[xix.] The uncovered shield represents the open Bible. The incident is an imitation of Ruggiero's display of his shield in Orlando Furioso, xxii, 85.
[246.] Your fortune maister, etc., be master of your fortune by good management.
[268.] unused rust, rust which is due to disuse; a Latinism.
[296.] With natures pen, etc., i.e. by his gray hairs, at that age to which proper seriousness belongs. "I cannot tell" did not become his venerable looks.
[310.] That greatest princes, etc. This may mean (1) befitting the presence of the greatest princes, or (2) that the greatest princes might deign to behold in person. The first interpretation is preferable.
[312.] A general reference to the bloody persecutions without regard to age or sex carried on for centuries by the Romish Church, often under the name of "crusades," "acts of faith," "holy inquisition," etc.
[315.] This may refer to the burning of heretics, under the pretext that the Church shed no blood. Kitchin thinks that it means "accursed ashes."
[317.] An Altare, cf. Revelation, vi, 9. Carv'd with cunning ymagery, "in allusion to the stimulus given to the fine arts by the Church of Rome" (Percival).
[366.] brawned bowrs, brawny muscles.
[375.] what evill starre, etc. In Spenser's day, belief in astrology, the pseudo-science of the influence of the stars on human lives, was still common.