THE FAERIE QUEENE by Edmund Spenser TO The ... - Planet.ee

www.TaleBooks.comCame to the Ladies eare which there did dwell,Shee forth issewed with a goodly traineOf Squires and Ladies equipaged well,And entertained them right fairely, as befell.XVIII. Alma she called was; a virgin bright,That had not yet felt Cupides wanton rage;Yet was shee woo'd of many a gentle knight,And many a Lord of noble parentage,That sought with her to lincke in marriage:For shee was faire as faire mote ever bee,And in the flowre now of her freshest age;Yet full of grace and goodly modestee,That even heven rejoyced her sweete face to see.XIX. In robe of lilly white she was arayd,That from her shoulder to her heele downe raught;The traine whereof loose far behind her strayd,Braunched with gold and perle most richly wrought,And borne of two faire Damsels which were taughtThat service well. Her yellow golden heareWas trimly woven and in tresses wrought,Ne other tire she on her head did weare,But crowned with a garland of sweete Rosiere.XX. Goodly shee entertaind those noble knights,And brought them up into her castle hall;Where gentle court and gracious delightShee to them made, with mildnesse virginall,Shewing her selfe both wise and liberall.Then, when they rested had a season dew,They her besought of favour speciallOf that faire Castle to affoord them vew:Shee graunted; and, them leading forth, the same didshew.XXI. First she them lead up to the Castle wall,That was so high as foe might not it clime,And all so faire and fensible withall;Not built of bricke, ne yet of stone and lime,But of thing like to that Aegyptian slime,Whereof king Nine whilome built Babell towre.But O great pitty! that no lenger timeSo goodly workemanship should not endure:Soone it must turne to earth; no earthly thing is sure.XXII. The frame thereof seemd partly circulare,And part triangulare; O worke divine!Those two the first and last proportions are;The one imperfect, mortall, foeminine,Th' other immortall, perfect, masculine;And twixt them both a quadrate was the baseProportiond equally by seven and nine;Nine was the circle sett in heavens place:Page 211 , Faerie Queene, The - Edmund Spenser