Spenser's He represents himself, while seated under the green CHAP. II. "One day (quoth he) I sat, as was my trade, Or thither led by chance, I knew not right,- And said, he came far from the main sea deep. And when he heard the musick which I made, The stranger soon after borrows the pastoral reed of Ascription of Colin Clout, and in tuneful rivalry displays his cunning in the art : 66 Yet, æmuling my pipe, he took in hond My pipe, before that æmuled of many, And played thereon, (for well that skill he conn'd,) Himself as skilful in that art as any. He piped, I sung; and, when he sung, I piped; So piped we, until we both were weary."+ poetic gifts. Queen Thestylis, one of the "swains that did about him Allusions to play," inquires what was the ditty sung by Raleigh; Elizabeth and Spenser's answer, making allowance for its poetical drapery, corroborates the idea that he was suffering under the temporary displeasure of Elizabeth, whom he styles Cynthia the Lady of the Sea : "That shall I eke (quoth he) to you declare,- Of great unkindness and of usage hard, Of Cynthia the Lady of the Sea, Which from her presence, faultless, him debarr'd: *Todd's Spenser, vol. viii. p. 8. + Ibid. p. 9. CHAP. II. Poetic advice to Raleigh. And ever and anon with singulfs rife, Ah! my love's queen, and goddess of my life! The Shepherd of the Ocean, pitying that luckless lot which had banished Colin into a waste where he was forgotten, persuaded this tuneful wight to wend with him to behold his Cynthia,-in plain prose, Raleigh invited Spenser to court, that he might be introduced to the queen. The voyage to England, the wonders of the deep, and the noble description of the vessel huge "that danced upon the waters back to lond," must be familiar to all the lovers of English poetry in its best days. The description of the happiness of his country Happiness of under the maiden queen, as contrasted with the miseries England. which the poet had lately witnessed, is striking and beautiful: The Fairy "Both heaven and heavenly graces do much more On hills and downs, withouten dread or danger. But graceless men them greatly do abuse." + But the visit of Raleigh had more important consequences. During his residence at Kilcolman, Spenser submitted to him the three first cantos of his Fairy Queen, then in an unfinished state. It is a common *Todd's Spenser, vol. viii. p. 13. Bordrags, border ravages. Todd's Spenser, vol. viii. p. 20. |