Robert Aylett (Aylet) (1583? – 1655) was an English lawyer and religious poet.
Life
editHe was a son of Leonard Aylett and Ann Pater of Rivenhall, Essex[1] born in 1582 or 3[2] and was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1605, M.A. in 1608, and LL.D in 1614.[3] He married three times but had no children: his first wife is not named but according to his 1653 poem A Wife not readymade but bespoke, by Dicus the Batchelor, and made up for him by his fellow shepheard Tityrus; in four pastoral eclogues died soon after the marriage; his second wife was Judith Gael, of Hadleigh in Suffolk, [4] and his third, a widow, Penelope Stevens, originally Penelope Wiseman.[2]
Living at Feering, he acted for the archdeacon of Colchester and as justice of the peace.[5] He also acted in Essex as commissary for the Bishop of London, and judge of the Commissary Court; he played a large part in enforcing the Laudian reforms in the county.[6] He became Master of the Faculties in 1642.[7][8] He acted first for the House of Commons and then for the House of Lords until his death in 1655.[9]
Works
editAs a poet his work is related to George Herbert's, but he borrowed quite heavily from Edmund Spenser.[10] Susanna, or the Arraignment of the Two Unjust Elders'; was published in 1622. Joseph, or Pharaoh's Favorite, Peace with her Four Gardens (1622) and Thrift's Equipage (1622) are other earlier works.[8]
Divine and Moral Speculations (1654)[11] was dedicated to Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester and his wife. A Wife not readymade but bespoke, by Dicus the Batchelor, and made up for him by his fellow shepheard Tityrus; in four pastoral eclogues (1653) is a secular piece.
He died on March 15, 1655 and is buried inside the parish church of Great Braxted with an elaborate monument constructed by his younger nephew, John Aylett.[2]
Notes
edit- ^ Visitation of Essex 1634, Owen and Lilly
- ^ a b c Padelford, F.M., 1936. Robert Aylett. The Huntington Library Bulletin, (10), pp.1-48.
- ^ "Aylett, Robert (ALT605R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ A brief description of the Town of Hadleigh in Suffolk; ... with some account of the most eminent persons connected with it" by E.Levien (1853) Page 22. See monument to John Gaell
- ^ J. S. Cockburn, Crime in England 1550-1800 (1977), p. 94.
- ^ J. Horace Round, William Page, William Price (editor), Family Origins and Other Studies (1971), p. 108.
- ^ s:Aylett, Robert (DNB00)
- ^ a b Author Record
- ^ Green, M. M. A. E. W. (Ed.). (1875). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series,[during the Commonwealth]...: 1649-1650 (Vol. 1). Longman & Company.
- ^ R. M. Cummings, Edmund Spenser: the critical heritage (1995), p. 140.
- ^ Divine and Moral Speculations in Metrical Numbers upon Various Subjects. By Doctor R. Aylet, one of the Masters of the High Court of Chancery. London . . . 1654.
References
edit
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Aylett, Robert". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Further reading
edit- John Horace Round, Robert Aylett and Richard Argall. English Historical Review, 38 (1923), 423–4.