And pointing forth, lo yonder is (said she) iii[363] The brasen towre in which my parents deare For dread of that huge feend emprisond be,[364] Whom I from far[365] see on the walles appeare, Whose sight my feeble soule doth greatly cheare: And on the top of all I do espye The watchman wayting tydings glad to heare, That O my parents might I happily Vnto you bring, to ease you of your misery. With that they heard a roaring hideous sound, iv That all the ayre with terrour filled wide, And seemd vneath to shake the stedfast ground. Eftsoones that dreadfull Dragon they espide, Where stretcht[366] he lay vpon the sunny side[367] Of a great hill, himselfe like a great hill. But all so soone, as he from far descride Those glistring armes, that heauen with light did fill, He rousd himselfe full blith, and hastned them vntill. Then bad the knight his[368] Lady yede aloofe, v And to an hill her selfe with draw aside, From whence she might behold that battailles proof And eke be safe from daunger far descryde: She him obayd, and turnd a little wyde. Now O thou sacred Muse, most learned Dame, Faire ympe of _Phœbus_ and his aged bride, The Nourse of time, and euerlasting fame, That warlike hands ennoblest with immortall name; O gently come into my feeble brest, vi Come gently, but not with that mighty rage, Wherewith the martiall troupes thou doest infest, And harts of great Heroës doest enrage, That nought their kindled courage may aswage,[369] Soone as thy dreadfull trompe begins to sownd;[370] The God of warre with his fiers equipage Thou doest awake, sleepe neuer he so sownd, And scared[371] nations doest with horrour sterne astownd. Faire Goddesse lay that furious fit aside, vii Till I of warres and bloudy _Mars_ do sing, And Briton fields with Sarazin bloud bedyde, Twixt that great faery Queene and Paynim king, That with their horrour heauen and earth did ring, A worke of labour long, and endlesse prayse: But now a while let downe that haughtie string, And to my tunes thy second tenor rayse, That I this man of God his godly armes may blaze. By this the dreadfull Beast drew nigh to hand, viii Halfe flying, and halfe footing in his hast, That with his largenesse measured much land, And made wide shadow vnder his huge wast; As mountaine doth the valley ouercast. Approching nigh, he reared high afore His body monstrous, horrible, and vast[372], Which to increase his wondrous greatnesse more, Was swolne with wrath, and poyson, and with bloudy gore.