(John), one of our most ancient dramatic poets, was born at North-Mims, near St Albans in Hertfordshire, and educated at Oxford. From thence he retired to the place of his nativity; where he had the good fortune to become acquainted with Sir Thomas More, who, it seems, had a seat in that neighbourhood. This patron of genius introduced our comic poet to the princess Mary, and afterwards to her father Henry, who, we are told, was much delighted with his wit and skill in music, and by whom he was frequently rewarded. When his former patroness, queen Mary, came to the crown, Heywood became a favourite at court, and continued often to entertain her majesty, exercising his fancy before her, even to the time that she lay languishing on her deathbed. On the accession of Elizabeth, being a zealous Papist, he thought fit to decamp, with other favourites of her deceased majesty. He settled at Mechlin in Flanders, where he died in the year 1565.—John Heywood was a man of no great learning, nor were his poetical talents by any means extraordinary; but he possessed talents of more importance in the times in which he lived, namely, the talents of a jester. He wrote several plays; 500 epigrams; A Dialogue in Verse concerning English Proverbs; and The Spider and Fly, a Parable, a thick 4to. Before the title of this last work is a whole-length wooden print of the author; who is also represented at the head of every chapter in the book, of which there are 77.—He left two sons, who both became Jesuits and eminent men: viz. Ellis Heywood, who continued some time at Florence under the patronage of cardinal Pole, and became so good a master of the Italian tongue, as to write a treatise in that language, intitled Il Moro; he died at Louvain about the year 1572. His other son was Jasper Heywood, who was obliged to resign a fellowship at Oxford on account of his immoralities: he translated three tragedies of Seneca, and wrote various poems and devises; some of which were printed in a volume intitled The Paradise of Dainty Devises, 4to, 1573. He died at Naples in 1597.

Heywood (Eliza), one of the most voluminous novel writers this island ever produced; of whom we know no more than that her father was a tradesman, and that she was born about the year 1606. In the early part of her life, her pen, whether to gratify her own disposition or the prevailing taste, dealt chiefly in licentious tales, and memoirs of personal scandal: the celebrated Atlantis of Mrs Manley served her for a model; and The Court of Carinania, The new Utopia, with some other pieces of a like nature, were the copies her genius produced. She also attempted dramatic writing and performance, but did not succeed in either. Whatever it was that provoked the resentment of Pope, he gave full scope to it by distinguishing her as one of the prizes to be gained in the games introduced in honour of Dulness, in his Dunciad. Nevertheless, it seems undeniable, that there is much spirit, and much ingenuity, in her manner of treating subjects, which the friends of virtue may perhaps wish she had never meddled with at all. But, whatever offence she may have given to delicacy or morality in her early works, she appears to have been soon convinced of, and endeavoured to atone for, in the latter part of her life; as no author then appeared a greater advocate for virtue. Among her riper productions may be specified, The Female Spectator, 4 vols; The history of Miss Betty Thoughtless, 4 vols; Jenny and Jenny Jeffamy, 3 vols; The invisible spy, 4 vols; with a pamphlet, intitled A protest for a servant-maid. She died in 1759.