Thomas Drant
Encyclopedia
Thomas Drant was an English clergyman and poet. Work of his on prosody was known to Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser
. He was in the intellectual court circle known as the 'Areopagus', and including, as well as Sidney, Edward Dyer
, Gabriel Harvey
, and Daniel Rogers
. He translated Horace
into English, taking a free line in consideration of the Roman poet's secular status; but he mentioned he found Horace harder than Homer
. Drant's translation was the first complete one of the Satires in Englis, in fourteener
s, but makes some radical changes of content.
in Lincolnshire
. He matriculated as pensioner of St. John's College, Cambridge, 18 March 1558, proceeded B.A. 1561, was admitted fellow of his college 21 March 1561, and commenced M.A. 1564. On the occasion of Queen Elizabeth's visit to the university in August 1564 he composed copies of English, Latin, and Greek verses, which he presented to her majesty. At the commencement in 1565 he performed a public exercise (printed in his Medicinable Morall) on the theme 'Corpus Christi non est ubique.'
He was domestic chaplain to Edmund Grindal
, who procured for him the post of divinity reader at St. Paul's Cathedral. In 1569 he proceeded B.D., and on 28 July in that year he was admitted by Grindal's influence to the prebend of Chamberlainwood in the church of St. Paul's. On 8 January 1570 he preached before the court at Windsor
, strongly rebuking vanity of attire; he also criticized the Queen for her leniency to the northern rebels and Catholics. He was admitted to the prebend of Firles in the church of Chichester 21 January 1570, to the rectory of Slinfold
in Sussex
31 January and to the archdeaconry of Lewes 27 February.
On Easter Tuesday 1570 he preached a sermon at St. Mary Spital, London, denouncing the sensuality of the citizens; and he preached another sermon at the same place on Easter Tuesday 1572. He had some dispute with William Overton
, treasurer of the church of Chichester, whom he accused in the pulpit of pride, hypocrisy, and ignorance. He is supposed to have died about 17 April 1578, since the archdeaconry of Lewes was vacant at that date.
Commendatory Latin verses by Drant are prefixed to John Foxe
's Acts and Monuments, 1570; John Sadler's translation of Vegetius
's Tactics, 1572; Peter Carter's annotations to John Seton's Dialectica, 1574; Alexander Neville
's Kettus, 1575; Llodowick Lloyd's Pilgrimage of Princes, n. d. He has a copy of English verses before Robert Peterson
's Galateo, 1576. Drant's unpublished works included a translation of the Iliad
, as far as the fifth book, a translation of the Psalms, and the Book of Solomons Prouerbs, Epigrames, and Sentences spirituall, licensed for press in 1567.
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
. He was in the intellectual court circle known as the 'Areopagus', and including, as well as Sidney, Edward Dyer
Edward Dyer
Sir Edward Dyer was an English courtier and poet.-Life:The son of Sir Thomas Dyer, Kt., he was born at Sharpham Park, Glastonbury, Somerset. He was educated, according to Anthony Wood, either at Balliol College, Oxford or at Broadgates Hall , and left after taking a degree...
, Gabriel Harvey
Gabriel Harvey
Gabriel Harvey was an English writer. Harvey was a notable scholar, though his reputation suffered from his quarrel with Thomas Nashe...
, and Daniel Rogers
Daniel Rogers
Daniel Rogers was an American miller and politician from Milford, in Sussex County, Delaware. He was a member of the Federalist Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly and as Governor of Delaware....
. He translated Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
into English, taking a free line in consideration of the Roman poet's secular status; but he mentioned he found Horace harder than Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
. Drant's translation was the first complete one of the Satires in Englis, in fourteener
Fourteener
In mountaineering terminology in the United States, a fourteener is a mountain that exceeds 14,000 feet above mean sea level. There are 547 fourteeners in the world. The importance of fourteeners is greatest in Colorado, which has the majority of such peaks in North America...
s, but makes some radical changes of content.
Life
The son of Thomas Drant, he was born at HagworthinghamHagworthingham
Hagworthingham is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is located on the A158 near the market towns of Horncastle and Spilsby. Hagworthingham church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was restored by James Fowler of Louth in 1859.- External links :* *...
in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
. He matriculated as pensioner of St. John's College, Cambridge, 18 March 1558, proceeded B.A. 1561, was admitted fellow of his college 21 March 1561, and commenced M.A. 1564. On the occasion of Queen Elizabeth's visit to the university in August 1564 he composed copies of English, Latin, and Greek verses, which he presented to her majesty. At the commencement in 1565 he performed a public exercise (printed in his Medicinable Morall) on the theme 'Corpus Christi non est ubique.'
He was domestic chaplain to Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal
Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...
, who procured for him the post of divinity reader at St. Paul's Cathedral. In 1569 he proceeded B.D., and on 28 July in that year he was admitted by Grindal's influence to the prebend of Chamberlainwood in the church of St. Paul's. On 8 January 1570 he preached before the court at Windsor
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
, strongly rebuking vanity of attire; he also criticized the Queen for her leniency to the northern rebels and Catholics. He was admitted to the prebend of Firles in the church of Chichester 21 January 1570, to the rectory of Slinfold
Slinfold
Slinfold is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies just off the A29 road 3.4 miles west of Horsham.The parish has a land area of 1695 hectares...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
31 January and to the archdeaconry of Lewes 27 February.
On Easter Tuesday 1570 he preached a sermon at St. Mary Spital, London, denouncing the sensuality of the citizens; and he preached another sermon at the same place on Easter Tuesday 1572. He had some dispute with William Overton
William Overton (bishop)
-Life:He became a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1551, and rector of Balcombe and vicar of Eccleshall in 1553. He was also made a prebendary at Chichester, Winchester, and Salisbury....
, treasurer of the church of Chichester, whom he accused in the pulpit of pride, hypocrisy, and ignorance. He is supposed to have died about 17 April 1578, since the archdeaconry of Lewes was vacant at that date.
Works
Drant is the author of:- Impii cuiusdem Epigrammatis qvod edidit Richardus Shacklockus . . . Apomaxis. Also certayne of the special articles of the Epigramme, refuted in Englyshe, 1565, Latin and English. Against Richard Shacklock.
- A Medicinable Morall, that is, the two Bookes of Horace his Satyres Englyshed. ... The wailyngs of the prophet Hieremiah, done into Englyshe verse. Also epigrammes, 1566. Some copies have at the back of the title a dedicatory inscription, 'To the Right Honorable my Lady Bacon, and my Lady Cicell, sisters, fauourers of learnyng and vertue.' Among the miscellaneous pieces that follow the translation of Jeremiah are the English and Latin verses that Drant presented to the queen on her visit to Cambridge in 1564, English verses to the Earl of Leicester, and Latin verses to Chancellor Cecil.
- Horace his arte of Poetrie, pistles, and Satyrs, Englished and to the Earle of Ormounte, by Tho. Drant, addressed, 1567.
- Greg. Nazianzen his Epigrams and Spiritual Sentences, 1568.
- Two Sermons preached, the one at S. Maries Spittle on Tuesday in Easter weeke 1570, and the other at the Court of Windsor . . . the viij of January . . . 1569. n. d. [1570?].
- A fruitful and necessary Sermon specially concernyng almes geving, n. d. [1572 ?], preached at St. Mary Spittle on Easter Tuesday 1572.
- In Solomonis regis Ecclesiastem . . . paraphrasis poetica, 1572, dedicated to Sir Thomas Heneage.
- Thomse Drantae Angli Advordingamii Praesul. Ejusdem Sylva, undated, but published not earlier than 1576, There are Latin verses to Queen Elizabeth, Grindal, Matthew ParkerMatthew ParkerMatthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....
, Lord Buckhurst, and others, and on pp. 85–6 are verses in Drant's praise by James SandfordJames Sandford (translator)James Sandford or Sanford was an English author, known as a translator of Epictetus and Cornelius Agrippa. According to Sidney Lee in the Dictionary of National Biography, he may have been a native of Somerset, and uncle or cousin to John Sandford.- Works :In 1567 he published two translations...
in Greek, Latin, Italian, and French.
Commendatory Latin verses by Drant are prefixed to John Foxe
John Foxe
John Foxe was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, , an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the...
's Acts and Monuments, 1570; John Sadler's translation of Vegetius
Vegetius
Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, commonly referred to simply as Vegetius, was a writer of the Later Roman Empire. Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what he tells us in his two surviving works: Epitoma rei militaris , and the lesser-known Digesta Artis Mulomedicinae, a guide to...
's Tactics, 1572; Peter Carter's annotations to John Seton's Dialectica, 1574; Alexander Neville
Alexander Neville (scholar)
-Life:He was brother of Thomas Neville, dean of Canterbury, and son of Richard Neville of South Leverton, Nottinghamshire, by Anne, daughter of Sir Walter Mantell of Heyford, Northamptonshire. His mother's sister Margaret was mother of Barnabe Googe...
's Kettus, 1575; Llodowick Lloyd's Pilgrimage of Princes, n. d. He has a copy of English verses before Robert Peterson
Robert Peterson
Robert W. Peterson is a Canadian senator from Saskatchewan. He was appointed to the senate by Prime Minister Paul Martin on March 24, 2005. He represents the Liberal Party of Canada....
's Galateo, 1576. Drant's unpublished works included a translation of the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
, as far as the fifth book, a translation of the Psalms, and the Book of Solomons Prouerbs, Epigrames, and Sentences spirituall, licensed for press in 1567.