John Wolcot

Dr. John Wolcot (1738 - 14 January 1819) was an English poet and satirist, who wrote under the pseudonym of "Peter Pindar."

John Wolcot (1738-1819). Portrait by John Opie (1761-1807). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Life

Overview

Wolcot, born near Kingsbridge, Devonshire, was educated by an uncle, and then studied medicine. In 1767 he went as physician to Sir William Trelawny, Governor of Jamaica, and whom he induced to present him to a Church in the island then vacant, and was ordained in 1769. Sir William dying in 1772, W. came home and, abandoning the Church, resumed his medical character, and settled in practice at Truro, where he discovered the talents of Opie the painter, and assisted him. In 1780 he went to London, and commenced writing satires. The initial objects of his attentions were the members of the Royal Academy, and these attempts being well received, he soon began to fly at higher game, the King and Queen being the most frequent marks for his satirical shafts. In 1786 appeared The Lousiad, a Heroi-Comic Poem, taking its name from a legend that on the King's dinner plate there had appeared a certain insect not usually found in such exalted quarters. Other objects of his attack were Boswell, the biographer of Johnson, and Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller. Wolcot, who wrote under the nom-de-guerre of "Peter Pindar," had a remarkable vein of humor and wit, which, while intensely comic to persons not involved, stung its subjects to the quick. He had likewise strong intelligence, and a power of coining effective phrases. In other kinds of composition, as in some ballads which he wrote, an unexpected touch of gentleness and even tenderness appears. Among these are "The Beggar Man" and "Lord Gregory." Much that he wrote has now lost all interest owing to the circumstances referred to being forgotten, but enough still retains its peculiar relish to account for his contemporary reputation.

Youth and education

Wolcot was the son and 4th child of Mary (Ryder) and Alexander Wolcot. He was born at Dodbrooke, near Kingsbridge, Devon, and baptised on 9 May 1738 (Baptismal Register, Dodbrooke). His father, who was a country surgeon and son of a surgeon, died on 14 June 1751, and the future poet fell under the care of his uncle, John Wolcot of Fowey. He was educated at Kingsbridge grammar school, and afterwards at Liskeard and Bodmin.

In or about 1760 he was sent on his uncle's advice for 12ve months to France to learn the language. He, however, acquired no love for the French, of whom he afterwards wrote:

I hate the shrugging dogs,

I've lived among them, ate their frogs

(Coll. Works, i. 107).

Medical career

Medicine being determined on as a profession, Wolcot went in 1762 to London for the purpose of study, and lodged with his uncle by marriage, Mr. Giddy of Penzance. In 1764 he returned to his uncle at Fowey, with whom he lived, acting as assistant till 1767. On 8 Sept. of this year he graduated M.D. at Aberdeen (Notes and Queries, 6th ser. xi. 94).

Wolcot was well acquainted and distantly connected with Sir William Trelawny of Trelawne, Fowey, and, on Trelawny's appointment as governor of Jamaica in 1767, Wolcot was chosen to accompany him as physician. Finding, however, that medical prospects in Jamaica were not encouraging, he returned home in 1769 for the purpose of taking holy orders, with a view to securing the valuable living of St. Anne, which was in the gift of his patron, and then apparently soon likely to become vacant. He was without difficulty admitted by the bishop of London deacon on 24 June 1769, and priest on the following day (Register of Bishopric of London).

Thus equipped he returned to Jamaica in March 1770, but found the hoped-for living was not vacant. He was granted the incumbency of Vere, but lived most of his time at the governor's house, performing his almost nominal duties by deputy. Reverting to his original profession, he was appointed physician-general to the horse and foot in the island on 21 May 1770.

He lived on terms of close friendship with the Trelawny family, and one of the first of his poems published in London was an elegy on the death of Miss Anne Trelawny, ‘the Nymph of Tauris’ (Annual Register, 1773, p. 240). On the death of Trelawny he obtained leave of absence from the new governor, Dalling, on 20 Feb. 1773, and returned to England in company with Lady Trelawny, whose death shortly afterwards possibly robbed him of a future wife (Redding, Recollections, Literary and Personal, i. 258).

Dropping his clerical profession very completely, Wolcot now settled at Truro, where he established himself in a house on the Green, with the view of practising as a doctor. His peculiar medicinal methods, which consisted in encouraging his fever patients to drink cold water, and his opinion that a physician could do little more than watch nature and "give her a shove on the back if he sees her inclined to do right" (ib. i. 253), involved him in disputes with his professional brethren.

He quarreled also with the corporation of Truro, and when that body attempted to revenge the lampoons he had written upon their ill management by planting a parish apprentice upon him, the doctor moved to Helstone (November 1779), leaving behind a characteristic letter: "Gentlemen,—Your blunderbuss has missed fire,—Yours, John Wolcot." He remained at Helstone and Exeter for the next 2 years.

In London

The success of some songs set to music by Jackson of Exeter, and of a small number of poems, with a "supplicating Epistle to the Reviewers," published in London in 1778, inclined him to abandon medicine and remove to the metropolis.

Another reason was his friendship with John Opie, whose developing genius was now ready for the town. Wolcot became acquainted with the young painter at the house of Mr. Zankwell at Mithian in 1775 (Boase, Collectanea Cornubiensia), and instantly detected his abilities. He took him into his own house at Truro, provided all necessary material, and gave instruction and advice, and, when fully satisfied with the genius of the artist, persuaded him to move to London in 1781.

There appears to have originally been an agreement between them to share equally all profits made by the painter, and for a time they lived together in London, but after a quarrel separated, and were never again cordially united. The origin of the quarrel is sometimes attributed to Opie's frank criticism of Wolcot's paintings, but is more likely to have arisen owing to the painter, on becoming fashionable, refusing to carry out the arrangement as to profits. There is, however, no doubt that Opie's immediate success in town was due to Wolcot, who introduced him to Mrs. Boscawen, and extolled his genius in verse.

In appearance Wolcot was "a thick squat man with a large dark and flat face, and no speculation in his eye." He possessed considerable accomplishments, being a fair artist and good musician, and, despite the character of his compositions, his friends described him as of a "kind and hearty disposition." He was probably influenced in his writings by no real animosity towards royalty (Mrs. Robinson, Memoirs, 1801, vol. iv.), and himself confessed that "the king had been a good subject to him, and he a bad one to the king."

In London he frequently changed his place of residence, living in 1793 in Southampton Row, Covent Garden; in 1794 at 13 Tavistock Row, Covent Garden; at 1 Chapel Street, Portland Place, in 1800; 8 Delany Place, Camden Town, in 1802; in 1807 he was at 94 Tottenham Court Road; and he moved to Somers Town in 1816.

Peter Pindar

In 1782 appeared Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians; by Peter Pindar, Esq., a distant relative of the Poet of Thebes and Laureat to the Academy. The instant success of this amusing criticism on the academicians and their works made Wolcot repeat the publication in 1783, 1785, and, with his Farewell Odes on the same subject, in 1786. Benjamin West was the especial butt of the poet's humour, which was generally coarse, and not infrequently profane; few of the academicians escaped punishment at Peter's hands. His highly expressed appreciation of the landscapes of Gainsborough and Richard Wilson proved his discrimination.

In the first instance the lyric odes did not prove a source of profit, costing their author some £40. (Taylor, Records of my Life, i. 228), but he soon discovered a more paying enterprise in ridiculing the private life of the king. The first of the 5 cantos of the Lousiad: An heroi-comic poem, appeared in 1785, and the last in 1795. In 1787 the poet pursued the same fruitful subject in Ode upon Ode; or, A Peep at St. James and Instructions to a celebrated Laureat: Being a comic Account of the Visit of the Sovereign to Whitbread's Brewery. In all these 3 productions, though the satire was coarse, it was often extremely humorous, and great sales were effected.

Peter Pindar was well supplied with information as to the doings of the royal household (Jerdan, Autobiography, ii. 264), and he described with much point the king's plainness of mind and body, his pride, his parsimony, and his mannerisms of speech. On the other hand, the vices of the Prince of Wales were treated as virtues in the Expostulatory Odes (ode iii.), and an obvious bid made for his favour by the poet.

Whether or no "the king as well as the nation delighted in the bard" (Hazlitt, 8th Lecture, English Comic Writers), the popular conception of royalty was doubtless affected by his writings. The queen seems by Peter's confession to have checked his attentions by the action of her solicitor (ode ix., Expostulatory Odes), and the government attempted to secure silence by the bestowal of a pension of £300. (Jerdan, Autobiography, ii. 264). This appears to have been actually settled, Yorke acting as intermediary (ib.) But the arrangement came abruptly to an end, owing to a difference of opinion as to the amount in question and the duties involved (Taylor, Records of my Life, i. 228).

Whether from fear of prosecution or promise of pension, he certainly in 1790 confined himself to smaller game, such as Sir Joseph Banks, Sylvanus Urban, and James Bruce (1730–1794), the African traveller. The same year he vented his opinions on social matters in a Rowland for an Oliver, but he returned in 1792 to the king as a more profitable subject for ridicule, and his verses addressed to Pitt from this time forward he contrived to make as offensive as possible.

In 1793 he sold for an annuity of £250 the copyright of his existing works to J. Walker, the publisher, and it was at the same time stipulated that the refusal of his future work should rest with the same publisher. Disputes and eventually litigation arose with respect to the agreement, but the poet was completely successful, and the annuity was paid him to the end of his long life.

Wolcot had many imitators; one, C.F. Lawler, wrote under the same name; others, under very similar names, such as ‘Peter Pindar jun.,’ ‘Peter Pindar minimus,’ ‘Peter Pindar the elder,’ ‘Peter Pindar the younger’ (Brit. Mus. Cat.)

After running a free course for 20 years the satirist was, however, to meet with more than his match. In vol. iv. art. xxvi. of the Anti-Jacobin his Nil admirari, or a Smile at a Bishop, was savagely considered, and a review of the author's life given, in which he was termed "this disgustful subject, the profligate reviler of his sovereign and impious blasphemer of his God." Peter was quite unable to stand his ground with Gifford, the savagery of whose Epistle to P. Pindar (1800, 4to) was equalled only by its dexterity [see Gifford, William, 1756–1826].

Wolcot was so infuriated that he sought a personal encounter with the author. The two met in Wright's shop in Piccadilly, 18 Aug. 1800, when a scuffle took place, in which Wolcot was the aggressor, and undoubtedly got the worst of it (cf. The Battle of the Bards by Mauritius Moonshine; Peter's Æsop, a St. Giles's Eclogue, &c.) The commonplace offensiveness of Peter's Cut at a Cobbler fell flat. But Peter was by no means silenced. The resignation of Pitt gave him an opportunity of expressing his rejoicing in Out at Last! or the Fallen Minister, 1801. Canning also was specially singled out for abuse.

Later years

The appreciation once exhibited by the Prince of Wales, who is said to have had the poet's proof-sheets forwarded to him before publication (Jerdan, Autobiography, ii. 274), was not continued by the prince as regent, and the indignant Peter in 1811 expresses his feelings in being thus forsaken in Carlton House Fête, or the Disappointed Bard. In 1807 a charge was made against him by his landlady which appears to have been entirely groundless, as on his trial before Lord Ellenborough on 27 June 1807, the jury found for him without leaving the box (Trial of Peter Pindar for Crim. Con. London, 1807).

In Wolcot's later years he was afflicted by failure of sight, and in May 1811 was almost blind (Crabb Robinson, Diary, vol. i.); however, he still continued to write and publish. His last work was an Epistle to the Emperor of China, published in 1817 on the occasion of Lord Amherst's unfortunate embassy.

Wolcot died on 14 January 1819 at Montgomery Cottage, Somers Town, and was buried on 21 January in St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden, where by his own wish his coffin was placed touching that of Samuel Butler (1612–1680), the author of Hudibras.

Writing

The following is a list of Wolcot's works: 1. ‘Poetical Epistle to Reviewers,’ London, 1778, 4to. 2. ‘Poems on various Subjects,’ London, 1778, 4to. 3. ‘The Noble Cricketers,’ 4to. 4. ‘Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians for 1782,’ 1782, 4to. 5. ‘More Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians for 1783,’ 1783, 4to. 6. ‘Lyric Odes for 1785,’ 1785, 4to. 7. ‘The Lousiad: an Heroi-comic Poem in Five Cantos,’ 1785–95, 4to. 8. ‘Farewell Odes to Academicians,’ 1786, 4to. 9. ‘A Congratulatory Epistle to James Boswell,’ 1786, 4to. 10. ‘Bozzy and Piozzi, or the British Biographers,’ 1786, 4to; 9th edit. 1788. 11. ‘Ode upon Ode, or a Peep at St. James,’ 1787, 4to. 12. ‘Instructions to a Celebrated Laureat,’ 1787, 4to. 13. ‘An Apologetic Postscript to Ode upon Ode,’ 1787, 4to. 14. ‘Brother Peter to Brother Tom [i.e. Tom Warton],’ 1788, 4to. 15. ‘Peter's Pension: a Solemn Epistle,’ 1788, 4to. 16. ‘Sir Joseph Banks and the Emperor of Morocco,’ 1788, 4to. 17. ‘Peter's Prophecy, or the President and Poet,’ 1788, 4to. 18. ‘Epistle to his Pretended Cousin Peter,’ 1788, 4to. 19. ‘Lyric Odes to the Academicians and Subjects for Painters,’ 1789, 4to. 20. ‘A Poetical Epistle to a Falling Minister [W. Pitt],’ 1789, 4to. 21. ‘Expostulatory Odes to a Great Duke and a Little Lord,’ 1789, 4to. 22. ‘A Benevolent Epistle to Sylvanus Urban,’ 1790, 4to. 23. ‘A Rowland for an Oliver,’ 1790, 4to. 24. ‘Advice to the Future Laureat,’ 1790, 4to. 25. ‘A Letter to the Most Insolent Man Alive,’ 1790, 4to. 26. ‘A Complimentary Letter to James Bruce, Esq., the Abyssinian Traveller,’ 1790, 4to. 27. ‘The Rights of Kings, or Loyal Odes to Disloyal Academicians,’ 1791, 4to. 28. ‘Odes to Mr. Paine, Author of “Rights of Man,”’ 1791, 4to. 29. ‘The Remonstrance,’ 1791, 4to. 30. ‘A Commiserating Epistle to James Lowther, Earl of Lonsdale,’ 1791, 4to. 31. ‘More Money, or Odes of Instruction to Mr. Pitt,’ 1792. 32. ‘The Tears of St. Margaret,’ 1792, 4to. 33. ‘Odes of Importance,’ 1792, 4to. 34. ‘A Pair of Lyric Epistles to Lord Macartney and his Ship,’ 1792, 4to. 35. ‘Odes to Kien Long, Emperor of China,’ 1792, 4to. 36. ‘A Poetical … Epistle to Pope,’ 1793, 4to. 37. ‘Pathetic Odes to the Duke of Richmond's Dog Thunder,’ 1794, 8vo. 38. ‘Celebration, or the Academic Procession to St. James,’ 1794, 4to. 39. ‘Hair-powder: a plaintive Epistle to Mr. Pitt,’ 1795, 4to. 40. ‘Pindariana,’ 1794, 4to. 41. ‘The Convention Bill: an Ode,’ 1795, 4to. 42. ‘The Cap: a Satiric Poem,’ 1795, 4to. 43. ‘The Royal Visit to Exeter,’ 1795. 44. ‘The Royal Tour and Weymouth Amusements,’ 1795, 4to. 45. ‘An Admirable Satire on Burke's Defence of his Pension,’ 1796, 4to. 46. ‘One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety Six: a Satire,’ 1797, 4to. 47. ‘An Ode to the Livery of London,’ 1797, 4to. 48. ‘Picturesque Views with Poetical Allusions,’ 1797, fol. 49. ‘Tales of the Hoy,’ 1798, 4to. 50. ‘Nil Admirari, or a Smile at a Bishop,’ 1799, 4to. 51. ‘Lord Auckland's Triumph, or the Death of Crim. Con.,’ 1800, 4to. 52. ‘Out at last, or the Fallen Minister,’ 1801, 4to. 53. ‘Odes to the Ins and Outs,’ 1801, 4to. 54. ‘Tears and Smiles,’ 1801, 8vo. 55. ‘The Island of Innocence,’ 1802, 4to. 56. ‘Pitt and his Statue: an Epistle to the Subscribers,’ 1802, 4to. 57. ‘The Middlesex Election,’ 1802, 4to. 58. ‘The Horrors of Bribery,’ 1802, 4to. 59. ‘Great Cry and Little Wool,’ 1804, 4to. 60. ‘An Instructive Epistle to the Lord Mayor,’ 1804, 4to. 61. ‘Tristia, or the Sorrows of Peter,’ 1806, 4to. 62. ‘One more Peep at the Royal Academy,’ 1808. 63. ‘The Fall of Portugal, or the Royal Exiles: a Tragedy,’ 1808, 8vo. 64. ‘A Solemn Epistle to Mrs. Clark,’ 1809, 4to. 65. ‘Carlton House Fête, or the Disappointed Bard,’ 1811, 4to. 66. ‘An Address to be spoken at the opening of Drury Lane Theatre,’ 1813, 4to. 67. ‘Royalty Fog-bound, or the Perils of a Night,’ 1814, 8vo. 68. ‘The Regent and the King: a Poem,’ 1814, 8vo. 69. ‘A most Solemn Epistle to the Emperor of China,’ 1817, 4to.

Editions of his collected works were published—Dublin, 1788, 1 vol.; in 3 vols., Dublin, 1792, 12mo; in 4 vols., London, 1794–6, 8vo; in 5 vols., 1812, with a memoir and portrait; and selections from his works in 1824 and 1834, 12mo.

Wolcot edited in 1799 the ‘Dictionary of Painters’ of Matthew Pilkington, 4to. He left a quantity of unpublished poems, some of which and a portion of his correspondence were sold on 17 May 1877 by Messrs. Puttick & Simpson.

Recognition

His writings, despite their ephemeral interest, still furnish stock quotations.

There are at least eight portraits of Wolcot by Opie, one of which is now in the National Portrait Gallery, London; one was engraved by C.H. Hodges in 1787, and by G. Kearsley in 1788. A miniature on ivory, painted by W.E. Lethbridge, is now in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Among other existing engravings may be mentioned a bust in oval by Corner, in the ‘European Magazine’ (vol. xii.); half-length by Ridley, 1792, in the Gentleman's Magazine; bust as frontispiece to an edition of works in 3 volumes (1794); and bust by K. Mackensie to the fourth edition of ‘Tales of the Hoy,’ 1798.

Publications

• Persian Love Elegies. Kingston, Jamaica: 1773.
• A Poetical, Supplicating, Modest, and Affecting Epistle to the Reviewers. London: R. Baldwin, 1778; London: G. Kearsley, 1787; London: H.D. Symonds / Edinburgh: Robertson & Berry, 1792.
• Poems on Various Subjects. London: 1778.
• Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians. London: 1782.
• More Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians. London: T. Egerton, 1783.
• Lyric Odes for the Year 1785. London: J. Jarvis / J. Debrett / G. Kearsley / W. Forster, 1785.
• The Lousiad: A heroi-comic poem. 1785-95; Paris: Parsons & Galignani, 1804. Canto I, Canto II
• Farewell Odes to Academicians. 1786.
• A Poetical and Congratulatory Epistle to James Boswell. London: G. Kearsley, 1786.
• Bozzy and Piozzi; or, The British biographers: A town eclogue. London: G. Kearsley, 1786, 1788.
• Ode upon Ode; or, A peep at St. James's. London: G. Kearsley, 1787.
• Instructions to a Celebrated Laureat. London: G. Kearsley, 1787.
• An Apologetic Postscript to 'Ode upon Ode'. London: G. Kearsley, 1788.
• Brother Peter to Brother Tom: An expostulatory epistle. London: G. Kearsley, 1788.
• Peter's Pension: A solemn epistle. London: G. Kearsley, 1788.
• Peter's Prophesy; or, The president and the poet. London: G. Kearsley, 1788; Dublin: W. Porter, 1788.
• Sir Joseph Banks and the Emperor of Morocco: A tale. London: G. Kearsley, 1788.
• Expostulatory Odes to a Great Duke and a Little Lord. London: G. Kearsley, 1789; Philadelphia: W. Spottiswoode, 1790.
• Lyric Odes to the Academicians; and Subjects for painters. London: G. Kearsley, 1789.
• A Poetical Epistle to a Falling Minister. London: G. Kearsley, 1789.
• A Benevolent Epistle to Sylvanus Urban, alias John Nichols. London: G. Kearsley, 1790.
• A Rowland for an Oliver. London: G. Kearsley, 1790.
• Advice to the Future Laureat: An ode. London: G. Kearsley, 1790.
• A Letter to the Most Insolent Man Alive. 1790.
• A Complimentary Epistle to James Bruce. London: G. Kearsley, 1790.
• Odes to Mr Paine, author of Rights of Man. 1791.
• The Rights of Kings; or, Loyal odes to disloyal academicians. London: J. Evans, 1791.
• The Remonstrance; to which is added, An ode to my ass. 1791; London: H.D. Symonds, 1792.
• A Commiserating Epistle to James Lowther. 1791.
• A Pair of Lyric Epistles: To Lord Macartney and his ship. 1792.
• Odes of Importance. London: H.D. Symonds, 1792.
• More money! or, Odes of instruction to Mr Pitt. London: W. Evans, 1792.
• The Tears of St Margaret. London: H.D. Symonds, 1792.
• Odes to Kien Long. London: H.D. Symonds / Robertson & Berry, Edinburgh, 1792.
• A Poetical, Serious and Possibly Impertinent Epistle to the Pope. 1793.
• Celebration; or, The academic procession to St. James's: An ode. London: J. Walker, 1794.
• Pathetic Odes. 1794. Dublin: William Porter, for G. Burnet / P. Wogan / P. Byrne / et al, 1794.
• Hair Powder: A plaintive epistle to Pitt. London: J. Walker / J. Bell / J. Ladley / E. Jeffrey, 1795.
• The Convention Bill: An ode. 1795.
• The Cap: A satiric poem. London: Ridgway /Jordan, 1795.
• Liberty's Last Squeak. 1795.
• The Royal Visit to Exeter. 1795.
• The Royal Tour and Weymouth amusements. 1795.
• An Admirable Satire on Burke's Defense of his Pension. 1796.
• One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-six: A satire. London: Walker, 1797.
• An Ode to the Livery of London. 1797.
• Picturesque Views with Poetical Allusions. 1797.
• Tales of the Hoy. London: W. Richardson / W. West / W. Clarke, 1798.
• Nil Admirari; or, A smile of a bishop. London: W. & C. Spilsbury, for West & Hughes, 1799.
• Lord Auckland's Triumph; or, The death of crim con. London: W. & C. Spilsbury, for West & Hughes, 1800.
• Out at Last! or, The fallen minister. London: W. & C. Spilsburym for West & Hughes, 1801.
• Odes to the Ins and Outs. 1801.
• A Poetical Epistle to Benjamin Count Rumford. London: West and Hughes, 1801.
• Tears and Smiles. London: West and Hughes, 1801.
• The Island of Innocence. London: W. & C. Spilsbury, for T. Dean, 1802.
• Pitt and his Statue. . London: W. & C. Spilsbury, for J. Walker, 1802.
• The Middlesex Election. 1802.
• "Phillip Hamlin", The Horrors of Bribery. W. & C. Spilsbury, for T. Dean, 1802.

Great Cry and Little Wool. 1804.

• An Instructive Epistle to the Lord Mayor. London: Walker, 1804.
• Tristia; or, The sorrows of Peter. London: G. Hayden, for J. Walker, 1806.
• One More Peep at the Royal Academy. 1808.
• The Fall of Portugal; or, The royal exiles: A tragedy. 1808.
• A Solemn Epistle to Mrs. Clarke. London: J. Dean, for J. Walker, 1809.
• Carlton House Fete; or, The disappointed bard: In a series of elegies. 1811.
• An Address to Be Spoken at the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre. 1813.
• The Regent and the King. London: Hamblin & Seyfang, for James Johnston, 1814.
• Royalty Fog-bound. London: James Johnston, 1814.
• A Most Solemn Epistle to the Emperor of China. London: Walker & Edwards, 1817.

Collected editions

• Poetical Works. Dublin: William Porter, for A. Colles, L. White, P. Byrne, J. Jones, and J. Moore, 1791.
• Pindariana; or, Peter's portfolio. London: T. Spilsbury & Son, for J. Walker / J. Bell / J. Ladley / Mr. Jeffrey, 1794[-1795]
• Works. (3 volumes), London: J. Walker, 1797. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III
• Odes, Epistles, etc. Paris: Parsons & Galignani, 1804.

Works. 5 vols, 1812.

• The Beauties of Pindar: Consisting of selections from his works (edited by Alfred Howard). London: Davison, 1834.
• Laughing at the King: Selected poems (edited by Fenella Copplestone). Manchester, UK: Fyfield / Carcanet, 2009.

Edited

• Matthew Pilkington, The Gentleman's and Conoisseur's Dictionary of Painters. 2nd edition, London: Walker & Robertson, 1798.
• The Beauties of English Poetry. (2 volumes), London: W. Spilsbury for J. Walker, 1804.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

An Actor, by Peter Pindar (John Wolcot)

• List of British poets

References

•  Carr, William (1900) "Wolcot, John" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 62 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 290-293  . Wikisource, Web, Jan. 15, 2017.

External links

Poems

• "The Razor-Seller"
• Dr. John Wolcot (1738-1819) info & 11 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830
• John Wolcot at Wikisource (8 poems)
• John Wolcot at PoemHunter (5 poems)

Books

• John Wolcot at Internet Archive
• John Wolcot at Amazon.com

About

• Peter Pindar (1738-1819) at Carcanet Press

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: Wolcot, John