Christopher Brooke (poet)
Christopher Brooke (died 1628) was an English poet, lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1604 and 1626.
Life
He was the son of Robert Brooke, a rich merchant and alderman of York, who was twice lord mayor of that city. Anthony Wood states that he was educated at one of the universities; Sidney Lee thought it probable that, like his brother Samuel Brooke, he was a member of Trinity College, Cambridge.[1] He subsequently studied law at Lincoln's Inn, and shared a chamber there with John Donne.
Shortly before Christmas 1601 he witnessed Donne's secret marriage with the daughter of
In 1604 Brooke was elected Member of Parliament for
He lived in a house of his own in Drury Lane, London, and inherited from his father houses at York, and other property there and in Essex. He was buried at St. Andrew's, Holborn, on 7 February 1628.
Works
William Browne had a high opinion of his friend Brooke's poetic capacity. He eulogises him in Britannia's Pastorals, book ii. song 2. In the fifth eclogue of the Shepheard's Pipe, 1615, which is inscribed to Brooke, Browne urges him to attempt more ambitious poetry than the pastorals which he had already completed. Brooke's works are:
- An elegy on the death of Prince Henry, published with another elegy by William Browne in a volume entitled Two Elegies consecrated to the neverdying Memorie of the most worthily admyred, most hartily loved and generally bewailed prince, Henry, Prince of Wales, London, 1613.
- An eclogue appended to William Browne's Shepheard's Pipe, London, 1614.
- The Ghost of Richard the Third. Expressing himselfe in these three parts: 1, His Character; 2, His Legend; 3, His Tragedie, London, 1614. The unique copy in the Bodleian Library was reprinted by commendatory verses.
- Epithalamium—a nuptiall song applied to the ceremonies of marriage, which appears at the close of England's Helicon, 1614.
- A Funerall Poem consecrated to the Memorie of that ever honoured President of Soldyership, Sr Arthure Chichester ... written by Christopher Brooke, gent., in 1624. This poem, to which Wither contributed commendatory verses, was printed for the first time by Grosart in 1872. The manuscript had been in the possession of James Bindley, Richard Heber, and Thomas Corser. Corser printed selections in his Collectanea, and Joseph Haslewood described it in the British Bibliographer, ii. 235.
Brooke also contributed verses to Michael Drayton's Legend of the Great Cromwell, 1607; to
Family
Brooke married Mary Jacob on 18 December 1619 at the church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields by Charing Cross. Formerly married to Sir
Notes
- ^ He is not mentioned in Venn's Alumni Cantabrigienses.
- ^ Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 166–239.
- ^ Brooke held a clerkship under Sir John in his office of Curographer of the Fines: Will of Sir John Crompton 1624, UK National Archives, Catalogue reference prob/11/143
- ^ a b Will of Christopher Brooke 1628, UK National Archives, Catalogue reference prob/11/154
- ^ a b Will of William Linche 1617, UK National Archives, Catalogue reference prob/11/129
- ^ Will of David Targett 1602: UK National Archives, Catalogue reference prob/11/101; Will of William Targett 1627: National Archives, Catalogue reference prob/11/154
- ^ Michelle O'Callaghan, 'Brooke, Christopher (c.1570–1628)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2006
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Brooke, Christopher". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
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