WILLIAM

See also:

• WILLIAM CHAMBERLAYNE (1619-1679)

CHAMBERLAYNE (1619-1679)  , English poet, was born in 1619 . Nothing is known of his history except that he practised as a physician at Shaftesbury in Dorsetshire, and fought on the Royalist side at the second battle of Newbury . He died on the 1th of July 1679 . His works are: Pharonnida (1659), a verse romance in five books; Love's Victory (1658), a tragi-comedy, acted under another title in 1678 at the Theatre Royal; England's Jubilee (166o), a poem in honour of the Restoration . A prose version of Pharonnida, entitled Eromena, or the Noble Stranger, appeared in 1683 . Southey speaks of him as " a poet to whom I am indebted for many hours of delight." Pharonnida was reprinted by S . W . Singer in 182o, and again in 1905 by Prof . G . Saintsbury in Minor Poets of the Caroline Period (vol. i.) . The poem is loose in construction, but contains some passages of great beauty .