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KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 805 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KING, See also:WILLIAM (1663–1712) , See also:English poet and See also:miscellaneous writer, son of See also:Ezekiel King, was See also:born in 1663. From his See also:father he inherited a small See also:estate and he was connected with the See also:Hyde See also:family. He was educated at See also:Westminster School under Dr See also:Busby, and at See also:Christ See also:Church, See also:Oxford (B.A. 1685; D.C.L. 1692). His first See also:literary enterprise was a See also:defence of Wycliffe, written in See also:conjunction with See also:Sir See also:Edward Hannes (d. 1710) and entitled Reflections upon See also:Mons. Varillas's See also:History of See also:Heresy . . . (1688). He became known as a humorous writer on the Tory and High Church See also:side. He 'took See also:part in the controversy aroused by the See also:conversion of the once stubborn non-juror William See also:Sherlock, one of his contributions being an entertaining ballad, " The See also:Battle Royal," in which the disputants are Sherlock and See also:South.

In 1694 he gained the favour of Princess See also:

Anne by a defence of her See also:husband's See also:country entitled Animadversions on the Pretended See also:Account of See also:Denmark, in See also:answer to a depreciatory pamphlet by See also:Robert (afterwards See also:Viscount) See also:Molesworth. For this service he was made secretary to the princess. He supported See also:Charles See also:Boyle in his controversy with See also:Richard See also:Bentley over the genuineness of the Epistles of See also:Phalaris, by a See also:letter (printed in Dr Bentley's See also:Dissertations . . . (1698), more commonly known as Boyle against Bentley), in which he gave an account of the circumstances of Bentley's interview with the bookseller Bennet. Bentley attacked Dr King in his Dissertation in answer (1699) to this See also:book, and King replied with a second letter to his friend Boyle. He further satirized Bentley in ten Dialogues of the Dead See also:relating to . . . the Epistles of Phalaris (1699). In 1700 he published The Transactioneer, with some of his Philosophical Fancies, in two Dialogues, ridiculing the credulity of Hans See also:Sloane, who was then the secretary of the Royal Society. This was followed up later with some See also:burlesque Useful Transactions in See also:Philosophy (1709). By an able defence of his friend, See also:James Annesley, 5th See also:earl of See also:Anglesey, in a suit brought against him by his wife before the See also:House of Lords in 1701, he gained a legal reputation which he did nothing further to advance. He was sent to See also:Ireland in 1701 to be See also:judge of the high See also:court of See also:admiralty, and later became See also:sole See also:commissioner of the prizes, keeper of the records in the Bermingham See also:Tower of See also:Dublin See also:Castle, and See also:vicar-See also:general to the See also:primate.

About 1708 he returned to See also:

London. He served the Tory cause by See also:writing for The Examiner before it was taken up by See also:Swift. He wrote four See also:pamphlets in support of See also:Sacheverell, in the. most considerable of which, " A Vindication of the Rev. Dr See also:Henry Sacheverell . . . in a See also:Dialogue between a Tory and a Whig " (171I), he had the assistance of Charles Lambe of Christ Church and of Sacheverell himself. In See also:December 1711 Swift obtained for King the See also:office of gazetteer, See also:worth from £200 to £250. King was now very poor, but he had no See also:taste for See also:work, and he resigned his office on the 1st of See also:July 1712. He died on the 25th of December in the same See also:year. The other See also:works of William King include: A See also:Journey to London, in the year 1688. After the Ingenious Method of that made by Dr See also:Martin See also:Lister to See also:Paris, in the same Year . . . (1699), which was considered by the author to be his best work; Adversaria, or Occasional Remarks on Men and See also:Manners, a selection from his See also:critical See also:note-book, which shows wide and varied See also:reading; See also:Rufinus, or An See also:Historical See also:Essay on the favourite See also:Ministry (1712), a See also:satire on the See also:duke of See also:Marlborough.

His See also:

chief poems are: The See also:Art of See also:Cookery: in See also:imitation of See also:Horace's Art of See also:Poetry. With some Letters to Dr Lister and Others (1708), one of his most amusing works; The Art of Love; in imitation of See also:Ovid .. . (1709) ; "Mully of Mountoun," and a burlesque " See also:Orpheus and See also:Eurydice." A See also:volume of Miscellanies in See also:Prose and See also:Verse appeared in 1705 ; his Remains . were edited by J. See also:Brown in 1732 ; and in 1776 See also:John See also:Nichols produced an excellent edition of his See also:Original Works . . . with Historical Aisles and See also:Memoirs of the Author. Dr See also:Johnson included him in his Lives of the Poets, and his works appear in subsequent collections. King is not to be confused with another WILLIAM KING (1685-1763), author of a See also:mock-heroic poem called The See also:Toast (1736)satirizing the countess of See also:Newburgh, and See also:principal of St See also:Mary See also:Hall, Oxford.

End of Article: KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)

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