of erudition, ingenuity, and moral meaning, than they had been in former times.

The philosophy of the highest minds still partook of a visionary character. A poetical spirit infused itself into the practical heroism of the age; and some of the worthies of that period seem less like ordinary men, than like beings called forth out of fiction, and arrayed in the brightness of her dreams. They had High thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy.' The life of Sir Philip Sidney was poetry put into action."

Three very memorable individuals adorned this reign, Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, and Sir Walter Raleigh. The latter two are more properly subjects of verse than poets, though their verses are found in collections of English poetry, but Spenser stands without a rival in his own style of poetic invention.

Spenser was born in London about the middle of the sixteenth century. He passed some time; after leaving the university of Cambridge where he was educated, in a state of rustic obscurity in the North of England, but there his mind was furnished with those natural images that abound in his works. He was afterwards introduced to Sir Philip Sidney, and once resided with him at Penshurst in Kent. By the influence of Sidney, Spencer procured the place of Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and subsequently, a grant from the Queen of land in that country, in which he remained for several years.

Spenser's residence at Kilcolman, an ancient castle of the earls of Desmond, commanded a view of above half the breadth of Ireland, and must have been a most romantic and pleasant situation.--The river Mulla, which Spenser has so often celebrated, ran through his grounds. In this retreat he was visited by Sir Walter Raleigh, at that time a captain in the Queen's army. His visit occasioned the first resolution of Spenser to prepare the first books of the Faery Queen for immediate publication. Spenser

has commemorated this interview, and the inspiring influence of Raleigh's praise, under the figurative description of two shepherds tuning their pipes, beneath the alders of the Mulla ;—a fiction with which the mind, perhaps, will be much less satisfied, than by recalling the scene as it really existed.

When we conceive of Spenser reciting his compositions to Raleigh, in a scene so beautifully appropriate, the mind casts a pleasing retrospect over that influence which the enterprize of the discoverer of Virginia, and the genius of the author of the Faery Queen, have respectively produced on the fortune and language of England. "The fancy might even be pardoned for a momentary superstition, that the Genius of their country hovered unseen over their meeting, casting her first look of regard on the poet, that was destined to inspire her future Milton, and the other on the maritime hero, who paved the way for colonizing distant regions of the earth, where the language of England was to be spoken, and the poetry of Spenser to be admired."

In 1597, a rebellion against the British government broke out in Ireland, and occasioned the precipitate flight of Spenser with his family to England. Spenser died at London, January, 1599. He was buried, according to his own desire, near the tomb of Chaucer; and the most celebrated poets of the time (Shakspeare was probably of the number) followed his hearse, and threw tributary verses into his grave.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY.

Sir Philip Sidney was the most celebrated man of his age. The question immediately occurs-for what?— "Traits of character will distinguish great men independent of their pens or their swords," remarks Mr. Campbell. "The contemporaries of Sidney knew the man: and foreigners, no less than his own countrymen, seem to have felt, from his personal influence and conversation, an homage for him, that could only be paid to a commanding intellect guiding the principles of a noble heart."

He spent part of his short life in the court of Queen

Elizabeth, and another very brilliant portion of it in military service upon the continent. As a courtier, a scholar, a traveller, and a soldier, he commanded the admiration of Europe, and all England wore mourning at his death. This event happened in 1580, when he was only 32 years of age. His writings are obsolete, but we sometimes hear of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia. This is an incomplete romance which he left. Miss Lucy Aikin says of the Arcadia, that " fervour of eloquence," "nice discrimination of character," and "purity of thought," "stamp it for the offspring of a noble mind.”

"His death," continues Miss Aikin, "was worthy of the best parts of his life; he showed himself to the last devout, courageous, and serene. His wife, the beautiful daughter of Walsingham; his brother Robert, to whom he had performed the part rather of an anxious and indulgent parent than of a brother; and many sorrowing friends, surrounded his bed. Their grief was, beyond a doubt, sincere and poignant, as well as that of the many persons of letters and of worth who gloried in his friendship, and flourished by his bountiful patronage."

Such a man's name and example should still serve to kindle in the bosom of youth the animating glow of virtuous emulation. Lord Thurlow, a late Lord Chancellor of England, wrote a pretty sonnet on Sidney's picture. "The man that looks, sweet Sidney, in thy face, Beholding there love's truest majesty, And the soft image of departed grace, Shall fill his mind with magnanimity: There may he read unfeign'd humility, And golden pity, born of heav'nly brood, Unsullied thoughts of immortality,.

And musing virtue, prodigal of blood:
Yes in this map of what is fair and good,
This glorious index of a heav'nly book,
Not seldom, as in youthful years he stood,

Divinest Spenser would admiring look;
And, framing thence high wit and pure desire,
Imagin'd deeds, that set the world on fire!

SIR WALTER RALEIGH.

He

Sir Walter Raleigh was born at Hayes Farm in Devonshire, 1552, and was beheaded in London, 1618. is memorable for his understanding, his knowledge, and his enterprising spirit. During the reign of Elizabeth, Raleigh performed many honourable services in the British navy, and fitted out, and sometimes accompanied, ships of discovery which explored the coasts of North and South America. After the accession of James I. of England, who was Elizabeth's successor, Raleigh was indicted and tried for treason, upon the charge of attempting to place Lady Arabella Stuart upon the throne of England; and though he was not condemned, he suffered fifteen years of imprisonment. When Raleigh was liberated, he obtained a commission from the King, and commanded an expedition against Guiana, in South America. In this enterprize he was unsuccessful, though he committed some depredations upon the Spaniards who were in possession of the country. On his return to England he was tried upon the former accusation, and sentenced to death. The sentence was immediately executed, and a life of singular vicissitudes, in which the prosperity was adorned by eminent accomplishments, and the adversity sustained by admirable fortitude, was thus cruelly terminated.

SPENSER.

UNA AND THE REDCROSS KNIGHT.

"The heavenly Una and her milk-white lamb."-Wordsworth.

"A gentle knight* was pricking on the plain,
Yclad in mighty arms and silver shield,
Wherein old dints of deep wounds did remain,
The cruel marks of many a bloody field;
Yet arms till that time did he never wield;
His
angry steed did chide his foaming bit,
As much disdaining to the curb to yield:

Full jolly knight he seem'd, and fair did sit,

As one for knightly jousts* and fierce encounters fit.

But on his breast a bloody cross he bore,
The dear remembrance of his dying Lord,
For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore,
And dead (as living) ever him ador'd:

Upon his shield the like was also scor'd,†
For sovereign hope, which in his help he had :
Right faithful true he was in deed and word;
But of his cheer did seem too solemn sad:
Yet nothing did he dread; but ever was ydrad.‡'
Upon a great adventure he was bound,
That greatest Gloriana to him gave,
That greatest glorious queen of fairy lond,
To win him worship, and her grace to have,
Which of all earthly things he most did crave;
And ever as he rode his heart did yearn
To prove his puissance in battle brave
Upon his foe, and his new force to learn;
Upon his foe, a dragon horrible and stern.

A lovely lady rode him fair beside,

Upon a lowly ass more white than snow;
Yet she much whiter, but the same did hide
Under a veil, that wimpled§ was full low,
And over all a black stole|| she did throw,
As one that inly mourn'd; so was she sad,
And heavy sat upon her palfry slow;

Seemed in heart some hidden care she had,
And by her in a line a milk-white lamb she led.

So pure an innocent, as that same lamb,
She was in life and every virtuous lore,
And by descent from royal lineage came
Of ancient kings and queens, that had of yore

*Contests of skill at arms. + Engraved. Drawn closely. Robe.

‡ Dreaded.