Philips, Ambrose (c. 1675-1749)

English poet. He became involved in a quarrel with Alexander Pope over the merits of each other's pastoral poems, with Pope and others contriving to bring him into ridicule, and his poetry came to be called ‘namby-pamby’.

Philips was born in Shropshire and was educated at St John's College, Cambridge. His first printed work is a copy of English verses in the collection published by the university 1695. He produced the tragedies The Distrest Mother 1712 (based on Racine's Andromaque), which was received with great applause, The Briton 1722, and Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester 1723. A little earlier, Philips's translation of Sappho's Ode to Aphrodite had been printed in the Spectator.