WITHER or WITHERS, GEORGE (1588 1667). An English poet, born at Bentworth, near Alton, in Hampshire. lie spent two years at College, Oxford (1604-06), but left without a degree. In 1610 he settled in London as a student of the law and made the acquaint ance of the poet William Browne (q.v.). He published Mournful Elegies (1612) on the death of Prince Henry, and a collection of Epithalamia (1613) on the marriage of Princess Elizabeth with the Elector Palatine. A volume of satires, entitled A buses Strip( and TVhipt (1613), led to his imprisonment for a few months in the ??lar shalsea. To Prowne's Shepherd's Pipe (1614) he contributed two eclogues, and wrote, while in prison, the beautiful Shepherd's Hunting (pub. 1611), containing ilie famed address to Poesy. To about the same time belongs Pide/in (pub. 1617), the lament of a maiden forsaken by her lover. To the edition of 1619 was added the precious lyric beginning "Shall I, wasting in despair." This poem was followed by "Fair Virtue, or the Mistress of Philarete" (1622, but composed much earlier), the last of his pure lyrics. Wither now turned to religious verse, publishing the 8071g8 of the Old Testament, to each of which was added "a new and easie Tune" (1621), and Hymns and Songs of the Church (1623) : both volumes had eonsideralde vogue.
Ile collected his early poems under the title Jurcnilia. (1622; revised 1626; 2d ed. 1633). Religious verse was continued in The Psalms of David (1632), Emblems (1635), and Hale lujah (1641). The last volume contains Wither's finest religious poems.
Joining Parliament against King Charles I., Wither sold his estates and raised a troop of horse (1642). Though unsuccessful in the field, he was appointed major. He took an important hand in the scurrilous pamphlets known as Merearics and squandered his fine talents. After the Restoration he was sent to Newgate and then to the Tower for a verse pamphlet called Fox Fidgi. He remained in prison from March 24, 1662, till July 27, 1663. He died in London. His later work has no literary interest. Most of Wither's works were issued by the Spenser Society (20 parts, Manchester, 1870-83). Con sult: Selections from Poems of Wither, ed. by H. Morley (in Companion. Poets. London. Pidclia. and Pair Virtue. ed. by E. A. Arber (in English. Garner, vols. iv. and vi., ib., 1882 and 1883) ; T. H. Ward's English Poets, vol. ii. (ib., 1880) ; and Charles Lamb's essay entitled "Poetical Works of George Wither" (in Lamb's Works, ib., 1818).