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

CANTO VII.] THE FAERIE QUEEN. 553
That Time himself doth move, and still compel " Then are ye mortal born, and thrall to ms;
To keep his course? Is not that namely We, Unless the kingdom of the sky ye make
Which pour that virtue from our heav'nly cell Immortal and unchangeable to be:
That moves them all, and makes them changed Besides, that pow'r and virtue which ye spake,
be? That ye here work, doth many changes take,
So them We gods do rule, and in them also thee." And your own natures change: for each of you,
h e'. ti s That virtue have or this or that to make,
To whom thus Mutability; "The thmgs Is check'd and chang6d from his nature true
Which we see not how they are mov'd and By others' opposition or obliquid
~sw~~~ay'dr ^By others' opposition or obliquid 4 view.
sway'd,
Ye may attribute to yourselves as kings, "Besides, the sundry motions of your spheres,
And say, they by your secret pow'r are made: So sundry ways and fashions as clerks 5 feig-,
But what we see not, who shall us persuade? Some in short space, and some in longer years,
But were they so, as ye them feign to be, What is the same but alteration plain?
Mov'd by your might, and order'd by your aid, Only the starry sky doth still remain:
Yet what if I can prove, that even Ye Yet do the stars and signs therein still move,
Yourselves are likewise chang'd, and subject And ev'n itself is mov'd, as wizards sayn: 6
unto Me? But all that moveth doth mutation love:
i _., J.. ^. ~ Therefore both you and them to me I subject
"And first, concerning her that is the first,
Ev'n you, fair Cynthia; whom so much ye make
Jove's dearest darling, she was bred and nurst "Then since within this wide great Universe
On Cynthus hill, whence she her name did take; Nothing doth firm and permanent appear,
Then is she mortal born, howso ye crakp:1 But all things toss'd and turned by transverse;
Besides, her face and count'nance ev'ry day What then should let,7 but I aloft should rear
We changed see, and sundry forms partake, My trophy, and from all the triumph bear?
Now horn'd, now round, now bright, now brown Now judge then, O thou greatest Goddess true,
and gray; According as thyself dost see and hear,
So that' as changeful as the moon' men use to And unto me addoom 8 that is my due;
say. That is, the rule of all; all being rul'd by you."'.
" Next Mercury; who, though he less appear So having ended, silence long ensued;
To change his hue, and always seem as one, Nor Nature to or fro spake for a space,
Yet he his course doth alter ev'ry year, But with firm eyes affix'd the ground still view'd.
And is of late far out of order gone. Meanwhile all creatures, looking in her face,
So Venus eke, that goodly paragon, Expecting th' end of this so doubtful case,
Though fair all night, yet is she dark all day: Did hang in long suspense what would ensue,
And Phoebus' self, who lightsome is alone, To whether side should fall the sov'reign place:
Yet is he oft eclipsid by the way, At length she, looking up with cheerful view,
And fills the darken'd world with terror and The silence brake, and gave her doom9 in
dismay. speeches few:
" Now Mars, that valiant man, is changed most; "I well consider all that ye have said;
For he sometimes so far runs out of square, And find that all things steadfastness do hate
That he his way doth seem quite to have lost, And changid be; yet, being rightly weigh'd,l?
And clean without his usual sphere to fare; They are not changed from their first estate;
That even these star-gazers'stonish'd are But by their change their being do dilate;
At sight thereof, and damn their lying books: And, turning 11 to themselves at length again,
So likewise grim Sir Saturn oft doth spare Do work their own perfection so by fate:
His stern aspect, and calm his crabbed looks: Then over them Change doth not rule and reign:
So many turning cranks these have, so many But they reign over Change, and do their states
crooks. maintain.
" But you, Dan Jove, that only constant are, "Cease, therefore, Daughter, farther to aspire,
And king of all the rest, as ye do claim, And thee content thus to be rul'd by me:
Are you not subject eke to this misfare? 2 For thy decay 2 thou seek'st by thy desire:
Then let me ask you this withouten blame: But time shall come that all shall changed be,
Where were ye born? Some say in Crete by And from thenceforth none no more change
name, shall see!"
Others in Thebes, and others otherwhere; So was the Titaness put down and whist,13
But, wheresoever they comment3 the same, And Jove confirm'd in his imperial see.14
They all consent that ye begotten were Then was that whole assembly quite dismist,
And born here in this world; nor other can And Nature's self did vanish, whither no man
appear. wist.
1 Boast. 2 Misfortune. 7 Hinder. 8 Adjudge.
3 Falsely relate, or pretend; like "glose," as used 9 Judgment. 10 Examined, considered.
by Chaucer. 4 Oblique. 11 Returning. 12 Ruin.
5 Scholars. 6 As sages say. 13 Silenced, hushed. 14 Seat.