George Gascoigne (c. 1535 - October 7, 1577) was an English poet. He was the eldest son of Sir John Gascoigne of Cardington, Bedfordshire, and was born probably between 1530 and 1535.

He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and on leaving the university is supposed to have joined the Middle Temple. He became a member of Gray's Inn in 1555. He has been identified without much show of evidence with a lawyer named Gastone who was in prison in 1548 under very discreditable circumstances. There is no doubt that his escapades were notorious, and that he was imprisoned for debt. George Whetstone says that Sir John Gascoigne disinherited his son on account of his follies, but by his own account he was obliged to sell his patrimony to pay the debts contracted at court. He was M.P. for Bedford in 1557-1558 and 1558-1559, but when he presented himself in 1572 for election at Midhurst he was refused on the charges of being "a defamed person and noted for manslaughter," "a common Rymer and a deviser of slaunderous Pasquelles," "a notorious rufilanne," an atheist and constantly in debt.

His poems, with the exception of some commendatory verses, were not published before 1572, but they were probably circulated in manuscript before that date. He tells us that his friends at Gray's Inn importuned him to write on Latin themes set by them, and there two of his plays were acted. He repaired his fortunes by marrying the wealthy widow of William Breton, thus becoming step-father to the poet, Nicholas Breton. In 1568 an inquiry into the disposition of William Breton's property with a view to the protection of the children's rights was instituted before the lord mayor, but the matter was probably settled in a friendly manner, for Gascoigne continued to hold the Walthamstow estate, which he had from his wife, until his death.

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I once said Gazza's IQ was less than his shirt number and he asked me: "What's an IQ?" *George Best, Best on Paul Gascoigne #quote
mltckn (Aleksandar Miletic) Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:06:53 -0000
I once said Gazza's IQ was less than his shirt number and he asked me: "What's an IQ?" *George Best, Best on Paul Gascoigne #quote

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