66 the first of which was written when he had been only two years at Oxford, and published about five years after. It was a learned commentary ou Porphyry, and raised the 'greatest expectations of his powers, being mentioned with particular praise, as the work of so young a man, by Edmund Campion, the Jesuit, then a student of St. John'scollege. It is entitled "Harmonia, seu catena dialectica in Porphyrium," Lond. 1570, folio. 2." De rebus in Hibernia gestis, lib. iv." Antwerp, 1584, 4to. According to Keating, this work abounds, not only in errors, but misrepresentations, which Stanyhurst afterwards acknowledged. 3. "Descriptio Hiberniæ," inserted in Holinshed's Chronicle. 4. De vita S. Patricii, Hiberniæ Apostoli, lib. ii." Antw. 1587, 12mo. 5. "Hebdomada Mariana," Antw. 1609, 8vo. 6. "Hebdomada Eucharistica," Douay, 1614, 8vo. 7. "Brevis præmonitio pro futura concertatione cum Jacobo Usserio," Douay, 1615, 8vo. 8. "The Principles of the Catholic Religion." 9. "The four first books of Virgil's Eneis, in English Hexameters," 1583, small 8vo, black letter. To these are subjoined the four first Psalms; the first in English Iambics, though he confesses, that "the Iambical quantitie relisheth somwhat unsavorly in our language, being, in truth, not al togeather the toothsomest in the Latine." The second is in elegiac verse, or English hexameter or pentameter. The third is a short specimen of the asclepiac verse; thus: "Lord, my dirye foes, why do they multiply." The fourth is in sapphics, with a prayer to the Trinity in the same measure. Then follow, tayne poetical conceites," in Latin and English and after these some epitaphs. The English throughout is in Roman measures. The preface, in which he assigns his reasons for translating after Phaer, is a curious specimen of quaintness and pedantry. Mr. Warton, in his History of Poetry, seems not to have attended to these reasons, such as they are; but thus speaks of the attempt of Stanyhurst: "After the associated labours of Phaier and Twyne, it is hard to say what could induce Robert [Richard] Stanyhurst, a native of Dublin, to translate the four first books of the Æneid into English hexameters, which he printed at London, in 1583, and dedicated to his brother Peter Plunket, the learned baron of Dusanay [Dunsanye], in Ireland. Stanyhurst was at that time living at Leyden, having left England for some time, on account of the [his] change of religion. In the choice of his measure he is more unfortu 66 cer nate than his predecessors, and in other respects succeeded worse. Thomas Naishe, in his Apology of Pierce Pennilesse, printed in 1593, observes, that Stanyhurst, the otherwise learned, trod a foul, lumbring, boistrous, wallowing measure, in his translation of Virgil. He had never been praised by Gabriel Harvey for his labour, if therein he had not been so famously absurd.' Harvey, Spenser's friend, was one of the chief patrons, if not the inventor of the English hexameter here used by Stanyhurst." His translation opens thus: I that in old season wyth reed's oten harmonye whistled Thee sulcking swincker thee soile, though craggie to sunder, It is observable, that he lengthens the into thee, and to into too, for the sake of his verse. Mr. Warton cites the beginning of the second book, and then adds, "with all this foolish pedantry, Stanyhurst was certainly a scholar. But in this translation he calls Chorobus, one of the Trojan chiefs, a Bedlamite; he says, that old Priam girded on his sword Morglay, the name of a sword in the Gothic romances; that Dido would have been glad to have been brought to bed, even of a cockney, a Dandiprat hop-thumb; and that Jupiter, in kissing her daughter, bust his pretty prating parrot." Stanyhurst is styled by Camden, "Eruditissimus ille nobilis Richardus Stanihurstus." Stanyhurst had a son WILLIAM, born at Brussels in 1601. He became a Jesuit, and a writer of reputation among persons of his communion. He died in 1663. Sotwell has given a list of his works, of which we shall mention only "Album Marianum, in quo prosa et carmine Dei in Austriacos beneficia, et Austriacorum erga Deum obsequia recensentur." Louvaine, 1641, folio. ' STAPLEDON (WALTER), founder of Exeter college, and of Hart-hall, Oxford, was so named from Stapledon, in the parish of Cookberry, the ancient residence of the family. Prince thinks he was born at Annery, in the parish of Monk legh, near Great Torrington, in Devonshire. All we have of his history begins with his advancement to the bishopric in 1307. He is said to have been of " great Warton's Hist. of Poetry.-Philips's Theatrum by sir E. Bridges.-Censura Literaria, vol. II. and IV.-Ath. Ox. vol. I.-Dodd's Ch. Hist.-Harris's Ware. parentage," and his installation was graced by ceremonies of magnificent solemnity. On his arrival at Exeter, he alighted from his horse at Eastgate, and walked on foot, the ground being smoothed and covered with black cloth, to the cathedral; on each hand he was accompanied by a person of distinction, while sir Hugh Courtney, who claimed the honour of being steward on this occasion, walked before him. At Broadgate he was received by the chapter and choir. After the accustomed ceremonies, a grand feast was given, of such expence as the revenues of the bishopric, according to Godwin's estimation, would not have been sufficient to defray, yet in Henry IVth's time it was valued at 7000l. per annum, a sum scarcely credible, as the expence of an entertainment. All the steps of his political life were marked with honours. He was chosen one of the privy-council to Edward II. appointed lord treasurer, and employed in embassies, and other weighty affairs of state, in which his abilities and integrity would have been acknowledged, had he not lived in a period of remarkable turbulence and injustice. In 1325 he accompanied the queen to France in order to negociate a peace, but her intentions to depose her husband were no longer to be concealed, and the bishop, whose integrity her machinations could not corrupt, continued to attach himself to the cause of his unfortunate sovereign, and fell an early sacrifice to popular fury. In 1326 he was appointed guardian of the city of London during the king's absence in the west, and while he was taking measures to preserve the loyalty of the metropolis, the populace attacked him, Oct. 15, as he was walking the streets, and beheaded him near the north door of St. Paul's, together with sir Richard Stapledon, his brother. Godwin informs us that they buried the bishop in a heap of sand at the back of his house, without Temple-bar. Walsingham says they threw it into the river; but the former account seems most consistent with popular malevolence and contempt. Exeter house was founded by him as a town residence for the bishops of the diocese, and is said to have been very magnificent. It was afterwards alienated from the see, and by a change of owners, became first Leicester, and then Essex house, a name which the scite still retains. It appears that the queen soon after ordered the body of the murdered bishop to be removed and interred, with that of his brother, in Exeter cathedral. In the 3d Edward III. 1330, a synod was held at London before Simon, archbishop of Canterbury, to make inquiry into bishop Stapledon's death; and his murderers, and all who were any way privy or consenting to the crime, were executed. His monument, in the north aile of Exeter cathedral, was erected by the rector and fellows of Exeter college. Among the muniments of the dean and chapter of Exeter, there is an account of the administration of his goods, by Richard Braylegh, dean of Exeter, and one of his executors; by which it appears that he left a great many legacies to poor scholars, and several sums of money, from twenty to sixty shillings, for the repairing of bridges in the county, and towards building Pilton church, &c. Walter de Stapledon was not more eminent for the judgment and firmness which he displayed as a statesman, in times of peculiar difficulty, than for his love of learning. After he had engaged Hart, or Hart-hall, for the accommodation of his scholars, he purchased a tenement on the scite of the present college, called St. Stephen's hall, in 1315, and having purchased also some additional premises, known then by the names of Scot-hall, Leding-Park-Hall, and Baltaye-Hall, he removed the rector and scholars of Stapledon, or Hart-ball to this place, in pursuance of the same foundation charter which he had obtained of the king for founding that hall in the preceding year. According to the statutes which he gave to this society, the number of persons to be maintained appears to have been thirteen, one to be instructed in theology or canon law, the rest in philosophy. Eight of them were to be of the archdeaconries of Exeter, Totness, and Barnstaple, four of the archdeaconry of Cornwall, and one, a priest, might be nominated by the dean and chapter of Exeter from any other part of the kingdom. In 1404, Edmund Stafford, bishop of Exeter, a great benefactor, changed the name from Stapledon to Exeter Hall, but it did not rise to the consequence of a corporate body until the time of sir William Petre, who, in 1565, procured a new body of statutes, and a regular deed of incorporation, increasing also the number of fellowships, &c. STAPLETON (sir ROBERT), a dramatic poet, was the third son of Richard Stapleton, esq. of Carleton, in York 1 Wood's Colleges and Halls.-Polwbele's Hist. of Devonshire.-Chalmers's Hist. of Oxford. shire, and uncle to sir Miles Stapleton, and Dr. Stapleton, a Benedictine monk. As his family were zealous Roman catholics; he was educated in the same religion in the college of the English Benedictines at Douay; but, being born with a poetical turn, and too volatile to be confined within the walls of a cloister, he threw off the restraint of his education, quitted a recluse life, came over to England, and turned protestant. Having good interest, which was perhaps also promoted by the change of his religion, he was made gentleman-usher of the privy-chamber to the prince of Wales, afterwards Charles II. We find him constantly adhering to the interest of his royal master; for when his majesty was driven out of London by the threatenings and tumults of the discontented, he followed him, and, in 1642, received the honour of knighthood. After the battle of Edgehill, when his majesty was obliged to retire to Oxford, our author then attended hin, and was created doctor of the civil laws. When the royal cause declined, Stapleton thought proper to retire and apply himself to study; and, as he was not amongst the most conspicuous of the royalists, he was suffered to enjoy his solitude unmolested. At the restoration he was again promoted in the service of Charles II. and held a place in that monarch's 'esteem till his death, July 11, 1669. He was interred near the vestry door in Westminster-abbey. Langbaine says that his writings have "made him not only known, but admired, throughout all England, and while Musæus and Juvenal are in esteem with the learned, sir Robert's fame will still survive; the translation of these two authors having placed his name in the temple of immortality." "The Loves of Hero and Leander, from the Greek of Musæus, with notes," was published, Lond. 1647, 8vo, and such was Stapleton's regard for Musæus, that he afterwards reduced the story into a dramatic poem. His "Juvenal" was published in 1647, 8vo, and was thought to be preferable to Holyday's, but they are both too literal. In 1650 he published a translation of Strada's "History of the Belgic War," fol. His dramatic pieces are, 1."The Slighted Maid", 1663. 2. "The Step-mother," 1664. 3. "Hero and Leander," 1669; and, according to the books of the stationers' company, 4. "The Royal Choice." 1 1 Ath. Ox. vol. II.—Biog. Dram.—Cibber's Lives.—Dodd's Ch. Hist. |