Pricket, Robert

(fl. 1603-1645)

   A little-known poet who was a soldier in the service of Queen Elizabeth, then lived precariously on his earnings as a writer and pamphleteer against the Catholics. In 1603 he published a prose tract dedicated to King James I in which he denounces the pope and papists. He went to prison for his praise of the Earl of Essex (see Essex, Robert), who was executed for treason in 1601. An appeal to the secretary of state, the Earl of Salisbury, secured Pricket's release. Around 1606 he took holy orders and in 1645 he was in Bath, where he wrote in verse "Newes from the King's Bath." Some of his other publications: A Sovldiers Wish unto the Sovereign Lord King James, 1603. Times Anatomie, 1606 (which rejoices in the deliverance from the Gunpowder Plot [treason] of 1605). Honors Fame in Trivmph Riding, 1604 (a tribute to the memory of the Earl of Essex). The Jesuits Miracles, 1607. Some of his poems: "A Song of Reioycing for Our Late Deliuerance," "Cњlestiall Graces Helpe My Muse," "Thrise Noble King the Wonder of Our Daies," "To the Reader."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997.