that Penshurst became for some time his home. There
has already been quoted a line describing Spenser as
'the southern shepheardes boye.' This southern
shepherd is probably Sidney. Sidney, it would seem,
introduced him to his father and to his uncle, the Earl
of Leicester. If we are to take Iren{ae}us' words
literally--and there seems no reason why we should
not--Spenser was for a time at least in Ireland, when
Sidney's father was Lord Deputy. Iren{ae}us, in _A View
of the Present State of Ireland_, certainly represents
Spenser himself; and he speaks of what he _said_ at the
execution of a notable traitor at Limerick, called
Murrogh O'Brien; see p. 636 of this volume. However,
he was certainly back in England and in London in 1579,
residing at the Earl of Leicester's house in the
Strand, where Essex Street now stands. He dates one of
his letters to Harvey, 'Leycester House, this 5
October, 1579.' Perhaps at this time he commenced, or
renewed, or continued his acquaintance with his
distinguished relatives at Althorpe. During the time
he spent now at Penshurst and in London, he mixed
probably with the most brilliant intellectual society
of his time. Sidney was himself endowed with no mean
genius. He, Lord Leicester, Lord Strange, and others,
with whom Spenser was certainly, or in all probability,
acquainted, were all eminent patrons and protectors of
genius.
This passage of Spenser's life is of high
interest, because in the course of it that splendid era
of our literature commonly called the Elizabethan