So down he fell, as an huge rocky clift
Whose false foundation waves have washed away,
With dreadful poise is from the mainland rift
And rolling down, great Neptune doth dismay,
So down he fell, and like an heaped mountain lay."

Thus all ends happily. The aged King and Queen are rescued from
the brazen tower in which the Dragon had imprisoned them, and Una
and the Knight are married.

That is the story of the first book of the Faery Queen. In it
Spenser has made great use of the legend of St. George and the
Dragon. The Red Cross of his Knight, "the dear remembrance of
his dying Lord," was in those days the flag of England, and is
still the Red Cross of our Union Jack. And besides the allegory
the poem has something of history in it. The great people of
Spenser's day play their parts there. Thus Duessa, sad to say,
is meant to be the fair, unhappy Queen of Scots, the wicked
magician is the Pope, and so on. But we need scarcely trouble
about all that. I repeat that meantime it is enough for you to
enjoy the story and the poetry.







Chapter XLIII SPENSER--HIS LAST DAYS