FENTON, Elijah (1683-1730), an English poet, was born at Shelton near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, 20th May 1683. He entered Jesus College, Cambridge, with the view of studying for the church, but afterwards declined to take orders, and on leaving the university he accompanied the earl of Orrery to Flanders in the capacity of private secretary. On the return of the earl to England in 1705, Fenton became assistant in a school at Headley in Surrey, and was soon afterwards appointed master of the free grammar-school at Sevenoaks in Kent. In 1710 he was induced by the promise of a political appointment from Lord Bolingbroke to resign his mastership, but a change in the Government led to the disappointment of his hopes. He was, however, not long afterwards appointed tutor to Lord Broghill, only son of the earl of Orrery; and when this engagement expired, he was, on the recommendation of Pope, employed to give private literary instructions to Mr Craggs, secretary of state. His next engagement was with Pope himself, whom he assisted in translating the Odyssey. The first, fourth, nineteenth, and twentieth books are ascribed to Fenton. In 1717 he published a volume of Miscellaneous Poems, and in 1723 his tragedy of Marianne was brought out, and was performed with such success that the author’s profits are said to have amounted to nearly a thousand pounds. The poetical merit of this tragedy is considerable; but the diction is too figurative and ornate for a dramatic composition, and accordingly it has not retained its place on the stage. In 1727 Fenton superintended a new edition of Milton’s Poems, to which he prefixed a life, and in 1729 he published a splendid edition of Waller, with notes. During the latter part of his life he was employed by Lady Trumbull, first ...