ue bounti-hed,
Till to her due perfection she was ripened.

It is evident how high and sacred a subject was present to the poet's
mind in composing this stanza; and any person who is well read in the
Bible, with a clue like this may satisfy himself that all Spenser's
writings are replete with similar tacit allusions to the language and
the doctrines of sacred writ; allusions breathed, if we may so speak,
rather than uttered, and much fitter to be silently considered, than
to be dragged forward for quotation or minute criticism. Of course,
the more numerous and natural such allusions are, the more entirely
are we justified in the denomination we have ventured to bestow on
their author, of a truly 'sacred' poet.

It may be felt, as some derogation from this high character, what he
has himself avowed--that much of his allegory has a turn designedly
given it in honour of Queen Elizabeth; a turn which will be called
courtly or adulatory according to the humour of the critic. But, in
the first place, such was the custom of the times; it was adopted even
in sermons by men whose sincerity it would be almost sacrilege to
question. Then, the merits of Queen Elizabeth in respect of the
Protestant cause were of that dazzling order, which might excuse a
little poetical exuberance in her praise. And, what is very deserving
of consideration, it is certain that the most gentle and generous
spirits are commonly found laying themselves open to this charge of
excessive compliment in addressing princes and patrons. Witness the
high style adopted by the venerable Hooker, in speaking of this very
Queen Elizabeth: 'Whose sacred power, matched with incomparable
goodness of nature, hath hitherto been God's most happy instrument, by
him miraculously kept for works of so miraculous preservation and
safety unto others,' &c. Another instance of the same kind may be seen
in Jeremy Taylor's dedication of his _Worthy Communicant_ to the
Princess of Orange. Nor is it any wonder it should be so, since such
men feel most ardently the blessing and benefit as well as the
difficulty of whatever is right in persons of such exalted station;
and are also most strongly tempted to bear their testimony against the
illiberal and envious censures of the vulgar. All these things, duly
weighed, may seem to leave little, if anything, in the panegyrical
strains of this greatest of laureates, to be excused by the common
infirmity of human nature; little to detract