George Sandys

Background

He was born on Mar. 2, 1577/78 at Bishopsthorpe, near York, England, United Kingdom, seventh and youngest son of Edwin Sandys, archbishop of York, and his wife Cicely, daughter of Sir Thomas Wilford; Sir Edwin Sandys was his brother.

Education

Save that he had three noble godparents, that he entered St. Mary Hall, Oxford, Dec. 5, 1589 (he appears to have taken no degree), and that he was admitted to the Middle Temple Oct. 23, 1596, little is known of his youth or early manhood.

Career

In 1610 he left England on an extended foreign tour, visiting France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and Palestine; and after returning home published A Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610 (1615), an authoritative account of his travels which proved popular and influential.

Early interested in colonial enterprise, he was a shareholder in the Virginia Company under its third charter (1611) and in the Bermudas Company, disposing of his shares in the latter organization in 1619, after an unsuccessful effort to obtain the governorship of the islands.

In April 1621, however, upon Southampton's recommendation, he was appointed treasurer of the Virginia colony, and that autumn accompanied Governor Wyatt (who had married his niece, Margaret Sandys) to Jamestown, remaining in Virginia until 1628 or later.

He was made a member of the council, September 1624, and was reappointed in 1626 and 1628. He managed successfully the 1500 acres with which his office was endowed and acquired other property, about which he sometimes quarreled with the colonial council.

A second complete edition of his famous Ovid's Metamorphosis Englished by G. S. (1626), handsomely printed and illustrated, was issued in 1632, and included a translation of Book I of Virgil's 'neid. A member of the commission for the better plantation of Virginia, he applied for the secretaryship of the Crown's special commission "to govern the plantations"; his petition failing, he settled permanently in England, and was shortly made a gentleman of the privy chamber to King Charles.

At court he became intimate with Lucius Cary, second viscount Falkland, and subsequently spent part of his time at Carswell, home of Sir Francis Wenman (who had married the poet's niece, Anne Sandys), where he could associate easily with the circle which gathered about Falkland at Great Tew, Oxfordshire.

His closing years, however, were passed mainly at Boxley Abbey, near Maidstone, Kent, the residence of his niece Margaret, widow of Francis Wyatt, whither he retired himself for his poetry and contemplations. In 1636 he published, under special license from the King, the first of his celebrated poetic renditions of the scriptures, A Paraphrase upon the Psalmes of David and upon the Hymnes Dispersed throughout the Old and New Testaments, to a second augmented edition of which (1638) Sidney Godolphin, Carew, Waller, and others contributed commendatory verses while Henry Lawes added music.

Except for the publication of Christs Passion (1640), translated from the Latin of Grotius, and A Paraphrase upon the Song of Solomon (1641), his last years were uneventful.

He died at Boxley Abbey and was buried in Boxley Church.

Achievements

• He commanded a punitive force against the Tappahannock Indians; he offered to lead an expedition in search of a route to the South Sea; he built the first water-mill in America; he sponsored iron manufacture, engaged in the making of glass, devoted considerable effort to reviving silk culture and grape culture; and he is credited with having introduced ship-building into the colony. Sandys' travel narrative appeared as The Relation of a Journey begun an. Dom. 1610, in four books (1615). This remained a standard account of the Eastern Mediterranean. Best remembered of all his achievements, however, was his Ovid's Metamorphosis Englished by G. S. (1626) in verse, the first five books of which he had translated and seemingly had published before sailing for Virginia.

Works

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• book

  • A Relation of a Journey Begun an

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Poetical Works of George Sandys, Vol. 1: Now First Collected, With Introduction and Notes (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Poetical Works of George Sandys, Vol. 1:...)

  • The Poetical Works of George Sandys, Vol. 2: Now First Collected, With Introduction and Notes (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Poetical Works of George Sandys, Vol. 2:...)

Personality

He was, however, no book-suffocated scholar or clerk: besides his cultural accomplishments he possessed initiative, an observant practicality, and exceptional industry.

He had long been esteemed no less for his unfailing nobility of character, his modesty, gentle disposition, and piety, than for his indubitable poetic talents.

Connections

He was presumably unmarried.

Mother:

Cicely Wilford

nephew:

Richard Lovelace

intimate:

Lucius Cary

coworker:

Governor Wyatt

Brother:

Edwin Sandys

niece:

Margaret Sandys

Friend:

Edwin Sandys

References

• George Sandys: Travel, Colonialism and Tolerance in the Seventeenth Century (Studies in Renaissance Literature)