The Canterbury tales and Faerie queene &c., &c., &c., ed. for popular perusal with current illustrations and explanatory notes, by D. Laing Purves.

544 7HE FAERIE QUEEN [BOOK VII.
Of gods or men to alter or misguide) And better able it to guide alone;
She alter'd quite; and made them all accurst Whether to men, whose fall she did bemoan,
That God had bless'd, and did at first provide Or unto gods, whose state she did malign,
In that still happy state for ever to abide. Or to th' infernal pow'rs her need give loan 0
Of her fair light and bounty most benign,
Nor she the laws of Nature only brake,
Nore te law of tr oy br a, XHerself of allthatrule she deemed most condign.
But eke of Justice and of Policy;
And wrong of right, and bad of good, did make, But she, that had to her that sov'reign seat
And death for life exchanged foolishly: By highest Jove assign'd, therein to bear
Since which all living wights have learn'd to die, Night's burning lamp, regarded not her threat,
And all this world is waxen daily worse. Nor yielded aught for favour or for fear;
O piteous work of Mutability, But with stern count'nance and disdainful
By which we all are subject to that curse, cheer,l2
And death, instead of life, have sucked from our Bending her horned brows, did put her back;
nurse! And, boldly blaming her for coming there,
And now, when all the earth she thus had Bade her at once from heaven's coast to pack,
brought Or at her peril bide the wrathful thunder's
To her behest, and thralled to her might, wrack.
She gan to cast in her ambitious thought Yet nathemore the giantess forbare;
T' attempt the empire of the heaven's height, But, boldly pressing on, raught forth her hand
And Jove himself to shoulder from his right. To pluck her own perforce from off her chair;
And first she pass'd the region of the air And, therewih lifting up her golden wand,
And of the fire, whose substance thin and slight Threaten'd to strike her if she did withstand:
ade no resistance, nor could her contrail Whereat the Stars, which round about her
But ready passage to her pleasure did prepare. blaz'd
Thence to the circle of the Moon she clamb,2 And eke the Moon's bright waggon, still did
Where Cynthia reigns in everlasting glory, stand,
To whose bright shining palace straight she came, All being with so bold attempt amaz'd,
All fairly deck'd with heaven's goodly story; And on her uncouth habit and stern look still'Whose silver gates (by which there sat a hoary gaz'd.
Old aged sire, with bower-glass 3 in hand,
TT-^Dm- \^ i. ->-\ i T c A Meanwhile the Lower WVorld, which nothing
Hight Time) she enter'd were he lief or sorry;4 knew
Nor stay'd till she the highest stage had scann'd 5
0.. ^ 3-^..1, )Of all that chanced here, was darken'd quite;
Where Cynthia did sit, that never still did stand. A, a t
~.'~~ o..And eke the heav'ns, and all the heav'nly crew
Her sitting on an ivory throne she found, Of happy wights, now unpurvey'd of 14 light,
Drawn of two steeds, th' one black, the other Were much afraid, and wonder'd at that sight;
white, Fearing lest Chaos broken had his chain,
Environ'd with ten thousand stars around, And brought again on them eternal night;
That duly her attended day and night; But chiefly Mercury, that next doth reign,
And by her side there ran her page, that hight Ran forth in haste unto the King of Gods to
Vesper, whom we the evening-star intend; 6 plain.15
That with his torch, still twinkling like twilight,
Her lighten'd all the way where she should wend, All ran together with a great outcr
And joy to weary wand'ring travellers did lend To Jove's fair palace fix'd in heaven's height;
And, beating at his gates full earnestly,
That when the hardy Titaness beheld Gan call to him aloud with all their might
The goodly building of her palace bright, To know what meant that sudden lack of light.
Made of the heaven's substance, and upheld The Father of the Gods, when this he heard,
With thousand crystal pillars of huge height, Was troubled much at their so strange affright,
She gan to burn in her ambitious sprite, Doubting lest Typhon were again uprear'd,16
And t' envy her that in such glory reign'd. Or other his old foes that once him sorely fear'd.
Eftsoons she cast by force and tortious 7 might
Her to displace, and to herself t' have gain'd Eftsoons the son of Maia 1 forth he sent
The kingdom of the Night, and waters by her Down to the circle of the Moon, to know
wan'd.8' The cause of this so strange astonishment,
And why she did her wonted course forslow; 18
Boldly she bid the goddess down descend And, if that any were on earth below
And let herself into that ivory throne; That did with charms or magic her molest,
For she herself more worthy thereof wend,9 Him to attach, and down to hell to throw;
1 Withstand. 2 Climbed. threefold sovereignty, in earth, in heaven, and in hell.
3 Hour-glass. 4 Willing or unwilling. See note 23, page 39. 11 Worthy.
5 Climbed, ascended; Latin, " scando," I climb. 12 Demeanour. 13 Reached.
6 Name; understand to be. 7 Wrongful. 14 Unprovided with. 15 Complain.
8 Diminished; by the moon's influence in producing 36 Typhoeus, whom Jupiter had buried under Mount
the tides. Etna. See note 13, page 524.
9 Weened, believed. 17 Mercury; or, as the Greeks called him, Hermes.
10 She needed to lend. There is an allusion to Diana's 18 Neglect, slacken.