that it becomes, of all that has come to adhere to it.”  The ultimate thus arrived at he finds to be, and calls, Energy, and that therefore, he says, we don’t and can’t know.  That a thing is what it becomes seems never to occur to him, and yet only the knowledge of that is the knowledge of the ultimate of being, which is the thing he says we cannot know.  To trace life to its roots he goes back to the cell, whereas common-sense would seem to require us, in order to know what the cell is, to inquire at the fruit.  This is the doctrine of St. John, “The Word was God.”  In addition to agnosticism another doctrine of Spencer’s is Evolution, but in maintaining this he fails to see he is arguing for an empty conception barren of all thought, which thought is the alpha and omega of the whole process, and is as much an ultimate as and still more so than the energy in which he absorbs God.  Indeed, his philosophy is what is called the AUFKLAeRUNG (q. v.) in full bloom, and in which he strips us of all our spiritual content or Inhalt, and under which he would lead us out of “HOUNDSDITCH” (q. v.), not with, but without, all that properly belongs to us; b. 1820.

SPENCER GULF, a deep inlet on the coast of South Australia, 180 m. by 90 m.

SPENER, PHILIP JACOB, German Protestant theologian, founder of the PIETISTS (q. v.), born in Alsace, studied in Strasburg; in 1670 held a series of meetings which he called “Collegia Pietatis,” whence the name of his sect; established himself in Dresden and in Berlin, but Halle was the centre of the movement; he was an earnest and universally esteemed man (1636-1705).

SPENSER, EDMUND, author of the “Faerie Queene,” and one of England’s greatest poets; details of his life are scanty and often hypothetical; born at London of poor but well-connected parents; entered Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, as a “sizar” in 1569, and during his seven years’ residence there became an excellent scholar; took a master’s degree, and formed an important friendship with Gabriel Harvey; three years of unsettled life followed, but were fruitful in the production of the “Shepheards’ Calendar” (1579), which at once placed him at the head of the English poets of his day; had already taken his place in the best London literary and political circles as the friend of Sir Philip Sidney and Leicester, and in 1580 was appointed private secretary to Lord Grey, then proceeding to Ireland as the Lord Deputy, and although his master soon returned to England Spencer continued to make his home in Ireland, where he obtained some civil appointments, and in 1591 entered into possession of a considerable portion of the forfeited estates of the Earl of Desmond, adjacent to his house, Kilcolman Castle, co.  Cork; seems to have been a pretty stern landlord, and, as expounded in his admirable tract, “A View of the Present State of Ireland,” the advocate of a policy of “suppression and repression”; consequently was little loved by