#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 6 Social Media: My Uncle the Poet, Richard Lovelace

 

Richard Lovelace

During my 9X great-uncle Richard Lovelace's lifetime in the 17th century, the social media that we think of today (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) did not exist.  But Richard's poetry, influenced as it was by his experiences with politics and his associations with the important figures of his time, seems to qualify as "social media." 

In my earlier life, I was a professor of English and often taught the poetry of Sir Richard Lovelace, one of the most well-known of the so-called Cavalier Poets. Besides being known for their loyalty to the king, these poets counted the writing of polished and elegant lyrics as only one of their many accomplishments as soldiers, courtiers, gallants and wits. 

You would no doubt recognize some of Lovelace's most famous works, To Lucasta and To Althea, based on his war and prison experiences, respectively.

To Lucasta, On Going To The Wars

TELL me not, Sweet, I am unkind,
    That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breasts, and quiet mind,
    To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase,
    The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
    A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such,
    As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much,
    Loved I not honour more.

To Althea, From Prison

When Love with unconfined wings
    Hovers within my gates,
And my divine Althea brings
    To whisper at the grates;
When I lie tangled in her hair,
    And fetter'd to her eye,
The gods, that wanton in the air,
    Know no such liberty.

When flowing cups run swiftly round
    With no allaying Thames,
Our careless heads with roses bound,
    Our hearts with loyal flames;
When thirsty grief in wine we steep,
    When healths and draughts go free,
Fishes, that tipple in the deep,
    Know no such liberty.

When (like committed linnets) I
    With shriller throat shall sing
The sweetness, mercy, majesty,
    And glories of my king;
When I shall voice aloud how good
    He is, how great should be,
Enlarged winds, that curl the flood,
    Know no such liberty.

Stone walls do not a prison make,
    Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
    That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love,
    And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above,
    Enjoy such liberty.

So, I was thrilled to learn that I was actually related to him. 

Sir Richard Lovelace was born in Holland (where his father was in military service) 6 December 1617, the eldest son of Sir William Lovelace (my 10X great grandfather) and Ann Barne.  The Lovelace family had deep roots in Kent, England, holding manors there since the 14th century. 

Sir William was one of the founders of the Virginia Company, explorers of the new world across the Atlantic although he never made that voyage himself. His daughter, my 9X great-grandmother, Ann Lovelace, married another Royalist, the Rev. John Gorsuch. After his death, Ann came with her younger children to Lancaster County,Virginia, where she died about 1651, and was the immigrant ancestor of one branch of my family (Thomas/Wallis). Another of William's sons, Francis Lovelace, was the second governor of the New York colony.

Charles I

As a boy, Richard attended the Charterhouse School in London and later Oxford University where he was described as "the most amiable and beautiful person that ever eye beheld." He was awarded a Master of Arts degree in 1635.

A comic play that he wrote at Oxford drew the attention of the king and helped him land a position in the household of King Charles I. Richard became a lifelong supporter of the Royalist or Cavalier faction in the English civil wars that ultimately led to Charles' execution in 1649 and the rule of Oliver Cromwell.  

Side note: it was Charles I who granted to Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, a charter for the new colony of Maryland in 1632 named after Charles' wife, Henrietta Maria. 

 

In 1639, Richard Lovelace served in the military, fighting in Charles's religious wars in Scotland, an experience which inspired To Lucasta.  

In 1641, Richard was imprisoned for presenting a pro-royalist petition to a hostile House of Commons, an experience which inspired To Althea. In 1648, he was again imprisoned. 

Richard Lovelace, Cavalier poet, died in 1657 at the age of 40 and is buried in St. Bride's church in London. He apparently died impoverished, having to sell most of his estates, "consuming his whole patrimony in useless attempts to serve his sovereign," as one biographer noted. 

Over his career as a writer, Richard Lovelace wrote more than 200 poems as well as several plays. Despite his many love lyrics, he never married.