SOURCE: Gapp, S. V. “Notes on John Cleveland.” PMLA 46, no. 4 (December 1931): 1075-86.

In the following essay, Gapp remarks on early twentieth-century information regarding Cleveland, including his family history, his career at Cambridge, reception of his early works, his connection with the Mercurius publications, and his death.

Since the appearance of Professor Berdan's edition of Cleveland's poems¹ little has been added to our knowledge concerning the poet's biography. The purpose of this paper is to present certain biographical data which supplement those given by Professor Berdan.

I.

As to the poet's family, our information hitherto has been limited to the statement in the register of St. John's College, Cambridge, that his father, Reverend Thomas Cleveland of York (“Eboracensis”), took his degree in 1608-9. Between the Leicestershire Cleveland family and Yorkshire, where the name was common in the sixteenth century, there are several possible lines of connection. There was, for...