William Robert Spencer

William Robert Spencer (1769–1834) was an English poet and wit, a celebrated writer of vers de société. His ballad "Beth Gêlert" (1800) was widely read, and he moved in the Holland House and Samuel Rogers circles.

The 4 poems here are the pieces 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.