vicious inclinations. Marry thy daughters in time, lest they marry themselves. And suffer not thy sons to pass the Alps, for they shall learn nothing there but pride, blasphemy, and atheism. And if by travel they get a few broken languages, that shall profit them nothing more than to have one meat served in divers dishes. Neither, by my consent, shalt thou train them up in wars; for he that sets up his rest to live by that profession, can hardly be an honest man or a good Christian; besides it is a science no longer in request than use; for soldiers in peace, are like chimneys in

summer.

III

Live not in the country without corn and cattle about thee; for he that putteth his hand to the purse for every expense of household, is like him that putteth water in a sieve. And what provision thou shalt want, learn to buy it at the best hand; for there is one penny saved in four, betwixt buying in thy need, and when the markets and seasons serve fittest for it. Be not served with kinsmen, or friends, or men intreated to stay; for they expect much and do little; nor with such as are amorous, for their heads are intoxicated. And keep rather two too few, than one too many. Feed them well, and pay them with the most; and then thou mayest boldly require service at their hands.

IV

Let thy kindred and allies be welcome to thy house and table ; grace them with thy countenance, and farther them in all honest actions; for by this means, thou shalt so double the bond of nature, as thou shalt find them so many advocates to plead an apology for thee behind thy back; but shake off those glowworms, I mean parasites and sycophants, who will feed and fawn upon thee in the summer of prosperity, but in adverse storm, they will shelter thee no more than an harbour in winter.

V

Beware of suretyship for thy best friends; he that payeth another man's debts, seeketh his own decay; but if thou canst not otherwise choose, rather lend thy money thyself upon good bonds, although thou borrow it; so shalt thou secure thyself, and

pleasure thy friend; neither borrow money of a neighbour or a friend, but of a stranger, where paying it, thou shalt hear no more of it, otherwise thou shalt eclipse thy credit, lose thy freedom, and yet pay as dear as to another. But in borrowing of money be precious of thy word, for he that hath care of keeping days of payment, is lord of another man's purse.

VI

Undertake no suit against a poor man without receiving much wrong; for besides that thou makest him thy compeer, it is a base conquest to triumph where there is small resistance; neither attempt law against any man before thou be fully resolved that thou hast right on thy side; and then spare not for either money or pains; for a cause or two so followed and obtained, will free thee from suits a great part of thy life.

VII

Be sure to keep some great man thy friend, but trouble him not with trifles; compliment him often with many, yet small gifts, and of little charge; and if thou hast cause to bestow any great gratuity, let it be something which may be daily in sight; otherwise in this ambitious age, thou shalt remain like a hop without a pole; live in obscurity, and be made a football for every insulting companion to spurn at.

VIII

Towards thy superiors be humble, yet generous; with thine equals familiar, yet respective; towards thine inferiors show much humanity, and some familiarity; as to bow the body, stretch forth the hand, and to uncover the head, with such like popular compliments. The first prepares thy way to advancement, the second makes thee known for a man well bred, the third gains a good report, which once got is easily kept; for right humanity takes such deep root in the minds of the multitude, as they are easilier gained by unprofitable courtesies, than by churlish benefits; yet I advise thee not to affect or neglect popularity too much; seek not to be Essex; shun to be Raleigh.

IX

Trust not any man with thy life, credit, or estate; for it is mere folly for a man to enthrall himself to his friend, as though, occasion being offered, he should not dare to become his enemy.

X

Be not scurrilous in conversation nor satirical in thy jests; the one will make thee unwelcome to all company, the other pull on quarrels, and get thee hatred of thy best friends; for suspicious jests, when any of them savour of truth, leave a bitterness in the minds of those which are touched; and, albeit, I have already pointed at this inclusively, yet I think it necessary to leave it to thee as a special caution; because I have seen many so prone to quip and gird, as they would rather leese their friend than their jest; and if, perchance, their boiling brain yield a quaint scoff, they will travail to be delivered of it as a woman with child. These nimble fancies are but the froth of wit.

SPENSER

[We have Spenser's own authority for stating that he was born in London (see Prothalamion),

Though from another place I take my name,

An house of ancient fame.

He claimed relationship with the Spencers of Althorpe, Northants (see Colin Clout's Come Home Again, 1537-72, and the dedications of The Tears of the Muses, of Prosopopoia, or Mother Hubbard's Tale, of Muiopotmos), and the claim was allowed. But the connection must have been distant. His own branch of the family seems to have belonged to Lancashire, to the neighbourhood of Burnley; and there are several signs that his father, who by the time of Edmund's birth had migrated south, was not in prosperous circumstances. Of his mother we know nothing but her Christian name, which was Elizabeth (see Amoretti, lxxiv.) From Amoretti, lx., written it is fairly certain in 1593, it is plausibly concluded he was born in 1552.

He was educated at the Merchant Taylors' School, then recently founded; and with the help of a Lancashire gentleman, Mr. Robert Nowell, went as a sizar to Pembroke College, Cambridge. After seven years at the University, where, though he gathered much sound learning, he did not academically distinguish himself, he probably passed some time with his family, or family connections, in Lancashire. But he was soon called back to London. The Earl of Leicester and his nephew, Sir Philip Sidney, now became his patrons; and with Sidney, at least, he formed a cordial and lasting friendship. Probably through their influence he at last, in 1580, obtained some preferment; he was appointed secretary to Lord Arthur Grey of Wilton, who was then proceeding to Ireland as Lord Deputy. He had already made his mark as a poet by the publication of The Shepherd's Calendar; and had already begun to compose The Faery Queen (see his friend Gabriel Harvey's letter, dated April 7, 1580. and his own to Harvey of April 10).

Lord Arthur Grey, after suppressing the current insurrection (that of Shan O'Neal and the Earl of Desmond) with an iron hand, was recalled in 1582. But it seems clear Spenser did not return with him. In fact Ireland was to be his home for the rest of his life, though there are several indications that he was far from content with such a lot; nor, the state of Ireland at that time considered, is his dissatisfaction to be wondered at. However, he held successively the clerkship of Degrees and Recognisances in the Irish Court of Chancery, and that to the Council of Munster; and after some years of service he received a grant of land in Cork county-of some 3000 acres, out of the forfeited estates of the Earl of Desmond. Certainly by the year 1589 he was

settled in the old castle that will always be associated with his memoryKilcolman Castle.

In that year Sir Walter Raleigh, whom he had known personally since 1580, if not earlier, and whom a grant from those same forfeited estates as he himself was sharing brought again across St. George's Channel, visited him at Kilcolman, and read the first three books of The Faery Queen. The result was a visit to England and their publication in 1590, and the establishment of Spenser's fame as the chief poet of the day. See Colin Clout's Come Home Again, a poem written on Spenser's return, and giving a full account of that famous expedition. The following years, to say nothing of his official duties, were occupied in the composition of the next three books of The Faery Queen ; and also in paying his addresses to a certain lady whose name has at last been ascertained to be Elizabeth Boyle. Of this courtship and its hopes and fears he, after his manner, furnishes a complete record in the sequence of sonnets entitled Amoretti. In the Epithalamion he celebrates his own marriage. He paid another visit to England in 1596, to publish the second instalment of his great work, and probably also to make suit for some more congenial appointment, or an appointment amongst more congenial surroundings (see Prothalamion, stanzas 1 and 9). As a poet, he was greeted with enthusiasm ; but the Court did nothing for him, or nothing of importance and of the kind he wished. Lord Burleigh, there is reason to believe, was not disposed in his favour. And so, perforce, he betook himself back to Ireland.

But in that ill-governed and unhappy country a fresh insurrection was being fiercely plotted and organised. In 1598 it broke out with fury. Spenser, whose possession of a part of Desmond's forfeited estates had all along made him detestable to the natives, and whose attitude and conduct seem indeed to have been by no means conciliatory, was one of its first victims. His house was burnt over his head, and he had to fly for life. He reached London in extreme poverty and distress. And there, in King Street, Westminster, he died January 13, 1599. He was buried by the side of Chaucer in Westminster Abbey.]

SPENSER'S one important prose writing is The View of the Present State of Ireland; but we have also some Letters, and some Dedications. The View of the Present State of Ireland was, it seems fairly certain, written during his stay in England in 1596. In the Lambeth Library is extant the copy sent in to the Archbishop of Canterbury along with the application for a licence to publish the work. It is initialled E. S. and dated by the author, as Dr. Grosart reports; and the date given is 1596. Again, in one passage in the text the year 1595 is referred to as "this last year." Several phrases in the work indicate that Irenæus, the chief speaker, who is Spenser himself, was at the time in England. Thus, on p. 61 of Dr. Grosart's edition we read: “And this right well I wot that even here in England there are in many places as strange customs as Coigny and Livery."

Certainly the work is the result of long experience and a