70 Charles G. Osgood, 



by William Harrison, but is bere sometimes cited as 'Holinsbed' 

 for convenience. 



For the rest a hint is given in the Ruins of Time. The poem 

 is essentially the monody of a grief-stricken woman, who is the 

 genius of the ancient city of Verulam, lamenting dead members 

 of the Dudley family, especially Sir Philip Sidney. Some one 

 hundred and twenty verses she devotes to a recital of her own 

 history, her past glories and particularly her woes. This recital 

 concludes (166-75) with an apostrophe to William Camden as 



the only 



one, that maugre Fortunes injurie 

 And Times decay, and Envies cruell tort, 

 Hath writ my record in true-seeming sort. 



Cambden, the nourice of antiquitie, 



And lanterne unto late succeeding age, 



To see the light of simple veritie 



Buried in ruines, through the great outrage 



Of her owne people, led with warlike rage, 



Cambden, though Time all moniments obscure. 



Yet thy just labours ever shall endure. 



This amounts almost to a statement that Spenser learned what 

 he has to say of Verulam from Camden. That this is true but 

 in part will appear later in the present discussion. For the 

 moment it is enough to follow the poet's hint, and to discover that 

 something like half his material about the English rivers he owes 

 to Camden's Britannia.'^ 



But beyond his use of books, Spenser knew at first hand some 

 of the English rivers which he mentions, though not so many as in 

 the case of the Irish rivers. One who dwells on this subject, 

 therefore, must be aware that in studying the geography of 

 Spenser he could profitably visit some of the regions mentioned 

 by the poet, and see for himself what Spenser saw. In default of 



"William Camden's Britannia first appeared in 1586, and other editions 

 in Spenser's lifetime followed in 1587, 1590, and 1594. I have usually 

 quoted from the first translation, by Philemon Holland, 1610, said to have 

 been overseen by Camden himself. But all quoted passages have been 

 compared with the Latin original in the edition of 1590, and where the 

 original differs significantly from the translation, I have given the Latin 

 version as that which the poet used. Miss Harper observes some traces 

 of help from the Britannia in Spenser's stanzas on the Irish rivers, and 

 merely intimates, without demonstration (p. 17), that he read in it also 

 for his knowledge of English rivers. 



