Elizabeth's cousin and Counsellor. Anne, first, Lady
Compton, afterwards married Thomas Sackville, the son of the poet, Lord
Buckhurst, and then Earl of Dorset. Alice, the youngest, whose first
husband, Lord Strange, became Earl of Derby, after his death married
Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper, Baron Ellesmere, and then Viscount
Brackley. These three sisters are celebrated by him in a gallery of the
noble ladies of the Court,[6:6] under poetical names--"Phyllis, the
flower of rare perfection," "Charillis, the pride and primrose of the
rest," and "Sweet Amaryllis, the youngest but the highest in degree."
Alice, Lady Strange, Lady Derby, Lady Ellesmere and Brackley, and then
again Dowager Lady Derby, the "Sweet Amaryllis" of the poet, had the
rare fortune to be a personal link between Spenser and Milton. She was
among the last whom Spenser honoured with his homage: and she was the
first whom Milton honoured; for he composed his Arcades to be acted
before her by her grandchildren, and the _Masque of Comus_ for her
son-in-law, Lord Bridgewater, and his daughter, another Lady Alice. With
these illustrious sisters Spenser claimed kindred. To each of these he
dedicated one of his minor poems; to Lady Strange, the _Tears of the
Muses_; to Lady Compton, the Apologue of the Fox and the Ape, _Mother
Hubberd's Tale_; to Lady Carey, the Fable of the Butterfly and the
Spider, _Muiopotmos_. And in each dedication he assumed on their part
the recognition of his claim.

The sisters three,
The honour of the noble family,
Of which I meanest boast myself to be.

Whatever his degree of relationship to them, he could hardly even in the
days of his fame have ventured thus publicly to challenge it, unless
there had been some acknowledged ground for it. There are obscure
indications, which antiquarian diligence may perhaps make clear, which
point to East Lancashire as the home of the particular family of
Spensers to which Edmund Spenser's father belonged. Probably he was,
however, in humble circumstances.

Edmund Spenser was a Londoner by education as well as birth. A recent
discovery by Mr. R. B. Knowles, further illustrated by Dr. Grosart,[7:7]
has made us acquainted with Spenser's school. He was a pupil, probably
one of the earliest ones, of the grammar school, then recently (1560)
established by the Merchant Taylors' Company, under a famous teacher,
Dr. Mulcaster. Among the manuscripts at Townley Hall are preser