Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough

Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough (1658–1735), was an English soldier and diplomat, famous for his campaign in Spain in the War of the Spanish Succession. He was a friend of Pope and Swift and wrote a few polished lyrics.

The poem here is the one printed under his name in Frederick Locker's Lyra Elegantiarum (London: E. Moxon, 1867), an anthology of vers de société and vers d'occasion by deceased authors; the texts follow that first edition.