Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition | Page 8

Cripplegate,
mentioned in his father's will. There is no official record of his
residence at the university, but the diary of the Rev. Richard Madox
tells us that he was at Antwerp in 1583 and was "once of Oriel
College." He married Ann Sutton in 1593, and had a family. He is
supposed to have died shortly after the publication of his last work,

Fantastickes (1626). Breton found a patron in Mary, countess of
Pembroke, and wrote much in her honour until 1601, when she seems
to have withdrawn her favour. It is probably safe to supplement the
meagre record of his life by accepting as autobiographical some of the
letters signed N.B. in A Poste with a Packet of Mad Letters (1603,
enlarged 1637); the 19th letter of the second part contains a general
complaint of many griefs, and proceeds as follows: "hath another been
wounded in the warres, fared hard, lain in a cold bed many a bitter
storme, and beene at many a hard banquet? all these have I; another
imprisoned? so have I; another long been sicke? so have I; another
plagued with an unquiet life? so have I; another indebted to his hearts
griefe, and fame would pay and cannot? so am I." Breton was a facile
writer, popular with his contemporaries, and forgotten by the next
generation. His work consists of religious and pastoral poems, satires,
and a number of miscellaneous prose tracts. His religious poems are
sometimes wearisome by their excess of fluency and sweetness, but
they are evidently the expression of a devout and earnest mind. His
praise of the Virgin and his references to Mary Magdalene have
suggested that he was a Catholic, but his prose writings abundantly
prove that he was an ardent Protestant. Breton had little gift for satire,
and his best work is to be found in his pastoral poetry. His Passionate
Shepheard (1604) is full of sunshine and fresh air, and of unaffected
gaiety. The third pastoral in this book--"Who can live in heart so glad
As the merrie country lad"--is well known; with some other of Breton's
daintiest poems, among them the lullaby, "Come little babe, come silly
soule,"[1]--it is incorporated in A.H. Bullen's Lyrics from Elizabethan
Romances (1890). His keen observation of country life appears also in
his prose idyll, Wits Trenchmour, "a conference betwixt a scholler and
an angler," and in his Fantastickes, a series of short prose pictures of
the months, the Christian festivals and the hours, which throw much
light on the customs of the times. Most of Breton's books are very rare
and have great bibliographical value. His works, with the exception of
some belonging to private owners, were collected by Dr A.B. Grosart
in the [v.04 p.0502] Chertsey Worthies Library in 1879, with an
elaborate introduction quoting the documents for the poet's history.
Breton's poetical works, the titles of which are here somewhat

abbreviated, include The Workes of a Young Wit (1577); A Floorish
upon Fancie (1577); The Pilgrimage to Paradise (1592); The Countess
of Penbrook's Passion (MS.), first printed by J.O. Halliwell Phillipps in
1853; Pasquil's Fooles cappe, entered at Stationers' Hall in 1600;
Pasquil's Mistresse (1600); Pasquil's Passe and Passeth Not (1600);
Melancholike Humours (1600); Marie Magdalen's Love: a Solemne
Passion of the Soules Love (1595), the first part of which, a prose
treatise, is probably by another hand; the second part, a poem in
six-lined stanza, is certainly by Breton; A Divine Poem, including "The
Ravisht Soul" and "The Blessed Weeper" (1601); An Excellent Poem,
upon the Longing of a Blessed Heart (1601); The Soules Heavenly
Exercise (1601); The Soules Harmony (1602); Olde Madcappe newe
Gaily mawfrey (1602); The Mother's Blessing (1602); A True
Description of Unthankfulnesse (1602); The Passionate Shepheard
(1604); The Soules Immortall Crowne (1605); The Honour of Valour
(1605); An Invective against Treason; I would and I would not (1614);
Bryton's Bowre of Delights (1591), edited by Dr Grosart in 1893, an
unauthorized publication which contained some poems disclaimed by
Breton; The Arbor of Amorous Devises (entered at Stationers' Hall,
1594), only in part Breton's; and contributions to England's Helicon
and other miscellanies of verse. Of his twenty-two prose tracts may be
mentioned Wit's Trenchmour (1597), The Wil of Wit (1599), A Poste
with a Packet of Mad Letters (1603). Sir Philip Sidney's Ourania by
N.B. (1606); Mary Magdalen's Lamentations (1604), and The Passion
of a Discontented Mind (1601), are sometimes, but erroneously,
ascribed to Breton.
[1] This poem, however, comes from The Arbor of Amorous Devises,
which is only in part Breton's work.
BRETÓN DE LOS HERREROS, MANUEL (1796-1873), Spanish
dramatist, was born at Quel (Logroño) on the 19th of December 1796
and was educated at Madrid. Enlisting on the 24th of May 1812, he
served against the French in Valencia and Catalonia, and retired