BY R. W. CHURCH DEAN OF ST. PAUL'S London MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1902 All rights reserved C5 1855 •UNDERGRAD, MAIN LIBRARY NOTICE THE present Essay was written originally for Messrs. Macmillan's Series of "Men of Letters." As the plan of that Series admitted sparingly of footnotes, I wish to say that, besides the biographies prefixed to the various editions of Spenser, two series of publications have been very useful to me. One is the series of Calendars of State Papers, especially the State Papers on Ireland, and the Carew MSS. at Lambeth, with the prefaces of Mr. Hans Claude Hamilton and the late Professor Brewer. The other is Mr. E. Arber's series of reprints of old English books, and his Transcript of the Stationers' Registers -a work, I suppose, without parallel in its information about the early literature of a country, and edited by him with admirable care and public spirit. I wish also to say that I am much indebted to Mr. Craik's excellent little book on Spenser and his Poetry. Absence from England, and distance from books, have prevented me, while reprinting this Essay, |