Gorges, Sir Arthur

(1577-1625)

   He was the third son of Sir William Gorges, viceadmiral of the fleet, and second cousin to Sir Walter Raleigh. Queen Elizabeth made him a gentleman-pensioner in 1582, and two years later he married Douglas Howard, one of the greatest heiresses of the day. Her death six years later is comGosse memorated by Gorges' friend Spenser in the poem entitled "Daphnaida." In 1597 he commanded the Wast Spite, the ship in which Walter Raleigh sailed as vice-admiral under Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex, on the islands voyage. He, with eight others, was knighted in 1597. He was member of Parliament for four different constituencies between 1584 and 1691. He died in Chelsea and was buried in Sir Thomas More's chapel, Chelsea. Some of his publications: The Olympian Catastrophe; 1612. A translation of Lucan's Pharsalia, 1614. A translation of Bacon's Wisedome of the Ancients, 1619. A translation into French of Bacon's Essays, 1619. Some of his poems: "The Mayd So Trickt Her Selfe with Arte," "The Hungry Lionesse (With Sharpe Desire)," "Lvcans Pharsalia," "Let Doting Grandsires Knowe the Law," "My Lesbia, Let Vs Liue and Loue."

   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 Gambit Book of Love Poems. Geoffrey Grigson, ed. Gambit, 1973. The New Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse. Emrys Jones, ed. Oxford University Press, 1991. The Oxford Book of Sonnets. John Fuller, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.