same.' His rule had been marked by some extreme,
perhaps necessary, severities, and was probably
somewhat curtly concluded on account of loud complaints
made against him on this score. Spenser would seem to
have admired and applauded him, both as a ruler and as
a patron and friend. He mentions him with much respect
in his _View of the Present State of Ireland_. One of
the sonnets prefixed to the _Faerie Queene_ is
addressed 'to the most renowmed and valiant lord the
lord Grey of Wilton,' and speaks of him with profound
gratitude:--

Most noble lord the pillor of my life,
And patrone of my Muses pupillage,
Through whose large bountie poured on me rife,
In the first season of my feeble age,
I now doe live, bound yours by vassalage:
Sith nothing ever may redeeme, nor reave
Out of your endlesse debt so sure a gage,
Vouchsafe in worth this small guift to receave,
Which in your noble hands for pledge I leave,
Of all the rest, that I am tyde t' account.

Lord Grey died in 1593. Spenser may have renewed his
friendship with him in 1589, when, as we shall see, he
visited England. For the present their connection was
broken. It may be considered as fairly certain that
when his lordship returned to England in 1582, Spenser
did not return with him, but abode still in Ireland.
There is, indeed, a 'Maister Spenser' mentioned in