Sir John Harington

The son of John Harington of Stepney, Harington of Kelston was Queen Elizabeth's godson and one of her sometimes favorites; he translated Orlando Furioso at her behest. He attended Eton College (1570) before entering King's College Cambridge as a fellow-commoner in 1576 (B.A. 1578, M.A. 1581) and Lincoln's Inn (1581). Harington was High Sheriff of Somerset in 1591, commander-of-horse with Essex in Ireland (1598) and was knighted in 1599. He was sent on Essex's behalf to intercede with the Queen; failing, he retired to Kelston. Later in life he was a tutor to Prince Henry. Harington's epigrams were highly esteemed by his contemporaries.

TEXT RECORDS:

1591Orlando Furioso in English Heroical Verse.
1596The Metapmorphosis of Ajax: An Apologie.
1600 ca.Lesbias Rule of Praise.
1600 ca.Of Monsters. To my Lady Rogers.

PUBLICATIONS:

Orlando furioso in English heroical verse. 1591.
An anatomie of the Metamorphosed Ajax. 1596.
An apologie; or rather a retraction. 1596.
A new discourse of a stale subject called the Metamorphosis of Ajax. 1596.
Ulysses upon Ajax. Written by Misodiaboles. 1596.
The Englishmans doctor [trans. Harington]. 1607.
Epigrammes by Sir J. H. and others. 1613.
The Englishmans doctor: or the school of Salerne [J. de Mediolano, trans Harington]. 1607.
The most elegant and witty epigrams of Sir J. Harington. 1618.
A briefe view of the state of the Church of England, ed. J. Chetwind. 1653.
Nugae antiquae. 2 vols, 1769-75; 3 vols 1779.
Letters and epigrams, ed. Norman E. McClure. 1930.
The Arundel Harington manuscript, ed. Ruth Hughey. 2 vols, 1960.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

Eton College
King's College Cambridge
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts
Lincoln's Inn
Inns of Court
courtier

lawyer
tutor
poet
translator

Rev. Richard Carleton
Henry Constable
Queen Elizabeth
Earl of Essex
John Harington of Stepney
Prince Henry
Gervase Markham
Countess of Pembroke

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL; DLB.

Portrait in Orlando Furioso (1591); Bodenham, Bel-vedere (1600); Thomas Fuller, Worthies of England (1662); Edward Phillips, Theatrum Poetarum (1675); William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687); Giles Jacob, An Historical Account of ... English Poets (1720); Elizabeth Cooper, in Muses' Library (1737); Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets (1753); James Granger, Biographical History (1769; 1824) [portrait]; Thomas Warton, History of English Poetry (1774-81); George Ellis, Specimens of Early English Poetry (1790; 1801); Isaac Reed, "Harington's Epigrams" in European Magazine 17 (January 1791) 53-55; Samuel Egerton Brydges, Theatrum Poetarum Anglicanorum (1800); Joseph Ritson, Bibliographia Poetica (1802) 236-37; Thomas Park, ed., Nugae Antiquae (1804); "Nugae Antiquae" Monthly Mirror 17 (April 1804) 249-53; Peter L. Courtier, ed., Lyre of Love (1806); Censura Literaria 4 (1807) 10-15; William Beloe, Anecdotes of Literature 2 (1807) 372-84; Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); S. W. Singer, "Harington's Metamorphosis of Ajax" Monthly Magazine 38 (December 1814) 397-98; Restituta or ... English Literature Revived 2 (1815) 255-56; Nathan Drake, in Shakespeare and his Times (1817; 1838); Thomas Campbell, Specimens of the British Poets (1819); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Joseph Haslewood, "Sir John Harington" Gentleman's Magazine 97 (August 1827) 128; Robert Chambers, Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844); Edward Farr, Select Poetry chiefly devotional of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth (1845); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Thomas Corser, Collectanea Anglo-Poetica 7 (1877) 171-73; Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); G. Rehfield, Sir John Harington (1914); Venn and Venn, Alum. Cant. (1922-27); Letters and Epigrams, ed. N. E. McClure (1930); Townsend Rich, Harington and Ariosto: A Study in Elizabethan Verse Translation (Yale Studies in English 92, 1940); Bush, OHEL (1945); Lewis OHEL (1954); Ian Grimble, The Harington Family (1958); The Arundel Harington Manuscript of Tudor Poetry, ed. Ruth Hughey, 2 vols (1960); Cummings, Spenser: The Critical Heritage (1971); Ruth Hughey, Harington of Stepney (1971); Saunders, Renaissance Poets (1983); D. H. Craig, Sir John Harington (1985); Spenser Encyclopedia, "Harington" (1990) 346-47; Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Sir John Harington:

1.	1608  Thomas Dekker, "To the very woorthy, learned, juditious, and noble Gentleman, Syr John Harrington Knight" Dekker, The dead Tearme, or Westminsters Complaint (1608) sig. A2.
2.	1611 ca.  John Davies of Hereford, "To John Harrington, translator of Ariosto" in Scourge of Folly (1611 ca.); Davies, Works, ed. Grosart (1878) 2:22-23.
3.	1619  Anonymous, in Follie's Anatomie (1619); Censura Literaria 8 (1808) 349.
4.	1619  Ben Jonson, Conversation with Drummond (1619); Drummond, Works (1711) 225.
5.	1651  Samuel Sheppard, "Sir John Harringtons Translation of Ariosto" Epigrams (1651) 114.
6.	1775  Horace Walpole to William Mason, 15 April 1775; Letters, ed. Cunningham (1906) 6:202.
7.	1781  Thomas Warton, in History of English Poetry (1774-81; 1840) 3:391-92.
8.	1783  John Hoole, in Preface to Orlando Furioso (1783) 1:l-li.
9.	1802  Charles Lamb to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 11 October 1802; in Letters, ed. Thomas Noon Talfourd (1837) 1:240.
10.	1807  Samuel Egerton Brydges, in Censura Literaria 4 (1807) 11.
11.	1817  Nathan Drake, in Shakespeare and his Times (1817; 1838) 251.
12.	1820  John Payne Collier, in Poetical Decameron (1820) 1:201-02.
13.	1824  Bryan Waller Procter, in Effigies Poeticae, or, the Portraits of the British Poets (1824) 16.
14.	1826  Richard Ryan, "Sir John Harrington" Poetry and Poets: being a Collection of the choicest Anecdotes relative to the Poets of every Age and Nation (1826) 2:234-35.
15.	1845  Edward Farr, in Select Poetry chiefly devotional of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth (1845) xvii.
16.	1846  Leigh Hunt, in Preface to Italian Poets (1846); Works (1854) 4:x-xi.
17.	1874  William Minto, in Characteristics of English Poets (1874) 214n.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Sir John Harington:

1.	1662  Thomas Fuller, in History of the Worthies of England (1662) 3:28.
2.	1675  Edward Phillips, in Theatrum Poetarum (1675) 2:228.
3.	1687  William Winstanley, Lives of the Most Famous English Poets (1687) 93-95.
4.	1720  Giles Jacob, in Historical Account of the Lives and Writings of our most considerable English Poets (1720) 70.
5.	1738  Elizabeth Cooper, in The Muses Library (1738) 296-97.
6.	1753  Anonymous, in Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) 1:149-51.
7.	1769  James Granger, in Biographical History of England (1769; 1824) 1:314.
8.	1802  Joseph Ritson, Bibliographia Poetica (1802) 236-37.
9.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 17:166-68.
10.	1814  George Dyer, in History of the University and Colleges of Cambridge (1814) 2:220.
11.	1817  Nathan Drake, in Shakespeare and his Times (1817; 1838) 305-06.
12.	1819  Thomas Campbell, in Specimens of the British Poets (1819; 1845) 73.
13.	1844  Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 1:104.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1600 ca.  Gabriel Harvey:   Sir John Harington, "To Dr. Harvey, of Cambridge," 1600 ca.; Epigrams (1625); Censura Literaria 4 (1807) 12.
2.	1625  Sir John Davies:   Sir John Harington, "Of Master John Davies's Book of Dancing. To himself" Witty Epigrams (1625); Restituta or ... English Literature Revived 2 (1815) 27.