WILLIAM

See also:

• WILLIAM SOTHEBY (1757-1833)

SOTHEBY (1757-1833)  , English author, was born in London on the 9th of November 1757 . He was educated at Harrow, and subsequently procured a commission in a cavalry regiment . In 1780 he retired from the army on his marriage and devoted himself to literature, becoming a prominent figure in London literary society . His ample means enabled him to play the part of patron to many struggling authors, and his friends included Scott, Byron, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Hallam and Tom Moore . He himself soon acquired a consider-able reputation as a translator, his verse translation of Virgil's ' The word is also used of the dancers in indecent ballets, to which such poems were probably written as an accompaniment . In Greek and Latin authors KivaiSos (cinaedus) generally means catamite."Georgics (r800) being specially praised by contemporary critics, while in later life he published translations of the Iliad and Odyssey . He also wrote several historical tragedies for the stage, of which one was acted, and some poems . He died on the 3oth of December 1833 .