His materials, quality, and intention forbid that a multitude of readers should ever gather about him." According to Professor Osgood, however, one's attitude toward Spenser is a test of one's fitness to appreciate the higher things of life: "To all men of finer perceptions and sensibilities he is all things." If there be truth in this judgment, it is worth one's while to gain some knowledge of his work.

Education. Edmund Spenser, like his great predecessor Chaucer, his great contemporary Bacon, and many illustrious writers since, was a Londoner by birth. Though his family were in poor circumstances, he managed to secure a good education, at the Merchant Tailors' School, and at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He came to be a close friend of men of standing and influence, through whom, after leaving the University as a Master of Arts, he became acquainted with Sidney and the Earl of Leicester. Three years after leaving the University he published The Shepherd's Calender, a pastoral poem in twelve parts, "everywhere answering to the seasons of the twelve months." Drawing its inspiration from Theocritus and Virgil, it is another evidence of the interest in antiquity which was one of the distinctive marks of the Renaissance (see page 44).

In Ireland. — " The Faerie Queene." - Wishing political preferment, he secured a not very desirable appointment as private secretary to Lord Grey, deputy to Ireland. There he spent the greater part of the time till his death, being unable to secure a more congenial position in England. Among other rewards for his Irish service he received as a grant Kilcolman Castle, with an estate of about 3000 acres. At Kilcolman, Spenser was visited by Sir Walter Raleigh, who saw the first three books of The Faerie Queene, and advised the poet to bring them to the attention of Elizabeth. This Spenser did;

Boyle, they are full of the phraseology and figures belonging to that type of literature in his day. Spenser, however, invented a rhyme-scheme for himself as did Shakspere, instead of adopting Sidney's scheme, itself adopted from the Italian.

"The Faerie Queene." The ambitious plan of the Faerie Queene is set forth in a letter to Raleigh prefixed to the publication of the first three books. The poet was to "fashion a gentleman," choosing as his model King Arthur, in whom he found exemplified "the twelve private moral virtues," and devoting a section (or "book") of the poem to each virtue. The Faerie Queene herself he meant "for glory in general intention," but for Elizabeth "in particular." The queen's part in the fiction was this: she was to hold a feast for twelve days, on each of which an adventure happened; each adventure was undertaken by a different Knight, and each made the subject of a book. The six books which Spenser completed relate the adventures of knights representing the virtues of Holiness, Temperance, Chastity, Friendship, Justice, Courtesy.

The course of the story is interrupted by innumerable other stories, not always clearly connected with the main theme, and sometimes bearing evidence of having been separately composed. The deliberately archaic vocabulary is for many a deterrent to sympathetic reading. While it is probable that The Faerie Queene has been read entire by few but specialists, carefully made selections should interest a large circle of readers; for the tone of moral earnestness, the charm of highly imaginative word-paintings, and the graceful music of the verse are ever-present sources of general appeal.

Spenserian Stanza. The Spenserian stanza deserves examination by any reader of English poetry. It

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