What is "befell"

Usage examples of "befell".

It fortuned (as faire it then befell)Behind his backe vnweeting, where he stood,Of auncient time there was a springing well,From which fast trickled forth a siluer flood,Full of great vertues, and for med'cine good.

Such is this well, wrought by occasion straunge,Which to her Nymph befell.

From thence it comes, that this babes bloudy handMay not be clensd with water of this well:Ne certes Sir striue you it to withstand,But let them still be bloudy, as befell,That they his mothers innocence may tell,As she bequeathd in her last testament.

So forth he far'd, as now befell, on foot,Sith his good steed is lately from him gone.

But well I weene, ye first desire to learne,What end vnto that fearefull Damozell,Which fled so fast from that same foster stearne,Whom with his brethren Timias slew, befell:That was to weet, the goodly Florimell.

But thou good man, sith farre in sea we bee,And the great waters gin apace to swell,That now no more we can the maine-land see,Haue care, I pray, to guide the cock-bote well,Least worse on sea then vs on land befell.

Therefore Sir, I greet you wellYour countrey kin, and you entirely prayOf pardon for the strife, which late befellBetwixt vs both vnknowne.

Yet should it be a pleasant tale, to tellThe diuerse vsage and demeanure daint,That each to other made, as oft befell.

It so befell one euening, that they cameVnto a Castell, lodged there to bee,Where many a knight, and many a louely DameWas then assembled, deeds of armes to see:Amongst all which was none more faire then shee,That many of them mou'd to eye her sore.

And there the relicks of the drunken fray,The which amongst the Lapithees befell,And of the bloodie feast, which sent awaySo many Centaures drunken soules to hell,That vnder great Alcides furie fell:And of the dreadfull discord, which did driueThe noble Argonauts to outrage fell:That each of life sought others to depriue,All mindlesse of the Golden fleece, which made them striue.

It lately so befell,That Satyran a girdle did vptake,Well knowne to appertaine to Florimell,Which for her sake he wore, as him beseemed well.

I T often fals, (as here it earst befell)That mortall foes doe turne to faithfull frends,And friends profest are chaungd to foemen fell:The cause of both, of both their minds depends.

But faire Cambina with perswasions myld,Did mitigate the fiercenesse of their mode,That for the present they were reconcyld,And gan to treate of deeds of armes abrode,And strange aduentures, all the way they rode:Amongst the which they told, as then befell,Of that great turney, which was blazed brode,For that rich girdle of faire Florimell,The prize of her, which did in beautie most excell.

It so befell, as oft it fals in chace,That each of them from other sundred were,And that same gentle Squire arriu'd in place,Where this same cursed caytiue did appeare,Pursuing that faire Lady full of feare.

Tho when they both recouered were right well,He gan of them inquire, what euill guideThem thether brought, and how their harmes befell.