Dear Prof. Hamilton et al,

	All fascinating, but since you've tempted us, could you by any
chance give us Helen Shire's reference (and/or a reference to Shire's
work)?  I assume she's referring to a particular "delegation" of
Protestants.  Who?  When?

	Given Spenser's animosity towards the Catholic Old English, who
headquartered themselves in the Pale, mightn't that complicate our reading
of the idealized Irena as a representative of the Pale?  Or is she an ideal
of what COULD be, if only the Old English in the Pale were finally
disenfranchised by the Protestants (something Lord Deputy Grey helped along
in the early 1580's; is the Lord Deputy above whose head Spenser is
appealing to Mercilla, therefore, the later John Perrot, 1584-88, or
corrupt Fitzwilliam?)  Cork in the Epithalamion is a "peaceful" place; but
is the Pale, and Dublin, in other texts by Spenser?  Or rather, should we
stick to the old idea of Irena as a peaceful Ireland, which better
corresponds to Spenser's hope of a completely pacified island, not only a
small segment of it?

	Does Mercilla's seat represent London or Dublin Castle?  Both?

	 Note also the "gnats on the Bog of Allen" simile in the Malengin
siege-of-Temperance episode: according to Judson's *Life*, this could be an
autobiographical reference to Spenser's time (1582-4) at Kilcullen in Co.
Kildare, on the very border (S-W corner) of the Pale, also on the eastern
border of the Bog of Allen.  If this reflects the reality of Sp's life at
that moment, then while composing Book II, at least, Spenser saw the Pale
area as under attack by the gnat-like Irish, the Kavanaghs and O'Byrnes of
that area [note, in this regard, Feach MacHugh O'Byrne's attack on Grey at
Glenmalure, his stronghold very near Dublin.  Feach was still harassing the
English to a significant extent in 1596.].  This corresponds in turn to the
besieged Irena of Book V: to swat the gnats is to help pacify the borders
of the Pale against bordragings, etc., which continued in the 1590's.  But
the Pale is hardly a peaceful place at the moment.

	The real Pale is a violent place thanks to the native Irish, at
least on its borders; the majority of its population are Catholic Old
English, increasingly distrusted; Irena is a reflection of an earlier or
later time, an idealized peaceful Pale to be fought for?  How "simple" is
that reference?

			Best, Thomas Herron


>
>My favourite example of the usefulness of email is the identification of
>Spenser's Irena: just who is she? The Irish people gathering at Mercilla's
>court asking to be slaughtered? The spirit of Ireland? Helen Shire has said
>that the English Pale in Ireland was known as the land of peace. I won't
>give names without permission but what I did was email a Spenser critic in
>Wales; he didn't know but suggested a critic in Scotland; he didn't know
>but suggested a critic in Ireland who told me that yes, Helen was right: in
>the sixteenth century the English Pale was known as the land of Peace. So
>the reference becomes simple: over the head of Elizabeth's governor in
>Ireland a delegation from the English Pale asked her to intervene. All of
>this exchange with thanks sent to each, but alas not to Helen Shire, within
>24 hours. By snailmail the exchange would have taken many months.
>			A.C. Hamilton
>

>A.C.Hamilton
>[log in to unmask]
>Cappon Professor Emeritus
>Queen's University, Canada
>Phone & Fax: 613- 544-6759





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