Robert Aylett

He was a son of Leonard Aylett and Ann Pater of Rivenhall, Essex[1] born in 1582 or 3[2] and was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1605, M.A. in 1608, and LL.D in 1614.[3] He married three times but had no children: his first wife is not named but according to his 1653 poem A Wife not readymade but bespoke, by Dicus the Batchelor, and made up for him by his fellow shepheard Tityrus; in four pastoral eclogues died soon after the marriage; his second wife was Judith Gael, of Hadleigh in Sussex, and his third, a widow, Penelope Stevens, originally Penelope Wiseman.[2]

Living at Feering, he acted for the archdeacon of Colchester and as justice of the peace.[4] He also acted in Essex as commissary for the Bishop of London, and judge of the Commissary Court; he played a large part in enforcing the Laudian reforms in the county.[5] He became Master of the Faculties in 1642.[6][7] He acted first for the House of Commons and then for the House of Lords until his death in 1655.[8]

As a poet his work is related to George Herbert's, but he borrowed quite heavily from Edmund Spenser.[9] Susanna, or the Arraignment of the Two Unjust Elders'; was published in 1622. Joseph, or Pharaoh's Favorite, Peace with her Four Gardens (1622) and Thrift's Equipage (1622) are other earlier works.[7]

Divine and Moral Speculations (1654)[10] was dedicated to Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester and his wife. A Wife not readymade but bespoke, by Dicus the Batchelor, and made up for him by his fellow shepheard Tityrus; in four pastoral eclogues (1653) is a secular piece.

He died on March 15, 1655 and is buried inside the parish church of Great Braxted with an elaborate monument constructed by his younger nephew, John Aylett.[2]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Aylett, Robert". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.

• John Horace Round, Robert Aylett and Richard Argall. English Historical Review, 38 (1923), 423-4.