"How they from my deere Spenser stood alooff And finding he n'oold crave for modestie, Nathles, of pininge griefe and wante's decaie, Hee much thoncke that stowt Earle, that thus gan saie, The medcine comes too late to the patient: Tho died." The above, with a little confusion of persons, most circumstantially supports what Ben Jonson told Drummond; for here we see Spenser "dying for want," but receiving pecuniary aid from Essex, and sending back word that he thanked the Earl, though, in the poet's then condition, the money could be of no use to him. If the donation did not arrive in time for Spenser to spend it himself-for Lane tells us that the poet "tho (then) died,” immediately after he had said that "the medicine came too late"-it does not appear that "the good store of crownes" was returned to the noble donor, though some have argued upon that supposition, and the Earl's bounty probably was employed to relieve the pressing wants of the poet's family. That family, besides his wife, consisted of two sons; so that, including the infant burned at Kilcolman, Spenser had three children born to him since his marriage on St. Barnabas day, 1594. These were, of course, left destitute; for all the father's property in Ireland had been seized or destroyed by the rebels, the salary from his clerkship of the Council of Munster had been at an end for some years, and his pension ceased with his life. A petition was consequently presented to the Queen's Council, either by the wife or on her behalf, in consequence of which eight of the most distinguished members, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Treasurer, and the Lord Keeper, wrote on the 29th March, 1601 (that is to say, about a year and a quarter after Spenser's death), to Sir George Carew, President of Munster, desiring him to afford such favour and assistance to the widow as the case seemed to require. 66 Spenser's two sons were named Sylvanus and Peregrine; but what portion of their father's estate they or their mother re-obtained, in consequence of the letter of the Council, we cannot hope to ascertain. We have before us a broadside exactly similar to that deposited in the British Museum (not very accurately reprinted by Todd), from which it is evident that Sylvanus was the elder brother; and that, in order to prefer Peregrine in marriage, he gave him (at what date is not mentioned) part of the family estate in the county of Cork. Sylvanus himself married Ellen Nangle, the daughter of David Nangle of Moneanymy, near Kilcolman, and had two sons, Edmund and William: the latter, describing himself as grandson and heir to Edmund Spenser, the poet," became petitioner to the Crown, in 1700 or 1701, for that part of the paternal estate which had been given by Sylvanus to Peregrine, and forfeited by Peregrine's son, Hugoline, on account of rebellion and outlawry, both in 1641 and in 1688. Edmund, the elder son of Sylvanus, is understood to have died unmarried. After the commencement of the eighteenth century the relationships become altogether confused and doubtful, even as to the immediate descendants of our poet; and it has been contended of late years that, besides the infant burned at Kilcolman, and Sylvanus and Peregrine, Spenser left two other children, named respectively Lawrence and Katherine: if so, he must have had five children between his marriage in the middle of 1594, and his death in the beginning of 1599—a statement not very likely in itself, and not by any means consistent with the other information we possess. Had any will of the poet, or letters of administration of his property, been discovered in the usual depository, or elsewhere,' it would, no doubt, have cleared away some of the obscurities at present hanging over the history of his successors. His widow married again before 1603, perhaps owing partly to the property she had acquired under the Council's Letter. Her second husband's name was Roger Seckerstone, as we learn from a petition, presented to the Lord Chancellor for Ireland in 1603, in which Sylvanus Spenser set forth that his father, Edmund, the poet, had been "seized in his demesne as of fee of the castle of Kilcolman, and divers other lands and tenements in the county of Cork," which descended to the petitioner; but that Roger Seckerstone, who had married his mother, unjustly detained the evidences of the estate, and thereby prevented the commencement of any action at law for the recovery of the property. The damage, however, was only laid at £100; and the prayer of the petition was, that Seckerstone and his wife (the widow of Edmund Spenser, and the mother of Sylvanus) might be compelled to give up the muniments of which they had wrongful possession. What was the result is not distinctly known, but Sylvanus was subsequently the owner of, at least, a part of the lands and tenements in dispute. Several portraits of Spenser are in existence; but it is difficult to settle the degree of authenticity belonging to them. The late Mr. Rodd, of Newport Street, had a miniature of the poet in his possession in 1845, and perhaps afterwards, which corresponded pretty exactly with the ordinary representations; but what 1 A diligent search was instituted at Doctors' Commons by Mr. G. Chalmers at the end of the last century, and it has several times since been renewed, but without avail. Recently inquiries have been made in Ireland, but, we are sorry to add, without more success. became of it is not known to us. The features were sharp and delicately formed, the nose long, and the mouth refined; but the lower part of the face projected, and the high forehead receded, while the eyes and eyebrows did not very harmoniously range. Christopher Beeston, who was much concerned with poets and theatres during the reigns of James and Charles, and survived the Restoration, informed Aubrey that Spenser was "a little man with short hair, a small band and cuffs:" the latter part of this statement does not tally with the usual engravings, where the poet is represented in a large flourishing laced ruff. Perhaps Beeston's account applied to Spenser when, later in life, he was more intimately connected with the puritanical party. Our biographical account of the author of "The Faerie Queene" has run out to a length we neither intended nor anticipated; and as, in the course of it, we have interspersed such remarks, critical and personal, as the occasion seemed to require, we shall not occupy farther space by repeating observations which during the last century have become trite, and therefore wearisome. It would be easy to fill many pages with the common-places of such as have written upon the poetry and powers of Spenser; but remarks of the kind, even if vigorous and original (and in these respects they have usually been deficient), would fall, in our day, upon impatient ears, anxious rather to judge for themselves, than willing to take the questionable word of an editor. A just estimate of Spenser, as a man and as a poet, can, of course, best be derived from his life and productions. To the first we have fortunately been able to add some new particulars to the last nothing, but in the shape of restorations and corrections of his text. THE SHEPHEARDES CALENDER: CONTEYNING TWELVE ÆGLOGUES, PROPORTIONABLE TO THE TWELVE MONETHES. ENTITLED To the noble and vertuous Gentleman, most worthy of all titles both of learning and chevalrie, M. PHILIP SIDNEY. AT LONDON. Printed by HUGH SINGLETON, dwelling in Creede Lane neere unto Ludgate at the figne of the gylden Tunne, and are there to be folde. 1579. |