DENHAM, Sir JOHN (1615–1669), poet, was the only son of Sir John Denham, the Irish judge [q. v.], of Little Horkesley, Essex, by his second wife, Eleanor, daughter of Sir Garrett More, baron Mellefont and viscount Drogheda. He was born at Dublin in 1615, and educated in London. On 18 Nov. 1631 he matriculated at Trinity College, Oxford, where he was ‘looked upon,’ says Wood, ‘as a slow, dreaming young man, and more addicted to gaming than study.’ He was examined for the degree of B.A., but there is no proof that it was granted him. He subsequently studied law at Lincoln's Inn, where his name had been entered on the register as early as 28 April 1631. William Lenthall [q. v.] was one of his sureties. On 25 June 1634 he married at St. Bride's, Fleet Street, his first wife, Ann Cotton, of a Gloucestershire family, ‘by whom he had 500 lib. per annum, one son, and two daughters’ (Aubrey). He took up his residence with his father at Egham, Surrey, and in the church there a son of his was buried 28 Aug. 1638 (Notes and Queries, 4th ser. i. 552). His love of gambling now grew pronounced, and threatened a breach with his relatives. To allay his father's anxieties, he wrote ‘an essay against gaming,’ which was published in 1651 without the author's permission or name. Its title ran: ‘The Anatomy of Play. Written by a worthy and learned gent. Dedicated to his father to show his detestation of it.’ In 1638 the poet inherited on his father's death the family mansion at Egham and other property, but he persisted in his gaming practices, and squandered several thousand pounds.
Denham seems to have first attempted verse in 1636, when he paraphrased the second book of Virgil's ‘Æneid,’ but it was not published till 1656. His earliest publication was an historical tragedy, entitled ‘The Sophy’—written on classical lines—which was acted with success at the private theatre at Blackfriars, and issued in 1642. The plot—the scene of which is in Turkey—is drawn from Sir Thomas Herbert's ‘Travels’ (1634), and Robert Baron [q. v.] a few years later utilised the same story in his ‘Mirza.’ Waller said of Denham's performance: ‘He broke out like the Irish rebellion, three score thousand strong, when nobody was aware, or in the least suspected it’ (Aubrey).
At the beginning of the civil wars Denham was high sheriff of Surrey, and took up arms for the king. He was made governor of Farnham Castle, whence he was easily driven by Sir William Waller on 1 Dec. 1642 (Rushworth, v. 82). Waller sent him prisoner to London, where he ‘contracted a great familiarity,’ according to Sir John Berkeley, with Hugh Peters; but he was soon allowed to retire to Oxford, where he remained for nearly five years, and was treated with much consideration. His well known poem, ‘Cooper's Hill,’ in which he described the scenery about his house at Egham, was first published in London in 1642, although it was stated to have been written two years earlier, and subsequently underwent much alteration. His royalist friends at Oxford were amused by his squibs and satires penned against the presbyterians and parliamentarians. One of his few serious poems written at this period lamented the death of Strafford. On 19 June 1644 Denham's goods in London were sold by order of the parliament (Mercurius Aulicus, 1050). George Wither, the poet, who was a captain in the parliamentary army, is said by Aubrey and Wood to have petitioned for a grant of Denham's property, and to have temporarily held Egham; but Wither was taken prisoner by the royalists soon afterwards, when Denham begged Charles I to pardon him on the ground that while Wither lived he ‘should not be the worst poet in England.’ In the articles of peace projected in 1646 Denham was one of the persons on whose removal from the royal counsels the parliament insisted (Thurloe, i. 81). In 1647 Henrietta Maria entrusted him with the duty of bearing letters to the king while at Holmby Castle. According to Berkeley, Denham and Sir Edward Ford were to promote a final agreement between the king and the army. Berkeley and John Ashburnham [q. v.] were subsequently joined in the enterprise, which came to nothing. Denham's intimacy with Hugh Peters proved useful, and through Peters he obtained frequent access to the royal presence. Charles freely discussed the situation with the poet, whom he recommended to abstain from versifying while engaged in politics. When the king left Hampton Court he directed Denham to remain in London, ‘to send to him and receive from him all his letters to and from all his correspondents at home and abroad.’ For this purpose Denham was supplied with nine ciphers; Cowley assisted him, and for nine months the work proceeded satisfactorily, but by the end of that time Denham's action was suspected, and in April 1648 he deemed it safer to help in the removal of James, duke of York, to Holland. Clarendon overlooks his share in this transaction, and it is probable that
