Roman statesman, orator, dramatist, and Stoic philosopher, also known as "Seneca the Younger." Seneca was the time period's leading intellect and carried significant political influence as the tutor of Emperor Nero. He is primarily remembered for his tragedies and essays on Stoicism. In 65, Seneca was accused of participation in the Piso conspiracy to assassinate Nero and ordered to commit suicide. Although he was likely innocent, Seneca faced his death with exemplary Stoicism, a scene which has inspired numerous works of art.

English Member of Parliament, friend of Horace Walpole, and member of the Hellfire Club, an exclusive society for high-society rakes. Selwyn was a controversial figure due to his reputation for interest in the macabre and various sexual eccentricities.

Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, spent four years shipwrecked on the South Pacific island. His story was well known at the time and likely served as Defoe's inspiration for The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.

French poet, novelist, translator, and collaborator with Mme. de La Fayette.

Dramatist and poet, he was part of a drinking and literary coterie attached to the court of Charles II. His plays include Pompey the Great (1664), translated from Corneille, The Mulberry-Garden (1668), Antony and Cleopatra (1677), and Bellamira, Or The Mistress (1687).

Archbishop of Canterbury from 1758.

Novelist and salonnière, Mme. de Scudéry was known along with d'Urfé and Calprènede for promoting literary and cultural aesthetics of delicate refinement exalting chivalric virtues partly through long works of romance fiction that constitute the most significant examples of the Roman de longue haleine, literally the "long-winded novel." She published most of her work under the name of her brother, Georges, but her authorship was recognized. Artamène ou Le Grand Cyrus (1649-1653), Clélie (1654-1660), and Mathilde d'Aguilar (1667) are her best-remembered works.

Brother to Madeleine de Scudéry, his works include the play L'Amour tyrannique (1640) and the epic poem Alaric (1655).

Founded by John Arbuthnot, the loose association of writing collaborators included Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift as well as other members. Their work was collected as Memoirs of the extraordinary Life, Works, and Discoveries of Martinus Scriblerus (1741).

Poet, novelist, biographer, critic, translator, editor, historian, antiquarian, and collector of literary curiosities, Scott was especially well loved for his representations of the culture and scenery of his native Scotland. His initial fame derived from Romantic poems such as The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Marmion (1808), and The Lady of the Lake (1810).