English

Born in 1823, William Brighty Rands published several volumes of children's literature anonymously and contribuetd to periodicals under various pseudonyms, especially Matthew Browne, Henry Holbeach, and T. Talker. He worked as a reporter in the House of Commons and died in 1882. His major publications are

• Kelliher, W. H. "Randolph, Thomas (bap. 1605, d. 1635)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Ed. Lawrence Goldman. Oxford: OUP, 2004.

• Nicholls, Mark and Penry Williams. "Ralegh, Sir Walter (1554–1618)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004.

Edmund Bolton attributed The Arte of English Poesie, published anonymously, to George Puttenham in Hypercritica (composed by Bolton in 1621, published in 1722). Puttenham was the nephew of Sir Thomas Elyot, the maker of the first Latin-English dictionary. Little else is known of Puttenham's life or works.

Alexander Pope, born in London at 6:45 p.m. on 21 May 1688 to linen merchant Alexander Pope and his second wife Edith Turner Pope, became the defining poetic force of his age. His poetic accomplishments contrast sharply with the physical disabilities and trying circumstances that plagued him.