against the League; and in 1606 he first appears with the
degree of doctor of physic, though the absence of records does not
permit us to ascertain where this was obtained. The rest of his life was
probably spent in London, where he practised as a physician until his
death on the 1st of March 1620, leaving behind him, it would appear,
neither wife nor issue. He was buried the same day at St
Dunstan's-in-the-West, Fleet Street.

The body of his works is considerable, the earliest known being a group
of five anonymous poems included in the _Songs of Divers Noblemen and
Gentlemen_, appended to Newman's surreptitious edition of Sidney's
_Astrophel and Stella_, which appeared in 1591. In 1595 appeared under
his own name the _Poemata_, a collection of Latin panegyrics, elegies
and epigrams, which evince much skill in handling, and won him
considerable reputation. This was followed in 1601 by _A Booke of
Ayres_, one of the song-books so fashionable in his day, the music of
which was contributed in equal proportions by himself and Philip
Rosseter, while the words were almost certainly all written by him. The
following year he published his _Observations in the Art of English
Poesie_, "against the vulgar and unartificial custom of riming," in
favour of rhymeless verse on the model of classical quantitative poetry.
Its appearance at this stage was important as the final statement of the
crazy prejudice by one of its sanest and best equipped champions, but
the challenge thus thrown down was accepted by Daniel, who in his
_Defence of Ryme_, published the same year, finally demolished the
movement.

In 1607 he wrote and published a masque for the occasion of the marriage
of Lord Hayes, and in 1613 he issued a volume of _Songs of Mourning_
(set to music by Coperario or John Cooper) for the loss of Prince Henry,
which was sincerely lamented by the whole English nation. The same year
he wrote and arranged three masques, the _Lords' Masque_ for the
marriage of Princess Elizabeth, an entertainment for the amusement of
Queen Anne at Caversham House, and a third for the marriage of the earl
of Somerset to the infamous Frances Howard, countess of Essex. If,
moreover, as appears quite likely, his _Two Bookes of Ayres_ (both words
and music written by himself) belongs also to this year, it was indeed
his _annus mirabilis_.

Some time in or after 1617 appeared his _Third and Fourth Booke of
Ayres_; while to that year probably also belongs h