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328. THE HOUSLING FIRE, the sacramental fire. Spenser seems here to have in
mind, not the Christian _housel_ or Eucharist, but the Roman marriage rites
with their symbolic fire and water.

347. TRINALL TRIPLICITIES, the threefold three orders of the celestial
hierarchy according to the scholastic theologians. They were as follows:
(1) Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; (2) Dominations, Virtues, Powers; (3)
Princedoms, Archangels, and Angels. Cf. Dante's _Paradiso_, xxviii, Tasso's
_Jerusalem Delivered_, xviii, 96, and Milton's _Paradise Lost_, v, 748.

375. HER TACKLES SPENT, her worn-out rigging.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

(Canto XII)

1. Contrast the tone of this canto with the preceding two. 2. When does
Spenser drop into a lighter, humorous vein? 3.
Find allusions to sixteenth
century customs, e. g. that of sitting on rush-strewn floors. 4. How was the
Redcross Knight received by the King? 5. Compare Una's costume with that
described in the first canto. Why this change? 6. What hint of the
significance of her name in xxi? 7. What is the effect of Archimago's
appearance? (For dramatic surprise. ) 8. What is the effect of Duessa's
letter? (Suspense of fear.