a beautiful memorial of this friendship,
which took its rise from a similarity of taste in the polite arts, and
which he agreeably describes with a softness and delicacy peculiar to
him. Sir Walter afterwards promoted him in Queen Elizabeth's esteem,
thro' whose recommendation she read his writings. He now fell in love
a second time with a merchant's daughter, in which, says Mrs. Cooper,
author of the muses library, he was more successful than in his first
amour. He wrote upon this occasion a beautiful epithalamium, with
which he presented the lady on the bridal-day, and has consigned that
day, and her, to immortality. In this pleasant easy situation our
excellent poet finished the celebrated poem of The Fairy Queen, which
was begun and continued at different intervals of time, and of which
he at first published only the three first books; to these were added
three more in a following edition, but the six last books (excepting
the two canto's of mutability) were unfortunately lost by his servant
whom he had in haste sent before him into England; for tho' he passed
his life for some time very serenely here, yet a train of misfortunes
still pursued him, and in the rebellion of the Earl of Desmond he was
plundered and deprived of his estate. This distress forced him to
return to England, where for want of his noble patron Sir Philip
Sidney, he was plunged into new calamities, as that gallant Hero died
of the wounds he received at Zutphen. It is said by Mr. Hughes, that
Spenser survived his patron about twelve years, and died the same year
with his powerful enemy the Lord Burleigh, 1598. He was buried, says
he, in Westminster-Abbey, near the famous Geoffery Chaucer, as he had
desired; his obsequies were attended by the poets of that time, and
others, who paid the last honours to his memory. Several copies of
verses were thrown after him into his grave, and his monument was
erected at the charge of the famous Robert Devereux, the unfortunate
Earl of Essex. This is the account given by his editor, of the death
of Spenser, but there is some reason to believe that he spoke only
upon imagination, as he has produced no authority to support his
opinion, especially as I find in a book of great reputation, another
opinion, delivered upon probable grounds. The ingenious Mr.
Drummond of Hawthronden, a noble wit of Scotland, had an intimate
correspondence with all the genius's of his time who resided at
London, particularly the famous B