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In 1580 he was made Secretary to Lord Grey de Wilton, 
Viceroy of Ireland. At that time Irishmen were looked upon as 
island enemies and savages, and they were treated with much 
harshness. In a book on the state of Ireland at that time, the 
method of extermination was advocated, if they did not behave 
themselves. Kingsley’s ‘‘ Westward Ho!” is a description of the 
idea of the Irish policy of that day. 
In 1581 Spenser was Clerk of the Irish Court of Chancery, in 
Dublin, and met some of the best men in Ireland to talk over 
literary matters. 
In 1586 there appeared that most exquisite of elegies, ‘* The 
Astrophel,’’ on the death of Sir Philip Sydney, who, in the words 
of Tennyson, a later thinker, ‘‘ wore the white flower of a 
blameless life.” 
In 1588 he was Clerk of Munster. During the rebellion, which 
broke out in Tyrone, he had to fly for his life, leaving behind his 
infant child, who was burnt to death during the riot which in- 
volved the destruction of Spenser’s house by fire. 
1592-3 he fell in love again, this time with Elizabeth Boyle, 
daughter of a farmer or small squire, and it is from Alexander 
Grossart that we learn that this lady at first treated him rather 
roughly, and kept him at a distance until at last she yielded. 
In 15938 they were married. He wrote for her one of his most 
wonderful poems, called “ Kpithalamion,” in which the language 
is choice and the sentiment beautiful. A poet could not tell his 
wife what he thought of her without letting the world know it. 
Open the temple gates unto my Love, 
Open them wide that she may enter in ; 
And all the posts adorn as doth behove, 
And all the pillars deck with garlands trim, 
For to receive this saynt with honours due, 
That cometh in to you. 
With trembling steps and humble reverence, 
She cometh in, before th’ Almighty’s view ; 
Of her, ye virgins, learn obedience, 
When so ye come into those holy places, 
To humble your proud faces ; 
Bring her up to th’ high altar, that she may 
The sacred ceremonies there partake, 
The which do endless matrimony make ; 
And let the roaring organs loudly play 
The praises of the Lord in lively notes : 
The whiles, with hollow throates, 
The choristers the joyous antheme sing, 
That all the woods may answer, and their eccho ring, 
