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<DATE>2010-01-06</DATE>
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<NAME>Megan Marion</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B090919.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<VID>162025</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 49 -->
<P>THE FAERIE LEVELLER: OR, King CHARLES his Leveller de&s;cri|ed and deciphered in Queene ELIZA|BETHS dayes.</P>
<P>By her Poet Laureat <HI>Edmond Spen&s;er,</HI> in his unparaleld Poeme, entituled, THE FAERIE QVEENE. A lively repre&s;entation of our times.</P>
<Q><L><HI>Anagram:</HI></L>
<L>Parliaments Army.</L>
<L>Paritie mar'sal men.</L></Q>
<P>Printed ju&s;t levell anens the Saints Army: in the yeare of their Saint&s;hips ungodly Revelling for a godly Levelling. 1648.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="2" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 50 -->
<PB N="3" REF="2"><!-- PDF PAGE 50 -->
<HEAD>A nece&s;&s;ary Preface opening the Allegory.</HEAD>
<P>_REader, thou art here pre&s;ented with a re&s;plen|dent Jewell, taken out of a full Cabinets but it not every ones purcha&s;e: be&s;ides, not of &s;o &s;peciall marke or regard there, in &s;o great an heape, as here being culled out by it &s;elfe, and &s;et forth for pre&s;ent u&s;e: &s;light it not, becau&s;e it is not the publi&s;hers owne invention: who does e&s;teeme the Spyders webbe any whit the better, for that it is &s;punne out of her owne Intralls? or like hony the wor&s;e, for that the indu&s;trious Bee gathers it from Flowers abroad? here is meat out of the Eater, &s;weet hony to be found in the carka&s;&s;e of a &s;laine Lyon; do thou but with <HI>Jonathan</HI> ta&s;te of it, and thou &s;halt have thy &s;ight cleared in &s;ome remarkable matters, which before thou did&s;t not di&s;cerne, or ob&s;erve: thou ha&s;t here plainely di&s;covered to publique view, the mi&s;|chievous condition, the malicious dipo&s;ition, the pre&s;ump|tuous enterprizes, the tumultuous practi&s;es; in a word, the dangerous doings of the&s;e pernitious Sectaries, the confoun|ders of orders, the movers of Sedition, the di&s;turbers of Peace, the &s;ubverters of well-&s;ettled States (if they be not timely met with and prevented by ju&s;tice) lately ri&s;en up and now raigne|ing among&s;t us, by the name of Levellers; they were di&s;cryed long agoe in Queene <HI>Elizabeths</HI> dayes, and then graphically de&s;cribed by the Prince of Engli&s;h Poets <HI>Edmund Spen&s;er,</HI> who&s;e ver&s;es then propheticall are now become hi&s;toricall in our dayes, I have now revi&s;ed, and newly publi&s;hed them for the undeceiving of &s;imple people, too apt to be induced into an high conceipt and overweening opinion of &s;uch Decei|vers, and too ready to be &s;educed by their &s;pecious pretences of reducing all to a ju&s;t equality, and re&s;toring all to their rights and libertie: whereas on the contrary their endeavour is evi|dent
<PB N="4" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 51 -->to take away every mans propriety, and to bring all under &s;lavery to them&s;elves. The Booke out of which this fragment is taken (called the <HI>Faery Queene)</HI> is altogether Allegoricall, and needes a little explanation: the drift and intention of the Author in it, is to &s;et forth a compleat Gen|tleman, accompli&s;ht with all vertues adorning a truly noble Per&s;on. The fir&s;t Booke containes the Legend of Ju&s;tice, the mo&s;t univer&s;all vertue. In the &s;econd Canto <HI>Arthegall</HI> the Champion of Ju&s;tice, with the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of <HI>Talus</HI> his Groome betokening execution of Law, having overcome all illegall arbi|trary oppre&s;&s;ive power; under the per&s;on of <HI>Pollente,</HI> a bar|barous <HI>Saracen,</HI> &s;trengthened by his Daughter <HI>Munera</HI> im|porting bribes and taxes: He proceeds to &s;uppre&s;&s;e the Gyant Ring leader to the faction of Levellers, or applying all to the&s;e times; I &s;uppo&s;e I may briefly give you this key of the work.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Arthegall Prince of ju&s;tice.</HI> King Charles.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Talus his Executioner with his yron &s;layle.</HI> The Kings for|ces, or Gregory.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Pollente an oppre&s;&s;ing Saracen.</HI> The prevalent over awing Faction in the two Hou&s;es.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Munera his a&s;&s;i&s;tant.</HI> The intolerable Tax-rai&s;ers, the Coun|trey Committees Seque&s;trators and Excize-men: The&s;e mu&s;t fir&s;t be apprehended and brought to ju&s;tice, ere the Army be quelled.</ITEM>
<ITEM><P><HI>The Gyant Leveller.</HI> Col. Oliver Cromwell, L. G. of the Sts. Army: the Letters of who&s;e name fall into this Anagram.</P>
<P><HI>Oliver Cromewell. Com' our vil' Leveller.</HI></P>
<P>On the con&s;tant report of who&s;e death, take for an Epitaph that of the Poet. &mdash; <HI>Mors Sceptra ligonibus aequat.</HI></P>
<Q><L>Death which the Scepter levells with the &s;pide,</L>
<L>His fellow levellers Cromwells Grave hath made.</L></Q>
<P>So I di&s;mi&s;&s;e him with that of the Traytor <HI>Judas,</HI> Act 1.25. <HI>who by tran&s;gre&s;&s;ion fell, that he might go to his owne place.</HI> And his complices with <HI>Thomas Sternehold,</HI> ver&s;ion of the 10. v. of the 3. <HI>P&s;alme.</HI></P>
<Q><L>De&s;troy their fal&s;e con&s;piracies, that they may come to naught&punc;</L>
<L>Subvert them in their heapes of &s;inne, that have rebellian wrought.</L></Q></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>There followeth a briefe introductory tran&s;ition from the foregoing to the en&s;uing part of the Canto.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="poem">
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<HEAD>THE FAERIE LEVELLER.</HEAD>
<Q><L>Arthegall <HI>with his Groome</HI> Talus</L>
<L><HI>having</HI> Pollente <HI>quel'd:</HI></L>
<L><HI>And drown'd his Daughter</HI> Munera,</L>
<L><HI>they on their journey wel'd.</HI></L></Q>
<LG>
<L>_IN which they mea&s;ur'd mickle weary way,</L>
<L>Till that at length nigh to the Sea they drew;</L>
<L>By which as they did travaile on a day,</L>
<L>They &s;aw before them far as they could view,</L>
<L>Full many people gathered in a crew,</L>
<L>Who&s;e great a&s;&s;embly they did much admire;</L>
<L>For never there the like re&s;ort they knew:</L>
<L>So towards them they Coa&s;ted to enquire</L>
<L>What thing &s;o many Nations met, did there de&s;ire.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>There they beheld a mighty Gyant &s;tand</L>
<L>Upon a Rock, and holding forth on high</L>
<L>An huge great paire of Ballance in his hand;</L>
<L>With which he boa&s;ted in his &s;urquedry,</L>
<L>That all the world he would waigh equally;</L>
<L>If ought he had the &s;ame to counterpoys:</L>
<L>For want whereof he waighed vanity;</L>
<L>And fil'd his Ballance full of idle toyes:</L>
<L>Yet was admired much of Fooles, Women, and Boyes.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>He &s;aid, that he would all the earth up take,</L>
<L>And all the Sea divided each from either:</L>
<L>So would he of the fire one Ballance make,</L>
<L>And on<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> of th'Ayre, without or wind, or weather:</L>
<L>Then would he Ballance Heaven and Hell together,</L>
<L>And all that did within them all containe,</L>
<L>Of all who&s;e waight he would not mi&s;&s;e a feather;</L>
<L>And looke what &s;urplus did of each remaine,</L>
<L>He would to his owne part re&s;tore the &s;ame againe.</L>
</LG>
<PB N="6" REF="4"><!-- PDF PAGE 52 -->
<LG>
<L>For why, he &s;aid, they all unequall were,</L>
<L>And had encroached upon others &s;hare.</L>
<L>Like as the Sea (which plain he &s;hewed there)</L>
<L>Had worne the earth: &s;o did the fire the Ayre:</L>
<L>So all the re&s;t did others parts impaire.</L>
<L>And &s;o were Realmes, and Nations run awry:</L>
<L>All which he undertooke for to repaire,</L>
<L>In &s;ort as they were formed anciently:</L>
<L>And all things would reduce to equallity.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Therefore the vulgar did about him flocke,</L>
<L>And clu&s;ter thick unto his lea&s;ings vaine:</L>
<L>(Like fooli&s;h Flies about a hony crocke)</L>
<L>In hope by him great benefit to gaine,</L>
<L>And uncontrolled freedome to obtaine.</L>
<L>All which when <HI>Arthegall</HI> did &s;ee, and heare</L>
<L>How he mi&s;-led the &s;imple peoples traine.</L>
<L>In '&s;dainefull wi&s;e he drew unto him neere,</L>
<L>And thus unto him &s;pake without regard, or feare.</L>
</LG>
<Q><LG>
<L>'Thou that pre&s;um'&s;t to waigh the world anew;</L>
<L>'And all things to an equall to re&s;tore.</L>
<L>'In&s;tead of right, me &s;eemes, great wrong do&s;t &s;hew,</L>
<L>'And far above thy forces pitch to &s;ore;</L>
<L>'For ere thou limit what is le&s;&s;e or more</L>
<L>'In every thing, thou or ghte&s;t fir&s;t to know</L>
<L>'What was the poy&s;e of every part of yore:</L>
<L>'And looke then how much it doth overflow,</L>
<L>'Or faile thereof; &s;o much is more then ju&s;t to trow.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>'For at the fir&s;t they all created were</L>
<L>'In goodly mea&s;ure, by their makers might:</L>
<L>'And waighed out in Ballances &s;o nere,</L>
<L>'That not a dramme was mi&s;&s;ing of their right.</L>
<L>'The Earth was in the middle Center pight,</L>
<L>'In which it doth unmoveable abide,</L>
<L>'Hem'd in with waters, like a wall in &s;ight:</L>
<L>'And they with Ayre, that not a drop can &s;lide:</L>
<L>'All which the Heavens containe, and in their cour&s;es guide.</L>
</LG>
<PB N="7" REF="4"><!-- PDF PAGE 52 -->
<LG>
<L>'Such Heavenly ju&s;tice doth among them raigne,</L>
<L>'That every one do know their certaine bound,</L>
<L>'In which they do the&s;e many yeares remaine;</L>
<L>'And 'mong&s;t them all no change hath yet beene found:</L>
<L>'But if thou now &s;hould&s;t waigh them new in pound,</L>
<L>'We are not &s;ure they would &s;o long remaine:</L>
<L>'All change is perilous, and all chance un&s;ound:</L>
<L>'Therefore leave off to waigh them all againe,</L>
<L>'Till we may be a&s;&s;ur'd they &s;hall their cour&s;e retaine.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>'Thou fooli&s;h Elfe, &s;aid then the Gyant wroth,</L>
<L>'See&s;t not how badly all things pre&s;ent be?</L>
<L>'And each e&s;tate quite out of order go'th?</L>
<L>'The Sea it &s;elfe, do&s;t thou not plainely &s;ee,</L>
<L>'Encroach upon the Land there under thee?</L>
<L>'And th' Earth it &s;elfe how dayly its encreas'd</L>
<L>'By all that dying to it turned be?</L>
<L>'Were it not good that wrong were then &s;urcea&s;t,</L>
<L>'And from the mo&s;t that &s;one were given to the lea&s;t?</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>'Therefore I will throw downe tho&s;e mountaines high,</L>
<L>'And make them levell with the lowly plaine:</L>
<L>'The&s;e towring rocks that reach unto the skie</L>
<L>'I will thru&s;t downe into the deepe&s;t maine;</L>
<L>'And as they were, them equallize againe:</L>
<L>'Tyrants that make men &s;ubject to their Law,</L>
<L>'I will &s;uppre&s;&s;e that they no longer raigne,</L>
<L>'And Lordings curbe that Commons over-aw:</L>
<L>'And all the wealth of rich-men to the poore will draw.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>'Of things un&s;eene how can&s;t thou deeme aright?</L>
<L>'Then an&s;wered the righteous Arthegall.</L>
<L>'Sith thou mi&s;deem'&s;t &s;o much of things in &s;ight,</L>
<L>'What though the Sea with waves continuall</L>
<L>'Doe eate the Earth? it is no more at all:</L>
<L>'Ne is the Earth the le&s;&s;e, or loo&s;eth ought:</L>
<L>'For what&s;oever from one place doth fall,</L>
<L>'Is with the tide unto another brought;</L>
<L>'For there is nothing lo&s;t that may be found, if &s;ought.</L>
</LG>
<PB N="8" REF="5"><!-- PDF PAGE 53 -->
<LG>
<L>'Likewi&s;e the Earth is not augmented more,</L>
<L>'By all that dienge into it do fade;</L>
<L>'For of the Earth they formed were of yore;</L>
<L>'However gay their blo&s;&s;ome or their blade</L>
<L>'Doe flouri&s;h now, they into du&s;t &s;hall vade:</L>
<L>'What wrong then is it, if that when they dye,</L>
<L>'They turne to that whereof they fir&s;t were made?</L>
<L>'All in the power of their great maker lye:</L>
<L>'All Creatures mu&s;t obey the voice of the mo&s;t high.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>'They live, they dye, like as he doth ordaine:</L>
<L>'Ne ever any asketh rea&s;on why?</L>
<L>'The hills do not the lowly Dales di&s;daine.</L>
<L>'The Dales do not the lofty hills envy.</L>
<L>'He maketh Kings to &s;it in Soveraignty.</L>
<L>'He maketh Subjects to their power obey.</L>
<L>'He pulleth downe, he &s;etteth up on high.</L>
<L>'He gives to this, from that he takes away:</L>
<L>'For all we have is his; what he li&s;t do he may.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>'What ever thing is done, by him is done:</L>
<L>'Ne any may his mighty will with&s;tand.</L>
<L>'Ne any may his Soveraigne power &s;hunne:</L>
<L>'Ne loo&s;e that he hath bound with &s;tedfa&s;t band:</L>
<L>'In vaine therefore do&s;t thou now take in hand,</L>
<L>'To call to count, or waigh his workes anew,</L>
<L>'Who&s;e coun&s;ells depth thou can&s;t not under&s;tand,</L>
<L>'Sith of things Subject to thy dayly view,</L>
<L>'Thou do&s;t not know their cau&s;es nor their cour&s;es dew.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>'For take thy Ballance, (if thou be &s;o wi&s;e)</L>
<L>'And weigh the winde that under Heaven doth blow;</L>
<L>'Or waigh the light that in the Ea&s;t doth ri&s;e,</L>
<L>'Or weigh the thought that from mans minde doth flow;</L>
<L>'But if the waight of the&s;e thou can&s;t not &s;hew,</L>
<L>'Waigh but one word which from thy lips doth fall;</L>
<L>'For how can&s;t thou tho&s;e greater &s;ecrets know?</L>
<L>'That do&s;t not know the lea&s;t thing of them all:</L>
<L>'Ill can he rule the great, that cannot reach the &s;mall.</L>
</LG></Q>
<PB N="9" REF="5"><!-- PDF PAGE 53 -->
<LG>
<L>Therewith the Gyant much aba&s;hed &s;aid,</L>
<L>That he of little things made reckoning light;</L>
<L>Yet the lea&s;t word that ever could be laid</L>
<L>Within his Ballance, he could waigh aright:</L>
<L>Which is, &s;aid he, more heavy than in waight,</L>
<L>The right or wrong? the fal&s;e or el&s;e the true?</L>
<L>He an&s;wered that he would try it &s;treight:</L>
<L>So he the words into his Ballance threw;</L>
<L>But &s;treight the winged words out of his Ballance flew.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Wroth waxt he then, and &s;aid that words were light;</L>
<L>Ne would within his Ballance well abide:</L>
<L>But he could ju&s;tly waigh the wrong or right:</L>
<L>Well then &s;aid Arthegall let it be try'd.</L>
<L>Fir&s;t in one Ballance, &s;et the true a&s;ide:</L>
<L>He did &s;o fir&s;t, and then the fal&s;e he layd</L>
<L>In th'other skale; but &s;till it downe did &s;lide,</L>
<L>And by no meane could in the waight be &s;tayd,</L>
<L>For by no meanes the fal&s;e will with the true be waigh'd.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Now take the right likewi&s;e &s;aid Arthegall,</L>
<L>And counterpei&s;e the &s;ame with &s;o much wrong:</L>
<L>See fir&s;t the right he put into one skale;</L>
<L>And then the Gyant &s;trove with pui&s;&s;ance &s;trong</L>
<L>To fill the other skale with &s;o much wrong;</L>
<L>But all the wrongs that he therein could lay,</L>
<L>Might not it pei&s;e; yet did he labour long,</L>
<L>And &s;wet, and chaf't, and proved every way;</L>
<L>Yet all the wrongs could not a little right downe lay.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Which when he &s;aw he greatly grew in rage,</L>
<L>And almo&s;t would his Ballances have broken:</L>
<L>But Arthegall him fairly 'gan a&s;&s;wage,</L>
</LG>
<Q><LG>
<L>'And &s;aid, be not upon thy Ballance wroken,</L>
<L>'For they do nought but right or wrong betoken:</L>
<L>'But in the minde the doome of right mu&s;t be;</L>
<L>'And &s;o likewi&s;e of words the which be &s;poken,</L>
<L>'The Eare mu&s;t be the Ballance to decree,</L>
<L>'And judge whether with truth or fal&s;ehood they agree.</L>
</LG>
<PB N="10" REF="6"><!-- PDF PAGE 54 -->
<LG>
<L>'But &s;et the truth, and &s;et the right a&s;ide:</L>
<L>'(For they with wrong, or fal&s;ehood will not fare)</L>
<L>'And put two wrongs together to bee try'd,</L>
<L>'Or el&s;e two fal&s;es of each equall &s;hare:</L>
<L>'And then together do them both compare;</L>
<L>'For truth is one, and right is ever one.</L>
</LG></Q>
<LG>
<L>So did he, and then plaine it did appeare</L>
<L>Whether of them the greater were attone:</L>
<L>But right &s;et in the midde&s;t of the Beame alone.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>But he the right from thence did thru&s;t away:</L>
<L>For it was not the right which he did &s;eeke;</L>
<L>But rather &s;trove extremities to waigh,</L>
<L>Th'one to dimini&s;h th'other for to eeke;</L>
<L>For of the meane he greatly did mi&s;&s;eleeke;</L>
<L>Whom when &s;o lewdly-minded Talus found,</L>
<L>Approaching nigh unto him cheeke by cheek,</L>
<L>He &s;houlderd him from off the higher ground,</L>
<L>And downe the Rock him throwing, in the Sea him drownd.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>Like as a Ship which cruell tempe&s;t drives</L>
<L>Upon a Rock with horrible di&s;may:</L>
<L>Her &s;hatterd Ribs in thou&s;and peeces rives,</L>
<L>And &s;poyling all her geares and goodly ray,</L>
<L>Does make her&s;elfe mis-fortunes pitious prey:</L>
<L>So downe the Cliffe the wretched Gyant tumbled,</L>
<L>His batterd Ballances in peeces lay,</L>
<L>His timbred bones all broken rudely rumbled:</L>
<L>So was the high a&s;piring with huge ruine humbled.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>That when the people who had there about</L>
<L>Long wayted, &s;aw his &s;uddaine de&s;olation;</L>
<L>They gan to gather in tumuluous Rout,</L>
<L>And mutining to &s;tir up civill Faction;</L>
<L>For certaine lo&s;&s;e of &s;o great expectation:</L>
<L>For well they hoped to have got great good,</L>
<L>And wondrous riches by his innovation:</L>
<L>Therefore re&s;olving to revenge his bloud,</L>
<L>They ro&s;e in armes and all in battell order &s;tood.</L>
</LG>
<PB N="11" REF="6"><!-- PDF PAGE 54 -->
<LG>
<L>Which Lawle&s;&s;e multitude him comming to</L>
<L>In warlike wi&s;e, when Arthegall did view,</L>
<L>He much was troubled, ne wi&s;t what to doe,</L>
<L>For loath he was his noble hands t'embrew,</L>
<L>In the ba&s;e blood of &s;uch a Ra&s;call crew,</L>
<L>And otherwi&s;e if that he &s;hould retire,</L>
<L>He fear'd le&s;t they with &s;hame would him pur&s;ue:</L>
<L>Therefore he Talus to them &s;ent t'enquire</L>
<L>The cau&s;e of their array, and truce for to de&s;ire.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>But &s;oone as they him nigh approaching &s;py'd,</L>
<L>They 'gan with all their weapons him a&s;&s;ay,</L>
<L>And rudely &s;troke at him on every &s;ide:</L>
<L>Yet nought they could him hurt, ne ought di&s;may:</L>
<L>But when at them he with his Flayle 'gan lay,</L>
<L>He like a &s;warme of flies them overthrew:</L>
<L>Ne any of them dur&s;t come in his way,</L>
<L>But here and there before his pre&s;ence flew,</L>
<L>And hid them&s;elves in holes and Bu&s;hes from his view.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<L>As when a Faulcon hath with nimble flight</L>
<L>Flowne at a flu&s;h of Ducks fore-by the brooke:</L>
<L>The trembling Fowle di&s;may'd with dreadfull &s;ight</L>
<L>Of Death the which them allmo&s;t overtooke,</L>
<L>Doe hide them&s;elves from her a&s;tonying looke,</L>
<L>Among&s;t the Flags, and covert round about:</L>
<L>When Talus &s;aw they all the field for&s;ooke,</L>
<L>And none appear'd of all that Raskall Rout:</L>
<L>To Arthegall he turnd, and went with him throughout.</L>
</LG>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
