John Donne the Younger (1604–1662) was an English clergyman and writer.
Life
John Donne the Younger was the son of the poet
John Donne
John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...
, born about May 1604. He was educated at
Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
and then elected a student at
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
, in 1622. He appears to have taken the degrees of B.A. and M.A. in the usual course, but was notorious for his dissipated habits. At the time of his father's death, he was in England, and he managed to get possession of all the books and papers which had been bequeathed to Dr. John King and to retain them in his own hands during his life.
On 31 October 1633, while riding with a friend in
St. Aldate's in Oxford, an eight-year-old boy startled one of the horses, whereupon Donne struck the child on his head four or five times with his riding-whip. The injured boy died on 22 November.
William Laud
William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 ...
was vice-chancellor at the time, and Donne was put upon his trial for manslaughter, but acquitted. He left England after this, and went to Padua, at which university he took the degree of doctor of laws, and on his return was incorporated at Oxford with the same degree on 30 June 1638. About this time, he was admitted to holy orders. On 10 July, he was presented to the rectory of
High Roding
High Roding is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is included in the eight hamlets and villages called The Rodings. High Roding is northwest from the county town of Chelmsford.
History
Accordi ...
in Essex; on 29 May 1639 to the rectory of
Ufford in Northamptonshire; and on 10 June of the same year to the rectory of
Fulbeck
Fulbeck is a small village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. The population (including Byards Leap) taken at the 2011 census was 513. The village is on the A607, north from Grantham and north-west from S ...
in Lincolnshire. He resided at none of them. He was chaplain to
Basil, Earl of Denbigh, to whom he dedicated the second volume of his father's sermons.
During the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, he was an object of suspicion to the
parliamentarians, and, in 1644, wrote, "Since the beginning of the war my study was often searched, and all my books and almost my brains by their continual alarms sequestered for the use of the committee." A few years later, the following entry appears in the ''Lords' Journals'': "Wed. 14 June 1648. Upon reading the petition of Dr. John Donne, chaplain to the Earl of Denbigh, who is arrested contrary to the privilege of parliament, it is ordered that it is referred to the committee of privileges to consider whether the said Dr. Donne be capable of the privilege of parliament or no, and report the same to this house."
Donne died in the winter of 1662, at his house in Covent Garden, where he appears to have lived for the last twenty years of his life, and was buried on 3 February at the west end of
St Paul's Church, Covent Garden.
The remnants of his father's books and papers were given by him to Izaak Walton, the younger, and some of them are to be found in Salisbury Cathedral Library.
Anthony à Wood
Anthony Wood (17 December 1632 – 28 November 1695), who styled himself Anthony à Wood in his later writings, was an English antiquary. He was responsible for a celebrated ''Hist. and Antiq. of the Universitie of Oxon''.
Early life
Anthony W ...
said of Donne that "He had all the advantages imaginable tendered to him to tread in the steps of his virtuous father, but his nature being vile, he proved no better all his lifetime than an atheistical buffoon, a banterer, and a person of over free thoughts" but goes in to add that he was valued by King Charles II, and that "There is no doubt but that he was a man of sense, and parts; which, had they been applied to a good use, he might have proved beneficial in his generation."
Writings
Some months before his death, Donne issued a volume entitled ''Donne's Satyr; containing a short map of Mundane Vanity, a cabinet of Merry Conceits, certain pleasant propositions and questions, with their merry solutions and answers''.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donne, John, The Younger
1604 births
1662 deaths
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
17th-century English Anglican priests