One day, nigh wearie of the yrkesome way, From her unhastie beast she did alight; And on the grasse her dainty limbs did lay In secrete shadow, far from all mens sight; From her fayre head her fillet she undight,[122] And layd her stole aside; Her angels face, As the great eye of heaven, shynéd bright, And made a sunshine in the shady place; Did never mortall eye behold such heavenly grace. It fortunéd, out of the thickest wood A ramping lyon rushéd suddeinly, Hunting full greedy after salvage blood: Soone as the royall Virgin he did spy, With gaping mouth at her ran greedily, To have at once devourd her tender corse: But to the pray whenas he drew more ny, His bloody rage aswaged with remorse,[123] And, with the sight amazd, forgat his furious forse. Instead thereof he kist her wearie feet, And lickt her lilly hands with fawning tong; As he her wrongéd innocence did weet.[124] O how can beautie maister the most strong, And simple truth subdue avenging wrong! MINOR POEMS. Next to his masterpiece, the _Shepherd's Calendar_ (1579) is the best known of Spenser's poems; though, as his first work, it is below many others in melody. It consists of twelve pastoral poems, or eclogues, one for each month of the year. The themes are generally rural life, nature, love in the fields; and the speakers are shepherds and shepherdesses. To increase the rustic effect Spenser uses strange forms of speech and obsolete words, to such an extent that Jonson complained his works are not English or any other language. Some are melancholy poems on his lost Rosalind; some are satires on the clergy; one, "The Briar and the Oak," is an allegory; one flatters Elizabeth, and others are pure fables touched with the Puritan spirit. They are written in various styles and meters, and show plainly that Spenser was practicing and preparing himself for greater work. Other noteworthy poems are "Mother Hubbard's Tale," a satire on society; "Astrophel," an elegy on the death of Sidney; _Amoretti_, or sonnets, to his Elizabeth; the marriage hymn, "Epithalamion," and four "Hymns," on Love, Beauty, Heavenly Love, and Heavenly Beauty. There are numerous other poems and collections of poems, but these show the scope of his work and are best worth reading.