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months of the year. It contains a variety of measures, all of which are distinguished for their harmony. Nothing so admirable in metre and phrase had appeared since Chaucer. Many archaic words were introduced under the impression, as we are told in a prefatory epistle addressed to Harvey, "that they bring great grace, and, as one would say, authority to the verse." Though less finished than some subsequent poems, "The Shepherd's Calendar" showed a master's touch and announced the presence of a great poet in England.

Upon the advice of Harvey, Spenser went to London. He met Sir Philip Sidney, by whom he was introduced at court, and put in the way of preferment. He fell in readily with court life, wore a pointed beard and fashionable mustache, and acquired a light tone in speaking of women a levity that soon gave place to a truly chivalrous regard. In 1580 he was appointed secretary to Lord Grey, deputy to Ireland, and accompanied that official through the bloody scenes connected with the suppression of Desmond's rebellion. The duties assigned him were ably performed; and, in recognition of his services, he received in 1586, as a grant, Kilcolman Castle and three thousand acres of land in the county of Cork. Here he afterward made his home, occasionally visiting London to seek preferment or to publish some new work. Though his home was not without the attraction of beautiful surroundings, he looked upon his life there as a sort of banishment. In one of his poems he speaks of —

"My luckless lot,

That banisht had myself, like wight forlore,

Into that waste, where I was quite forgot."

But however disagreeable to the feelings of Spenser, who continued to feel a longing for the "sweet civilities" of London, it can hardly be doubted that his experience in Ireland was favorable to the development of his poetic gifts, and found a favorable reflection in his greatest poem. It gave a vivid realism to his descriptions that in all probability would otherwise have been wanting.

In 1589 he was visited by Sir Walter Raleigh, to whom he read the first three books of the "Faery Queene." Seated in the midst of an attractive landscape, the poet and the hero make a pleasing picture as they discuss the merits of a work that is to begin a new era in English literature. Raleigh was so delighted with the poem that he urged the author to take it to London-advice that was eagerly followed. The poet was granted an audience by Elizabeth, and favored with the patronage of several noble ladies; but further than a pension of fifty pounds, which does not appear to have been regularly paid, he received no substantial recognition.

This result was a disappointment to Spenser, who had hoped that his literary fame would lead to higher political preferment. In "Colin Clout's Come Home Again," a poem in which the incidents of this visit are embodied, he speaks of the court in a tone of disappointment and bitterness. In a prefatory letter addressed to Raleigh, who figures in the poem under the title of "Shepherd of the Ocean," Spenser says that the work agrees "with the truth in circumstance and matter"; and from this declaration it may be inferred that his portrayal of court life was drawn, not from imagination, but from experience.

"For, sooth to say, it is no sort of life

For shepherd fit to lead in that same place,
Where each one seeks with malice, and with strife,
To thrust down other in foul disgrace,

Himself to raise: and he doth soonest rise

That best can handle his deceitful wit

In subtle shifts. . . .

To which him needs a guileful, hollow heart
Masked with fair dissembling courtesy,
A filed tongue furnisht with terms of art,
No art of school, but courtiers' schoolery,
For arts of school have there small countenance,

Counted but toys to busy idle brains,

And there professors find small maintenance,
But to be instruments of others' gains,
Nor is there place for any gentle wit
Unless to please it can itself apply."

In "Mother Hubbard's Tale," which exhibits Spenser's genius in satire, and is the most interesting of his minor pieces, he has spoken of the court in some vigorous lines. This poem was published in 1591; and though composed, as the author tells us, "in the raw conceit of youth," it shows the touch of his mature years. No doubt it expresses his own bitter experience:

"Full little knowest thou that hast not tried
What hell it is in suing long to abide;

To lose good days that might be better spent ;
To waste long nights in pensive discontent;
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;
To feed on hope, to pine with fear and sorrow;
To have thy prince's grace, yet want her peers';
To have thy asking, yet wait many years;
To fret thy soul with crosses and with cares;
To eat thy heart through comfortless despairs;

To fawn, to crouch, to wait, to ride, to run,
To spend, to give, to want, to be undone.
Unhappy wight, born to disastrous end,

That doth his life in so long tendance spend !"

The first three books of the "Faery Queene" were published in 1590, and were received with an outburst of applause. Spenser took rank as the first of living poets. "The admiration of this great poem," says Hallam, "was unanimous and enthusiastic. No academy had been trained to carp at his genius with minute cavilling; no recent popularity, no traditional fame (for Chaucer was rather venerated than much in the hands of the reader) interfered with the immediate recognition of his supremacy. The 'Faery Queene' became at once the delight of every accomplished gentleman, the model of every poet, and the solace of every scholar." Spenser remained in London about a year in the enjoyment of his newly won reputation and in the pursuit of preferment. But in the latter he was disappointed, and returned to Ireland, as we have seen, with a feeling of resentment toward the manners and morals of the court.

In 1594 he married a lady by the name of Elizabeth her family name remaining uncertain. In his "Amoretti, or Sonnets," he describes the beginning and progress of his affection. These sonnets are interesting, not only for their purity and delicacy of feeling, but also for the light they throw on the poet's life. Whatever may have been the real character of the Irish maiden he celebrates, in the poems she is idealized into great beauty. It was only after a protracted suit that the poet met with encouragement and was able to say, —

"After long storms' and tempests' sad assay,
Which hardly I endured heretofore,

In dread of death, and dangerous dismay,
With which my silly bark was tossed sore;
I do at length descry the happy shore,

In which I hope ere long for to arrive:

Fair soil it seems from far, and fraught with store

Of all that dear and dainty is alive.

Most happy he! that can at last atchyve
The joyous safety of so sweet a rest;
Whose least delight sufficeth to deprive
Remembrance of all pains which him opprest.

All pains are nothing in respect of this;
All sorrows short that gain eternal bliss."

The marriage, which took place in 1594, was celebrated in an "Epithalamion," which ranks as the noblest bridal song ever written.

In 1596 Spenser wrote his "View of the State of Ireland," which shows, not the poet's hand, but that of a man of affairs. It is rigorous in policy and inexorable in spirit. He sees but one side of the subject. After an elaborate review of the history, character, and institutions of the Irish, which are pronounced full of "evil usages," he lays down his plan of pacification. Garrison Ireland with an adequate force of infantry and cavalry; give the Irish twenty days to submit; and after that time, hunt down the rebels like wild beasts. "If they be well followed one winter, ye shall have little work to do with them the next summer." Famine would complete the work of the sword; and in less than two years, Spenser thought, the country would be peaceful and open to English colonists. Submission or extermination - this was

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