“Great force must be the instrument, but famine must be the mean[s], for till Ireland be famished it cannot be subdued.” Spenser knew exactly what he was advocating. This is his description  of famine in Ireland which he saw.

“Out of every corner of the woods and glens they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could not bear them, they looked like anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts crying from their graves, they did eat dead carrions, happy where they could find them. Yes, and one another soon after, inasmuch as the very carcasses they spared to scrape out of their graves.”

James Shapiro 1599: A year in the life of William Shakespeare pp69-70