HARINGTON, Sir John (1561-1612), was the son of Mr John Harington, of Kelston, near Bath, who had been imprisoned in the Tower by Queen Mary for forwarding a letter to Elizabeth. Harington, born in 1561, was Elizabeth’s godson. He studied at Eton and at Christ’s College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of M.A., his tutor being Bishop Still, the famous author of Gammer Gurtoη , s Needle. He came up to London about 1583 and studied law, but Queen Elizabeth seems to have removed him to a place at court. Tradition relates that it was at her command that he undertook the translation of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, a work that saw the light in 1591 and was reprinted in 1607 and 1634. Soon after this first date Harington retired to the family mansion at Kelston. In 1596 he published in succession The Metamorphosis of Ajax, An Apology, and Ulysses upon Ajax, the three forming collectively a very absurd and indecorous work of -a Pan-tagruelistic kind. In 1599 he served in Ireland under Essex, and was knighted on the field, to the annoyance, it is said, of Elizabeth. He married a lady of title, who bore him eight children, and who survived until 1634. In 1608 he wrote a personal satire against the bishops, which he read to James I., but which was first published, by a Presbyterian printer, as late as 1653, under the title of A Brief View of the State of the Church. This is a somewhat scandalous production. In the spring of 1612, Harington was suffering heavily from the dropsy, and in December of that year he died. In 1613 his Epigrams, which had circulated widely in MS., were printed in a collection of the verse of various writers entitled Alcilia, and separately in 1615. They became very popular, and were often reprinted. The miscellaneous writings of Harington existing ...