Philips

Philips, JOHN, described on the monument in Westminster Abbey erected by Sir Simon Harcourt to his memory as a second Milton. He was the author of three very popular poems, The Splendid Shilling, a burlesque of Milton's manner; Cider, an imitation of Virgil; and Blenheim, a Tory celebration of Marlborough's great victory. He was born in 1676, but, curiously enough, was registered at Winchester as five years, and at Christ Church, Oxford, as six years younger than he really was. He died in 1708, and was buried in the cathedral at Hereford.