Poet, born in Hertfordshire to great wealth, and educated at Eton and Cambridge; early gave evidence of his genius for poetry, which, however, was limited in practice to the production of merely occasional pieces; he was in great favour at court; was a member of the Long Parliament; leant to the Royalist side, though he wrote a panegyric on Cromwell, which, too, is considered his best poem; he revived, or rather "remodelled," the heroic couplet form of verse, which continued in vogue for over a hundred years after (1605-1687).