1856 - INTRODUCION - MOXG the numerous poets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there is scarcely a name more worthy of honour than that of George Wither. Some writers have, indeed, pronounced JVither a fanatical rhymer and an intemperate Puritan. Such wvas thc judgment of Ritson. Heylin, Dryden, Swift and Pope all writers of undoubted talent, but whose criticism and taste must have been governed by prejudice. In the cc rieglected leaves of Wither, Dr. Southey discerned felicity of expression tenderness of feeling and elevation of mind and Sir Egerton Brydges, A i r . Park, Air. IVillmott, and that truly Christian poet ancl critic, James hIontgomery, have all borne testimony to Frithers merits. The cloud wvhich obscured his merits as a poet, arose from his mingling in the political warfare of the turbulent period in which he lived. Sir Egerton Brydgcs in his Restituta has thus given the pedigree of the poet. Thomns Wither of the County of Lancaster, Esq. left three sons. Robert Wither, third son, came to Manydowne in Hampshire, and there lived, leaving issue. Thomas Wither, of Rfanydowne, who married Joane, daughter and heir of Richard Mason of Lydmonton in Hampshire, and had three sons, John, Thomas, and Richard. I John, eldest son, of Rlanydowne who married Ann daughter of - Ayliffe of Skeynes in Hampshire, had three sons, John, Richard and George which last married Avelyn, daughter of John Shank, and had Gilbert, Thomas, John and Reginald and the said Gilbert was father of George, William, Reginald and Henry. Richard Wither, second son of John Wither and Ann Ayliffe, was of Manydowne, and married a daughter of William Poynter of Whitchurch in Hampshire, by whom he had four sons, John, George, father of the poet Otho and Ferdinando. John Wither of Manydowne, eldest son, married Jane, daughter of John Love of Basing in Hampshire, and had five sons, William, Anthony, John, James, and Richard. Willim, eldest son, was of Manydowne, and married Susan, daughter of Paul Risley of Chetwood in Buckinghamshire, and had issue, John, Paul, and Susan. George Wither second son of Richard Wither by the daughter of - Poynter had issue three sons, viz. George Wither the poet, James Wither, and Anthony Wither. In most of Withers poems something of his private history may be collected. The date of his birth even is better substantiated by his verse than by the baptismal Register. Aubrey and Anthony T CTood state that he was born in 1588 other authors assert that the poet was born in 1590. His verse settles the questioll in favour of lrood and Aubrey. In a - pampldct entitled Salt upon Salt, written and published in 1658 he mites -When I began to know the world and men, I made records of what I found it then, Continuing even since to take good heed How they stood still, went back, or did proceed Till of my scale of time ascending heaven The round I stand in maketh ten times seven. Ten times seven or seventy years, fixes the date of hisbirth in 1588. The poet received his early education in the village of Colemore, under one John Greaves, a schoolmaster of some celebrity...