Hagthorpe, John

(?1585-?1630)

   He had links with Chester-le-Street, County Durham, and Scarborough Castle, Yorkshire. Several bad land transactions reduced him to poverty and, fearing he might have to emigrate to Virginia, he appealed to James I for assistance to get his son into Charterhouse School. As Captain Hagthorpe he commanded one of His Majesty's ships protecting the Hull ships bound for Holland against the attacks from the French. He also took part in the Cadiz expedition of 1625. He was alive in January 1630, when he presented a petition to the admiralty. He wrote Visiones Rerum (The Visions of Things, 1623), which consists of four poems: "Principium and Mutabilitas Rerum. Or, The Beginning and Mutabilitie of All Things," "Cursus and Ordo Rerum. Or, Art and Nature," "Opineo and Ratio Rerum. Or, Wealth and Pouertie," "Malum and Finis Rerum. Or, Sinne and Vertue, concluding with the last Iudgement and end of all things." He also wrote: Englands-Exchequer, or a Discovrse of the Sea and Navigation, with Some Things - Concerning Plantations, 1625. Divine Meditations, 1662.

   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). English Poetry: Author Search (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Oldpoetry (www.oldpoetry. com). SETIS: The Scholarly Electronic Text and Image Service, English Poetry Collection (http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/poetry/browse/h-epdtoc.html). Stanford University libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu).