Diaper, William

(1685-1717)

   Born in Bridgwater, Somerset, he studied at Balliol College, Oxford, graduated in 1702, and remained as a scholar until 1705. He was ordained deacon in Wells in 1709 and was curate in Brent in the same diocese. He was also curate at Crick, Northamptonshire, and at Dean, near Basingstoke, Hampshire. Jonathan Swift introduced Diaper to his circle where Henry St. John, first Viscount Bolingbroke, and Sir William Wyndham became his patrons. Diaper struggled on in poverty, and when Queen Anne died, his patrons lost their influence and his situation worsened. His death is obscure. Some of his publications: Nereides: Or, Sea-Eclogues, Callipædia and Dryades, 1712. An Imitation of the Seventeenth Epistle of the First Book of Horace, 1714. Halieutica, 1722 (translation of Oppian, the 2nd century Greek poet; Diaper completed two of the five books). Some of his other poems: "A Letter from a Gentleman in Lincolnshire to His Friend," "Brent; a Poem to Thomas Palmer Esq.," "Dryades: A Poem," "To Mr. Congreve."

   Sources: 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). Life of William Diaper by John Nichols (http://athena.english.vt.edu/Diaper, Williamdrad/NereidesBio.html). Oldpoetry (www.oldpoetry.com). 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 New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press, 1984. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.