into English by Sr G. T.,’ and ‘A History of the Holy Warr, or a translation of Torquato Tasso, Englished by Sr G. T.’ In the preface to his translation of 1825 Wiffen (under the guidance of Philip Bliss) ascribed these two slightly variant versions to Turbervile, and pronounced them to occupy ‘a middle station between’ the translations of Fairfax and of Richard Carew—no small measure of praise. But Turbervile's claim to these versions is more than doubtful, as both style and writing are deemed by experts to be post-Restoration, and there seems good reason for attributing both manuscripts to Sir Gilbert Talbot, who signs a translation of Count Guidubaldo de' Bonarelli's pastoral poem, ‘Fillis of Sciros’ (Rawl. MS. Poet. 130), resembling the Tasso poems both in penmanship and in diction (see Madan, Cat. of Western MSS. in Bodleian, Nos. 14494, 14497, and 14623; note kindly communicated by the Rev. W. D. Macray).
Apart from the commendation of the witty Sir John Harington already referred to, Turbervile received the praise of Puttenham in his ‘Art of Poesie,’ and of Meres in his ‘Palladis Tamia’ (1598). Puttenham, however, afterwards speaks of him as a ‘bad rhymer,’ and it is plain from words let fall by Nashe (in lines prefixed to Greene's ‘Menaphon’) and by Gabriel Harvey (in ‘Pierce's Supererogation’ of 1593) that he came to be regarded as the worthy poet of a rude period, but hopelessly superannuated by 1590. Tofte speaks of him very justly in his translation of Varchi's ‘Blazon of Jealousie’ (1615) as having ‘broken the ice for our quainter poets that now write.’ He is rather curtly dismissed by Park and by Drake as a smatterer in poetry, and a ‘translator only of the passion of love.’ He himself writes with becoming diffidence of his poetical pretensions in the epilogue to his ‘Epitaphs and Sonets,’ where he describes himself as paddling along the banks of the stream of Helicon, like a sculler against the tide, for fear of the deep stream and the ‘mighty hulkes’ that adventured out so far. His fondness for the octave stanza would probably recommend him to the majority of modern readers, and there is something decidedly enlivening (if not seldom crude and incongruous) in the blithe and ballad-like lilt of his verse. He did good service to our literature in familiarising the employment of Italian models, he himself showing a wide knowledge of the literature of the Latin speech, and of the Greek Anthology; and also as a pioneer in the use of blank verse and in the record of impressions of travel. A far from accurate reprint of Turbervile's ‘Poems’ (i.e. ‘Epitaphs, Epigrams, Songs, and Sonets’) appeared in Chalmers's ‘English Poets’ (1810, ii. 575 sq.).
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), i. 627; Ritson's Bibliotheca Anglo-Poetica; Collier's Bibliogr. Account, 1865, ii. 450; Hunter's Chorus Vatum (Addit. MS. 24488, ff. 9–12); Brydges's Censura Lit. i. 318, iii. 72, and Restituta, iv. 359; Phillips's Theatrum Poetarum, p. 117; Corser's Collectanea Anglo-Poetica, iii. 327, iv. 331, v. 308; Harvey's Works, ed. Grosart, ii. 96; Ames's Typographical Antiquities, ed. Herbert, ii. 945; Brit. Bibliographer (Brydges), 1810, i. 483; Ellis's Specimens, 1811, ii. 180 sq.; Drake's Shakespeare and his Times, i. 456; Dibdin's Library Companion, 1825, p. 695; Warton's English Poetry, iii. 421, iv. 247; Hazlitt's Handbook; Huth Library Catalogue; Bridgwater Cat. p. 262; Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica; Lowndes's Bibliogr. Manual (Bohn); Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary; Tanner's Bibliotheca, 1748; Anglia, 1891, Band xiii. 42–71; Gent. Mag. 1843, ii. 45–8.]
TURBERVILLE, TRUBBEVILLE, or TRUBLEVILLE, HENRY de (d. 1239), seneschal of Gascony, son of Robert Turberville, was a member of the Dorset family of that name. The family name is very variously spelt in the records. Trubleville corresponds nearly to the modern form of the Norman village Troubleville (Eure), from which it is derived. Between 1204 and 1208 Henry was engaged in litigation with regard to various estates in Melcombe, Dorset (Hutchins, Dorset, ii. 425). This suggests that he belonged to the Melcombe branch of the family, which was distinct from the main stock, having its chief seat at Bere, and this is corroborated by the fact that his arms (given in Matt. Paris, Hist. Major, vi. 477) were not precisely the same as those of the Bere Turbervilles (Hutchins, i. 42). In the latter part of John's reign Turberville had already gained the reputation of a famous soldier. He adhered to John to the end. In the last year of that king's reign he was employed to pay soldiers at Rochester, and rewarded with forfeited lands, some of which were in Devonshire. He continued to be employed under Henry III. In 1217 he took a prominent share in helping Hubert de Burgh [q. v.] to win his victory over the French fleet commanded by Eustace the Monk in the Straits of Dover (Matt. Paris, iii. 29). Numerous grants of land in Wiltshire, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Bedfordshire, and Devon were now made to him.
Before 19 Oct. 1226 Turberville was appointed seneschal of Gascony (cf. Fœdera, i. 182). He held that office until 1231. The weak rule of the young earl Richard of Corn-
