Henry Vaughan From LoveToKnow 1911 HENRY VAUGHAN (1622-1695), called the "Silurist," English poet and mystic, was born of an ancient Welsh family at Newton St Briget near Scethrog by Usk , Brecknockshire, on the 17th of April 1622. His grandfather, Thomas Vaughan , was the son of Charles Vaughan of Tretower Castle , and had acquired the farm of Newton by marriage. From 1632 to 1638 he and his twin brother Thomas , noticed below, were privately educated by the Rev. Matthew Herbert rector of Llangattock, to whom they both addressed Latin verses expressing their gratitude. Anthony a Wood, who is the main authority for Vaughan's biography, says that Henry was entered at Jesus College, Oxford , in 1638, but no corroboration of the statement is forthcoming, although Thomas Vaughan's matriculation is entered, nor does Henry Vaughan ever allude to residence at the university.' He was sent to London to study law, but turning his attention to medicine , he became a physician, and settled first at Brecon and later at Scethrog to the practice of his art. He was regarded, says Wood, as an "ingenious person, but proud and humorous." It seems likely that he fought on the king's side in the Welsh campaign of 1645, and was present at the battle of Rowton Heath . In 1646 appeared Poems, with the Tenth Satyre of | |
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