s of familiar Ovidian
fables, that he first impressed a wide circle of his contemporaries with
the fact of his mighty genius. The perfect sweetness of the verse, and
the poetical imagery in 'Venus and Adonis' and 'Lucrece' practically
silenced censure of the licentious treatment of the themes on the part of
the seriously minded. Critics vied with each other in the exuberance of
the eulogies in which they proclaimed that the fortunate author had
gained a place in permanence on the summit of Parnassus. 'Lucrece,'
wrote Michael Drayton in his 'Legend of Matilda' (1594), was 'revived to
live another age.' In 1595 William Clerke in his 'Polimanteia' gave 'all
praise' to 'sweet Shakespeare' for his 'Lucrecia.' John Weever, in a
sonnet addressed to 'honey-tongued Shakespeare' in his 'Epigramms'
(1595), eulogised the two poems as an unmatchable achievement, although
he mentioned the plays 'Romeo' and 'Richard' and 'more whose names I know
not.' Richard Carew at the same time classed him with Marlowe as
deserving the praises of an English Catullus. {79} Printers and
publishers of the poems strained their resources to satisfy the demands
of eager purchasers. No fewer than seven editions of 'Venus' appeared
between 1594 and 1602; an eighth followed in 1617. 'Lucrece' achieved a
fifth edition in the year of Shakespeare's death.

Shakespeare and Spenser.

There is a likelihood, too, that Spenser, the greatest of Shakespeare's
poetic contemporaries, was first drawn by the poems into the ranks of
Shakespeare's admirers. It is hardly doubtful that Spenser described
Shakespeare in 'Colin Clouts come home againe' (completed in 1594), under
the name of 'Aetion'--a familiar Greek proper name derived from [Greek
text], an eagle:

And there, though last not least is Aetion;
A gentler Shepheard may no where be found,
Whose muse, full of high thought's invention,
Doth, like himselfe, heroically sound.

The last line seems to allude to Shakespeare's surname. We may assume
that the admiration was mutual. At any rate Shakespeare acknowledged
acquaintance with Spenser's work in a plain reference to his 'Teares of
the Muses' (1591) in 'Midsummer Night's Dream' (v. i. 52-3).

The thrice three Muses, mourning for the death
Of learning, late deceased in beggary,

is stated to be the theme of one of the dramatic entertainments wherewith
it is proposed to celebrate Theseus's marriage. In Spenser's