AMBROSE (1675?-1749). An lish poet, born in Shropshire, probably in 1675.
He graduated from Saint .John's College, Cam bridge. B.A. in 1690, M.A. in 1700, and was elected fellow of his college, but he resigned his fellowship (1708) and traveled on the Continent. From Copenhagen he addressed (March 9, 1709) an Epistle to the Earl of Dorset, which was pub lished in the Taller (No. 12) with warm praise by Steele. The same year appeared his pastorals in Tonson's Miscellany, along with Pope's Pas torals. Then ensued a controversy as to which poet had better succeeded. Both series are arti ficial. Philips was angered by a mock commenda tion of his pastorals which Pope contributed to the fluardian ( No. 4(l1, and he is said to have hung up a rod at Button's coffee-house for chas tising his adversary. No encounter ever took place. Philips was, however, remembered in the Dunciad. In ridicule of Philips, Gay wrote the Week ( 1714). descriptive of rustic
life with the gilt off. In 1712 Philips was lauded for his adaptation of Ilacines Andromaque. In 1715,19 he edited an imitation of the Spectator called the Freethinker. His support of the Gov ernment led to his appointment as secretary to Bishop Boniter in Ireland (1724), He also rep resented Armagh in the Irish Parliament; was trade secretary to the Lord Chancellor (1726), and judge of the Prerogative Court (1733). He died in London, .lone 18, 1749. Philips also translated the odes of Sappho (1713). once thought to he a brilliant achievement. Perhaps his best work is represented by his odes to chil dren (1725-26). Consult: Pope's Works, ed. by EiWill and Courthope (10 vols.. London, 1871 59) : and Johnson's Lives of the Poets, ed. by Henley (London. 1896).