Reason for my Rhyme

It is said that upon his (Edmund Spenser, 1552-1599) presenting some poems to the Queen (Elizabeth I) she ordered him a gratuity of one hundred pounds, but the Lord Treasurer Burleigh objecting to it, said with some scorn of the poet, of whose merit he was totally ignorant, ‘What, all this for a song?’

The Queen replied, ‘Then give him what is reason.’ Spenser for some time waited, but had the mortification to find himself disappointed of Her Majesty’s bounty. Upon this he took a proper opportunity to present a paper to Queen Elizabeth, in which he reminded her of the order she had given, in the following lines:

I was promised on a time

To have reason for my rhime.

From that time, unto this season,

I received nor rhime, nor reason.

The paper produced the intended effect, and the Queen, after sharply reproving the Treasurer, immediately directed the payment of the hundred pounds she had first ordered.