Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Sir Charles Sedley
Sir Charles Sedley,
DRAMATIST,
Was born at the Friary, Aylesford, in 1639, and educated at Wadham College, Oxford. He was well known as one of the wits of the Court, and after the Restoration represented Romney in Parliament. His daughter, becoming the mistress of James II, was created Countess of Dorchester. Sir Charles, in reference to this, at the Revolution, being asked why he took part against James, replied that "he did so from gratitude; for as he made my daughter a Countess, it is fit that I should do what I could to make his daughter (the wife of William of Orange) a queen." He died in 1701, and his plays and poems were collected and published in 1782.
[See "Wood's Athenæ Oxon," by Bliss, and "Biographta Britannica."]