changed his purpose. He published a volume of Poems, under the title of Castara; The Queen of Arragon, a Tragi-Comedy; and A History of Edward IV. "The poetry of Habington is that of a pure and amiable mind, turned to versification by the customs of the day, having a real passion for a lady of birth and virtue, the Castara, whom he afterwards married: but it displays no great original power, nor is it by any means exempt from the ordinary blemishes of hyperbolical compliment and far-fetched imagery.". Hallam. SIR RICHARD FANSHAWE, 1608-1666, was a famous scholar and negotiator in his day. Fanshawe was educated at Cambridge, travelled a good deal on the continent, and was employed in the foreign diplomatic service of the government. He died at Madrid, while ambassador to the Court of Spain. Hi3 works are chiefly Translations: The Lusiad of Camoens; The Faithful Shepherd of Guarino, etc.; also, Original Letters and Negotiations of Sir Richard Fanshawe, 4to. ANN HARRISON, Lady Fanshawe, 1625-1680, wife of Sir Richard, wrote a volume of Memoirs, which throw some light upon the times. SIR JOHN DENHAM, 1615-1668, was born of distinguished parentage, and enjoyed the advantages of a University education; but he was considered slow and dull, and he was addicted to the vice of gambling. At the age of twenty-six, however, he published The Sophy, a Tragedy, which at once made him famous. "He broke out like the Irish rebellion, threescore thousand strong, when nobody was aware, or in the least suspected it."- Waller, This was followed two years after by Cooper's Hill, a Poem, which still further established his reputation. "Cooper's Hill is, and ever will be, the standard of good writing." Dryden. He wrote also The Destruction of Troy, Cato Major, etc. "Denham is deservedly considered one of the fathers of English poetry. Denham and Waller, according to Prior, improved our versification, and Dryden perfected it." - Dr. Johnson. RICHARD CRASHAW, 1650, one of the minor poets of this period, was a clergyman and an eloquent preacher of the English Church, who went over to the Catholics. Crashaw afterwards settled in Paris, where Cowley found him in great pecuniary distress. He died abroad. He published a volume of Latin poems which are well spoken of. In one of them occurs the original of the beautiful metaphor sometimes ascribed to Dryden, about the miracle of the water changed to wine: "The modest water saw its God and blushed," - Nympha pudica Deum vidit, et erubuit. Crashaw published also a volume of English poems: Steps to the Temple; The Delights of the Muses; Music's Duel, etc. He made, also, translations from the Latin and the Italian, which have been admired for their elegance. He was a great favorite with Cowley. "Poet and saint! to thee alone are given The two most sacred names of earth and heaven."- Cowley. WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT, 1611–1643, a graduate of Oxford, was celebrated in his day almost equally for his eloquence as a preacher and for his poetry. Cartwright was Lecturer on Metaphysics in the University, and Junior Proctor, and died at the age of thirty-two. He published The Royal Slave, a Tragi - Comedy; Tragi-Comedies and Other Poems, etc. "He became the most florid and seraphical preacher in the University."— Wood's Athen. Oxon. "Cartwright, rare Cartwright, to whom all must bow, That was the best preacher, and best poet too."-John Leigh. "It is difficult to conceive, from the perusal of Cartwright's poems, why he should have obtained such extraordinary applause and reputation. His pieces are mostly short, occasional productions, addresses to ladies and noblemen, or to his brother poets, Fletcher and Jonson, or slight amatory effusions not distinguished for elegance or fancy. His youthful virtues, his learning, loyalty, and admiration of genius seem to have mainly contributed to his popularity, and his premature death would renew and deepen the impression of his worth and talents."— Chambers. RICHARD LOVELACE, 1618-1658, was the author of a collection of poems entitled Lucasta, Lux Casta, signifying Miss Lucy Sacheverel. Lovelace was son of Sir William Lovelace. He was a loyalist, served under Charles I., and was imprisoned until the King's death. "Richard Lovelace, as a man and as a writer, may be taken as an impersonation of the cavalier of the civil wars, with much to charm the reader and still more to captivate the fair."-. Miss Mitford. CHARLES COTTON, 1630-1687, a Cambridge scholar, gained some celebrity as a translator and a humorous poet. Among his works are some of Lucian's Dialogues into English Fustian; Virgil Travestie ["Nothing can be more vulgar, disgusting, or licentious than his parodies on Virgil and Lucian."]; and Voyage to Ireland, a humorous poem. Cotton was a cheerful, witty, and accomplished man, but utterly devoid of prudence in his affairs, and always in debt. Even his marriage to a Countess Dowager, with a jointure of £1500 a year, did not suffice to keep his head above water. He was especially devoted to angling: and one of his best claims to continued memory is his discipleship to good old Izaak Walton, to whose Complete Angler Cotton wrote an appendix or continuation, How to Angle for a Trout or Grayling in a Clear Stream. WILLIAM CAVENDISH, Duke of Newcastle, 1592-1676, a zealous partisan of Charles I., wrote several works: Five Comedies; The Triumphant Widow; System of Horsemanship, etc. MARGARET CAVENDISH, Duchess of Newcastle, author of many works. 1673, was the The following are her chief works: Philosophical Fancies; Poems and Fancies; The World's Olio; Nature's Picture drawn by Fancy's Pencil; Letters and Poems; Grounds of Natural Philosophy; Observation upon Experimental Philosophy; Philosophical and Physical Opinions; Sociable Letters; Orations; Twenty-Six Plays; Life of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle [her husband], etc. "I imagine all those who have read my former books will say I have writ enough, unless they were better; but say what you will, it pleaseth me, and since my delights are harmless, I will satisfy my humor: "For had my brain as many fancies in 't To fill the world, I'd put them all in print; "She was the most voluminous writer of all the female poets, and had a great deal of wit." --Jacobs. "Her person was very graceful. She was most indefatigable in her studies, contemplations, and writings; was truly pious, charitable, and generous, and a perfect pattern of conjugal love and duty."— Ballard. "A fertile pedant, with an abounding passion for scribbling!" RICHARD BROME, Horace Walpole. 1652, was a dramatist of good repute. He was originally a servant of Ben Jonson. He wrote fifteen plays. Those best known are The Jovial Crew; The Northern Lass; The Court Beggar; and The City Wit. ALEXANDER BROME, 1620-1666, was a satirical poet, who exercised his gifts at the expense of the Roundheads. The Cunning Lovers, a Comedy; Fancy's Festivals, etc. SIDNEY GODOLPHIN, 1610-1643, was a poet of some celebrity in his time. He was slain in battle, fighting on the King's side. He wrote several original poems, and translated the Loves of Dido and Eneas, from Virgil. RICHARD BRAITHWAIT, 1588-1673, was a poet of some celebrity in the first half of the seventeenth century. Works: The Prodigal's Tears; The Golden Fleece; The Poet's Willow; Survey of History; Solemn Jovial Disputation; English Gentleman; English Gentlewoman, &c., &c. II. POLITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS. Clarendon. Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, 1608-1673, was an eminent writer and statesman of the times of Charles I. and Charles II. Career. Clarendon favored the Stuart cause, but with moderation. After Charles I. was beheaded, Clarendon remained abroad with Charles II., and came in with the Restoration. He was at the head of the ministry under Charles II., and his daughter, Ann Hyde, was married to the King's brother, the Duke of York. Two of his descendants through her became Queens of England-Mary and Anne. "For some time, no minister was ever possessed of more absolute authority." -Hume. There is a difference of opinion as to the effects of his counsels. The Tories, to whose party he belonged, regarded his administration as wise and beneficent: the Whigs, on the contrary, regarded it as disastrous. "The circumstance that he had long been an exile completely disqualified him for the supreme direction of affairs.”—Macaulay. On the accession of the Whigs to power, he was deprived of his office and driven into exile, and he ended his days abroad, though after his death his remains were allowed to be deposited in Westminster Abbey. Works. Clarendon's writings are numerous, and are of the highest value. They are important, not only as authentic records of grave historical transactions, by one who was a chief actor in them, but as noble specimens of English literature. His chief work is his History of the Rebellion, that is, of the civil war connected with the expulsion and restoration of the Stuarts. It is a large work, printed usually in 6 or 7 vols. 8vo. Some of his other works are: Character of Robert, Earl of Essex, and of George, Duke of Buckingham; Brief View of Hobbes's Leviathan; History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in Ireland; An Account of his Life, &c., &c. Clarendon wrote also a large part of the State Papers during the reigns of Charles I. and Charles II. "His great work is not written in the studied manner of modern historical compositions, but in an easy flowing conversational style; and it is generally esteemed for the lively description which the author gives, from his own knowledge and observation, of his most eminent contemporaries. The events are narrated with that freshness and minuteness which only one concerned in them could have attained; but some allowance must be made, in judging of the characters and the transactions described, for the political prejudices of the author, which, as already seen, were those of a moderate and virtuous royalist. The chief faults with which his style is chargeable, are prolixity and involution, which render some portions of the work unreadable, except with a great effort of attention."- Chambers. A Good Rule. One of Clarendon's rules, for the guidance of his own life, was to seek his companionship among those better than himself; and he declares that "he never was so proud, or thought himself so good a man, as when he was the worst man in the company." He adopted this rule, not for the purpose of fawning and courting favor, but because of the naturally stimulating and elevating effect of associating with one's betters. Selden. John Selden, 1584-1654, was celebrated in his day as a statesman and a jurist, and as a writer on legal and political subjects. Career. Selden was educated at Oxford, and was renowned among his contemporaries for his learning and acumen. He was well versed in the classic and the oriental languages, and in ancient and international law. In 1629 he was imprisoned in the Tower, on a charge of sedition. He represented the city of Oxford in the notorious Long Parliament, and in the contest between the King and the Parliament he did not take any decided part. Works.-Strictly speaking, Selden's name does not belong to English literature, as his works were chiefly composed in Latin. Prominent among them are his treatise on the Syrian Divinities (De Diis Syris), his Mare Clausum or Closed Sea, written to maintain England's exclusive right to the sea against Grotius's Mare Librum, his Law of Nature and of Nations according to the Hebrews, and his Commentaries on Fleta, an English legal treatise written in the reign of Edward I. or of Edward II. Selden was highly esteemed by his contemporaries for his personal character and his sincere love of freedom, and also for his brilliant conversational powers. Prynne. William Prynne, 1600-1669, an English Puritan, was first brought into notice by his book, Histrio-Mastix, A Scourge for the Players, and by the barbarous punishment to which he was subjected on account of it. Character of the Book. - Prynne's book was a general tirade against stage-plays, as being "sinful, heathenish, lewd, ungodly spectacles," and against the "profession of play-poets and stage-players" and the "frequenting of stage-plays," as being "unlawful, infamous, and misbeseeming Christians," "besides sundry other particulars concerning dancing, diceing, health-drinking, &c." This furious blast was no offhand performance, but a laborious work, in quarto, on which the author employed several years of toil. He cites, in favor of his positions, fifty Synods and Councils, seventy-five Fathers, one hundred and fifty Protestant and Catholic writers, and forty heathen philosophers. The references in his book are over one hundred thousand. He quotes at times from three to five hundred authors on a single point. His Punishment. - To silence so audacious a scribbler, the Government expelled him from the University, degraded him from the bar, fiued him £5,000, set him twice |