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SIR CHARLES SEDLEY (c. 1639-1701)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 579 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:CHARLES See also:SEDLEY (c. 1639-1701)  , See also:English wit and dramatist, was See also:born about 1639, and was the son of See also:Sir See also:John See also:Sedley of See also:Aylesford in See also:Kent . He was educated at Wadham See also:College, See also:Oxford, but See also:left without taking a degree . Sedley is famous as a See also:patron of literature in the Restoration See also:period, and was the " Lisideius " of See also:Dryden's See also:Essay of Dramatic Poesy . His most famous See also:song, " Phyllis is my only joy," is much more widely known now than the author's name . His first See also:comedy, The Mulberry See also:Garden (1668), hardly sustains Sedley's contemporary reputation for wit in conversation . The best, but most licentious, of his comedies is Bellamira; or The See also:Mistress (1687), an See also:imitation of the Eunuchus of See also:Terence, in which the heroine is supposed to represent the duchess of See also:Cleveland, the mistress of See also:Charles II . His two tragedies, Antony and See also:Cleopatra (1667) and The See also:Tyrant See also:King of See also:Crete (1702), an See also:adaptation of See also:Henry See also:Killigrew's Pallantus and Eudora, have little merit . He also produced The Grumbler (1702), an adaptation of Le Grondeur of Brueys and Palaprat . An indecent frolic in See also:Bow See also:Street, for which he was heavily fined, made Sedley notorious . He was member of See also:parliament for New See also:Romney in Kent, and took an active and useful See also:part in politics . A speech of his on the See also:civil See also:list after the Revolution is cited by See also:Macaulay as a See also:proof that his reputation as a See also:man of wit and ability was deserved . His bon mot at the expense of See also:James II. is well known .

The king had seduced his daughter and created her countess of See also:

Dorchester, whereupon Sedley remarked that he hated ingratitude, and, as the king had made his daughter a countess, he would endeavour to make the king's daughter a See also:queen . He died on the loth of See also:August 1701 . His only See also:child, See also:CATHERINE, countess of Dorchester (c . 1657-1717), was the mistress of James II. both before and after he came to the See also:throne, and was created a countess in 1686, an See also:elevation which aroused much indignation and compelled Catherine to reside for a See also:time in See also:Ireland . In 1696 she married Sir See also:David Colyear, See also:Bart . (d . 1730), who was created See also:earl of Portmore in 1703, and she was thus the See also:mother of Charles Colyear, 2nd earl of Portmore (1700-1785) . She died at See also:Bath on the 26th of See also:October 1717, when her See also:life See also:peerage became See also:extinct . By James II . See also:Lady Dorchester had a daughter Catherine (d . 1743), who married James Annesley, earl of See also:Anglesey (d . 1702), and after his See also:death married John See also:Sheffield, See also:duke of See also:Buckingham .

Through Catherine, her daughter by her first See also:

husband, she was the ancestress of the Barons See also:Mulgrave . See The See also:Works of Sir Charles Sedley in See also:Prose and See also:Verse (1778), with a slight See also:notice of the author .

End of Article: SIR CHARLES SEDLEY (c. 1639-1701)
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