Roger L'Estrange  

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Sir Roger L'Estrange (17 December 1616 – 11 December 1704) was an English pamphleteer and author, and staunch defender of royalist claims. L'Estrange was involved in political controversy throughout his life. Perhaps his best known polemical pamphlet was An Account of the Growth of Knavery, which ruthlessly attacked the parliamentary opposition, placing them as "dissenting fanatics" and truely beyond the pale.

Life

In 1644 he led a conspiracy in support of King Charles I and was sentenced to death as a spy, although after four years' imprisonment in Newgate Prison he was able to escape to the Continent, finding refuge in Holland. In 1653 he was pardoned by Oliver Cromwell.

In 1663 he began his career as a journalist, publishing a paper under the title The Public Intelligencer and taking over as chief licenser and surveyor of the press from John Birkenhead. In 1678, he helped Thomas Britton found his concert series, playing the viol at the first event. On April 13, 1681 he started another paper called The Observator, which was published until March 9, 1686 or 1687.

In 1685, he was knighted by King James II. He was Member of Parliament for Winchester from 1685 to 1689. A fierce Tory and opponent of religious toleration, L'Estrange was arrested several times for involvement in plots against William and Mary.

Works

In addition to his work as a political pamphleteer and his journalistic writing, he was also a translator of the Greek and Latin classics, including a translation of the fables of Aesop and the works of Seneca the Younger. Additionally he wrote a 'Key' to Hudibras, a 17th century satire by Samuel Butler on the English Civil War, which was included in several 18th century editions of the work.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Roger L'Estrange" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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