Meanwhile the beguiled Redcross knight has been led by Duessa (the false Church) to the palace of Pride, and this goddess comes forth.

So forth she comes, and to her coche does clyme,
Adorned all with gold and girlonds gay,

That seemd as fresh as Flora in her prime;
And strove to match, in roiall rich array,
Great Junoes golden chayre; the which, they say,
The gods stand gazing on, when she does ride
To Joves high hous through heavens bras-paved way,
Drawne of fayre Pecocks, that excell in pride,
And full of Argus eyes their tayles dispredden wide.
But this was drawne of six unequall beasts,
On which her six sage Counsellours did ryde
Taught to obay their bestiall beheasts,
With like conditions to their kindes applyde:
Of which the first, that all the rest did guyde,
Was sluggish Idlenesse, the nourse of sin;
Upon a slouthfull Asse he chose to ryde,
Arayd in habit blacke, and amis thin,
Like to an holy Monck, the service to begin.
And by his side rode loathsome Gluttony,
Deformed creature, on a filthie swyne.
His belly was upblowne with luxury,
And eke with fatnesse swollen were his eyne;
And like a Crane his necke was long and fyne,
With which he swallowed up excessive feast,
For want whereof poore people oft did pyne:
And all the way, most like a brutish beast,
He spued up his gorge, that all did him deteast.

In 1589 the first three books were finished, and in the summer of that year Raleigh came to Kilcolman, read the new poem, recognised its splendid merit, and persuaded Spenser to come with him to London. There he read parts of his poem to the queen, who was so pleased with the glowing pictures which the poet had drawn of her as Belphœbe, or Gloriana, or Cynthia, that

she gave him a pension of 50l. a year. In 1590 the book was published, and was received with a chorus of praise.

In 1591 Spenser was back again at Kilcolman, and in his poem of Colin Clouts come home again' he tells under a very transparent allegory the story of his visit to court with Raleigh the Shepheard of the Ocean.'

In 1594 the poet was married, and he celebrated the event with his Epithalamium,' a poem of over four hundred lines and the most magnificent marriage ode in any language.

Behold, whiles she before the altar stands,
Hearing the holy priest that to her speakes,
And blesseth her with his two happy hands,
How the red roses flush up in her cheekes,

And the pure snow, with goodly vermill stayne,
Like crimson dyde in grayne:

That even the Angels, which continually

About the sacred Altare doe remaine,

Forget their service and about her fly,

Ofte peeping in her face, that seemes more fayre,
The more they on it stare.

Two sons were born to him, and their names, Sylvanus and Peregrine, seem to show that Spenser in Ireland still regarded himself as an exile from home.

The next three books of the Faerie Queene' were published in 1596, but though they contain many beauties they are not equal in interest to the first three books.

After the poet's death a fragment of a seventh book was published, and in it there is the charming picture of the procession of the seasons and the months.

In 1598 another and more terrible Irish rebellion broke out, and Spenser was overwhelmed by it. Kilcolman was burnt, and the poet and his wife scarcely escaped with their lives, while an infant perished in the flames. He came to London a broken, ruined man, and in January 1599 he died broken-hearted in King Street.

Spenser has been called the poet of poets. Milton owes much to him; Cowley and Dryden call him master; Thomson copied his stanza, and his influence is seen in Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats. All men praise the delicious harmony of his verses.

Spenser is the poet of our waking dreams; and he has invented not only a language, but a music of his own for them. The undulations are infinite, like those of the waves of the sea; but the effect is still the same, lulling the senses into a deep oblivion of the jarring noises of the world from which we have no wish to be ever recalled.' '

1

THE EARLY ENGLISH DRAMA.

As we are now approaching the period of Shakspere's appearance in English literature it may be well to glance at the condition of the English stage and drama before his time. As early as the eleventh century we hear of the life of St. Catharine being exhibited in the Abbey of Dunstable, and plays of the Passion were performed in Coventry and other monasteries. The players were the monks and choristers, and the times chosen were those of the great festivals of the Church.

Hazlitt.

At a later date these miracle or mystery plays were also performed by the guilds of various cities. Thus we find

The playes of Chester called the Whitson playes weare the worke of one Rondell, a moncke of the abbaye of Sainte Warburghe in Chester, who redused the whole historye of the bible into Englishe storyes in metter in the Engishe tounge. Then the firste mayor of Chester he caused the same to be played: the manner of which playes was thus :-they weare divided into 24 pagiantes according to the companyes of the cittie; and every companye broughte forthe theire pagiant, which was the cariage or place which they played in. These pagiantes or carige was a hyghe place made like a howse with 2 rowmes beinge open on the tope; in the lower rowme theie apparrelled and dressed themselves and in the higher rowme theie played, and theie stode upon VI wheeles.

So at Coventry as late as 1591, at the Feast of Corpus Christi, the bible story was exhibited with much magnificence by the guilds, and the whole series of forty-three plays has been preserved. The men and women of Coventry had also from very early times performed annually their storial play' of Hock Tuesday, in commemoration of the overthrow of the Danes on St. Brice's Day in 1002. When Elizabeth visited Kenilworth in 1575 the people of Coventry begged to be allowed to perform their play before her, and the queen gave them leave. Kenilworth is not far from Stratford, and Shakspere was then in his twelfth year, and it is quite possible that he was there to hear and to enjoy. The Coventry folks also annually exhibited the pageant of the Nine Worthies,' and Shakspere has lovingly commemorated it in the pageant exhibited by the parson, schoolmaster, and pedant to please the lords and ladies in Love's Labour's Lost."

There were also companies of professional players

N

who were retainers of some nobleman, and who under the protection of his name travelled through the country and gave their entertainments. Thus we find that while Shakspere was still a boy, Stratford was visited by the 'Queen's players,' the Earl of Worcester's players,' and 'my lord of Leicester's players.' A writer who was born in the same year with Shakspere says:

In the city of Gloucester the manner is when players come to town, they first attend the mayor to inform him what nobleman's servants they are, and so to get licence for their public playing; and if the mayor likes the actors he appoints them to play their first play before himself and the aldermen and common council of the city, and that is called the mayor's play. At such a play my father took me with him, and made me stand between his legs as he sat upon one of the benches, where we saw and heard very well. The play was called the Cradle of Security,' wherein was personated a king with his courtiers of several kinds, amongst which three ladies were in special grace with him, and they keeping him in delights and pleasures drew him from hearing of sermons and listening to good council, that in the end they got him to lie down in a cradle upon the stage, where these three ladies joining in a sweet song rocked him asleep that he snorted again. Then came forth of another door two old men, the one in blue with a mace on his shoulder, the other in red with a drawn sword in his hand, and so they two went along in a soft pace till at last they came to the cradle, and then the foremost old man with his mace struck a fearful blow upon the cradle, whereat the courtiers with the three ladies all vanished; and the desolate prince starting up made a lamentable complaint and so was carried away by wicked spirits. This prince did personate the wicked of the world; the three ladies, pride, covetousness and luxury; and the two old men, the end of the world and the last judgment.

In London the chief players were the choir 'Children of Paules' and the Children of the Chapel-royal.' The former body were of ancient standing, but the latter had only recently been formed into a company of players under the leadership of Richard Edwards, a poet, player, and singer of much note in his day. Some of his poems.