Sir John was a poet; he authored a number of sonnets and love songs in English, in the fashion of the day, that have little literary worth but provide light on the works of Shakespeare and other contemporaneous poets (see Carleton Brown, Poems by Sir John Salusbury and Robert Chester). His work shows the influence of both Sidney and Wyatt. He was born in 1561 probably near Shrewsbury and died in 1617 at the age of about 55. His poems were published in 1648. Salusbury was educated at Cambridge University and became a member of Parliament for Denbigh Boroughs in 1597. He served as ambassador to Spain from 1604 to 1607 and to France from 1607 to 1609. After his return from abroad, he settled in London where he lived a busy life as an author and politician. He is best known for his poems which show him to be a talented writer with a keen interest in politics.