Following on the heels of the austerity of Cromwell's Protectorate, Restoration England witnessed an extraordinary flowering of literature, music, architecture and science, exemplified by the achievements of Pope, Humfrey, Wren, Hobbes and Boyle.
At the centre of the burgeoning cultural life of the age was John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. Erudite and urbane, and a peerlessly witty satirist, Rochester epitomised the French-influenced manners of the court of Charles II. But he was also a libertine and drunkard, a writer of scandal-provokingly offensive poetry who succeeded in getting himself banned from court. Rochester would die, a victim of his excesses, at the age of just 33, leaving behind him a mystery as to the true nature of his character.
ROCHESTER is the first biography to look for the real John WIlmot. At the same time it is a remarkable and compelling portrait of a cultural golden age that sometimes spilled over into licence and depravity.
