Stevenson, Matthew

(?1654-1685)

   Possibly from Yorkshire, he resided most of his life in Norfolk. He was known to have been in London after the Restoration, moving in a circle of poets who haunted the law courts. He has several known poetic publications. Bellum Presbyteriale, 1661, is a heroic poem that refers to the burning of the covenant by the common hangman on 22 May 1661. This was an act ordered by Charles II against the Presbyterian clergy of Scotland, effectively banning them; it led to severe persecution and mass migration to Ulster. The Twelve Months, 1661, covers all the activities of the year, as well as the various sports and occupations of the countryside. Florus Britannicus, 1662, is the history of England from William the Conqueror. Others include Occasions Off-spring, 1645; Poems, 1665; Norfolk Drollery, 1673; and The Wits Paraphras'd, 1680. Some of his poems: "An Elegy Upon Old Freeman," "John, King of England," "On the Gun-Powder Treason," "Stephen, King of England," "The Fleets," "The Weavers Memento Mori," "To a Faire Lady," "Upon a Great Windy Night," "Upon Yorkshire Ale."

   Sources: 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). 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 Covenanters by Brian Orr Part One (http://www.tartans.com/articles/cov1.html). The New Oxford Book of Seventeenth Century Verse. Alastair Fowler, ed. Oxford University Press, 1991.