igues of the false Roman church and the
treacherous Spanish king, Philip II, to undermine the religious and
political freedom of the English people. The English nation, following the
Reformed church, overthrows the Catholic faith, but is deceived by the
machinations of Spanish diplomacy.

LINE 1. A GENTLE KNIGHT, the Redcross Knight, representing the church
militant, and Reformed England. He is the young, untried champion of the
old cause whose struggles before the Reformation are referred to in ll. 3,
4. His shield bore "a cross gules upon a field argent," a red cross on a
silver ground. See _The Birth of St. George_ in Percy's _Reliques_, iii, 3,
and Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, iii, 65.

15. FOR SOVERAINE HOPE, as a sign of the supreme hope.

20. GREATEST GLORIANA, Queen Elizabeth. In other books of _The Faerie
Queene_ she is called Belphoebe, the patroness of chastity, and Britomart,
the military genius of Britain.

27. A DRAGON, "the great dragon, that old serpent, called the devil,"
_Revelation_, xii, 9, also Rome and Spain. Cf. legend of St. George and the
dragon, and Fletcher's _Purple Island_, vii _seq._

28. A LOVELY LADIE, Una, the personification of truth and true religion.
Her lamb symbolizes innocence.

46. A DWARFE, representing prudence, or common sense; according to Morley,
the flesh.

56. A SHADIE GROVE, the wood of Error. "By it Spenser shadows forth the
danger surrounding the mind that escapes from the bondage of Roman
authority and thinks for itself."--Kitchin. The description of the wood is
an imitation of Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, i, 37, Chaucer's _Assembly of
Foules_, 176, and Tasso's _Jerusalem Delivered_, iii, 75. Morley sees in
this grove an allegory of man's life, the trees symbolizing trade,
pleasure, youth, etc.

69. THE SAYLING PINE. Ships were built of pine.

70. THE LOPLAR NEVER DRY, because it grows best in moist soil.

71. THE BUILDER OAKE. In the Middle Ages most manor houses and churches
were built of oak.

72. THE CYPRESSE FUNERALL, an emblem of death among the ancients, and
sacred to Pluto. Sidney says that they were wont to dress graves with
cypress branches in old times.

73. THE LAURELL. Victors at the Pythian games and triumphing Roman generals
were crowned with laurel. It was also sacred to Apollo, the god of poetry,
hence "meed of poets sage."

74. THE FIRRE THAT WEEPETH STILL. The fir exudes resinous substance.

75. THE WILLOW. "Willows: a sad tree, whereof