Poet; born in
Bishopthorpe, England, in 1577; brother of
Edwin Sandys; educated at
Oxford; appointed treasurer of
Virginia; and was an earnest worker for the good of the colony,
[
50]
building the first water-mill there.
He promoted the establishment of iron-works, and introduced ship-building.
He had published a book of travels; also a translation of the first five books of
Ovid's
Metamorphoses, before he left
England for
Virginia.
To these
Drayton, in a rhyming letter, thus alludes:
And, worthy George, by industry and use,
Let's see what lines Virginia will produce.
Go on with Ovid, as you have begun
With the first five books; let y'r numbers Run
Glib as the former; so shall it live long,
And do much honor to the English tongue.
In
Virginia he translated the other ten books, and the whole translation was published in
London in folio, with full-page engravings, in 1626.
Sandys wrote several other poetical works.
He died in
Boxley Abbey,
Kent, in 1644.
