THOMAS DELONEY BIOGRAPHY
THOMAS DELONEY BIOGRAPHY from the Biographical Dictionary of English Literature by John Cousin.
DELONEY, THOMAS (1543-1600).
—Novelist and
balladist,
appears to have worked as a silk-weaver in Norwich, but was in
London by 1586, and in the course of the next 10 years is known to
have written about 50 ballads, some of which involved him in
trouble, and caused him to lie
perdue
for a time. It is only
recently that his more important work as a novelist, in which he
ranks with Greene and Nash, has received attention. He appears to
have turned to this new field of effort when his original one was
closed to him for the time. Less under the influence of Lyly and
other preceding writers than Greene, he is more natural, simple,
and direct, and writes of middle-class citizens and tradesmen with
a light and
pleasant humour.
Of his novels,
Thomas of Reading
is in honour of clothiers,
Jack of Newbury
celebrates weaving, and
The Gentle
Craft
is dedicated to the praise of shoemakers. He "dy'd
poorely," but was "honestly buried."