Etherege, Sir George

(1635-1691)

   Born at Maidenhead, Berkshire, little is known of his education, although he was at Cambridge University for a short time. He lived several years in France then was apprenticed to an attorney in 1653. Between 1668 and 1671 he was secretary to the English ambassador to Turkey, Sir Daniel Harvey. In June 1676 he and John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (and some others), engaged in a drunken brawl at Epsom, in which one of the group was killed. About 1680 he married a rich widow and was knighted. From 1685 to 1688 he was envoy to Ratisbon (Regensburg) for James II. When King James was deposed in 1688, Etherege, a staunch Jacobite, followed his king into exile to Paris, and he died there. Three of his comedies, some written in rhyme, are The Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub, 1664; She Wou'd If She Could, 1667; and The Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter, 1676. Some of his poems: "Chloris, 'Tis Not in Your Power," "Ephelia to Bajazet," "Letter to Lord Middleton," "Silvia," "To a Very Young Lady."

   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. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). 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 Oxford Book of Seventeenth Century Verse. H.J.C. Grierson and G. Bullough, eds. Oxford University Press, 1934. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.