A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Oldmixon, John

by John William Cousin

Oldmixon, John (1673-1742). -- Historical and miscellaneous writer, belonged to an old Somersetshire family, wrote some, now forgotten, dramas and poems which, along with an essay on criticism, in which he attacked Addison, Swift, and Pope, earned for him a place in The Dunciad. He was also the author of The British Empire in America (1708), Secret History of Europe (against the Stuarts), and in his Critical History (1724-26) attacked Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. All these works are partisan in their tone. O. was one of the most prolific pamphleteers of his day.