DANIEL, Samuel, a respectable poet and historian, was born near Taunton, in Somersetshire, in the year 1562, and educated at Oxford; but leaving that university without a degree, he applied himself to English history and poetry under the patronage of the Earl of Pembroke's family. He was afterwards tutor to the Lady Anne Clifford; and,
upon the death of Spenser, he was created poet-laureate to Queen Elizabeth. In King James's reign he was appointed gentleman extraordinary, and afterwards one of the grooms of the privy chamber to the queen consort, who took great delight in his conversation and writings. He died in October 1619. His works, which are numerous, consist mostly of dramatic pieces and poems, the principal of which are, 1. The Complaint of Rosalind, London, 1594, 4to; 2. Sonnets; 3. Tragedy of Cleopatra, London, 1598, 4to; 4. Of the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster; 5. The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses, London, 1604, 8vo; 6. Epistles; 7. Musophilus, containing a General Defence of Learning; 8. Tragedy of Philotas, London, 1611, 4to; 9. First part of the History of England, in three books, London, 1613, 4to; 10. The Queen's Arcadia, a pastoral tragi-comedy, London, 1605, 4to; and, 11. Funeral Poem on the death of the Earl of Devon, London, 1623, 4to. The character of Daniel's genius seems to have been propriety rather than elegance; his language is generally pure, and his reflections just; but his thoughts are too abstract, and appeal to the understanding rather than to the imagination or the heart.