PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. 



PAPERS READ BEFORE THE ACADEMY, 

 SESSION OF 1866-67. 



I. — On Spenser's Irish Rivers. By P. "W. Joyce, A. M., T. CD. 



[Read November 12, 1866.] 



In the year 1580 Edmund Spenser was appointed secretary to the 

 newly created Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Grey of "Wilton, 

 and in that capacity resided in Ireland for two years. In 1586 he 

 obtained a grant of 3028 acres of land in the county of Cork, part 

 of the forfeited estates of the Earl of Desmond, under the impor- 

 tant condition that he should reside on, and cultiYate the property. 

 He selected for his residence the Castle of Eilcolman, one of Des- 

 mond's strongholds, situated on the estate, two miles from ButteYant, 

 and while living there he composed a considerable part of " The 

 Faerie Queene." 



During the time he filled the office of secretary, as well as while he 

 lived at Xilcolman, he studied carefully the history, politics, and topo- 

 graphy of Ireland, of which he has left proof in his " View of the State 

 of Ireland." Throughout his poems he makes frequent mention of 

 Irish localities ; but there are three passages of especial interest in 

 which he enumerates and describes our rivers. In the Fourth Book of 

 " The Faerie Queene," Canto xi., he describes the marriage of the 

 Thames and Medway, and among the guests, he gives a long catalogue 

 of the rivers both of England and Ireland. The following is the pas- 

 sage in which the Irish rivers are named : — 



" There was the Liffy rolling downe the lea; 

 The sandy Slaine ; the stony Aubrian ; 

 The spacious Shenan spreading like a sea ; 

 The pleasant Boyne ; the fishy fruitfull Ban ; 

 Swift Auniduff, which of the English man 



R. I. A. F-ROC. VOL. X. * B 



