William  Bodham  Donne,  the  literary  critic  and
Licenser  of  Plays,  was  born  at  Mattishall  in  1807.  He
was  the  friend  and  frequent  correspondent  of  several
distinguished  men,  and  in  treating  of  the  literary  associa-
tions of  Bury  St.  Edmunds — where  he  lived  for  some
years — I  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to  him  at  some
length.  On  leaving  Gonville  and  Caius  College,
Cambridge,  he  returned  to  Mattishall  and  devoted  him-
self to  the  study  of  English  literature,  and  especially  of
the  drama,  among  his  own  first  literary  productions
being  a  fine  essay  on  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  which
appeared  in  the  "  Athenaeum  "  in  1829,  He  did  not,  how-
ever, give  himself  up  seriously  to  literary  work  until
after  his  marriage  with  a  niece  of  Cowper's  kinsman.
