ABSTRACT
Edmund Spenser was from the first a student of theories of government. There are in Spenser’s works, in the Mother Hubberds Tale, in Colin Clout, in the Faerie Queene, too many passages that pour contempt on those who loafed about the court, aping the gallantries and affectations of the French and Italians, to make it conceivable that he wished to be of their number. The Veue of the Present State of Ireland is the prose counterpart of the discussion of the Irish problem in the Faerie Queene. With the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and the humbling of Sir Philip’s pride, the party represented by Walsingham, Raleigh, and Drake became insistent that a bolder national course should be followed. After the death of Burghley, his son Robert inherited his power and his policies; madly jealous of Raleigh and Essex, he blocked all plans for progress.
