Soame Jenyns (Q387537)

Overall: While at university, Jenyns excelled at writing amatory and satiric verse in the post-Restoration style. In 1730 he produced a manuscript volume of songs and love poems dedicated to Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, a large portion of which was published in Dodsleys' collection. This led to his recognition as a wit and satirist. He published a few collections and continued to write occasional verse and jeux d'esprit, though he shifted his focus to essays on social, political, religious, and economic subjects. His Free Inquiry was ridiculed by Samuel Johnson. He lived a life of "rural" comfort as squire of Bottisham until he began his extensive career as a Whig politician.