Waldron, Francis Godolphin; E. & S. Harding [Hrsg.]; Harding, Silvester [Bearb.]; Harding, Edward [Bearb.]; Edwards, James [Bearb.]; Lunn, William Henry [Bearb.]; Moltino, A. [Bearb.]; Hatchard, John [Bearb.]: The Biographical Mirrour, Comprising A Series Of Ancient And Modern English Portraits, Of Eminent And Distinguished Persons, From Original Pictures And Drawings (Band 1) (London: Published by S. and E. Harding, 1795)

O F
MR. JOHN OLDHAM.
JOHN OLDHAM, the delight of his witty contemporaries, who Ailed
him The Darling of the Mujes, was born AuguA 9, 1653, at Shipton,
near Tedbury, in GlouceAerffiire, where his father, John Oldham, was a
non-conformiA miniAer ; his grandfather was alfo a John Oldham, and
reCtor of Nun-Eaton, in the fame county. Oldham, the perfon now
treated of, after having received the rudiments of his education, was fent
to Edmund-Hall, in Oxford ; where he was foon difcovered to have a
taAe for poetry : nor was he long a Audent before great proofs appeared of
his proficiency in Latin and Greek.
He took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in May, 1674, but, at the
requeA of his father, he left the College, much againA his own inclination,
before he had compleated the degree by determination.
The death of his beloved friend Mr. Charles Morwent, the following
year, rendering his home comfortlefs, he accepted of an invitation to Croy-
don in Surrey, to officiate as uffier of the charity-fchool there : here it was
that the Earls of RocheAer and Dorfet, Sir Charles Sedley, with other witty
and literary characters of that age, having accidentally feen fome of his
poems in manufcript, paid an elegant tribute to obfcure merit, by a familiar
vifit to him. As Oldham had no previous intimation of this honour, it
was productive of a whimfical miftake; the fervant, fent with a verbal mef-
fage to our humble poet, delivering it to the mailer of the fchool inAead
of the uffier, the pedagogue, unconfcious of his own dulnefs, or the genius
of his affiAant, arrogated to himfelf the invitation of thefe men of rank,
and repaired to the appointment. The meeting between him and the wits
may be better conceived than defcribed ; after mutual embarraffment, and
fome laughter, it ended with a candid confeffion on the mafter’s part, that
he was incompetent to their converfation, and on their’s that the invita-
tion was not intended for him, but for Mr. Oldham, his fprightly uffier;
who foon arrived, and, by the charms of his unpremeditated fallies, con-
firmed them in the opinion they had already conceived of him from his
writings. To this interview was our poet indebted for his introduction to
the mod celebrated wits of the time, and for the friendffiip and patronage
of many perfons of the firA diAinCtion. Among other advantages which
he derived from thefe connections, may be particularized his becoming tutor
to the grand-fons of Sir Edward Thurland, a Judge, near Reigate, in
Surrey; and afterwards to the fon of Sir William Hicks, who redded
near the metropolis.
By the advice of Dr. Richard Lower, an eminent phyfician, he applied
himfelf to the Audy of phyfic, in which he made a tolerable progrefs;
but his attachment to the Mufes prevented his deriving any folid advantage
from his medical acquifitions.
He was Arongly preffed by his pupil, Mr. Hicks, to accompany him
to Italy, which he politely, but imprudently, declined doing; being am-
bitious of difplaying his poetical talents in London, and not chufing to
forego the fociety of Lord RocheAer, Mr. Dryden, and other votaries of
F Bacchus,