1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mayne, Jasper

18744961911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 17 — Mayne, Jasper

MAYNE, JASPER (1604–1672), English author, was baptized at Hatherleigh, Devonshire, on the 23rd of November 1604. He was educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he had a distinguished career. He was presented to two college livings in Oxfordshire, and was made D.D. in 1646. During the Commonwealth he was dispossessed, and became chaplain to the duke of Devonshire. At the Restoration he was made canon of Christ Church, archdeacon of Chichester and chaplain in ordinary to the king. He wrote a farcical domestic comedy, The City Match (1639), which is reprinted in vol. xiii. of Hazlitt’s edition of Dodsley’s Old Plays, and a fantastic tragi-comedy entitled The Amorous War (printed 1648). After receiving ecclesiastical preferment he gave up poetry as unbefitting his profession. His other works comprise some occasional gems, a translation of Lucian’s Dialogues (printed 1664) and a number of sermons. He died on the 6th of December 1672 at Oxford.