S P E 



S P E 



o\ this celebrated pcrfon by his friend, Mr. Gabriel Harvey, 

 previoufly to his publilhing his " Shepherd's Calendar," 

 which fufficiently refutes a tale concerning his being firll 

 made known to fir Philip Sidney by a paffage in the 

 Faery Queen, and the munificent reward which he re- 

 ceived on the occafion. He was, howcTer, patronized 

 I)y fir Philip, who introduced him to his uncle, the 

 tavourite Leicelter, who engaged him as an agent for his 

 fervice in foreign countries, but it is uncertain whether he 

 ever actually travelled abroad ; at any rate he could not 

 have been long in that employ, fmce, in 1580, he was at- 

 tending lord Grey of Wiltr.n, appointed lord-deputy of 

 Ireland, as his fecretary. In this fituation he difplayed 

 thofe talents for bufinefs, which are ufually, though often 

 very unjullly, reprefented as incompatible with a poetic 

 genius. He returned with lord Grey in 1582, and was 

 probably fome years an attendant at court, and in 1586 he 

 had a grant from the crown of upwards of 3000 acres of 

 land in the county of Cork, out of the vait forfeited pro- 

 perty of the earl of Defmond. In 1587 Spenfer went over 

 to take pofleflion of this eltate ; his refidencewas the caftle 

 of Kilcolman, near Doneraile, where, in the ftyle of paftoral 

 poetry, he defcribes himfclf as keeping his fheep " under 

 the Mole, that mountain hore," and frequenting the coolly 

 fhade of the green alders by the MuUa's fhore. Here it 

 appears he received a vifit in 1589 from fir Walter Raleigh, 

 who had been a commander in Ireland under lord Grey, 

 and had obtained a large grant of land from the crown. 

 Spenfer celebrates him in a poem under the title of the 

 ♦' Shepherd of the Ocean," and highly extols his courtefy 

 and elegant accomphfhments. At this period Spenfer was 

 engaged in the compofition of his " Faery Queen," of 

 which he had written the three firll books ; and accompany- 

 ing Raleigh the next year to England they were publifhed, 

 with a dedication to queen Elizabeth, and an introductory 

 letter addred'ed to Raleigh, explaining the plan of the whole 

 projected work. Elizabeth rewarded his poetry and dedica- 

 tion by a penlion of 50/. per annum, granted in 1 J91, and he 

 has been termed her laureat, thougii the title was not formally 

 conferred upon him. Spenfer returned to Ireland in 1591, 

 and married a country lafs of low degree, but the diiturb- 

 ances in that country forced him to return to England in 

 1595. Here he printed fome poems, and drew up a plan 

 for the entire reduction of that ifland in the fpace of two 

 winters, which work he completed in the next year, giving it 

 the title of " A View of the State of Ireland." This piece 

 remained in MS. till it was printed in 1633 by fir James 

 Ware, who beftmvs much applaufe on the information and 

 judgment difplayed in it, though he intimates, that it was 

 deficient in moderation : and it is generally admitted, that in 

 what he fays concerning the hiltory and antiquities of t)ie 

 country there are many errors, and the fanciful turn of a 

 poet is more confpicuous than the fobriety of a judicious 

 enquirer. In 1596 he publifhed a new edition of his 

 " Faery Queen," with additional books, which only com- 

 pleted halt his original defi^n. It was currently reported, 

 that the remaining fix books were loft by a fervant, who 

 was entruded to carry them to England, which certainly 

 would be one of the greateft difaflers that a poet could 

 poflibly fuffer, and might greatly contribute to break his 

 ipirits : the fa6t, however, is very queitionable, and cer- 

 tainly docs not Ikand on good authority : it is moll probable 

 that they were never finifhed. He retu rned to Kilcolman 

 '" '597> but Tyrone having in the next year broken out 

 in rebellion, and overrun the county of Cork, Spenfur was 

 ■obliged to take refuge with his wife >n England, leaving 

 >»11 iris property to the fpoil and ravages of tne infure:eots. 

 Vut. XXXIII. ^5 5 



His houfe was burnt, and with it, it is faid, an infant who 

 had not been removed. Reduced to a ftate of indigence, 

 he funk under his misfortunes in the fame year, or in the 

 beginning of the next. He was interred in Wellminfler 

 Abbey, at the expence of the earl of Eflex, feveral of his 

 brother poets attending, and throwing into his grave copies 

 of panegyrical verfes. A monument was afterwards erected 

 to his memory by Anne, the celebrated countefsot Dorfet. 

 Of his family and pollerity nothing is known, except 

 that one of his defcendants was rellored in the reign of 

 Charles II. to fo much of the cilatein Ireland, as he could 

 prove had belonged to his anceftor ; and that another, or 

 perhaps the fame, came to England in the reign of Wilham 

 with a fimilar claim, which was allowed. The works of 

 Spenfer are animated with a fervent fpirit of piety, and a 

 pure and exalted morality ; and though he certainly paid an 

 affiduous court to the great, he was not guilty of that mean- 

 nefs of adulation, which was too much praftifcd even by 

 fome eminent perfons of that age. The homage paid to 

 the queen was great, but it was deemed impoflible to carry 

 this too far. 



The poetical reputation of Spenfer is chiefly fupported 

 by his great work the " Faery Queen," for his palloraU 

 will fcarcely pleafe a correft tafle ; and though critics ad- 

 mit that there is much occafional beauty of fentiment and 

 harmony of verfification in his fonnets, hymns, and other 

 mifcellaneous pieces, yet on the whole they are fcarcely 

 diflinguifhed from the effufions of tedious pedantry commoa 

 in that age. But the " Faery Queen" is julHy regarded at 

 one of the great compofitions in Englifh poetry, and hat 

 loll none of its value by antiquity. " If its plan is Angu- 

 larly involved, its allegories often defective and obfcure, and 

 its adventures extravagant, it is, however, abfolutely un- 

 rivalled for the fertility of its conceptions, and the vividnefg 

 of its painting. Its great length, and want of interefl at 

 a fable, deter readers, in general, from a complete perufal, 

 but it will always be reforted to by the lovers of poetry 

 as a rich ftorehoufe of invention, efpecially of that kind 

 which confills in the perfonification of moral ideas." Biog. 

 Brit. 



SPENT, at Sea. The feamen fay a ftiip hath fpent any 

 mafl or yard, when it is broken down by foul weather, or 

 any fuch accident ; but if it be done by an enemy's Ihot 

 in a fight, they fay, fuc/j a yard, or majl, was Jhot by the 

 board. 



SPERA, in Geography, a town of European Turkey, in 

 Dobruzzi Tartary ; 40 miles S. of Ifmail. 



SPERAGE, Asi'AUAGUs, in Botany. Sec AfiTARAGUS. 



SPERDILLEN, in Geography, a lake of Norw;iy, i» 

 Aggerhuus, 32 miles long and 12 wide; 4 miles N. of 

 Chriltiania. 



SPERGULA, in Botany, a word which Dodonzus, 

 who is cited as its author, exprefsly fays was latinized from 

 the name of this herb in Brabant, Spuerie, whence its Eng- 

 lifii appellation, Spurrey. Whether <rz\(\, a modern Greek 

 name for Verhafcum Blattaria, has any common origin with 

 this Flanders word, or whether both may allude to the 

 copious difperfion of feeds in both cafes, and have been de- 

 rived from the ancient Greek orrufii, to foiv, or fcatlcr, we 

 can only propofe as a conjedure. Linnxtis, however, fccms 

 to have had fome fuch etymology in contemplation, when 

 he, in Phil. Bot. p. 167, explains Sprrgiila by "a/cattering 

 of feed ;" though probably he looked no further than the 

 Latin, ^aryo. — Linn. Gen. 232. Schreb. ^12. Willd. 

 Sp. PI. V. 2. 8i8. Mart. Mill. Dia. v. 4. Sm. Fl. Brit. 

 502. Prodr. Fl. Grxc. Sibth. V. I. 317. Ait. Hort. Kew, 

 V. 3.. IJ7. Furfh V. 1. ?»o. Dill. Gen. J^i. t. 7. f. 3. 

 3R " 'u(l 



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