CHARLES COTTON, ESQ. xi 



" A prison is a place of care, 



Wherein no man may thrive; 

 A touchstone sure to try a friend, 

 A grave for men alive." 



His second marriage (before 1675) with the Countess Dowager 

 of Ardglass, who had a jointure of JC1500 a year, must have 

 relieved in some degree his more immediate necessities, but at 

 his death (which would appear from the date of the instrument 

 to have occurred about 1G87), the administration of his estate 

 was granted to his principal creditor, his widow and children 

 renouncing. 



It is probable that Cotton wrote many of his poems in early 

 life, and others at the time when his necessities banished him 

 from the capital. The merit of his poems may be gathered from 

 the specimens given in this sketch and elsewhere in the volume. 

 He w^as evidently a rapid writer, and could have done much bet- 

 ter with more application ; yet he cannot be said to have been 

 idle, as the number of his productions (a list of which is here 

 given) shows. 



1. His first work was, " Scarronides, or Virgil Travestie, a 

 Mock Poem on the First Book of Virgile's yEneis, in English Bur- 

 .esque." Published 1664. 



2. " The Moral Philosophy of the Stoics," translated from the 

 French of Du Vaix, at his (Cotton's) father's command, and 

 dedicated to John Ferrers, Esq., 1663-4. Published 1677. 



3. " The Horace of Racine," translated for the amusemeiit of 

 his wife's sister, and published 1670. 



4. A new edition of Scarronides, a Travestie of Virgile's 

 Fourth Book being added, 1670. 



5. " Tlie Life of the Duke of Espernon," from the French of 

 Gerard, dedicated to Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1670. 



6. " The Commentaries of De Montluc, Marshal of France,'' 

 translated 1674. 



" The Complete Gamester," published the same year, has been 

 attributed to him, on insufficient evidence. 



7. "The Fair One of Tunis; or, The Generous Mistress, a 

 piece of gallantry out of the French," pp. 312, 1674. This ap- 

 pears to have been in a great measure nn original work. 



