en Johnson, who had so high an
opinion of Mr. Drummond's abilities, that he took a journey into
Scotland in order to converse with him, and stayed some time at his
house at Hawthronden. After Ben Johnson departed, Mr. Drummond,
careful to retain what past betwixt them, wrote down the heads of
their conversation; which is published amongst his poems and history
of the five James's Kings of Scotland. Amongst other particulars there
is this. "Ben Johnson told me that Spenser's goods were robbed by the
Irish in Desmond's rebellion, his house and a little child of his
burnt, and he and his wife nearly escaped; that he afterwards died in
King-street [4] by absolute want of bread; and that he refused twenty
pieces sent him by the Earl of Essex [5], and gave this answer to the
person who brought them, that he was sure he had no time to spend
them."

Mr. Drummond's works, from whence I have extracted the above, are
printed in a thin quarto, and may be seen at Mr. Wilson's at Plato's
Head in the Strand. I have been thus particular in the quotation, that
no one may suspect such extraordinary circumstances to be advanced
upon imagination. In the inscription on his tomb in Westminster Abbey,
it is said he was born in the year 1510, and died 1596; Cambden says
1598, but in regard to his birth they must both be mistaken, for it is
by no means probable he was born so early as 1510, if we judge by
the remarkable circumstance of his standing for a fellowship in
competition with Mr. Andrews, who was not born according to Hughes
till 1555. Besides, if this account of his birth be true, he must have
been sixty years old when he first published his Shepherd's Calendar,
an age not very proper for love; and in this case it is no wonder,
that the beautiful Rosalind slighted his addresses; and he must have
been seventy years old when he entered into business under lord Grey,
who was created deputy in Ireland 1580: for which reasons we may
fairly conclude, that the inscription is false, either by the error of
the carver, or perhaps it was put on when the monument was repaired.

There are very few particulars of this great poet, and it must be a
mortification to all lovers of the Muses, that no more can be found
concerning the life of one who was the greatest ornament of his
profession. No writer ever found a nearer way to the heart than he,
and his verses have a peculiar happiness of recommending the author to
our friendship as well as raising