A survey course in British literature

INDEX OF AUTHORS*

Addison, Joseph (1672-1719). Periodical essayist, Whig M.P. Contributed essays to Richard Steele's Tatler (1709-1711) and Guardian (1714), and together they produced the Spectator (1711-1712). Cato, a tragedy, 1713.

Arbuthnot, John (1667-1735). Physician to Queen Ann. The History of John Bull, 1712 (the typical Englishman).

Austen, Jane (1775-1817). Novelist. Daughter of the rector of Steventon in Hampshire.

Sense and Sensibility, 1811; Pride and Prejudice, 1813; Mansfield Park, 1814; Emma, 1816; Northanger Abbey; Persuasion, 1818.

Bacon, Francis (1561-1626). Philosopher, essayist, lawyer, statesman. Son of Sir Nicholas Bacon. Entered Parliament 1584. Knighted 1603. Lord Chancellor (1617-18) Essays (1597, 1612, 1625.) The Advancement of Learning, 1605; (in Latin and augmented, 1623) Novum Organum, 1620; The History of the Reign of King Henry VII, 1622; Apophthegms, 1624; New Atlantis, 1626.

Baillie, Joanna (1762-1851) Scottish dramatist and poet. Daughter of a Presbyterian divine and sister of a famous doctor. Moved from Scotland to London and thence to Hampstead (1791), where she became the "model Gentlewoman" and hostess of a literary society.The first performance of her play, De Monfort, on a romantic scale, with Gothic scenery and thirty singers, on 29 April 1800, had the significance of a dramatic companion to Wordsworth''s poetic manifesto, published as "Preface" to Lyrical Ballads the same year. The protagonists' parts were performed by a sibling pair of actors (John Kemble and Sarah Siddons) and the play was enthusiastically reviewed by William Hazlitt. The romantic non-conformist party, from Elizabeth Inchbald to Lord Byron, joined in the acclaim. The play was soon after successfully performed in New York, Edinburgh and Philadelphia. A Series of Plays: In Which it is Attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind , 1798; The Family Legend, 1810; Miscellaneous Plays, 1836; Fugitive Verses, 1790; Metrical Legends, 1821.

Beaumont, Francis (1584-1616). Playwright. Born in Leicestershire. Jointly with John Fletcher he produced: The Knight of the Burning Pestle 1609; A King and no King, 16ll; The Maid's Tragedy, 1611; Philaster, 16ll; The Scornful Lady, 1616.

Behn, Aphra (1640-1689). The first professionist woman writer (plays, poems, fiction). Lived as a child in Guiana. The Forced Marriage, or the Jealous Bridegroom, 167l; The Amorous Prince, or the Curious Husband, 1671; Abdelazar, or the Moor's Revenge, 1677; The Debauchee: or, the Credulous Cuckold, 1677; The Rover; or the Banish'd Cavaliers, 1677 Poems upon Several Occasions, with a Voyage to the the Island of Love, 1684; A Pindaric on the Death of Our Late Sovereign, 1685; A Pindaric Poem on Happy Coronation of His Sacred Majesty James II, and His Illustrious Consort Queen Mary, 1685. To the Memory of George Duke of Buckingham, 1687; Two Congratulatory Poems to their Majesties, 1688. Love Letters between a Nobleman and His Sister, 1684. Three Histories. I. Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave. II. The Fair Jilt; or, Tarquin and Miranda. III. Agnes de Castro: or, The Force of Generous Love, 1688.

Berkeley, George (1685-1753). Philosopher, born in Ireland. Dean of Derry, 1724. Travelled to America (1728-31). Bishop of Cloyne. An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision, 1709; A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, 1710; Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, 1713; A Proposal for the Better Supplying of Churches in Our Foreign Plantations, and for Converting the Savage Americans to Christianity, 1725; Alciphon (seven dialogues), 1732. The Theory of Vision, 1733; Siris, 1744.

Blake, William (1757-1827) Poet, artist, engraver. Poetical Sketches, 1783; Songs of Innocence, 1789; The Book of Thel, 1789; The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and A Song of Liberty, 1793, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, 1793; America, a Prophecy, 1793; Songs of Experience, 1794; Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Showing the two Contrary States of the Human Soul, 1794; The Song of Los, 1795, Milton, 1804; Jerusalem. The Emancipation of the Giant Albion, 1804.

Bodley, Thomas (1544-16ll). Scholar and diplomatist. Reformed and endowed Oxford University Library. The Letters of Sir Thomas Bodley to Thomas James, 1926.

Bolingbroke, Henry St. John (1678-1715).Tory statesman and political philosopher. Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism, 1749; Reflections Concerning Innate Moral Principles, (in French and English); 1752 The Works of Lord Viscount Bolingbroke, 1754.

Browne, Thomas (1605-1682). Physician and writer. Hydriotaphia,Urn-burial, or, a Discourse of the Sepulchral Urns Lately Found in Norfolk, together with the Garden of Cyrus, 1658.

Buckingham, George Villiers (2nd Duke of Buckingham) (1628-1687). Lived a life of extravagance and political intrigue. Plays: The Rehearsal, 1672, The Chances, 1682.

Burns, Robert (1759-1796). Scottish poet, farm labourer. Poems, chiefly in the Scottish dialect, 1786.

Byron, George Gordon Noel (6th Baron Byron). Poetry. Prose. Born in London, died at Missolonghi fighting for Greek independence. Fugitive Pieces, 1806. Poems on Various Occasions, 1807; English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, 1809; Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Cantos I – IV, 1812-1818.The Curse of Minerva, 1812; The Giaour, 1813; The Corsair, 1814; Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte, 1814; Lara, a tale, 1814; Hebrew Melodies, 1815; The Prisoner of Chillon, and Other Poems, 1816; Sardanapalus, a tragedy, the two Foscari, a tragedy. Cain, a mystery, 182l.

Carew, Thomas (1598-1639). Poet of the Cavalier school, and courtier. Employed at court of Charles I. Coelum Britannicum. A masque at Whitehall, 1634; Poems, 1640.

Chapman, George (1559-1634). Poet, dramatist, translator. Bussy D'Ambois, 1607; The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois, 1613 (plays). The Whole Works of Homer, 1616.

Chatterton, Thomas (1752-1770). Poet. Son of a Bristol schoolmaster. Came to London in 1770, where, driven by poverty and frustrated literary ambitions, poisoned himself at the age of 17. Supposed author of the poems and verses he claimed to have discovered in the church of St. Mary Redcliffe, and attributed to Thomas Rowley, a 15th century monk.

Chaucer, Geoffrey (1340-1400). Poet, writing for a court audience, translator. Son of a London vintner. Captured at Retters, during a military expedition to France and ransomed (1360). Went aboroad on diplomatic missions. Held administrative appointments under Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV. Book of the Duchess, 1369; The House of Fame, Anelida and Arcite (1372-1380); Parliament of Fowles, Troilus and Criseyde, Legend of Good Women (1380-1386); The Canterbury Tales (1387-1390). Translated Boethius, De Consolatione Philosophiae (1380-86), and a considerable fragment of Roman de la rose, in octosyllabic couplets.

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834). Poet, critic, philosopher (introduced German philosophy to the English public). Tour with Wordsworth in Germany, 1798. The Fall of Robespierre. An historic drama, jointly with Southey, 1794; Poems of Various Subjects, 1796. Wallenstein, a drama in two parts, 1800; Lyrical Ballads, 1798, jointly with Wordsworth; Christabel (written 1797, 1800); Kubla Khan, a vision; the Pains of Sleep, 1816; Sibylline Leaves, 1817.). Biographia Literaria, 1817; Aids to Reflection in the Formation of a Manly Character, 1825. Essays and Lectures; Works, 1828, 1834.

Collins, William (1721-1759). Poet. Son of a Chichester hatter. Suffered from acute melancholy and occasional fits of insanity.Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegorical Poems, 1747.

Congreve, William (1670-1729). Dramatist, poet. Born in an ancient Yorkshore family. The Double-Dealer, 1694; Love for Love, 1695; The Way of the World, 17oo; The Judgement of Paris, 170l. Lyrics, masques, operas.

Cooper, Anthony Ashley (see under Shaftesbury, 3rd Earl of)

Cowley, Abraham (1618-1667). Poet and essayist; cipher secretary to Queen Henrietta Maria (1647). Poetical Blossoms, 1633. A Satire, the Puritan and the Papist, by a Scholar in Oxford, 1643; The Mistress: or, Several Copies of Love-Verses, 1647; Ode, upon the Blessed Restoration and Return of His Sacred Majesty, Charles the Second, 166o; Verses Lately Written upon Several Occasions, 1663; A Poem on the Late Civil War (fragment), 1679. A Proposition for the Advancement of Experimental Philosophy, 166l.

Cowper, William (173l-18oo). Poet, letter-writer, translator. Unable to continue his promising career as a Parliament official on account of a mental breakdown, which forces him to retire to the country. Olney Hymns (among them, God Moves in a Mysterious Way), 1779; The Task, 1785; Translations of Horace and Homer.

Crabbe, George (1754-1832). Poet. After a failed career as physician, took Holy Orders. Rector of Trowbridge. Admitted into Edmund Johnson's circles. The Village, 1783; The Parish Register, 1807; The Borough, 18lo.

Crashaw, Richard (1612-1649). Caroline metaphysical poet. Fellow of Peter House. Steps to the Temple. Sacred poems with other delights of the Muses, 1646.

Darwin, Erasmus (173l-1802). Physician, writer and inventor. Formed a botanical garden near Lichfield (1778). Expounded the laws of organic life on evolutionary principles. The Botanic Garden; a poem in two parts, 1789. Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life, 1794-1796.

Defoe, Daniel (1660-173l). Journalist, novelist, poet and pamphleteer. Son of a London butcher. Supported Monmouth and William III in 1688. Fined and pilloried for The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1703). Prosecuted and imprisoned for Anti-Jacobite pamphlets (1712-1713). Robinson Crusoe, 1719-1720; Captain Singleton, 1720; Moll Flanders, Journal of the Plague, 1722; The Fortunate Mistress (Roxana), 1724.

Dekker, Thomas (1570-1632). Dramatist and pamphleteer. The Pleasant Comedy of Old Fortunatus, 16oo; The Shoemaker's Holiday, 16oo

Deloney, Thomas (1543-1601). Ballad-writer, pamphleteer, and novelist. By trade a silk-weaver. A Joyful New Ballad, declaring the happy obtaining of the great Galleazo, 1588. Thomas of Reading. Or, the Six Worthy Yeomen of the West, 4th ed. 1612; The Pleasant History of John Winchcomb, 8th ed. 1619.

Denham, John (1615-1669). Courtier, poet. Followed Prince Charles and Henrietta Maria to France (1648). Cooper Hill, 1642. Cato Major, 1669.

De Quincey, Thomas (1785-1859). Essayist. Scholar of Greek, Latin, Hebrew and German. Confessions of an English Opium Eater, 1822

Drummond of Hawthornden, William (1585-1649). Scots poet, historian. A Royalist and an Episcopalian. Author of sonnets and songs dedicated to a girl who died on the eve of their wedding. Entertained Ben Jonson on his visit to Hawthornden in 1619. The History of Scotland, 1655; Conversations of Ben Jonson with William Drummond of Hawthornden, 1842.

Dryden, John (163l-17oo). Poet, dramatist, translator and prose writer. Poet Laureate (1668). Converted to Catholicism (1686). Astraea Redux, 166o; Annus Mirabilis, 1666; Absalom and Achitophel, 168l; The Medall, 1682; Mac Flecknoe, 1682; To the Pious Memory of the Accomplished Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew; The Hind and the Panther, 1687; A Song for St. Cecilia's Day, 1687; Alexander's Feast, 1697. The Indian Queen, 1665; The Indian Emperor, 1667; The Conquest of Granada, 1672; Marriage-à-la-mode, 1673; Aureng-Zebe, 1676; All for Love, 1678

Edgeworth, Maria (1767-1849). Novelist. Daughter of an Irish landlord and M.P. Founded the tradition of the regional novel. Scott followed her example in attempting a fictional monograph of Scotland, as she had done for Ireland. Early Lessons, 1803; Tales of Fashionable Life, 1809, 1812; Harrington; Ormond, 1817.

Elyot, Thomas (1499-1546). Diplomatist and writer. Ambassador to Charles V. Translations from Classics. The Book Named the Governor, 1531; Of the Knowledge Which Makes a Wise Man, 1533; The Doctrinal of Princes, 1534; The Education or Bringing up of Children, 1535; The Dictionary of Sir Thomas Elyot, 1538; The Defence of Good Women, 1545.

Etherege/Etheredge, George (1634-169l). Diplomatist under the Restoration Stuart kings, dramatist. The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub, 1664; She Wou'd if She Cou'd, 1668; The Man of Mode, 1676.

Fielding, Henry (1707-1754). Novelist, satirist, magistrate. As Westminster magistrate (1748) expounded the social causes of and managed to reduce the crime rate in London. Translated Moliere's Miser. The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and His friend Mr. Abraham Adams. Written in imitation of the manner of Cervantes, 1742; The Life of Jonathan Wild the Great, 1743; The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, 1749; Amelia, 1752.

Fletcher, John (1579-1625). Dramatist. Nephew of Giles Fletcher the elder – ambassador and poet, and cousin of Giles and Phineas – poets of the Miltonic school. The Faithful Shepheardesse, 1609; The Two Noble Kinsmen (with Shakespeare); Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, 1640. For the plays by Beaumont and Fletcher jointly see Beaumont, Francis.

Florio, John (1553-1625). Translator. Son of an Italian Protestant refugee; Italin-English Dictionary, 1598. The Essays of Moral, Politics, and Military Discourses of Lord Michaell de Montaigne, 1603.

Gay, John (1685-1732). Poet and dramatist. An extravagant figure and a popular author. Poems on several Occasions, 172o; Trivia, or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London, 1716; The Beggar's Opera, 1728; Acis and Galatea: an English Pastoral Opera (music by Handel), 1732.

Godwin, William (1756-1836). Political philosopher, upholding a Rousseauian view of the innate goodness of man, spoilt by a corrupt society. A theorist of social reforms, exerting a powerful influence on the Romantic movement. Novelist, dramatist. Presbyterian minister who turned atheist, being later converted to theism by Coleridge. His second wife was Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of Mary Shelley. An Inquiry Concerning the Principles of Political Justice, and Its influence on General Virtue and Happiness, 1793; Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1798; Thoughts on Man, His Nature, Productions and Discourses, 183l. Things as They Are: or, the Adventures of Caleb Williams, 1794; Fleetwood; or, The New Man of Feeling, 1805.

Goldsmith, Oliver (1730-1774). Irish poet, novelist, playwright, essayist. Studied medicine at Edinburgh and Leyden. After a two years' journey to Europe, settled in London, making a living as a professional writer, and from various expedients, including schoolteaching. Reputed for his generosity and for his spending habits. Befriended Samuel Johnson, who more than once assisted him financially. His “prospect of society” is that of a “traveller”: the cosmopiltan comment on a culture from the point of view of another, characteristic of the broader understanding of the Enlightenment for social difference and cultural others. The Citizen of the World: or Letters from a Chinese Philosopher, Residing in London, to His Friends in the East (modelled on Montesquieu's Lettres persanes), 1762. The Taveller, or A Prospect of Society, 1765. Poems for Young Ladies, 1767. The Good Natur'd Man, A comedy, 1768; She Stoops to Conquer, A comedy The Vicar of Wakefield, A tale, 1766; The Deserted Village, 1770.

Gower, John (1330-1408). Writer in French, Latin, and English. Of good Kentish family stock and easy circumstances. His friend Chaucer called him “Moral Gower”, as his works never failed to point to some moral. Speculum meditantis or Mirour de l'omme in French; Vox clamantis, in Latin; Confessio Amantis in English (octosyllabic couplets)

Gray, Thomas (1716-1771). Poet, classical scholar, linguist and student of science. Toured Europe in the company of Horace Walpole (1739-41), England and Scotland. A Fellow of Peterhouse and, later, Pembroke. Professor of History and Modern Languages (1768). Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, 1747; An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1751; The Bard, 1757. Letters.

Greene, Robert (1558-1592). Poet, playwright, novelist and pamphleteer. Travelled in Italy, Spain, France, Denmark and Polland. After spending his wife;'s money, went to London where he established himself as a professional writer. Orlando Furioso, 1594; Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, 1594; James IV, 1598; Alphonsus King of Aragon, 1599 (plays). Mamillia. A Mirror of Looking-Glass for the Ladies of England, 1583; Pandosto. The Triumph of Time, 1588

Hazlitt, William (1778-183o). Essayist and critic. Through lecturing and journalism he bridged the eighteenth and the noneteenth centuries, striking a balance between Enlightenment and the Romantic mode of sensibility. His criticism created a new species of literary character, in which the subject is neither the author as an individual, altough the writer's appearance is often described with a painter's eye for significant or piucturesque detail, nor his work regarded in itself, but the figure of the author in his work, as the embodiment of a certain Zeitgeist (spirit of the time). Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, 1817-1818; Lectures on the English Poets, 1818-1819; On the English Comic Writers, 1819; Table-Talk, 182l-1822; The Spirit of the Age; or Contemporary Portraits, 1825.

Herbert, George (1593-1633). Poet and divine. Public Orator at Cambridge, then rector of Bemerton. The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, 1633.

Herrick, Robert (159l-1674). Poet and clergyman. Educated at Cambridge. After some years spent in the company of Jonson and the court wits, took Holy Orders, and became vicar of Dean Prior in 1629. In his poetry, he sought to renconcile his state of mind, divided between a hedonistic drive and religious piety, securing a more complex effect than the other Caroline Cavaliers. Hesperides: or, The Works both Humane and Divine of Robert Herrick Esq. 1648.

Heywood, Thomas (1575-164l). Poet, dramatist and prose pamphleteer. Translated Sallust and other Latins. A Woman Killed with Kindness (a play), 1607. The Life and Death of Queen Elizabeth. Written in heroical verse, 1639. Mayoral pageants for the City of London.

Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679). Philosopher, translator and prose writer. Tutor to the Cavendish family and other distinguished persons, mathematical teacher to Charles II, secretary to Bacon. Took refuge in Paris during the Commonwealth period. His mathematical studies brought him into controversy with Descartes. Translated Homer. Leviathan or the Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil, 165l; Mr. Hobbes Considered in His Loyalty, Religion, Reputation and Manners, 1662. The History of the Civil Wars of England, 1679.

Hogg, James (1770-1835). Scottish poet, journalist, and novelist. A self-taught member of the Scottish literary circles, who had risen from the humble condition of shepherd, which he abandoned after repeated failure in trade. In 1816 Countess of Dalkeith, his patroness, died leaving him her manor of Eltrive Lake, where he lived to the end of his life. Edited The Spy (1810), a weekly periodical. Contributed (signing as the "Eltrick Shepherd") to the "Noctes Ambrosianae" dialogues, a literary medley published by Edinburgh Magazine (1822-35). Re-directed romantic self-expressive lyricism towards narrative (The Queen's Wake) and drama (Dramatic Tales). The Poetic Mirror; or, the Living Bards of Great Britain (parodies), 1816; Some of his best lyric poetry came out in The Jacobite Relics of Scotland, 1819. The Three Perils of Man, 1822; The Three Perils of Women, 1823. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, 1824.

Hume, David (17ll-1776). Scottish philosopher and historian. Studied Law, and completed his education in France (1734-7). Judge-Advocate to General St. Clair, 1747; Keeper of the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, 1752. Went to Paris in 1765, and retired to Edinburgh in 1748. A Treatise of Human Nature, being an attempt to introduce the experimental method of reasoning into moral subjects, 1739; Essays Moral and Political,174l; Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, 1748; An Enquiry Concerning Principles of Morals, 1751; Political Discourses, 1752; History of England, 1754-61; Natural History of Religion, 1757; Essays and Treatises, 1770; My Own Life, 1777; Natural Religion, 1779.

Jonson, Ben (1572-1637). Of Scottish descent, born at Westminster. Served as a bricklayer and soldier before settling in London as a professional dramatist (1597). Temporary imprisonment for killing a fellow-actor in a duel (1598). Tried for murder, escaped by benefit of clergy. Converted to Catholicism, which he abjured twelve years later. Wrote masques for the Court, staged by Inigo Jones, with whom he finally quarrelled. Granted a court pension as poet laureate, although he did not have the title. Received honorary degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge universities. Established the manner for a whole school of poetry the Caroline Cavaliers. Every Man in His Humour, 1598; Every Man out of His Humour, 1599; Cynthia's Revels, 1600; The Poetaster, 1601; Sejanus His Fall, 1605; Volpone or the Fox, 1607; Catilene, 1611; The Alchemist, 16lo; Bartholomew Fair, 1614; Epicoene, or The Silent Woman, 1620 (plays). King James's Royal Entertainment – a masque on the coronation of James I, 1604; Hymenaei, 1606; The Masque of Blackness; The Masque of Beauty (court masques). Under-woods: consisting of diverse poems (in Works), 1640.

Keats, John (1795-182l). Poet. Gave up his practice as a surgeon to dedicate himself entirely to writing. Went to Rome, seeking a relief from his sickness, and died there with consumption. Poems, 1817; Endymion, 1818; Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and other poems, 182o.

Lake Poets, or Lake School. Colerdige, Wordsworth and Southey, who lived in the Lake District of Westmorland and Cumberland. So called for the first time in the Edinburgh Review of 1817.

Lamb, Charles (1775-1834). Essayist, critic, and poet. Educated at Christ's Hospital, with Coleridge. A clerk in the East India Office for thirty-three years. Nervous depression and fits of insanity obliged him to a secluded life later, in the companionship of his devoted sister. His frequent refuge into the past was was not merely a quest of happier days but a romantic preferment for what, being remote in time, can be more advantageously coloured by the imagination. He was not running away from the oppressive prison of his mind but also from the emerging world of railroad, factory and political economists. Hiding behind a mask, a persona, he talks about the small, reassuring aspects of life in a sophisticated idiom, involving paraphrases, archaisms, puns, ellipsis – a literary, elaborate style behind which Montaigne can be deivined. The first writer to describe himself as “introspective”. Tales from Shakespeare, 1807; Specimens from the Dramatic Poets, 1808; Essays of Elia and Last Essays of Elia, 1822-1833.

Langland, William (1330-1400). Poet. Born in the Midlands, educated at the monastery of Great Malvern. Probably of poor extraction. Went to London, Cornhill, as a chantry priest, where he wrote The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman, which has come down to us in three copies. One of them contains a fragment, Richard the Redeless, a poem remonstrating Richard II, also attributed to him. The rebel peasants of 1831 recognized their ow grievances in his attacks on churchmen and lawyers.

Lennox, Charlotte (1720-1804). Novelist and poet, born in New York, as daughter of the lieutenant governor. A member of Johnson's litearry club. Translated from the French. The Female Quixote; or, the Adventures of Arabella, 1752; The History of Sir George Warrington; or the Political Quixote, 1797.

Lewis, Matthew Gregory (1775-1818). Novelist, dramatist, and translator from the German and French. Diplomat. Died at sea on his return from the West Indies.The Monk, A romance, 1796. Journal of a West India Proprietor, kept during a residence in the Island of Jamaica, 1834.

Locke, John (1632-1704). Philosopher, Greek lecturer, lecturer in rhetoric, and censor of moral philosophy at Oxford. Fellow of the Royal Society. Physician to the Earl of Shaftesbury. Fled to Holland in 1684 and returned with William III in 1689. Rejected the teachings of Renaissance Humanism from a standpoint which combined the empiricism of Newtonian methodology with the systematic structuralism of the Cambridge Platonists' theoloogy. Reformed religious and political thought, educational theory and practice. His application of the physiology of sensation to ethics and politics opened the way to the eighteenth-century “sciences of men”. Whereas Bacon had claimed that all knowledge was his province, the more sceptical John Locke set out to inquire into the origin, range and validity of human knowledge. Epistola de Tolerantia, (against the abstract universals, and empty words enslaving human minds) 1689; Second and third Letters Concerning Toleration, 1690, 1692; An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690. Divided into four books I. Of Innate Notions II. Of Ideas;III. Of Words, and IV. Of Knowledge and Opinion. Two Treatises of Government, 1690; The Reasonableness of Christianity, 1695; The Whole History of Navigation, 1704.

Lovelace, Richard (1618-1658). Cavalier poet, courtier, scholar, musician, translator of Catullus. Imprisoned in 1642 and 1648. His prison poems, To Althea (his bethrothed) and To Lucasta are the best expresssion of the Cavalier union of love and loyalty. Lucasta: epodes, odes, sonnets, songs, to which is added Amarantha, a pastoral, 1649.

Lydgate, John (1370-1450). Poet, priest. Received lands and money from his patron, Duke of Gloucester. Later retired to Bury St. Edmunds as a monk. Learned versification from Chaucer. Danse macabre, 1554.

Lyly, John (1370-1450). Novelist, poet and dramatist. “A noted wit:” at St. Magdalen, Oxford. M.P. (1589-1601). The creator of an elaborate, artificial style. Euphues. The Anatomy of Wit, 1578; Euphues and His England, 1580. Alexander, Campaspe, and Diogenes, 1584; Endimion (the man in the moon), 159l; Gallathea, 1592; The Woman in the Moon, 1597 (plays).

Marlowe, Christopher (1564-1593). Dramatist and poet. B.A. from Cambridge One of the scholarly and versatile dramatists known as the “university wits”. Enormously talented, which can be seen in the impressive rhetoric, skilled versification, convincing characterization of powerful human personalities, he was also reputed for many things which cannot be verified: being a member of a secret society of free-thinkers, being a spy or an agent of the secret police. Credited with a warrant of arrest on his name, issued by the time of his death. Died under obscure circumstances in a drunken brawl. Tamburlaine the Great, 1590; The Jew of Malta; Edward II, 1594; Dido, The Massacre of Paris. Narrative verse: Hero and Leander, 1598.

Massinger, Philip (1583-1640). Dramatist. Collaborated with John Fletcher, Dekker and others. The Emperor of the East. A tragicomedy, 1632.

Middleton, Thomas (1570-1627). Dramatist. Son of a London bricklayer. City chronologer (1620). A Game at Chess, 1625; The Changeling, 1653. Courtly masques and pageants.

Milton, John (1608-1674). Poet, historian, pamphleteer. Son of a Protestant (disinherited on embracing his creed), who successfully combined prosperous business and a taste of learning and literature. Milton's Latin scholarship made him renowned at Cambridge as well as on the Continent, where he travelled between 1637-39, being introduced to J. P. Manso, Dati, Deodati and other men of letters. In time he abandoned his Presbyterian leanings, moving towards an independent and heretical position, which he expounded in De Doctrina Christiana, first published in 1825. Appointed Cromwell's Latin secretary in 1649 (Secretary in Foreign Tongues to the Council of State), a position which he held to the end of the Protectorate, although by 1652 he had probably gone completely blind because of a tumour of the pitulary gland. In 1642 he contracted an unfortunate marriage, which made him support a more lenient legislation on divorce. After the Restoration he spent his life dictating verse to his third wife On the Morning of Christ's Nativity, 1629; L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, 1632; Comus, 1634; Lycidas, 1637; Poems, 1644; Paradise Lost, 1667; Paradise Regained, 1671, Samson Agonistes, 1671. Of Prelatical Episcopacy, 1641; The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, 1643. Of Education, 1644; Areopagitica, 1644; The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, 1649; The Ready and Easy Way to Establish a Free Commonwealth, 1660; The History of Britain, 1670; De Doctrina Christiana, 1825.

More, Henry (1614-1687). Philosopher and poet, member of the circle of Cambridge Platonists. Platonica, 1642; Democritus Platonissans, or an essay upon the infinity of worlds out of Platonic principles (in verse), 1646; An Antodote against Atheism, or, An appeal to the natural faculties of the mind of man, whether there be not a God, 1652.

More (Morus), Thomas (1478-1535). Humanist, a friend of Erasmus, translator, controversialist. Abandoning Oxford University for Lincoln's Inn in order to become a lawyer. Speaker of the Commons, 1523. Lord Chancellor (1529). A typical New Humanism and Renaissance man, who set a prize on individual worth: studied discourse, fine manners, graceful behaviour whether to peers, family or domestics. Executed for opposing Henry VIII's divorce and for denying the King's headship of the Church. A Fruitful and Pleasant Work of the New Isle called Utopia, 1516 in Latin – a fine example of utopian fiction (the description of an ideal commonwealth), ranked by Vives next to the dialogues of Cicero. The English version of Raphe Robynson (155l) is unable to render More's subtle irony in a work urging the reader to reflection rather than to taking immediate practical action. History of King Richard III (unfinished), whose dramatic power in laying the scene and characterization was exploited by Shakespeare. A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, 1534 – a prison work, seeking the “comfort” or consolation of philosophy against the “tribulation” of tyranny. Controversial writings against Tyndale as translator and commentator of the New Testament, More himself being engaged in the translation of the Bible.

Nashe, Thomas (1567-1601). Pamphleteer, novelist and playwright. One of the “University Wits” (B.A. from Cambridge). Anti-Puritanic attitude, bohemian life and sarcastic manner which earned him many enemies. Imprisoned for his Isle of Dogs, 1597. Author of a play, Dido, Queen of Carthage, jointly with Christopher Marlowe. Author of the first picaresque novel in English: The Unfortunate Traveller or the Life of Jack Wilton, 1594.

Newton, Isaac (1642-1679). Scientist. Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge (1669). President of the Royal Society (1703-1728). I Invented the telescope (1668). Promulgated his theory of the law of the attraction of gravity existing between all bodies and varying directly as their masses, inversely as the square of their distance apart (1687.) Knighted (1705). The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, 1687. Opticks: or a treatise on the reflexions, refractions, inflexions and colours of light, also two treatises of the species of magnitude of curvilinear figures, 1704.

North, Thomas (1535-16ol). Translator. Studied at Lincoln's Inn. Knighted (159l); M.P. for Cambridge (1592). Pensioned by Queen Elizabeth (1601). Translated Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans (1579) from Amyot's French version, a very influential book among the Elizabethans, who lived by models.

Norton, Thomas (1532-1584). Poet. Lawyer, M.P. Author of the Senecan tragedy of Gorboduc, jointly with Thomas Sackville.

Otway, Thomas (1652-1658). Dramatist, poet, prose-writer. Highly successful among his contemporaries, becoming, in the next century, the object of a cult which reached the inflated proportions of a comparison with Shakespeare. Alcibiades, 1675; Don Carlos, Prince of Spain, 1676; Venice Preserv'd, or A Plot Discover'd, 1682 (plays). Love-Letters, 1697

Parnell, Thomas (1679-1718). Irish poet, essayist and divine. A member of the Scriblerus Club. Contributed the essay on Homer to Pope's version of the Iliad. An Essay on Different Styles of Poetry, 1713. Poems on Several Occasions, published posthumously (1722) by Pope.

Parquhar, George (1678-1707). Dramatist. His Beaux's Stratagem is a canonical comedy of the Restoration satirical wit, thematizing marriage and class adversities.

Peacock, Thomas Love (1785--1866). Novelist, poet, and critic, a close friend of the Romantics. The Genius of the Thames. A lyrical poem in two parts, 18lo; The Philosophy of Melancholy, 1812; Sir Hornbook; or Childe Launcelot's Expedition. A Grammatico-Allegorical Ballad, 1814; Rhododaphne: of the Thessalian Spell, 1818. Nightmare Abbey (a novel), 1818.

Peele, George (1558-1597). Dramatist, poet. Ordered out of his father's house on account of his life of dissipation, he supported himself as a playright and as enetertainer of the Polish Prince Palatine.The Old Wives' Tale – a comedy, 1595. Pageants

Percy, Thomas (1729-18ll). Men of letters, a pioneer anthropologist. Bishop of Dromore. Miscellaneous Pieces Relating to the Chinese, 1762; Five Pieces of Runic Poetry translated from the Islandic languages, 1763; The Song of Solomon, newly translated from the original Hebrew, 1764; Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 1765; Northern Antiquities, or a description of the manners, customs, religion, and laws of the ancient Danes. With a translation of the Edda and other pieces from the ancient Islandic tongue, 1770; Ancient Songs, chiefly on Moorish subjects, translated from the Spanish, 1932.

Pickering, John (fl. 154o). Dramatist of passage from the medieval moralities to the popular Elizabethan tragedy: A New Interlude of Vice Containing the History of Horestes with the Cruel Revenge of His Father's Death upon His One Natural Mother, 1567.

Pope, Alexander (1688-1744). Poet, translator. Son of a Roman-Catholic linen-draper. Short and crippled, Pope spent his childhood in the country, being privately educated. Introduced by Wycherley into Addison's circle. A member of the Scriblerus Club. The peak of the Augustan movement in a varied range of discourses, from poetics to politics, from economics to ethics, from form to fashion. His cross-discursive practices bring into conjunction various strands of thought: science and philosophy, culture and society, literature and politics His description of the Augustan “soft refinement” and neoclssical taming of the baroque wit is associated, maybe deliberately, with military conquest over France in the Second Epistle of the Imitation of Horace: Wit grew polite, and Numbers learn'd to flow (266). Enjoyed the reputation of the greatest contemporary poet in Europe. His translations of the Iliad and Odyssey sold remarkably well, ensuring him a leisurely existence in the last years of his life, corresponding with his friends and cultivating his garden at Twickenham. Windsor Forest, 1704; An Essay on Criticism, 17ll; The Rape of the Lock, 1714; Eloisa to Abelard, 1717; The Dunciad, 1728; An Essay on Man, 1733-1734; Moral Essays, 1732-5; An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, 1735.

Price, Uvedale (1747-1829). Essayist, theoretician of the picturesque. Illustrated his theories of natural beauty and landscape gardening in the outlay of his estate at Foxley. An Essay on the Picturesque, as Compared with the Sublime and the Beautiful (1794-8).

Puttenham, George (1529-159o). Critic. The Art of English Poesie, 1589. Also attributed to his brother Richard (152o-16ol).

Quarles, Francis (1592-1644). Writer of verse, prose and emblems. Cup-bearer to Princess Elizabeth (1613). Emblems, 1635; Hieroglyphikes of the Life of Man, 1638 (verse).

Ralegh/Raleigh, Walter (1552-1618). Poet, historian, explorer, politician. The type of Elizabethan courtier. Established the first British colony in America, Virginia. Executed by order of James I on a charge of complicity to a plot and for disobeying his instructions on a gold-hunt voyage to Guiana. The Discovery of Guiana, 1596; The History of the World, 1614. A Discourse of the Original Cause of Natural War with the Misery of Invasive War, 1650. The Poems of Sir Walter Raleigh, 1813.

Richardson, Samuel (1689-176l). Novelist. Made a living in the printing trade, which he entered at the age of seventeen. Earned a reputation on the Continent as well, where he was admired by Rousseau, Lessing, Goldoni a.o. Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded, 174o; Clarissa. Or, the History of a Young Lady, 1748; The History of Sir Charles Grandison, 1754.

Sackville, Thomas, lst Earl of Dorset and Baron Buckhurst (1536-1608). Poet, man of letters, statesman, barrister. Chancellor of Oxford University. The Tragedy of Gorboduc, the first English blank verse tragedy, 1565 (three acts by Thomas Norton, and the two last by Thomas Sackville). The Induction and Complaint of the Duke of Buckingham in A Mirour for Magistrates, completed by William Baldwin and George Ferrers, 1563, augmented in the following editions of 157l, 1574, 1610.

Scott, Walter (177l-1832). Novelist, poet, historian, translator. Called to the Scottish Bar (1729). Journeys into the Lowlands in search of authentic oral versions of the ballads in Percy's Relics, which he used to recite as a child. Promoted the foundation of the Tory Quarterly Review (1809). Created baronet (1819). The success of his works was immediate and immense, not only in England but also on the Continent, where translations of his novels would sometimes appear on the same day as the originals. His translations of Ballads from the German (1796) and of Geothe's Gotz von Berlichingen had important bearings upon the English Romantics. After the crash of the Constable and Ballantyne's printing business, of which he was a partner, he had to work hard to the end of his life to pay off his debts. His “inroads” into Scottish, English and Continental history yield vivid reconstructions, down to the minutest details of costume and environment, teeming with a live and diverse humanity, pasted on a rich emotional canvas. Lay of the Last Minstrel, 1805; Ballads and Lyrical Pieces, 1806. Waverley, 1814; Guy Mannering or The Astrologer, 1815; The Antiquary, 1816; Rob Roy, 1818; Ivanhoe, 1819; Kenilworth, 1821; The Fortunes of Nigel, 1822; Quentin Durward, 1823, Anne of Geierstein, 1829 The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte, Emperor of the French, 9 vols. 1827. Tales of a Grandfather. Being stories taken from Scotish history, 1828, Tales of a Grandfather. Being stories taken from the history of France, 1831.

Shadwell, Thomas (1642-1692). Dramatist and poet. Open controversies with John Dryden. Never missed an opportunity to dedicate “a congratulatory poem” or “ode” to William of Orange and his wife, Mary: on His coming into England, upon Her arrival in England, 1689, on the King's birthday, 1690, 1692, on the King's return from Ireland. He even published one in... Dryden's name: The Address of John Dryden, Laureate to His Highness the Prince of Orange, 1689. It was a banter “with a key”, the Laureateship going from Dryden to Shadwell in 1688. The Miser, 1672; The Tempest, or the Enchanted Island, 1674; The History of Timon of Athens, the Man-Hater, 1678; The Lancashire Witches, 1682 (plays).

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd earl of Shaftesbury (167l-1713). Philosopher whose opinions were, alongside those of Locke and Newton, one of the main shaping influences on the eighteenth-century mind. M.P. A Deist influenced by the Cambridge Platonists. Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, 1711; Several Letters, Written by a Noble Lord to A Young Man at the University, 1716; Second Characteristicks; or, The Language of Forms, 1914.

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616). Dramatist, poet, actor. A myth growing in time: identified as “the national poet”, the soul of England, expressing in his works “the desire for world-order which fabricated the League of Nations” (G. Wilson Knight), even spoken of in religious terms:” If ever a new Messiah is to come, he will come in the name of Shakespeare” (Herman Melville). Little is known about his life, the information which can be deemed from the 1623 first Folio coming from or being confirmed by Ben Jonson. Out of the 37 plays currently attributed to Shakespeare only 16 were anthumously published (quatro editions), the others coming down to us in manuscripts copied by actors, stage directors, full of errors and interpolations. The sixteen years which lapsed from 1644, when the Puritans closed down the theatres to 166o, when they were reopened by Charles II are wrapped in a cloud of oblivion. Only one authoritative image of Shakespeare was available: the copper engraving first printed on the title page of the 1623 first folio. It seems that 147 lines from Sir Thomas Moore were written by his hand –a play to which several dramatists contributed. The parish Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon records his baptism on 26 April 1564. Tradition assigns his birth-date to the twenty-third, as the inscription on the dramatist's tomb reads that he died on 23 April 1616 in his fifty-third year. John Shakespeare, his father, was a tradesman. William attended a free school for some time, which, however, was a superior institution of its kind, the masters holding bachelor's and master's degrees from Oxford University. On 28 November 1582 William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway of Stratford and on 26 May his first child, Susanna, was born. Between the birth of the twins (Hannet and Judith) and the first reference to Shakespeare in London (1592) the documentary record is virtually blank. He might have joined one of the touring companies – Leicester's, Warwick's or the Queen's – that played at Stratford in the eighties. By 1592 he had established himself in the London theatre world as actor and playwright, successful and envied by fellow-dramatists, as it can be inferred from Robert Greene's venomous attack. In 1598, when the Lord Chamberlain's Men pulled down the regular playhouse, The Theatre (the first playhouse built in 1576, with James Burbage as leader of the company), and used the timber to erect The Globe, Shakespeare entered a form of proprietorship which entitled him to a tenth percentage of the profit. In the royal patent by which the Lord Chamberlain's Men (Earl of Leicester) became, in 1603, The King's Men, Shakespeare's name appeares near the head of the list. He made a nice income which enabled him to buy the Great House of New Place, the second largest in Stratford. By 1613 he had retired to Stratford, living there as if Shakespeare had never existed. I, II, III Henry VI (1589-91); Richard III, 1592-3; The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, 1593-4; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Love's Labour's Lost, 1594-5; Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595-96); King John; The Merchant of Venice, 1596-97; I,II Henry IV, 1597-8; Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V; The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1598-9; Julius Caesar, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, 1599-16oo; All's Well that Ends Well; Othello, 1602-3; Measure for Measure, 1603-4; Timon of Athens, 1604-5; King Lear, Macbeth, 1605-6; Antony and Cleopatra, 1606-7; Coriolanus, 1607-8; Pericles, 1608-9; Cymbeline, 1609-10; The Winter's Tale, 1610-l; The Tempest, 1611-2. Henry VIII, 1612-3. Shakespeare may, however, have contributed to it, as well to a number of other plays: Cardenio, Two Noble Kinsmen, Sir Thomas More.Three pages in the manuscript of this last play have been claimed to be in Shakespeare's hand, and so have half a dozen signatures. There are doubts about Shakespeare's authorship of certain parts of Pericles and Titus Andronicus, and of Henry VIII, which is not included in all editions of Shakespeare's complete works. Poems: Venus and Adonis, 1592-3; The Rape of Lucrece, 1593-4; The Passionate Pilgrim, 1599; The Phoenix and the Turtle, 16ol.; Shakespeare's Sonnets, 1609.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft (1797-185l). Novelist. Daughter of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft and Shelley's second wife. Dedicated herself to editing his works after his death. Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus, 1818; Valperga, 1823; The Lst Man, 1826; The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck, 183o; Falkner, 1837; Tales and Stories, 189l. Travel notes, letters, a poem on Shelley's death (The Choice).

Shelley, Percy Bysshe (1792-1822). Expelled from Oxford for his pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism (18ll). In the same year eloped with Harriet Westbrook. In 1815 left England with Mary Godwin. Drowned in Italy. Queen Mab, 1813; Alastor, 1816; Revolt of Islam, 1818; Lines Written among the Euganaean Hiils, 1818; Cenci, 1819; Prometheus Unbound, 182o; Adonais, 182l; Hellas, 1822; Julian and Maddalo, Witch of Atlas, 1824.

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley (175l-1816). Irish dramatist. M.P. and Under-Secretary of State, Privy Councillor and Treasurer of the Navy. The School for Scandal, 1780.

Sidney, Philip (1554-1586). Diplomat, courtier poet, novelist and critic. Son of a Lord Deputy of Ireland who became Lord President of Wales, nephew of the Earl of Leicester. Mortally wounded at Zutphen, and died at Arnhem. His works were written between 1580 and 1585, but published posthumously: Arcadia, 159o; Astrophil and Stella, 1591; Apologie for Poetrie, 1595.

Smollett, Tobias George (172l-177l). Scottish novelist. Ship's surgeon, present at the battle of Catagena, 174l. Worked in London as doctor, journalist and novelist. The Adventures of Roderick Random, 1748; The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle, 1751; The Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves, 1762; The History and Adventures of an Atom, 1769; The Expedition of Humphry Clinker, 1771.

Southey, Robert (1774-1843). Poet and prose-writer. Converted to Unitarianism and Pantisocracy (the project of an ideal Commonwealth) by Coleridge. Supported himself as translator and journalist at Keswick. Poet Laureate (1813). The Fall of Robespierre. An historic drama (jointly with Coleridge). Joan of Arc, en epic poem, 1796; Madoc, 1805; Wat Tyler. A dramatic poem, 1817; Robin Hood (a fragment) 1847.

Steele, Richard (1672-1729). Irish essayist and politician. Knighted for political services (1715). Founded the Tatler (1709). From 17ll edited the Spectator with Addison.

Sterne, Laurence (1713-1768). Novelist. Son of a subaltern stationed in Ireland, of very good stock (his grandfather had been the Archbishop of York), but forced to embrace a military career, as the family estate always went to the first born. A parson at Sutton and Coxwold. The Life and Opinions of Tristran Shandy, Gentleman, 1759-67; Sermons of Yorick, 1760; Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, 1768. Letters from Yorick to Eliza, 1773; Sterne's Letters to His Friends on Various Occasions, 1775.

Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517-1547). Poet. Earl Marshal at Anne Boleyn's trial (1536). Translated The Aeneid (Books II and III) in blank verse (unrhymed enjambed pentameters), the first in English. Modified Wyatt's form of the sonnet, creating the sonnet form later used by Shakespeare (three quatrains rhyming abab and a final couplet). Songs and Sonnets by Lord Henry Howard and others, 1557.

Swift, Jonathan (1667-1745). Irish novelist, pot and pamphleteer. Dryden's cousin. Secretary to Sir William Temple who, as ambassador to the Hague, had brought about the marriage of William of Orange and Mary. Dean of St Patrick's Dublin, 1713. Battle of the Books, A Tale of a Tub, 1704; Bickerstaff Papers, 1708-9; Meditation upon a Broomstick, 1710; Drapier Letters, 1724-5; Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. By Lemuel Gulliver, first a surgeon, and then a captain of several ships, 1726. Poetical Works, 1736. Journal to Stella, 1710-1713.

Tourneur, Cyril (1575-1626). Poet and dramatist, The Revenger's Tragedy, 1607.

Tyndale, William (1484-1536). Translator of the Bible. Took Holy Orders. Contacted Luther in Wittenberg. (1534). Translated the New Testament from Greek and the Pentateuch and the Book of Jonah from the Hebrew. The King James Bible (The Authorized Version of 1611) is largely based upon Morus and Tyndale.

Traherne, Thomas (1637-1674). Metaphysical poems and prose writings on religious topics.

Udall, Nicholas (1505-1556). Dramatist, scholar and headmaster of Eton and Westminster. Fellow of Corpus Christi, Oxford. Ralph Roister Doister, 1553

Vaughan, Henry (1622-1695). Anglo-Welsh metaphysical poet, interested in hermetic, alchemical and other esoteric doctrines. Known as the Silurist poet, because Brecknockshire, the place of his birth, was formerly inhabited by the Silures. Studied law and medicine. Silex Scintillans, 1650.

Walpole, Horace, 4th earl of Oxford (1717-1797). Novelist, letter-writer, editor, printer. M.P. Son of Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister. Bought Strawberry Hill (1747), which he outfitted in Gothic style. Founded the Gothic horror school with his Castle of Otranto, 1765. Miscellaneous work in verse and prose.

Whetstone, George (1544-1587). Author of prose romances, poems, plays, morallizing discourses. A soldier to the Low Countries (1574). A member of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's expedition to Newfoundland (1578-9). George Gascoigne, Esq., 1578; Promos and Cassandra, 1578; Sir Nicholas Bacon, 1579. A Mirror for Magistrates of Cities, 1584; The Honourable Reputation of a Soldier, 1585; The English Mirror, 1586.

Wollstonecraft, Mary (Godwin) (1759-1797). Irish prose-writer, vindicating women's rights. Kept a school with her sister. Married William Godwin and died giving birth to their daughter, Mary (Shelley's future wife). Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, 1787; A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1794; An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution, 1794. The Wrongs of Women, or Maria (unfinished novel), 1798.

Wordsworth, William (1770-1850). Poet, born in the Lake District. French tour (179l-2). In love with the French Revolution and with a Parisian woman by whom he had an illegitimate daughter, whom he recognized. Disappointed with the Revolution after the “Reign of Terror”, ended up a Tory supporter. Moved to Alfoxden to be near Colerdige (1797) with whom he planned the Lyrical Ballads but lived at Grasmere for the greatest part of his life. Succeeded Southey as Poet Laureate (1843). Lyrical Ballads (with Colerdige), 1798 (with Preface, 1800); Poems, 1807, 1815,1845; The Excursion, 1814; Peter Bell; The Wagoner, 1819; Sonnets on the River Duddon, 182o; The Prelude (written 1799-1805), 185o.

Wyatt, Thomas (1503-1542). Poet, diplomat. Got in touch with the European Renaissance during his embassies in Italy, France and Spain. Borrowed and adapted the Petrarchan sonnet. Together with Surrey he created the Elizabethan sonnet (five rhymes and a concluding couplet). Translations of Plutarch and David's psalms. His songs and sonnets got into print in Tottel's Miscellany in 1557.

Young, Edward (1683-1765). Poet, essayist and divine. Fellow of All Souls.The Complaint: or Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality, 1747. Conjectures on Original Composition in a letter to the author of Sir Charles Grandison, 1759.

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* Compiled mainly on the basis of: A Dictionary of Literature in the English Language. from Chaucer to 1940. Compiled and edited by Robin Myers, Pergamon Press, 1970, and William J. Entwistle & Eric Gillet, The Literature of England, Longmans, 1962.