Charles Cotton entered the world under unusually propitious circumstances. His father, Charles Cotton the Elder, was considered to be the model of a gentleman and was on friendly terms with many poets of distinction, including Ben Jonson, Sir Henry Wotton, John Donne, Robert Herrick, Sir William Davenant, and Richard Lovelace. Young Charles was also descended from aristocratic stock on his mother's side. Olive Stanhope Cotton was the only daughter and heiress of Sir John Stanhope and his wife Alivia Beresford Stanhope. It was through his mother that Charles eventually inherited Beresford Hall, located on the borders of Staffordshire and Derbyshire. At his ancestral home on the banks of the river Dover, surrounded by mountains, valleys, and moorlands, the poet would live for most of his life. Cotton's physical environment fostered a love of nature just as his social and cultural background fostered an appreciation for literature, especially poetry...