Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 2.djvu/426

Rh

OHN SHEFFIELD, descended from a long series of illustrious ancestors, was born in 1649, the son of Edmund earl of Muglrave, whom died 1658. The young lord was put into the hands of a tutor, with who he was so little satisfied, that he got rid of him in a short time, and at an age not exceeding twelve years, resolved to educate himself. Such a purpose, formed at such an age, and successfully prosecuted, delights as it is strange, and instructs as it is real.

His literary acquisitions are more won derful, as those years in which they are commonly made were spent by him in the tumult of a military life, or the gaiety of a court. When war was declared against Rh