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THOMAS SHELTON (fl. 1612-1620)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 834 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS See also:SHELTON (fl. 1612-1620)  , See also:English translator of See also:Don Quixote . In the See also:dedication of The delightfull See also:history of the wittie See also:knight, Don Quiskote (1612) he explains to his See also:patron, See also:Lord See also:Howard de See also:Walden, afterwards 2nd See also:Earl of See also:Suffolk, that he had translated Don Quixote from See also:Spanish into English some five or six years previously in the See also:period of See also:forty days for a " very dear friend " who was unable to understand the See also:original . See also:Shelton did not use the original edition of Cervantes, but one published in See also:Brussels'in 1607 . On the See also:appearance of the Brussels imprint of the second See also:part of Don Quixote in 1616, he translated that also into English, completing his task in 162o, and See also:printing at the same See also:time a revised edition of the first part . His performance, has become a classic among English See also:translations for its racy, spirited rendering of the original . See also:Light was thrown on See also:Thomas Shelton's See also:personal history by the researches of Mr See also:Alexander T . See also:Wright in a See also:paper published in See also:October 1898 . Among the kinsfolk of the earl of Suffolk were three persons bearing the name Thomas Shelton, and though all died before 1600 he was probably a member of the same See also:family . It seems safe to identify him with the Thomas Shelton who wrote a See also:sonnet prefixed to the Restitution of Decayed Intelligence (16o5) of See also:Richard Verstegan, who was most likely the friend referred to in Shelton's See also:preface, for there is See also:reason to believe that both of them were then employed in a See also:matter of doubtful See also:loyalty, the intrigues of the See also:Roman Catholics in See also:England . He was acquainted with the " cries of the See also:wild Irish," and seems to have been honestly employed in carrying letters to persons in England from Lord See also:Deputy See also:Fitzwilliam at See also:Dublin See also:Castle . But in 1599 he apparently acted as See also:agent for See also:Florence McCarthy to offer his service to the See also:king of See also:Spain, a See also:commission for which his knowledge of Spanish especially fitted him . Soon afterwards an See also:official precis of the facts was See also:drawn up, in which Shelton was implicated II by name .

A second version of this document in 1617 is actually signed by him, but all reference to his See also:

share in the matter is omitted . See also:Lady Suffolk, the wife of his patron, received yearly ix000 in See also:secret service See also:money from the Spanish king, and Shelton may have been her See also:accomplice . If the " many affairs of his preface were official he would not wish to See also:call See also:attention to his antecedents by owning friendship with Verstegan., The 1612 edition is available in Mr Fitzmaurice See also:Kelly's reprint for the Tudor Translations (1892) ; that of 162o is reproduced in See also:Macmillan's " Library of English See also:Classics " with an introduction by Mr A . W . See also:Pollard, who incorporates the suggestions made by Mr A . T . Wright in his Thomas See also:Skelton, Translator .

End of Article: THOMAS SHELTON (fl. 1612-1620)
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