of the history is written in the rather loose style of Raleigh's personal narratives, with long formless sentences; but at times he rises to a superb eloquence, which gives passages of an imaginative splendor and solemnity of music that have never been surpassed in English prose. Such is the apostrophe to Death with which Raleigh, himself in the shadow of the scaffold, took leave of his mighty enterprise:

O eloquent, just, and mighty Death! Whom none could advise, thou hast persuaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the world and despised-thou hast drawn together all the far-stretched greatness, all the pride, cruelty, and ambition of man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, Hic jacet."

IV. EDMUND SPENSER (1552-1599)

Spenser's Life.-Spenser was born in London in 1552. He was sent to the Merchant Tailors' School, and then to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he took his master's degree in 1576. He then spent some time in the north of England. In 1578, however, he was in London, in attendance on the Earl of Leicester, seeking to establish himself through the influence of his friends at court. After the publication of his Shepherd's Calendar, in 1579, he received an appointment in Ireland, as secretary to the deputy, Lord Grey de Wilton. In Ireland Spenser was given office, and was granted, among other estates, the Manor of Kilcolman, whither Sir Walter Raleigh came in 1589 to visit him. Raleigh saw the first three books of The Faerie Queene; and under his advice Spenser went to London in the following year, to read them to the Queen and to publish them. The success of the poem was immediate, but the reward from the Queen, in whose honor it was written, was disappointingly small. The circumstances of his journey to London he related, after his return to Ireland, in Colin Clout's Come Home Again, in which he resumed the pastoral style of The Shepherd's Calendar. In the next few years Spenser commemorated his own courtship and marriage

in the sonnet series, the " Amoretti," and in his wedding song, or "Epithalamion." He went to London again in 1596, to publish the second three books of The Faerie Queene. During this visit he wrote the "Hymn in Honour of Heavenly Love," and "Hymn in Honour of Heavenly Beauty," to accompany two earlier "Hymns in Honour of Love and Beauty." He also wrote at this time the most exquisite of his shorter poems, the "Prothalamion." Soon after his return to Kilcolman, there broke out one of those frequent insurrections which marked British rule in Ireland. Spenser's castle, which stood in the path of the storm, was sacked and burned. He fled with his family to London, where, in 1599, he died in poverty.

Spenser's Cambridge Period.-Spenser's life was spent chiefly in three places, each of which left strong marks upon his character and work-Cambridge, London, and Ireland. At Cambridge he found the learning of the Renaissance, especially the philosophy of Plato, which appears clearly in The Faerie Queene and in the "Hymns.' Here also he learned to know the literature of France and Italy, and here he came into contact with the literary theories of the time; one of which was the idea, put forward by Sidney and his friends, that English verse should be written according to Latin rules of prosody. Spenser was too genuine a poct to be injured by such theories, but the influence of the environment where they were rife is seen in his scrupulous attention. to the technical requirements of his art.

Of this Cambridge period the typical product is The Shepherd's Calendar, a series of twelve pastoral poems or eclogues. The eclogue in general was a poem of pastoral life, in which shepherds were the speakers, rural nature and love their usual themes. The poet might introduce matter personal to himself or his friends, or might even discuss political affairs, but he kept the conventional framework of the pastoral. In Spenser's fifth eclogue, for example, Archbishop Grindal figures as the good shepherd Algrind. The poems of The Shepherd's Calendar show much variety in metre, for Spenser was clearly practising and experimenting. But most remarkable among their literary qualities is the

diction, which he elaborated for himself with the design of giving a suggestion of antiquity and rusticity to his writings. This curious fondness for obsolete or coined words is characteristic of the artificial style affected by the age. It is carried so far in The Faerie Queene that Ben Jonson could say of Spenser that he "writ no language."

Spenser in London and Ireland. In London Spenser was at the centre of the thrilling national life of England. Through Leicester and Sidney he was introduced to the two leading political conceptions of the time, England's leadership of the Protestant cause in Europe against Spain and Rome, and her expansion beyond the seas-ideas that were the result partly of fantastic chivalry, and partly of a broad view of world politics. Finally, in Ireland he saw the English race in passionate conflict with opposing forces. The chronically disturbed state of the country was aggravated by the intrigues of Philip of Spain and the Pope with the Irish chieftains, provoking those revolts which Lord Grey, strong in his belief that the Irish were the foes of God and of civilization, put down with savage fury. Naturally, Spenser's residence in Ireland, by bringing him into actual conflict with evil, stimulated his moral enthusiasm. Out of the conception of the greatness of England's mission, which Spenser found in London and struggled to realize in Ireland, and out of his chivalric devotion to this ideal, and to the Queen who typified it, grew The Faerie Queene. It is the brightest expression of the ideal morality of the time; and in a sense is the epic of the English race at one of the great moments of its history.

The Faerie Queene.-Spenser and his contemporaries regarded moral purpose as essential to the greatest art; and with Spenser this purpose took the form of dealing with the old problem of the Renaissance-individual character in relation to the state. As he explained in his introductory letter to Raleigh, The Faerie Queene was to show forth the character of an ideal knight in twelve books, each devoted to one of the twelve qualities of perfect chivalry. This exposition of private virtue was to be followed by a second poem, which should portray the virtues of the ideal knight

as governor. In fact, Spenser wrote only six books, each of twelve cantos, and a fragment of a seventh. The first is given to the Red Cross Knight, who represents Holiness; the second to Sir Guyon, or Temperance; the third to Britomarte, or Chastity; the fourth to Cambel and Triamond, or Friendship; the fifth to Sir Artegall, or Justice; the sixth to Sir Calidore, or Courtesy. These knights, as we learn from Spenser's introductory letter, are despatched on their various quests by Gloriana, Queen of Fairyland. In the course of their adventures appears from time to time the perfect knight, Arthur, who is himself in search of the Faerie Queene. The allegory takes at times a political turn, and the characters, besides representing ideal qualities, refer directly to actual persons. Spenser explained: "In that Faerie Queene I mean glory in my generall intention, but in my particular I conceive the most excellent and glorious person of our soveraine the Queene." Belphoebe and Britomarte also represent Elizabeth; Arthur is Leicester; the false lady Duessa is Mary Queen of Scots. In the fifth book the political state of Europe is presented at length, with Lord Grey as Artegall, France as Flourdelis, Henry IV. as Burbon, Holland as Belge, and Philip II. of Spain as Grantorto. This was but natural in an age in which politics were colored by religious feeling, and in which public and private conduct, as typified by Sidney, Raleigh, and Essex, was still touched with something of the glamor of the chivalry which had passed away.

Spenser and Ariosto. The moral seriousness which underlies the poem marks the great difference between The Faerie Queene and its Italian prototype. Spenser, like Wyatt and Surrey, was content to go to school to Italy; and he chose as the model for his great work the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto. Both Ariosto and Spenser deal with chivalry; but while Ariosto had merely the delight of the artist in the brilliant color which chivalry gave to life, with the easy contempt of the cynic for its moral elements, Spenser found in its persons and ideals a means of making goodness attractive. In details Spenser learned much from Ariosto; many passages he wrote in avowed imitation. His prevailing difference is in the greater richness and elaboration of his style,