English poet, educated at Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford, leaving the university without taking a degree. In 1796 he published an English translation of Gottfried August Bürger’s Lenore (1773). Spencer is best remembered for his well-known ballad “Beth Gêlert” (1800) based upon a Celtic folk tale “Beth Gellert”. It tells of a faithful dog which protected the master’s child from an attack by a wolf, but then was killed by the master who misunderstood the situation. He died in poverty in Paris in 1834.    (M. Y.)