Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Richard Lovelace
Richard Lovelace,
SOLDIER AND POET,
Was the eldest son of Sir William Lovelace, of Woolwich, where he was born about 1618. At the age of sixteen he went to Oxford, "being then accounted the most amiable and beautiful person that ever eye beheld." He was created Master of Arts when of but two years' standing. On leaving the University he went to Court, and entered the service of Lord Goring, and served in the Scotch expedition in 1631. After the pacification of Berwick he retired to his native country, where he was chosen to present a petition for restoring the King. For this he was committed to prison at the Gatehouse, Westminster, where he was confined about four months, during which time he composed the beautiful and well-known song, beginning:
"When Love with unconfined wings,"
And ending with the oft-quoted stanza—
Stone walls do not a prison make;
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take.
That for a hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free—
Angels alone that soar above,
Enjoy such libertie."
After the surrender of the King, he served in France as a Volunteer, and was wounded before Dunkirk. He expended his income in the royal cause, and died in very mean lodgings in Gunpowder Alley, near Shoe Lane, and was buried in the Church of St. Bride, Fleet Street, 1658. His poems were published under the name of Lucasta.
[See "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1791, 1792, "Biographia Dramatica," and "Wood's Athenæ Oxon." by Bliss.]