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

CANTO XII.] THEA FAERIE QUEEN. 543
Nor any is that may him now restrain, More than my former writs, all 3 were they
He growen is so great and strong of late, cleanest
Barking and biting all that him do bait, From blameful blot, and free from all that wite 4
All be they 2 worthy blame, or clear of crime; With which some wicked tongues did it backbite,
Nor spareth he most learned wits to rate, And bring into a mighty Peer's 5 displeasure,
Nor spareth he the gentle poet's rhyme; That never so deserved to endite.6
But rends without regard of person or of time. Therefore do you, my rhymes, keep better
measure,
Nor may this homely verse, of many meanest, And seek to please; that now is counted wise
Hope to escape his venomous despite, men's treasure.
TWO CANTOS OF
MUTABILITY:
WHICH, BOTH FOR FORM AND MATTER, APPEAR TO BE PARCEL OF SOME
FOLLOWING BOOK OF
THE FAERIE QUEEN,
UNDER
THE LEGEND OF CONSTANCY.7
CANTO VI. And many of them afterwards obtain'd
Proud Change (not pleas'd in morta things Great pow'r of Jove, and high authority:
Beneath the moon to reign) As Hecate, in whose almighty hand
Pretends as well of gods as men He plac'd all rule and principality,
To be the Sovereign. To be by her disposed diversely
To gods and men, as she them list divide;
WHAT man that sees the ever-whirling wheel And dread Bellona, that doth sound on high
Of Change,thewhichallmortalthings dothsway, Wars and alarums unto nations wide
But that thereby doth find, and plainly feel, That makes both heav'n and earth to tremble at
How Mutability in them doth play her pride.
Her cruel sports to many men's decay? 8
Which that to all may better yet appear, o likewise did this Titaness aspire
I will rehearse, that whilom I heard say, Rule and dominion to herself to gain;
How she at first herself began to rear That as a goddess men might her admire,'Gainst all the gods, and th' empire sought from And heav'nly honours yield, as to them twain: 1
them to bear. And first on earth she sought it to obtain;
But first here fa h f t to Where she such proof and sad examples shew'd
But first here falleth fittest to unfold
Of her great pow'r, to many one's great pain,
Her antique race and lineage ancient,
Her antique urace and lineage ancint, That not men only (whom she soon subdued),
As I have found it register'd of old But eke all other creatures herbad doings rued.1
In Faery Land'mongst records permanent.
She was, to wit, a daughter by descent For she the face of earthly things so chang'd,
Of those old Titans that did whilom strive That all which Nature had establish'd first
With Saturn's son for heaven's regiment; 9 In good estate, and in meet order rang'd,
Whom though high Jove of kingdom did de- She did pervert, and all their statutes burst: 1
prive, And all the world's fair frame (which none yet
Yet many of their stem long after did survive: durst
1 Molest, attack. contains no preface or explanation; thus, although they
2 Whether they be. are usually set down as belonging to the seventh book,
3 Although. 4 Blameworthiness, censure. there is no actual warrant for that assumption. The
5 The Lord Treasurer, Burleigh, who had severely internal evidence leaves no doubt that they were the
handled the earlier books of "The Faerie Queen." See work of Spenser; and, the peculiar characteristics of
note 1, page 444. the poet quite apart, they are more majestically and
6 That never had good cause to indict or censure it so. musically Spenserian than many cantos of the
7 The two cantos called "Of Mutability," and two earlier books. They are here presented without curstanzas of a third canto, were not published during tailment. 8 Ruin.
Spenser's lifetime. They first appeared with the third 9 Rule. 0o That is, as to Hecate and Bellona.
edition of " The Faerie Queen," publishedin 1609, which 11 Deplored. 12 Broke.