Walsh, William

(1663-1708)

   Born at Abberley, Worcestershire, he entered Wadham College, Oxford, but never graduated. He was twice Whig member of Parliament for Worcestershire and once for Richmond, Yorkshire. Under the Duke of Somerset, he was gentleman of the horse from the beginning of Queen Anne's reign (1702) till his death. Samuel Johnson reports that in the opinion of John Dryden, Shaw was one of the best critics in the nation. He was also a friend of Alexander Pope, who respected Walsh's opinion of his 1705 Pastorals. According to Johnson, Walsh was a man of fashion who had a heart of love toward women, but not enough to ever marry. In 1691 he wrote a Dialogue Concerning Women, Being a Defence of the Sex, and in 1692, Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant. Many of his poems are elegies, epigrams and love poems. Some of his other publications: A Funeral Eleg y, 1695. Ode for the Thanksgiving Day, 1706. Poems, 1749. Some of his poems: "Against Marriage to His Mistress," "Cure of Jealousy," "Loving One I Never Saw," "The Antidote," "The Fair Mourner," "The Golden Age Restor'd," "The Retirement," "Upon a Favour Offered."

   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). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Gift of Great Poetry. Lucien Stryk, ed. Regnery Gateway, 1992. The Home Book of Modern Verse. Burton Egbert Stevenson, ed. Henry Holt, 1953. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Poetical Works of William Walsh. Cooke's Edition, London: Printed for C. Cooke, 1797.