Note 220 — THE HIND AND THE PANTHER. PART THIRD.
Reading edition
The poet alludes to the enchantress Duessa, who, when disrobed by Prince Arthur, was changed from a beautiful woman into
A loathly wrinkled hag, ill-favoured, old, Whose secret filth good manners biddeth not be told. Spenser's Fairy Queen, Book I, canto 8.