Thomas Drant (c.1540–1578) was an English clergyman and poet. Work of his on prosody was known to Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. He was in the intellectual court circle known as the 'Areopagus', and including, as well as Sidney,

Edward Dyer Sir Edward Dyer (October 1543 – May 1607) was an English courtier and poet. Life The son of Sir Thomas Dyer, Kt., he was born at Sharpham Park, Glastonbury, Somerset. He was educated, according to Anthony Wood, either at Balliol ...

Gabriel Harvey Gabriel Harvey (c. 1552/3 – 1631) was an English writer. Harvey was a notable scholar, whose reputation suffered from his quarrel with Thomas Nashe. Henry Morley, writing in the ''Fortnightly Review'' (March 1869), has argued that Harvey's La ...

, and Daniel Rogers. He translated

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ...

into English, taking a free line in consideration of the Roman poet's secular status; but he mentioned he found Horace harder than

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...

. Drant's translation was the first complete one of the ''Satires'' in English, in

fourteener In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any sing ...

s, but makes some radical changes of content.

Life

The son of Thomas Drant, he was born at Hagworthingham in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

. He matriculated as pensioner of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

, 18 March 1558, proceeded B.A. 1561, was admitted fellow of his college 21 March 1561, and commenced M.A. 1564. On the occasion of Queen Elizabeth's visit to the university in August 1564 he composed copies of English, Latin, and Greek verses, which he presented to her majesty. At the commencement in 1565 he performed a public exercise (printed in his ''Medicinable Morall'') on the theme 'Corpus Christi non est ubique.' He was domestic chaplain to Edmund Grindal, who procured for him the post of divinity reader at

St. Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Gr ...

. In 1569 he proceeded B.D., and on 28 July in that year he was admitted by Grindal's influence to the prebend of Chamberlainwood in the church of St. Paul's. On 8 January 1570 he preached before the court at Windsor, strongly rebuking vanity of attire; he also criticized the Queen for her leniency to the northern rebels and Catholics.Natalie Mears, ''Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms'' (2005), p. 127. He was admitted to the prebend of Firles in the church of Chichester 21 January 1570, to the rectory of Slinfold in Sussex 31 January and to the archdeaconry of Lewes 27 February. On Easter Tuesday 1570 he preached a sermon at

St. Mary Spital, London Spitalfields is a district in the East End of London and within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area is formed around Commercial Street (on the A1202 London Inner Ring Road) and includes the locale around Brick Lane, Christ Church, T ...

, denouncing the sensuality of the citizens; and he preached another sermon at the same place on Easter Tuesday 1572. He had some dispute with William Overton, treasurer of the church of Chichester, whom he accused in the pulpit of pride, hypocrisy, and ignorance. He is supposed to have died about 17 April 1578, since the archdeaconry of Lewes was vacant at that date.

Works

Drant is the author of: *''Impii cuiusdem Epigrammatis qvod edidit Richardus Shacklockus . . . Apomaxis. Also certayne of the special articles of the Epigramme, refuted in Englyshe'', 1565, Latin and English. Against Richard Shacklock. *''A Medicinable Morall, that is, the two Bookes of Horace his Satyres Englyshed. ... The wailyngs of the prophet Hieremiah, done into Englyshe verse. Also epigrammes'', 1566. Some copies have at the back of the title a dedicatory inscription, 'To the Right Honorable my Lady Bacon, and my Lady Cicell, sisters, fauourers of learnyng and vertue.' Among the miscellaneous pieces that follow the translation of Jeremiah are the English and Latin verses that Drant presented to the queen on her visit to Cambridge in 1564, English verses to the Earl of Leicester, and Latin verses to Chancellor Cecil. *''Horace his arte of Poetrie, pistles, and Satyrs, Englished and to the Earle of Ormounte, by Tho. Drant, addressed'', 1567. *''Greg. Nazianzen his Epigrams and Spiritual Sentences'', 1568. *''Two Sermons preached, the one at S. Maries Spittle on Tuesday in Easter weeke 1570, and the other at the Court of Windsor . . . the viij of January . . . 1569.'' n. d. 570? *''A fruitful and necessary Sermon specially concernyng almes geving'', n. d. 572 ? preached at St. Mary Spittle on Easter Tuesday 1572. *''In Solomonis regis Ecclesiastem . . . paraphrasis poetica'', 1572, dedicated to Sir Thomas Heneage. *''Thomse Drantae Angli Advordingamii Praesul. Ejusdem Sylva'', undated, but published not earlier than 1576, There are Latin verses to Queen Elizabeth, Grindal,

Matthew Parker Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with a ...

, Lord Buckhurst, and others, and on pp. 85–6 are verses in Drant's praise by James Sandford in Greek, Latin, Italian, and French. Commendatory Latin verses by Drant are prefixed to

John Foxe John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587), an English historian and martyrologist, was the author of '' Actes and Monuments'' (otherwise ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs''), telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the s ...

's ''

Acts and Monuments The ''Actes and Monuments'' (full title: ''Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church''), popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history and martyrology by Protestant Engli ...

'', 1570; John Sadler's translation of

Vegetius Publius (or Flavius) Vegetius Renatus, known as Vegetius (), was a writer of the Later Roman Empire (late 4th century). Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what is contained in his two surviving works: ''Epitoma rei militaris'' (also ...

's ''Tactics'', 1572; Peter Carter's annotations to John Seton's ''Dialectica'', 1574; Alexander Neville's ''Kettus'', 1575;

Llodowick Lloyd Ludovic Lloyd (floruit 1573–1610) was a Welsh courtier, poet and compiler of miscellanies. Life He was the fifth son of Oliver Lloyd, lord of the manor of Marrington, Chirbury, Shropshire, England, by Gwenllian, daughter of Griffith ap Howel ab ...

's ''Pilgrimage of Princes'', n. d. He has a copy of English verses before Robert Peterson's ''Galateo'', 1576. Drant's unpublished works included a translation of the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

'', as far as the fifth book, a translation of the Psalms, and the ''Book of Solomons Prouerbs, Epigrames, and Sentences spirituall'', licensed for press in 1567.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drant, Thomas 16th-century English Anglican priests Archdeacons of Lewes 16th-century English poets 1540 births 1578 deaths 16th-century English translators People from East Lindsey District English male poets Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge English male non-fiction writers