for to tell
The beautee of the gardin, and the well
That stood under a laurer alway grene;
Ful often time he Pluto, and his quene
Proserpina, and alle hir faërie[387]
Disporten hem, and maken melodie
About that well, and daunced, as men told.
Again, in the same Tale:
And so befel in that bright morwe tide,
That, in the gardin, on the ferther side,
Pluto, that is the king of Faërie,
And many a ladye in his compagnie,
Folwing his wif, the quene Proserpina,
Which that he ravisshed out of Ethná,
While that she gadred floures in the mede,
(In Claudian ye may the story rede,
How that hire in his grisely carte he fette);
This king of Faërie adoun him sette
Upon a benche of turvès, fresh and grene.
In the conversation which ensues between these august personages, great knowledge of Scripture is displayed; and the queen, speaking of the "sapient prince," passionately exclaims—
I setè nat of all the vilanie
That he of women wrote a boterflie;
I am a woman nedès moste I speke,
Or swell unto that time min hertè breke.
Some might suspect a mystery in the queen's thus emphatically styling herself a woman, but we lay no stress upon it, as Faire Damoselle Pertelote, the hen, who was certainly less entitled to it, does the same.
In the Man of Lawes Tale the word Elfe is employed, but whether as equivalent to witch or fairy is doubtful.
This lettre spake, the quene delivered was
Of so horríble a fendliche creätúre,
That in the castle, non so hardy was,
That any whilè dorste therein endure.
The mother was an elfe by áventure,
Y come, by charmès or by sorcerie,
And everich man hateth hire compagnie.[388]
The Rime of Sir Thopas has been already considered as belonging to romance.