The Faerie Queene (3 page)

A VISION VPON THIS CONCEIPT OF THE
FAERY QUEENE

Me thought I saw the graue, where
Laura
lay,

Within that Temple, where the vestall flame

Was wont to burne, and passing by that way,

To see that buried dust of liuing fame,

Whose tumbe faire loue, and fairer vertue kept,(5)

All suddeinly I saw the Faery Queene:

At whose approch the soule of
Petrarke
wept,

And from thenceforth those graces were not seene.

For they this Queene attended, in whose steed

Obliuion laid him downe on
Lauras
herse:(10)

Hereat the hardest stones were seene to bleed,

And grones of buried ghostes the heuens did perse.

Where
Homers
spright did tremble all for griefe.

And curst th'accesse of that celestiall theife.

ANOTHER OF THE SAME

The prayse of meaner wits this worke like profit brings,

As doth the Cuckoes song delight when
Philumena sings.

If thou hast formed right true vertues face herein:

Vertue her selfe can best disceme, to whom they writen bin.

If thou hast beauty praysd, let her sole lookes diuine
(5)

Iudge if ought therein be amis, and mend it by her eine.

If Chastitie want ought, or Temperaunce her dew,

Behold her Princely mind aright, and write thy Queene anew.

Meanewhile she shall perceiue, how far her vertues sore

Aboue the reach of all that Hue, or such as wrote of yore:
(10)

And thereby will excuse and fauour thy good will:

Whose vertue can not be exprest, but by an Angels quill.

Of me no lines are loud, nor letters are of price,

Of all which speak our English tongue, but those of thy deuice.

W. R.

TO THE LEARNED SHEPEHEARD

Collyn I see by thy new taken taske,

some sacred Jury hath enricht thy braynes,

That leades thy muse in haughty verse to maske,

and loath the layes that longs to lowly swaynes.

That lifts thy notes from Shepheardes vnto hinges,
(5)

So like the liuely Larke that mounting singes.

Thy louely Rosolinde semes now forlorne;

and all thy gentle flockes forgotten quight,

Thy chaunged hart now holdes thy pypes in same,

those prety pypes that did thy mates Might.
(10)

Those trusty mates, that loued thee so well,

Whom thou gau'st mirth: as they gaue thee the bell.

Yet as thou earst with thy sweete roundelayes,

didst stirre to glee our laddes in homely bowers:

So moughtst thou now in these refyned layes,
(15)

delight the daintie ernes of higher powers.

And so mought they in their deepe skanning skill

Alow and grace our Cottyns flowing quyll.

And fare befall that
Faery Queene
of thine,

in whose faire eyes hue linckt with vertue sittes:
(20)

Enfusing by those bewties fyers deuyne,

such high conceites into dry humble wittes,

As raised hath poore pastors oaten reede,

From rustick tunes, to chaunt heroique deedes.

So mought thy
Redcrosse knight
with happy hand
(25)

victorious be in that faire Ilands right:

Which thou dost vayle in Type of Faery land

Elyzas blessed field, that Albion hight.

That shieldes her friendes, and wanes her mightie foes,

Yet still with people, peace, and plentie flowes.
(30)

But (iotty shepeheard) though with pleasing style,

thou feast the humour of the Courtly trayne:

Let not conceipt thy setled sence beguile,

ne daunted be through enuy or disdaine.

Subiect thy dome to her Empyring spright,
(35)

From whence thy Muse, and all the world takes light,

Hobynoll.

Fayre
Thamis
streame, that from
Ludds
stately towne,

Runst paying tribute to the Ocean seas,

Let all thy Nymphes and Syrens of renowne

Be silent, whyle this Bryttane
Orpheus
playes:

Nere thy sweet bankes, there liues that sacred crowne,(5)

Whose hand strowes Palme and neuer-dying bayes,

Let all at once, with thy soft murmuring sowne

Present her with this worthy Poets prayes.

For he hath taught hye drifts in shepeherdes weedes,

And deepe conceites now singes in
Faeries
deedes.(10)

R. S.

Graue Muses march in triumph and with prayses,

Our Goddesse here hath giuen you leaue to land:

And biddes this rare dispenser of your graces

Bow downe his brow vnto her sacred hand.

Desertes findes dew in that most princely doome,
(5)

In whose sweete brest are all the Muses bredde:

So did that great
Augustus
erst in Roome

With leaues of fame adorne his Poets hedde.

Faire be the guerdon of your
Faery Queene,

Euen of the fairest that the world hath scene.
(10)

H.B.

When stout
Achilles
heard
of Helens
rape

And what reuenge the States of Greece deuisd:

Thinking by sleight the fatall warres to scape,

In womans weedes him selfe he then disguisde:

But this deuise
Vlysses
soone did spy, 5

And brought him forth, the chaunce of warre to try.

When
Spencer
saw die same was spredd so large,

Through Faery land of their renowned Queene:

Loth that his Muse should take so great a charge,

As in such haughty matter to be seene,(10)

To seeme a shepeheard then he made his choice,

But
Sydney
heard him sing, and knew his voice.

And as
Vlysses
brought faire
Thetis
sonne

From his retyred life to menage armes:

So
Spencer
was by
Sidneys
speaches wonne,(15)

To blaze her fame not fearing future harmes:

For well he knew, his Muse would soone be tyred

In her high praise, that all the world admired.

Yet as
Achilles
in those warlike frayes,

Did win the palme from all the
Grecian
Peeres:(20)

So
Spencer
now to his immortall prayse,

Hath wonne the Laurell quite from all his feres.

What though his taske exceed a humaine witt,

He is excus'd, sith
Sidney
thought it fitt.

W.L

To looke vpon a worke of rare deuise

The which a workman setteth out to view,

And not to yield it the deserued prise,

That vnto such a workmanship is dew.

Doth either proue the iudgement to be naught(5)

Or els doth shew a mind with enuy fraught.

To labour to commend a peece of worke,

Which no man goes about to discommend,

Would raise a iealous doubt that there did lurke,

Some secret doubt, whereto the prayse did tend.
(10)

For when men know the goodnes oj the wyne,

T'is needlessefor the hoast to haue a sygne.

Thus then to shew my iudgement to be such

As can discerne of colours blacke, and white,

As alls to free my minde from enuies tuch,(15)

That neuer giues to any man his right,

I here pronounce this workmanship is such,

As that no pen can set it forth too much

And thus I hang a garland at the dore,

Not for to shew the goodnes of the ware:(20)

But such hath beene the custome heretofore,

And customs very hardly broken are.

And when your tast shall tell you this is trew,

Then looke you giue your hoast his vtmost dew.

Ignoto.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR CHRISTOPHER HATTON, LORD HIGH CHAUNCELOR OF ENGLAND. &C.

Those prudent heads, that with theire counsels wise

Whylom the Pillours of th'earth did sustaine,

And taught ambitious
Rome
to tyrannise,

And in the neck of all the world to rayne,

Oft from those graue affaires were wont abstaine,

With the sweet Lady Muses for to play:

So
Ennius
the elder Africane,

So
Maro
oft did
Cœsars
cares allay.

So you great Lord, that with your counsell sway

The burdeine of this kingdom mightily,

With like delightes sometimes may eke delay,

The rugged brow of carefull Policy:

And to these ydle rymes lend litle space,

Which for their titles sake may find more grace.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
THE LO[RD] BURLEIGH
LO[RD]
HIGH THREASURER OF ENGLAND.

To you right noble Lord, whose carefull brest

To menage of most graue affaires is bent,

And on whose mightie shoulders most doth rest

The burdein of this kingdomes gouernement,

As the wide compasse of the firmament,

On
Atlas
mighty shoulders is vpstayd;

Vnfitly I these ydle rimes present,

The labor of lost time, and wit vnstayd:

Yet if their deeper sence be inly wayd,

And the dim vele, with which from comune vew

Their fairer parts are bid, aside be layd.

Perhaps not vaine they may appeare to you.

Such as they be, vouchsafe them to receaue,

And wipe their faults out of your censure graue.

E.S.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARLE OF

OXENFORD,

LORD HIGH CHAMBERLAYNB OF ENGLAND. &C.

Receiue most Noble Lord in gentle gree,

The vnripe fruit of an vnready wit:

Which by thy countenaunce doth craue to bee

Defended from foule Enuies poisnous bit.

Which so to doe may thee right well besit,

Sith th'antique glory of thine auncestry

Vnder a shady vele is therein writ,

And eke thine owne long liuing memory,

Succeeding them in true nobility:

And also for the loue, which thou doest beare

To
th'Heliconian
ymps, and they to thee,

They vnto thee, and thou to them most deare:

Deare as thou art vnto thy selfe, so loue

That loues & honours thee, as doth behoue.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARLE OF

NORTHUMBERLAND.

The sacred Muses haue made alwaies clame

To be the Nourses of nobility,

And Registres of euerlasting fame,

To all that armes professe and cheualry.

Then by like right the noble Progeny,

Which them succeed in fame and worth, are tyde

T'embrace the seruice of sweete Poetry,

By whose endeuours they are glorifide,

And eke from all, of whom it is enuide,

To patronize the authour of their praise,

Which giues them life, that els would soone haue dide,

And crownes their ashes with immortall bates.

To thee therefore right noble Lord I send

This present of my paints, it to defend,

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARLE OF

CUMBERLAND.

Redoubted Lord, in whose corageous mind

The flowre of cheualry now bloosming faire,

Doth promise fruite worthy the noble kind,

Which of their praises haue left you the haire;

To you this humble present I prepare,

For loue of vertue and of Martiall praise,

To which though nobly ye inclined are,

As goodlie well ye shew'd in late assaies,

Yet braue ensample of long passed daies,

In which trew honor yee may fashiond see,

To like desire of honor may ye raise,

And fill your mind with magnanimitee.

Receiue it Lord therefore as it was ment,

For honor of your name and high descent.

E.S.

TO THE MOST HONOURABLE AND EXCELLENT

LO[RD] THE EARLE OF ESSEX. GREAT MAISTER

OF THB HORSE TO HER HIGHNESSE, AND KNIGHT

OF THE NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER. &C.

Magnificke Lord, whose vertues excellent

Doe merit a most famous Poets witt,

To be thy lining praises instrument,

Yet doe not sdeigne, to let thy name be writt

In this base Poeme, for thee far vnfitt.

Nought is thy worth disparaged thereby,

But when my Muse, whose fethers nothing flitt

Doe yet but flagg, and lowly learne to fly

With bolder wing shall dare alofte to sty

To the last praises of this Faery Queene,

Then shall it make more famous memory

Of thine Heroicke parts, such as they beene:

Till then vouchsafe thy noble countenaunce,

To these first labours needed furtheraunce,

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THB EARLE OF

ORMOND AND OSSORY.

Receiue most noble Lord a simple taste

Of the wilde fruit, which saluage soyl hath bred,

Which being through long wars left almost waste,

With brutish barbarisme is ouerspredd:

And in so faire a land, as may be redd,

Not one
Parnassus,
nor one
Helicone

Left for sweete Muses to be harboured,

But where thy selfe hast thy braue mansione;

There in deede dwel faire Graces many one.

And gentle Nymphes, delights of learned wits,

And in thy person without Paragone

All goodly bountie and true honour sits,

Such therefore, as that wasted soyl doth yield,

Receiue dear Lord in worth, the fruit of barren field.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LO
[RD]

CH[ARLES] HOWARD,
LO[RD]
HIGH ADMIRAL OF

ENGLAND, KNIGHT OF THE NOBLE ORDER OF THE

GARTER, AND ONE OF HER MAIESTIES PRIUIE

COUNSEL. &C.

And ye, braue Lord, whose goodly personage,

And noble deeds each other garnishing,

Make you ensample to the present age,

Of th'old Heroes, whose famous of spring

The antique Poets wont so much to sing,

In this same Pageaunt haue a worthy place,

Sith those huge castles of Castilian king,

That vainly threatned kingdomes to displace,

Like flying doues ye did before you chace;

And that proud people woxen insolent

Through many victories, didst first deface:

Thy praises euerlasting monument

Is in this verse engrauen semblably,

That it may liue to all posterity.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD OF

HUNSDON, HIGH CHAMBERLAINS TO HER

MAIESTY.

Renowmed Lord, that for your worthinesse

And noble deeds haue your deserued place,

High in the fauour of that Emperesse.

The worlds sole glory and her sexes grace,

Here eke of right haue you a worthie place,

Both for your nearnes to that Faerie Queene,

And for your owne high merit in like cace,

Of which, apparaunt proofe was to be seene,

When that tumultuous rage and fearfull deene

Of Northerne rebels ye did pacify,

And their disloiall powre defaced clene,

The record of enduring memory.

Liue Lord for eucr in this lasting verse,

That all posteritie thy honor may reherse.

E.S.

TO THE MOST RENOWMED AND VALIANT LORD,

THE LORD GREY OF WILTON, KNIGHT OF THE

NOBLE ORDER OF THB GARTER, &C.

Most Noble Lord the pillor of my life,

And Patrone of my Muses pupillage,

Through whose large bountie poured on me rife,

In the first season of my feeble age,

I now doe liue, bound yours by vassalage:

Sith nothing euer may redeeme, nor reaue

Out of your endlesse debt so sure a gage,

Vouchsafe in worth this small guift to receaue,

Which in your noble hands for pledge I leaue,

Of all the rest, that I am tyde t'account:

Rude rymes, the which a rustick Muse did weaue

In sauadge soyle, far from Parnasso mount,

And roughly wrought in an vnlearned Loome:

The which vouchsafe dear Lord your fauorable doome.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD OF

BUCKHURST, ONE OF HER MAIESTIES PRIUIE

COUNSELL.

In vain I thinke right honourable Lord,

By this rude rime to memorize thy name;

Whose learned Muse hath writ her owne record,

In golden verse, worthy immortal fame:

Thou much more fit (were leasure to the same)

Thy gracious Souerain praises to compile.

And her imperiall Maiestie to frame,

In loftie numbers and heroicke stile.

But sith thou maist not so, giue leaue a while

To baser wit his power therein to spend,

Whose grosse defaults thy daintie pen may file,

And vnaduised ouersights amend.

But euermore vouchsafe it to maintaine

Against vile Zoilus backbitings vaine.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR FR[ANCIS]

WALSINGHAM KNIGHT, PRINCIPALL SECRETARY

TO HER MAIESTY, AND OF HER HONOURABLE

PRIUY COUNSELL.

That Mantuane Poetes incompared spirit,

Whose girland now is set in highest place,

Had not
Mecœnas
for his worthy merit,

It first aduaunst to great
Augustus
grace,

Might long perhaps haue lien in silence bace,

Ne bene so much admir'd of later age.

This lowly Muse, that learns like steps to trace,

Flies for like aide vnto your Patronage;

That are the great
Mecenas
of this age,

As wel to al that ciuil artes professe

As those that are inspird with Martial rage,

And craues protection of her feeblenesse:

Which if ye yield, perhaps ye may her rayse

In bigger tunes to sound your liuing prayse.

E.S.

TO THE RIGHT NOBLE LORD AND MOST

VALIAUNT CAPTAINE, SIR JOHN NORRIS KNIGHT,

LORD PRESIDENT OF MOUNSTER,

Who euer gaue more honourable prize

To the sweet Muse, then did the Martiall crew;

That their braue deeds she might immortalize

In her shril tromp, and sound their praises dew?

Who then ought more to fauour her, then you

Moste noble Lord, the honor of this age,

And Precedent of all that armes ensue?

Whose warlike prowesse and manly courage,

Tempred with reason and aduizement sage

Hath fild sad Belgicke with victorious spoile,

In
Fraunce
and
Ireland
left a famous gage,

And lately shakt the Lusitanian soile.

Sith then each where thou hast dispredd thy fame,

Loue him, that hath eternized your name.

E.S.

TO THE RIGHT NOBLE AND VALOROUS KNIGHT,

SIR WALTER RALEIGH,
LO[RD]
WARDEIN OF THE

STANNERYES, AND LIEFTENAUNT OF

CORNEWAILE.

To thee that art the sommers Nightingale,

Thy soueraine Goddesses most deare delight.

Why doe I send this rusticke Madrigale,

That may thy tunejull eare vnseason quite?

Thou onely fit this Argument to write,

In whose high thoughts Pleasure hath built her bowre,

And dainty loue learnd sweetly to endite.

My rimes 1 know vnsauory and sowre,

To tast the streames, that like a golden showre

Flow from thy fruit full head, of thy loues praise,

Fitter perhaps to thonder Martiall stowre,

When so thee list thy lofty Muse to raise:

Yet till that thou thy Poeme wilt make knowne,

Let thy Jain Cinthias praises bee thus rudely showne.

E.S.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND MOST

VERTUOUS LADY, THE COUNTESSE OF PENBROKE.

Remembraunce of that most Heroicke spirit,

The heuens pride, the glory of our daies,

Which now triumpheth through immortall merit

Of his braue vertues, crownd with lasting baies,

Of heuenlie blis and euerlasting praies;

Who first my Muse did lift out of the flore,

To sing his sweet delights in lowlie laies;

Bids me most noble Lady to adore

His goodly image liuing euermore,

In the diuine resemblaunce of your face;

Which with your vertues ye embellish more,

And natiue beauty deck with heuenlie grace:

For his, and for your owne especial sake,

Vouchsafe from him this token in good worth to take.

E.S.

TO THE MOST VERTUOUS, AND BEAUTIFULL

LADY, THE LADY CAREW.

Ne may I, without blot of endlesse blame,

You fairest Lady leaue out of this place,

But with remembraunce of your gracious name,

Wherewith that courtly garlond most ye grace,

And deck the world, adorne these verses base:

Not that these few lines can in them comprise

Those glorious ornaments of heuenly grace,

Wherewith ye triumph ouer feeble eyes,

And in subdued harts do tyranyse:

For thereunto doth need a golden quill,

And siluer leaues, them rightly to deuise,

But to make humble present of good will:

Which whenas timely meanes it purchase may,

In ampler wise it selfe will forth display.