Cant. V.
the Faerie Queene.
61
To driue away the dull melancholy,And many Bardes, that to the trembling chordCan tune their timely voices cunningly,And many Chroniclers, that can recordOld loues, and warres for Ladies doen by many a Lord.
Soone after comes the cruell Sarazin,In wouen maile all armed warily,And sternly lookes at him, who not a pinDoes care for looke of liuing creatures eye.They bring them wines of Greece and Araby,And daintie spices fetcht from furthest Ynd,To kindle heat of corage priuily:And in the wine a solemne oth they byndT'obserue the sacred lawes of armes, that are assynd.
At last forth comes that far renowmed Queene,With royall pomp and princely maiestie;She is ybrought vnto a paled greene,And placed vnder stately canapee,The warlike feates of both thofe knights to see.On th'other side in all mens open vewDuessa placed is, and on a treeSansfoy his shield is hangd with bloody hew:Both those the lawrell girlonds to the victor dew.
A shrilling trompett sownded from on hye,And vnto battaill bad them selues addresse:Their shining shieldes about their wrestes they tye,And burning blades about their heades doe blesse,The instruments of wrath and heauinesse:With greedy force each other doth assayle,And strike so fiercely, that they doe impresseDeepe dinted furrowes in the battred mayle:The yron walles to ward their blowes are weak & fraile.
The
