, was the son of Samuel Croxall, rector of Hanworth in Middlesex,
, was the son of Samuel Croxall, rector of Hanworth in Middlesex, and Walton upon
Thames in Surrey, in the last of which places his son was
born. He received his early education at Eton school, and
thence was sent to St. John’s college, in Cambridge. It is
said, that while he was at the university he became enamoured of Mrs. Anna Maria Mordaunt, who first inspired
his breast with love; and to whom he dedicates “The
Fair Circassian,
” in a bombastic style, bordering on prophaneness. Croxall was designed for orders, and had
probably entered them when he published this poem,
which made him cautious of being known to be the author
of a piece so ludicrously written, and yet taken from a
book which makes a part of the canon of scripture. The
first specimen of this poem, under the title of “Solomon’s
Song, chap, iv.
” appeared in Steele’s Miscellany,