it
received additions and alterations from various respectable hacks of
letters; but the "Induction" and the "Complaint of Buckingham" which
Sackville furnished to it in 1559, though they were not published till four
years later, completely outweigh all the rest in value. To my own fancy the
fact that Sackville was (in what proportion is disputed) also author of
_Gorboduc_ (see Chapter III.) adds but little to its interest. His
contributions to _The Mirror for Magistrates_ contain the best poetry
written in the English language between Chaucer and Spenser, and are most
certainly the originals or at least the models of some of Spenser's finest
work. He has had but faint praise of late years. According to the late
Professor Minto, he "affords abundant traces of the influence of Wyatt and
Surrey." I do not know what the traces are, and I should say myself that
few contemporary or nearly contemporary efforts are more distinct. Dean
Church says that we see in him a faint anticipation of Spenser. My estimate
of Spenser, as I hope to show, is not below that of any living critic; but
considerations of bulk being allowed, and it being fully granted that
Sackville had nothing like Spenser's magnificent range, I cannot see any
"faintness" in the case. If the "Induction" had not been written it is at
least possible that the "Cave of Despair" would never have enriched English
poetry.

Thomas Sackville was born at Buckhurst in Sussex, in the year 1536, of a
family which was of the most ancient extraction and the most honourable
standing. He was educated at Oxford, at the now extinct Hart Hall, whence,
according to a practice as common then as it is uncommon now (except in the
cases of royal princes and a few persons of difficult and inconstant
taste), he moved to Cambridge. Then he entered the Inner Temple, married
early, travelled, became noted in literature, was made Lord Buckhurst at
the age of thirty-one, was for many years one of Elizabeth's chief
councillors and officers, was promoted to the Earldom of Dorset at the
accession of James I., and died, it is said, at the Council table on the
19th of April 1608.

We shall deal with _Gorboduc_ hereafter: the two contributions to _The
Mirror for Magistrates_ concern us here. And I have little hesitation in
saying that no more astonishing contribution to English poetry, when the
due reservations of that historical criticism which is the life of all
criticism are made, is to be found a