e entire remaining eighteen years
of his life. In 1591 he received in the south of Ireland a grant of
three thousand acres, a part of the confiscated estate of an Irish
earl. Sir Walter Raleigh was also given forty-two thousand acres near
Spenser. Ireland was then in a state of continuous turmoil. In such a
country Spenser lived and wrote his _Faerie Queene_. Of course, this
environment powerfully affected the character of that poem. It has
been said that to read a contemporary's account of "Raleigh's
adventures with the Irish chieftains, his challenges and single
combats, his escapes at fords and woods, is like reading bits of the
_Faerie Queene_ in prose."

In 1598 the Irish, infuriated by the invasion of their country and the
seizure of their lands, set fire to Spenser's castle. He and his
family barely escaped with their lives. He crossed to England and died
the next year, according to some accounts, in want. He was buried, at
the expense of Lord Essex, in Westminster Abbey, near Chaucer.

The Faerie Queene.--In 1590 Spenser published the first three books
of the _Faerie Queene_. The original plan was to have the poem contain
twelve books, like Vergil's _AEneid_, but only six were published. If
more were written, they have been lost.

The poem is an allegory with the avowed moral purpose of fashioning "a
gentleman or noble person in vertuous and gentle discipline." Spenser
says: "I labour to pourtraict in Arthure, before he was King, the
image of a brave knight, perfected in the twelve private morall
vertues, as Aristotle hath devised." Twelve Knights personifying
twelve Virtues were to fight with their opposing Vices, and the twelve
books were to tell the story of the conflict. The Knights set out from
the court of Gloriana, the Faerie Queene, in search of their enemies,
and meet with divers adventures and enchantments.

The hero of the tale is Arthur, who has figured so much in English
song and legend. Spenser makes him typical of all the Virtues taken
together. The first book, which is really a complete poem by itself,
and which is generally admitted to be the finest, contains an account
of the adventures of the Red Cross Knight who represents Holiness.
Other books tell of the warfare of the Knights who typify Temperance,
Chastity, Friendship, Justice, and Courtesy.

The poem begins thus:--

"A gentle Knight was pricking[6] on the plaine,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old din