Barten Holyday or
Holiday, (
1593–
1661), was a clergyman, author and poet. He earned a
Doctor of Divinity degree, and entered the clergy in 1615; he was appointed archdeacon of Oxford by King
Charles I in 1626.
Technogamia was his only play. In 1618, the year it was produced, Holyday served as Sir Francis Stewart's chaplain on Stewart's embassy to Spain. Holyday translated the
Odes of
Horace and works of
Juvenal and
Persius, and wrote
A Survey of the World, in Verse (
1661), plus sermons and miscellaneous works. He was summed up by one commentator as "a good scholar, a shrewd critic, and a fair wit. His translations show strong fidelity to their originals, and have often been considered the best of his works.
He was subject of a derisory poem called ‘Whoop Holiday’, published in 1625 by Peter Heylin
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