Spenser's Faerie Queene, Vol. 1 (of 2)

That chamber seemed ruinous and old, lv

And therefore was remoued farre behind,

Yet were the wals, that did the same vphold,

Right firme and strong, though somewhat they declind;

And therein sate an old oldman, halfe blind,

And all decrepit in his feeble corse,

Yet liuely vigour rested in his mind,

And recompenst him with a better scorse:

Weake body well is[758] chang’d for minds redoubled forse.

This man of infinite remembrance was, lvi

And things foregone through many ages held,

Which he recorded still, as they did pas,

Ne suffred them to perish through long eld,

As all things else, the which this world doth weld,

But laid them vp in his immortall scrine,

Where they for euer incorrupted dweld:

The warres he well remembred of king Nine,

Of old Assaracus, and Inachus diuine.

The yeares of Nestor nothing were to[759] his, lvii

Ne yet Mathusalem, though longest liu’d;

For he remembred both their infancies:

Ne wonder then, if that he were depriu’d

Of natiue strength now, that he them suruiu’d.

His chamber all was hangd about with rolles,

And old records from auncient times deriu’d,

Some made in books, some in long parchment scrolles,

That were all worme-eaten, and full of canker holes.

Amidst them all he in a chaire was set, lviii

Tossing and turning them withouten end;

But for he was vnhable them to fet,

A litle boy did on him still attend,

To reach, when euer he for ought did send;

And oft when things were lost, or laid amis,

That boy them sought, and vnto him did lend.

Therefore he Anamnestes cleped is,

And that old man Eumnestes, by their propertis.

The knights there entring, did him reuerence dew lix

And wondred at his endlesse exercise,

Then as they gan his Librarie to vew,

And antique Registers for to auise,

There chaunced to the Princes hand to rize,

An auncient booke, hight Briton moniments,

That of this lands first conquest did deuize,

And old diuision into Regiments,

Till it reduced was to one mans gouernments.

Sir Guyon chaunst eke on another booke, lx

That hight Antiquitie of Faerie lond,[760]

In which when as he greedily did looke,[761]

Th’off-spring of Elues and Faries there he fond,

As it deliuered was from hond to hond:

Whereat they burning both with feruent fire,

Their countries auncestry to vnderstond,

Crau’d leaue of Alma, and that aged sire,

To read those bookes; who gladly graunted their desire.

FOOTNOTES:

[721] Arg. 4 fight 1596, 1609

[722] i 5 incedent 1590: corr. F. E.

[723] v 3 thee] a 1609

[724] vi 9 Arthogall, 1590

[725] vii 5 Now hath] Seuen times 1590

[726] 6 Walkt round] Hath walkte 1590. Cf. I ix 15

[727] 7 Since 1609

[728] viii 5 you 1596

[729] ix 1 weete,] wote, 1590 &c. MS. corr. in Malone 615

[730] xiii 1 spake 1609

[731] xv 3 Captaine 1590, 1596

[732] xvi 8 with om. 1596

[733] xvii 4 perlous 1590

[734] 5 comflict 1596

[735] xix 9 crownd 1590: corr. F. E.

[736] xx 6 There] Then 1590

[737] xxi 1 them] him 1590

[738] 3 sensible 1596, 1609

[739] 7 lenger a time 1590: corr. F. E.

[740] xxii 9 Dyapase 1590 &c.: corr. F. E.

[741] xxix 3 thence, 1590 &c.

[742] xxxi 4 th’Achates] the cates 1609

[743] xxxvii 1 gold, 1590, 1596

[744] 8 you loue,] your loue, 1590, 1596: corr. 1609

[745] xxxviii 2 mood] word 1590 &c.: corr. Morris

[746] 9 twelue moneths] three years 1590

[747] xxxix 3 samblaunt 1596

[748] xli 1 communed 1609

[749] 6 Craftesman 1590, 1596

[750] 7 Castory] lastery 1590 &c.: corr. F. E.

[751] xlii 1 cheare] cleare 1590

[752] xliii 6 why 1590, 1596

[753] 9 shamefac’t 1609

[754] xlviii 3 these] this 1590

[755] xlix 4 reason] season Drayton (teste Collier)

[756] 9 would 1590

[757] lii 9 th’house 1609

[758] lv 9 welis 1590: corr. F. E.

[759] lvii i to] so 1590

Spenser's Faerie Queene, Vol. 1 (of 2)

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FOOTNOTES: