of that piece; and possibly
might have some share in the disappointment of his hopes of a fellowship
which occurred in 1576. Quitting college on this occurrence, he retired
for some time into the north of England; but the friendship of Sidney
drew him again from his solitude, and it was at Penshurst that he
composed much of his Shepherd's Calendar, published in 1579 under the
signature of Immerito, and dedicated to this generous patron of his
muse. The earl of Leicester, probably at his nephew's request, sent
Spenser the same year on some commission to France; and in the next he
obtained the post of secretary to lord Grey, and attended him to
Ireland.

Though the child of fancy and the muse, Spenser now showed that business
was not "the contradiction of his fate;" he drew up an excellent
discourse on the state of Ireland, still read and valued, and received
as his reward the Grant of a considerable tract of land out of the
forfeited Desmond estates, and of the castle of Kilcolman, which
henceforth became his residence, and where he had soon the satisfaction
of receiving a first visit from Raleigh. Both pupils of classical
antiquity, both poets and aspirants after immortal fame, they met in
this land of ignorance and barbarity as brothers; and so strong was the
impression made on the mind of Raleigh, that even on becoming a
successful courtier he dismissed not from his memory or his affection
the tuneful shepherd whom he had left behind tending his flocks "under
the foot of Mole, that mountain hoar." He spoke of him to the queen with
all the enthusiasm of kindred genius; obtained for him some favors, or
promises of favors; and on a second visit which he made to Ireland,
probably for the purpose of inspecting the large grants which he had
himself obtained, he dragged his friend from his obscure retreat,
carried him over with him to England, and hastened to initiate him in
those arts of pushing a fortune at court which with himself had
succeeded so prosperously. But bitterly did the disappointed poet learn
to deprecate the mistaken kindness which had taught him to exchange
leisure and independence, though in a solitude so barbarous and remote,
for the servility, the intrigues and the treacheries of this
heart-sickening scene. He put upon lasting record his grief and his
repentance, in a few lines of energetic warning to the inexperienced in
the ways of courts, and hastened back to earn in obscurity his title to
immortal f