In his epic poem The Faerie Queene, Edmund Spenser recounts a history of British kings through the knight Sir Guyon. Spenser begins by pleading for help in describing the epic line of kings that came before Queen Elizabeth. He then begins a narrative of the early history of the British Isles, from its beginning when it was peopled by savage giants, to the arrival of Brute (Brutus), who subdued the inhabitants and began a peaceful reign over the new kingdom; in contrast to the later narratives, when Brute divides his kingdom between his three sons, they live peacefully together. The list of following kings included Locrine, the subject of a play attributed to Shakespeare in the Third Folio. This extract then moves to the reign of King Leyr; Spenser follows earlier versions, including Cordelia's success in returning Leyr to the crown and her subsequent death at the hand of her elder sisters' sons. Shakespeare followed Spenser in the spelling of Cordelia's name. The extract ends with the history of King Gorboduc, a narrative which again warns of the perils involved in dividing a kingdom. Passages from the early play Gorboduc are included in this edition.

15Who now shall give unto me words and sound

6Equal unto this haughty enterprise?

7Or who shall lend me wings, with which from ground

8Lowly verse may loftily arise

9And lift itself unto the highest skies?

10More ample spirit than hitherto was wont

11Here needs me, whiles the famous ancestries

12Of my most dreaded Sovereign I recount,

13By which all earthly princes she doth far surmount.

214Ne under sun, that shines so wide and fair,

15Whence all that lives does borrow life and light,

16Lives aught that to her lineage may compare,

17Which though from earth it be derivèd right,

18Yet doth itself stretch forth to heavens height,

19And all the world with wonder overspread;

20A labor huge, exceeding far my might.

21How shall frail pen, with fear disparagèd,

22Conceive such sovereign glory and great bountihood?

323Argument worthy of Mœonian quill,

24Or rather worthy of great Phoebus' rote,

25Whereon the ruins of great Ossa hill,

26And triumphs of Phlegræan Jove he wrote,

27That all the Gods admired his lofty note.

28But if some relish of that heavenly lay

29His learnèd daughters would to me report,

30To deck my song withal I would assay,

31Thy name, ô sovereign Queen, to blazon far away.

432Thy name, ô sovereign Queen, thy realm and race,

33From this renownèd prince derivèd are,

34Who mightily upheld that royal mace

35Which now thou bear'st, to thee descended far

36From mighty kings and conquerors in war;

37Thy fathers and great-grandfathers of old,

38Whose noble deeds above the northern star

39Immortal fame forever hath enrolled,

40As in that old man's book they were in order told.

[The earliest years of Britain]

541The land, which warlike Britons now possess

42And therein have their mighty empire raised,

43In antique times was savage wilderness,

44Unpeopled, unmanured, unproved, unpraised,

45Ne was it island then, ne was it paysed

46Amid the ocean waves, ne was it sought

47Of merchants far for profits therein 'praised,

48But was all desolate, and of some thought

49By sea to have been from the Celtic mainland brought.

650Ne did it then deserve a name to have,

51Till that the venturous mariner that way

52Learning his ship from those white rocks to save,

53Which all along the southern sea-coast lay

54Threatening unheedy wreck and rash decay,

55For safety's sake that same his sea-mark made,

56And named it Albion. But later day,

57Finding in it fit ports for fishers' trade,

58'Gan more the same frequent, and further to invade.

759But far inland a savage nation dwelt,

60Of hideous giants and half beastly men

61That never tasted grace, nor goodness felt,

62But like wild beasts lurking in loathsome den,

63And flying fast as roebuck through the fen,

64All naked without shame or care of cold,

65By hunting and by spoiling livèd then;

66Of stature huge, and eke of courage bold,

67That sons of men amazed their sternness to behold.

868But whence they sprung, or how they were begot,

69Uneath is to assure; uneath to wene

70That monstrous error, which doth some assot,

71That Dioclesian's fifty daughters shene

72Into this land by chance have driven been,

73Where companing with fiends and filthy sprites

74Through vain illusion, of their lust unclean,

75They brought forth giants and such dreadful wights

76As far exceeded men in their immeasured mights.

[Brute (Brutus) arrives on the island]

977They held this land, and with their filthiness

78Polluted this same gentle soil long time

79That their own mother loathed their beastliness,

80And 'gan abhor her brood's unkindly crime,

81All were they born of her own native slime;

82Until that Brutus, anciently derived

83From royal stock of old Assarac's line,

84Driven by fatal error, here arrived,

85And them of their unjust possession deprived.

1086But ere he had establishèd his throne,

87And spread his empire to the utmost shore,

88He fought great battles with his savage fone

89In which he them defeated evermore,

90And many giants left on groaning floor;

91That well can witness yet unto this day

92The western Hogh, besprinkled with the gore

93Of mighty Göemot, whom in stout fray

94Corineus conquered, and cruelly did slay.

. . .

1195Thus Brute this realm unto his rule subdued,

96And reignèd long in great felicity;

97Loved of his friends, and of his foes eschewed,

98He left three sons, his famous progeny,

99Born of fair Inogene of Italy;

100'Mongst whom he parted his imperial state,

101And Locrine left chief Lord of Brittay.

102At last ripe age bade him surrender late

103His life, and long good fortune unto final fate.

12104Locrine was left the sovereign lord of all;

105But Albanact had all the northern part,

106Which of himself Albania he did call;

107And Camber did possess the western quart,

108Which Severn now from Logris doth depart;

109And each his portion peaceably enjoyed,

110Ne was there outward breach nor grudge in heart

111That once their quiet government annoyed,

112But each his pains to others profit still employed.

[Spenser then lists further kings, up to the time of Bladud, Leyr's predecessor.]

13114Next him King Leyr in happy peace long reigned,

115But had no issue male him to succeed,

116But three fair daughters which were well up-trained,

117In all that seemèd fit for kingly seed;

118'Mongst whom his realm he equally decreed

119To have divided. Tho when feeble age

120Nigh to his utmost date he saw proceed,

121He called his daughters, and with speeches sage

122Inquired which of them most did love her parentage.

14123The eldest, Gonorill, 'gan to protest

124That she much more than her own life him loved;

125And Regan greater love to him professed

126Than all the world, whenever it were proved;

127But Cordelia said she loved him, as behooved;

128Whose simple answer, wanting colors fair

129To paint it forth, him to displeasance moved,

130That in his crown he counted her no heir

131But twixt the other twain his kingdom whole did share.

15132So wedded th'one to Maglan king of Scots,

133And th'other to the king of Cambria,

134And twixt them shared his realm by equal lots;

135But without dower the wise Cordelia

136Was sent to Aganip of Celtica.

137Their agèd sire, thus easèd of his crown,

138A private life led in Albania

139With Gonorill, long had in great renown,

140That naught him grieved to been from rule deposèd down.

16141But true it is, that when the oil is spent

142The light goes out and wick is thrown away;

143So when he had resigned his regiment,

144His daughter 'gan despise his drooping day,

145And weary wax of his continual stay.

146Tho to his daughter Regan he repaired,

147Who him at first well usèd every way;

148But when of his departure she despaired,

149Her bounty she abated, and his cheer impaired.

17150The wretched man 'gan then avise too late,

151That love is not where most it is professed;

152Too truly tried in his extremest state,

153At last resolved likewise to prove the rest,

154He to Cordelia himself addressed,

155Who with entire affection him received

156As for her sire and king her seemèd best;

157And after all an army strong she leaved,

158To war on those which him had of his realm bereaved.

18159So to his crown she him restored again,

160In which he died, made ripe for death by eld,

161And after willed it should to her remain,

162Who peaceably the same long time did weld;

163And all men's hearts in due obedience held

164Till that her sister's children, waxen strong

165Through proud ambition, against her rebelled,

166And, overcome, kept in prison long

167Till weary of that wretched life, herself she hung.

[Further kings, to the time of Gorboduc and his sons Ferrex and Porrex, all ending up one way or another in civil wars]

19168Then 'gan the bloody brethren both to reign;

169But fierce Cundah 'gan shortly to envy

170His brother Morgan, pricked with proud disdain

171To have a peer in part of sovereignty,

172And kindling coals of cruel enmity,

173Raised war, and him in battle overthrew;

174Whence as he to those woody hills did fly,

175Which hight of him Glamorgan, there him slew.

176Then did he reign alone, when he none equal knew.

20177His son Rivallo his dead room did supply,

178In whose sad time blood did from heaven rain;

179Next great Gurgustus, then faire Cæcily

180In constant peace their kingdom did contain,

181After whom Lago, and Kinmarke did reign,

182And Gorbogud, till far in years he grew;

183Then his ambitious sons unto them twain

184Arraught the rule, and from their father drew,

185Stout Ferrex and stern Porrex him in prison threw.

21186But O, the greedy thirst of royal crown

187That knows no kindred, nor regards no right,

188Stirred Porrex up to put his brother down;

189Who, unto him assembling foreign might,

190Made war on him, and fell himself in fight;

191Whose death t'avenge, his mother merciless,

192Most merciless of women, Wyden hight,

193Her other son fast sleeping, did oppress

194And with most cruel hand him murdered pitiless.

22195Here ended Brutus' sacred progeny,

196Which had seven hundred years this scepter borne

197With high renown and great felicity.

198The noble branch from th'antique stock was torn

199Through discord, and the royal throne forlorn.

200Thenceforth this realm was into factions rent

201Whilst each of Brutus boasted to be born,

202That in the end was left no monument

203Of Brutus, nor of Briton's glory ancient.