biography
| name: |
Rochester, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1647–80)
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| biography:
| Courtier and poet, born in Ditchley, Oxfordshire, England, UK. He studied at Oxford, and was a prominent figure at court. In 1665 he showed conspicuous courage against the Dutch. A patron of the arts, he married an heiress (1667) and plunged into a life of debauchery, yet wrote excellent letters, satires (particularly ‘A Satyr against Mankind’, 1675), and bacchanalian and amatory songs and verses. Finally he was said to be moved to a death-bed repentance by Bishop Burnet who published his account of the event in Some passages in the life and death of the right honourable John Wilmot Earl of Rochester (1680). Among the best of his poems are imitations of Horace and Boileau, Verses to Lord Mulgrave, and Verses upon Nothing. |
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