of writing an heroic
poem, and having there much leisure, and some encouragement, he was
induced to undertake one of a new kind; the two first books of which
he finished at the Louvre, where he lived with his old friend Lord
Jermyn; and these with a preface, addressed to Mr. Hobbs, his answer,
and some commendatory poems, were published in England; of which we
shall give some further account in our animadversions upon Gondibert.

While he employed himself in the service of the muses, Henrietta
Maria, the queen dowager of England whose particular favourite he was
found out business for him of another nature. She had heard that vast
improvements might be made in the loyal colony of Virginia, in case
proper artificers were sent there; and there being many of these in
France who were destitute of employment, she encouraged Sir William to
collect these artificers together, who accordingly embarked with his
little colony at one of the ports in Normandy; but in this expedition
he was likewise unfortunate; for before the vessel was clear of the
French coast, she was met by one of the Parliament ships of war, and
carried into the Isle of Wight, where our disappointed projector was
sent close prisoner to Cowes Castle, and there had leisure enough, and
what is more extraordinary, wanted not inclination to resume his
heroic poem, and having written about half the third book, in a very
gloomy prison, he thought proper to stop short again, finding himself,
as he imagined under the very shadow of death. Upon this occasion it
is reported of Davenant, that he wrote a letter to Hobbes, in which he
gives some account of the progress he made in the third book of
Gondibert, and offers some criticisms upon the nature of that kind of
poetry; but why, says he, should I trouble you or myself, with these
thoughts, when I am pretty certain I shall be hanged next week. This
gaiety of temper in Davenant, while he was in the most deplorable
circumstances of distress, carries something in it very singular, and
perhaps could proceed from no other cause but conscious innocence; for
he appears to have been an inoffensive good natured man. He was
conveyed from the Isle of Wight to the Tower of London, and for some
time his life was in the utmost hazard; nor is it quite certain by
what means he was preserved from falling a sacrifice to the prevailing
fury. Some conjecture that two aldermen of York, to whom he had been
kind when they were prisoners, inter