marchandize; and other then such shall it never be.

The

Kinge of Spayne seeketh not Irlande for Irlande, but havinge raysed up troops of beggers in our backs, shall be able to inforce us to cast our eyes over our shoulders, while thos before us strike us on the braynes.

Ralegh is here writing "with the gloves off," and, of all the letters which can with certainty be attributed to his composition, it is on that account perhaps the most interesting and characteristic. He had great financial interests in Ireland, and in the rising in October 1598, which caused the destruction of the Munster settlement, his losses were great. "At Tallow," writes Bagwell, "in Ralegh's seignory, there were 60 good houses and 120 able men, of whom 30 were musketeers; but they all ran away and the rebels burned the rising town to the ground." Ralegh therefore had the strongest motive for advocating a vigorous policy in Ireland, and would have rendered Bacon every assistance in presenting the case as it is found stated in the View.

P. 678. Like Bacon, Spenser considers that justice must be movable and summary, and wishes, therefore, in order to deal with persons who should "straggle up and downe the countrey, or miche in corners amongest theyr frendes idlye, as Carooghs, Bardes, Jesters and such like," that "there were a Provost Marshall appoynted, in everye shire which should continuallye walke through the countrey, with halfe a douzen, or half a score of horsemen, to take up such loose persons as they should finde thus wandring, whom he should punnish by his owne authoritye, with such paynes as the persons should seeme to deserve," etc.; this measure to supplement the powers of the sheriffs, but the latter to be deprived of power of life and death which they have hitherto exercised, on the ground that they may benefit, as "it hath often come to pass," in the seizure of lands, by the party's death.

Finally the establishment of towns is advocated, as in Bacon's memoranda :

Further, that there should be in sundrye convenient places,

by the high wayes, townes appoynted to be builte, the which should be free Bouroughes, and incorporate under Bayliffes, to be by theyr inhabitaunts well and strongly intrenched, or otherwise fenced with gates at each side therof, to be shutt nightlye, like as there is in manye places of the English Pale, and all the wayes about it to be stronglye shutt up, soe that none should passe but through those townes: To some of which it were good that the priviledge of a markett were given, the rather to strengthen and enable them to theyr defence, for nothing dothe sooner cause civilitye in anye countreye then manye markett townes, by reason that people repairing often thither for theyr needes, will daylye see and learne civill manners of the better sort. Besides, there is nothing doth more staye and strengthen the countreye then such corporate townes, as by proofe in many rebellions hathe bene seene; in all which when the countreyes have swarved, the townes have stood stiffe and fast, and yeelded good relief to the souldiours in all occasions of service. And lastly there doth nothing more enriche any countreye or realme then manye townes; for to them will all the people drawe and bring the fruites of theyr trades, as well to make money of them, as to supplye theyr needefull uses; and the countreymen will also be more industrious in tillage, and rearing all husbandrye comodityes, knowing that they shall have readye sale for them at those townes and in all those townes should there be convenient Innes erected for the lodging and harbourghing of all travellers, which are now oftentimes spoyled by lodging abrode in weake thatched howses, for wante of such safe places to shrowde themselves in.

Among the Irish State papers of 1599 in the Public Record Office, there is an unpublished manuscript in four books, treating, in dialogue form, of outrages, etc., in Ireland.1 Book I. treats of divers outrages committed in the King's County from harvest 1597 until All Saints' Day 1598; and the remaining books deal with Leinster, Connaught, Ulster, and the country generally. The interlocutors are named Peregryn and Silvyn, the names of two of Spenser's sons. The work is dedicated to the Earl of Essex, but the letter, which ends at p. 2, is unsigned. At the foot of p. I, however, is written, in a different hand, "Thomas Wilson." An inscription at the head of the dedication (To the . .. Earl of Essex, etc.)

1 Ireland, vol. cciii., No. 119 (147 pages).

contains the initials "H. C." (H. C. wisheth long life, etc.). Mr. Bagwell, in a note, remarks that the dialogue "is very much in the style of that between Irenaeus and Eudoxus," and he asks, "Is Thomas Wilson a stalking horse for Edmund Spenser ?" The joint authors of the article on Spenser in the Dictionary of National Biography report the same resemblance, and conclude "that the dialogue probably embodies expressions of opinion which Spenser has communicated to the author."

The appearance of the names of Spenser's sons in this connection is, of course, very interesting, and I have therefore (with expert assistance) read through this document. In the result, I have no hesitation in saying (with all respect to the writers above mentioned) that, except in the adoption of the dialogue form, which is clumsily managed and without any attempt at preserving character, there is no resemblance whatever between this work and Spenser's View. There is none of the philosophical outlook and imaginative faculty of illustration and generalisation which characterise the latter; all is particular and individual, and is a dreary catalogue of petty incident and local detail. The style is mean and unrelieved by variety, and the writer vents his feelings against the Irish by continual abuse, having evidently endured much hard service in the country. He describes himself in the dedication as "a poor servitor of twentyfive years' continuance there," and he says:

After Sir Richard Binghams departure forth of Ireland whose servant I remained many years until his death . . . I took upon me . . . to make a collection of such acts which especially have happened in the Kings County since harvest 1597 until All Saints 1598, myself not only being eye witness of many misdeeds there happening but also have tasted the burden thereof to my utter undoing with the loss of that worthy man my Master.

Sir Richard Bingham is said to have died on t January 1599 (three days after Spenser's death), a Essex went to Ireland at the end of March 1599, his paper was presumably written in th year. The

1 Ireland under the Tudors, iii.

signature "Tho. Wilson" on the front page appears to be later, and, in any case, does not belong to the dedication. It has been suggested that it may be Sir Thomas Wilson, Keeper of the Records (d. 1629), and a supporter of Sir Robert Cecil, which seems very probable; also that "H. C." may be Henry Cuffe, who was secretary to the Earl of Essex. It is conceivable, as the signature to the dedicatory letter is omitted, that he may have had his initials put into the inscription in presenting the copy, but, for the reasons given, he could not have been the author.

The most interesting point, however, from the point of view of this inquiry is the adoption, for the purpose of the dialogue, of the names of Silvyn and Peregryn at this date, when, under the accepted view of Spenser's marriage, his sons were still young children. The scene of the dialogue is London, and it begins with Silvyn saying:

I am mightily deceived, but yonder walketh my frende Peregrine to whom I will draw nere, for he hath been missing full one year and a half and assured I am he hath not spent so great a time in vain.

Peregryn replies that he has been to "Pauls," then to the Exchange, to look for Silvyn; says he has been in Ireland; and proceeds to give him the account which follows. Silvyn says, "I was never in that country."

For what it is worth this supports the argument which I have submitted as to the Amoretti and the Epithalamion, and the theory of Spenser's earlier marriage. The names of the interlocutors have been inserted in the margin in a different hand, and the dialogue form was probably an afterthought, to relieve the monotony of the treatise. The View of the Present State of Ireland was probably presented to the Queen through Essex or Ralegh, and she would naturally hand it over to Burghley or Robert Cecil. Essex would consult Anthony or Francis Bacon about this further paper, and the suggestion might have

1 Dict. Nat. Biogr., art. "Sir Thomas Wilson."

been made by them that it should be dressed up, so as to appear to come from the same source, by the adoption of the names of Spenser's sons (Spenser himself being dead). The paper, on being presented by Essex to the Queen, would take the same course as the previous one, and tend to strengthen it and reinforce the policy therein advocated. I find no trace, however, of Bacon's hand in any part of the composition.

Grosart states, as the result of his researches, that Spenser's widow was married again to one Roger Seckerstone between 1601 and 1603, and that a petition of Sylvanus Spenser, the eldest son, was addressed to the Chancellor of Ireland in 1603 against the seizure by his mother and her new husband of Kilcolman and other lands belonging to his father, Edmund Spenser.1 He observes that "Sylvanus Spenser could not have been born sooner than 1595 (the marriage 11th June 1594), and thus in 1603 was only in his ninth year, and hence others, not himself, acting herein." He also gives, from the Exchequer Records, another instance of litigation by him, "of course through his advisers," in 1605. But there is nothing in the cases quoted to show that he was not acting in person; quite the contrary; and the situation suggested, if the children were infants, is improbable and unnatural. If, however, the eldest son had been left in England, and had grown up there, the action of the widow becomes intelligible.2

I must say a word, in conclusion, as to Spenser's petition to the Queen, which Dr. Grosart produced from the Record Office (Works of Spenser, i. App. V.). The most remarkable feature of this document, in contradistinction with the "advocacy" of the View, is the fairness of statement, even in the terrible situation in which the writer finds himself. He writes not from the point of view of the central Government, but from that of the

1 Works of Spenser, i. 554 sq.

2 See further on this question in Chapter XIV.