Davies, John
English poet and writing master
John Davies, also called John Davies of Hereford, (born c. 1565, Hereford, Herefordshire, England—died July 1618, London), English poet and writing master whose chief work was Microcosmos (1603), a didactic religious treatise.
Davies settled in Oxford and became known as the best penman of his day. As well as other religious verse treatises, he wrote Wittes Pilgrimage . . . (c. 1605), a collection of love sonnets; and Humours Heav’n on Earth; with the Civile Warres of Death and Fortune (1609), a description of the plague. The epigrams of his Scourge of Folly (c. 1610) contain current notices of his eminent contemporaries, including Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare. Davies also composed a popular writing manual, The Writing Schoole-Master (16th ed., 1636).
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