James Hurdis

Rev. James Hurdis (1763 - 22 December 1801) was an English poet and clergyman.

James Hurdis (1763-1801). Engraving by John Romney (1785-1863), frontispiece from The Village Curate, and other poems, 1809. Courtesy Wikipedia.

Life

Youth and education

Hurdis was the son of James Hurdis of Bishopstone in Sussex, where he was born in 1763.

He was educated at the grammar school at Chichester.

In 1780 he entered St. Mary Hall, Oxford. At the end of two years' residence he was elected to Magdalen College, where he earned a B.A. in 1785 and an M.A. in 1787, and elected a fellow in 1788.

Career

Hurdis was curate of Burwash in Sussex for 6 years.

In 1788 he published his Village Curate, which was favourably received and went through four editions. He became known to the literary world, and secured the friendship of Cowper and Hayley. A second volume, Adriano; or the First of June,’ followed, and in 1790 Hurdis issued a third volume of poems.

In 1791, through the interest of the Earl of Chichester, to whose son he had been tutor, he was appointed vicar of Bishopstone. In the same year he wrote The Tragedy of Sir Thomas More. In 1792 he lost his favourite sister, Catharine, upon whose death he wrote Tears of Affliction: A poem occasioned by the death of a sister tenderly beloved, published in 1794. In April 1793 he was residing at Temple Cowley, near Oxford; in November of the same year he was appointed Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.

In 1799 he married Miss Harriet Minet of Fulham. In 1800 he printed at his private press at Bishopstone his poem entitled ‘The Favourite Village.’

He died very suddenly, at Buckland in Berkshire, while staying at the house of his friend Dr. Rathbone. He left two sons; a daughter was born after his death.

Writing

Hurdis is at best a pale copy of Cowper, a poet who does not furnish a powerful original to an imitator. The blank verse in which most of the poetry of Hurdis is written is flaccid and monotonous. Still, here and there we come upon elegant lines, and the poet shows a feeling for nature.

Besides his productions in verse, and a few separately printed sermons, he was the author of:

• ‘A Short Critical Dissertation upon the true meaning of the word חַתַּנָּינָם found in Genesis i. 21,’ 1790.
• 'Cursory Remarks upon the Arrangement of the Plays of Shakespear, occasioned by reading Mr. Malone's Essay on the Chronological Order of those celebrated pieces' 1792. In this work Hurdis shows a very slender knowledge of the subject, and Malone has added the following note to his copy now preserved in the Bodleian: 'It is difficult to say whether he or his friend William Cowper the poet, who writes to him on the subject of this pamphlet, were most ignorant of the matter here discussed.' As a specimen of Hurdis's criticism it may be mentioned that, judging from internal evidence, he thinks the 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' one of the latest of Shakespeare's plays, and the 'Winter's Tale' one of the earliest.
• 'Lectures showing the several Sources of that Pleasure which the Human Mind receives from Poetry,' Bisbopstone, at the author's own press, 1797.
• 'A word or two in Vindication of the University of Oxford, and of Magdalene College in particular, from the posthumous aspersions of Mr. Gibbon,' anonymous, without place or date, but certainly printed at Bishopstone. This is not a very successful performance, as the writer, while heaping plenty of abuse upon Gibbon, is obliged to acknowledge the truth of most of his strictures. The professors come out badly, and Hurdis makes some strange admissions amidst a good deal of shuffling.

Recognition

There is a portrait of him engraved by his elder son after a drawing by Sharpies, and a tablet to his memory in Bishopstone church bears an inscription in verse composed by Hayley.

Publications

Poetry

• The Village Curate: A poem. London: J. Johnson, 1788.
• Adriano; or, The first of June: A poem. London: J. Johnson, 1790.
• Poems by the Author of 'The Village Curate' and 'Adriano'. London: J. Johnson, 1790.
• Reflections upon the commencement of a new year. London: J. Johnson, 1793.
• Tears of Affection: A poem occasioned by the death of a sister tenderly beloved. London: J. Johnson, 1794.
• Tears of Affection: A poem occasioned by the death of a sister tenderly beloved / The Bouquet: A collection of scattered pieces. Dublin: H. Colbert, 1795.
• A Poem Written towards the Close of the Year 1794: Upon a prospect of the marriage of the Prince of Wales. London: J. Johnson, 1795.
• Poems. Philadelphia: T. Dobson, 1796.
• The Favorite Village: A poem. Bishopstone, Sussex, UK: privately published, 1800; London: C. Whittingham for Vernor, Hood, & Sharpe, 1810.
• Poems. (3 volumes), Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press for J. Parker / Rivington / Longman, 1808. Volume II
• The Village Curate, and other poems. London: C. Whittingham for Vernor, Hood & Sharpe, Poultry; Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme; Taylor & Hessey; & Sharpe & Hailes, 1810.

Play

• Sir Thomas More: A tragedy. London: J. Johnson, 1792.

Non-fiction

• A Short Critical Dissertation upon the True Meaning of the Word Taninim, Found in Genesis I.21. London: J. Johnson, 1790.
• Cursory Remarks upon the Arrangement of the Plays of Shakespear. London: J. Johnson, 1792.
• Select Critical Remarks upon the English Version of the First Ten Chapters of Genesis. London: J. Johnson, 1793.
• Equality: A sermon; to which is added: A sermon, preached on Friday, February 28, 1794, the day appointed for a general fast. London: J. Johnson, 1794.
• Lectures Shewing the Several Sources of that Pleasure which the Human Mind Receives from Poetry. Bishopstone, Sussex, UK: privately published, sold by J. Johnson, London, 1797; New York: Garland, 1971.
• A Sermon on the Proper Method of Studying the Scriptures. Bishopstone, Sussex, UK: privately published, [1797?]
• On the Nature and Occasion of Psalm and Prophecy: Twelve critical dissertations. London: J. Johnson, 1800.
• A Word or Two in Vindication of the University of Oxford and of Magdalen College: In particular from the posthumous aspersions of Mr. Gibbon. [Oxford?], UK: [1800?]

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

Preceded by Robert Holmes

Oxford Professor of Poetry 1793-1801

Succeeded by Edward Copleston

References

•  Morfill, William Richard (1891) "Hurdis, James (1763-1801)" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 28 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 316-317  Wikisource, Web, Mar. 2, 2016.

External links

Poems

• Rev. James Hurdis (1763-1801) info & 3 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830

About

• 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: Hurdis, James (1763-1801)