Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 10.djvu/12

 1057) and others that Sir John Markham was removed from the lieutenancy of the Tower, and Chamberlain appointed in his stead.

Chamberlain was in the commission for seizure of church lands in Oxfordshire, 6 Edward VI, and in that year he served for a second time the office of sheriff of Oxfordshire and Berkshire. On 22 July 1553 the privy council wrote to Sir John Williams, Leonard Chamberlain, and others of the gentry of Oxfordshire, directing them to dismiss the soldiers and repair to Queen Mary; and on 12 Aug. following the council issued a warrant for delivery of 2,000l. to him and Sir John Williams to be employed about her highness's affairs. He was knighted by Queen Mary at Westminster on 2 Oct. 1553, the day after her coronation, and he sat for Scarborough in the parliament which assembled on the 5th of the same month. It is probable that he was the gentleman porter of the Tower who received the prisoners taken in Sir Thomas Wyatt's rebellion, one of whom (Thomas Knevit) he ‘toke by the collar very roughlie’ (Chronicle of Queen Jane, ed. Nichols, 52, 61). Queen Mary in the first year of her reign granted him the site of the priory of Dunstable, and other lands in Bedfordshire. He was constituted governor of Guernsey in 1553, and returned for the county of Oxford to the parliaments which met on 2 April and 12 Nov. 1554. During his government of the island of Guernsey he greatly strengthened and improved the works at Castle Cornet. Heylyn, describing that castle as it existed in 1629, observes: ‘By Sir Leonard Chamberlaine, governor here in the time of Queen Mary, and by Sir Thomas Leighton, his successour in the reign of Elizabeth, it was improved to that majesty and beauty that now it hath been excellently fortified according to the moderne art of war, and furnished with almost an hundred piece of ordnance, whereof about sixty are of brasse’ (, Chronicles of Castle Cornet, ed. 1851, pp. 27–30, 37). Chamberlain was present at the trials of Dr. Rowland Taylor and John Bradford for heresy in January 1554–5; and he appears to have taken a somewhat active part against Bradford (, Acts and Monuments, ed. Townsend, vii. 162). He died in Guernsey about August 1561; the place of burial, which did not take place till 30 Oct., does not appear (, Diary, 271).

He had four wives; one of them was Dorothy, fourth daughter of John Newdigate, king's serjeant-at-law. Francis Chamberlain, who in 1555 was joined with him in the government of Guernsey, and who, after Sir Leonard's death, continued sole governor of that island till his own decease in 1570, was his eldest son. His second son, George Chamberlain, was the father of George Chamberlain or Chamberlayne, bishop of Ypres [q. v.].

 CHAMBERLAIN, ROBERT (fl. 1640–1660), poet, born in 1607, son of Robert Chamberlain of Standish, Lancashire, was clerk to Peter Ball, solicitor-general to Henrietta Maria. Ball, apparently impressed with Chamberlain’s literary promise, sent him to study at Exeter College in 1637, when he was thirty years old. At Oxford Chamberlain was popular with the university wits, and issued several volumes while in residence. He never took a degree. The date of his death is not known. His literary work consists of original apophthegms, a comedy, some short poems, and collections of ancient jokes. He was the intimate friend of Thomas Rawlins and Thomas Nabbes, and was much attached to Peter Ball and his son William [q. v.] His works are: 1. ‘Nocturnal Lucubrations: or Meditations Divine and Morall. Whereunto are added epigrams and epitaphs, written by Rob. Chamberlain.' London, 1638, 16mo. The first part, dedicated to ‘Peter Balle, esquire,’ consists of apophthegms, pointedly expressed; the second, dedicated to Ball's son William, is preceded by a rough sonnet by Thomas Nabbes, and includes a number of short poems, many of them inscribed with the names of various members of the Ball family and of other personal friends. Another edition appeared of 1852, ‘printed by T. F. for the use and benefit of Andrew Pennycuyke, gent.' Pennycuyke was a well-known actor of the day. A unique copy of this edition is in the Huth Library. 2. ‘The Swaggering Damsell, a comedy, written by R. C.,’ London, 1640. The dialogue is spirited, but the plot is coarse. A little blank verse is interspersed with the prose, in which the greater part is written.