Author Description

Although the history of Jacobitism has been recounted by a number of historians during the last century or more, this is the first full-length biography to appear devoted to the principal literary protagonist of the movement. William King was Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, from 1717 until 1763, and throughout his life a staunch Tory. In an age of elegant classical scholarship, he was one of the most artistically competent writers of Latin. He was also a noteworthy humorist and satirist in both Latin and English, and, through his connections with such figures as Swift and Pope, is memorable for the minor, though not wholly unimportant part which he played in the history of English literature.