John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby
John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby,
KG,
PC (
7 April 1648 –
24 February 1721), English statesman and poet, was the son of
Edmund Sheffield, 2nd Earl of Mulgrave, and succeeded to that title on his father's death in
1658.
At the age of eighteen he joined the fleet, to serve in the
Second Anglo-Dutch War; on the renewal of hostilities in
1672 he was present at the battle of
Sole Bay, and in the next year received the command of a ship. He was also made a colonel of infantry, and served for some time under
Turenne. He was made a
Knight of the Garter in
1674. In
1680 he was put in charge of an expedition sent to relieve the town of
Tangier. It was said that he was provided with a rotten ship in the hope that he would not return, but the reason of this abortive plot, if plot there was, is not exactly ascertained. At court he took the side of the
Duke of York, and helped to bring about
Monmouth's disgrace. In
1682 he was dismissed from the court, apparently for putting himself forward as a suitor for the
Princess Anne, but on the accession of King
James II, he received a seat in the
Privy Council, and was made
Lord Chamberlain. (He later married Catherine, the daughter of the king's mistress,
Catherine Sedley). He supported James in his most unpopular measures, and stayed with him in
London during the time of his flight. He also protected the Spanish ambassador from the dangerous anger of the mob. He acquiesced, however, in the "
Glorious Revolution", and in
1694 was made
Marquess of Normanby. In
1696 he refused in company with other
Tory peers to sign an agreement to support
William as their "rightful and lawful king" against
Jacobite attempts, and was consequently dismissed from the privy council. On the accession of Anne, with whom he was a personal favourite, he became
Lord Privy Seal and
Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire, and in
1703 Duke of Buckingham and Normanby. During the predominance of the
Whigs between
1705 and
1710, Buckingham was deprived of his office as Lord Privy Seal, but in
1710 he was made
Lord Steward, and in
1711 Lord President of the Council. After the death of Anne he held no state appointment. He died on
24 February 1721 at his house in
St James's Park, which stood on the site of the present
Buckingham Palace. Buckingham was succeeded by his son, Edmund (
1716–
1735), on whose death the titles became extinct.
Buckingham, who is better known by his inherited titles as
Lord Mulgrave, was the author of
An Account of the Revolution and some other essays, and of numerous poems, among them the
Essay on Poetry and the
Essay on Satire. It is probable that the
Essay on Satire, which attacked many notable persons, "sauntering Charles" amongst others, was circulated in MS. It was often attributed at the time to
Dryden, who accordingly suffered a thrashing at the hands of Rochester's bravoes for the reflections it contained upon the earl. Mulgrave was a patron of Dryden, who may possibly have revised it, but was certainly not responsible, although it is commonly printed with his works. Mulgrave adapted
Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, breaking it up into two plays,
Julius Caesar and
Marcus Brutus. He introduced choruses between the acts, two of these being written by
Pope, and an incongruous love scene between
Brutus and Portia. He was a constant friend and patron of Pope, who expressed a flattering opinion of his
Essay on Poetry. This, although smoothly enough written, deals chiefly with commonplaces.
In
1721 Edmund Curl published a pirated edition of his works, and was brought before the bar of the House of Lords for breach of privilege accordingly. An authorized edition under the superintendence of Pope appeared in
1723, but the authorities cut out the
Account of the Revolution and
The Feast of the Gods on account of their alleged Jacobite tendencies. These were printed at
the Hague in
1727. Pope disingenuously repudiated any knowledge of the contents. Other editions reappeared in
1723,
1726,
1729,
1740 and
1753. His
Poems were included in
Johnson's and other editions of the British poets.
