Sir William Cornwallis (c. 1576 – 1 July 1614) was an early English essayist and served as a courtier and member of Parliament. His essays, influenced by the style of
Montaigne, rather than that of
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
, became a model for later English essayists. He has sometimes been confused with his uncle of the same name.
Life
Cornwallis was born in
Beeston St Andrew
Beeston St Andrew is a civil parish north of Norwich in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England. It contains Beeston Park and according to the 2001 census had a population of 39. At the 2011 Census the population remained less than 100 and ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, and baptised in
Fincham
Fincham is a village and civil parish the English county of Norfolk. The village is located south of King's Lynn and west of Norwich, along the A1122 between Outwell and Swaffham.
History
Fincham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives fro ...
, Norfolk, the eldest child of the diplomat
Sir Charles Cornwallis by his first wife Elizabeth Farnham (1552–1584), the daughter of Thomas Farnham, whose family resided in Fincham for 500 years. Cornwallis was the member of Parliament for
Orford in 1604 and 1614.
He was knighted in 1599 after serving in the
Earl of Essex
Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...
's
Irish campaign.
[ When ]James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
assumed the throne in 1603, Cornwallis became a member of the privy chamber
A privy chamber was the private apartment of a royal residence in England.
The Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were noble-born servants to the Crown who would wait and attend on the King in private, as well as during various court activities, f ...
.
On 26 August 1595, Cornwallis married Katherine Parker.[ Their eleven children were Charles, Thomas (married Penelope Wiseman (1633–1696)), Henry, William, John, Phillip (d. 1688, rector of ]Burnham Thorpe
Burnham Thorpe is a small village and civil parish on the River Burn and near the coast of Norfolk, England. It is famous for being the birthplace of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, victor at the Battle of Trafalgar and one of Britain's greatest he ...
, Norfolk), Frances (1602–1675; married Thomas Paston and was buried at Burnham Thorpe), Katherine, Bridget, Anne, Jeane.[J. F. "Notices of a Branch of the family of Cornwallis", '']The Gentleman's Magazine
''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''magazine ...
'' (1826), pp. 406–408 He spent freely and accumulated debts paid by selling family estates.[Fakundiny]
pp. 192–93
/ref> After 1605, he spent most of his life in studious retirement. He died in 1614 leaving his wife and eight surviving children destitute. He was buried in St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...
, London.[ Katherine died on 30 January 1636 and was buried at ]Erwarton
Erwarton or Arwarton is a small village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. The parish includes the hamlet of Shop Corner. Located on the Shotley peninsula around south of Ipswich, in 2005 it had a population of 11 ...
.[
Cornwallis is often confused with Sir William Cornwallis of Brome, his uncle of the same name. His uncle, rather than he, was a friend of ]Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
. This William Cornwallis is sometimes described as "the younger" to differentiate him from his uncle, who is often described as "the elder".[Hebel, J. William (ed.)]
"Notes" on Cornwallis
''Prose of the English Renaissance'', Ardent Media, 1952
Works
Cornwallis's essays, meditative in tone, cover such topics as ambition, resolution, youth, essays and books, and humility.[ Like Montaigne's essays, they focus on self-analysis and self-improvement.][ His is the earliest surviving essay attempting a defence of Richard III. His essays were popular during his lifetime and retained popularity until the mid-17th century. His works, some of the earliest English examples of the essay genre, were written in the tradition of Montaigne, rather than that of ]Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
; they became a model for later English essayists.[
His major works include:
* ''Essayes by Sir W. Cornewaleys'' (E. Mattes), 1st part 1600, 2nd part 1601, dedicated to three Harington sisters; Lady Sara Hastings, Lady Theodosia Dudley, Lady Mary Wingfield, and their friend, Lady Mary Dyer (d. 1601), wife of Sir Richard Dyer of ]Great Staughton
Great Staughton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Great Staughton lies approximately south-west of Huntingdon. Great Staughton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as ...
. A new combined "enlarged" edition in 1610 contained a few new essays; a new edition was published in 1632.[
* ''Discourses upon Seneca the Tragedian'', 1601, the first book in English on the drama of ]Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (; 65 AD), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, dramatist, and, in one work, satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature.
Seneca was born in ...
.
* ''The Miraculous and Happy Union between England and Scotland'', 1604.
* ''Essayes, or Rather, Encomions'', 1616.
* ''Essayes of Certaine Paradoxes'', 1616;[ one of these essays, ''The Encomium of Richard III'' received a new critical edition (Arthur Kincaid, ed.) in 1977 by Turner & Devereux (London). The earliest extant manuscript of this work, which may date from the late 16th century, was dedicated to Cornwallis's "worthey frende Mr John Donne".][Kincaid, Arthur, ed. (1977), ''The Encomium of Richard III'', p. 1]
He also published some verse, including a verse epistle to his friend John Donne.[
]
References
Sources
*Blyth, William. ''Historical Notices and Records of the Village and Parish of Fincham, in the County of Norfolk, King’s Lynn'', Thew & Son, 1863
*Cornwallis, Sir William. ''Discourses upon Seneca the Tragedian'', London, 1601. Facsimile ed., introd. by Robert Hood Brown, 1952, Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints .
*Fakundiny, Lydia. "Cornwallis, Sir William, the Younger", ''Encyclopaedia of the Essay'', (ed.) Chevalier, Tracy. London: Routledge, 2012
External links
William Cornwallis
profile and links to essays, at Quotidiana.org
Biographical article about Cornwallis
in ''The Review of English Studies''
''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21)'', Vol IV: Prose and Poetry, chapter XVI: London and the Development of Popular Literature, Bartleby.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornwallis, William
1570s births
1614 deaths
English essayists
Year of birth uncertain
English MPs 1604–1611
English MPs 1614
16th-century English writers
16th-century male writers
17th-century English writers
17th-century English male writers