e each other in Spenser's fairy land. Descents to
the infernal shades, in the manner of Homer and Vergil, alternate with
descriptions of the Palace of Pride in the manner of the _Romaunt of
the Rose_. But Spenser's imagination was a powerful spirit, and held
all these diverse elements in solution. He removed them to an ideal
sphere "apart from place, withholding time," where they seem all alike
equally real, the dateless conceptions of the poet's dream.

The poem was to have been "a continued allegory or dark conceit," in
twelve books, the hero of each book representing one of the twelve
moral virtues. Only six books and the fragment of a seventh were
written. By way of complimenting his patrons and securing contemporary
interest, Spenser undertook to make his allegory a double one, personal
and historical, as well as moral or abstract. Thus Gloriana, the Queen
of Faery, stands not only for Glory but for Elizabeth, {72} to whom the
poem was dedicated. Prince Arthur is Leicester, as well as
Magnificence. Duessa is Falsehood, but also Mary Queen of Scots.
Grantorto is Philip II. of Spain. Sir Artegal is Justice, but likewise
he is Arthur Grey de Wilton. Other characters shadow forth Sir Walter
Raleigh, Sir Philip Sidney, Henry IV. of France, etc.; and such public
events as the revolt of the Spanish Netherlands, the Irish rebellion,
the execution of Mary Stuart, and the rising of the northern Catholic
houses against Elizabeth are told in parable. In this way the poem
reflects the spiritual struggle of the time, the warfare of young
England against Popery and Spain.

The allegory is not always easy to follow. It is kept up most
carefully in the first two books, but it sat rather lightly on
Spenser's conscience, and is not of the essence of the poem. It is an
ornament put on from the outside and detachable at pleasure. The
"Spenserian stanza," in which the _Faery Queene_ was written, was
adapted from the _ottava riwa_ of Ariosto. Spenser changed somewhat
the order of the rimes in the first eight lines and added a ninth line
of twelve syllables, thus affording more space to the copious
luxuriance of his style and the long-drawn sweetness of his verse. It
was his instinct to dilate and elaborate every image to the utmost, and
his similes, especially--each of which usually fills a whole
stanza--have the pictorial amplitude of Homer's. Spenser was, in fact,
a great painter. His poetry {73} is almost purely sen