Born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, became Pope in 1740. Among other activities, in 1741 he issued a papal bull against enslavement of indigenous peoples in the Americas, but, unfortunately, the edict went unenforced.

Italian cardinal, poet, and grammarian. Notable works include: Rime (1530), Gli Asolani (1505), and Prose della volgar lingua (1525) in which he codified Italian grammar.

A Roman Catholic saint remembered for his miraculous healings, Saint Leon Bembo died in 1188.

Character in Samuel Richardson's The History of Sir Charles Grandison (1754).

Character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9).

English miscellaneous writer, translator, and commoner of St. John's College, known as "Daniel Bellamy, the elder." His most notable works include Love Triumphant (1722) and The Young Ladies Miscellany (1723).

Renown Roman general. His noteworthy accomplishments included conquering the piratical Carthaginian Vandals. The story of him having been blinded and reduced to beggary by Justinian is probably apocryphal, but it is featured in the 1765 novel by Marmontel, which Barbauld read.

English writer and publisher, best remembered for his 109-volume series The Poets of Great Britain Complete from Chaucer to Churchill (1777-1783).

Character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa (1747-9).

Poet, novelist, playwright, pamphleteer, translator, and even spy, Behn is one of the most significant and interesting figures in early women's writing and is considered to be the first woman to live by her pen. Her most important novel, Oroonoko; Or, The Royal Slave (1688) was adapted by Thomas Southerne as his play Oroonoko (1695). Behn was a prolific playwright, with The Rover. Or, The Banish't Cavaliers (1677) her most successful play. A number of her play prefaces constitute noteworthy literary criticism, especially the preface to The Dutch Lover (1673).