Cotton Charles

Cotton, Charles, poet, was born in 1630 at Beresford, Staffordshire, and was a friend of Isaak Walton. He devoted himself early in life to literary pursuits, in which, though a staunch Royalist, he was in no way interrupted. In 1656 he married his cousin Isabella, daughter of Sir Thomas Hutchinson. No collection of his poems was published until after his death in 1687. Though constantly in pecuniary difficulties, he was both a vigorous and prolific writer. His best known works are his Scarronides, or The First Book of Virgil Travestie, published in 1664, and his translation of Montaigne's Essays, issued in 1685.