Shiels, Robert

▪ Scottish poet and editor

born before 1700, , Roxburghshire, Scot.

died Dec. 27, 1753, London

      Scottish poet and editor.

      Moving to London, where he was a printer, Shiels was employed by Samuel Johnson as an amanuensis on the Dictionary of the English Language. When this work was completed, Shiels, with others, began the compilation of a five-volume The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Time of Dean Swift (1753), published shortly before his death. Although this work bore the name of Theophilus Cibber (Cibber, Theophilus) (1703–58), playwright and actor, it was actually Shiels who did most of the research for whatever original writing appeared in the work. Shiels also wrote a poem, “Marriage,” in blank verse; “Musidorus,” an elegy on the Scottish poet James Thomson; and several other pieces.

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