he Iliad of Homer, published in folio, and
dedicated to Prince Henry, which is yet looked upon with some respect.
He is said to have had the spirit of a poet in him, and was indeed
no mean genius: Pope somewhere calls him an enthusiast in poetry. He
likewise translated the Odyssey, and the Battle of Frogs and Mice,
which were published in 1614, and dedicated to the earl of Somerset;
to this work is added Hymns and Epigrams, written by Homer, and
translated by our author. He likewise attempted some part of Hesiod,
and continued a translation of Musaeus AErotopegnion de Herone &
Leandro. Prefixed to this work, are some anecdotes of the life of
Musaeus, taken by Chapman from the collection of Dr. William Gager,
and a dedication to the most generally ingenious and only learned
architect of his time, Inigo Jones esquire, Surveyor of his Majesty's
Works. At length, says Wood, this reverend and eminent poet, having
lived 77 years in this vain, transitory world, made his last exit in
the parish of St. Giles's in the Fields, near London, on the 12th day
of May, 1655, and was buried in the yard on the South side of the
church in St. Giles's: soon after a monument was erected over his
grave, built after the manner of the old Romans, at the expence, and
under the direction of his much loved worthy friend Inigo Jones,
whereon is this engraven, Georgius Chapmannus, Poeta Homericus,
Philosophus verus (etsi Christianus Poeta) plusquam Celebris, &c.

His dramatic works are,

All Fools, a Comedy, presented at the Black Fryars, and afterwards
before his Majesty King James I. in the beginning of his reign, and
printed in 4to. London 1605. The plot is taken, and the characters
formed upon Terence's Heautontimorumenos. The Prologue and Epilogue
writ in blank verse, shew that in these days persons of quality, and
they that thought themselves good critics, in place of fitting in the
boxes, as they now do, sat on the stage; what influence those people
had on the meanest sort of the audience, may be seen by the following
lines in the Prologue written by Chapman himself.

Great are the gifts given to united heads;
To gifts, attire, to fair attire the stage
Helps much; for if our other audience see,
You on the stage depart before we end,
Our wit goes with you all, and we are fools.

Alphonsus Emperor of Germany, a Tragedy, often acted with applause at
a private house in Black Fryars, by the servants of King Charles I.
printed in 4t