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The Review of English Studies Advance Access originally published online on February 27, 2009
The Review of English Studies 2009 60(246):588-604; doi:10.1093/res/hgn169
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press 2009 all rights reserved

The Phœnix and the Prince: The Poetry of Thomas Ross and Literary Culture in the Court of Charles II*

Christopher Bond


  Abstract

Thomas Ross (1620–1675), courtier, poet and tutor to the first Duke of Monmouth, is known principally because he was accused of encouraging Monmouth's hopes of the crown. But Ross's literary career deserves study, too, and this essay assesses the accusation against him as part of a fuller consideration of his life and writings. Ross was the first English translator of several works of Imperial Roman literature, and his version of Silius Italicus’ ‘Punica’, dedicated to Charles II, provides an illuminating example of how Classical literature was used by a courtier in a competition for the king's favour. But Ross also produced several anonymous pieces for Monmouth: an original poem on the Third Punic War and translations from Cicero and Claudian, together with a hitherto unstudied letter in MS. These works were plainly intended as mirrors for a prince. Monmouth was both a possible heir, with the favour of his royal father, but also illegitimate, with many enemies. Ross's consistently apt choices of examples and analogies for this peculiar situation demonstrate the learning and imagination behind his remarkable skill at refashioning the speculum principis. A proper examination of Ross thus advances our understanding not only of the history of translation and of a perplexing question of courtly intrigue, but also of the broader relationship between literature and politics in the Restoration.

*In memory of David Brunton (1967–2007), teacher of Restoration literature.


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