Oldmixon, John

(?1673-1742)

   Little is written about his life except that he was born at Bridgwater, Somerset, and died at his house in Great Pulteney Street, London. He was a poet, pamphleteer, and historian, and was disappointed at not being appointed poet laureate. Although his greater work was history, he was also a substantial poet. His main history publications: The British Empire in America, 1708. The Secret History of Europe, 1712 to 1715. Critical History of England, 1724-1747. The History of England during the Reigns of the Royal House of Stuart, 1729. The History of England during the Reigns of King William and Queen Mary, Queen Anne, King George I, 1735. His major poetry publications: Poems on Several Occasions, 1696. An Idyll on the Peace, 1697. A Funeral Idyll, 1702. Amores Britannici, 1703. A Pastoral Poem, 1704. Ovid's Epistles, 1705. Iberia Liberata, 1706. The Catholick Poet, 1716. Some of his poems: "I Lately Vowed, But 'Twas in Haste," "Rosamund to King Henry the Second," "The Country Wit," "The Picture," "The Second Ode of Anacreon," "To Cleora."

   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). Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). 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 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.