Leonard Welsted (baptised 3 June 1688 – August 1747) was an English poet and "dunce" in Alexander Pope's writings (both in The Dunciad and in Peri Bathos).
However, the mother died in 1712, and Welsted married Anna Maria Walker, the sister of an admiral, that year.
In 1714, Welsted attacked Robert Harley, the fallen head of the Tory party, with The Prophecy.
One of his best poems, Oikographia, dates from 1725 and details his living in the Tower of London (but not the prison) and the simple pleasures of a contented life with a loving wife.
In Peri Bathos, Welsted's obsequiousness is isolated and presented for derision, and in The Dunciad Pope accused him of writing poetry that flows like its inspiration: beer.
These promotions may have been due to the intercession of well-known politicians and leading whigs, such as Bishop Hoadley.
His late works include a prose work of theodicy entitled The Scheme and Conduct of Providence in 1736, and the poem The Summum bonum, or, Wisest Philosophy, which again praises the simple joy of retired life.