At Cambridge he formed an intimacy with Gabriel Harvey, first of Christ's-college, afterwards of Trinity-ball, who became doctor of laws in 1585, and survived his friend more than thirty years. Harvey was a scholar, and a poet of no mean estimation in his own time. He appears also as a critic, to whose judgment Spenser frequently appeals, looking up to him with a reverence for which it is not easy to account. We are, however, much indebted to his correspondence with Spenser, for many interesting particulars relating to the life and studies of the latter, although some of them afford little more than probable conjectures. It is now fully disproved that Spenser was an unsuccessful candidate for a fellowship in Pembroke-ball, in competition with Andrews, afterwards successively bishop of Chichester, Ely, and Winchester. The rival of Andrews was Thomas Dove, afterwards bishop of Peterborough. But from one of Harvey's letters to Spenser it appears that some disagreement had taken place between our poet and the master or tutor of the society to which he belonged, which terminated his prospects of farther advancement in it, without lessening his veneration for the university at large, of which he always speaks with filial regard.

When he left Cambridge he is supposed to have gone to reside with some friends in the North of England, probably as a tutor. At what time he began to display his poeti cal powers is uncertain, but as genius cannot be long concealed, it is probable that he was already known as a votary of the Muses among his fellow-students. There are several poems in the "Theatre for Worldlings," a collection published in the year in which he became a member of the university, which are thought to have come from his pen. The "Visions," in this work, were probably the first sketch of those which now form a part of his acknowledged productions. Absolute certainty, however, cannot be obtained in fixing the chronology of his early poems; but it may be conjectured, with great probability, that his muse would not be neglected at an age when it is usual to court her favours, and at which he had much leisure, the scenery of nature before his eyes, and no serious cares to disturb his enthusiasm. His "Shepheard's Calender" was published in 1579. The tenderness of complaint in this elegant poem, appears to have been inspired by a mistress whom he has recorded under the name of Rosalind; and who, after trifling with his affection, preferred his rival. He is supposed

also to allude to the cruelty of this same lady in book VI. of the "Faerie Queene," under the name of Mirabella.

The year preceding the publication of this poem, be had been advised by his friend Harvey to remove to London, where he was introduced to sir Philip Sidney, and by him recommended to his uncle the earl of Leicester.

Others

There is a wide difference of opinion, however, among Spenser's biographers, as to the time and mode of the former of these events. Some suppose that his acquaintance with sir Philip Sidney was the consequence of his having presented to him the ninth canto of the "Faerie Queene." think that his first introduction was owing to the dedication of the "Shepheard's Calender," but a long letter from Spenser to Harvey, which Mr. Todd has preserved, proves that he was known to Sidney previous to the publication of the "Shepheard's Calender" in 1579.

It is certain that in consequence of this introduction, by whatever means procured, he became a welcome guest in sir Philip's family, and was invited to their seat at Penshurst in Kent, where it is conjectured that he wrote at least the ninth eclogue. Under such patronage, the dedication of the "Calender," when finished, to "Maister Philip Sidney," became a matter of course, as a mark of respectful acknowledgment for the kindness he had received. The praise, however, bestowed on this poem was but moderate, and the name of the author appears to have been for some time not generally known. Dove, whose translation of it into Latin is extant in the library of Caius college, Cambridge, speaks of it not only as an owned" poem, but as almost buried in oblivion. On the other hand, Abraham Fraunce, a barrister as well as a poet of that time, selected from it examples to illustrate his work entitled "The Lawier's Logike;" but Fraunce, it may be said, was the friend of sir Philip Sidney, and would naturally be made acquainted, and perhaps induced to admire the productions of a poet whom he favoured.

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The patronage of men of genius in Spenser's age was frequently exerted in procuring for them public emplayments, and Spenser, we find, was very early introduced into the business of active life. In July 1580, when Arthur lord Grey of Wilton departed from England, as lord lieutenant of Ireland, Spenser was appointed his secretary, probably on the recommendation of the earl of Leicester. Although the office of secretary was not at that

time of the same importance it is now, and much might not be expected in official business from a scholar and a poet, yet Spenser appears to have entered with zeal into political affairs, as far as they were connected with the character of the lord lieutenant. In his " View of the State of Ireland," which was written long after, he takes frequent opportunities to vindicate the measures and reputation of that nobleman, and has, indeed, evidently studied the politics of Ireland with great success.

After holding this situation about two years, lord Grey returned to England, and was probably accompanied by his secretary. Their connection was certainly not dissolved, for in 1586, Spenser obtained, by his lordship's interest, and that of Leicester and Sidney, a grant of three thousand and twenty-eight acres in the county of Cork, out of the forfeited lands of the earl of Desmond. As far as sir Philip Sidney was concerned, this was the last act of his kindness to our poet, for he died in October of the same year. Such were the terms of the royal patent, that Spenser was now obliged to return to Ireland, in order to cultivate the land assigned him. He accordingly fixed his residence at Kilcolman, in the county of Cork, a place which topographers have represented as admirably accommodated to the taste of a poet by its romantic and diversified scenery. Here he was visited by sir Walter Raleigh, with whom he had formed an intimacy on his first arrival in Ireland, who proved a second Sidney to his poetical ardour, and appears to have urged him to that composition which constitutes his highest fame. In 1590 he published "The Faerie Queene; disposed into Twelve Books, fashioning XII Morall Vertues."

This edition contains only the first three books. To the end of the third were annexed, besides the letter to Raleigh, the poetical commendations of friends to whose judgment the poem had been submitted. The names of Raleigh and Harvey are discernible, but the others are concealed under initials. These are followed by his own "Sonnets" to various persons of distinction, the number of which is augmented in the edition of 1596. Mr. Todd remarks that in that age of adulation, it was the custom of the author to present, with a copy of his publication, a poetical address to his superiors. It was no less the custom also, to print them afterwards, and, we may readily suppose,

with the full consent of the parties to whom they were addressed.

It appears certain that these three books of the "Faerie Queene" were written in Ireland. In a conversation, extracted from his friend Ludowick Bryskett's "Discourse of Civill Life," and which is said to have passed in that country, Spenser is made to say, "I have already undertaken a work in heroical verse, under the title of a Faerie Queene, tending to represent all the moral virtues, assigning to every virtue a knight, to be patron and defender of the same; in whose actions feats of armes and chivalry, the operations of that virtue, whereof he is the protector, are to be expressed; and the vices and unruly appetites that oppose themselves against the same, to be beaten downe and overcome."

Such was his original design in this undertaking, and having prepared three books for the press, it is probable that he accompanied Raleigh to England, with a view to publish it. Raleigh afterwards introduced him to queen Elizabeth, whose favour is supposed by some to have extended to his being appointed poet laureate ; but Elizabeth, as Mr. Malone has accurately proved, had no poet laureate. Indeed, in February 1590-1, she conferred on Spenser a pension of fifty pounds a year, the grant of which was discovered some years ago, in the chapel of the Rolls, and this pension he enjoyed till his death, but the title of laureate was not given in his patent, nor in that of his two immediate successors.

The discovery of this patent by Mr. Malone, is of farther importance, as tending to rescue the character of Lord Burleigh from the imputation of being hostile to our poet. The oldest date of this reproach is in "Fuller's Worthies," a book published at the distance of more than seventy years; and on this authority, which has been copied by almost all the biographers of Spenser, it has been said that Burleigh intercepted the pension, as too much to be given "to a ballad maker," and that when the queen, upon Spenser's presenting some poems to her, ordered him the gratuity of one hundred pounds, Burleigh asked, "What! all this for a song!" on which the queen replied, "Then give him. what is reason." The story concludes, that Spenser having long waited in vain for the fulfilment of the royal order, presented to her the following ridiculous memorial:

On which he was immediately paid; but for the whole of this representation, there appears neither foundation nor authority.

After the publication of the "Faerie Queene," Spenser returned to Ireland. During his absence in the succeeding year, the fame he had now obtained, induced his bookseller to collect and print his smaller pieces, one of which only is said to have been a republication. The title of this collection is, "Complaints, containing sundrie small Poemes of the World's Vanitie, viz. 1. The Ruines of Time. 2. The Teares of the Muses. 3. Virgil's Gnat. 4. Prosopopoia, or Mother Hubberd's Tale. 5. The Ruines of Rome, by Bellay. 6. Muiopotmos, or the Tale of the Butterflie. 7. Visions of the World's Vanitie. 8. Bellaye's Visions. 9. Petrarche's Visions."

Spenser appears to have returned to London about the end of 1591, as his next publication, the beautiful elegy on Douglas Howard, daughter of Henry lord Howard, entitled "Daphnaida," is dated Jan. 1, 1591-2. From this period there is a long interval in the history of our poet, which was probably passed in Ireland, but of which we have no account. It would appear, however, that he did not neglect those talents of which he had already given such favourable specimens. In 1595, he published the pastoral of "Colin Clout's come home again," the dedication to which bears date, Dec. 27, 1591, but this Mr. Todd has fully proved to be an error. The pastoral elegy of "Astrophel," devoted entirely to the memory of sir Philip Sidney, and perhaps written on the immediate occasion of his death, was published along with this last mentioned piece.

It is conjectured that in the same year appeared his "Amoretti," or " Sonnets," in which the poet gives the progress of his addresses to a less obdurate lady than Rosalind, and whom he afterwards married, if the "Epithalamion," published along with the " Sonnets," is allowed to refer to that event. Mr. Todd deduces from various passages that his mistress's name was Elizabeth, and that the marriage took place in Ireland, on St. Barnabas' day, 1594. Other biographers seem to be of opinion that he had lost VOL. XXVIII.

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