London engraver, publisher, and printseller; the various series he sponsored included a gallery of paintings of subjects from Shakespeare, which first opened in 1789 and expanded in subsequent years.

Author of Fourteen Sonnets (1789), admired by the major Lake School authors.

Judge and unsuccessful political aspirant, essayist, poet, and critic, but most famous for The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D (1791), Boswell established the modern biographical focus on the intimacies of private character through this famous biography and his preface defending his methods. That publication was preceded by The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1785), which appeared shortly after Johnson's death and aroused reader enthusiasm for a portrait that includes personal foibles as well as venerable accomplishments.

Illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI, he served in the Italian Wars. Though he was able to ascend to power, he was not able to solidify and retain it, thus inspiring Niccolo Machiavelli to write The Prince.

Greek god of the north wind.

One of the most famous English actors of his time, Booth was a successful tragedian and joint-manager of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with Colley Cibber, Thomas Doggett, and Robert Wilks.

As a British Tory politician, philosopher, and political journalist, Viscount Bolingbroke famously opposed the Walpole administration. Bolingbroke maintained friendships with notable authors including Alexander Pope and Johnathan Swift.

Second wife of King Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I. While married to his first wife, Henry VIII made numerous attempts to seduce Boleyn, all of which she refused. The pope's refusal to allow Henry an annulment of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon in favor of marrying Anne Boleyn led to England's break from the Catholic church and the beginning of the English Reformation. After Boleyn was unsuccessful in bearing Henry a son, Henry sought to break from the marriage in favor of his mistress, Jane Seymore.

Best known for his satires, epitres, and L'Art poétique (1674), French poet, satirist, and critic Nicolas Boileau published Dialogue des Héros de Roman in 1688. His translation of Longinus's Peri Hypsous as Le Traité du Sublime (1674; Treatise on the Sublime) was followed by Réflexions critiques sur Longin (1694; Critical Reflections on Longinus), which argued for the necessity of classical poetic models.

Italian poet Matteo Maria Boiardo was best known for the chivalric romance epic, L'Orlando Innamorato (1495).