BUCKINGHAM AND NORMANBY, JOHN SHEF FIELD, 1St DUKE OF (1648-1721) , English statesman and poet.
was born April 7 1648. He was the son of Edmund, 2nd earl of Mu'grave, and succeeded to that title on his father's death in 1658. He served in the fleet and in the army under Charles II., was dismissed from court in 1682, was a firm supporter of James II., but acquiesced in the Revolution. Nevertheless in 1696 he was dismissed from the privy council. On the accession of Anne, with whom he was a personal favourite, he became lord privy seal and lord-lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire, and in 1703 duke of Buckingham and Normanby. During the predominance of the Whigs between 17o5 and 1710 Buckingham was deprived of his office as lord privy seal, but in 1710 he was made lord steward, and in 1711 lord president of the council. After the death of Anne he held no State appointment. He died Feb. 24 1721, at his house in St. James's Park, which stood on the site of the present Buck ingham Palace. Buckingham was succeeded by his son Edmund (1716,-35), on whose death the titles became extinct.
Buckingham, who is better known by his inherited title as Lord Mulgrave, was the author of "An Account of the Revolution" and some other essays, and of numerous poems, among them the Essay on Poetry and the Essay on Satire. It is probable that the Essay on Satire, which attacked many notable persons, "sauntering Charles" amongst others, was circulated in ms. It was often attrib uted at the time to Dryden, who accordingly suffered a thrashing at the hands of Rochester's bravoes for the reflections it contained upon the earl. Buckingham was a patron of Dryden, who may possibly have revised it but was certainly not responsible, al though it is commonly printed with his works. Buckingham adapted Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, breaking it up into two plays, Julius Caesar and Marcus Brutus. He introduced choruses be tween the acts, two of these being written by Pope, and an in congruous love scene between Brutus and Portia. He was a con stant friend and patron of Pope, who expressed a flattering opinion of his Essay on Poetry.
In 1721 Edmund Curll published a pirated edition of his works and was brought before the bar of the House of Lords for breach of privilege accordingly. An authorized edition under the superintendence of Pope appeared in 1723, but the authorities cut out the "Account of the Revolution" and "The Feast of the Gods" on account of their alleged Jacobite tendencies. These were printed at The Hague in 1727. Pope disingenuously repudiated any knowledge of the contents. Other editions reappeared in 1723, 5726, 1729, 174o, and 1753. His Poems were included in Johnson's and other editions of the British poets.