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

www.TaleBooks.comXV. Then in the countrey she abroad him sought,And in the rurall cottages inquir'd;Where also many plaintes to her were brought,How he their heedelesse harts with love had fir'd,And his false venim through their veines inspir'd:And eke the gentle Shepheard swaynes, which satKeeping their fleecy flockes as they were hyr'd,She sweetly heard complaine, both how and whatHer sonne had to them doen; yet she did smile thereat.XVI. But when in none of all these she him got,She gan avize where els he mote him hyde:At last she her bethought that she had notYet sought the salvage woods and forests wyde,In which full many lovely Nymphes abyde;Mongst whom might be that he did closely lye,Or that the love of some of them him tyde:Forthy she thither cast her course t' apply,To search the secret haunts of Dianes company.XVII. Shortly unto the wastefull woods she came,Whereas she found the Goddesse with her crew,After late chace of their embrewed game,Sitting beside a fountaine in a rew;Some of them washing with the liquid dewFrom off their dainty limbs the dusty sweatAnd soyle, which did deforme their lively hew;Others lay shaded from the scorching heat,The rest upon her person gave attendance great.XVIII. She, having hong upon a bough on highHer bow and painted quiver, had unlasteHer silver buskins from her nimble thigh,And her lanck loynes ungirt, and brests unbraste,After her heat the breathing cold to taste:Her golden lockes, that late in tresses brightEmbreaded were for hindring of her haste,Now loose about her shoulders hong undight,And were with sweet Ambrosia all besprinckled light.XIX. Soone as she Venus saw behinde her backe,She was asham'd to be so loose surpriz'd;And woxe halfe wroth against her damzels slacke,That had not her thereof before aviz'd,But suffred her so carelessly disguiz'dBe overtaken. Soone her garments looseUpgath'ring, in her bosome she compriz'dWell as she might, and to the Goddesse rose;Whiles all her Nymphes did like a girlond her enclose.XX. Goodly she gan faire Cytherea greet,And shortly asked her, what cause her broughtInto that wildernesse for her unmeet,From her sweete bowres, and beds with pleasures fraught?Page 318 , Faerie Queene, The - Edmund Spenser