authority. Of the two, the first is the most likely man, from his age and previous connection with government business, to have been the Spenser whom Lord Grey took with him to Dublin. Or, if it was the second, then he must, on, or soon after, leaving Cambridge, have gone to Ireland in Sir Henry Sidney's service in order to acquire the special experience which, presumably, was the cause of his selection by Lord Grey. It is immaterial to the argument which of the two (if there were two, or if two were alive then) was the Spenser mentioned in extract No. 4 above. But neither the one nor the other, in my view of the case, could have been "Immerito."

I have not yet dealt with No. 3. Those who interpret the poems in terms of the circumstances of the Irish official and settler are necessarily compelled to regard this entry as applying to another man. For reasons which

I shall give in their place, I am not concerned, in that connection, in its application, because I do not regard the Amoretti, or the Epithalamion, as having any reference to the poet's own marriage. But apart from that question, it seems to me highly probable that the Edmond Spenser mentioned in the register was the Irish Spenser (then in London), as it seems likely, on the ground of age and the conditions of his life as a settler in Ireland, that he was a married man. There is moreover a piece of evidence (to be mentioned later) which suggests the probability that Spenser's sons were grown up at the time of his death.

It remains to notice one further point in connection with the external evidence which presents difficulties. Spenser died in January 1599, and no monument was erected over his grave until 1620, when the present monument was erected by Anne, Countess of Dorset. The original inscription gave the year of his birth (presumably incorrectly) as 1510. It appears that the monument was "restored" in 1778, and the present date " 1553," which was obtained by inference from Sonnet 60, was substituted.2

1 The date of his death was given, also incorrectly, as 1596.

2 The modern view is that 1552 is the more correct date, but that is immaterial, as it is only a question of the exact year when the sonnet was written.

1

Lord Grey remained in Ireland for two years, during which Spenser held the post of his Secretary, and obtained other rewards for his services. Thus in 1581 he was given a post in the Irish Court of Chancery (which he held concurrently), and he secured property from Abbey lands at Enniscorthy in 1581, and Kildare in 1582. Lord Grey's administration was marked by extreme severity. He was, says Bagwell, "more a knight-errant than a general," and his first act was an ill-advised attack on the rebel forces at Glenmalure in which the English arms suffered a severe defeat. Thereafter his policy was one of unsparing repression, and he is best known for the ruthless, though, in the circumstances of the times and of the military situation, possibly justifiable slaughter of the Spanish and Italian garrison at Smerwick (Nov. 1580). His recall, however, in August 1582 appears to have been really due to the Queen's annoyance at the continuance of military operations and expenditure. In view of preoccupations with Continental affairs, Elizabeth seems to have made up her mind at that time to leave Ireland to itself as much as possible, and she found a pretext for recalling the Deputy in accusations which were being brought against himprobably, so far as the Queen was concerned, by interested parties-of undue severity. Lord Grey lived thereafter in England in retirement, and he died in 1593. A sonnet is addressed to him among the "Verses addressed by the Author of the Faerie Queene to Various Noblemen, etc." at the beginning of the first three books, which appeared in 1590, where he is described as the "Patrone of my Muses pupillage"; but there is evidently no allusion to him in the work itself until the second

1 Ireland under the Tudors, iii. 61. This description is founded on the impression that Arthegal in the Faerie Queene represents Lord Grey. I believe that to be a mistake, for reasons to be given later. Lord Grey appears to have had no very outstanding qualities, but to have been a distinguished soldier, with strong Protestant convictions, who did his best under great difficulties. His father, William, 13th Lord Grey, under whom he served as a youth in France, was referred to at his death as "the greatest soldier of the nobility." See the account of his services, written by his son, and the introduction thereto, Camden Soc., No. 40.

portion, which appeared in 1596, when he is alluded to under the person of " Artegall " (but, as will be explained, in one passage only) in the "Legend of Artegall or of Justice," which is the subject of Book V.

In

In June 1586, in connection with the colonisation of Munster, Spenser was granted 3028 acres of land in County Cork from the forfeited Desmond estates, with a house at Kilcolman.1 It is probable that he settled there in 1588, as in 1587 he is said to have resigned his clerkship in Dublin, and in June 1588 he purchased the clerkship of the Munster Council from Bryskett. It seems to me highly probable (even apart from the evidence of the church register) that, before going there, he came over to London to settle his affairs, confer with the "undertakers," of whom Ralegh was the principal, and make arrangements with other settlers. For such an enterprise careful preparations would, of course, be necessary. Munster he lived, as probably did the other English settlers, in frequent conflict with his Irish neighbours, and he was charged with rapacity and with using his official position to oppress others and for his own gain. There seem to have been good grounds for these charges, whatever faults there were on the other side; but the real answer to them appears to me to be that if he had not been a man of that kind he would never have been there. Every settler in Ireland at that time took his life in his hand, and nothing but the hope of acquiring wealth, or the pressure of starvation in England, could have induced any one to go there. A man must have been of a hard quality to have undertaken the venture.

Mr. Bagwell states the case as follows: "Spenser had Kilcolman and 4000 acres allotted to him [by the English Commission], but he complained that the area was really much less. Less or more, he was not allowed to dwell in peace, and his chief enemy was Lord Roche, who accused him of intruding on his lands, and using

1 Kilcolman appears to have been a small peel tower, of the form which such houses assumed in turbulent times. The ruin is said to indicate that the

walls were about 8 feet thick. Church's Spenser, p. 79, and Murray's Guide.

The poet

violence to his tenants, servants and cattle. retorted that the peer entertained traitors, imprisoned subjects, brought the law into contempt, and forbade all his people to have any dealings with Mr. Spenser and his tenants. . . . Lord Roche was charged with many outrages, such as killing a bullock belonging to a smith who mended a settler's plough, seizing the cows of another for renting land from the owner of this plough, and killing a fat beast belonging to a third, 'because Mr. Spenser lay in his house one night as he came from the Sessions at Limerick.' Ultimately the poet's estate was surveyed as 3028 acres at a rent of £8:13s. 9d., which was doubled at Michaelmas 1594, making it about five farthings1 per acre. Spenser maintained himself at Kilcolman until 1598, when the undertakers were involved in general ruin.”

2

Troubles between him and Lord Roche continued, and they appear to have reached a climax in 1593, at a time when Spenser is supposed to have been writing the Sonnets relating to his courtship. Petitions were presented against him to the Lord Chancellor of Ireland by Lord Roche, who described Spenser as "a heavy adversary unto your suppliant," and accused him of assigning his office as Clerk of the Munster Council "unto one Nicholas Curteys among other agreements with covenant that during his life he should be free in the said office for his causes, by occasion of which immunity he doth multiply suits against your suppliant in the said province upon pretended title of others." dispute was about lands, which Spenser and his "tenants being English" were charged with improperly appropriating. The document continues that "the said Edmond Spenser appearing in person had several days prefixed unto him peremptorily to answer, which he neglected to do." Therefore "after a day of grace given," on the 12th of February 1594, Lord Roche was decreed the possession.3

1 Value about eight times more than now.

2 Ireland under the Tudors, iii. 198.

3 Hales, "Globe" edition of Works, p. 1.

The

There is no further notice of Spenser on which, in my judgment, any reliance can be placed for biographical purposes until 1598, when, on 30th September of that year, the Privy Council in London recommended the Irish Government to appoint Edmund Spenser to be Sheriff of Cork. It appears that he is described in the dispatch as "a gentleman dwelling in the County of Cork, who is so well known unto you all for his good and commendable parts, being a man endowed with good knowledge in learning, and not unskilful or without experience in the wars."1 The Sheriff's post in Ireland at that time was a critical one, and a man would only be selected for it who could be depended upon for energy. I suspect that the explanation of the special recommendation is to be sought in the threatening situation, and in Ralegh's anxiety about his large estates in Munster.2 It was upon his advice that the Queen seems to have relied in Irish matters, and he must have known the settlers in Munster, as he went to Ireland in 1589,3 and he employed agents in developing his properties there.

Before this letter can have arrived the rising in Munster, which resulted in the abandonment of the settlement and the death of many of the English settlers, had taken place (in the first week of October 1598). The information we possess of the fate of Spenser is derived from Drummond of Hawthornden's recollections of Ben Jonson's conversations with him in 1618-19, and Camden's Annals of Queen Elizabeth's reign, published 1615-1625. Ben Jonson is reported as having said “that Spenser's goods were robbed by the Irish, and his house and a little child burnt, he and his wife escaped, and after died for want of bread in King Street; he refused 20 pieces sent him by my lord Essex, and said he was sure he had no time to spend them." Camden, writing in Latin, says that Spenser "had scarcely secured the means of retirement and leisure to write when he

1 Cited by Church, Spenser, "Men of Letters" series, p. 177.

2 See Bagwell, Ireland under the Tudors, iii. 199 and 304.

3 Edwards, Life of Ralegh, i. ch. viii., Letter from Capt. Allen to Anthony Bacon, quoted below at p. 418, note.