Sir James Marriott (?1730 - 21 March 1803) was an English poet, lawyer, and politician.
James Marriott (?1730 - 21 March 1803), Poems: Written chiefly at the University of Cambridge (1760). Kessinger, 2007. Courtesy Book Depository.
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Marriott was the son of an attorney in Hatton Garden, London, whose widow remarried.[1]
He was admitted to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, as a pensioner 17 June 1746, and elected a scholar 27 October 1747; he earned an LL.B. 17 June 1751 and an LL.D. 25 March 1757, and was elected a fellow of Trinity on 26 July 1756.[1]
His rise in life was secured when he arranged the library of the duke of Newcastle, then chancellor of the university, and had the good fortune to present him with some poems on his visiting Cambridge in 1755.[1]
Career[]
On 3 November 1757 Marriott was admitted to the College of Advocates, and in June 1764 was appointed, through "interest rather than superior merit" (says Coote) to the post of advocate-general; though Lord Sandwich, writing to George Grenville, remarked : "I believe Marriott is the fittest person in point of ability exclusive of other considerations."[1]
Marriott contributed verses to the Cambridge University sets on the peace, 1748; the death of Frederick, prince of Wales, 1751; and that in 1761 to the new queen.[2]
On 13 June 1764 he was elected master of his college, and in 1767 he became vice-chancellor of the university, when he attempted, without success, to obtain the erection, after his own designs, of an amphitheatre for public lectures and musical performances. In 176S Marriott was a candidate for the professorship of modern history, but it was given to Gray, and he remained without advancement until October 1778, when he was created a judge of the Admiralty Court.[1] (His decisions were such, in the opinion of Judge Story, as no other person would ever follow).[2]
Marriott is described as "less deficient in talent than in soundness of judgment." In his youth he was "gay and volatile," and even in the admiralty court he displayed excessive jocularity. Gray wrote of him in 1766 that his follies should be pardoned "because he has some feeling and means us well."[2]
At the general election of 1780 he contested the borough of Sudbury in Suffolk, and though not returned at the poll was seated on petition, 26 April 1781. He retained his seat until the dissolution in 1784, and held it again from 1796 until 1802. In March 1782 he caused great merriment in the House of Commons by his "pedantic folly," for in his desire to produce some proof of the justice of the war with the American colonies he observed that if representation were held necessary to give the rights of taxation, America was "represented by the members for Kent, since in the charters of the thirteen provinces they are declared to be 'part and parcel of the manor of Greenwich'."[1]
He was again elected vice-chancellor of the university in November 1786, when he claimed exemption as one of His Majesty's judges, and the senate by thirty-one votes to nineteen acquiesced in his view. He had some difference with the fellows at a college meeting, and for many years came to Cambridge as little as he could. In 1799 he resigned his judgeship, an annuity of 2,000l. a year being settled on him by parliament. He died at Twinstead Hall, near Sudbury, on , aged 72.[1]
Writing[]
His writings were : 1. 'Two Poems presented to the Duke of Newcastle on his revisiting the University in order to lay the first Stone of the New 'Building,' 1765. 2. 'The Case of the Dutch ships considered,' 1758; 3rd edit. 1759; 4th edit, 1778. 3. 'A Letter to the Dutch Merchants in England' (anon.), 1759. 4. 'Poems written chiefly at the University of Cambridge. Together with a Latin Oration upon the History and Genius of the Roman and Canon Laws, spoken in the Chapel of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 21 Dec. 1756,' Cambridge, 1760.[2] 5. 'Political Considerations, being a few Thoughts of a Candid Man at the Present Crisis (anon.), 1762. 6. 'Rights and Privileges of the Universities, in a Charge at Quarter Sessions, 10 Oct, 1768. Also an Argument on the Poor's Kate charged on the Colleges of Christ and Emmanuel,' 1769. Of this production Gray writes: ' It moved the town's people to tears and the university to laughter.' See also Wordsworth's 'Universitv Life in the Eighteenth Centurv,' pp. ; 427-8, 'Schohe Academics?,' pp. 138, 327. 7. 'Plan of a Code of Laws for the Province of Quebec,' 1774. 8. 'Mémoire justificatif de la Grande Bretagne, en arretant les navires étrangers et les munitions destinées aux insurgens de l'Amérique,' 1779. 9. 'Formulary of Instruments and Writs used in the Admiralty Court.'[2]
Marriott wrote 3 papers, 117, 121, and 199, in the World, and contributed an imitation of Ode vi. bk. ii. to Duncombe's Horace in English verse (2nd edit.), i. 184. 2 letters from him to Burke on Burke's speaking are in the latter's 'Correspondence,' 1. 97-8, 102-3, and another is in the Garrick Correspondence, ii. 164-5.[2]
A volume of the Decisions by Sir George Hay and Marriott was published in 1801, another volume, edited by George Minot, was issued at Boston, U.S., in 1853, and an argument of his is included in the Collectanea Juridica of Francis Hargrove, i. 82-129. Numerous papers by him were in the possession of the Marquis of Lansdowne (Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. App. p. 139, and 6th Rep. App. p. 240) and Mr. C. F. Weston-Underwood (ib. 10th Rep. App. p. 239).[2]
Recognition[]
Marriott was knighted in October 1778.[1]
His poetry was included in Dodsley's Collection of Poems in Six Volumes; by several hands and George Pearch's Collection of Poems in Four Volumes; by several hands. [3]
His verses were also in the collections of George Bell, vols. vi. ix. xii. xv. and xviii., Moses Mendez, pp. 296-305, and Robert Southey, vol. iii.[2]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Poems. London: John Whiston & Benjamin White / W. Sandby, 1753.
- Two poems to the Duke of Newcastle, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. London: 1755.
- Poems: Written chiefly at the University of Cambridge; together with a Latin oration upon the history and genius of the Roman and Canon laws. London: James Bettenham, 1761.
Non-fiction[]
- The Case of the Dutch Ships, Considered. London: R. & J. Dodsley, 1758.
- Political considerations, etc. London: J. Hinxman, 1762.
- The Rights and Privileges of Both Universities ... Defended. 1769.
- Plan of a Code of Laws for the Province of Quebec. London: 1774.
- Memoire Justificatif de la Conduite de la Grande Bretagne. T. Harrison et S. Brooke, 1779.
- Decisions in the High Court of Admiralty: During the time of Sir George Hay, and of Sir James Marriott, late judges of that court. London: R. Bickerstaff, 1801.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[4]
See also[]
References[]
Courtney, William Prideaux (1893) "Marriott, James" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 36 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 198-199
Notes[]
External links[]
- Poems
- Sir James Marriott (1730 ca.-1803) info & 5 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830
- James Marriott at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (21 poems)
- About
- Marriott, Sir James (1730-1803) in the History of Parliament Online, 1754-1790
- Marriott, Sir James (1730-1803) in the History of Parliament ONline, 1790-1820
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: Marriott, James
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