the "Fairy Queen" as the most precious jewel of their coronet."*+

* Memoirs of Edward Gibbon, by himself, I. p. 3.

Sir John Spencer, of Althorpe in Northamptonshire, Kt. died 8th Nov. 1585, having had iffue by Katherine his wife, one of the daughters of Sir John Kitfon, of Hengrave in Suffolk, Kt. 5 fons and 6 daughters. Of the latter

I. Mary married firft Giles Allington, of Horfeheath in Cambridge fhire, Efq. and fecondly Edward Eldrington, Efq.

II. Elizabeth married Sir George Carey, Kt. who in 1596 fucceeded to be fecond Lord Hunfdon, and died 9 Sept. 1693.

III. Katherine married Sir Thomas Leigh, of Stoneleigh Co. Warw. Kt.

IV. Mary married Sir Edward Afton, of Tixhall, Co. Staff S. P. V. Anne married-I. William Lord Montegle S. P.-II. Henry firft Lord Compton-III. Robert fecond Earl of Dorset, S. P.

VI. Alice married-I. Ferdinando Stanley, Earl of Derby-II. Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper, afterwards Chancellor, and Vifcount Brackley. Her daughter Lady Frances Stanley, married John Egerton, Earl of Bridgwater, fon to her fecond husband.

Spenfer fpeaks of three of these ladies in his " Colin Clout's Come home again," as the honour of the family, "of which he boafts him, felf to be the meaneft." His "Muiopotmos" is dedicated to the "Right Worthy and Vertuous Lady, the Lady Carey," "net fo much" fays he, "for your great bounty to my felf, which yet may not be unminded, nor for name and kindred fake by you vouchsafed, being alío regardable, as for that honourable name," &c.

Again in the dedication of his "Tears of the Mufes," to the "Right Honourable the Lady Strange" (wife of Ferdinando then Lord Strange, afterwards Earl of Derby) he fays, "the causes for which ye have deferved of me to be honoured, (if honour it be at all) are both your particular bounties, and alfo fome private bands of affinity, which it hath pleased your Ladiship to acknowledge.”

Again in the Dedication of "Mother Hubbe:d's Tale" to the "Right Honourable the Lady Compton and Mountegle," he speaks of "the humble and faithful duty, which he is bound to bear, to that houfe from whence the fprings." See alfo Malone's Vindication of Shakespeare, p. 63.

He

He was educated at Pembroke-Hall, Cambridge, where he proceeded A. B. in 1572, and A. M. in 1576, when he retired into the North, in confequence, as it is reported, of disappointment in obtaining a fellowship. Here he fell in love with his Rofalind-and is fuppofed to have written his "Shepherd's Calendar,"* his earliest poem, which by a dedication to Sir Philip Sydney under the fignature of Immerito, is conjectured to have first gained him an introduction to that illuftrious patron, and to have drawn him from his retirement into the funfhine of the Court, where he seems however to have met with many difappointments, of which in many paffages of his poems he most pathetically complains, particularly from Lord Burleigh, who, tho' an able politician, appears to have been of too coarfe, too cold, and plodding a nature to have felt the divine influences of the Mufe. In 1579, he was fent abroad by the Earl of Leicester, probably in fome public employment: and when Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton was appointed to fucceed Sir Henry Sydney, as Lord Deputy of Ireland, in 1580, Spenfer was made his Secretary, an office which he discharged with great ability, and

* Printed in 1579, a thin quarto, black letter-Wart. Obf. on Spenfer, I. p. 31.

integrity.

But Lord Grey was recalled in 1582, and Spenfer is fuppofed to have returned with him to England. There he continued till the death of Sir Philip Sydney in 1586, probably employed in the compofition of the Fairy Queen, of which however fragments are faid to have been written before his original introduction to Sir Philip. Yet the death of his great friend, however lamentable, did not happen before the poet had obtained, probably by his intereft, a grant dated 27 June, 1586,* of 3000 acres of land in the county of Cork in Ireland, part of the forfeited eftate of the Earl of Defmond. In 1587 he took poffeffion of this eftate, and having for his house the caftle of Kilcolman, and the pleafant river Mulla running through his grounds, he paffed fome years in a happy tranquillity and leifure. This fituation gave him an opportunity of renewing his friendship with Sir Walter Raleigh, who having become acquainted with the poet, at the time of his having a command in Ireland under Arthur Lord Grey, had now obtained alfo a grant of 12,000 acres from the Crown, in Cork and Waterford. A visit by Sir Walter to Kilcolman is faid to have determined

Sir Philip's death happened the 17th of Oct. † Oldys's Life, P. XXIX.

Spenfer

Spenfer to prepare the three first books of his Fairy Queen for immediate publication, for which purpose the poet accompanied his friend back to London, and on his arrival there, 1588, finding his old patron Lord Leicester dead, was introduced by his friend to the Queen. At length in 1590 came out in quarto, the three first books of this incomparable poem, with a "Letter of the Author's, expounding his whole intention in the course of this worke, which for that it giveth great light to the Reader, for the better understanding is hereunto annexed." It is addreffed" to the Right noble and valorous Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, Lo. Wardein of the Stanneryes, and her Maiefties liefe-. tenaunt of the County of Cornewayll. Dated 23 January, 1589.* This is followed by fome panegyrical verses of Sir Walter and others, which are fucceeded by fome dedicatory fonnets by the poet himself, to fome of the chief nobility.†

* I fuppofe 1589-90.

+I do not know that it has been remarked by Spenser's biogra¬ phers, that fome of the Sonnets which appear in the fubfequent Editions were not in the first quarto Edition, a copy of which the com piler of this work poffeffes. The fecond Sonnet, to Lord Burleigh; the fifth, to the Earl of Cumberland; the ninth, to Lord Hunsdon; the eleventh, to Lord Buckhurft; the twelfth, to Sir Francis Walfingham; the thirteenth, to Sir John Norris; and the fifteenth, to the Countess of Pembroke; were all added after the first Edition, in which the fonnets appear in the following order.—I. To Sir Christo

pher

In the Sonnets to Lord Ormond and Lord

Grey he feems clearly to allude to Ireland, as the place where the poem was principally written.

To the Earl of ORMOND and OSSORY,

Receive most noble Lord a fimple taste

Of the wilde fruit, which falvage foyl hath bred,
Which being through long wars left almost waste,
With brutish barbarifme is overfpredd:

And in fo faire a land, as may be redd,

Not one Parnaffus, nor one Helicone
Left for fweete Mufes to be harboured,
But where thyfelfe haft thy brave mansione;
There in deede dwel faire Graces many one.

And gentle Nymphes, delights of learned wits,
And in thy perfon without Paragone

All goodly bountie and true honour fits,

Such therefore, as that wafted foyl doth yield,

Receive dear Lord in worth the fruit of barren field,

pher Hatton,-II. To the Earl of Effex.-III. To the Earl of Oxenford.-IV. To the Earl of Northumberland.-V. To the Earl of Ormond and Offory -VI. To the Lord Ch. Howard.-VII. To the Lord Grey of Wilton.-VIII. To Sir Walter Raleigh-IX. To the most vertuous and beautiful Lady, the Lady Carew (who it feems to me fhould not be confounded with Lady Carey, Sir John Spenfer's daughter.)-X. To all the gratious and beautifull ladies in the Court.

Το