[or Brathwait]. English poet, son of Thomas Brathwait; born in 1588 at his fathers manor of Burneshead, near Kendal, Westmorland. He entered Oriel College, Oxford, in 1604, and remained there for some years, pursuing the study of poetry and Roman history. He removed to Cambridge to study law and afterwards to London to the Inns of Court. Thomas Brathwait died in 1610, and the son went down to live on the estate he inherited from his father. In 1617 he married Frances Lawson of Nesham, near Darlington. On the death of his elder brother, Sir Thomas Brathwait, in 1618, Richard became the head of the family, and an important personage in the county, being deputy-lieutenant and justice of the peace. In 1633 his wife died, and in 1639 he married again. His only son by this second marriage, Sir Stafford Brathwait, was killed in a sea-fight against the Algerian pirates. Richard Brathwaites most famous work is Barnabae Itinerarium or Barnabees Journall [1638], by Corymbaeus, written in English and Latin rhyme. The title-page says it is written for the travellers solace and is to be chanted to the old tune of Barnabe. The story of drunken Barnabees four journeys to the north of England contains much amusing topographical information, and its gaiety is unflagging. Barnabee rarely visits a town or village without some notice of an excellent inn or a charming hostess, but he hardly deserves the epithet drunken. At Banbury he saw the Puritan who has become proverbial,
Hanging of his cat on Monday | |
For killing of a Mouse on Sunday. |
A full bibliography is given in Joseph Haslewoods edition of Barnabees Journall (ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1876). See also J. Corser, Collectanea (Chetham Soc., 1860, &c.). See also The Author to His Disconsolate Brother, etc.