plundered of all his property, and what is ever most dear to a man of learning, his
ample library, he would probably have sunk under his accumulated sufferings, had he
not met with his kinsman, Thomas Stanley, esq. who was a sufferer in the same cause,
and secreted near the same place. But some degree of toleration must have been ex-
tended to him soon after, as in 1648 he published his translation of Seneca's Medea,
and in the same year Seneca's answer to Lucilius' question, "Why good men suffer
misfortunes, seeing there is a Divine Providence?" In 1651, he published his Poems
and Translations, with a Latin dedication to Mr. Stanley; and when sir George
Savile, afterwards marquis of Halifax, returned from his travels about that time, he
appointed Mr. Sherburne superintendant of his affairs, and by the recommendation of
his mother, lady Savile, he was afterwards made travelling tutor to her nephew, sir
John Coventry. With this gentleman he visited various parts of the continent, from
March, 1654, to October, 1659. On the Restoration, sir Anthony Ashley Cooper,
afterwards lord Shaftesbury, put another into his place in the ordnance; but on Mr.
Sherburne's application to the house of peers, it was restored to him, although its
emoluments were soon greatly retrenched.

The peace of the country being now re-established, he appears to have applied him-
self to a studious life, and replenished his library, which, according to Wood, was
esteemed one of the most considerable belonging to any gentleman in or near London.
In 1675, he published "The Sphere of Marcus Manilius, made an English poem,
with Annotations, and an Astronomical Index," which was honoured by the very
particular and liberal approbation of the royal society: and in 1679, he published a
translation of Seneca's Troades; or the Royal Captives, and he left in manuscript a
translation of Hippolitus, which two, with the Medea before mentioned, he endea-
voured to prove were all that Seneca wrote.

During the commotions excited by the popish plot, attempts were made to remove
him from his place in the ordnance, as a suspected papist, but these were ineffectual,
and his majesty, who appears to have been satisfied with his character and conduct,
conferred on him the honour of knighthood, Jan. 6, 1682. As, however, he could
not take the oaths on the Revolution, he quitted his public employment, and by this
step sacrificed his property to his principles. For some time he lived a retired and
probably a comfortable life, but poverty at length induced him to seek relief. In
1696, he presented a supplicatory memorial to the earl of Romney, then master ge-
neral of the ordnance, and another to the king. In both, he represented in very earnest,
but modest language, his long and faithful services: his total loss of fortune in the
cause of royalty; his extreme indigence; and his advanced age (he being then up-
wards of eighty-two years old) and concluded with an humble request that an annual
stipend for his support might be granted upon the quarter books of the office. The
writer to whom we are indebted for this account 3 has not been able to discover that
this request was ever complied with. He adds, that sir Edward was well acquainted
with the duties of his station, to the discharge of which he dedicated a long life, and

2 Father of the learned Thomas Stanley, esq. Phillips dedicated his Theatrum Poetarum to Stanley
and Sherburne. C.

Gent. Mag. ubi supra. p. 462-3. C.

LIFE OF SIR EDWARD SHERBURNE.

605

was the principal person concerned in drawing up the "Rules, Orders and Instructions" given to the office of ordnance in 1683, which with very few alterations, have been confirmed at the beginning of every reign since, and are those by which the office is now governed.

To these scanty notices, may be added his acquaintance with Dr. Bentley, which was occasioned by that learned critic's announcing an intention of publishing a new edition of Manilius. Sir Edward, who had formerly translated the first book of that poet into English verse, took this opportunity of sending to Bentley his collection of editions and papers belonging to Gaspar Gevartius who had also intended an edition of Manilius, but was prevented by death*.

The writer of his life in the Biographia Britannica, concludes it with lamenting the misfortune of Anthony Wood's carrying on his history no longer than the year 1700, and thus leaving it doubtful when sir Edward Sherburne died: but this is one of the many instances of carelessness which occur in those latter volumes of the Biographia that were principally intrusted to Dr. Nichols. Collier, whose dictionary is in less reputation than it deserves, and which contains many curious facts not easily to be found elsewhere, ascertains Sherburne's death from an epitaph which he wrote for himself. He died in Nov. 4, 1702, and was interred on the 8th in the chapel belonging to the Tower of London.

In Sherburne's poems considerable genius may be discovered, but impeded by the prevailing taste of his age for strained metaphors and allusions. Poetical lovers then thought no compliments too extravagant, and ransacked the remotest and apparently most barren sources for what were considered as striking thoughts, but which appear to us unnatural, if not ridiculous. He appears to have derived most of his reputation from his translations. He was a man of classical learning and a critic, and frequently conveys the sense of his author with considerable spirit, although his versification is in general flat and inharmonious. In his sacred poems he seems to rise to a fervency and elegance which indicate a superior inspiration.

Biog. Brit. old edit. vol. ii. p. 744. note S. C.

Some of them are omitted in the present edition, as are his learned notes on Coluthus. C.