Editing The Faerie Queene (section)

===Allegory of virtue===
[[File:Johann Heinrich Füssli 058.jpg|right|thumb|''Prince Arthur and the Faerie Queen'' by [[Henry Fuseli]], {{circa|1788}}.]]
A letter written by Spenser to [[Walter Raleigh|Sir Walter Raleigh]] in 1590{{sfn|Roche|1984|p=1070|ps=: "The date of the letter—23 January 1589—is actually 1590, since England did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752 and the dating of the new year began on 25 March, Lady Day"}} contains a preface for ''The Faerie Queene'', in which Spenser describes the allegorical presentation of virtues through [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] knights in the mythical "Faerieland". Presented as a preface to the epic in most published editions, this letter outlines plans for twenty-four books: twelve based each on a different knight who exemplified one of twelve "private virtues", and a possible twelve more centred on King Arthur displaying twelve "public virtues".  Spenser names [[Aristotle]] as his source for these virtues, though the influences of [[Thomas Aquinas]] and the traditions of medieval allegory can be observed as well.{{sfn|Tuve|1966}}  It is impossible to predict how the work would have looked had Spenser lived to complete it, since the reliability of the predictions made in his letter to Raleigh is not absolute, as numerous divergences from that scheme emerged as early as 1590 in the first ''Faerie Queene'' publication.

In addition to the six virtues [[Sacred|Holiness]], [[Temperance (virtue)|Temperance]], [[Chastity]], [[Friendship]], [[Justice]], and [[Courtesy]], the Letter to Raleigh suggests that Arthur represents the virtue of [[Magnanimity|Magnificence]], which ("according to Aristotle and the rest") is "the perfection of all the rest, and containeth in it them all"; and that the Faerie Queene herself represents Glory (hence her name, Gloriana).  The unfinished seventh book (the Cantos of Mutability) appears to have represented the virtue of "constancy".