170
The first Booke of
Cant. XI.
Perforce rebutted backe. The weapon brightTaking aduantage of his open iaw,Ran through his mouth with so importune might,That deepe emperst his darksom hollow maw,And back retyrd, his life blood forth with all did draw.
So downe he fell, and forth his life did breath;That vanisht into smoke and cloudes swift;So downe he fell, that the'arth him vnderneathDid grone, as feeble so great load to lift;So downe he fell, as an huge rocky clift,Whose false foundacion waues haue washt away,With dreadfull poyse is from the mayneland rift,And rolling downe, great Neptune doth dismay;So downe he fell, and like an heaped mountaine lay.
The knight him selfe euen trembled at his fall,So huge and horrible a masse it seemd;And his deare Lady, that beheld it all,Durst not approch for dread, which she misdeemd,But yet at last, whenas the direfull feendShe saw not stirre, of-shaking vaine affright,She nigher drew, and saw that ioyous end:Then God she praysd, and thankt her faithfull knight,That had atchieude so great a conquest by his might.
Cant.
