то

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

LADY TALBOT

THIS EDITION of SPENSER'S

FAERIE QUEENE

IS DEDICATED

As a Testimony of GRATITUDE

BY

Her LADYSHIP'S

Moft obliged and dutiful Servant

JOHN UPTON,

Englis

1-6-24
3307
2VOLS

PREFACE.

A

S every original work, whether of the poet, philofopher, or hiftorian, reprefents, mirrour-like, the fentiments, ideas and opinions, of the writer; fo the knowledge of what relates to the life, family, and friendships of fuch an author, must in many instances illuftrate his writings; and his writings again reflect the image of the inward man. What wonder therefore, if our curiofity is excited to get fome kind of intimacy with those, whom from their writings we cannot but esteem, and that we liften to every tale told of them with any degree of probability, or even suffer ourselves to be imposed on by invented stories? We have several traditionary tales of very uncertain authority recorded of ancient authors; because commentators and critics, knowing the inquifitive difpofitions of the readers, and oftentimes not furnished with true materials, fet their inventions to work to impose with mere conjectures. But while they are thus inventing, they often forget to attemper their tales with proper time and circumstances; and confequently the ill-fupported story falls to the ground; and if not well invented is foon defpifed. There are various forts of traditionary tales told of Spenfer; fome of which want chronology to fupport them, and others, better fupported, have gain'd credit. The following is one of those ill-timed ftories handed down to us, firft mentioned, I believe, by the editor of his works in Folio, anno 1679. "Mr. Sidney (after"wards Sir Philip) then in full glory at Court was the perfon, "to whom Spenser designed the first discovery of himself; and

❝ to

1

"to that purpose took an occafion to go one morning to Lei-
"cefter-house, furnisht only with a modest confidence, and the
❝IXth canto of the 1ft Book of his Fairy Queen. He waited
"not long e're he found the lucky feafon for an address of the
"paper to his hand; who having read the XXVIIIth ftanza of
"Defpair (with fome figns in his countenance of being much
"affected and furpriz'd with what he had read) turns fuddenly
"to his fervant, and commands him to give the party, that pre-
"fented the verses to him 50 pounds; the fteward ftood fpeech-
"lefs, and unready, till his master, having past over another
“stanza, bad him give him a hundred pounds; the fervant some-
thing ftagger'd at the humour his master was in, mutter'd to
"this purpose, That by the semblance of the man that brought
“the paper, five pounds would be a proper reward; but Mr.
"Sidney having read the following ftanza commands him to
"give him 200 pounds, and that very speedily, leaft advancing
"his reward proportionably to the height of his pleasure in read-
"ing, he should hold himself obliged to give him more than he
"had: Withal he sent an invitation to the poet, to see him at
"those hours, in which he would be moft at leifure. After this
"Mr. Spenfer by degrees fo far gained upon him, that he be-
"came not only his patron, but his friend too; entred him at
"Court, and obtained of the Queen the grant of a penfion to
"him as Poet Laureat: But in this his fate was unkind; for it
"prov'd only a poetical grant; the payment after a very short
"time being stopt by a great councellour, who studied more
"the Queen's profit than her diverfion, and told her 'twas be-
yond example to give fo great a penfion to a ballad-maker."
This story is deficient in point of Chronology, otherwise not ill-
invented, because 'tis plain from Spenfer's Paftorals, firft pub-
lished in the year 1579, and from the notes printed with them
by his friend E. K. (whose name was Kerke, if I guess right)
that he was known to Sir Philip Sidney before the publica-
tion of them. Hear what Hobbinol fays in the Fourth Eclogue.