The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-05-18

the duties OF clerk to tho Council OF Munster.
in which province he was later to take up his
abode. When Raleigh and his friends divided
among them the County OF Cork the clork OF
the Council received grant OF some 3 600 acres.
including the Castle Of Kicolmnn. ruined
house OF the Diamonds. From 1886. when 1t
came into his hands this was Sponsors home,
and in this rude keep overlooking n dreary
tract of country the author OF the Faerie
Quccne accomplished so much Of his work ms
1t WIS given him to do 1t is worth remember
ing that the first great English poem OF modern
times the first creation OF English imaginative
power since Chauccr WIS not written in
England.
The poet called his work wild fruit which
salvage soil hath brod" and we cannot doubt
that his life In Ireland deeply tnged its char
meter aud spirit. 1t is truc that the alegory
sets forth the trials bcse,ting the life of man in
all conditions and ut all nmcs. But the realities
| Of the irish wars and OF Irish social and politi-
| cal life. gave body and form to his conception
There in actual flesh and blood were enemies to
be fought with by the good and true. There in
| concrete fact. were tho vices and falsehoods
tho Sansfoy. and Sansloy. and Sansjoy. which
Arthur and his companions were to quell and
punish. Indeed, TO read contemporary wri-
tors account OF Roeighs adventures with Irish
chieftains. his challenges and single combats
bits Of Sponsors knieht-erran,ry in prose. In a
word. the Faerie Quecno' might almost be-
called the epic OF the English wars in Ireland
under Elizabeth.
The person who discovered the extraordinary
work Of genius growing up amid the turbu-
i lcnco and misery and despair OF Ireland
and brought Spenser back into the CEN
| tro Of English life WIS Walter Raleigh.
In 1889 the latter went back to Lon
! don from a visit to his Irish estates. and Spen-
ser accompanied him. taking the first three
| books OF his poem. which were published in the
! following year. Tho appearance Of tho Faerle
! Queenc.' dedicated 20 Elizabeth herself. and in
troduccd by host OF commcndatory sonnets by
Raleigh and others. constitutes one Of the most
splendid events in the history OF English litera-
| turc. Tho Queen, who heard herself celebrHt-
ed not only as scmi-dlvine person. but as
| herself unriyallod in tho art OF making" or
poetry straghtway granted Sponsor pension
and the whole educated world Of his day in
stantly acknowledged the charm and perfection
OF tho now work OF art Now and then ut n
later date. Sponsor would speak of envy and
detraction but little trace Of censure appears
and It seems that his title to be tho poet OF
poets" was acknowledged by his brother au-
thors as by reclamation. Aitcrward. no doubt
rs other successful poetry was written. and tho
standards Of taste were multiplied. the first rap
| ture of applause cooled down. Even in tho de-
cade which had passed since the printing OF the
! " Shepherds Calendar" a considerable change
| had happened in English cultivation. Hooker
had begun TO dignity and invigoratc English
prose. Marlowe was beginning to write dramas.
and Shakespeare had come to London. though
/ the world did not yet know what he was.
Spenser stayed in England about a year and
half. long enough 10 learn that he had little to
] hopo f. from his frh a,I
/ perhaps Essex. who were busy on their own
| schemes. So he turned back oncc more 10 Ire
| land to be worried with lawsuits about lands
/ in Shan Ballymore and Ballingrath." to find
| wife among the Irish maidens TO write the
story OF his visit in n new pastoral. Colin
| Clouts Come Home Again" and to pursue
through three more books and the fragment Of
another the story Of " Gloranas Knights"
| In year after his marriage he sent over tho
| epithalamium and other memorials Of his WOO
! ING and wedding time. TO be published in Lon
don. and the next year came over himself
bringing with him the second nst.llment OF the
''Faerc Queene." which was entered for pubica-
ton in January. 1896 He returned within the
/ twelvemonth TO his Munster house where he
presently lost everything in tho Tyrone rebel
| lion. kilcoman Castle was sacked and burnt
aad, according 10 Ben Jonson. q little new born
child OF Sponsors persisted in the flames. The
| poet and his wife escaped. and no came over 10
England n ruined and broken hearted man.
| We know nothing about tho details OF his
escape OF the fato OF his manuscripts. or the
coalition in which he left his work. or about
| the suffering he went through in England; we
only know what Jonson has set down. that one
| 81 the foremost OF English poets perishcd mis-
| erably and prematurey. dying" we are told.
70 for lick Of bread in King street Westminster.
/ and refusing twenty pieces sent TO him by my
Lord OF Essex. saying that ho had no time to
spend them"
In one Of his chapters Dr. Church has touched
with a discriminating hand tha beauties and
blemlshes Of the poem which Dryden counted
among our epics but which is certainly too
amorphous to deserve place In that category.
Indeed it's grave faults Of construction are
borne upon its face. No doubt the poet intended
to reserve until the end the central event which
was the occasion Of all tho adventures. but he
made the mistake. not shared by any Of his
models. Of confounding the answer to n riddle
with the crisis which untles the tangle OF
plot. and satisfies the suspended interest OF a
| narrative. Another feature not unlikely 10
offend a reader trained to value what is natural
and genuine is It's aifectltion Of the language
OF an age not its own. His own generation felt
his license TO be extreme and Ben Jonson said
Of him that, " in affecting the ancients. he writ
no language" Moreover, his knowledge OF old
English WAS quite rs defective and inaccurate
MS was his classical learning. His lines are
quito MS full Of neoogies and false archasms
as OF true reyivas. In the same class OF obvious
faults belong the gross eXaggeration. difiuse-
ness, and proxity which evinced n curious
blindness 10 the spirit Of self restraint proper
ton. and simplicity which governed the great
writer's Of antiquity. With these faults OF do
sign and execution may be- classed pervading
want OF substance. dstnctness. and strength
in the personages Of the poem.
It.must not De supposed that Dr. Church, be-
cause he has had the frHnkness to formulate
what many readers OF the Faerle Queene"
have felt. cannot appreciate the spell which
Spenser has exercised over the greatest poets
from his own day to ours. He endeavors to dis
Germ and indicate the charm which Milton.
Cowley. Dryden. Pope. and Wordsworth have
with the utmost fcryor recognized in the
"Faerie Queene' He points out with an in
csiye yet "A rcverent touch the really admirable
and winning qualities OF Sponsors verse. The