Leonard Welsted (''baptised'' 3 June 1688 – August 1747) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and "dunce" in

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

's writings (both in ''

The Dunciad ''The Dunciad'' is a landmark, mock-heroic, narrative poem by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times from 1728 to 1743. The poem celebrates a goddess Dulness and the progress of her chosen agents as they bring ...

'' and in ''Peri Bathos''). Welsted was an accomplished writer who composed in a relaxed, light hearted vein. He was associated with Whig party political figures in his later years (the years in which he earned Pope's enmity), but he was

tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

earlier, and, in the age of

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

, this seems to have been more out of financial need than anything else. He was the son of a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

priest and was orphaned at six. He attended

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

but left without a degree. He married Frances Purcell, the orphaned daughter of

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest E ...

, around 1707, and the couple had a daughter, also named Frances. However, the mother died in 1712, and Welsted married Anna Maria Walker, the sister of an admiral, that year. In his poetry, he referred to her as Zelinda. Frances Welsted, the daughter, died in 1726, seventeen years old, and Welsted mourned her loss in ''Hymn to the Creator'' the next year. He wrote many poems in an attempt to get a position from patronage. He wrote two odes to

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...

in 1709 as well as an elegy to

John Philips John Philips (30 December 1676 – 15 February 1709) was an 18th-century English poet. Early life and education Philips was born at Bampton, Oxfordshire, the son of Rev. Stephen Philips, later archdeacon of Salop, and his wife Mary Wood. H ...

the poet. Nothing was forthcoming, however. In 1712, with the tories in power, he began to court the opposition whigs with laudatory verse. He also translated ''On the Sublime,'' although

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

argued that he had translated Boileau's translation, and not

Longinus Longinus () is the name given to the unnamed Roman soldier who pierced the side of Jesus with a lance and who in medieval and some modern Christian traditions is described as a convert to Christianity. His name first appeared in the apocryphal G ...

's original. In 1714, Welsted attacked Robert Harley, the fallen head of the Tory party, with ''The Prophecy.'' Harley replied, and Harley's friends in the

Scriblerus Club The Scriblerus Club was an informal association of authors, based in London, that came together in the early 18th century. They were prominent figures in the Augustan Age of English letters. The nucleus of the club included the satirists Jonathan ...

were thereafter Welsted's enemies. Welsted continued to antagonize the Scribblerans. In 1717, he wrote ''Palaemon to Caelia, or, The Triumvirate'', which was a satire of

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...

, Alexander Pope, and

John Arbuthnot John Arbuthnot FRS (''baptised'' 29 April 1667 – 27 February 1735), often known simply as Dr Arbuthnot, was a Scottish physician, satirist and polymath in London. He is best remembered for his contributions to mathematics, his membersh ...

and their play ''

Three Hours After Marriage ''Three Hours After Marriage'' was a restoration comedy, written in 1717 as a collaboration between John Gay, Alexander Pope and John Arbuthnot, though Gay was the principal author. The play is best described as a satirical farce, and among i ...

.'' In 1724, he mocked one of Pope's lines from ''Essay on Criticism,'' and therefore Thomas Cooke made Welsted the champion who opposes Pope in his ''The Battel of the Poets.'' When the

Hanoverian succession The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

occurred, Welsted benefited. He wrote ''An Epistle to Mr. Steele on the King's Accession,'' and he became

Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele (bap. 12 March 1672 – 1 September 1729) was an Anglo-Irish writer, playwright, and politician, remembered as co-founder, with his friend Joseph Addison, of the magazine ''The Spectator''. Early life Steele was born in Du ...

's secretary or assistant. He contributed to Steele's and

Ambrose Philips Ambrose Philips (167418 June 1749) was an English poet and politician. He feuded with other poets of his time, resulting in Henry Carey bestowing the nickname "Namby-Pamby" upon him, which came to mean affected, weak, and maudlin speech or verse. ...

's respective newspapers in the coming years, and he wrote a prologue and epilogue to Steele's ''

The Conscious Lovers ''The Conscious Lovers'' is a sentimental comedy written in five acts by the Irish author Richard Steele. ''The Conscious Lovers'' appeared on stage on 7 November 1722, at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and was an immediate success, with an initial ...

'' of 1722. During that time he also continued to write poems with fawning dedications to various members of the nobility. The wheedling paid off for Welsted, as he was made a clerk and received an annual salary of £25. In 1726, his play, ''

The Dissembled Wanton ''The Dissembled Wanton'' is a 1726 comedy play by the British writer Leonard Welsted. The original Lincoln's Inn Fields cast included James Quin as Lord Severne, Lacy Ryan Lacy Ryan (c. 1694–1760), English actor, appeared at the Haymar ...

'', was acted at

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

. It netted him £138 for the author's benefit and another £30 for the printed rights. He also attempted several subscriptions for translations that did not work out. One of his best poems, ''Oikographia'', dates from 1725 and details his living in the Tower of London (but not the prison) and the simple pleasures of a contented life with a loving wife. In 1728, Pope struck back against Welsted. In ''Peri Bathos,'' Welsted's obsequiousness is isolated and presented for derision, and in ''The Dunciad'' Pope accused him of writing poetry that flows like its inspiration: beer. In fact, Pope presented Welsted several places in ''The Dunciad'' as a laughable poetaster. Welsted attempted to fight back, and he teamed up with another of Pope's dunces,

James Moore Smythe James Moore Smythe (; 1702 – 18 October 1734) was an English playwright and fop. Biography Smythe was appointed by the King to the Office of, Co-Paymaster of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms. He was born James Moore. He was the son ...

, for ''One Epistle to Mr. A. Pope'' in 1730, and in 1732 he wrote two attacks on Pope, ''Of Dulness and Scandal'' and ''Of False Fame.'' In return, Pope satirized Welsted again in the ''Epistle to Arbuthnot'' in 1735. Welsted was also satirized by

. In Swift's

1733 Events January–March * January 13 – Borommarachathirat V becomes King of Siam (now Thailand) upon the death of King Sanphet IX. * January 27 – George Frideric Handel's classic opera, ''Orlando'' is performed for ...

''On Poetry: A Rhapsody'', he first compared Welsted's bad versifying with

Stephen Duck Stephen Duck (c. 1705 – 21 March 1756) was an English poet whose career reflected both the Augustan era's interest in "naturals" ( natural geniuses) and its resistance to classlessness. Biography Duck was born at Charlton, near Pewsey, in Wi ...

's bad rhymes and then Welsted's "translation" of

's ''Peri Hupsos,'' which was actually a translation of Boileau's French translation. In 1730 and 1731, he was promoted in his

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

job, going to a salary of £70 and then one of £150 as a commissioner of the lottery. These promotions may have been due to the intercession of well-known politicians and leading whigs, such as Bishop Hoadley. His late works include a prose work of

theodicy Theodicy () means vindication of God. It is to answer the question of why a good God permits the manifestation of evil, thus resolving the issue of the problem of evil. Some theodicies also address the problem of evil "to make the existence of ...

entitled ''The Scheme and Conduct of Providence'' in 1736, and the poem ''The Summum bonum, or, Wisest Philosophy,'' which again praises the simple joy of retired life.

References

* Sambrook, James. "Leonard Welsted". In Matthew, H.C.G. and Brian Harrison, eds. ''

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

.'' vol. 58, 91–92. London:

OUP Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2004. * James Sambrook: ''The life of the English poet Leonard Welsted (1688–1747) : the culture and politics of Britain's eighteenth-century literary wars'', Lewiston .a.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2014,

External links

Leonard Welsted
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Welsted, Leonard 1688 births 1747 deaths 18th-century English poets 18th-century English writers 18th-century English male writers English male poets