SPENSER AND THE FAERY QUEEN. BY MRS. C. M. KIRKLAND. NEW EDITION, COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME. NEW YORK: GEORGE P. PUTNAM, 155 BROADWAY. 1850. ENTERED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. It has become so much the practice to decry everything in the shape of "Selections," "Beauties," and "Extracts" from the standard authors, that it requires no small degree of courage to offer the public a work which shall come under either of the proscribed classes. But, with all proper deference for the high authorities who contemn such superficial acquaintance with the best writers, we might yet ask whether something-provided it be goodbe not better than nothing? Whether it be indeed wise to renounce all acquaintance with valuable works, because circumstances forbid our studying them thoroughly? Those who speak with such lofty contempt of any but complete acquaintance with their favorites, are (or should be) persons of elegant acquirements, abundant leisure and ample libraries. There are many people in the world, both young and old, who possess none of these advantages; and we think such will not be wise to allow themselves to be persuaded by their more fortunate advisers, to accept of nothing less than the whole. Scarcely more foolish would be the hungry man who should be induced to refuse a lunch by his neighbor who had already had an excellent dinner. £05525 Various inducements prompted the present attempt to render accessible to American readers a part of the works of a great poet, whose splendid reputation, refined elegance, and high moral tone, entitle him to be studied by all who would become acquainted with English literature. There was reason fo believe that to many intelligent persons Spenser was entirely unknown, except by name; and that the antique spelling of the Faëry Queen had proved an insuperable bar to such as had been enterprising enough to attempt exploring its mazes. These reasons, together with a general desire to instil a genuine love for the best poetry, which should induce the young to store their fresh memories with it, as a resource against the tedium which may be the portion of advanced age or of declining health, suggested the idea of selections from the Faëry Queen. These have been made with especial reference both to subject matter and to poetical merit. Much of the allegory is too subtle and obscure to be made intelligible to the general reader. Some branches of the subject, with the mode in which they are necessarily treated, are better suited to the times of Elizabeth than to our own day. A wide choice was still left; and I have endeavored to avail myself of the poet's abundance, as far as my own taste and the most careful examination enabled me to do so. The first Book, considered by all critics to be the cream of the work, is given nearly entire, and extracts from the others will follow if the present attempt should be successful. The spelling has been modernized, wherever the rhythm or the rhyme was not materially injured by the change. Where this would have been the case, a few foot-notes have been added. No person who is sufficiently cultivated to |