in Latin ‘Dieta Medicorum, lib. i.,’ and was reputed ‘a great and good householder.’
James Stanyhurst (d. 1573), the translator's father, long held a prominent position in Dublin. He was recorder of the city and speaker of the Irish House of Commons in the parliaments of 1557, 1560, and 1568. At the opening of each session he delivered an oration. Although he presided over a parliament in Queen Mary's reign, he proved himself a zealous supporter of protestantism under Elizabeth, and contrived to secure the passing through the house of the statute of uniformity in 1560, by putting the question when its chief opponents were absent from the chamber. In 1570 he recommended to parliament, in a speech which he delivered at the prorogation, a system of national education for Ireland, proposing the establishment of grammar schools throughout the country. At the same time he suggested the formation of a university at Dublin such as was inaugurated a few years later. The speech is said to have been printed. Stanyhurst's educational policy was not accepted by the government, although Sir Henry Sidney, with whom he was on intimate terms, strongly supported it. Edmund Campion [q. v.] was also a close friend, and often enjoyed his hospitality. From the elder Stanyhurst's conversation, and from his collection of books and manuscripts, Campion acknowledged much assistance in writing his history of Ireland. His son Richard, while crediting his father with an exact knowledge of the common law, described him as ‘a good orator and proper divine,’ and attributed to him, besides parliamentary ‘orations,’ a series of ‘Piæ orationes’ and several letters to Thomas O'Heirnan or O'Hiffernan, dean of Cork. James Stanyhurst died at Dublin on 27 Dec. 1573, aged 51. A Latin elegy by his son Richard was printed in the latter's description of Ireland, as well as in the appendix to his translation of Virgil. Besides Richard, James Stanyhurst left another son, Walter, who translated into English ‘Innocent. de Contemptu Mundi.’ A daughter Margaret married Arnold Ussher, one of the six clerks of the Irish court of chancery, and was mother of Archbishop James Ussher [q. v.] The latter was thus Richard Stanyhurst's nephew (cf. Stanyhurst's ‘Description of Ireland’ in Holinshed's Chronicles, 1577, cap. vii. p. 27; W. B. Wright, The Ussher Memoirs, 1889).
Richard was first educated under Peter White, who kept a school at Waterford, and proceeded in 1563 to University College, Oxford. He was admitted B.A. in 1568. While an undergraduate he came to know Edmund Campion. He gave notable proofs of his precocity by writing Latin commentaries on Porphyry which amazed Campion by their learning. They were published in 1570 as ‘Harmonia sive Catena Dialectica in Porphyrianas Constitutiones.’ After graduating, Stanyhurst studied law first at Furnivall's Inn, and afterwards at Lincoln's Inn. But history and literature diverted his attention, and, accompanied by Campion as his tutor, he returned to Ireland, where the combined influence of his father and of Campion led him to devote himself to Irish history and geography. Campion had undertaken to contribute the history of Ireland to the great collection of chronicles which Raphael Holinshed was preparing between 1573 and 1577. Under Campion's guidance, Stanyhurst contributed to the same work a general description of Ireland, after the manner of Harrison's ‘Description of England.’ For Holinshed's undertaking Stanyhurst also compiled a history of Ireland during Henry VIII's reign, in continuation of Campion's work on earlier periods. Stanyhurst's ‘Description of Ireland,’ and his share in the ‘History of Ireland’ forming the third book, both appeared in the first volume of Holinshed's ‘Chronicles,’ 1577. The ‘Description’ was dedicated to Sir Henry Sidney, the lord deputy, his father's friend. Stanyhurst's English prose is remarkable for its bombastic redundancy and unintentional burlesque effects.
Meanwhile Stanyhurst had married, and had removed to Knightsbridge. His wife, Janet, daughter of Sir Christopher Barnewall, died there in childbed on 26 Aug. 1579, aged 19. She was buried at Chelsea. A Latin elegy on her by Stanyhurst is appended to his translation of Virgil. After his wife's death Stanyhurst left England for the Low Countries, and he never returned to England or his native country. There can be little doubt that under Campion's influence his religious views had undergone a change. Although the date of his conversion to Roman catholicism is undetermined, it probably took place soon after he arrived on the continent. At first he resided at Leyden, and there he worked at a translation of Virgil's ‘Æneid’ into English. It was originally published at Leyden in 1582, with the title ‘The first foure Bookes of Virgil his Æneis, intoo English Heroicall Verse, by Richard Stanyhurst. Wyth oother Poëticall deuises theretoo annexed. Imprinted at Leiden in Holland by John Pates, Anno mdlxxxii.’ Only two copies of the Leyden edition are known. One is the property of Mr. Christy Miller at Britwell, the other belonged to the Earl of Ashburnham. Both are slightly imperfect.
