John Cleveland

[1] A staunch Royalist, Cleveland opposed the election of Oliver Cromwell as member for Cambridge in the Long Parliament and lost his college post as a result in 1645.

He then joined Charles I, by whom he was welcomed, and appointed to the office of judge advocate at Newark-on-Trent.

[1] In 1646, however, he lost his judge advocacy and wandered about the country dependent on the bounty of other Royalists.

In 1655 he was imprisoned at Great Yarmouth, but released by Cromwell, to whom he appealed, and went to London, where he spent the rest of his life.

[3] His achievement lay in political, satirical verses written mainly in heroic couplets.