This second instalment--which was to be the last--of his great poem was duly published in that year. The _View of the Present State of Ireland_ was not registered till April 1598, and then only conditionally. It was not actually printed till 1633. During his stay in England he wrote the _Hymns to Heavenly Love and Heavenly Beauty_, and the _Prothalamion_, which were to be his last works. More than four years had elapsed since Spenser had last visited London. During that period certain memorable works had been produced; the intellectual power of that day had expressed itself in no mean manner. When he arrived in London towards the close of the year 1595, he would find Shakspere splendidly fulfilling the promise of his earlier days; he would find Ben Jonson just becoming known to fame; he would find Bacon already drawing to him the eyes of his time. Spenser probably spent the whole of the year 1596, and part of 1597, in England. In 1597 appeared, as has already been said, the first part of Hooker's _Ecclesiastical Polity_, and Bacon's _Essays_, and also Jonson's _Every Man in His Own Humour_. The reigning favourite at this time was the Earl of Essex. In 1596 his successful descent upon Cadiz raised him to the zenith of his fame. With this nobleman Spenser was on terms of intimacy. At his London house in the Strand--a house which had previously been inhabited by Spenser's earlier patron, the Earl of Leicester--it stood where Essex Street now is, and is still represented by the two pillars which stand at the bottom of that street--Spenser no doubt renewed his friendship with Shakspere. This intimacy with Essex, with whatever intellectual advantages it may have been attended, with whatever bright spirits it may have brought Spenser acquainted, probably impeded his prospects of preferment. There can be no doubt that one of the motives that brought him to England was a desire to advance his fortunes. Camden describes him as always poor. His distaste for his residence in Ireland could not but have been aggravated by his recent legal defeat. But he looked in vain for further preferment. He had fame, and to spare, and this was to suffice. It was during this sojourn in England that he spoke of himself, as we have seen, as one Whom sullein care Through discontent of my long fruitlesse stay In Princes court and expectation vayne Of idle hopes which still doe fly away Like empty shaddows, did afflict my brayne.