FOOTNOTES:
[823] Arg. 1 by] through 1590
[824] 2 through passing 1590
[825] i 4 Formerly] Formally
[826] 6 that] this 1590 &c.: corr. F. E.
[827] iii 9 do] did 1590: corr. F. E.
[828] viii 6 weiting 1590: corr. to wayting in F. E.
[829] ix 2 behold 1590, 1596
[830] xii 2 disspred 1609
[831] xiii 9 honor] temple 1590
[832] xv 1 can] gan 1609
[833] xix 4 misprize 1609
[834] xx 8 their] the 1596, 1609
[835] xxi 1 heedfull] earnest 1590
[836] xxiii 9 Monoceros 1590 &c.: corr. Child
[837] xxvii 3 pittifull 1596
[838] 4 sea resounding 1609
[839] xxx 6 peasaunt 1596
[840] 9 bathe 1609
[841] deceitfull 1609
[842] xxxii 4 That] Thou 1596
[843] xxxiv 1 the] that 1609
[844] xxxix 8 vpstarting] vpstaring 1590
[845] xl 1 approch’t. 1609
[846] threat 1609
[847] xlii 7 dayntest 1590
[848] xliii 5 their] they conj. ed.
[849] 7 migtest 1590
[850] li 1 Therewith 1590
[851] lii 9 Of Eden, if ought 1596: Or Eden, if that ought 1609
[852] lvii 9 nought] not 1596, 1609
[853] lx 5 curious] pure 1609
[854] lxi 8 tenderly] fearefully 1590
[855] lxxiii 1 that] the 1609
[856] lxxxi 4 the] that 1590
[857] lxxxiii 7 spoyle] spoyld 1590, 1596
[858] lxxxv 1 these 1590, 1596
THE THIRD
BOOKE OF THE
FAERIE QVEENE.
Contayning,
THE LEGEND OF BRITOMARTIS.
OR
Of Chastitie.
It falls me here to write of Chastity, i
That[859] fairest vertue, farre aboue the rest;
For which what needs me fetch from Faery
Forreine ensamples, it to haue exprest?
Sith it is shrined in my Soueraines brest,
And form’d so liuely in each perfect part,
That to all Ladies, which haue it profest,
Need but behold the pourtraict of her hart,
If pourtrayd it might be by any liuing art.
But liuing art may not least part expresse, ii
Nor life-resembling pencill it can paint,
All were it Zeuxis or Praxiteles:
His dædale hand would faile, and greatly faint,
And her perfections with his error taint:
Ne Poets wit, that passeth Painter farre
In picturing the parts of beautie daint,
So hard a workmanship aduenture darre,
For fear through want of words her excellence to marre.
How then shall I, Apprentice of the skill, iii
That whylome in diuinest wits did raine,
Presume so high to stretch mine humble quill?
Yet now my lucklesse lot doth me constraine
Hereto perforce. But O dred Soueraine
Thus farre forth pardon, sith that choicest wit
Cannot your glorious pourtraict figure plaine
That I in colourd showes may shadow it,
And antique praises vnto present persons fit.
But if in liuing colours, and right hew, iv
Your selfe you[860] couet to see pictured,
Who can it doe more liuely, or more trew,
Then that sweet verse, with Nectar sprinckeled,
In which a gracious seruant pictured
His Cynthia, his heauens fairest light?
That with his melting sweetnesse rauished,
And with the wonder of her beames bright,
My senses lulled are in slomber of delight.
But let that same delitious Poet lend v
A little leaue vnto a rusticke Muse
To sing his mistresse prayse, and let him mend,
If ought amis her liking may abuse:
Ne let his fairest Cynthia refuse,
In mirrours more then one her selfe to see,
But either Gloriana let her chuse,
Or in Belphœbe fashioned to bee:
In th’one her rule, in th’other her rare chastitee.