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Spenser with Lord Grey in Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Raymond Jenkins
Raymond Jenkins*
Affiliation:
Catawba College
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Extract

In 1923, in an article in Modern Philology on Spenser's handwriting, Mr. H. R. Plomer verified previous identifications of Spenser's secretary hand. He published several photographs and listed sixteen documents, four of which are signed by Spenser. He also noted the distinctive features of Spenser's secretary hand: the sloped writing, the long-drawn-out f and s, the p which looks like an overgrown x, and the individual way of writing the capitals B, I, and E.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , June 1937 , pp. 338 - 353
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1937

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References

page 338 note 1 After a close examination of the letters identified by Mr. Plomer as well as other letters in Spenser's autograph, I came to the conclusion that the combination fo written together as if it were one letter was also peculiar to the poet. One may find among the State Papers for Ireland small letters and an occasional capital which are similar to those considered distinctive of Spenser. But one may absolutely assert that all the distinctive features of Spenser's autograph do not characterize the handwriting of any of the few men who, in addition to Spenser, acted as secretaries to Lord Grey.

page 338 note 2 Most of these papers are letters written in a secretarial capacity for Lord Grey. Grey's letters in the State Papers are in seven or eight different hands. Approximately one fourth, or forty, are in the hand of the deputy himself. Many are written by another secretary of Grey, probably Timothy Reynolds. Some of the letters from Grey's Council are written by the secretaries of Wallop or Fen ton, or by the clerk who succeeded Lodowyck Bryskett, Nathaniel Dillon. Some copies of important documents are inscribed either by other secretaries of Grey or by professional scriveners. Each of the hands in which these papers appear was so distinctive that the separation of those in Spenser's secretary hand occasioned no insuperable difficulty.

Most of the letters which Grey wrote to the Queen are, of course, in Italian hand. Since these letters in Italian hand appear to be in only two different hands, one may infer that only one of Grey's secretaries besides Spenser wrote an Italian hand. Further investigation of Spenser's Italian hand may therefore prove that most of the significant letters of Grey to the Queen are in Spenser's Italian hand.

page 338 note 3 Since this letter is virtually conclusive proof of Spenser's presence at Smerwick, a facsimile appears in this article. The contents of the letter are further noted on p. 339.

page 338 note 4 State Papers for Ireland, vol. 140, no. 37.

page 338 note 5 Cecil Papers, vol. 12, no. 19. This letter was written on December 10, 1581.

page 338 note 6 Written at Kilmainham on July 31, 1582; S.P. 94, 61.

page 338 note 7 Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica (Dublin, 1772), p. 31.

page 338 note 8 Written on January 12 and May 7,1582; S.P. 88, 12 and 92, 10.

page 338 note 9 Ibid., 87, 55.—In this letter, written on December 18, 1581, White declared that Grey's violent government would waste the revenue, depopulate the Pale, weaken the English nobility, and avail the wild Irish.

page 338 note 10 Of these three, Jenyson was most outspoken. On January 15, 1582, he wrote Burghley (ibid., 88, 29) that the Queen was losing £1600 yearly by Grey's late grants, and he enjoined him to limit the deputy's power to give away felons' goods, fines, and forfeitures. Wallop, who loved Grey, was loath to inform against him (ibid., 90, 56), but Chancellor Loftus colleagued with Malbey and Fenton (ibid., 86, 71) in complaining to Burghley that Grey had given some of the traitors' lands to his special favorites.

page 338 note 11 Deeply chagrined that he was not getting his due share of the spoils, Fenton frequently complained to Burghley that Grey gave away traitors' lands and goods too speedily. After the death of Secretary Challoner, Fenton had received his office through Burghley's influence, despite the fact that Grey favored Lodowyck Bryskett. In his letters to Burghley Fenton severely criticizes Grey, but in his letters to Walsingham he carefully avoids all reflections upon the Lord Deputy. For letters which detail Fenton's complaints see ibid., 86, nos. 60, 71, and 72; 87,3; 88,14; 91, 23.

All the letters in the State Papers indicate that Walsingham was a close friend of Grey. In a letter written on July 2, 1582, Grey writes to Walsingham that he knows not why Burghley is so heavy against him. The attitude of Grey and Spenser to Burghley was doubtless similar to that of Leicester, one of outward cordiality but of inward aversion. In this connection it is interesting to note that one of the main bits of evidence by which Mr. Plomer proved the identification of Spenser's secretary hand was a special plea following the address in a letter (ibid., 84, 14) of July 10, 1581, from Grey to Walsingham. On the side of the letter which when folded was opposite the inscription to Walsingham, which is in Spenser's secretary hand, and therefore in the present State Papers upside down appear in Spenser's secretary hand the words: Hast, Post hast for Lyfe with Spenser's signature underneath. The explanation of Mr. Plomer that Spenser here, along with his master, is making a personal plea to his special good friend, Sir Francis Walsingham, appears reasonable.

page 338 note 12 See Carpenter, Reference Guide, pp. 47–48.—As the amounts recorded for these respective dates in the two volumes of the State Papers differ, I have added them.

Both Carpenter and Henley think the item “Necessaries for secretaries and clerks attending the Lo. Deputye & Counsail” refers either to Spenser's expense account or to some other perquisite of office. As Spenser was allowed £15 for “necessaries,” however, one would naturally infer that this item referred to Spenser's salary, and that it amounted to £20 per year.

page 338 note 13 F.Q., iv. 11, 44, 5.

page 338 note 14 LTLS, Lecture on Veue, Univ. of London, Dec., 1931.—Pelham's only son by his second wife was named Peregrine. Possibly Spenser's friendship and admiration for Sir William prompted him to give such an unusual name to his second son.

page 338 note 15 Only the year before the ambitious Baron of Dungannon had put aside Con O'Donell's daughter to marry a daughter of the O'Neill, and thereby had strengthened his claim to be sole lord of Ulster when old Turlogh should die. Even in 1580 the younger, abler, and more dangerous man was favored by all the officials as well as Grey who seems to have trusted him completely. In a letter (S.P., 79, 5) to Walsingham, written on December 5, 1580, Grey declares that during his absence on his journey to Smerwick, Dungannon's conduct alone of all Irish noblemen was worthy of praise.

page 338 note 16 Written on October 8 from Slewlogher; S.P., 77,40.

page 338 note 17 See Pauline Henley's article, LTLS (July 6, 1933), p. 464, and W. L. Renwick's edition of Daphnaida and Other Poems, p. 188. Miss Henley and Mr. Renwick agree in identifying Neæra as Elizabeth Sheffield, wife of Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormonde.

page 338 note 18 F.Q., iv, 11, 43.

page 338 note 19 The importance and content of this letter are more fully discussed in my article, “Spenser at Smerwick,” LTLS (May 11, 1933), p. 331.

Of the letters in Italian hand sent by Grey to the Queen, the long letter in the State Papers which recounts the main incidents of the massacre at Smerwick is particularly important. It is indeed probable that Spenser penned this letter. In this connection it is interesting to note that in his commentary upon his recent edition of Spenser's Veue (p. 285), Professor W. L. Renwick writes regarding Grey's despatch: “written ‘In campe at Smerwicke’ in Spenser's most careful and beautiful Italian hand.”

page 338 note 20 Letter written at Dublin on November 30, 1580; S.P., 78, 70.—Since it was very hazardous for Englishmen to travel alone, only disguised Irishmen were usually employed as messengers.

page 338 note 21 Ibid., 78, 68.

page 338 note 22 The sole bit of evidence is a copy of a letter written by Grey on December 22, 1580. Aside from this letter, certified by Grey as copie of my privat and identified by Mr. Plomer as in Spenser's hand, I have found nothing in Spenser's autograph in the State Papers for the three months, December, January, and February. Of the dozen of Grey's letters which appear in the State Papers during these months, however, five are in the autograph of the deputy. Besides, the fact that Spenser was paid £52 4s 10d on March 28,1581 (Carpenter, Ref. Guide, p. 47) as rewards for messengers would warrant the inference that a large part of his duties during this period involved the payment of spies and messengers, and the transmission of official despatches.

page 338 note 23 S.P., 79, 5 and 80,4.

page 338 note 24 Ibid., 79, 31.

page 338 note 25 Ibid., 79,26.

page 338 note 26 Ibid., 79,24.

page 338 note 27 In a letter to Walsingham, written on March 2, 1581, Lodowyck Bryskett says he found Grey on the borders of Connaught.

page 338 note 28 The following letters in the State Papers are addressed by Spenser: 81, 1; 81, 4; 81, 27; 81, 42; 82, 6; 82, 16; 83, 6. Two letters, dated April 6, and April 22, among the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House are also addressed by Spenser: 11, 91 and 11, 94. The four following documents bear Spenser's Copia Vera with his customary signature underneath in his Italian hand: 81, 20; 81, 36 II; 83, 6 1; 83, 6 II. The three following documents are copies in Spenser's secretary hand of papers which Grey considered important: 81, IS; 81, 36 I; and 81, 39. The second of these is a copy of a letter which the Earl of Ormonde wrote Grey from Cork on March 13. At the end appears, undoubtedly in Spenser's Italian hand, the following: “Copie of my L of Ormondes / 1res to the L Deputie / 13 March. 1580 / Copia Vera / Edm Spser.”

Another of the above letters in the State Papers (83, 6I) is also a copy in another hand of a letter written by Ormonde at Cork on April 29. Though this letter bears Spenser's Copia Vera and signature, it is decidedly not an indication that Spenser was at Cork on April 29, 1581. This is the mistaken implication of Carpenter in his chronological outline of Spenser's life. Cf. Ref. Guide, p. 16.

Since these letters indicate a close association with Grey, they appear to preclude the possibility that Spenser functioned as Clerk or Register of the Faculties in Chancery immediately after his appointment on March 22, 1581. As there is no extant evidence that Spenser performed the duties of this office while he was secretary to Grey, we may assume that he employed a deputy. Roland Cowyck, the other Clerk of the Faculties, was probably Spenser's substitute. In this connection it is interesting to note that on February 22, 1582, Waterhouse requested Walsingham (S.P., 89, 53) to send a clerk of experience to execute the office of faculties. Possibly the aged Cowyck, who was probably trying to do the work of two, was finding his duties too onerous.

page 338 note 29 See S.P., 81, particularly nos. 25, 36, and 42.

page 338 note 30 Ibid., 83, 45.—In the same volume another of Grey's letters, written from Wexford on June 9 and numbered 43, is addressed by Spenser. Number 47, a letter from Grey to Walsingham in behalf of a soldier and written at Wexford on June 10, is in Spenser's secretary hand.

page 338 note 31 F. Q., ii, 9, 13–15.

page 338 note 32 Probably one of the reasons why Spenser disposed of the property of Enniscorthy was that it was in constant danger of a raid by Feagh McHugh. See S.P. 84, 16 IV.

page 338 note 33 S.P., 84, 3 and 12.

page 338 note 34 Ibid., 84, 13 and 14, and 28. On the back of the second of these letters, number 14, appears the prime evidence by which Mr. Plomer established the authenticity of Spenser's secretary hand.

page 338 note 35 Lodowyck Bryskett, Spenser's esteemed friend, was one of the commissioners who were sent over the Blackwater to make final terms with Turlogh.

page 338 note 36 F. Q., iv, 11, 41.

page 338 note 37 After the return from northern Ulster two of Grey's letters were addressed by Spenser on August 10 and 12 respectively: S.P., 85, 6 and 13. In the first of these letters Grey mentions his intended journey to the mountains against the rebel Baltinglas.

page 338 note 38 Two letters of Grey among the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House (11, 113, and 114), dated August 26 and 30 respectively, are addressed by Spenser. Other letters, which are apparently addressed by Spenser, in the State Papers (85, 36, and 37) were written on September 11 and 12, just before he and the deputy departed on the expedition to Munster.

page 338 note 39 Letter to Walsingham on August 28; S.P., 85,27.

page 338 note 40 C.P., 11, 114, written on August 30,1581 and referred to in note 38. In this same letter Grey also expresses his distrust of Turlogh: “considering as well the Unsteadiness of the Irish of these Parts (whom no Pledges do sufficiently tye) as specially the Looseness of Tirlough Lennoughe, whose Word only, or Oath, is all the Band and Assurance I have upon him for this late Peace; which Oath is in his religion to be dispensed withall by any of his Romish Priests, as soon as he spieth an opportunity to break for advantage.” This and the above quotation are taken from Wm. Murdin, State Papers relating to the Reign of Elizabeth, from 1571–96, p. 357, and are not copied verbatim from the original letter.

page 338 note 41 S.P., 81, 36 and 83, 6.

page 338 note 42 Grey's letter in the State Papers (85, 37), written at Dublin on September 12, is his last communication before his departure for Munster.

page 338 note 43 Ibid., 86, 14 iv. This letter, written at Waterford on September 23 by Edmond Eltoftes to Wallop, intimates that the writer's meeting of the Lord Deputy at Kilkenny prevented his repair to Dublin.

page 338 note 44 Ibid., 86, 51. This letter of November 6 was written by Grey on his return to Dublin and was addressed by Spenser. That the poet accompanied Grey's army is further attested by the fact that on October 19,1581, Wallop records the payment to Colonel John Zouche, whom Grey appointed his governor-general of Munster, the sum of £32 on a bill due to Edmund Spenser. Apparently Spenser at some time during Grey's journey through Munster had forwarded this amount to Zouche. See Carpenter, Ref. Guide, p. 34.

page 338 note 45 See M. M. Gray, “The Influence of Spenser's Irish Experiences on the Faerie Queene,” RES (1930).

page 338 note 46 S.P., 91, 41.

page 338 note 47 Ibid., 92, 103.

page 338 note 48 Ibid., 89, 43.

page 338 note 49 Ibid., 94, 98.

page 338 note 50 In the State Papers the following letters with addresses appear in Spenser's secretary hand: 87,64; 88,2 and 12; 89,30 and 35; 90, nos. 1, 48, and 52; 91, nos. 11,38, 52, and 53; 92, nos. 9, 10, 30, 46, and 85; 93, 64; 94, nos. 28, 46, 47, and 61. All of these letters were written at Dublin except 91, 11 which is written on April 4 at Trim and 94,46 and 61 which are written at Kilmainham, the sequestered Priory of the Hospitallers, which for a short time was occupied by the Lord Deputy instead of Dublin Castle.

The following are copies of documents which Grey thought important: 89, 18; 90, 31; 92, 11 i; 93, 64 1.

Of these documents and letters Mr. Plomer identified 89, 18 and in 94 nos. 28, 46, 47, and 61. A Note of lres & Copies sent to Walsingham, 91, 26, is the only MS which is neither letter nor copy; it also was identified by Mr. Plomer.

In addition to these letters in the Public Record Office two letters among the Cecil Papers at Hatfield House, dated November 28 and December 10 respectively, are written and addressed in Spenser's secretary hand.

The following letters, written from Dublin Castle, are addressed by Spenser: 86, 51 and 53; 87,32; 88, nos. 9,15, and 40; 89, 11 and 55; 91,17 and 22; 92, nos. 26,52, and 86; 93, 34 and 46; 94, 15 and 62.

Spenser's Copia Vera together with his customary signature in Italian hand appears on 93, 64 i and 94,107. Of these two documents the first is in Spenser's secretary hand but the second is not.

page 338 note 51 See S.P., 86, nos. 53, 69, 70, 71, 79,80, and 87; 87, 1 and 38.

page 338 note 52 Ibid., 88,40, iii. Also Cf. Carpenter, Ref. Guide, p. 31.—During the last eight months of Grey's residence at Dublin the tide of vituperation against him for his lavish generosity to his favorites rose steadily. Almost all of his associates, who apparently thought they were not getting their due share, complained to Burghley and the Queen. But some of these rewards of Grey were unquestionably of doubtful value. For instance, Mr. F. F. Covington (M.P., 22, 63–66) shows that the grant of the Newland was probably reduced to “tantalizing nothingness.” In this connection one is impelled to quote from a letter of John Dyve, another of Grey's trusted servants, to Walsingham (S.P., 94, 77). Dyve complained that Grey's grant of David Sutton's goods was “like the Welshman's fleece that shore the hog: When he came to the gatheringe of it together, there was nothing but great trouble, much crye, and little wolle.”

In a copy in Spenser's secretary hand of one of Grey's letters (92, 11, i) to the Queen, written on May 9, 1582, Grey gives the reasons for his grant of custodiams to Sir Robert Dillon, Captain Thomas Norris, and Lodowyck Bryskett. He explains: “And ye onely aduantage yt any man can hope of by hauing a custodiam is yt being in possession of ye land he may think himself one step ye nearer of yor Maty fauor ether in ye sale lease or guift thereof.”

page 338 note 53 F. Q., v, 2, 19. The practice of bringing back the heads of rebels was, of course, common. In one of his letters Lodowyck Bryskett writes: “the Capteins … not onely brought the prisoners with them but also the hed of William Eustace another brother of the said Baltinglas, and two other heds of notable villeins his followers.” See Plomer and Cross, The Life and Correspondence of Lodowyck Bryskett, p. 24.

page 338 note 54 A copy of John Nugent's confession (S.P., 89,18), a long document in Spenser's secretary hand and previously identified by Mr. Plomer, contains a rather intimate account of William Nugent's acts and of John Nugent's relations with the principal informer, John Cusack.

Instead of giving himself up to the government as his brother Christopher, Baron Delvin, had done, William Nugent eluded capture and took refuge with Turlogh Lynach O'Neill, who refused to surrender him. He then joined with the O'Connors and the Kavanaghs to make occasional raids upon the Pale. While he was in hiding, his niece, the wife of Nicholas Nugent, the Chief Justice, got in touch with him in the hope that he would consent to send his son to the government as pledge and thereby secure the liberation of his wife, who was imprisoned in Dublin Castle. With the assistance of Turlogh, however, William Nugent escaped to Scotland in January, 1582, leaving the Chief Justice and his wife, who according to the official view had implicated themselves to relieve the rebel's family, to shift for themselves. Indeed, Nicholas Nugent bore the full brunt of the government's spleen for its failure to capture the real offender. His only guilt apparently consisted in the knowledge that his wife had conferred with his uncle, William Nugent, and had given him £4 to relieve him in his extremity.

page 338 note 55 The fact that Grey, shortly after the execution, granted a custodiam of Nicholas Nugent's lands to Sir Robert Dillon may account for the rumor. See S.P. 92, 11, i, a copy of Grey's letter in Spenser's secretary hand in which the deputy answers the many complaints of Elizabeth.

page 338 note 56 From Grey'sletter (ibid., 92, 11), referring to Nicolas Nugent's confession to Sentleger, Norris, and Bryskett, we may assume that these three friends of Spenser witnessed the execution.

page 338 note 57 See W. L. Renwick's edition, pp. 138–139.

page 338 note 58 Grey's letter to Walsingham (S.P. 92, 46), written on May 16 by Spenser, emphasizes the need of a speedy revenge upon the O'Connors. In a letter (Ibid., 92, 10), written on May 7 and also in Spenser's secretary hand, Grey justified Captain Macworth who had been accused of entrapping and betraying the Irish at a banquet. He writes: “Humphrey Mackworth since my gouernment hath carried himself so well & wtout complaint & donne such seruice besides, as certenly in right might haue expected commendation & reward, rather then a mean rebuke.”

page 338 note 59 Ibid., 92, 98.

page 338 note 60 Two of Grey's letters (ibid., 93,12 and 13) were written on June 7 at Phillipstown and two (93, 24 and 25) were written on June 16 at Monastervan.

page 338 note 61 Ibid., 94, 107.

page 338 note 62 Ibid., 94, 106.

page 338 note 63 With the exception of Connaught.

page 338 note 64 Though a Catholic, Stanley was at this time unquestionably loyal. A letter of Grey to Walsingham (S.P., 85, 36), addressed by Spenser and referring to the sufficiency of the bearer, Sir William Stanley, impels us to believe that Spenser came in frequent contact with him.