SIR CHARLES, an English poet and wit, the son of Sir John Sedley of Aylesford in Kent, was born about the year 1639. At the restoration he came to London to join the general jubilee; and commenced wit, courtier, poet, and gallant. He was so much admired, that he became a kind of oracle among the poets; which made King Charles tell him, that Nature had given him a patent to be Apollo's viceroy. The productions of his pen were some plays, and several delicately tender amorous poems, in which the softness of the verses was so exquisite, as to be called by the duke of Buckingham Sedley's witchcraft. "There were no marks of genius or true poetry to be desired, (say the authors of the Biographia Britannica); the art wholly consisted in raising loose thoughts and lewd desires, without giving any alarm; and so the poison worked gently and irresistibly. Our author, we may be sure, did not escape the infection of his own art, or rather was first tainted himself before he spread the infection to others."—A very ingenious writer of the present day, however, speaks much more favourably of Sir Charles Sedley's writings. "He studied human nature; and was distinguished for the art of making himself agreeable, particularly to the ladies; for the verses of Lord Rochester, beginning with, Sedley has that prevailing gentle art, &c. so often quoted, allude not to his writing, but to his personal address." [Langhorn's Effusions, &c.]—But while he thus grew in reputation for wit and in favour with the king, he grew poor and debauched: his estate was impaired, and his morals were corrupted. One of his frolics, however, being followed by an indictment and a heavy fine, Sir Charles took a more serious turn, applied himself to business, and became a member of parliament, in which he was a frequent speaker. We find him in the house of commons in the reign of James II, whose attempts upon the constitution he vigorously withstood; and he was very active in bringing on the revolution. This was thought more extraordinary, as he had received favours from James. But that prince had taken a fancy to Sir Charles's Charles's daughter (though it seems she was not very handsome), and, in consequence of his intrigues with her, he created Miss Sedley countess of Dorchester. This honour, so far from pleasing, greatly shocked Sir Charles. However libertine he himself had been, yet he could not bear the thoughts of his daughter's dishonour; and with regard to her exaltation, he only considered it as rendering her more conspicuously infamous. He therefore conceived a hatred for the king; and from this, as well as other motives, readily joined to dispossess him of the throne. A witty saying of Sedley's, on this occasion, is recorded. "I hate ingratitude, (said Sir Charles); and therefore, as the king has made my daughter a countess, I will endeavour to make his daughter a queen;" meaning the princess Mary, married to the prince of Orange, who dispossessed James of the throne at the revolution. He lived to the beginning of Queen Anne's reign; and his works were printed in two vols. 8vo. 1719.