Godwin Francis

Godwin, Francis (1562-1633), author of The Man in the Moon; or, a Discourse of a Voyage Thither, by Domingo Gonsales, the Speedy Messenger (1638, 1657, 1768), was born in Northamptonshire, and studied at Oxford. Having taken orders and held several benefices, he became Bishop of Llandaff in 1601, and of Hereford sixteen years later. The above-mentioned work showed the author's acquaintance with the Copernican system, and may quite possibly have suggested to Swift the" Voyage to Laputa in Gulliver's Travels. Godwin's other works are forgotten.