Richard Brathwait The First Lakeland Poet

Richard Brathwait was a businessman his neighbours would have been wise to treat with sensible caution. He was devout in his faith but worldly in his ambition. His wild and promiscuous behaviour did not cease at the end of his adolescence or with his marriage vows. The author of 'Drunken Barnaby' had more than a passing resemblance to the riotous hero of his most famous poem.