Tofte, Robert

(d. 1620)

   He is known to have traveled in France and Italy, and was in Naples in 1593. He was known familiarly among his friends as "Robin Redbreast" and his works contain frequent allusions to the name. He died in the house of a Mrs. Goodall in Holborn, near Barnard's Inn, London, and was buried on 24 January in the church of St. Andrew, Holborn (DNB). Some of his publications: Two Tales, Translated out of Ariosto, 1597 (the one dispraising men, the other praising women). Laura, The Toys of a Traveler. Or, the Feast of Fancy, 1597 (the poem was dedicated to the Lady Lucy Percy, and consists of a collection of short poems conceived in Italy and more than thirty sonnets). Alba, The Months Mind of a Melancholy Lover. 1598. Ariosto's Satires, in Seven Famous Discourses, 1608. The Fruits of Jealousy, 1615. Some of his other poems: "Loue Fare Thou Well, Liue Will I Now," "Nor Life, Nor Vertue Haue I, Lest I Die," "Now I Haue Lost the Deare Light of Mine Eyes," "O Death, Which Vnto Death My Griefes Doest Consecrate."

   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). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Poetry of Robert Tofte 1597-1620. Jeffrey N. Nelson, ed. Garland Publishing, 1994.