Eusden, Laurence

(1688-1730)

   Son of the Rev. Laurence Eusden, rector of Spofforth, Yorkshire, educated at St. Peter's School, York, he graduated M.A. from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1708. Following a flattering poem (some said sycophantic), "A Poem on the Marriage of His Grace the Duke of Newcastle" (1917), he was appointed poet laureate and lord chamberlain, an appointment ridiculed by Thomas Cooke in Battle of the Poets (1725). Around 1725, he took holy orders and was appointed chaplain to Richard, Lord Willoughby de Broke, and took the rectory of Coningsby in Lincolnshire, where he remained until he died. Some of his other publications: Poetical Miscellanies, 1714. To Her Royal Highness on the Birth of the Prince, 1718. Ode for the Birthday, 1723. An Ode for the New-Year, 1720. The Origin of the Knights of the Bath, a Poem, 1725. Hero and Leander, 1750. Some of his other poems: "A Poem, Sacred to the Immortal Memory of the Late King," "Medea" (on Euripides), "Poem, on the Happy Succession, and Coronation of His Present Majesty," "To a Lady, That Wept at the Hearing Cato Read."

   Sources: 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). Lawrence Eusden and Colley Cibber, Poet Laureate, exhibition (http://www.library.otago.ac.nz/Exhibitions/ poet_laureate/pl_eusdenandcibber.html). Oldpoetry (www.oldpoetry.com). Selected Writings of the Laureate Dunces, Nahum Tate, Laurence Eusden, and Colley Cibber. The Edwin Mellen Press, 1999. 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 Classical Verse in Translation. Adrian Poole and Jeremy Maule, eds. 1995. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.