CAREW, Thomas, an English poet, was born about the year 1589. He studied at Oxford, and on the completion of his course was made gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles I. At court he was highly esteemed for the vivacity of his wit and the elegance of his manners; and his poetical tastes gained him the friendship of Ben Johnson, Sir William Davenant, and other celebrated literary men. He wrote several sonnets, amorous pieces, and masques, which were set to music by Henry Lawes and other eminent masters. His best known work is a masque called Calum Britannicum, performed by the king and several of the nobles at Whitehall on Shrove Tuesday 1633. He died in the prime of life about the year 1639.