Thomas Carew (pronounced Carey) was educated at Oxford and studied law at the Inner Temple. He began his career as a diplomatic secretary, first of all to Sir Dudley Carleton (Ambassador to Venice and later the Netherlands) and then to Sir Edward Herbert (Ambassador to France). He was eventually appointed to an office at the court of King Charles I, where he was to become much admired for his poetical talent. He modelled his style on Ben Jonson and John Donne and wrote mainly love poetry such as The Rapture and some epitaphs. He also wrote a masque, Coelum Britannicum, which was performed for the King. He died in 1640