t was so true."

To him Spenser addresses his confidences, under the name of Colin Clout,
a name borrowed from Skelton, a satirical poet of Henry VIII.'s time,
which Spenser kept throughout his poetical career. Harvey reappears in
one of Spenser's latest writings, a return to the early pastoral, _Colin
Clout's come home again_, a picture drawn in distant Ireland, of the
brilliant but disappointing court of Elizabeth. And from Ireland in
1586, was addressed to Harvey by "his devoted friend during life," the
following fine sonnet, which, whatever may have been the merit of
Harvey's criticisms and his literary quarrels with Greene and Nash,
shows at least Spenser's unabated honour for him.

TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL, MY SINGULAR GOOD FRIEND, M.
GABRIEL HARVEY, DOCTOR OF THE LAWS.

HARVEY, the happy above happiest men
I read; that, sitting like a looker on
Of this world's stage, dost note with critic pen
The sharp dislikes of each condition;
And, as one careless of suspicion,
Ne fawnest for the favour of the great;
Ne fearest foolish reprehension
Of faulty men, which danger to thee threat;
But freely dost, of what thee list, entreat,
Like a great lord of peerless liberty;
Lifting the good up to high honour's seat,
And the evil damning over more to die;
For life and death is in thy doomful writing;
So thy renown lives ever by enditing.

Dublin, this xviii. of July, 1586. Your devoted friend, during life,
EDMUND SPENSER.

Between Cambridge and Spenser's appearance in London, there is a short
but obscure interval. What is certain is, that he spent part of it in
the North of England; that he was busy with various poetical works, one
of which was soon to make him known as a new star in the poetical
heaven; and lastly, that in the effect on him of a deep but unrequited
passion, he then received what seems to have been a strong and
determining influence on his character and life. It seems likely that
his sojourn in the north, which perhaps first introduced the London-bred
scholar, the "Southern Shepherd's Boy," to the novel and rougher country
life of distant Lancashire, also gave form and local character to his
first considerable work. But we do not know for certain where his abode
was in the north; of his literary activity, which must have been
considerable, we only partially know the frui