A prolific English novelist and dramatist known for his popular and diverse novels and plays, Bulwer-Lytton wrote in a variety of genres from history and mystery, to romance, science fiction, horror, and the occult. Bulwer-Lytton was also a member of Parliament, serving two non-consecutive terms (first as a reformer, then returning after 11 years as a Conservative) before being appointed colonial secretary in 1858.
See John Bull.
A French naturalist and author, he dedicated the majority of his life to the forty-four volume Histoire Naturelle (1749-1804).
A cousin of Joseph Addison and a contributor to the Spectator, the Guardian, and probably the Tatler, Budgell also authored his own periodical, the Bee. He was one of the figures satirized in Alexander Pope's Dunciad (1728).
A satirical poet and eventually preceptor to James I of England (James VI of Scotland), Buchanan spent seven months of his life imprisoned in a Portuguese monastery for his advocacy of Lutheranism. An incident from Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarvm Historia, published posthumously in 1582, was the inspiration for Tobias Smollett's unsuccessful play The Regicide (1749). ,
A wealthy Scottish peeress, Anne Scott was 1st Duchess of Buccleuch and Duchess of Monmouth through her marriage to James Scott.
Poet, courtier, favorite of Henry VIII, and friend of Sir Thomas Wyatt.
A notable orator and high-ranking Roman politician, Brutus became a leader in the successful assassination plot against Julius Caesar after Caesar declared his divinity and named himself permanent dictator.
French Jesuit historian, classicist, and man of letters. His analyses of Greek dramas in Le Théâtre des Grecs (1730) were especially esteemed.
A Scottish explorer who discovered the source of the Blue Nile in 1770. His five volume Travels to Discover the Sources of the Nile, in the Years 1768–73 was published in 1790.
