Excerpt from The Gateway to Spenser: Tales Retold by Emily Underdown From the Faerie Queene of Edmund Spenser Introduction to Sir Philip Sidney, who was not only a brave soldier, but a lover of poetry, and who found a congenial companion in the young poet fresh from Cambridge. The two friends left London for a season and spent a delightful time in Sidney's beautiful Kentish home at Penshurst, writing, reading, and discussing the books which were so dear to both their hearts. Not long after this time Spenser began to write T/ze Faerie Queen, which is his longest and best poem. While he was busily engaged in this great work, he obtained an introduction to Lord Leicester, who, as our history books tell us, was a great favourite of Queen Elizabeth. The poet resided for some time with this nobleman, who was very kind to him, and who enter rained at his house in London all the cleverest and most famous men of the time. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.