Museum is a copy of his poem,I lothe that I did love, (vid. book ii. ubi supra) with
this title, "A dyttye or sonet made by the Lord Vaus, in the time of the noble Quene
Marye, representing the image of Death."-- Harl. MSS. No. 1703, § 25.
It is evident then that Lord Vaux the poet was not he that flourished in the
reign of Henry VII. but either his son, or grandson: and yet, according to Dugdale's
Baronage, the former was named Thomas, and the latter William: but this difficulty is
not great, for none of the old writers mention the Christian name of the poetic Lord
Vaux,[2] except Puttenham; and it is more likely that he might he mistaken in that
lord's name, than in the time in which he lived, who was so nearly his contemporary.
Thomas Lord Vaux, of Harrowden in Northamptonshire, was summoned to
parliament in 1531. When he died does not appear; but he probably lived till the latter
end of Queen Mary's reign, since his son William was not summoned to parliament
till the last year of that reign, in 1558. This lord died in 1595. See Dugdale, vol. ii. p.
- Upon the whole I am inclined to believe that Lord Thomas was the poet.
NOTES
1.i.e.Compositions in English.
- In theParadise of Dainty Devises, 1556, he is called simply "Lord Vaux the elder."