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SPE  school of Canterbury, and afterwards at Corpus Christi college, Cambridge—entering as a scholar, taking the degree of A.M. in 1652, and afterwards becoming a fellow in 1655. In 1667 he was elected master of his college, shortly after he became a prebendary of Ely and archdeacon of Sudbury. In 1677 he was promoted to the deanery of Ely, and he died in his college, 27th May, 1695. His great work is his "De legibus Hebræorum ritualium et earum rationibus," 2 vols. fol., London, 1685. Several editions have been published of this very learned and ponderous work. He had previously published a Latin dissertation on Urim and Thummim. These works, though not on all points satisfactory, and taking too low a view of the Hebrew ceremonial in its spiritual and typical aspects, are yet the storehouse whence succeeding writers have drawn the most of their materials. Dr. Spencer bequeathed to his college an estate of the value of £4000.—J. E.  SPENER,, an eminent theologian of the Lutheran church, was born in 1635 at Rappoltsweiler, in Upper Alsatia, where his father held office in the service of the Graf Rappoltstein, and was educated chiefly in the university of Strasburg, where Dannhauer imbued him with the principles of the strictest Lutheran orthodoxy. He afterwards studied at Basle, where he enjoyed the instructions of the younger Buxtorf, and at Geneva, where he was very favourably impressed with the efficiency of the Calvinistic government and discipline of the church, and was inspired with more liberal and fraternal sentiments towards the reformed church than were then usual in the Lutheran section of continental protestantism. After some stay in Stuttgart and Tübingen in charge of the young Graf Rappoltstein, he returned to Strasburg in 1663, where he was appointed a preacher without pastoral charge, and delivered lectures in history and philosophy in the university. In 1666 he removed to Frankfort-on-the-Maine, where he laboured for twenty years as senior pastor with exemplary zeal and devotedness, and with such remarkable success in reviving the spirit of evangelical piety which during the long disorders of the Thirty Years' war had fallen into deep decay, that he became universally known through Germany as one of the best men and ministers of the age. It was while here that he published in 1675 his "Pia Desideria"—a tract which though small in bulk has been characterized by Tholuck as one of the most influential productions of the ecclesiastical literature of that whole century. It first appeared as a preface to an edition of Arndt's Postils, then separately, and in 1678 in a Latin translation. Beginning with Jeremiah's pathetic exclamation—"O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears," it pointed out with deep earnestness of feeling the low condition of religion in the "true evangelical church," and suggested a series of excellent remedies for the evils complained of. One of the most important of these remedies was the co-operation of the laity in the work of the church—a hint which he had derived from what he had seen at Geneva. He urged that all christian believers alike, laymen as well as clerics, should realize their spiritual priesthood by union in prayer, and by efforts for the edification of others. Hence the rise of what were called "collegia pietatis," or private meetings for bible-reading and prayer, which Spener did his utmost to encourage and regulate, but which gave great offence to the divines of the old school, who took occasion, from the designation which he had given them, to brand all who frequented such assemblies with the name of "pietists." In 1686 he removed to Dresden upon the invitation of the Elector George III. of Saxony, to fill the honourable post of chief court preacher and member of the high consistory; but the faithfulness with which he executed his duty as the elector's confessor (in the Lutheran sense of that term), gave offence at last to that prince, and it was a great relief to both parties when he received, in 1691, a call to Berlin. Here he remained till his death, in 1705, in the offices of provost of the church of St. Nicholas, and consistorial councillor. His congregation in Berlin was much more numerous than it had been in Dresden, and his influence with the government in ecclesiastical affairs became all-predominant. This influence he used to procure numerous appointments for men of his own spirit in the churches and schools of the electorate, and his hand was especially conspicuous in the formation of the first theological faculty of the now university of Halle. The famous professors Breithaupt, Franck, Anton, Lange, and Freylinghausen were all men of kindred spirit to his own, and Halle continued for the next half century to be the chief seat and centre of the "pietistic school." Long before his death the religious movement of which he had been the chief promoter had spread to all parts of protestant Germany; and though attended in many cases with some extravagances, and sometimes degenerating into separatistic tendencies and effects, it was, on the whole, one of the most salutary revivals of spiritual life which ever blessed the church of Luther and Melancthon. In the judgment of Tholuck, who has very laboriously investigated the whole religious history of that age, Spener was of all men who ever rose to eminence in the Lutheran church the most pure and unblemished in personal excellence of character, and of all God's instruments in the seventeenth century the most signally blest. Though chiefly distinguished for practical activity, he was not inferior in theological culture to any divine of his age, and his publications amounted to more than a hundred; few of which, however, have now more than a historical interest.—P. L.  SPENSER,, the great master of English romantic poetry, was born in 1552 in London; and "East Smithfield by the Tower" is assigned by Oldys as the particular locality. That he was of gentle blood seems certain, and come of "an house of ancient fame," as he declares himself; but whether that house was the Spensers of Northumberland or those of Lancashire is not as certain. Of his parentage nothing is known, save that his mother's name was Elizabeth. Neither have we any record of his schoolboy days, but Mr. Collier conjectures, on very insufficient evidence, that they were spent in Warwickshire. He entered in Pembroke hall, Cambridge, May 20, 1569, as a sizar, which would indicate that the family was not affluent. He does not seem to have distinguished himself in his college, as no memorials have been found there of him, and we only know that he took his bachelor's degree, January 16, 1573, and his master's, June 26, 1576. At Cambridge he became intimate with Gabriel Harvey, a fellow of his own hall, a man of some learning, and also with a brother sizar, Edward Kirke, in all probability the E. K. who addressed the epistle to Harvey, introductory of "The Shepheard's Calendar." Leaving Cambridge in 1576, Spenser appears to have passed the two following years in the north of England, where he fell in love with the "Rosalind" whom he celebrates on various occasions. Whether she was "a lowly maiden" or "a gentlewoman of no mean house," whether her name was Rose Lynde, or Eliza Horden, or Rose Daniel, it is in vain to speculate; but if we believe the poet, she must have had great charms. Nevertheless she abandoned the poet for a more favoured swain. Returning to London in 1578, his friend Harvey introduced him to Mr. (afterwards Sir Philip) Sidney. There was much in common in the nature of the two young men to attract each to the other. Sidney made Spenser known to the earl of Leicester, Sir Philip's uncle, who appears to have employed the poet as his secretary. It was in the year 1579 that Spenser's poem, "The Shepheard's Calendar," was first published under the pseudonym of "Immerito," and dedicated to Sidney, not indeed by name, and it is remarkable that the work was even by some attributed to Sidney. It enjoyed no small popularity, notwithstanding much that is absurd in its construction—politics and religion being discussed by rustics; but the fine descriptions of rural life and scenery, and some passages of amatory tenderness, redeem it from being dull and frigid. Meantime Spenser had been meditating his great work "The Faerie Queene," and had already composed detached portions of it, which he showed to Harvey, and probably to Sidney. He had also written various other pieces, many of which were afterwards published. In 1580 Spenser was appointed, through the interest of Leicester, secretary to Arthur Lord Grey of Wilton, who was going to Ireland as lord-deputy, and with him Spenser went to Dublin in August. Here he soon got preferment, being appointed clerk of decrees and recognizances in the court of chancery in the following March; and in the same year he obtained a lease of the lands of the abbey and manor of Enniscorthy from the crown. Lord Grey returned to London in 1582, and it is probable, though not certain, that Spenser accompanied him. It is, however, likely that before long he came back to Dublin to discharge the duties of his office there. In 1588 Spenser was made clerk of the Council of Munster, whose principal object was to confer the forfeited lands of the rebel Irish upon English "undertakers." Amongst these the poet was not forgotten, and he obtained a grant of three thousand and twenty-eight acres of land in the county of Cork, including the castle and manor of Kilcolman. This grant is said to have been made in June, 1589, but the 