William, an admired English poet, the eldest son of a plain country gentleman, who farmed his own estate in Shropshire, was born in November 1714. He learned to read of an old dame, whom his poem of the School-Mistress has delivered to posterity; and he soon received such delight from books, that he was always calling for new entertainment, and expected that, when any of the family went to market, a new book should be brought him, which, when it came, was in fondness carried to bed, and laid beside him. It is said, that when his request had been neglected, his mother wrapped up a piece of wood of the same form, and pacified him for the night. As he grew older, he went for a while to the grammar-school in Hales-Owen, and was placed afterwards with Mr Crompton, an eminent schoolmaster at Solihul, where he distinguished himself by the quickness of his progress. When he was young (June 1724), he was deprived of his father, and soon afterwards (August 1726) of his grandfather; and, with his brother, who died afterwards unmarried, he was left to the care of his grandmother, who managed the estate. From school he was sent, in 1732, to Pembroke College, Oxford, a society which has for a long time been eminent for English poetry and elegant literature. Here it appears that he found delight and advantage; for he continued his name there ten years, though he took no degree. After the first four years he put on the civilian's gown, but without showing any intention to engage in the profession. About the time when he went to Oxford, the death of his grandmother devolved the care of his affairs on the Reverend Mr Dolman, of Brome, in Staffordshire, whose attention he always mentioned with gratitude. At Oxford he applied to English poetry, and in 1737 published a small Miscellany, without his name. He then for a time wandered about to acquaint himself with life, and was sometimes at London, sometimes at Bath, or any place of public resort; but he did not forget his poetry. He published, in 1740, his Judgment of Hercules, addressed to Mr Lyttleton, whose interest he supported with great warmth at an election. This was two years afterwards followed by the School-Mistress. Mr Dolman, to whose care he was indebted for his ease and leisure, died in 1743, and the care of his fortune now fell upon himself. He tried to escape it a while, and lived at his house with his tenants, who were distantly related; but finding that imperfect possession inconvenient, he took the whole estate into his own hands, an event which rather improved its beauty than increased its produce. Now began his delight in rural pleasures, and his passion for rural elegance; but in time his expenses occasioned clamours that overpowered the bleat of the lamb and song of the linnet, and his groves were haunted by beings very different from fauns or fairies. He spent his estate in adorning it, and his death was probably hastened by his anxieties. He was a lamp that spent its oil in blazing. It is said, that if he had lived a little longer, he would have been assisted by a pension. Such bounty could not have been more properly bestowed; but that it was ever asked is not certain, and it is too certain that it never was enjoyed. He died at the Leasowes, of a putrid fever, on the 11th of February 1763, and was buried by the side of his brother, in the churchyard of Hales-Owen.

In his private opinions, Shenstone adhered to no particular sect, and hated all religious disputes. Tenderness, in every sense of the word, was his peculiar characteristic; and his friends, domestics, and poor neighbours, daily experienced the effects of his benevolence. This virtue he carried to an excess that seemed to border upon weakness; yet if any of his friends treated him ungenerously, he was not easily reconciled. On such occasions, however, he used to say, "I never will be a revengeful enemy; but I cannot, it is not in my nature, to be half a friend." He was no economist; for the generosity of his temper prevented his paying a proper regard to the use of money, and therefore he exceeded the bounds of his paternal fortune. But if we consider the perfect paradise into which he had converted his estate, the hospitality with which he lived, his charities to the indigent, and all out of an estate that did not exceed L300 a year, one should rather wonder that he left any thing behind him, than blame his want of economy. He yet left more than sufficient to pay all his debts; and by his will appropriated his whole estate to that purpose. Though he had a high opinion of many of the fair sex, he forbore to marry. A passion he entertained in his youth was with difficulty surmounted. The lady was the subject of that admirable pastoral, in four parts, which has been so universally read and admired, and which, one would have thought, must have softened the proudest and most obdurate heart. His works have been published by Mr Dodsley, in three volumes 8vo. The first volume contains his poetical works, which are particularly distinguished by an amiable elegance and beautiful simplicity; the second volume contains his prose works; the third his letters and other pieces.