[750] 7 Castory] lastery _1590 &c._: _corr. F. E._ [751] xlii 1 cheare] cleare _1590_ [752] xliii 6 why _1590_, _1596_ [753] 9 shamefac’t _1609_ [754] xlviii 3 these] this _1590_ [755] xlix 4 reason] season _Drayton_ (_teste Collier_) [756] 9 would _1590_ [757] lii 9 th’house _1609_ [758] lv 9 welis _1590_: _corr. F. E._ [759] lvii i to] so _1590_ _Cant. X._ [Illustration: _A chronicle of Briton kings, from Brute to Vthers rayne. And rolles of Elfin Emperours, till time of Gloriane._ ] Who now shall giue vnto me words and sound, i Equall vnto this haughtie enterprise? Or who shall lend me wings, with which from ground My lowly verse may loftily arise, And lift it selfe vnto the highest skies? More ample spirit, then hitherto was wount, Here needes me, whiles the famous auncestries Of my most dreaded Soueraigne I recount, By which all earthly Princes she doth farre surmount. Ne vnder Sunne, that shines so wide and faire, ii Whence all that liues, does borrow life and light, Liues ought, that to her linage may compaire, Which though from earth it be deriued right, Yet doth it selfe stretch forth to heauens hight, And all the world with wonder ouerspred; A labour huge, exceeding farre my might: How shall fraile pen, with feare disparaged, Conceiue such soueraine glory, and great bountihed? Argument worthy of _Mœonian_ quill, iii Or rather worthy of great _Phœbus_ rote, Whereon the ruines of great _Ossa_ hill, And triumphes of _Phlegræan Ioue_ he wrote, That all the Gods admird his loftie note. But if some relish of that heauenly lay His learned daughters would to me report, To decke my song withall, I would assay, Thy name, O soueraine Queene, to blazon farre away. Thy name O soueraine Queene, thy realme and race, iv From this renowmed Prince deriued arre, Who[762] mightily vpheld that royall mace, Which now thou bear’st, to thee descended farre From mightie kings and conquerours in warre, Thy fathers and great[763] Grandfathers of old[764], Whose noble deedes aboue the Northerne starre Immortall fame for euer hath enrold; As in that old mans booke they were in order told. The land, which warlike Britons now possesse, v And therein haue their mightie empire raysd, In antique times was saluage wildernesse, Vnpeopled, vnmanurd, vnprou’d, vnpraysd, Ne was it Island then, ne was it paysd Amid the _Ocean_ waues, ne was it sought Of marchants[765] farre, for profits therein praysd, But was all desolate, and of some thought By sea to haue bene from the Celticke mayn-land brought.