The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Harington, Sir John
1560?–1612, English author. He spent most of his career at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, where he became known for his indelicate humor. His Rabelaisian Metamorphosis of Ajax (1596; ed. by E. S. Donno, 1961) uses ornate style and classical allusions to discuss at length the construction of an Elizabethan privy. He also did a translation (1591) of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. His Letters and Epigrams (ed. by N. E. McClure, 1930) are vivid sketches of Elizabethan social life and writings.
