Nugae Antiquae
The once celebrated author of the principal papers here collected, was descended from a respectable family in Cumberland, whose ancestor, Sir James Harington, was attainted in the reign of Henry the Seventh,<3> for bearing arms at the battle of Towton, and taking Henry the Sixth prisoner; his estates forfeited to the crown, amounting to five and twenty considerable manors in the north. Notwithstanding this attachment to the house of York, his succeeding generations were well received at the court of Henry the Eighth, where John Harington,<4> of Stepney, the father of our author, held a considerable office, and united himself in marriage to a natural daughter of Henry; with whom the King gave, as dower, the forfeited church lands of Kelston,<5> &c. upon which he is said to have built the largest house at that time in Somersetshire. In the reign of Queen Mary he was imprisoned eleven months in the Tower, with his second wife, Isabella Markham, for carrying a letter to the Princess Elizabeth.<6> Their zealous attachment to this lady, during her confinement; established them so firmly in her favour, that she retained them in her service when Queen, and stood god-mother to their son, our author, as a mark of her friendly remembrance of their sufferings on her account.
It appears that Sir John was born at Kelston; near Bath, in 1561;<7> that he was educated at Eton,<8> and afterwards entered at Christ's College, in Cambridge, under the care of Doctor Still.<9> For a short time he appears to have studied the law. This is deducible from his Metamorphosis of Ajax, where he describes himself as a puny [puisne] of Lincolns-Inn, though he confesses that "he studied Lyttleton but to the title of discontinuance." The advantages of a good education, and an excellent understanding, soon recommended him to the notice of the Queen, who encouraged him in his pursuit of learning. Fuller has celebrated his proficiency in literature and poesy; which, together with the Queen's regard for his parents, soon brought him to court. Here he distinguished himself by his wit and erudition, and gained the esteem of all ranks, and of both sexes. Being well versed in the Italian language, he translated a tale<10> out of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, which was highly pleasing to the ladies; but the Queen, who was not unacquainted with what passed around her, soon got a sight of her god-son's poetry, and, thinking it proper to affect indignation at some indelicate passages, forbad our author the Court, till he had translated the entire work. This he accomplished, and dedicated to herself, in 1591.<11>
Another literary production, which is now very scarce, made its appearance in 1596,, and is entitled—A new Discourse of a stale Subject, called the Metamorphosis of Ajax; otherwise, a jakes. It was occasioned, as Mr. Harington reported, by the author's having invented a kind of water-closet for his house at Kelston. In this little work we find extensive reading and infinite humour, combined with the satiric grossness of Swift; but several of the persons alluded to, and intended to be satirised, are unknown to us at this time. It appears, however, to have contained certain sarcasms on men in high stations, and particularly to have levelled some inuendo against the Earl of Leicester; whence it called forth much apparent displeasure, even from the Queen;<12> and Mr. Harington avers, that the author escaped Star-Chamber inquisition rather from the Queen's secret attachment to him, (which the courtiers well knew,) than from any favour or lenity in themselves. Several epigrams respecting this book, and the Queen's reconciliation to the author, are printed at the end of his translation of Orlando Furioso, 1634, and had three previous impressions.
The indulgence which Harington experienced from his Royal Mistress, contributed to the number of his productions, as well as to their poignancy. His reputation for a sarcastic species of writing, which in that age was not so common as it has been since, gained him both admiration and fear. We are told by Fuller,<13> that, at an ordinary<14> in Bath, where our author dined with a numerous company, the servant maid who attended was observed to be more attentive to him than to the other guests. This partiality occasioned an enquiry from Harington, why she was so particularly officious in waiting upon him? To which the damsel replied, "I understand you are a very witty man; and if I should displease you in anything, I fear you would make an epigram of me."
He married the daughter of Sir George Rogers,<15> of Cannington, Somersetshire, by whom he appears to have had eight children.<16> It is not surprising that a man of so volatile a disposition, and so gay a turn, amid the favours of a court, and the flattery of dependants, should be profuse in his expenses. Though his fortune, therefore, was considerable, (for Fuller tells us he was a poet in all things but in poverty,) yet his extravagance was still greater, and he was obliged to part with some of his estates, particularly one called Nyland. Soon after this happened, he was riding over the very spot, and, with his usual pleasantry, said to his man John,
"John, John, this Nyland,
Alas! was once my land."
To which John as merrily and truly replied,
"If you had had more wit, Sir,
It might have been yours yet, Sir."
Which answer (to use our author's own words) makes us feel, that there is often "craft in a clouted shoe."
The brilliancy of his talents, and the vivacity of his temper, did not, however, obliterate the virtues of his heart.<17> A spirit of promoting laudable works was manifested' on many occa sions. One instance deserves to be related: it respects the repairing the abbey church of Bath; to which Sir John was most zealously inclined, and is said to have effected by means of the following stratagem. Conversing one day with bishop Montague, near the abbey, it happened to rain, which afforded an opportunity of asking the bishop to shelter himself within the church. Especial care was taken, to convey the prelate into that aisle which had been spoiled of its lead, and was nearly roofless. As this situation was far from securing his lordship against the weather, he remarked to his merry companion that it did not shelter him from the rain. "Doth it not, my lord?" said Sir John, "then let me sue your bounty towards covering our poor church; for if it keep not us safe from the waters above, how shall it ever save others from the fire beneath? At which jest the bishop was so well pleased, that he became a liberal benefactor both of timber and lead; and this benefaction procured a complete roofing to the north aisle of the abbey church, after it had lain in ruins for many years.
The favour of the Queen, it may be presumed, was not solely grounded on her opinion of Sir John's abundant wit and pleasantry.<18> It appears that his general character was such as obtained the esteem of his sovereign, and was the cause of his being employed on occasional services with the most distinguished characters of his time. On the appointment of the Earl of Essex to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in 1599, he was made a commander of horse, under Lord Southampton, in his service.<19> The history of this expedition was found among his papers, with an account of each day's transaction, as delivered to the Queen.<20> On the unexpected and impolitic return of Lord Essex from Ireland, our author<21> was one of the few officers whom he chose to accompany him. History has fully informed us what an unfavourable reception was met with by the Earl; and it is not to be wondered at, if the Queen was displeased with those who followed him. By the private letters of our author, we are informed that this was his own case. Yet, at another audience, he speaks of what he felt at the Queen's reconcilement, and says, "he seemed to hear like St. Paul, when rapt up in the third heaven." There is a minute description, in Lord Essex's journal, of his negotiation with the Irish rebel Tyrone, at which Sir John was not present: and this might have proved to his advantage. After the return and disloyalty of Essex, the Queen was too much engaged in political embarrassments of various kinds, to take much delight in men of learning, or attend to any affairs which did not immediately concern the public welfare. Our author seems, at this period, to have retired to his seat at Kelston, where he was principally busied in cultivating his estates, and improving that fortune which had been considerably impaired by wearing so long at court.
On the accession of James, we find him again brought forth to view; his poetical talents were employed to panegyrise the new king, and he soon became a literary favourite with the monarch, who affected learning, and abounded in pedantry. By King James he was created a Knight of the Bath. A correspondence was commenced, and interviews passed between them.<22>
The Brief State of the Church, as it stood in King James's reign, was undertaken as a supplement to Doctor Godwin's Catalogue of Bishops, at a time when the church of England was beginning to be divided into sectaries: and being written by an author of respectability, who was well acquainted with many of the persons whose characters he has drawn, the authenticity of his representations may generally, perhaps, be relied on. He presented the MS. copy of this work to Prince Henry,<23> and intended it only for the private use of his Royal Highness; but, being published many years afterward, by his maternal grandson, Dr. Chetwind, it created much clamour, and made several of our clergy say, that the writer's conduct agreed with his doctrines; since he, together with Robert, Earl of Leicester, supported Raleigh, in his suit to Queen Elizabeth, for the manor of Banwell, (belonging to the bishopric of Bath and Wells,) on a presumption that the Right Reverend Incumbent had incurred a præmunire, by marrying a second wife.<24>
Our author's zeal for church government favoured this undertaking, and so great was his dislike to the favourers of Puritanism, that it is said he committed his son to the care of one of the most rigid observers of those tenets, from a full persuasion that nothing would be more effectual to make him detest their principles, than to be conversant with them. Whether this was the real case, cannot now, perhaps, be ascertained; but it is reported that the son was inclined to favour puritanical doctrines, and made a conspicuous figure in the parliaments of Charles and Oliver: so little did the father's care avail, in guarding the son from those errors he wished him to avoid. Indeed, the experiment was too dangerous to be adopted by a prudent or sensible parent, and requires more satisfactory evidence before it be admitted as a fact, than mere traditional rumour.
Fuller, Collier, Dryden, and others, have spoken with respect of our author's abilities as an English writer, considering the age he lived in: and in Stowe's Annals, he is enumerated among those excellent poets which worthily flourish in their own works, and lived together in Queen Elizabeth's reign. He had formed a plan, it is said, for writing the history of his own times, but did not live to execute it. He died in 1612,<25> aged fifty-one. Collinson records the following memorials, as placed within the communion rails of the church at Kelston.
"In memory of Sir John Harington, knight, 1612; and Lady Mary, wife of Sir John, daughter of Sir George Rogers, 1634."
His translation of Ariosto, with Apology of Poetry prefixed; his Ajax, Epigrams,<26> and School of Salerne, with the State of the Church, are the only productions hitherto published. Many other manuscripts, both in prose and verse, were left behind him. Peck, in his Desiderata, (vi. 13.) speaks of Verses on the Death of Mary Queen of Scots, by Sir John Harington; MS. manu Fleming. His entire version of the Psalms is in the collection of Francis Douce, Esq. An unedited poem, entitled England's Poverty, occurs in the catalogue of the Ashmolean MSS. but in the catalogue only; and a poetical New Year's Gift to King James, is preserved in the college library, Edinburgh. His Succinct Collection of History, and his Compendious Observations on the Emperors' Lives, are spoken of in Ulysses upon Ajax, a feeble retort on Harington's Cloacinean satire: respecting which tract the ingenious Mrs. Cooper committed a laughable mistake, in supposing it to have been "meant for a court-amusement." That lady's laconic character of our knight is less inaccurate, and may therefore suitably close this brief account of his life.
"Sir John Harington appears to have been a gentleman of great pleasantry and humour; his fortune was easy, the court his element, and wit, not his business, but diversion."
Muses' Library, p. 297.
