John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

1647-1680. Courtier, satirist, wit and dramatist. Known for his rather outspoken poems (the play Sodom is often attributed to him, but his authorship is not certain) and his wild life. Supposedly the model for Dorimant, the protagonist of Etherege's The Man of Mode and for Wilmore in Aphra Behn's The Rover. Flirting with atheism during his wild years, he repented and went back to the fold of the true church shortly before his death.