Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/70

  

GREENBURY, ROBERT (fl. 1616–1650), painter, painted in 1626 a well-known portrait, of some merit, of Arthur Lake, bishop of Bath and Wells, for New College, Oxford. The college paid 4l. for the work. It was exhibited at the National Portrait Exhibition in 1866 (No. 524). In 1625 Greenbury was employed by the East India Company to paint a large picture giving details of the cruelties inflicted on the English by the Dutch at Amboyna (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser., Car. I). The picture, which is said to have caused the widow of one of the victims to swoon, was intended to inflame popular passion, and was defaced from motives of foreign policy. 'Robert Greenberry, picture-drawer,' figures in the lists of recusants returned by the Westminster justices to the crown in 1628 (ib.) Among the pictures belonging to Charles I was one of 'Diana and Calisto, bigger than life, a copy after Grimberry,' sold to Captain Geere for 22l. This is more probably a copy by Greenbury, as the king also possessed 'Two copies of Albert Durer and his father, which are done by Mr. Greenbury, by the appointment of the Lord Marshall.' Evelyn in his 'Diary' writes on 24 Oct. 1664: 'Thence to New College, and the painting of Magdalen Chapel, which is on blue cloth in chiar'oscuro, by one Greenborow, being a Cœna Domini.' This is no longer in its place, and was probably removed in 1829. Greenbury also painted a picture of William Waynflete, the founder of Magdalen College, Oxford, dated 1638, and one Richard Greenbury in 1632 contracted to supply the chapel there with painted glass. In 1636 Richard Greenbury patented a process for painting with oil colours upon woollen cloth, kerseys, and stuffs for hangings, also on silk for windows (. Alphabetical Index of Patentees, 1617-1852, London, 1854).



GREENE, ANNE (fl. 1650), criminal, born in 1628, was a native of Steeple Barton, Oxfordshire, who entered the household of Sir Thomas Read of Dunstew in the same county as a domestic servant. She was seduced by her master's grandson and gave birth to a child, which, as she alleged, and according to medical evidence, was stillborn. She was, however, condemned to death for murder, and on 14 Dec. 1650 was hanged at Oxford. At her own request several of her friends pulled at her swinging body, and struck severe blows, so as to make sure that she was dead, and after the usual interval she was cut down and given over to the doctors for dissection. It was then discovered that Greene was still breathing, and with the help of restoratives she soon regained her health. She was granted a free pardon. The event was regarded as the special interference of the hand of God on behalf of the innocent, and called forth several pamphlets. The most notable of these is 'Newes from the Dead, or a True and Exact Narration of the Miraculous Deliverance of Anne Greene … written by a Scholler in Oxford … whereunto are prefixed certain Poems casually written upon that subject,' Oxford, 1651; the poems, which are twenty-five in number and in various languages, include a set of Latin verses by Christopher Wren, then a gentleman-commoner of Wadham College.



GREENE, EDWARD BURNABY (d. 1788), poet and translator, was the eldest son of Edward Burnaby (d. 1759), one of the chief clerks of the treasury, by his wife Elizabeth Greene (d. 1754), daughter of Thomas Greene (d. 1740), a wealthy brewer of St. Margaret's, Westminster (will of Thomas Greene registered in P.C.C. 225, Browne). On the death of his aunt, Miss Frances Greene, on 30 Dec. 1740 (Gent. Mag. 1740, p. 50), he inherited his grandfather's fortune, 4,000l. a year, and his business; and in the following year an act of parliament was passed to enable him, then an infant, to assume the surname of Greene in addition to that of Burnaby. As Edward Greene Burnaby he entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on 22 Sept. 1755, as a fellow-commoner under the tuition of Mr. Barnardiston (College Register), but did not take a degree. He then became a brewer, knowing-nothing of the business, and lived in considerable splendour at Westminster, and at Northlands, or Norlands, Kensington. He contracted an enormous debt, and in 1779 his property was sold, and he was forced to retire to a lodging. His valuable library was sold by Christie. Greene died on 12 March 1788 (Gent. Mag. 1788, pt. i. p. 276). He married, on 12 Feb. 1761, Miss Cartwright of Kensington (ib. 1761, p. 94), who died before him, leaving three children, Anne, Pitt, and Emma.

Greene's literary attempts, turgid translations from the Greek and Latin poets, and