Denham

Denham, Sir John, the son of an eminent Irish judge, was born at Dublin in 1615. His father being transferred to the English Bench, sent him to Trinity College, Oxford, and he afterwards entered at Lincoln's Inn, but his passion for gambling brought him to the verge of ruin. In 1642 he astonished the world by producing a five-act tragedy, The Sophy, which deserves no great praise, and a descriptive poem, Cooper's Hill, that caught at once the taste of the age, and procured him the patronage of the king. He was employed in several missions abroad, from which he returned penniless. Moreover, his second wife was seduced by the Duke of York, an injury that was hardly atoned for by the comfortable post bestowed on him at the Restoration. His reason ultimately gave way, and he recovered only to die in 1668. His collected Poems and Translations appeared in the same year.