FELTHAM, OWEN (d. 1668), English moralist, was the son of Thomas Feltham or Felltham of Mutford, Suffolk. The date of his birth is given variously as 1602 and 1609. He is famous chiefly as the author of a volume entitled Resolves, Divine, Moral and Political, containing one hundred short and pithy essays, to which in later issues he appended Lusoria, a col lection of 4o poems. Feltham attacked Ben Jonson in an ode shortly before the aged poet's death, but contributed a flattering elegy to the Jonsonus Virbius in 1638. In 1652 he published the results of a visit to Flanders under the title of A Brief Character of the Low Countries. He died at Great Billing early in 1668. To the middle classes of the 17th century he seemed a heaven sent philosopher and guide, and was only less popular than Francis Quarles.
Eleven editions of the Resolves appeared before 17oo. Later editions by James Cumming (18o6 ; much garbled; has account of Feltham's life and writings) and O. Smeaton in "Temple Classics" (19o4).