Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hanson, John

1345297Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 24 — Hanson, John1890Sidney Lee

HANSON, JOHN (fl. 1604), poet, proceeded B.A. from Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1603-4. He was author of a very rare volume of verse, entitled 'Time is a Turn-coate, or England's Threefold Metamorphosis ; also a pageant speech or Idylion pronounced to the citie of London before the entrance of her long expected consort,' i.e. James I, London, printed for J. H., 1604, 4to, dedicated to Sir Thomas Bennet, lord mayor, and to Sir William Rowley, and Sir Thomas Middleton, sheriffs of London. Complimentary Latin verses by 'R. B.' and 'T. G.' (perhaps Richard Brathwaite [q. v.] and Thomas Gainsford [q. v.]) are prefixed. The turgid poem treats of Elizabeth's death, of James I's accession, of the plagues of 1603. and of the vices of London. Copies of the volume belonged to Heber and Corser. None are in the British Museum.

Another John Hanson, born in 1611, was son of Richard Hanson, 'minister of Henley, Staffordshire,' and entered Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1630, aged 19. Some years later a John Hanson of Abingdon, Berkshire, apparently identical with the student of Pembroke College, published 'The Sabbatariana confuted by the New Covenant, A treatise showing that the Commandments are not the Moral Law, but with their Ordinances, Statutes, and Judgments, the old Covenant,' London, 1658, 8vo.

[For the elder John Hanson, see Cooper's Athenæ Cantab. ii. 399, and Corser's Collectanes, pt. vii. 146-52. For the younger John Hanson, see Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss. Ui. 473-4.]

S. L. L.