ve anticipated, we set the glorious names
of Spenser and of Milton. The claim of Spenser to be considered as a
sacred poet does by no means rest upon his hymns alone: although even
those would be enough alone to embalm and consecrate the whole volume
which contains them; as a splinter of the true cross is supposed by
Catholic sailors to ensure the safety of the vessel. But whoever will
attentively consider the _Faerie Queene_ itself, will find that it is,
almost throughout, such as might have been expected from the author of
those truly sacred hymns. It is a continual, deliberate endeavour to
enlist the restless intellect and chivalrous feeling of an inquiring
and romantic age, on the side of goodness and faith, of purity and
justice.

This position is to be made good, not solely or perhaps chiefly, yet
with no small force, from the allegorical structure of the poem. Most
of us, perhaps, are rather disposed to undervalue this contrivance;
and even among the genuine admirers of Spenser, there are not a few
who on purpose leave it out of their thoughts; finding, as they say,
that it only embarrasses their enjoyment of the poetry. This is
certainly far from reasonable: it is a relic of childish feeling, and
mere love of amusement, which ill becomes any one who is old enough to
appreciate the real beauties of Spenser. Yet it is so natural, so
obviously to be expected, that we must suppose a scholar and
philosopher (for such Spenser was, as well as a poet) to have been
aware of it, and to have made up his mind to it, with all its
disadvantages, for some strong reason or other. And what reason so
likely as the hope of being seriously useful, both to himself and his
readers?

To _himself_, because the constant recurrence to his allegory would
serve as a check upon a fancy otherwise too luxuriant, and would
prevent him from indulging in such liberties as the Italian poets, in
other respects his worthy masters, were too apt to take. The
consequence is, that even in his freest passages, and those which one
would most wish unwritten, Spenser is by no means a _seductive_ poet.
Vice in him, however truly described, is always made contemptible or
odious. The same may be said of Milton and Shakespeare; but Milton was
of a cast of mind originally austere and rigorous. He looked on vice
as a judge; Shakespeare, as a satirist. Spenser was far more indulgent
than either, and acted therefore the more wisely in setting himself a
rule, wh