CAREW, George, born in Devonshire in 1557, and an eminent commander in Ireland, was made president of Munster by Queen Elizabeth; when, joining his forces with the Earl of Thomond, he reduced the Irish insurgents, and brought the Earl of Desmond to trial. King James made him governor of Guernsey, and created him a baron. As he was a valiant commander, he was no less a polite scholar, and wrote Hibernia Pacata, or a history of the wars in Ireland, printed, after his death, in 1633. He made several collections for a history of Henry V., which are digested into Speed’s History of Great Britain. Carew, Thomas, descended from the family of Carew, in Gloucestershire, was gentleman of the privy chamber to Charles I., who always esteemed him as one of the most celebrated wits of his court. He was much respected by the poets of his time, particularly by Ben Jonson and Sir William Davenant; and left behind him several poems, and a masque called Coelurn Britannicum, performed at Whitehall on Shrove Tuesday night, 1633, by the king, and several of his nobles with their sons. Carew was assisted in the contrivance by Inigo Jones; and the music was set by Mr Henrj' Lawes of the king’s chapel. He died in the prime of life, about the year 1639.

Carew, Bichard, author of the Survey of Cornwall, was the eldest son of Thomas Carew of East Anthony, and was born in 1555. When very young, he became a gentleman commoner of Christ Church College, Oxford; and at fourteen years of age had the honour of disputing extempore with the famous Sir Philip Sydney, in the presence of the Earls of Leicester, Warwick, and other nobility. After spending three years at the university, he removed to the Middle Temple, where he resided the same length of time, and then travelled into foreign parts. Not long after his return to England he married, in 1577, Juliana Arundel of Trerice. In 1581 Mr Carew was made justice of the peace, and in 1586 appointed high sheriff of the county of Cornwall, about which time he was likewise queen’s deputy for the militia. In 1589 he was elected a member of the College of Antiquaries, a distinction to which he was entitled by his literary abilities and pursuits. But that which particularly engaged his attention was his native county, his “Survey” of which was published in 4to at London in 1602. It has been twice reprinted, first in 1723, and next in 1769. Of this work Camden has spoken in high terms, and acknowledges his obligations to the author. In the present improved state of topographical knowledge, and since Dr Borlase’s excellent publications relative to the county of Cornwall, the value of Carew’s “Survey” must have been greatly diminished. Mr Gough remarks, that the history and monuments of this country were faintly touched by Carew; but it is added, that he was a person extremely capable of describing them, if the infancy of those studies had at that time afforded light and materials. Another work of our author was a translation from the Italian, entitled The Examination of Men’s Wits; in which, by discovering the variety of natures, is showed for what profession each one is apt, and how far he shall profit therein. This was published at London in 1594, and afterwards in 1604; and, though Richard Carew’s name is prefixed to it, it has by some persons been principally ascribed to his father. According to Wood, Carew wrote also The true and ready Way to learn the Latin Tongue, in answer to a query whether the ordinary method of teaching the Latin by the rules of Grammar be the best mode of instructing Youths in that Language? This tract is included in Mr Hartlib’s book upon the same subject, and with the same title. It is certain that Carew was a gentleman of considerable abilities and literature, and that he was held in great estimation by some of the most eminent scholars of his time. He was particularly intimate with Sir Henry Spelman, who extols him for his ingenuity, learning, and virtue.

Carew, George, brother to the subject of the last article, was educated in the university of Oxford, after which he studied the law in the inns of court, and then travelled to foreign countries for further improvement. On his return to his native country he was called to the bar, and after some time was appointed secretary to Sir Christopher Hatton, lord chancellor of England. This was by the special recommendation of Queen Elizabeth herself, who gave him a protonotaryship in the chancery, and conferred upon him the honour of knighthood. In 1597 Sir George Carew, who was then a master in chancery, was sent as ambassador to the king of Poland. In the next reign he was one of the commissioners for treating with the Scotch concerning an union between the two kingdoms; after which he was appointed as ambassador to the court of France, where he continued from the latter end of the year 1605 till 1609. During his residence in that country he formed an intimacy with Thuanus, to whom he communicated an account of the transactions in Poland whilst he was employed there, which was of great service to that admirable author in drawing up the 121st book of his history. After Sir George Carew’s return from France, he was advanced to the important post of master of the court of wards, which honourable situation he did not long live to enjoy; for it appears from a letter written by Thuanus to Camden in the spring 1613, that he was then lately deceased. Sir George Carew married Thomasine, daughter of Sir Francis Godolphin, great grandfather of the lord treasurer Godolphin, and had by her two sons and three daughters. When Sir George Carew returned in 1609 from his French embassy, he drew up and addressed to James I. A Relation of the State of France, with the characters of Henry IV. and the principal persons of that Court. The characters arc drawn from personal knowledge and close observation, and might be of service to a general historian of that period. The composition is perspicuous and manly, and entirely free from the pedantry which prevailed in the reign of James I.; but this is the less surprising, as Sir George Carew’s taste had been formed in a better era, that of Queen Elizabeth. The valuable tract we are speaking of lay for a long time in manuscript, till happily falling into the hands of the Earl of Hardwicke, it was communicated by him to Dr Birch, who published it in 1749, at the end of his Historical View of the Negotiations between the Courts of England, France, and Brussels, from 1592 to 1617. That intelligent and industrious writer justly observes, that it is a model upon which ambassadors may form and digest their notions and representations; and the celebrated poet Mr Gray has spoken of it as an excellent performance.