Laurence Eusden

Laurence Eusden (baptized Sept. 6, 1688, Spofforth, Yorkshire, Eng.—died Sept. 27, 1730, Coningsby, Lincolnshire) was a British poet who, by flattering the Duke of Newcastle, was made poet laureate in 1718. He became rector of Coningsby and held the laureateship until his death. Alexander Pope satirized him frequently and derisively, notably in book 1 of his mock epic The Dunciad (1728).