Up to the toure, and in lykewyse dyd I
Wyth bothe the Grayhoundes in my company:[3]
Tyll that I came unto a ryall gate,
Where I sawe stondynge the goodly Portres,
Whyche axed me, from whence I came a-late;
To whome I gan in every thynge expresse
All myne adventure, chaunce, and busynesse,
And eke my name; I tolde her every dell:
Whan she herde this she lyked me right well.
Her name, she sayd, was called COUNTENAUNCE
Into the base courte she dyd me then lede,
Where was a fountayne depured of plesance,
A noble sprynge, a ryall conduyte-hede,
Made of fyne golde enameled with reed;
And on the toppe four dragons blewe and stoute
Thys dulcet water in four partyes dyd spoute.
Of whyche there flowed foure ryvers ryght clere,
Sweter than Nylus or Ganges was ther odoure
Tygrys or Eufrates unto them no pere:
I dyd than taste the aromatyke lycoure,
Fragraunt of fume, and swete as any flowre;
And in my mouthe it had a marveylous scent
Of divers spyces, I knewe not what it ment.
And after thys further forth me brought
Dame Countenaunce into a goodly Hall,
Of jasper stones it was wonderly wrought:
The wyndowes cleare depured all of crystall,
And in the roufe on hye over all
Of golde was made a ryght crafty vyne;
Instede of grapes the rubies there dyd shyne.
The flare was paved with berall clarified,
With pillers made of stones precious,
Like a place of pleasure so gayely glorified,
It myght be called a palaice glorious,
So muche delectable and solacious;
The hall was hanged hye and circuler
With cloth of arras in the rychest maner,
That treated well of a ful noble story,
Of the doubty waye to the tower perillous:[4]
Howe a noble knyght should wynne the victory
Of many a serpente foule and odious.
NOTES
- This poem has received some few corrections by comparison withThe Pastime of
Pleasure, as put forth by the Percy Society in 1845.-- Editor.