras and resplendent gold.
  And did with store of every thing abound,
  That greatest Princes[*] presence might behold.          310
  But all the floore (too filthy to be told)
  With bloud of guiltlesse babes, and innocents trew,[*]
  Which there were slaine, as sheepe out of the fold,
  Defiled was, that dreadfull was to vew,
And sacred ashes over it was strowed new.[*]               315
                    XXXVI
And there beside of marble stone was built
  An Altare,[*] carv'd with cunning ymagery,
  On which true Christians bloud was often spilt,
  And holy Martyrs often doen to dye,
  With cruell malice and strong tyranny:                   320
  Whose blessed sprites from underneath the stone
  To God for vengeance cryde continually,
  And with great griefe were often heard to grone,
That hardest heart would bleede, to hear their piteous mone.

                    XXXVII

Through every rowme he sought, and every bowr,             325
  But no where could he find that woful thrall:
  At last he came unto an yron doore,
  That fast was lockt, but key found not at all
  Emongst that bounch, to open it withall;
  But in the same a little grate was pight,                330
  Through which he sent his voyce, and lowd did call
  With all his powre, to weet, if living wight
Were housed there within, whom he enlargen might.

                    XXXVIII

Therewith an hollow, dreary, murmuring voyce
  These pitteous plaints and dolours did resound;          335
  O who is that, which brings me happy choyce
  Of death, that here lye dying every stound,
  Yet live perforce in balefull darkenesse bound?
  For now three Moones have changed thrice their hew,
  And have been thrice hid underneath the ground,          340
  Since I the heavens chearfull face did vew,
O welcome thou, that doest of death bring tydings trew.

                    XXXIX

Which when that Champion heard, with percing point
  Of pitty deare his hart was thrilled sore,
  And trembling horrour ran through every joynt            345
  For ruth of gentle knight so fowle forlore:
  Which shaking off, he rent that yron dore,
  With furious force, and indignation fell;
  Where entred in, his foot could find no flore,
  But all a deepe descent, as darke as hell,               350
That breathed ever forth a filthie banefull smell.

                    XL

But neither darkenesse fowle, nor filthy bands,
  Nor noyous smell his purpose could withhold,
  (Entire affection hateth nicer hands)
  But that with constant zeale, and courage bold,          355
  After long paines and labours manifold,
  He found the meanes that Prisoner up to reare;
  Whose feeble thighes, unhable to uphold
  His pined corse, him scarse to light could beare.
A ruefull spectacle of death and ghastly drere.            360

                    XLI

His sad dull eyes deepe sunck in hollow pits,
  Could not endure th' unwonted sunne to view;
  His bare thin cheekes for want of better bits,
  And empty sides deceived of their dew,
  Could make a stony hart his hap to rew;                  365
  His rawbone armes, whose mighty brawned bowrs[*]
  Were wont to rive steele plates, and helmets hew,
  Were cleane consum'd, and all his vitall powres
Decayd, and all his flesh shronk up like withered flowres.

                    XLII

Whom when his Lady saw, to him she ran                     370
  With hasty joy: to see him made her glad,
  And sad to view his visage pale and wan,
  Who earst in flowres of freshest youth was clad.
  Tho when her well of teares she wasted had,
  She said, Ah dearest Lord, what evill starre[*]          375
  On you hath fround, and pourd his influence bad,
  That of your selfe ye thus berobbed arre,
And this misseeming hew your manly looks doth marre?

                    XLIII

But welcome now my Lord, in wele or woe,
  Whose presence I have lackt too long a day;              380
  And fie on Fortune mine avowed foe,[*]
  Whose wrathful wreakes them selves doe now alay.
  And for these wrongs shall treble penaunce pay
  Of treble good: good growes of evils priefe.[*]
  The chearelesse man, whom sorrow did dismay,             385
  Had no delight to treaten of his griefe;
His long endured famine needed more reliefe.

                    XLIV

Faire Lady, then said that victorious knight,
  The things, that grievous were to do, or beare,
  Them to renew, I wote, breeds no delight;                390
  Best musicke breeds delight[*] in loathing eare:
  But th' onely good, that growes of passed feare,
  Is to be wise, and ware of like agein.
  This dayes ensample hath this lesson deare
  Deepe written in my heart with yron pen,                 395
That blisse may not abide in state of mortall men.
                    XLV

Henceforth sir knight, take to you wonted strength,
  And maister these mishaps with patient might;
  Loe where your foe lyes stretcht in monstrous length,
  And loe that wicked woman in your sight,                 400
  The roote of all your care, and wretched plight,
  Now in your powre, to let her live, or dye.
  To do her dye (quoth Una) were despight,
  And shame t'avenge so weake an enimy;
But spoile her of her scarlot robe, and let her fly.       405

                    XLVI

So as she bad, that witch they disaraid,[*]
  And robd of royall robes, and purple pall,
  And ornaments that richly were displaid;
  Ne spared they to strip her naked all.
  Then when they had despoiled her tire and call,          410
  Such as she was, their eyes might her behold,
  That her misshaped parts did them appall,
  A loathly, wrinckled hag, ill favoured, old,
Whose secret filth good manners biddeth not be told.
       *       *       *       *       *

                    XLIX

Which when the knights beheld, amazd they were,            415
  And wondred at so fowle deformed wight.
  Such then (said Una) as she seemeth here,
  Such is the face of falshood, such the sight
  Of fowle Duessa, when her borrowed light
  Is laid away, and counterfesaunce knowne.                420
  Thus when they had the witch disrobed quight,
  And all her filthy feature open showne,
They let her goe at will, and wander wayes unknowne.

                    L

She flying fast from heavens hated face,
  And from the world that her discovered wide,             425
  Fled to the wastfull wildernesse apace,
  From living eyes her open shame to hide,
  And lurkt in rocks and caves long unespide.
  But that faire crew of knights, and Una faire
  Did in that castle afterwards abide,                     430
  To rest them selves, and weary powres repaire,
Where store they found of all that dainty was and rare.
 

NOTES:

CANTO VIII

I. _The Plot:_ Prince Arthur and Una are conducted by the Dwarf to Orgoglio's Castle. At the blast of the Squire's horn the Giant comes forth attended by Duessa mounted on the seven-headed Beast. In the battle which ensues Arthur wounds the Beast, slays the Giant and captures Duessa. Prince Arthur finds the Redcross Knight half starved in a foul dungeon and releases him. Duessa is stripped of her gaudy clothes and allowed to hide herself in the wilderness.

II. _The Allegory:_ 1. Magnificence, the sum of all the virtues, wins the victory over Carnal Pride, and restores Holiness to its better half, Truth. With the overthrow of Pride, Falsehood, which is the ally of that vice, is stripped of its outward show and exposed in all its hideous deformity.

2. The false Romish Church becomes drunk in the blood of the martyrs. There is a hint of the persecutions in the Netherlands, in Piedmont, of the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day and the burnings under Bloody Mary. Protestant England is delivered from Popish tyranny by the honor and courage of the English people. Militant England (Prince Arthur) is assisted by the clergy (Squire) with his horn (Bible) and is guided by Truth and Common Sense (Dwarf).

23. HORNE OF BUGLE SMALL, the English Bible. Spenser here imitates the description of the magic horn of Logistilla in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, xv, 15, 53. Such horns are frequently mentioned in romance, e.g., _Chanson de Roland_, _Morte d' Arthur_, Hawes' _Pastime_, Tasso's _Jerusalem Delivered_, _Huon of Bordeaux_, _Romance of Sir Otarel_, Cervantes' _Don Quixote_, etc.

50. LATE CRUELL FEAST, a probable reference to the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day in Paris in 1572, and to the persecutions of Alva's Council of Blood in the Netherlands in 1567.

ix. This stanza is an imitation of Homer's _Iliad_, xiv, 414.

95. IN CYMBRIAN PLAINE, probably the Crimea, the ancient Tauric Chersonese. Some connect it with the Cimbric Chersonese, or Jutland, which was famous for its herds of bulls.

96. KINDLY RAGE, natural passion.

105. Note the Latinism "threatened his heads," and the imperfect rhyme "brands."

118. HER GOLDEN CUP, suggested by Circe's magic cup in Homer's _Odyssey_, x, 316, and the golden cup of the Babylonish woman in _Revelation_, xvii, 4.

148. THROUGH GREAT IMPATIENCE OF HIS GRIEVED HED, etc., through inability to endure (the pain of) his wounded head, he would have cast down his rider, etc.

155. IN ONE ALONE LEFT HAND, in one hand alone remaining. His left arm had been cut off (x).

xix. The uncovered shield represents the open Bible. The incident is an imitation of Ruggiero's display of his shield in _Orlando Furioso_, xxii, 85.

246. YOUR FORTUNE MAISTER, etc., be master of your fortune by good management.

268. UNUSED RUST, rust which is due to disuse; a Latinism.

296. WITH NATURES PEN, etc., i.e. by his gray hairs, at that age to which proper seriousness belongs. "I cannot tell" did not become his venerable looks.

310. THAT GREATEST PRINCES, etc. This may mean (1) befitting the presence of the greatest princes, or (2) that the greatest princes might deign to behold in person. The first interpretation is preferable.

312. A general reference to the bloody persecutions without regard to age or sex carried on for centuries by the Romish Church, often under the name of "crusades," "acts of faith," "holy inquisition," etc.

315. This may refer to the burning of heretics, under the pretext that the Church shed no blood. Kitchin thinks that it means "accursed ashes."

317. AN ALTARE, cf. _Revelation_, vi, 9. CARV'D WITH CUNNING YMAGERY, "in allusion to the stimulus given to the fine arts by the Church of Rome" (Percival).

366. BRAWNED BOWRS, brawny muscles.

375. WHAT EVILL STARRE, etc. In Spenser's day, belief in astrology, the pseudo-science of the influence of the stars on human lives, was still common.

381. There was an old familiar ballad entitled _Fortune my Foe_.

384. i.e. your good fortune will be threefold as great as your evil fortune.

384. GOOD GROWES OF EVILS PRIEFE, good springs out of our endurance of the tests and experience of evil.

391. BEST MUSICKE BREEDS DELIGHT, etc. A troublesome passage. Upton and Jortin emend _delight_ to _dislike_; Church inserts _no_ before _delight_ and omits _best_; Kitchin suggests _despight_; Grosart prefers the text as it stands with the meaning that although the best music pleases the troubled mind, it is no pleasure to renew the memory of past sufferings. I venture to offer still another solution, based on the context. When Una shows a desire to hear from her Knight a recountal of his sufferings in the dungeon, and he is silent, being loath to speak of them, Arthur reminds her that a _change of subject is best_, for the best music is that which breeds delight in the troubled ear.

xlvi. In this passage Spenser follows closely the description of the witch Alcina in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, vii, 73. Rogero has been fascinated by her false beauty, and her real foulness is exposed by means of a magic ring. The stripping of Duessa symbolizes the proscription of vestments and ritual, and the overthrow of images, etc., at the time of the Reformation. Duessa is only banished to the wilderness, not put to death, and reappears in another book of the poem.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

(Canto VIII)

1. What moral reflections are found in i? 2. What were the duties of the Squire in chivalry? 3. What part does Arthur's Squire play? 4. What does the Squire's horn symbolize? 5. Observe the classical figure in ix. 6. Describe the battle before the Giant's Castle, stating what part is taken by each of the four engaged. 7. Point out several of the characteristics of a typical battle of romance, and compare with combats in classical and modern times. 8. What additional traits of Una's character are presented in this Canto? Note especially her treatment of the Knight. 9. How is the unchangeableness of truth illustrated in this story? 10. Who is the old man in xxx _seq._? 11. Who is the _woful thrall_ in xxxvii? 12. In what condition, mental and physical, is the Knight when liberated? 13. How long was he a captive? 14. What was Duessa's punishment? Was it adequate? Explain its moral and religious meaning. 15. Observe the use of _thou_ and _ye_ (_you_) in this Canto. 16. Find examples of _antithesis_, _alliteration_, _Latinisms_.

[The end]
Edmund Spenser's poem: Faerie Queene, Book I, Canto 8

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