A Biography of Edmund Spenser | Page 8

student during his residence at Cambridge; during
that period, for example, he must have gained that knowledge of Plato's
works which so distinctly marks his poems, and found in that immortal
writer a spirit most truly congenial. But it is conceivable that he
pursued his studies after his own manner, and probably enough excited
by his independence the strong disapprobation of the master and tutor
of the college of his day. Among his contemporaries in his own college
were Lancelot Andrews, afterwards Master, and eventually Bishop of
Winchester, the famous preacher; Gabriel Harvey, mentioned above,
with whom he formed a fast friendship, and Edward Kirke, the 'E.K.'
who, as will be seen, introduced to the world Spenser's first work of
any pretence. Amongst his contemporaries in the university were
Preston, author of Cambyses, and Still, author of Gammer Gurtons
Needle, with each of whom he was acquainted. The friend who would
seem to have exercised the most influence over him was Gabriel

Harvey; but this influence, at least in literary matters, was by no means
for the best. Harvey was some three or four years the senior, and of
some academic distinction. Probably he may be taken as something
more than a fair specimen of the average scholarship and culture given
by the universities at that time. He was an extreme classicist; all his
admiration was for classical models and works that savoured of them;
he it was who headed the attempt made in England to force upon a
modern language the metrical system of the Greeks and Latins. What
baneful influence he exercised over Spenser in this last respect will be
shown presently. Kirke was Spenser's other close friend; he was one
year junior academically to the poet. He too, as we shall see, was a
profound admirer of Harvey. After leaving the university in 1576,
Spenser, then, about twenty-four years of age, returned to his own
people in the North. This fact is learnt from his friend 'E.K.'s' glosses to
certain lines in the sixth book of the Shepheardes Calendar. E.K.
speaks 'of the North countrye where he dwelt,' and 'of his removing out
of the North parts and coming into the South.' As E.K. writes in the
spring of 1579, and as his writing is evidently some little time
subsequent to the migration he speaks of, it may be believed that
Spenser quitted his Northern home in 1577, and, as we shall see, there
is other evidence for this supposition. About a year then was passed in
the North after he left the University. These years were not spent idly.
The poetical fruits of them shall be mentioned presently. What made it
otherwise a memorable year to the poet was his falling deeply in love
with some fair Northern neighbour. Who she was is not known. He
who adored her names her Rosalind, 'a feigned name,' notes E.K.,
'which being well ordered will bewray the very name of hys love and
mistresse, whom by that name he coloureth.' Many solutions of this
anagram have been essayed, mostly on the supposition that the lady
lived in Kent; but Professor Craik is certainly right in insisting that she
was of the North. Dr. Grosart and Mr. Fleay, both authorities of
importance, agree in discovering the name Rose Dinle or Dinley; but of
a person so Christian-named no record has yet been found, though the
surname Dyneley or Dinley occurs in the Whalley registers and
elsewhere. In the Eclogue of the Shepheardes Calendar, to which this
note is appended, Colin Clout--so the poet designates
himself--complains to Hobbinol--that is, Harvey--of the ill success of

his passion. Harvey, we may suppose, is paying him a visit in the North;
or perhaps the pastoral is merely a versifying of what passed between
them in letters. However this may be, Colin is bewailing his hapless
fate. His friend, in reply, advises him to
Forsake the soyle that so doth thee bewitch, &c.
Surely E.K.'s gloss is scarcely necessary to tell us what these words
mean. 'Come down,' they say, 'from your bleak North country hills
where she dwells who binds you with her spell, and be at peace far
away from her in the genial South land.' In another Eclogue (April) the
subduing beauty is described as 'the Widdowes daughter of the Glen,'
surely a Northern address. On these words the well-informed E.K.
remarks: 'He calleth Rosalind the Widowes daughter of the glenne, that
is, of a country hamlet or borough, which I thinke is rather sayde to
coloure and concele the person, than simply spoken. For it is well
known, even in spighte of Colin and Hobbinol, that she is a
gentlewoman of no meane house, nor endowed with anye vulgare and
common gifts, both of nature and manners: but suche indeede, as neede
neither