Sherburne, Sir Edward

(1618-1702)

   Born in London, he was educated at the school of Thomas Farnaby (see Fanshawe, Richard) and afterwards under Charles Aleyn (see entry), author of the Historie of Henry the Seventh (1638). On the outbreak of the Civil War, being a royalist and Roman Catholic, he was for some months in the custody of the usher of the black rod (senior official of the House of Lords). On his release he joined with Charles I at Nottingham and was present at the (inconclusive) battle of Edgehill, Oxfordshire (1642). The king created him M.A. at Oxford soon after the battle. When Charles was ousted, Sherburne forfeited all his property and lived in near-poverty in London, where he dedicated himself to literature. He died unmarried and was buried in the chapel of the Tower of London. Some of his poetry publications: Seneca's Answer to Lucilius, 1648. The Sphere of Marcus Manilius, 1675. The Tragedies of Seneca, 1701. Some of his poems: "And She Washed His Feet with Her Tears," "And they laid him in a Manger," "Love's Arithmetic," "The Dream," "Violets in Thaumantia's Bosome," "Weeping and Kissing."

   Sources: An Anthology of Catholic Poets. Shane Leslie, ed. Macmillan, 1952. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the Seventeenth Century: Donne to Butler. Herbert J. Grierson, ed. Oxford University Press, 1921. Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Cavalier Poets. Robin Skelton, ed. Oxford University Press, 1970.The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New Oxford Book of Seventeenth Century Verse. Alastair Fowler, ed. Oxford University Press, 1991. The Oxford Book of Short Poems. P.J. Kavanagh and James Michie, eds. Oxford University Press, 1985.