FRANCIS LENTON THE POET

In a MS. obituary of the seventeenth century, preserved at Staunton Hall, Leicestershire, I found the following:— "May 12. 1642. This day died Francis Lenton, of Lincoln's Inn, Gent." This entry undoubtedly relates to the author of three very rare poetical tracts: 1. *The Young Gallant's Whirligigg*, 1629; 2. *The Innes of Court*, 1634; 3. *Great Brittain's Beauties*, 1638. In the dedication to Sir Julius Cæsar, prefixed to the first-named work, the writer speaks of having "once belonged to the *Innes of Court*," and says he was "no usuall poetizer, but, to barre idlenesse, imployed that littl…