A Biography of Edmund Spenser | Page 2

in the year of salvation
1598, and is buried near Geoffrey Chaucer, who was the first most
happily to set forth poetry in English writing: and on him were written
these epitaphs:--
Here nigh to Chaucer Spenser lies; to whom In genius next he was, as
now in tomb.

Here nigh to Chaucer, Spenser, stands thy hearse,{1} Still nearer
standst thou to him in thy verse. Whilst thou didst live, lived English
poetry; Now thou art dead, it fears that it shall die.'
The next notice is found in Drummond's account of Ben Jonson's
conversations with him in the year 1618: 'Spencer's stanzas pleased him
not, nor his matter. The meaning of the allegory of his Fairy Queen he
had delivered in writing to Sir Walter Rawleigh, which was, "that by
the Bleating Beast he understood the Puritans, and by the false Duessa
the Queen of Scots." He told, that Spencer'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 to him by my lord Essex, and said he was sure he had no time to
spend them.'{2} The third record occurs in Camden's _History of
Queen Elizabeth (Annales rerum Anglicarum et Hibernicarum regnante
Elizabetha)_, first published in a complete form in 1628. There the
famous antiquary registering what demises marked the year 1598 (our
March 25, 1598, to March 24, 1599), adds to his list Edmund Spenser,
and thus writes of him: 'Ed. Spenserus, patria Londinensis,
Cantabrigienis autem alumnus, Musis adeo arridentibus natus ut omnes
Anglicos superioris {ae}vi Poetas, ne Chaucero quidem concive
excepto, superaret. Sed peculiari Poetis fato semper cum paupertate
conflictatus, etsi Greio Hiberni{ae} proregi fuerit ab epistolis. Vix
enim ibi secessum et scribendi otium nactus, quam a rebellibus {e\}
laribus ejectus et bonis spoliatus, in Angliam inops reversus statim
exspiravit, Westmonasterii prope Chaucerum impensis comitis
Essexi{ae} inhumatus, Po{e"}tis funus ducentibus flebilibusque
carminibus et calamis in tumulum conjectis.'{3} This is to say:
'Edmund Spenser, a Londoner by birth, and a scholar also of the
University of Cambridge, born under so favourable an aspect of the
Muses that he surpassed all the English Poets of former times, not
excepting Chaucer himself, his fellow-citizen. But by a fate which still
follows Poets, he always wrestled with poverty, though he had been
secretary to the Lord Grey, Lord Deputy of Ireland. For scarce had he
there settled himself into a retired privacy and got leisure to write,
when he was by the rebels thrown out of his dwelling, plundered of his
goods, and returned to England a poor man, where he shortly after died
and was interred at Westminster, near to Chaucer, at the charge of the

Earl of Essex, his hearse being attended by poets, and mournful elegies
and poems with the pens that wrote them thrown into his tomb.'{4} In
1633, Sir James Ware prefaced his edition of Spenser's prose work on
the State of Ireland with these remarks:-- 'How far these collections
may conduce to the knowledge of the antiquities and state of this land,
let the fit reader judge: yet something I may not passe by touching Mr.
Edmund Spenser and the worke it selfe, lest I should seeme to offer
injury to his worth, by others so much celebrated. Hee was borne in
London of an ancient and noble family, and brought up in the
Universitie of Cambridge, where (as the fruites of his after labours doe
manifest) he mispent not his time. After this he became secretary to
Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton, Lord Deputy of Ireland, a valiant and
worthy governour, and shortly after, for his services to the Crowne, he
had bestowed upon him by Queene Elizabeth, 3,000 acres of land in the
countie of Corke. There he finished the latter part of that excellent
poem of his "Faery Queene," which was soone after unfortunately lost
by the disorder and abuse of his servant, whom he had sent before him
into England, being then a rebellibus (as Camden's words are) _{e\}
laribus ejectus et bonis spoliatus_. He deceased at Westminster in the
year 1599 (others have it wrongly 1598), soon after his return into
England, and was buried according to his own desire in the collegiat
church there, neere unto Chaucer whom he worthily imitated (at the
costes of Robert Earle of Essex), whereupon this epitaph was framed.'
And then are quoted the epigrams already given from Camden. The
next passage that can be called an account of Spenser is found in
Fuller's Worthies of England, first published in 1662, and runs as
follows:-- 'Edmond Spencer, born in this city (London), was brought up
in Pembroke-hall in Cambridge, where he became an excellent scholar;
but especially most happy in