ABSTRACT
William Winstanley (1628?-90?) is best known simply as a compiler, The 1660 edition of England's Worthies contains no Life of Spenser (though he is mentioned in the Lives both of Chaucer and Sidney), because Winstanley was unable to find informants who could render a 'full and happy account' of the poet. By 1684 he seems to have overcome his diffidence, without apparently finding any new informants or information.
