Stepney, George

(1663-1707)

   Born in London and educated at Westminster School, he graduated M.A. from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1689 and was made a fellow in 1687. He had a successful diplomatic career and between 1695 and 1697 was envoy to several important European negotiations. In 1697 he was appointed a commissioner of trade and plantations, a post which, in spite of his diplomatic work, he retained until his death. In Vienna, in 1705, a misunderstanding between him and the imperial minister caused Prince Eugène to insist upon his withdrawal. He died of dysentery and was buried in the nave of Westminster Abbey, the pall being carried by two dukes, two earls, and two barons. Stepney contributed a translation of Ovid's elegy on the death of Tibullus to Dryden's Miscellany Poems (1684). His other poetry publications: Epistle to Charles Montague, 1691. Poems Dedicated to the Blessed Memory of Her Late Gracious Majesty Queen Mary, 1695. The Eighth Satyr of Juvenal, 1693. Some of his poems: "On the Late Horrid Conspiracy," "The Audience," "The Austrian Eagle," "The Nature of Dreams," "Verses Imitated from the French of Monsieur Maynard, to Cardinal Richelieu."

   Sources: Anthology of Poems on Affairs of State: Augustan Satirical Verse, 1660-1714. George de F. Lord, ed. Yale University Press, 1975. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English Poets, 1779-1781 (http://www2.hn.psu.edu/Faculty/KKemmerer/poets/preface.htm). Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). Westminster Abbey Official Guide (no date).