Surname: Prior Forename(s): Matthew b. June 1664. d. 18 September 1721. Nationality: English. VIAF.
Poet and diplomat. Educated at St John’s College, Cambridge. Employed in various positions
at the office of the British ambassador to The Hague (1690-1697) and in France (1697-1699).
Elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1698. Returned to London and became MP for
East Grinstead in 1701. Negotiated the Treaty of Utrecht in France (1713). Returned
to England and was arrested under suspicion of corruption (1715). His folio Poems on Several Occasions (1719) provided him with financial security for the remainder of his life. Friends
with Jonathan Swift. Biographical information: ODNB. (CC)