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  diplomatist, and in all his undertakings he was on the most cordial terms with his associates. Brassey's experience in the employment of labourers of different races was enormous, and he made many interesting observations, of which some account is given in his life. Sir T. Brassey's 'Work and Wages' (1872) embodies some information derived from this and other sources.

 BRATHWAITE, RICHARD (1588?–1673), poet, belonged to a Westmoreland family who variously spelt their name Brathwaite, Brathwait, Brathwayte, Braithwaite, Braythwait, and Braythwayte. The poet uses indifferently the first three of these forms. His great-grandfather, also Richard, the squire of Ambleside, had one son, Robert, who had two sons, Thomas and James, and five daughters. Thomas, the poet's father, was a barrister and recorder of Kendal, and purchased the manor of Warcop, near Appleby, where he lived until his father's death put him in possession of an estate at Burneshead or Burneside, in the parish of Kendal. He married Dorothy, daughter of Robert Bindloss of Haulston, Westmoreland. Richard Brathwaite was their second surviving son. He was born about 1588, and it is supposed at Burneside, since in two of his pieces he speaks of Kendal as his 'native place.' That 1588 was the year of his birth is clear from the inscription on his portrait, 'An° 1626, Æt. 38,' and from the statement of Anthony à Wood that he 'became a commoner of Oriel College A.D. 1604, aged 16.' 'He was matriculated,' Wood adds, 'as a gentleman's son.' He remained at Oxford for several years, enjoying a scholarly life, until his father desired him to take up the law as a profession. To prepare for this he was sent to Cambridge, probably to Pembroke, since he was under the authority of Lancelot Andrewes, who was master of that college. On leaving this university he went up to London, and according to his own account in 'Spiritual Spicerie : containing sundrie sweet tractates of Devotion and Piety,' 1638, devoted himself at once to poetry, and particularly to dramatic writing. These early plays, however, are entirely lost, and probably were never printed. Thomas Brathwaite died in 1610, soon after his son came up to London, and the latter seems soon after this to have gone down to live in Westmoreland on the estates his father had left him.

In 1611 he published his first volume, a collection of poems entitled 'The Golden Fleece,' in which he refers to family bickerings, caused by his father's will, all which are by this time happily concluded. This book is dedicated to his uncle, Robert Bindlosse, and to his own elder brother, Sir Thomas Brathwaite. An appendix contains some 'Sonnets or Madrigals,' but an essay on the Art of Poesy,' which appears on a subsidiary title-page, does not occur in any known copy of the very rare volume. In 1614 Brathwaite published three works: a book of pastorals, entitled 'The Poet's Willow ;' a moral treatise, 'The Prodigals Teares ;' and 'The Schollers Medley,' afterwards reprinted as 'A Survey of History, or a Nursery for Gentry,' 1638 and 1651. In 1615 he began to emulate Decker, Rowlands, and Wither, with a collection of satires entitled 'A Strappado for the Devil'—a volume founded directly on 'The Abuses Whipt and Stript' of George Wither, whom Brathwaite calls 'my bonnie brother.' The second part of the volume is entitled 'Love's Labyrinth,' an adaptation of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. He continued for many years after this to pour forth volumes from the press, few of them of much merit. The most interesting of his early works is 'Nature's Embassie: or the Wilde-mans Measvres: Danced naked by twelve Satyres,' a collection of his odes and pastorals, published in 1621. The titles of his other works are given below.

In May 1617 he was married at Hurworth, near Darlington, to Frances, daughter of James Lawson of Nesham. This lady bore him nine children, five of them sons. His elder brother, Sir Thomas Brathwaite, died in 1618, leaving a son, George, who matriculated at St. John's College 6 July 1631 ('s Admissions, p. 7), but Richard was henceforth regarded as the head of the family. He lived at Burneside, and became captain of a company of foot in the trained bands, deputy-lieutenant of the county of Westmoreland, and justice of the peace. His wife died on 7 March 1633, and the pathetic terms in which he speaks of her merit and his loss prove that he was sincerely attached to her. On 27 June 1639 he married a widow, the daughter of Roger Crofts of Kirtlington in Yorkshire. He was lord of the manor of Catterick, and drew up a conveyance at the time of his second marriage making the property over to his wife in the event of his death. They had one son, afterwards the gallant Sir Strafford Brathwaite, who was killed in a sea-fight with Algerine pirates.

The most famous of Brathwaite's works appeared in 1638 with the title of 'Barnabæ