Ah my deare dread, faid then the fearefull mayd,
Ab
Can dread of ought your dreadlesse hart withhold,
That many bath with dread of death difmayd,
And dare even deathes most dreadfull face behold?
Say on, my foverayne ladie, and be bold:
Doth not your handmayds life at your foot lie?
Therewith much comforted fhe gan unfold
The cause of her conceived maladie;
As one that would confeffe, yet faine would it denie.
XXXII.
Clarin, fayd fhe, thou feeft yond fayry knight,
Whom not my valour, but his owne brave mind
Subiected bath to my unequall might;
What right is it that he should thraldome find,
For lending life to me a wretch unkind,
That for fuch good him recompence with ill?
Therefore I caft how I may him unbind,
And by his freedome get his free goodwill;
Yet fo as bound to me he may continue ftill:
XXXIII.
Bound unto me, but not with fuch hard bands
Of strong compulfion and freight violence,
As now in miferable ftate he ftands;
But with fweet love and fure benevolence,
Voide of malitious mind or foule offence :
To which if thou canst win him any way
Without discoverie of my thoughts pretence,
Both goodly meede of him it purchase may,
And eke with gratefull fervice me right well apay.
XXXIV.
Which that thou mayft the better bring to pass,
Loe here this ring, which shall thy warrant bee,
And token true to old Eumenias,
From time to time, when thou it best shalt see,
That in and out thou mayft have passage free.
Goe now, Clarinda, well thy wits advife,
And all thy forces gather unto thee,
Armies of lovely lookes, and fpeeches wife,
With which thou canst even Iove himselfe to love entise.
And with wide-glauncing words one day the thus him proved;
XXXVI.
Unhappy knight, upon whofe hopelesse state
Fortune, envying good, hath felly frowned,
And cruell heavens have heapt an heavy fate ;
Irew that thus thy better dayes are drowned
In fad defpaire, and all thy fenfes frowned
In ftupid forow, fith thy iufter merit
Might elfe have with felicitie bene crowned:
Looke up at last, and wake thy dulled fpirit
To thinke how this long death thou mightest difinherit.
XXXVII.
Much did he marvell at her uncouth speach,
Whose hidden drift he could not well perceive;
And gan to doubt least she him fought t' appeach
Of treason, or fome guilefull traine did weave,
Through which she might his wretched life bereave :
Both which to barre he with this answere met her;
Faire damzell, that with ruth, as I perceave,
Of my mishaps art mov'd to wish me better,
For fuch your kind regard I can but reft your detter.
Yet weet ye well, that to a courage great
It is no leffe befeeming well to beare
The forme of fortunes frowne or heavens threat,
Then in the funshine of her countenance cleare
Timely to ioy and carrie comely cheare:
For though this cloud have now me overcast,
Yet doe I not of better times defpeyre;
And though (unlike) they should for ever laft,
Yet in my truthes affurance I reft fixed faft.
Then why doeft not, thou ill-advized man,
Make meanes to win thy libertie forlorne,
And try if thou by faire entreatie can
Move Radigund? who though she still have worne
Her dayes in warre, yet (weet thou) was not borne
Of beares and tygres, nor fo falvage mynded
As that, albe all love of men fhe fcorne,
She yet forgets that she of men was kynded :
And footh oft feene that proudeft harts base love hath blynded.
Certes, Clarinda, not of cancred will,
Sayd he, nor obftinate disdainefull mind,
I have forbore this duetie to fulfill :
For well I may this weene, by that I fynd,
That she a queene, and come of princely kynd,
Both worthie is for to be fewd unto,
Chiefely by him whofe life her law doth bynd,
And eke of powre her owne doome to undo,
And als of princely grace to be inclyn'd thereto.
XLII.
But want of meanes bath bene mine onely let
From feeking favour where it doth abound;
Which if I might by your good office get,
I to yourselfe fhould rest for ever bound,
And ready to deferve what grace I found.
She feeling him thus bite upon the bayt;
Yet doubting least his hold was but unfound
And not well faftened, would not ftrike him ftrayt,
But drew him on with hope, fit leasure to awayt.
But foolish mayd, whyles heedleffe of the hooke
She thus oft-times was beating off and on,
Through flipperie footing fell into the brooke,
And there was caught to her confufion :
For feeking thus to falve the Amazon,
She wounded was with her deceipts owne dart,
And gan thenceforth to cast affection,
Conceived close in her beguiled hart,
To Artegall, through pittie of his caufeleffe fmart.
Yet durft fhe not disclose her fancies wound,
Ne to himselfe, for doubt of being sdayned,
Ne yet to any other wight on ground,
For feare her mistreffe shold have knowledge gayned;
But to herselfe it fecretly retayned
Within the closet of her covert breft:
The more thereby her tender hart was payned:
Yet to awayt fit time she weened best,
And fairely did diffemble her fad thoughts unreft.
And all the wayes fhe fought his love for to have wonne:
But fayd, that he was obftinate and sterne,
Scorning her offers and conditions vaine;
Ne would be taught with any termes to lerne
So fond a leffon as to love againe :
Die rather would he in penurious paine,
And his abridged dayes in dolour waft,
Then his foes love or liking entertaine :
His refolution was both first and last
His bodie was her thrall, his hart was freely plast.
And more then that, fhe promist that she would,
In cafe the might finde favour in his eye,
Devize how to enlarge him out of hould.
The fayrie glad to gaine his libertie
Can yeeld great thankes for fuch her curtefie;
And with faire words, fit for the time and place,
To feede the humour of her maladie,
Promift, if she would free him from that case,
He wold by all good means he might deserve such grace.
So daily he faire semblant did her shew,
Yet never meant he in his noble mind
To his owne abfent love to be untrew:
Ne ever did deceiptfull Clarin find
In her false hart his bondage to unbind
But rather how the mote him fafter tye.
Therefore unto her mistresse most unkind
She daily told her love he did defye;
And him she told her dame his freedome did denye.
LVII.
Yet thus much friendship she to him did show,
That his scarfe diet fomewhat was amended,
And his worke leffened, that his love mote grow:
Yet to her dame him still she discommended,
That the with him mote be the more offended.
Thus he long while in thraldome there remayned,
Of both beloved well, but little friended;
Untill his owne true love his freedome gayned:
Which in another canto will be beft contayned.
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