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).

Spanish diplomat who is believed to have been responsible for the "conspiracy of Venice" in 1618. De la Cueva was the Spanish ambassador to Venice before being made marqués de Bedmar in 1614. He used his diplomatic authority to advance the schemes of the Spanish viceroys of Milan and Naples to increase Spanish influence in Italy. In retaliation, the Venetian government manufactured a conspiracy to take control of the republic to have grounds to expel de la Cueva.

Formerly Lady Egerton, Anne Russell was the wife of William Villiers and mother of George Bussey Villiers following the death of her first husband, Wriothesley Russell, 3rd Duke of Bedford.

Best known for his Gothic novel Vathek (Lausanne, Switz, 1787; London, 1815), William Beckford published a translation of stories by German author Johann Karl August Musäus as Popular Tales of the Germans (1791).

A very prolific playwright and poet who collaborated with a number of his contemporary authors, most notably John Fletcher, with whom he authored over a dozen works. A few of the most notable among these include Philaster (c. 1609), A King and No King (c. 1611), The Maid's Tragedy (c. 1611), and The Scornful Lady (c. 1615). The Two Noble Kinsmen, a Shakespeare-Fletcher collaboration, reworks much material from Beaumont's The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn (c. 1613).

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

See Elie de Beaumont, Mme. (Anne-Louise Morin-Dumesnil).

Cardinal, Bishop of Winchester, and grandson to King Edward III, Beaufort was influential in English politics for many years.

Living from 1670-1726, Charles Beauclerk was the 1st Duke of St. Albans as the illegitimate son of King Charles II and actress Nell Gwyn.

Scottish poet and philosopher. His best known work, Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth (1770) was both successful and influential. His poem The Minstrel (1771-1774) details the natural education of a young shepherd who eventually attains poetic genius. He published a number of other philosophical, theological, and linguistic works, several collections of poems, and, in 1778, a collection entitled Essays on Poetry and Music As They Affect the Mind.