Anthony Stafford (b. 1586/7, d. in or after 1645), author, was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and at the Inner Temple. However, he never completed his studies at either place, probably because of the disgrace which overtook his family in June 1607 when his eldest brother, Humphrey, was executed. In 1609 Stafford was admitted to study in the Bodleian Library, and over the next few years he published a series of moral treatises drawing on his extensive reading, including Staffords Niobe (1611), Meditations and Resolutions, Morall, Divine, Politicall (1612), The Golden Meane (1613), and Staffords Heavenly Dogge (1615). The recurring theme of these works is the definition of true gentility.
Stafford's patron was George, Lord Berkeley (1601-1658), with whom he had been travelling on the continent, and to whom he dedicated his book, The Guide of Honour (written c.1621 but not published until 1634), the last and most detailed of his treatises on the nature of gentility. Stafford was in attendance on Lord Berkeley in July 1623, when they both received the MA degree at Oxford. Most of Stafford's later works are on religious themes.
Source: Arnold Hunt, 'Stafford, Anthony (b. 1586/7, d. in or after 1645)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. By permission of Oxford University Press - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/26200.
Joseph Hall (1574-1656), bishop of Norwich, was a religious writer and satirist. He came to public notice in 1597 with the publication of Virgidemiarum, the first collection of formal verse satires on the Latin model to be published in England. Hall's reputation as a literary innovator, particularly in the satiric vein, was confirmed by the publication in 1608 of his Characters of Vertues and Vices which introduced the Theophrastan character to English literature. In 1605 Hall visited the Netherlands and availed himself of the opportunity to enter into theological discussion with members of the Jesuit order. In the same year appeared his first collection of Meditations and Vowes, Divine and Morall which, together with the highly influential Arte of Divine Meditation (1606), served to introduce continental contemplative methods to an English protestant readership and strongly influenced the development of English religious verse. Hall published a large number of religious and poetical works, frequently engaging in religious controversy, and remained prolific in his retirement, producing a series of highly popular contemplative and devotional tracts.
Source: Richard A. McCabe, 'Hall, Joseph (1574-1656)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. By permission of Oxford University Press -' http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/11976.
