A
Letter
of
the
Authors
expounding
his
whole
intention
in
the
course
of
this
worke
:
which
for
that
it
giueth
great
light
to
the
Reader
,
for
the
better
vnderstanding
is
hereunto
annexed
.
To
the
Right
noble
,
and
Valorous
,
Sir
Walter
Raleigh
knight
,
Lo.
Wardein
of
the
Stanneryes
,
and
her
Maiesties
liefetenaunt
of
the
County
of
Cornewayll
.
SIr
knowing
how
doubtfully
all
Allegories
may
be
construed
,
and
this
booke
of
mine
,
which
I
haue
entituled
the
Faery
Queene
,
being
a
continued
Allegory
,
or
darke
conceit
,
I
haue
thought
good
aswell
for
auoyding
of
gealous
opinions
and
misconstructions
,
as
also
for
your
better
light
in
reading
therof
,
(
being
so
by
you
commanded
,
)
to
discouer
vnto
you
the
general
intention
&
meaning
,
which
in
the
whole
course
thereof
I
haue
fashioned
,
without
expressing
of
any
particular
purposes
or
by
accidents
therein
occasioned
.
The
generall
end
therefore
of
all
the
booke
is
to
fashion
a
gentleman
or
noble
person
in
vertuous
and
gentle
discipline
:
Which
for
that
I
conceiued
shoulde
be
most
plausible
and
pleasing
,
being
coloured
with
an
historicall
fiction
,
the
which
the
most
part
of
men
delight
to
read
,
rather
for
variety
of
matter
,
then
for
profite
of
the
exsample
:
I
chose
the
historye
of
king
Arthure
,
as
most
fitte
for
the
excellency
of
his
person
,
being
made
famous
by
many
mens
former
workes
,
and
also
furthest
from
the
daunger
of
enuy
,
and
suspition
of
present
time
.
In
which
I
haue
followed
all
the
antique
Poets
historicall
,
first
Homere
,
who
in
the
Persons
of
Agamemnon
and
Vlysses
hath
ensampled
a
good
gouernour
and
a
vertuous
man
,
the
one
in
his
Ilias
,
the
other
in
his
Odysseis
:
then
Virgil
,
whose
like
intention
was
to
doe
in
the
person
of
Aeneas
:
after
him
Ariosto
comprised
them
both
in
his
Orlando
:
and
lately
Tasso
disseuered
them
againe
,
and
formed
both
parts
in
two
persons
,
namely
that
part
which
they
in
Philosophy
call
Ethice
,
or
vertues
of
a
priuate
man
,
coloured
in
his
Rinaldo
:
The
other
named
Politice
in
his
Godfredo
.
By
ensample
of
which
excellente
Poets
,
I
labour
to
pourtraict
in
Arthure
,
before
he
was
king
,
the
image
of
a
braue
knight
,
perfected
in
the
twelue
priuate
morall
vertues
,
as
Aristotle
hath
deuised
,
the
which
is
the
purpose
of
these
first
twelue
bookes
:
which
if
I
finde
to
be
well
accepted
,
I
may
be
perhaps
encoraged
,
to
frame
the
other
part
of
polliticke
vertues
in
his
person
,
after
that
hee
came
to
be
king
.
To
some
I
know
this
Methode
will
seeme
displeasaunt
,
which
had
rather
haue
good
discipline
deliuered
plainly
in
way
of
precepts
,
or
sermoned
at
large
,
as
they
vse
,
then
thus
clowdily
enwrapped
in
Allegoricall
deuises
.
But
such
,
me
seeme
,
should
be
satisfide
with
the
vse
of
these
dayes
,
seeing
all
things
accounted
by
their
showes
,
and
nothing
esteemed
of
,
that
is
not
delightfull
and
pleasing
to
commune
sence
.
For
this
cause
is
Xenophon
preferred
before
Plato
,
for
that
the
one
in
the
exquisite
depth
of
his
iudgement
,
formed
a
Commune
welth
such
as
it
should
be
,
but
the
other
in
the
person
of
Cyrus
and
the
Persians
fashioned
a
gouernement
such
as
might
best
be
:
So
much
more
profitable
and
gratious
is
doctrine
by
ensample
,
then
by
rule
.
So
haue
I
laboured
to
doe
in
the
person
of
Arthure
:
whome
I
conceiue
after
his
long
education
by
Timon
,
to
whom
he
was
by
Merlin
deliuered
to
be
brought
vp
,
so
soone
as
he
was
borne
of
the
Lady
Igrayne
,
to
haue
seene
in
a
dream
or
vision
the
Faery
Queen
,
with
whose
excellent
beauty
rauished
,
he
awaking
resolued
to
seeke
her
out
,
and
so
being
by
Merlin
armed
,
and
by
Timon
throughly
instructed
,
he
went
to
seeke
her
forth
in
Faerye
land
.
In
that
Faery
Queene
I
meane
glory
in
my
generall
intention
,
but
in
my
particular
I
conceiue
the
most
excellent
and
glorious
person
of
our
soueraine
the
Queene
,
and
her
kingdome
in
Faery
land
.
And
yet
in
some
places
el
,
I
doe
otherwise
shadow
her
.
For
considering
she
beareth
two
persons
,
the
one
of
a
most
royall
Queene
or
Empresse
,
the
other
of
a
most
vertuous
and
beautifull
Lady
,
this
latter
part
in
some
places
I
doe
ezpresse
in
Belphoebe
,
fashioning
her
name
according
to
your
owne
excellent
conceipt
of
Cynthia
,
(
Phaebe
and
Cynthia
being
both
names
of
Diana
.
)
So
in
the
person
of
Prince
Arthure
I
sette
forth
magnificence
in
particular
,
which
vertue
for
that
(
according
to
Aristotle
and
the
rest
)
it
is
the
perfection
of
all
the
rest
,
and
conteineth
in
it
them
all
,
therefore
in
the
whole
course
I
mention
the
deedes
of
Arthure
app'yable
to
that
vertue
,
which
I
write
of
in
that
booke
.
But
of
the
xii
.
other
vertues
,
I
make
xii
.
other
knight
the
patrones
,
for
the
more
variety
of
the
history
:
Of
which
these
three
bookes
contayn
three
.
The
first
of
the
knight
of
the
Redcrosse
,
in
whome
I
expresse
Holynes
:
The
seconde
of
Sir
Guyon
,
in
whome
I
sette
forth
Temperaunce
:
The
third
of
Britomartis
a
Lady
knight
,
in
whome
I
picture
Chastity
.
But
because
the
beginning
of
the
whole
worke
seemeth
abrupte
and
as
depending
vpon
other
antecedents
,
it
needs
that
ye
know
the
occasion
of
these
three
knights
seuerall
aduentures
.
For
the
Methode
of
a
Poet
historical
is
not
such
,
as
of
an
Historiographer
.
For
an
Historiographer
discourseth
of
affayres
orderly
as
they
were
donne
,
accounting
as
well
the
times
as
the
actions
,
but
a
Poet
thrusteth
into
the
middest
,
euen
where
it
most
concerneth
him
,
and
there
recoursing
to
the
thinges
forepaste
,
and
diuining
of
thinges
to
come
,
maketh
a
pleasing
Analysis
of
all
.
The
beginning
therefore
of
my
history
,
if
it
were
to
be
told
by
an
Historiographer
should
be
the
twelfth
booke
which
is
the
last
,
where
I
deuise
that
the
Faery
Queene
kept
her
Annuall
feaste
xii
.
dayes
,
vppon
which
xii
.
seuerall
dayes
,
the
occasions
of
the
xii
.
seuerall
aduentures
hapned
,
which
being
vndertaken
by
xii
.
seuerall
knights
,
are
in
these
xii
books
seuerally
handled
and
discoursed
.
The
first
was
this
.
In
the
beginning
of
the
feast
,
there
presented
him selfe
a
tall
clownishe
younge
man
,
who
falling
before
the
Queen
of
Faries
desired
a
boone
(
as
the
manner
then
was
)
which
during
that
feast
she
might
not
refuse
:
which
was
that
hee
might
haue
the
atchieuement
of
any
aduenture
,
which
during
that
feaste
should
haprepen
,
that
being
graunted
,
he
rested
him
on
the
floore
,
vnfitte
through
his
rusticity
for
a
better
place
.
Soone
after
entred
a
faire
Ladye
in
mourning
weedes
,
riding
on
a
white
Asse
,
with
a
dwarfe
behind
her
leading
a
warlike
steed
,
that
bore
the
Armes
of
a
knight
,
and
his
speare
in
the
dwarfes
hand
.
Shee
falling
before
the
Queene
of
Faeries
,
complayned
that
her
father
and
mother
an
ancient
King
and
Queene
,
had
bene
by
an
huge
dragon
many
years
shut
vp
in
a
brasen
Castle
,
who
thence
suffred
them
not
to
yssew
:
and
therefore
besought
the
Faery
Queene
to
assygne
her
some
one
of
her
knights
to
take
on
him
that
exployt
.
Presently
that
clownish
person
vpstarting
,
desired
that
aduenture
:
whereat
the
Queene
much
wondering
,
and
the
Lady
much
gainesaying
,
yet
he
earnestly
importuned
his
desire
.
In
the
end
the
Lady
told
him
that
vnlesse
that
armour
which
she
brought
,
would
serue
him
(
that
is
the
armour
of
a
Christian
man
specified
by
Saint
Paul
v.
Ephes.
)
that
he
could
not
succeed
in
that
enterprise
,
which
being
forthwith
put
vpon
him
with
dewe
furnitures
thereunto
,
he
seemed
the
goodliest
man
in
al
that
company
,
and
was
well
liked
of
the
Lady
.
And
eftesoones
taking
on
him
knighthood
,
and
mounting
on
that
straunge
Courser
,
he
went
forth
with
her
on
that
aduenture
:
where
beginneth
the
first
booke
,
vz.
A
gentle
knight
was
pricking
on
the
playne
.
&c.
The
second
day
ther
came
in
a
Palmer
bearing
an
Infant
with
bloody
hands
,
whose
Parents
he
complained
to
haue
bene
slayn
by
an
Enchaunteresse
called
Acrasia
:
and
therfore
craued
of
the
Faery
Queene
,
to
appoint
him
some
knight
,
to
performe
that
aduenture
,
which
being
assigned
to
Sir
Guyon
,
he
presently
went
forth
with
that
same
Palmer
:
which
is
the
beginning
of
the
second
booke
and
the
whole
subiect
thereof
.
The
third
day
there
came
in
,
a
Groome
who
complained
before
the
Faery
Queene
,
that
a
vile
Enchaunter
called
Busirane
had
in
hand
a
most
faire
Lady
called
Amoretta
,
whom
he
kept
in
most
grieuous
torment
,
because
she
would
not
yield
him
the
pleasure
of
her
body
.
Whereupon
Sir
Scudamour
the
louer
of
that
Lady
presently
tooke
on
him
that
aduenture
.
But
being
vnable
to
performe
it
by
reason
of
the
hard
Enchauntments
,
after
long
sorrow
,
in
the
end
met
with
Britomartis
,
who
succoured
him
,
and
reskewed
his
loue
.
But
by
occasion
hereof
,
many
other
aduentures
are
intermedled
,
but
rather
as
Accidents
,
then
intendments
.
As
the
loue
of
Britomart
,
the
ouerthrow
of
Marinell
,
the
misery
of
Florimell
,
the
vertuousnes
of
Belphoebe
,
the
lasciuiousnes
of
Hellenora
,
and
many
the
like
.
Thus
much
Sir
,
I
haue
briefly
ouerronne
to
direct
your
vnderstanding
to
the
wel-head
of
the
History
,
that
from
thence
gathering
the
whole
intention
of
the
conceit
,
ye
may
as
in
a
handfull
gripe
al
the
discourse
,
which
otherwise
may
happily
seeme
tedious
and
confused
.
So
humbly
crauing
the
continuaunce
of
your
honorable
fauour
towards
me
,
and
th'
eternall
establishment
of
your
happines
,
I
humbly
take
leaue
.
23.
Ianuary
.
1589.
Yours
most
humbly
affectionate
.
Ed.
Spenser
.