Fulke Greville

Fulke Greville (1717–1806) of Wilbury House, Newton Toney, Wiltshire, England, was an English landowner, diplomat and writer.

Life Early life and education He was the son of Algernon Greville and Mary Somerset, daughter and coheiress of Lord Arthur Somerset, the youngest son of Henry Somerset, 1st Duke of Beaufort. His father was a son of Fulke Greville, 5th Baron Brooke.

He was schooled at Winchester College from 1727 to 1733. He also attended Brasenose College, Oxford. daughter and coheir of James Macartney, Irish MP for Longford and Granard and his wife Catherine Coote. They eloped on 26 January 1748. They had several children, including: Frances Anne Greville (born November 1748), and as Member of Parliament for Monmouth Boroughs from 1747 to 1754.

Writing Works He was most noted as the author of Maxims, Characters and Reflections (1756), which went through multiple editions. 1st ed.: Maxims, Characters and Reflections (London: J. and R. Tonson, 1756). 2nd ed.: Maxims, Characters and Reflections, Critical, Satyrical and Moral: With Alterations, Additions and Explanatory Notes (London: J. and R. Tonson, 1757). 3rd ed.: Maxims, Characters and Reflections, Critical, Satyrical and Moral: With Alterations, Additions and Explanatory Notes (London: T. Cadell, 1768).

He also wrote poetry, including Soliloquy in a Thatched Building (London: Faulder, 1787), of which the second part was Reflection: A Poem in Four Cantos (London: Robinson, 1790).

Reception James Boswell thought that Greville's book of Maxims was "entitled to much more praise than it has received." Hester Thrale wrote that "Greville draws Prose Characters incomparably well; that Man's book of Maxims &c. has not had Credit enough in the World."

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