Edward Lovibond (baptized 6 July 1723 - 27 September 1775) was an English poet.[1]
Edward Lovibond (1724-1775), Poems on Several Occasions (1785). Nabu Press, 2010. Courtesy Amazon.com.
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Lovibond, the son of Edward Lovibond (a director of the East India Company, who died in July 1737 - Lond. Mag. vi. 397; cf. Chester, London Marriage Licenses, p. 862), was born at Hampton, Middlesex, in 1724.[2]
He was educated at Kingston-upon-Thames under Richard Wooddeson and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he matriculated as gentleman-commoner on 15 May 1739 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1888).[2]
Career and marriage[]
Inheriting a competence from his father, he was enabled to "pass his days in the quiet enjoyment of the pleasures of rural life" (cf. "Ode to Youth"),[2] living at the Elm Lodge, Hampton, from 1754 on.[3]
Lovibond is said to have lived unhappily with his wife, Catherine, 3rd daughter of Gustavus Hamilton of Redwood, King's County, Ireland, whom he married on 26 December 1744 (Lodge, Peerage, 1789, v. 180).[4]
His fame as a poet rests on his contributions to the The World, a weekly newspaper, started in 1753 by Edward Moore, and numbering Horace Walpole and Lord Chesterfield among its original contributors.[2]
Lovibond died at Hampton on 27 September 1775 (Gentleman's Magazine. 1775, 503). Horace Walpole bought some pictures and a fine Cowley "at Mr. Lovibond's sale" in 1776 (Corresp., ed. Cunningham, vi. 349).[4]
Writing[]
Love's only volume of verse, Poems on Several Occasions, was published under the superintendence of his brother, Anthony Lovibond Collins, in 1785.[4]
On 25 July 1754 in The World (No. 82) appeared his best-known piece, "The Tears of Old May Day," which long maintained a place in English anthologies, and was described at the time as "flowing with a plaintive melody which has only been surpassed by the inimitable Churchyard Elegy." The comparison indicates the poet from whom, with William Mason, and possibly Dyer Lovibond chiefly drew his inspiration.[2]
In the case of "Julia's Printed Letter," his most ambitious and best effort, Pope's Eloisa is evidently the model.[2]
His slighter pieces have the facile, if insipid, prettiness of Ambrose Philips.[4]
Recognition[]
His poem "The Tears of Old May-Day" was included in Robert Dodsley's Collection of Poems in Six Volumes; by several hands.[1]
His book was reprinted in Anderson's British Poets, 1794, together with a panegyric described by Croker (Boswell, Life of Johnson, 27) as ‘hyperbolical and ludicrous in the extreme.’ The life was subsequently abridged for Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary.[4]
His poems reappeared in Chalmers's British Poets (1820, xvi. 283), in Walsh's British Poets (New York, 1822, vol. xxxvii.), and a selection in Campbell's Specimens, 542.[4]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Poems on Several Occasions. London: J. Dodsley, 1785.
- Poetical Works (edited by Thomas Park). J. Sharp, 1807.
- Poems. London: Johnson, 1810.
- Poems (edited by Alexander Chalmers). London: 1810.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[5]
References[]
Seccombe, Thomas (1893) "Lovibond, Edward" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 34 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 160-161 . Wikisource, Web, Aug. 25, 2020.
Notes[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Edward Lovibond, Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive. Web, Aug. 25, 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Seccombe, 190.
- ↑ "Edward Lovibond: Minor poet," Twickenham Museum. Web, Aug. 26, 2020.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Seccombe, 191.
- ↑ Search results = au:Edward Lovibond, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 26, 2020.
External links[]
- Poems
- Edward Lovibond in the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive ("The Tears of Old May-Day")
- Books
- Edward Lovibond at Amazon.com
- About
- "Edward Lovibond: A minor poet" at Twickenham Museum
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Lovibond, Edward
|