Background
He was born at Burnishead, near Kendal. His father, Thomas, died in 1610, and the son went down to live on the estate he inherited.
He was born at Burnishead, near Kendal. His father, Thomas, died in 1610, and the son went down to live on the estate he inherited.
He entered Oriel College, Oxford in 1604, and remained there for some years, pursuing the study of poetry and Roman history. He removed to Cambridge to study law and afterwards to London to the Inns of Court. Brathwait is believed to have served with the Royalist army in the Civil War.
He was the author of many works of very unequal merit, of which the best known is Drunken Barnaby"s Four Journeys, which records his pilgrimages through England in rhymed Latin (said by Southey to be the best of modern times), and doggerel English verse.
The English Gentleman (1631) and English Gentlewoman are in a much more decorous strain. Other works are The Golden Fleece (1611) (poems), The Poet"s Willow, A Strappado for the Devil (a satire), and Art Asleepe, Husband?.