LXVII.

"O holy sire," quoth he, "how shall I quite*
The many favors I with thee have found,
That hast my name and nation read aright,
And taught the way that does to heaven bound !"
This said, adown he looked to the ground

To have returned, but dazed were his eyne

Through passing brightness which did quite confound His feeble sense, and too exceeding shine.

So dark are earthly things compar'd to things divine!

LXVIII.

At last, whenas himself he gan to find,

To Una back he cast him to retire;

Who him awaited still with pensive mind.

Great thanks, and goodly meed, to that good sire

He thence departing gave for his pains' hire.
So came to Una, who him joy'd to see ;
And, after little rest, gan him desire

Of her adventure mindful for to be.

So leave they take of Cælia and her daughters three.

* Quite, repay.

CANTO XI.

The knight with that old dragon fights
Two days incessantly:

The third him overthrows; and gains
Most glorious victory.

I.

HIGH time now 'gan it wax for Una fair
To think of those her captive parents dear,
And their forwasted kingdom to repair:
Whereto whenas they now approached near,
With hearty words her knight she gan to cheer,
And in her modest manner thus bespake;
"Dear knight, as dear as ever knight was dear,
That all these sorrows suffer for my sake,

High heaven behold the tedious toil, ye for me take!

II.

"Now are we come unto my native soil,
And to the place where all our perils dwell;
Here haunts that fiend, and does his daily spoil;
Therefore henceforth be at your keeping well,
And ever ready for your foeman fell:
That spark of noble courage now awake,
And strive your excellent self to excel;
That shall ye evermore renowned make

Above all knights on earth, that battle undertake.”

And pointing forth, "Lo! yonder is," said she,
"The brazen towre, in which my parents dear,
For dread of that huge fiend emprison'd be;
Whom I from far see on the walls appear,
Whose sight my feeble soul doth greatly cheer,
And on the top of all I do espy

The watchman waiting tidings glad to hear,
That, O my parents, might I happily

Unto you bring, to ease you of your misery!"

IV.

With that they heard a roaring hideous sound,
That all the air with terror filled wide,

And seem'd uneath to shake the stedfast ground.
Eftsoons that dreadful dragon they espied,
Where stretch'd he lay upon the sunny side
Of a great hill, himself like a great hill:

But, all so soon as he from far descry'd

Those glistring arms that heaven with light did fill, He rous'd himself full blithe, and hastened them until.

V.

Then bade the knight his lady yode* aloof,

And to an hill herself withdraw aside:

From whence she might behold that battle's proof,
And eke be safe from danger far descry'd:

She him obey'd, and turned a little wide.

Now, O thou sacred Muse, most learned dame,

Fair imp of Phoebus and his aged bride,

The nurse of time and everlasting fame,

That warlike hands ennoblest with immortal name;

* Yode, go.

VI.

O, gently come into my feeble breast,
Come gently; but not with that mighty rage,
Wherewith the martial troops thou dost infest,
And hearts of great heroes dost enrage,
That nought their kindled courage may assuage:
Soon as thy dreadful trump begins to sound,
The god of war with his fierce equipage
Thou dost awake, sleep never he so sound;

And scared nations dost with horror stern astound.

VII.

Fair goddess, lay that furious fit aside,

Till I of war and bloody Mars do sing,

And Briton fields with Saracen blood bedy'd,
Twixt that great Faëry Queen, and Paynim king,
That with their horror heaven and earth did ring ;
A work of labor long and endless praise:

But now a while let down that haughty string
And to my tunes thy second tenor raise,

That I this man of God his godly arms may blaze.

VIII.

By this, the dreadful beast drew nigh to hand,
Half flying and half footing in his haste,
That with his largeness measured much land,
And made wide shadow under his huge waste;
As mountain doth the valley overcast.
Approaching nigh, he reared high afore

His body monstrous, horrible, and vast;

Which, to increase his wondrous greatness more,

Was swoln with wrath and poison, and with bloody gore ;

IX.

And over all with brazen scales was arm'd,

Like plated coat of steel, so couched near

That nought might pierce; nor might his corse be harm'd With dint of sword, nor push of pointed spear:

Which, as an eagle, seeing prey appear,

His aery plumes doth rouse full rudely dight;

So shaked he, that horror was to hear:

For, as the clashing of an armor bright,

Such noise his roused scales did send unto the knight.

X.

His flaggy wings, when forth he did display,
Were like two sails, in which the hollow wind
Is gathered full, and worketh speedy way :*
And eke the pens, that did his pinions bind,
Were like main-yards with flying canvas lin❜d;
With which whenas him list the air to beat,
And there by force unwonted passage find,

The clouds before him fled for terror great,

And all the heavens stood still amazed with this threat.

XI.

His huge long tail wound up in hundred folds,
Does overspread his long brass-scaly back,
Whose wreathed boughts† whenever he unfolds,
And thick-entangled knots adown does slack,

* So Milton:

His sail-broad vans

He spreads for flight

Par. Lost, Book ii.

t Boughts, twists.