Elys, Edmund

(fl. 1707)

   Born at Haccombe, Devon, the son of a clergyman, he was educated at Exeter and Balliol College, Oxford, with an M.A. in 1658. In 1659 he succeeded his father to the rectory of East Allington, Devon. During the Civil Wars he was suspected of being a Royalist sympathizer and imprisoned in Exeter by Major Blackmore. Further misfortune befell him when, in 1677, his living was confiscated and he sought refuge in London, where he was imprisoned for not swearing allegiance to King William III. Deprived of his rectory, he retired to Totnes, Devon, suffering from severe asthma. He wrote many pamphlets in support of the Quakers, though he was not a Quaker himself. Although not a great poet, his works give an insight into his life and times. Some of his publications: An Alphabet of Elegiack Groans, 1656. Anglia Rediviva, 1660. The Bishops Downefall, 1642. Dia Poemata, 1655. Divine poems, 1659. The Quiet Soul, 1659. Miscellanea, 1662. A Vindication of the Honor of King Charles I, 1691. A Refutation of Some of the False Conceits in Mr. Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1697.

   Sources: A New Canon of English Poetry. James Reeves, and Martin Seymour-Smith, ed. Barnes and Noble, 1967. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership (http://www.lib.umich.edu/tcp/eebo/texts/letterE.html ). English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). John Locke Bibliography - Name/Title Index - E (http://www.libraries.psu.edu/tas/locke/ne.html). SETIS: The Scholarly Electronic Text and Image Service (http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org).