George Stepney was considered one of the most remarkable men of the 17th century; one of the eight poets worthy of emulation, of whom it was said no Englishman ever understood the affairs of Germany so well, and few Germans better . A member of the Kit-Cat Club, and respected by Halifax and Marlborough, he - a commoner - was carried to his grave in Westminster Abbey by two dukes, two earls and two barons. Diplomatic history has tended to focus on the monarchs and princes rather than on the handful of professional diplomats whose job it was to lie abroad for their country of whom Stepney was an example. This biography follows the only other study of Stepney’s life - an article in The Huntingdon Library Quarterly in 1946 - in providing material on a key period of political and military history.