usly taught
(them).

161. HIS FORLORNE WEED, his abandoned clothing.

165. MONIMENTS, the sorrowful, mournful relics.

182. SO HARDLY HE, etc. So he with difficulty coaxes the life which has
flown to return into her body. According to the Platonic teaching, the body
is the prison-house of the soul. Cf _Psalms_, cxlii, 7.

202. BUT SEELED UP WITH DEATH, but closed in death. "Seel" was a term in
falconry, meaning "to sew up" (the eyes of the hawk).

219. THE BITTER BALEFULL STOUND, the bitter, grievous moment during which
she listens to the story.

220. IF LESSE THEN THAT I FEARE, etc., if it is less bitter than I fear it
is, I shall have found more favor (been more fortunate) than I expected.

231. SORROWFULL ASSAY, the assault of sorrow (on her heart).

236. WAS NEVER LADY, etc., there never was lady who loved day (life)
dearer.

249. A GOODLY KNIGHT. Prince Arthur, son of King Uther Pendragon and Queen
Ygerne, the model English gentleman, in whom all the virtues are perfected
(Magnificence). According to Upton and most editors, Prince Arthur
represents Lord Leicester; according to another tradition, Sir Philip
Sidney. Could the author have possibly intended in him compliment to Sir
Walter Raleigh? See Spenser's _Letter to Raleigh_. Arthur is the beau ideal
of knighthood, and upon him the poet lavishes his richest descriptive
powers. His armor, his shield Pridwen, his lance Roan, and sword Exculibur,
were made by the great enchanter Merlin in the isle of Avallon.

259. SHAPT LIKE A LADIES HEAD, an effigy of Queen Elizabeth, the Faerie
Queene.

260. LIKE HESPERUS, the evening star. Cf. Phosphorus, the morning star.

268. The dragon couchant was also the crest of Arthur's father, Uther,
surnamed on this account Pen-dragon. The description in this stanza is
imitated from Tasso's description of the helmet of the Sultan in _Jerusalem
Delivered_, ix, 25, which in turn follows Vergil's _Aeneid_, vii, 785
_seq._

280. GREENE SELINIS, a town in Sicily.

284. HIS WARLIKE SHIELD. Spenser here follows closely the description of
the shield of the magician Atlante in Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_, ii, 55.

300. SILVER CYNTHIA, the moon. It was popularly supposed that magicians and
witches had power to cause eclipses of the moon.

304. All falsehood and deception. Truth and Wisdom are symbolized (Upton).

306. WHEN HIM LIST, when it pleased him. _Him_ is dative.

314. IT MERLIN WAS. Ambrose Merlin, the prince of enc