Samuel Boyse
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/The_Pantheon_-_or%2C_fabulous_history_of_the_heathen_gods%2C_goddesses%2C_heroes%2C_%26c%2C_explained_in_a_manner_entirely_new%3B_with_an_appendix_by_William_Cooke_%281809%29_%2814593196080%29.jpg/220px-thumbnail.jpg)
Samuel Boyse(1702/3? – May 1749)[1]was an Irish poet and writer who worked for SirRobert Walpoleand whose religious verses in particular were prized and reprinted in his time.
Life
[edit]Born in Dublin, Boyse was the son ofJoseph Boyse,a Presbyterian[2]minister. He studied in Dublin, thenGlasgow University;he had no profession other than writer, a career which took him to Edinburgh and London.[3]He married at the age of 20.[4]
Boyse "had many brilliant opportunities for advancement, all of which he wasted by almost inexplicable recklessness", according to William Lloyd Phelps. "Debts at length drove him from Edinburgh. He often had to beg for the smallest coins, and wrote verses in bed to obtain money for clothes and food.".[4]
Boyse became a regular contributor toGentleman's Magazine,where he wrote under the pen names "Alcaeus" and "Y". Boyse was patronised by SirRobert Walpole,but later fell into poverty during the latter part of his life. He was sometimes regarded as dissolute, sometimes as insane.[3][5]
His religious verse was valued, and his poetry was collected and reprinted. He died ofconsumption,although the circumstances of his death have been disputed.[3]
Bibliography
[edit]- 1731:Translations and Poems Written on Several Subjects,[3]Edinburgh[4]
- 1732:Verses Occasioned by Seeing the Palace and Park of Dalkeith[3]
- 1735:Verses Sacred to the Memory of the Right Honourable Charles Earl of Peterborough and Monmouth[3]
- 1736:The Tears of the Muses: A Poem Sacred to the Memory of the Right Honourable Anne, late Viscountess of Stormont[3]
- 1737:The Olive: An Ode Occasion'd by the Auspicious Success of his Majesty's Counsels, in the Stanza of Spencer,London: R. Amey (reprinted inTranslations and Poems1738)[2]
- 1739:The Deity: A Poem,[3]influenced byAlexander Pope'sEssay on Man[4]
- 1740:An Ode sacred to the Birth of the Marquis of Tavistock.,Gentleman's Magazine,No. 10 (February 1740) 83–84[6]
- 1740:The Character and Speech of Cosroes the Mede: an Improvement of the Squire's Tale of Chaucer.,Gentleman's MagazineNo. 10 (August) pp 404–5[7]
- 1741: With others,The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, Modernis'd by Several Hands.,three volumes, edited byGeorge Ogle,including Boyse'sCambuscan, or the Squire's Tale[8]
- 1741:The Vision of Patience, an Allegorical Poem.,published inA Select Collection of Poems: with Notes, biographical and historical: and a complete Poetical Index. 8 Volumes, edited by John Nichols[9]
- 1743:Albion's Triumph. An Ode, occasioned by the happy Success of His Majesty's Arms on the Maine. In the Stanza of Spencer.,modelled onMatthew Prior'sOde to the Queen1706; London: J. Robinson, 8 pages; five stanzas of the poem were also published this year inGentleman's MagazineNo. 13 (July) p 358[10]
- 1743:The Praise of Peace: A Poem in Three Cantos from the Dutch of Mr. Van Haren[3]
- 1743:To Mr. Urban, on the Conclusion of his Vol. XIII for the Year 1743. Ode.,published inGentleman's Magazine,No. 13, January; "Mr. Urban" refers toEdward Cave,editor of the magazine[11]
- 1747:An Historical Review of the Transactions of Europe,two volumes[3]
- 1748:Impartial History of the Late Rebellion in 1745[3]
- 1748:Irene, an Heroic Ode in the Stanza of Spenser.,threePriorstanzas published as a sample of a heroic ode to celebrate theTreaty of Aix la Chapelleand the end of theWar of the Austrian Succession;published inGentleman's MagazineNo. 18 (November) p 517 (reprinted this year inNewcastle General Magazine,1 November, p 581)[12]
- 1749: Translation,A Demonstration of the Existence of God[3]
- 1750: Translation,The Tablature of Cebes[3]
- 1753:The New Pantheon: or the Fabulous History of the Heathen Gods[3]
- 1757:Poetical Works(later editions 1773, 1785)[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Sambrook, James (2004)."Boyse, Samuel (1702/3?–1749)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3152.Retrieved3 December2013.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ab"The Olive: an Ode. In the Stanza of Spenser".English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition.Retrieved6 July2009.
- ^abcdefghijklmno"Samuel Boyse (1708–1749)".English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition.Retrieved6 July2009.
- ^abcdPhelps, William Lloyd,Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement,pp 64–65 (1893), as quoted in "The Olive, an Heroick Ode: Preface" atEnglish Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Traditionwebsite. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^Dictionary of National Biography.London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. .
- ^"An Ode sacred to the Birth of the Marquis of Tavistock",atEnglish Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Traditionwebsite. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^"The Character and Speech of Cosroes the Mede: an Improvement of the Squire's Tale of Chaucer.",atEnglish Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Traditionwebsite. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^"Cambuscan, or the Squire's Tale.",atEnglish Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Traditionwebsite. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^"The Vision of Patience, an Allegorical Poem.",atEnglish Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Traditionwebsite. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^"Albion's Triumph. An Ode.",atEnglish Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Traditionwebsite. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^"To Mr. Urban, on the Conclusion of his Vol. XIII for the Year 1743. Ode.",atEnglish Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Traditionwebsite. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
- ^"Irene, an Heroic Ode in the Stanza of Spenser.",atEnglish Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Traditionwebsite. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
External links
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- "Samuel Boyse"at theEnglish Poetry: 1579 – 1830: Spenser and the Traditionwebsite, with texts and information on numerous poems by Boyse
Webb, Alfred(1878).A Compendium of Irish Biography.Dublin: M. H. Gill & son.
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