E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Sansloy [Irreligion],
brother of Sansfoy (q.v.). Having torn off the disguise of Archima’go and wounded the lion, he carries off Una into the wilderness. Her shrieks arouse the fauns and satyrs, who come to her rescue, and Sansloy flees. Una is Truth, and, being without Holiness (the Red-Cross Knight), is deceived by Hypocrisy. As soon as Truth joins Hypocrisy, instead of Holiness, Irreligion breaks in and carries her away. The reference is to the reign of Queen Mary, when the Reformation was carried captive, and the lion was wounded by the “False-law of God.” (Spenser: Faërie Queene, book i. 2.)
1
In book ii. Sansloy appears again as the cavalier of Perissa or Prodigality.
