Here he ftaid 'till he took his mafter of arts degree, in vain expecting some farther notice to be taken of him: From thence he went into the Northern parts of England, but not with the bitter spirit of

"Etat. 25; about two years before he was made Secretary to the Lord Grey, on his "being appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. That he had at that time begun to "write his Fairy Queen, I believe will admit of no difpute: But instead of deploring the fate of those fix books which are fuppofed to have perifh'd, I am intirely "of Mr. Dryden's opinion, that upon Sir Philip's death he was depriv'd both of means and spirit to accomplish his defign. The ftory of their being loft in his voyage from Ireland feems to be a fiction copied from the fate of Terence's Co"medies, which itself has the air of a fiction; at beft it was but a hear-fay, that paffed the biographers without due examination. But as error can fecure itself "beft beneath an affected congruity, they were in the right to proportion his la"bours to his life, and to fupply him with fix books more than he wrote, after they had given him above forty years more than nature affign'd him. His epitaph "has been the principal caufe of this error; to which the more deference has been pay'd, upon a fuppofition that his monument was erected in the reign of Queen "Elizabeth by the unfortunate Earl of Effex: For which opinion I never met with any furer foundation, than four English verfes under the print which is prefixed to "the folio editions of his works. I know that Cambden fays in his History of "Queen Elizabeth, Impenfis comitis Essexiæ inbumatus: By which he could only mean "that he was interr'd at that Earl's expence, tho' inhumatus by the pureft writers of antiquity always bears a quite oppofite fignification. But I have lately discover'd "that this monument was fet up above thirty years after Spenfer's death by Stone, "who was mafter mafon to King Charles theift: His diary is now in the poffeffion of "Mr. Vertue, from whence the following article is literally tranfcribed. I allfo mad "a monement for Mer. Spencer the pooett and fet it up at Weftmefter for which the Contes "of Dorfeit payed me 40 £. This Lady, who was daughter of George Earl of Cumberland, about the fame time bestow'd a monument on Daniel, the poet and hi"ftorian, at Beckington, near Philips Norton in Somerfetfhire; upon which there "is an epitaph, which begins like Spenfer's: Here lies expecting the fecond coming of our Lord and Saviour, &c. From whence I am inclined to believe that the Lady recommended the care of procuring both inscriptions to Stone: And if he under"took to compofe them himself, as from the ftyle and fpelling we may reasonable "conclude he did, what exactnefs in the dates could be poffibly expected? For "tho' he was perhaps the greatest master of his profeffion in that age, of which there "needs no other evidence than the banqueting-house at Whitehall, which he built "under the direction of Inigo Jones; yet he hath not left the leaft traces of litera"ture to prove him competently qualified to write an epitaph for a poet. Upon "the whole, I think from the calculation I have made, we may juftly infer, that Spenfer was at most but 45 years old when he died Anno Dom. 1598, at which age, Cambden, if he was editor of the first collection of Westminster infcriptions, might fay with propriety that he died immaturely. And queftionless that article "in which this expreffion is used Obiit immaturâ morte, was intended only to guide "the curious to that part of the Abbey, in which the remains of fo famous a perfon 66 were

66.

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of disappointment. Hear with what filial piety he remembers his Alma Mater, though to him the proved a step-mother, where he is celebrating the river that runs by her,

Thence doth by Huntingdon and Cambridge flit,
My mother Cambridge, whom as with a crowne
He doth adorn, and is adorn'd of it

With many a gentle muse and many a learned wit.
B. iv. C. 11. ft. 34.

Whether he went into the North, as a vifitant, or as a tutor to
fome young gentlemen, I cannot learn: But 'tis certain that
during his refidence here he fell in love with a lady, whom he
celebrates by the name of Rofalinde. His friend E. K. who
wrote notes to his Paftorals, fays that "Rosalinde is a feigned
name, which being well ordered, will bewray the
very name
"of his love and mistress, whom by that name he coloureth."
What he means by well ordered is the reducing the letters out of
that confused state, in which, by way of anagram, they are in-
volved, and placing them in their proper order; for Spenfer is
an anagrammatist in many of his names: Thus * Algrind tranf-
pofed is Archbishop Grindal, Morrell Bishop Elmer; and Hob-
binol, with fome variation and addition (upías gratia) Gabriel H.
This

were depofited, tho' it has fince been mistaken by many for a monumental infcription, for at that time he had no monument erected: Of which the Latin "verfes fubjoined to the profe article are an acceffory proof; having been probably "felected from thofe that were written by the poets, who attended his funeral, as

being the most pertinent to inform pofterity that he was buried near Chaucer; "which I think is all the merit they can juftly pretend to, being fervile imitations "of Cardinal Bembo's epitaphs on Sannazarius, and the immortal painter of Urbino. "Another traditional error in Spenfer's life has been generally received, that he op

pofed Mr. Andrews, afterwards Bishop of Winchester, for a fellowship in Pem"broke-Hall, and was foil'd in the conteft; but Mr. Baker with reafon believes, "that Spenfer at that time had left the University: At leaft it is certain that not he, but Dove, was Andrews's rival; to whom tho' he fail'd in the competition, the "fociety allow'd a ftipend tanquam focius, to retain him among them: For he was a "perfon of great merit, the most celebrated pulpit orator of that age, and before " he died attained to the mitre."

*See Ecl. VII.

This kittish female, after misleading him a long while in ́a lover's, that is a fool's, paradife, at length left him: Some one whom he calls Menalcas had done him ill offices with this proud fair.

And thou, Menalcas, that by treacherie
Didft underfong my laffe to wexe fo light,
Shouldft well be knowne for fuch thy villanie.

Eclog. VI.

'Tis this fame person whom, so like a disappointed lover, he inveighs against in Sonnet LXXXVI.

Venemous tongue, tipt with vile adders fting,
Of that felfe kind with which the Furies fell
Their fnakie beads do combe, from which a Spring
Of poyfon'd words and Spightful Speeches well;
Let all the plagues and horrid paines of hell
Upon thee fall for thine accurfed hire;
That with falle forged lies, which thou didst tell,
my true love did firre up coales of ire;
The Sparkes whereof let kindle thine own fire,
And catching hold on thine own wicked hed
Confume thee quite, that didft with guile confpire
In my fweet peace fuch breaches to have bred.
Shame be thy meed and mischiefe thy reward,
Due to thy felfe, that it for me prepard.

In

If the Fairy Queen is a moral allegory with historical allufions to our poets times, one might be apt to think, that in a poem written with fo extenfive a plan, the cruel Rofalinde is fome way or other typically introduced: And methinks I fee her plainly characterized in * Mirabella. Perhaps too her expreflions were the same that are given to Mirabella, The free Lady---She was born free----And her † pride and infolence is often hinted at in the Sonnets.

* See B. vi. C. 6. St. 16, 17. and C. vii. St. 27, &c.

+ Compare B. vi. C. 7. St. 29. with Sonnets the Vth and Vlth.

While

While Spenfer ftudied at Cambridge, he found there a friendly and learned genius like himself, whose name was Gabriel Harvey, covertly represented in his Paftorals under the name of Hobbinol. 'Twas he that introduced Spenfer to Sir Philip Sidney, and Sidney recommended him to the Earl of Leicefter. 'Tis plain likewife from many paffages in his Paftorals, that he often vifited at Penfhurft in Kent. At this delightful place, with the accomplished Sidney, he studied poetry and philosophy, especially the Platonic, which is interwoven in his poems: Here he wrote his XIth Eclogue, November; and likewise his Xth, October, as I imagine; and having fhown to him, The Shepheards Calendar, as he calls his paftoral Eclogues, he published them in 1579 with a dedication To the noble and vertuous gentleman, moft worthy of all titles, both of learning and chivalry, Mafter Philip Sidney: figning himself Immerito. Here likewife he plan'd a poem, intitled + Epithalamion Thamefis, in imitation and friendly rivalship of Cambden's Bridale of the Ifis and Tame; but afterwards, with many alterations, he made it (by way of Episode) a part of the Fairy Queen. Sidney foon difcovered our poet's genius was formed for more fublime subjects; and persuaded him ‡ “ for trumpets fterne to change his oaten reeds." And as I have very little doubt myself but that Sir Calidore typically represents the Arcadian Shepheard; fo in the VIth Book, Canto X. where Calidore by his abrupt arrival drives away the rural Graces, and all fly the field,

All fave the Shepheard, who for fell defpight

Of that difpleasure broke his bag-pipe quight,

The poet feems to allude to Sir Philip Sidney's forcing him to leave his rural retreats for the court, and his rustic for the Epic

Mufe:

* See concerning him the notes of E. K. on the XIth Eclogue, and likewise Tanner, Biblioth. Brit. & A. Wood, Faft. Oxon. pag. 128.

+ See Spenfer's Letter to Mr. Harvey, and fee likewife the note on B. iv.

C. 11. St. 8.

‡ See note on the Introduction, B. i. St. 1. pag. 33.1.

Mufe: For Colin Clout, there mentioned, is Spenfer. In the Xth Eclogue, entitled October, there are plain hints given of some scheme of an heroic poem; and the hero was to have been the Earl of Leicester,

Abandon then the bafe and viler clowne,

Lift up thyfelfe out of the lowly duft;

And fing of bloody Mars, of warres, of giufts;
Turn thee to thofe, that weld the awful crowne,

To doubted [read doughty] knights, whofe woundlesse armour:
rufts,

And belmes unbruxed wexen daily browne.

There may thy Mufe difplay her fluttering wing,
And ftretch herself at large from East to West;
Whether thou lift in faire Elixa reft;

Or if thee please in bigger notes to fing,
Advance the Worthy whom she loveth beft,
That firft the white beare to the fake did bring.

This great man patronized our poet; † and in the year 1579, fent
him upon
fome employment into France. But Spenfer fell under
his displeasure for a while; and to make his peace, and fhow
emblematically that with honeft intentions he erred, like Virgil's
harmless Gnat, he fent him a hafty tranflation of that poem,
which perhaps he never defigned should have been published,
with a Sonnet prefixed by way of dedication, beginning thus,
Wrong'd, yet not daring to express my pain,

To you, Great Lord, the caufer of my care,
In cloudy teares my cafe I thus complain
Unto yourself, that only privy are----

If one may conjecture the occafion of this Great Lord's difpleafure, it seems owing to fome kind of officious fedulity in Spenfer,

+ The Earl of Leicester's cognizance.

who

*See Spenfer's Letter to Mr. Harvey; with a Latin copy of verfes written in great hafte, and printed full of faults, firft in the edition 1679, and afterwards by Hughes.