Yet his owne love, the noble Britomart,
Scarce so conceived in her iealous thought,
What time fad tydings of his balefull smart,
In woman's 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 hard for nought,
She gan to cast in her misdoubtfull mynde
Sometime the feared leaft fome hard mishap
Had him misfalne in his adventurous queft;
Sometime least his falfe foe did him entrap
In traytrous traine, or had unwares oppreft;
But most she did her troubled mynd moleft,
And fecretly afflict with iealous feare,
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
Yet when the reckned them still drawing neare, Each hour did seeme 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 she found so fit to serve that turne
As her own felfe, to eafe herfelfe of dout.
Now fhe deviz'd amongst the warlike rout
Of errant knights to feeke her errant knight;
And then againe resolv'd to hunt him out
Amongst loose ladies lapped in delight;
A thousand feares, that love-ficke fancies faine to And then both knights envide, and ladies eke did
And ftud ftill mute as one in great fufpence,
As if that by his filence he would make
And evermore fhe did him fharpely twight For breach of faith to her, which he had firmely plight.
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 herfelfe his punishment.
Awhile the walkt and chauft; awhile fhe threw
Herfelfe upon her bed, and did lament;
Yet did the not lament with lowde alew,
As women wont, but with deepe fighs and fin
gulfs few.
Like as a wayward childe, whose founder sleepe
Is broken with fome fearefull dreames affright,
With froward will doth fet himfelfe to weepe,
Ne can be stild for all his nurfe's might,
But kicks and fquals, and fhrickes, for fell def-
pight;
Now feratching her, and her loofe locks mifufing,
Now feeking darkneffe, and now fecking light,
Then craving fucke, and then the fucke refufing
Such was this ladies fit in her love's fond ac-
cufing.
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,
Her rather reade his meaning then himfelfe it By change of place feeking to cafe her paine,
Till the againe thus fayd; "Talus, be bold, "And tell whatever it be, good or bad, "That from thy tongue thy heart's intent doth "hold."
To whom he thus at length; The tidings fad, "That I would hide, will needs I fee be rad. "My lord (your love) by hard mishap doth lie "In wretched bondage, wofully beftad."
"Ay me," quoth fhe, "what wicked deftinie! "And is he vanquifht by his tyrant enemy?"
And gan enquire of him, with mylder mood,
The certaine caufe of Artegal's detaine,
And what he did, and in what ftate he flood,
And whether he did woo, or whether he were
woo'd?
"Ah! wellaway!" fayd then the yron man, "That he is not the while in flate to woo, "But lies in wretched thraldome, weak and wan, "Nor 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?"
Wherewith though wondrous wroth, and inly Streight was the paffage, like a ploughed ridge,
That if two met, the one mote needes fall o'er the lidge.
As when the flashing levin haps to light
Upon two stubborne oakes, which stand so neare,
That way betwixt them none appeares in fight,
The engin fiercely flying forth doth teare
Th' one from the earth, and through the sire
doth beare;
The other it with force doth overthrow
Uppon one fide, and from his rootes doth reare
And comming down to fecke them where they So did the championeffe thofe two there ftrow,
And to their fire their carcaffes left to bestow.
|