635 



SPENSER, EDMUND. 



636 



During his residence at Kilcolman, the ' Faerie Queen ' was most 

 probably beun. In 1590 the first three books appeared. In 1591 

 ' Colin Clout's come Home again,' was published. This poem is dedi- 

 cated to Sir Walter RaMgh, who appears to have become, after Sir 

 Philip Sidney's death, Spenser's principal friend and patron, and who 

 is generally believed to have introduced him to Queen Elizabeth. 

 Mr. Malone discovered, among the records deposited in the Rolls' 

 chapel, a grant of fifty pounds per annum from the queen to Spenser. 

 It is not easy to reconcile his possession of this annuity with Ben 

 JonEon's account of his death, as given by Drummond of Hawthornden. 



In 1591 were also published a collection of minor poems, entitled 

 ' Complaints,' and the second part of the ' Faerie Queen.' The ' Com- 

 plaints ' comprise 'Mother Hubbard's Tale,' 'Tears of the Muses," 

 'Virgil's Gnat,' 'Petrarch's Visions,' 'Bellaye's Visions,' and the 

 printer of the edition of 1679 says that various other minor poems 

 are "either wholly lost or unkindly concealed from the publique by 

 private hands," an assertion of still earlier date. The title-page of 

 the Second Part of the ' Faerie Queen ' mentions that the work would 

 be in twelve books. The six books which were wanting to complete 

 the work, are stated to have been lost in their passage from Ireland by 

 the carelessness of Spenser's servant; but Fenton the poet denies this. 

 Two ' Cantos of Mutability,' which were first published in the collection 

 of 1609, appear to be all that remain to us of the missing six books. 



In 1594 he married, but who the lady was is unknown. He alludes 

 to the progress of his passion in the ' Amoretti,' but so obscure is this 

 portion of Lis history, that it is uncertain whether this was a first or 

 second marriage. In 1596 he published four ' Hymns,' addressed to 

 the countess of Cumberland and Warwick. In the same year he wrote 

 his masterly 'View of Ireland,' published by Sir James Ware in 1633. 

 His ' Prothalamion,' a nuptial poem, appeared about the same time. 

 The close of Spenser's career was lamentable. Tyrone's rebellion 

 broke out in 1598. Spenser had been nominated sheriff of Cork a 

 little time previously, by the queen ; and to this circumstance, and 

 not to his cupidity, as some writers have asserted, should the awful 

 event detailed by Jonson to Drummond of Hawthornden be ascribed. 

 Ben Jonson said that " the Irish having robbed Spenser's goods and 

 burnt his house and a little child new born, he and his wife escaped ; 

 and after he died for take of bread in King Street, and refused twenty 

 pieces sent to him by my lord of Essex, adding, 'He was sorrie he had 

 no time to spend them.' " 



Spenser died on the 16th of January, 1598-1599, in King Street, 

 Westminster, though let us hope, for the honour of his numerous 

 friends, not for lake of bread, and indeed various circumstances seem 

 to render such an event extremely improbable. He was buried, at his 

 own request, near Chaucer, in Westminster Abbey, at the charge of 

 the Earl of Essex. Thirty years after, the Countess of Dorset erected 

 a monument to him, which, in 1778, was restored by the Fellows of 

 Pembroke Hall. 



Spenser left two sons, Sylvanus and Peregrine. Hugolin, the son of 

 Peregrine, was restored to the estate in Ireland by Charles II. ; but 

 adhering to the cauee of James II., he was outlawed, and the estate 

 reverted to the crown. A William Spenser petitioned the House of 

 Commons for its restoration about the year 1700, pleading his ancestry 

 and services as a guide to the royal troops in Ireland; and also that 

 Hugolin " is very old and unmarried." He obtained the grant of the 

 estate through the interest of the Earl of Halifax. 



Pope observed of Spenser, " There is something in Spenser that 

 pleases us as strongly in one's old age as it did in one's youth. I read 

 the ' Faerie Queen ' when I was about twelve, with a vast deal of 

 delight." Campbell calls Spenser " The Rubens of English poetry." 

 Objections have been raised against the allegory of the Faerie, and it 

 has been remarked that " with all its beauties, a continuous perusal of 

 the poem is wearisome to many readers," but as Mr. Craik has well 

 said in his ' Sketches of Literature and Learning in England,' iii. 99, 

 " These peculiarities the absence of an interesting story or concatena- 

 tion of incidents, and the want of human character and passion iu 

 the personages that carry ou the story, such as it is are no defects in 

 the Fairy Queen. On the contrary, the poetry is only left thereby so 

 much the purer. Without calling Spenser the greatest of all poets, 

 we may still say that his poetry ia the most poetical of all poetry. 

 Other poets are all of them something else as well as poets, and deal 

 in reflection, or reasoning, or humour, or wit, almost as largely as in 

 the proper conduct of the imaginative faculty; his strains alone, iu the 

 Fairy Queen, are poetry, all poetry, and nothing but poetry. It is 

 vision unrolled after vision to the sound of endlessly varying music. 

 The ^ ' shaping spirit of imagination ' considered apart from moral sen- 

 sibilityfrom intensity of passion on the one hand, and grandeur of 

 conception on the other certainly never was possessed in the like 

 degree by any other writer; nor has any other evinced a deeper feeling 

 of all forms of the beautiful ; nor have words ever been made by any 

 other to embody thought with more wonderful art. On the one hand, 

 invtntion and fancy in the creation or conception of his thoughts; 

 on the other, the most exquisite sense of beauty, united with a 

 command over all the resources of language, in their vivid and musical 

 expression these are the great distinguishing characteristics of 

 Spenser's poetry. What of passion is in it lies mostly in the melody 

 of the verse ; but that is often thrilling and subduing in the highest 

 degree. Its moral tone, also, ia very captivating ; a soul of nobleness 



gentle and tender as the spirit of its own chivalry, modulates every 

 cadence." 



Of Spenser's minor poems it is unnecessary to say much. The 

 ' View of Ireland ' will well repay perusal. The style is bold, and the 

 handling of the subject very masterly. The 'Daphnoida,' usually 

 printed with the ' Astrophel,' is a poem of much merit. Sir Philip 

 Sidney, in his ' Defence of Poesie,' says he finds much good poetry in 

 Spenser's works, but can hardly allow the use of the antiquated 

 language. Warton's learned dissertation on the model of the ' Faerie 

 Queen,' and the reasons for the adoption of an antiquated style, are 

 well known. 



There are a vast number of editions of Spenser's works. Lowndes, 

 in his ' Manual,' enumerates thirty-two different editions of his works, 

 and thirteen publications relative thereto, and several other editions of 

 his works, or of the ' Faerie Queen ' have since been published. The 

 first collections were those of 1609, folio, and 1679, folio. Notices by 

 contemporaries occur in the 'Skialetheia,' 1598, a satirical poem, in the 

 very rare ' Eclogue upon the Death of the Right Honourable Sir 

 Francis Walsingham/ by Watson, 1590; in a ' Discourse of English 

 Poesie,' by Webbe, 1586; an ' Eclog,' addressed to him by Lodge, 

 1595 ; Notices, by Camden, in his ' Annals,' and -by Sir James Ware, 

 in 1633 ; and he is eulogised by almost every poet of the Elizabethan 

 era. For the most ample collection of particulars relating to Spenser, 

 and a rare critical examination of his poetry the reader is referred to 

 ' Spenser and his Poetry, by George L. Craik,' 3 vols. 8vo, 1845. 



SPERANSKI, MICHAEL, was bora in 1771, in the government of 

 Vladimir. His father, a clergyman of influence, designed him for the 

 church, and sent him to the ecclesiastical academy of St. Petersburg, 

 after a course of preliminary studies in the seminary attached to the 

 convent of Rozhdyestvenski. Young Speranski however felt no inclina- 

 tion for theology, and devoted most of his time to the study of mathe- 

 matics, in which he made such proficiency that at the age of twenty-one 

 he was appointed to the professorship of mathematical and physical 

 sciences attached to the academy. He retained this professorship 

 until 1797, when, owing to ill-health, he left his situation, retired to a 

 village in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg, and turned his atten- 

 tion to political science. During this period he formed the acquaint- 

 ance of Count Kotchubey, who, upon the accession of Alexander, 

 obtained for him the office of secretary to the Imperial council. In 

 1802 Speranski proceeded to organise the ministry of the interior 

 under the direction of his patron. His plans were not completed till 

 1806, but were then adopted with the complete approbation of the 

 emperor and his advisers. It was further determined that all the 

 departments of government should be organised on the principle laid 

 down by the young statesman, who had so completely gained the con- 

 fidence of the government, that in 1808 he was named assistant-minister 

 of justice and governor of Finnland. The latter situation comprised 

 the chancellorship of the university of Abo ; but before he proceeded 

 to execute his intended improvements in the system of national educa- 

 tion, he re-organised the legislative commission, which had resumed 

 its labours in 1804. In the same year his plans for reforming the public 

 schools were taken into consideration, and by his advice all the funds 

 for public instruction received large additions. In the following year 

 he had already obtained power enough to propose a new system of 

 finance, an improved organisation of the council of the empire, and a 

 diminution of the power of the senate. All these measures were carried 

 into execution ; and Speranski, having thus brought all the chief 

 branches of administration into the hands of the Imperial council, 

 found himself in the capacity of its secretary, at the head of the affairs 

 of the empire. 



In the space of two years the whole system of government was 

 changed ; a new penal code was introduced ; the law for the protec- 

 tion of commerce greatly improved ; much of the paper money in 

 circulation was replaced by a new coinage ; and the whole method of 

 taxation was remodelled. Speranski enjoyed in the highest degree the 

 confidence of the emperor, who approved of all the changes proposed 

 by him, and seems to have left everything in his hands. In 1809 

 Speranski had become a member of the privy council. The period 

 between 1808 and 1812 was that of Speranski's greatest prosperity, 

 and it is to these years of his almost unlimited power that some of the 

 best institutions iu Russia owe their origin. The nobility, who had 

 lost many of their privileges under his reforming administration, 

 insisted on his dismissal in 1812. The approaching invasion of Napo- 

 leon I. intimidated the emperor, who was in want of money, and felt 

 that unanimity was indispensable in so critical a moment. 



In the middle of March 1812, Speranski was carried off to Nischnei 

 Novgorod with the utmost precipitation, under the pretext that his 

 life was in danger from the French. Six months after he was exiled 

 to Perm, where, suffering from want and vexations of all kinds, he 

 was obliged to apply to the government for a small pension, which 

 was granted, and enabled him to live iu retirement. Two years after- 

 wards a country-seat in the neighbourhood of St. Petersburg was 

 restored to him ; and he also obtained permission to live there. In 

 1817 he was unexpectedly appointed to the government of Pensa, and 

 two years afterwards to that of Siberia. He devoted the first two 

 years of his administration to a journey through the provinces which 

 were entrusted to him, and he was thus led to project a new system of 

 administration for Asiatic Russia. In 1821 he delivered his plan into 



