Habington, William, 1605-1654

English poet and historian, son of Mary Habington and Sir Thomas Habington and nephew of Sir Edward Habington, all of whom had been implicated in political conspiracies surrounding the crown. Habington's most notable work, Castara, is a collection of poems dedicated to his wife and revered for its imaginativeness.

Gwyn, Nell, 1650-1687

English actress, mistress of Charles II, and mother of James and Charles Beauclerk. Deemed "pretty, witty Nell" by Samuel Pepys, Gwyn was among the most famous of the Restoration figures of celebrity, regarded as the embodiment of the anti-Puritan attitudes of the Restoration period.

Guerrazzi, Francesco Domenico, 1804-1873

Italian politician, historical novelist, and translator involved in the Italian unification movement. His novels La battaglio di Benevento (1827) and L'assedio di Firenze (The Siege of Florence, 1836) were particularly designed to inspire fervent patriotism. Included among his other more important works of fiction were Veronica Cybo (1838), Isabella Orsini (1844), Serpicina (1847), Beatrice Cenci (1853), Storia di un moscone (1858), Pasquale Paoli (1860), and Il buco neor (1862).

Griffiths, Ralph, 1720-1803

In addition to publishing books on a wide array of topics, bookseller Ralph Griffiths was also the proprietor of several literary journals, including the London Advertiser and Literary Gazette (1751-1753), the Grand Magazine of Universal Intelligence (1758-1760), and the Library (1761-1762). Two of the periodicals Griffiths founded continued long after his death: the St. James's Chronicle (1761-1866) and, most famously, the Monthly Review (1749-1845), the first and for nearly half a century the most important British literary review.