chiefe hope then rested in him) have sought to revive
them by upbraiding me; for that I have not shewed anie
thankefull remembrance towards him or any of them; but
suffer their names to sleepe in silence and
forgetfulnesse. Whome chieflie to satisfie, or els to
avoide that fowle blot of unthankefulnesse, I have
conceived this small Poeme, intituled by a generall
name of the _Worlds Ruines_: yet speciallie intended to
the renowming of that noble race from which both you
and he sprong, and to the eternizing of some of the
chiefe of them late deceased.' This poem is written in
a tone that had been extremely frequent during
Spenser's youth. Its text is that ancient one 'Vanity
of Vanities; all is Vanity'--a very obvious text in all
ages, but perhaps especially so, as has been hinted, in
the sixteenth century, and one very frequently adopted
at that time. This text is treated in a manner
characteristic of the age. It is exemplified by a
series of visions. The poet represents himself as
seeing at Verulam an apparition of a woman weeping over
the decay of that ancient town. This woman stands for
the town itself. Of its whilome glories, she says,
after a vain recounting of them,

They all are gone and with them is gone,
Ne ought to me remaines, but to lament
My long decay.

No one, she continues, weeps with her, no one remembers
her,