hese _1590 etc.: FE_

All three editions are in error and the word has been supplied
from FE.

Harrow > Horrow _1590, 1596: FE_

The error occurs in 1590 and 1596, and was corrected in 1609 from
FE.

(b) Variants on the text of 1596

in her sight > to her might _1590_

The variant occurs in 1590, but not in 1596 or 1609.

traile > trayle _1609_

The variant occurs in 1609, but not in 1590 or 1596.

fair > fayre, _1590_; Faire _1609_

These two variants occur in 1590 and 1609, so that the word in
question is different in all three editions.

hand > hond _sugg. Morris_

Morris (see Bibliography) suggested this alternative to the given
text.

So that any reader will be able to start anywhere and understand
any stanza immediately, I have glossed even the common archaisms
throughout (e.g. "gan", "eftsoons", "wont"). Occasionally,
however, as with "squire", or "palmer", or "foster", when
repetitious glossing would be locally irritating, I have glossed
the word once or twice only at the beginning of each canto. Thus
it is possible that you will alight somewhere and find an unknown
word unglossed.

If this should happen, you will almost certainly be able to find
the word glossed in at least one other place earlier in the
canto. Or, if it is does not seem to be glossed at all, you will
find it in any competent concise English dictionary.

SUGGESTIONS FOR NEW READERS

Readers who are new to _The Faerie Queene_ and who are working
without the help of a teacher may be daunted by its sheer size.
Such readers are invited to sample some of the poem before
deciding to embark on a detailed reading.

If you are at present unfamiliar with Elizabethan spelling and
usage, I recommend that, in the beginning, you read each stanza
first in the Shadow Text, just to get the mechanical meaning.
Then go to the original and read that, for its structure, for its
rhythm and its music, and to absorb the idiom of the language.
After a short while you will be able to read the Original Text
immediately, referring to the Shadow Text only when difficulty is
encountered.

The following passages provide a brief survey of the variety of
Spenser's style.

101. The sequence in Error's den (101.11-27) is perhaps the most
crudely allegorical in the _FQ_, and shows signs of having been
drafted before Spenser hit upon his "dark conceit". None the
less, the whole of this canto should be rea