I am John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, I was an English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court, who reacted against the "spiritual authoritarianism" of the Puritan era. I embodied this new era, and I became as well known for my rakish lifestyle as for my poetry, although the two were often interlinked. I died as a result of a sexually transmitted infection at the age of 33.