father was a prosperous merchant and served the office of warden of his company in 1574, but he died when his career was no more than beginning, in January 1575-6, leaving behind him a widow and six children, four daughters and two sons, the elder son being the subject of this article. On his mother's side he was descended from Judge Rastall, who died in exile for conscience' sake in 1565; the judge had married a sister of Sir Thomas More, who was barbarously murdered by Henry VIII for refusing to assent to the royal supremacy in matters spiritual. Donne had two uncles, his mother's brethren, Jasper and Elias Heywood, who bravely suffered for their convictions, and also died abroad as Jesuit fathers, the one (Elias) at Louvain in 1578, the other (Jasper), after enduring much misery in the Clink and other prisons, was banished the realm, and died at Naples in 1598. All these were men of mark and conspicuous ability, and all had their strong religious convictions in entire sympathy with the doctrine and the ritual of the church of Rome. When Donne's father died the cleavage between the Anglican and the Roman party in the state and in the church had begun to be recognised among all classes; the conscientious Romanists were compelled to choose their side, pope and queen being equally resolved on forcing them to make their choice. Donne's mother was not the woman to hesitate; she had been born and bred in an atmosphere of ultramontane sentiment. In her household there should be no uncertainty; protestantism and all that it implied was hateful to her; her children should be brought up in the old creed, and in that alone. Of young Donne's early training we know nothing more than this, that he was brought up by tutors whose learning and piety he revered, and whose influence left upon him 'certain impressions of the Roman religion' which remained strong upon him through youth and manhood. On 23 Oct. 1584 he was admitted with his younger brother, Henry, at Hart Hall, Oxford. John, the elder, was in his twelfth year, Henry, the younger, in his eleventh. Although it was not usual for children of this age to be entered at the university, yet it was not so uncommon as has sometimes been assumed; three years before this very date no less than eighteen boys of eleven were matriculated, and twenty-two were in their fourteenth year (Clark, Register of the Univ. of Oxford, ii.421). There was a reason for this. When Campion and Parsons came over with their associates in 1581, as the accredited emissaries of the Society of Jesus for proselytising in England, and a great stir had been made by their exertions, and a great effect had followed from Campion's execution, among other stringent measures that were enforced to check the progress of the Romeward movement, it was made compulsory for all students admitted at Oxford to take the oath of supremacy, which was the crucial test of loyalty to the crown and to the reformed church of England. This oath was, however, not enforced on any one under sixteen (ib. p. 6), and by entering before that age an undergraduate escaped the burden which was imposed upon the conscience of all others. Hart Hall was at this time a very popular college; on the same day with the Donnes Richard Baker, the chronicler, entered there, he being then a lad of sixteen; and as sharer of his chamber he had for some time the renowned Sir Henry Wotton, between whom and Donne there thus began that friendship which lasted through life. Six months later another famous person entered at Hart Hall, Henry Fitzsimon [q. v.], whom Wood calls 'the most renowned jesuit of his time,' a testimony to his ability which is certainly exaggerated. It is not a little significant that no one of these five college friends, as they may be called, appears to have proceeded to a degree in the ordinary way, and that they all left Oxford to travel on the continent before the four years of the usual undergraduate course came to an end. Izaak Walton tells us that 'about the fourteenth year of his age' Donne 'was translated from Oxford to Cambridge.' There is no evidence whatever of this, and much to disprove it. It is more probable that he spent some years at this time in foreign travel, and so acquired a command of French, Italian, and Spanish. Assuming that he stayed at Oxford for at least three years, it is probable that his travels extended over the three years ending in 1591; for about the close of this year he appears to have occupied chambers with his brother Henry in Thavies Inn, which was then a kind of preparatory school for those who were educating for the legal profession. He was admitted at Lincoln's Inn on 6 May 1592, and for some time occupied the same chambers with Christopher Brooke [q. v.], and at once became an intimate with the remarkable band of poets and wits who were the intellectual leaders of their time (see Coryate, Letter from India, 4to, 1616). When Donne passed into Lincoln's Inn he left his brother Henry behind him at Thavies Inn, and just a year after the separation of the two a tragical event happened which cannot but have produced a profound impression upon the elder brother. The seminary priests and Jesuit fathers in
Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 15.djvu/230
Donne
224
Donne
