Part 9 (2/2)

”I well consider all that ye have said, And find that all things stedfastnesse do hate And changed be; yet, being rightly wayd, They are not changed fro do dilate, And turning to theaine, Do worke their owne perfection so by fate: Then over thee, and do their states hter, further to aspire, And thee content thus to be rul'd by mee, For thy decay thou seekst by thy desire; But tied bee, And froe shal see”

So was the titanesse put downe and whist, And Jove confirm'd in his imperiall see

Then was that whole assembly quite dismist, And Natur's selfe did vanish, whither noof those daring argue of which the world was beginning to be full, we cannot now tell The allegory was not finished: at least it is lost to us We have but a fragreat commonplace which so impressed itself on the men of that time, and of which his works are full No words could be more appropriate to be the last words of one as so soon to be in his own person such an instance of their truth They are fit closing words to h and aniination worked And they record, too, the yearning hope of rest not extinguished by terrible and fatal disaster:--

When I bethinke me on that speech whyleare Of Mutabilitie, and well it way, Me seeh she all unworthy were Of the Heav'ns Rule; yet, very sooth to say, In all things else she beares the greatest sway: Which s so vaine to cast away; Whose flowring pride, so fading and so fickle, Short Tiin I thinke on that which Nature sayd, Of that sae shall be, But stedfast rest of all things, firmely stayd Upon the pillours of Eternity, That is contrayr to Mutabilitie; For all that ht: But thence-forth all shall rest eternally With Hireat Sabaoth God, grant ht

THE END

FOOTNOTES:

[166:1] Who is _Edmondus Spenser, Prebendary of Effin_ (Elphin)? in a list of arrears of first fruits; Calendar of State Papers, _Ireland_, Dec 8, 1586, p 222 Church preferments were under special circumstances allowed to be held by laymen See the Queen's ”Instructions,” 1579; in Preface to Calendar of Carew MSS 1589-1600, p

ci

[168:2] ”In these kind of historical allusions Spenser usually perplexes the subject: he leads you on, and then designedly misleads you”--Upton, quoted by Craik, iii 92

[177:3] I am indebted for this reference to Mr Hans Claude Hamilton

See also his Preface to Calendar of Irish Papers, 1574-85, p lxxvi

LONDON: GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST JOHN'S SQUARE