John Sheffield, who became the first Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, lived from 8 September 1647 to 24 February 1721, though older records occasionally create uncertainty about dates because of the calendar conventions and genealogical habits of the period. He was a nobleman, naval officer, soldier, courtier, politician, patron, critic, playwright, memoirist, and poet. Such a catalogue of roles can make him seem les…
“I took the liberty to represent to him what a ridiculous story it would make, should we return without fighting.”
Neighbourhood:
Georgian Poets, Light Verse Poets, Love Poets, Restoration Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Tenderness, Sorrow
William Walsh was born on 6 October 1662 at Abberley Hall in Worcestershire, into a world in which inherited land, family connection, political loyalty, and literary cultivation could reinforce one another. He died on 15 March 1708, only forty-five years old, having lived as a country gentleman, Member of Parliament, court servant, poet, playwright, critic, and, perhaps most memorably, an early patron and adviser of…
“To tell anybody of their faults with a design that they should mend them is certainly the highest art of friendship; to tell them that others may avoid them is a just end of criticising; but to do it only to lessen one man's reputation, without any design of bettering another's, is what is properly called malice.”
Neighbourhood:
Augustan Poets, Light Verse Poets, Love Poets, Restoration Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Despair, Longing
