“Ignoto” was undoubtedly a concealed poet. Marlowe, Raleigh and Barnfield were not. As early as January 1590, if not a little sooner, “Ignoto” contributed to Spenser’s first publication of the “Faery Queen” the following lines:
“To look upon a work of rare devise The which a workman setteth out to view, And not to yield it the deserved prize That unto such a workmanship is due, Doth either prove the judgment to be naught, Or else doth show a mind with envy fraught.
“To labor to commend a piece of work Which no man goes about to discommend, Would raise a jealous doubt that there did lurk Some secret doubt whereto the praise did tend: For when men know the goodness of the wine ’Tis needless for the host to have a sign.
“Thus then, to show my judgment to be such As can discern of colors black and white, As als to free my mind from envy’s touch, That never gives to any man his right: I here pronounce this workmanship is such As that no pen can set it forth too much.
“And thus I hang a garland at the door; Not for to show the goodness of the ware; But such hath been the custom heretofore, And customs very hardly broken are; And when your taste shall tell you this is true, Then look you give your host his utmost due.”
In No. viii of “The Passionate Pilgrim” the writer says:
“Dowland to thee is dear, whose heavenly touch Upon the lute doth ravish human sense;
Spenser to me, whose deep conceit is such As, passing all conceit, needs no defense.”
Is not this praise of Spenser a substantial repetition of the sentiments expressed by “Ignoto”?
Again, in Shakspere’s Sonnet lxxx we read:
“O how I faint when I of you do write, Knowing a better spirit doth use your name, And in the praise thereof spends all his might, To make me tongue−tied, speaking of your fame!”
Spenser praises Essex in one of the Sonnets prefixed to his “Faery Queen,” which antedates the Sonnets of Shakspere.
Once more. In No. xviii of “The Passionate Pilgrim” we read:
“Poor Corydon must live alone, Other help for him I see that there is none.”
Compare this with the following lines from Spenser’s “Colin Clout,” dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh, December 27, 1591, and published in 1595:
“And there is Corydon, though meanly waged, Yet ablest wit of most I know this day.”