At laft whenas no meanes he could invent,
Backe to himselfe he gan returne the blame,
That was the author of her punishment;
And with vile curfes and reprochfull shame
To damne himselfe by every evil name,
And deeme unworthy or of love or life,
That had defpifde fo chaft and faire a dame,
Which him had fought through trouble and long ftrife;
Yet had refusde a god that her had fought to wife.
In this fad plight he walked here and there,
And romed round about the rocke in vaine,
As he had loft himselfe, he wist not where ;
Oft listening if he mote her heare againe;
And still bemoning her unworthy paine :
Like as an hynde whofe calfe is falne unwares
Into fome pit, where the him heares complaine,
An hundred times about the pit fide fares,
Right forrowfully mourning her bereaved cares.
XVIII.
And now by this the feaft was throughly ended,
And every one gan homeward to refort:
Which feeing, Marinell was fore offended,
That his departure thence should be so short,
And leave his love in that fea-walled fort;
Yet durft he not his mother disobay;
But her attending in full feemly fort,
Did march amongst the many all the way:
And all the way did inly mourne like one aftray.
Being returned to his mothers bowre,
In folitary filence far from wight
He gan record the lamentable ftowre,
In which his wretched love lay day and night
For his deare fake, that ill deferv'd that plight:
The thought whereof empierft his hart fo deepe,
That of no worldly thing he tooke delight;
Ne dayly food did take, ne nightly fleepe,
But pyn'd, and mourn'd, and languisht, and alone did weepe :
That in short space his wonted chearefull hew
Gan fade, and lively spirits deaded quight:
His cheeke-bones raw, and eie-pits hollow grew,
And brawney armes had loft their knowen might,
That nothing like himselfe he seem'd in fight.
Ere long fo weake of limbe, and ficke of love
He woxe, that lenger he note ftand upright,
But to his bed was brought, and layd above,
Like ruefull ghoft, unable once to ftir or move.
XXI.
Which when his mother faw, fhe in her mind
Was troubled fore, ne wift well what to weene,
Ne could by fearch nor any meanes out find
The fecret cause and nature of his teene,
Whereby fhe might apply fome medicine ;
But weeping day and night did him attend,
And mourn'd to see her loffe before her eyne;
Which griev'd her more, that she it could not mend:
To fee an helpleffe evill double griefe doth lend.
Nought could the read the root of his disease,
Ne weene what mister maladie it is,
Whereby to feeke fome means it to appeafe.
Most did she thinke, but most she thought amis,
That that fame former fatall wound of his
Whyleare by Tryphon was not throughly healed,
But closely rankled under th'orifis :
Leaft did fhe thinke, that which he moft concealed,
That love it was which in his hart lay unrevealed.
XXIII.
Therefore to Tryphon fhe againe doth hast,
And him doth chyde as falfe and fraudulent,
That fayld the truft which she in him had plast,
To cure her fonne, as he his faith had lent:
Who now was falne into new languishment
Of his old hurt, which was not throughly cured.
So backe he came unto her patient;
Where fearching every part, her well affured,
That it was no old fore which his new paine procured:
But that it was fome other maladie,
Or grief unknowne, which he could not difcerne :
So left he her withouten remedie.
Then gan
her heart to faint, and quake, and earne,
And inly troubled was the truth to learne.
Unto himselfe she came, and him befought,
Now with faire speeches, now with threatnings fterne,
If ought lay hidden in his grieved thought,
It to reveale: who ftill her anfwered there was nought.
XXV.
Nathleffe fhe rested not so fatisfide;
But leaving watry gods, as booting nought,
Unto the fhinie heaven in haste she hide,
And thence Apollo king of leaches brought.
Apollo came; who foone as he had fought
Through his disease, did by and by out find
That he did languish of fome inward thought,
The which afflicted his engrieved mind;
Which love he red to be, that leads each living kind.
XXVI.
Which when he had unto his mother told,
She gan thereat to fret and greatly grieve:
And comming to her fonne gan first to scold
And chyde at him, that made her misbelieve :
But afterwards the gan him foft to shrieve,
And wooe with fair intreatie, to disclose
Which of the nymphes his heart fo fore did mieve:
For fure she weend it was fome one of those,
Which he had lately feene, that for his love he chose.
XXVII.
Now leffe fhe feared that fame fatall read,
That warned him of womens love beware:
Which being ment of mortal creatures fead,
For love of nymphes fhe thought the need not care,
But promist him, whatever wight she weare,
That she her love to him would shortly gaine:
So he her told: but foone as she did heare
That Florimell it was which wrought his paine,
gan afresh to chafe, and grieve in every vaine.
Yet fince the faw the ftreight extremitie,
In which his life unluckily was layd,
It was no time to scan the prophecie,
Whether old Proteus true or false had fayd,
That his decay should happen by a mayd:
It's late in death of daunger to advize,
Or love forbid him, that is life denayd :
But rather gan in troubled mind devize
How the that ladies libertie might enterprize.
XXIX.
To Proteus felfe to few fhe thought it vaine,
Who was the root and worker of her woe,
Nor unto any meaner to complaine;
But unto great king Neptune feife did goé,
And on her knee before hit falling lowe,
Made humble fuit unto his macie
To graunt to her her fonnes life, which his foe,
A cruell tyrant, had prefumpteouflie
By wicked doome condemn'd a wretched death to die.
To whom god Neptune foftly fmyling, thus;
Daughter, me feemes of double wrong ye plaine,
Gainft one that hath both wronged you and us :
For death t'adward I ween'd did appertaine
To none, but to the feas fole foveraine.
Read therefore who it is which this bath wrought,
And for what caufe; the truth discover plaine :
For never wight fo evil did or thought,
But would fome rightfull caufe pretend, though rightly nought.
To whom the answer'd, Then it is by name
Proteus, that hath ordayn'd my fonne to die 3
For that a waift, the which by fortune came
Upon your feas, he claym'd as propertie:
And yet nor his, nor his in equitie,
But yours the waift by high prerogative.
Therefore I humbly crave your maieftie
It to replevie, and my fonne reprive :
So fhall you by one gift fave all us three alive.
He graunted it and ftreight his warrant made,
Under the fea-gods feale autenticall,
Commaunding Proteus straight t' enlarge the mayd,
Which wandering on his feas imperiall
He lately tooke, and fithence kept as thrall:
Which the receiving with meete thankfulneffe
Departed straight to Proteus therewithall :
Who reading it with inward loathfulnesse
Was grieved to restore the pledge he did poffeffe.
XXXIII.
Yet durft he not the warrant to withstand,
But unto her delivered Florimell:
Whom she receiving by the lilly hand
Admyr'd her beautie much, as fhe mote well:
For the all living creatures did excell;
And was right ioyous that she gotten had
So faire a wife for her fonne Marinell.
So home with her fhe straight the virgin lad,
And shewed her to him then being fore beftad.
Who foone as he beheld that angels face,
Adorn'd with all divine perfection,
His cheared heart eftfoones away gan chace
Sad death, revived with her fweet infpection,
And feeble spirit inly felt refection
As withered weed through cruell winters tine,
That feeles the warmth of funny beames reflection,
Liftes up his head that did before decline,
And gins to spread his leafe before the faire funfhine.
Right fo himselfe did Marinell upreare,
When he in place his dearest love did spy;
And though his limbs could not his bodie beare,
Ne former ftrength returne fo fuddenly,
Yet chearefull fignes he fhewed outwardly.
Ne leffe was fhe in fecret hart affected,
But that she masked it with modestie,
For feare she should of lightnesse be detected :
Which to another place I leave to be perfected.
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