Thomas Southerne

Thomas Southerne (1660–1746) was an Irish-born English dramatist, author of the tragedies The Fatal Marriage (1694) and Oroonoko (1695), and a friend of Dryden. He also wrote prologues and songs.

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.