Spenser

EDMUND, (spěn's ur,) one of the most eminent of English poets, was B. in London, 1553. After graduating at Cambridge, he produced in 1579 his charming pastoral The Shepherd's Calendar, and dedicated it to his friend Sir Philip Sidney. In 1580, he became secretary to Lord Grey de Will on, Viceroy of Ireland, and received a grant of 3,028 acres of forfeited lands in the co. Cork,where he fixed his residence at Kilcolman Castle, and became the friend and a ociate of Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1598 he served as sheriff of the co., los this castle and estate during the Earl of Tyrone's Rebellion, and D.-all in the same year. S. has been styled the English " Ariosto," and, as the author of The Faerie Queene, will ever hold his place as one of the world's great poets. [s. 845]