Buried at the expense of the Earl of Essex, Ann Countess of Dorset bore the expense of his monument in Westminster Abbey, in gratitude for his noble championship of woman.

Upon that are inscribed these words: _Anglorum poetarum nostri seculi facile princeps_--truer words, great as is the praise, than are usually found in monumental inscriptions.
Whatever our estimate of Spenser, he must be regarded as the truest literary exponent and representative of the age of Elizabeth, almost as much her biographer as Miss Strickland, and her historian as Hume: indeed, neither biographer nor historian could venture to draw the lineaments of her character without having recourse to Spenser and his literary contemporaries.
OTHER WRITERS OF THE AGE OF SPENSER.
_Richard Hooker_, 1553-1598: educated at Oxford, he became Master of the Temple in London, a post which he left with pleasure to take a country parish.

He wrote a famous work, entitled "A Treatise on the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity," which is remarkable for its profound learning, powerful logic, and eloquence of style.

In it he defends the position of the Church of England, against Popery on the one hand and Calvinism on the other.
_Robert Burton_, 1576-1639: author of "The Anatomy of Melancholie," an amusing and instructive medley of quotations and classical anecdotes, showing a profound erudition.

In this all the causes and effects of melancholy are set forth with varied illustrations.