John Harington Quotes

Sir John Harington was born in Kelston, Somerset, England. He was an English courtier, author and translator popularly known as the inventor of the flush toilet. He became a prominent member of Queen Elizabeth I's court, and was known as her "saucy Godson". He studied at Eton College and King's College, Cambridge. He married Mary Rogers in 1583. For translating and circulating among the ladies a wanton tale from the 16th-century Italian poet Ariosto, he was banished from court until he should translate the whole of Ariosto’s epic poem Orlando Furioso. The translation, published in 1591, remains one of the finest of the age. In 1596, in The Metamorphosis of Ajax, Harington described his invention in terms more Rabelaisian than mechanical and was again banished by Elizabeth. In 1599, he went on a military expedition to Ireland, winning a knighthood.