Grosart
conjectures
that this was Basil Brooke (1576-1646?
John Donne
He officiated at
Donne's marriage and was imprisoned. He was later Chaplain to Prince
Henry, to James I, and to Charles I; professor of Divinity at Gresham
College (1612-29) and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1629. He
wrote Latin plays, poems, and religious treatises. The tone of Donne's
letter implies that he is a student at Cambridge. It was written
therefore before 1601, probably, like several of these letters, while
Donne was Egerton's secretary, and living in chambers with Christopher
Brooke. A poem by Samuel Brooke, _On Tears_, is printed in Hannah's
_Courtly Poets_.
PAGE =212=. TO M^r J. L.
Of the J. L. of this and the letter which follows the next, nothing
has been unearthed. He clearly belonged to the North of England,
beyond the Trent.
TO M^r B. B.
Grosart conjectures that this was Basil Brooke (1576-1646? ), a
Catholic, who was knighted in 1604. In 1644 he was committed to the
Tower by Parliament and in 1646 imprisoned in the King's Bench. He
translated _Entertainments for Lent_ from the French. He was not
a brother of Christopher and Samuel. The identification is only a
conjecture. The tenor of the poem is very similar to that addressed to
Mr. S. B.
PAGE =213=, l. 18. _widowhed. _ _W_ here clearly gives us the form
which Donne used. The rhyme requires it and the poet has used it
elsewhere:
And call chast widowhead Virginitie.
_The Litanie_, xii. 108.
Donne's marriage and was imprisoned. He was later Chaplain to Prince
Henry, to James I, and to Charles I; professor of Divinity at Gresham
College (1612-29) and Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, 1629. He
wrote Latin plays, poems, and religious treatises. The tone of Donne's
letter implies that he is a student at Cambridge. It was written
therefore before 1601, probably, like several of these letters, while
Donne was Egerton's secretary, and living in chambers with Christopher
Brooke. A poem by Samuel Brooke, _On Tears_, is printed in Hannah's
_Courtly Poets_.
PAGE =212=. TO M^r J. L.
Of the J. L. of this and the letter which follows the next, nothing
has been unearthed. He clearly belonged to the North of England,
beyond the Trent.
TO M^r B. B.
Grosart conjectures that this was Basil Brooke (1576-1646? ), a
Catholic, who was knighted in 1604. In 1644 he was committed to the
Tower by Parliament and in 1646 imprisoned in the King's Bench. He
translated _Entertainments for Lent_ from the French. He was not
a brother of Christopher and Samuel. The identification is only a
conjecture. The tenor of the poem is very similar to that addressed to
Mr. S. B.
PAGE =213=, l. 18. _widowhed. _ _W_ here clearly gives us the form
which Donne used. The rhyme requires it and the poet has used it
elsewhere:
And call chast widowhead Virginitie.
_The Litanie_, xii. 108.
