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(More customer reviews)Many years ago, when very young and inexperienced of life, love and emotion, I read Graham Greene's "Lord Rochester's Monkey" and frankly, did not really grasp all that John Wilmot's life reflected. It was, therefore, a real treat to revisit his life and times in Cephas Goldworthy's book. I agree with the Sunday Times's reviewer, Lisa Jardine, who felt that this was not the scholarly effort using as much of the available information that John Wilmot's life deserved. Indeed, without footnotes and a clearer outline of the sources used, the book is less than satisfying in scholarly terms. However, the author's clear and lively style makes it a truly entertaining read which has inspired me to once again do some reading about the Restoration period. There are, unfortunately, no illustrations whatsoever in this book; thank goodness I still have my Graham Greene book because it was lusciously illustrated.
I think that the author probably secretly disapproved of Rochester; I also think he looked as his personal qualities and way of life from a masculine perception to the point that he admits he cannot really understand Rochester's appeal to women.
I can only say that as with great historical characters like Byron or Brummell, there is just simply something of the "damn your eyes Rake" about Rochester that I felt, as his female contemporaries clearly did, the unremitting pull of attraction. Rochester's greatest appeal has to be that he truly liked people even when mocking and satirising them. Life, it would appear, was to Rochester a huge bowl of delights to be sampled, played with, admired and mocked. A real love and lust for life such as his cannot fail to arouse strong feelings. Even the disputed and protracted deathbed repentance has its charm; one can't help but think he deserved more sympathy and tenderness from his mother in particular, as he faced death with true courage in the face of a pitiless disease which ended his life far too soon.
As an aside, one learns a great deal about the treatment of syphilis in those long ago days - a real eye-opener for me!
Perhaps someone will write a more definitive biography someday; I shall look forward to reading more with anticipation. In the meantime, I live not far from Rochester's birthplace so I will be having a little look at the property one sunny weekend.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Satyr: An Account of the Life and Work, Death and Salvation of John Wilmont, Second Earl of Rochester
Rochester has the reputation as the archetypal 17th-century rake and with good reason.When Charles II returned to England in 1660, Rochester was at Wadham College, Oxford. Charles' restoration inspired celebrations in the college that were so riotous that Rochester broke off his studies. He wrote a poem in praise of the new king that brought him an annual pension of £500 and from then on devoted himself to debauchery. In the short time that comprised the rest of his life – Rochester was only 33 when he died of tertiary syphilis – he loved both sexes wildly and indiscriminately; was confined to the tower for kidnapping an heiress; was released to fight a war against the Dutch; married and fathered children with his wife and his mistress; advanced the claims of Nell Gwyn; was banished repeatedly from Court for a multitude of misdemeanours; suffered the agonies of thrice being ‘cured' of syphilis; and then returned in 1680, on his death bed, to the Protestant church.Yet this reckless courtier had other qualities too. Rochester's unique and exquisitely phrased love lyrics and poems on impotence, dissipation and erotic obsession are steeped in wisdom and passion. Voltaire would describe him later as ‘a man of genius, and a great poet'. Cephas Goldsworthy's book considers the poetry in relation to its author's life and milieu. The result is a swashbuckling biography that throws the poet and his times into vivid relief.
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