
Richard Linche, Diella: Certaine sonnets, 1596. Kessinger, 2007. Courtesy Adlibris.
Richard Linche (1596-1601 fl.) was an English poet.[1]
Life[]
Linche was a friend of poet Richard Barnfield.[2] He may have been the subject of the sonnet which Barnfield addressed to his "friend, Maister R.L., in praise of Musique and Poetrie," in Poems in Diuers Humors, 1598.[1]
A poem in the Paradise of Dainty Devices, entitled "Being in Love he complaineth," bears the same signature.[1]
Writing[]
Linche was the author of:
- The Fountaine of English Fiction, wherein is lively depictured the Images and Statues of the Gods of the Ancients, with their proper and particular Expositions, done out of Italian into English by Richard Linche, gent., for Adam Islip, 1599, 4to (Brit. Mus.). In this "strange borne child of idlenesse," as he calls it, the author takes each of the Latin gods in turn, and then collates from classical writers the passages in which his attributes are described. It is dedicated to Peter "Dauison, esq."
- An Historical Treatise of the Travels of Noah into Europe, containing the first inhabitation and peopling thereof. As also a briefe Recapitulation of the Kings, Governors, and Rulers commanding in the same, even untill the first building of Troy by Dardanus. Done into English by Richard Lynche, gent., London, by Adam Islip, 1601. Dedicated to "My very good friend, Maister Peter Manwood, Esq."[1]
Both of these so-called translations are interspersed with verses and with tags of Italian. These circumstances, combined with a general similarity of style and coloring, strongly favour the conjecture that Linche is the "R.L. gentleman" who in 1596 gave to the world Diella; certain Sonnets adioyned to the amorous Poeme of Dom Diego and Gineura. London, for Henry Olney, the publisher of Sidney's Apologie for Poetrie.
Reginald Heber (Cat. of Engl. Poetry, 171) describes Diella as of extraordinary rarity, but besides the copy in his possession there are copies both in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries; the latter, although dated 1596, bears a different imprint. The printer's dedication is addressed to Lady Ann Glemnham, eldest daughter of Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, and wife of Sir Henry Glemnham or Glemham, knight. Despite the writer's "immaturity" (to which allusion is made in the preface) the sonnets display some genuine, though ill-sustained inspiration. The story of Dom Diego is taken bodily from the Tragicall Discourses, 1567, of Geoffrey Fenton. The 38 sonnets alone were reprinted in 1841 at the Beldornie Press for Edward V. Utterson (16 copies only), and also in E. Goldsmid's Bookworms Garner, and together with Dom Diego in the 7th volume of Mr. Arber's English Garner, 1883. The whole work was edited in 1877, with introduction and notes, by the Rev. Alexander Balloch Grosart, who is convinced of the identity of R.L. with Richard Linche.[1]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Diella: Certaine sonnets; adioyned to the amorous Poeme of Dom Diego and Gineura. 1596.
- Poems by Richard Linche, Gentleman (edited by Alexander Balloch Grosart). Blackburn, UK: privately published, printed by C.E. Simms, Manchester, 1877.
- Diella: Certaine sonnets. Edinburgh: E. & G. Goldsmid, 1887.
- also published in Elizabethan Sonnets (edited by Edwin Arber & Thomas Seccombe). Westminster: Constable, 1904.
Non-fiction[]
- The Fountaine of English Fiction. London: Adam Islip, 1599.
- The Travels of Noah into Europe. London: Adam Islip, 1601.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[3]
See also[]
References[]
Seccombe, Thomas (1893) "Linche, Richard" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 33 London: Smith, Elder, p. 271. Wikisource, Web, Aug. 4, 2016.
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Seccombe, 271.
- ↑ Richard Linche (1570 ca.-1601 fl.), English Poetry, 1579-1830, Center for Applied Technologies in the Humanities, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. Web, Aug. 4, 2016.
- ↑ Search results = au:Richard Linche, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 4, 2016.
External links[]
- Poems
- Richard Linche (1570 ca.-1601 fl.) info & 4 sonnets at English Poetry, 1579-1830
- Diella: Certain sonnets at Bartleby.com (38 sonnets)
- About
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Linche, Richard