For they, as thither they their course addrest,

  Had vaunted to the maid in boasting vein,

  No paladin or knight with lance in rest,

  Against the worst his saddle could maintain.

  To make them vail yet more their haughty crest,

  And look upon the world with less disdain,

  She tells them, by no paladin or peer

  Were they unhorsed, but by a woman's spear.