2 Philo M. Bii-ck, Jr. 



glorification of his own verse. It is the assertion that the deeds 

 there chronicled, under the guise of an allegory, are those which 

 shall make her age one of heroic grandeur. 



The beginning of the time of the action is clearly given. ^ 



" Ye see that good King Uther now doth make 



Strong warre upon the paynim brethren, hight 



Octa and Oza, whom he lately brake beside Cayr Verolame." 



Uther died shortly after the battle of Verulam. By Uther possi- 

 bly is meant Henry VIII. The paynim brethren can hardly be 

 other than Francis I and Charles V, with whom Henry was 

 engaged in ceaseless war.^ It was during this time that England 

 entered the fold of the reformed church, the triumph of which 

 under Elizabeth is the climax of Book I. 



For the sake of clearness it will be well to take up the books 

 in their order. One thing, however, must be kept clearly in mind. 

 Spenser was a poet, not an historian, and the order he follows 

 is seldom historical, nor are the characters ever more than occa- 

 sionally consistent. Hence any attempt to read into the poem a 

 consistent development of the historical events of the time will 

 be followed by immediate disaster. Spenser loves to mystify his 

 readers. In addition, too close an allegory at that time would 

 have nipped the poem in the bud. Elizabeth never spoke plainly 

 and to the purpose herself, much less allowed it in others. 



Book I. The Legend of Holiness 

 In the First Book the moral allegory is predominant. The 

 Red-Cross Knight is " Saint George of Merry England, "■* the 

 descendant of the old Saxon Kings, the spirit of the English peo- 

 ple. Una is true religion, the Unity of the Faith. ^ She rides on 

 an ass (humility), and leads a lamb (innocence). But the his- 

 torical allegory is at times clear. Arthur is clearly the Earl of 

 Leicester. In Holinshed's" description of the welcome tendered 



' Book III, Canto iii, St. 52. 



^ Philip II is called a paynim king. Book I. xii. 18 and Book I. xi. 7. 



* Book I. X. 61. 



^ Ephesians IV. 13. 



"Chronicles, London, 1587, vol. 2, p. 1426. 



160 



