CHAPMAN, GEORGE, the earliest English translator of Homer, and known also as a prolific writer of dramas, was born in the year 1557. His birth-place is uncertain. Some have supposed him to have been a native of Hertfordshire, in which county, at Hitching-hill, he is known to have for some time resided. Wood believes him to have been of a Kentish family. The same writer asserts that he studied at Oxford, and that, although eminent in classics, he neglected philosophy, a fact which has been referred to as accounting for his want of an academical degree. Coming to London, he entered the ranks of the professional authors, and became an esteemed member of the best literary society, associating with Spenser, with Daniel, and with Shaks perc, who was six or seven years his junior. He was patronised by Sir Thomas Walsingham and his son, by Henry Prince of Wales, and by Somerset the royal favourite. The death of the prince, snd the fall of the minion, may be supposed to have had an unfavourable influence on his position ; and even before these events Chapman, with Ben Jonson and Karsten, had narrowly escaped severe punishment for satirical reflections on the Scotch, contained in their comedy of Eastward Ho I' But, although the particulars of Chapman's history are little known, it is understood that be held some place about court; and there is no evidence of his having ever laboured under those pecuniary distresses which mark so painfully the biography of some of his literary contemporaries. His personal character appears to have been both respectable and amiable. Jenson declared to Drummond that he loved Chapman ; and Anthony Wood asserts him to have been "a person of most reverend aspect, religious and temperate, qualities rarely meeting iu a poet." He attained to a ripe old sge, and died in London on the 12th of May 1634. He was buried in the church-yard of St. Giles-in-the-fields, where his friend Inigo Jones erected a monument to his memory.
Chapman's published writings are very numerous. Among his non-dramatic productions, the most valuable, as well as ambitious, was his famous translation of Homer into English fourteen-syllable verse. Seven books of his 'Iliad' appeared in 1598; twelve books appeared in folio about 1600 ; and, after the accession of King James in 1603, there was published in folio the complete translation The lliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, never before in any language truly translated, with a comment upon some of his chief places, done according to the Greek by George Chapman.' This work was reprinted, with introduction and notes by Dr. W. Cooke Taylor, London, 1843, 2 vole. 12mo. The ' Odyssey,' similarly translated, appeared in 1614,
and was followed in the same year by the 'Battle of the Frogs and Mice,' and the Homeric Hymns and Epigrams. The following were Chapmana other non-dramatic works, original and translated:—I, ' The Shadow of Night, containing two Poeticall Hymnes,' 1594, 4to. 2, Ovid's Banquet of Sence,' 1595, 4to. 3, Hero and Leander, begun by Ch. Marlow, and finished by George Chapman,' 1806, 4to. 4, Enthymia Raptus, or the Tears of Peace,' 1609, 4to. 5, 'An Epicede, or Funeral Song, on the most disastrous Death of the Highborn Prince of Men, Henry Prince of Wales,' 1612, 4to. 6, 'Andromeda Liberate, or the Nuptialla of Perseus and Andromeda,' 1614, 4to. 7, The Georgicks of Healed, by George Chapman, translated elaborately out of the Greek,' 1613, 4to. 8, Pro Vera Autumni Lacrymm, to the Memorie of Sir Horatio Vere,' 1622, 4to. 9, 'A Justification of a strange action of Nero, &e. ; also a Just Reproof of a Roman Smell Feast, being the Fifth Satyre of Juvenall,' 1629, 4to.
The following are the titles of Chapman's plays, with the dates of their printing :-1, 'The Blind Beggar of Alexandria,' a comedy, 1598. 2, ' Au Humourous Day's Mirth,' a comedy, 1599. 3, 'All Fools,' a comedy ; and 4, 'Eastward Ho,' a comedy, 1605 (by Chapman, Jenson, and Marston); both reprinted in Dodaley's collection. 5, The Gentleman Usher,' a comedy, 1606; 6, Monsieur d'Olive,' a comedy, 1006; and 7, 'Hussy d'Ambeis,' a tragedy, 1607 ; all three reprinted in Dilke's Old English Plays.' 8, Cicsar and Pompey,' a tragedy, 1607. 9, and 10, The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Byron,' two tragedies, 1608. 11, May Day,' a comedy, 1611 ; reprinted in Dillie'a collection. 12, ' The Widow's Tears,' a comedy, 1612; reprinted in Dodeley's col lection. 13, The Revenge of Bussy d'Ambois,' a tragedy, 1613, in Dilke's collection. 14, 'The Masque of the Inns of Court,' 1613. 15, Two Wiee Men and all the rest Fools,' a comedy, 1619. 16, The Tragedy of Alphonse!, Emperor of Germany; 1654. 17, Revenge for Honour,' a tragedy, 1654. 18 and 19, 'The Ball,' a comedy, and ' Chabot, Admiral of France,' a tragedy, both printed in 1639 as works of Chapman and Shirley, and reprinted in the modern edition of Shirley's works by Gifford, who pronounces Chapman to have plainly had the principal share In their composition. Among the many specu lations as to the authorship of the drama called 'The Two Noble Kinsmen,' in which Sbakspere has been asserted to have aasisted Member, Mr. Knight, in his editions of the great poet's works, has conjectured that the parts attributed to him may really have been composed by Chapman.