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).

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.