Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Abbot, John
ABBOT, JOHN, B.D. (fl. 1623), poet, received his education at Sidney College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1606–7, M.A. in 1610, and B.D. in 1617. Having embraced the catholic religion, he retired to the Continent, and in 1623 was a member of the convent of St. John the Baptist at Antwerp. He is the author of a very scarce poetical work, entitled ‘Jesus præfigured; or a Poeme of the Holy Name of Jesus, in five bookes (the first and second bookes), by John Abbot, Permissu Superiorum,’ 1623, 4to. It is believed that no further portion of this almost unique poem was printed. The volume has two dedications: the primary one to Charles, Prince of Wales, in verse, signed with the author’s name; the second in the Spanish language, addressed ‘Á la serenissima Señora Doña Maria de Austria, Infanta de España, Princessa de Gales,’ dated from the convent of St. John the Baptist at Antwerp, 12 Nov. 1623. The date is remarkable as tending to prove that the news of the rupture of the match had not reached the last-named city at that date, and readily accounts for the work not being continued through the other three books. Charles left Madrid 8 Sept. O.S. 1623.
[Dr. Bandinel’s Sale Cat., lot 707; Sion Coll. Libr. B. 5, 12; Farr’s Jacobean Poetry, p. xliii, 353; Lowndes’s Bibl. Man. ed. Bohn.]