Nugent, Robert, Earl Nugent

(1702-1788)

   Irish poet, from Carlanstown, Count Westmeath, who on his death had amassed a huge fortune from marrying three rich widows. It was of him that Horace Walpole coined the word "Nugentize" to describe such adventurers. He was controller of the household of Frederick Prince of Wales (1707-1751) (son of George II, and father of George III) and ensured royal favor by loaning the prince large sums of money, debts which were never repaid. Nugent was raised to the Irish peerage as Viscount Clare and Baron Nugent in 1766, and promoted to Earl Nugent in 1776. He died in Dublin, where he received blessing from the Catholic Church, which he had earlier abandoned. Some of his poetry publications: Essay on Justice, 1737. Essay on Happiness, 1737. Ode to Mrs. Pulteney, 1739. Odes and Epistles, 1739. Faith, 1774. The Genius of Ireland, 1775. Some of his poems: "An Elegy," "An Ode to Bavius," "loved thee beautiful and kind," "My heart still hovering round about you," "Revenge," "To Clarissa," "To the Earl of Chesterfield, an Ode."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos: Robert Nugent (http://www.dukesofbuckingham.org/people/family/nugent/robert_nugent.htm). English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Odes and Epistles of Robert Nugent. R. Dodsley, 1739. Pith and Vinegar: An Antholog y of Short Humorous Poetry. William Cole, ed. Simon and Schuster, 1969. 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 National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press, 1984.