And he the ftouteft Knight, that ever wonne ?" "Ah! deareft Dame," quoth he,

might I fee

quoth he," how

The thing, that might not be, and yet was donne ?"

"Where is," faid Satyrane," that Paynims fonne,

That him of life, and us of ioy, hath refte ?" "Not far away," quoth he, "he hence doth

wonne,

Foreby a fountaine, where I late him left

with, dearest Lord. I have not altered the pointing; but fuppofing one should alter it, and think that Una, lifting her eyes to heaven, should in a kind of exclamation fay, Ah! dearest Lord! Good God, how might that be? The wicked Archimago, with malicious wit, takes it to himself, and farcaftically replies, Ah! dearest Dame-Is not all this decorum, and agreeable to the characters of both? UPTON.

XXXIX. 1. how might that bee,] That is, how should that be; and, in the fourth line," that might not," that should not, have been. Spenfer ufes might for should, as he elsewhere ufes may for can. CHURCH.

XXXIX. 2.

that ever wonne ?]

Here

wonne means that ever conquered in battle. The word, rhyming to it, means doth dwell. Germ. wonnen, habitare. Chaucer ufes it, and Milton has also admitted it into his Paradise Loft, B. vii. 457. UPTON.

Of the first won, which is used as a neuter verb, Milton also affords examples in Par. Loft, B. vi. 122.

66 He, who in debate of truth hath won,

"Should win in arms -"

See alfo Par. Reg. B. i. 426. TODD.

XXXIX. 8. Foreby] In the fenfe of by, fignifying near to. Again, F. Q. i. vii. 2. Foreby a fountain fide." But in the more common fenfe of by, F. Q. v. xi. 17.

"He tooke her

up forby the lilly hand." To which word the poet himself affords the interpretation, F. Q. iv. x. 53. "And BY the lilly hand her labourd up to rear." TODD.

Washing his bloody wounds, that through the fteele were cleft."

XL.

Therewith the Knight then marched forth in haft,

Whiles Una, with huge heavineffe opprest, Could not for forrow follow him so fast; And foone he came, as he the place had gheft, Whereas that Pagan proud himselfe did reft In fecret fhadow by a fountaine fide;

Even he it was, that earst would have fuppreft Faire Una; whom when Satyrane espide, With foule reprochfull words he boldly him defide;

XLI.

And faid; "Arife, thou curfed mifcreaunt, That haft with knightleffe guile, and treche rous train,

Faire knighthood fowly fhamed, and doeft

vaunt

That good Knight of the Redcroffe to have flain:

Arife, and with like treafon now maintain

XLI. 3. Faire knighthood fowly fhamed, and doeft vaunt] If we suppose a word to be left out here either in hafty writing, or by the printer; with much greater fpirit, and with better metre, we may thus read,

"That haft with knightleffe guile, and trecherous train, "Faire knighthood fowly fhamd. And doft thou vaunt "That good Knight of the Redcroffe to have flain ?"

UPTON.

Thy guilty wrong, or els thee guilty yield."
The Sarazin, this hearing, rofe amain,
And, catching up in haft his three-square
fhield

And shining helmet, foone him buckled to the

field;

XLII.

And, drawing nigh him, faid; " Ah! misborn

Elfe,

In evill houre thy foes thee hither sent
Anothers wrongs to wreak upon thy felfe:
Yet ill thou blameft me, for having blent
My name with guile and traiterous intent:
That Redcroffe Knight, perdie, I never flew ;
But had he beene, where earft his armes were
lent,

Th' Enchaunter vaine his errour fhould not

rew:

But thou his errour fhalt, I hope, now proven trew."

XLI. 8. his three-fquare Shield] The triangular fhield is faid to be of very high antiquity, and to have been introduced into this country. See Holmes's Academy of Armory, 1680. p. 6; more especially the paragraphs numbered V and VI. and the correfponding engravings. This shield was most commonly used by horfemen. TODD.

XLII. 7. But had he beene, where earft his armes were lent,] But had he been in the place of Archimago, (fee C. iii. ft. 37, 38,) He, and not the Enchaunter, should have rued for it. UPTON.

XLII. 8. -his errour] His own errour. In the next line, his also means the Enchanter's. CHURCH.

XLIII.

Therewith they gan, both furious and fell,
To thunder blowes, and fierfly to affaile
Each other, bent his enimy to quell ;

That with their force they perft both plate and maile,

And made wide furrowes in their fleshes fraile, That it would pitty any living eie:

Large floods of blood adowne their fides did raile;

But floods of blood could not them fatisfie: Both hongred after death; both chose to win,

or die.

XLIV.

So long they fight, and full revenge pursue, That, fainting, each themselves to breathen

"The purple blode eke fro the hartis vain
"Doune railid right faft

And G. Douglas, Virg. p. 390. ver. 43.
Quhil al the blude heboundantly furth ralis."

UPTON.

XLIV. 1. and full revenge] So Mr. Upton reads, with the first edition. Mr. Church follows the second and every other subsequent edition, "fell revenge." But the original reading is perhaps to be preferred. The combatants fight long, and battell oft renue, determining to have full, complete, revenge. TODD.

And, ofte refreshed, battell oft renue.
As when two bores, with rancling malice
mett,

Their gory fides fresh bleeding fiercely frett;
Til breathleffe both themfelves afide retire,
Where, foming wrath, their cruell tuskes they
whett,

And trample th' earth, the whiles they may refpire ;

Then backe to fight againe, new breathed and

entire.

XLV.

So fierfly, when thefe Knights had breathed

once,

They gan to fight retourne; increasing more Their puiffant force, and cruell rage attonce, With heaped ftrokes more hugely then before; That with their drery wounds, and bloody gore,

They both deformed, scarfely could bee known.

By this, fad Una fraught with anguish fore,

XLIV. 4. As when two bores,] This fame comparison the poet has introduced in F. Q. iv. iv. 29. But he feems to have borrowed it from Chaucer, where he describes the combat between Palamon and Arcite, Kn. Tale, 1160.

"As wild bores gan they to fight and fmite,
"That frothen white as fome for ire wode;
Up to the ancle fought they in ther blode."

66

See alfo Euripides, Phæniss. v. 1402, and Statius, Theb. xi. 530.

UPTON.