Richard Graves

This article is about the 18th-century English poet. For the 20th-century Irish-Australian writer, see Richard Harry Graves.

Richard Graves (1715-1804). Portrait by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788). Courtesy Morgan Library & Mueum.

Rev. Richard Graves (4 May 1715 - 23 November 1804) was an English poet, cleric, and novelist.

Life

Youth and education

Graves was born at Mickleton Manor, Mickleton, Gloucestershire, on 4 May 1715, the 2nd son of antiquary Richard Graves, and his wife, Elizabeth.

Initially the son was taught in his father's house by a curate named Smith, with whom he was reading Hesiod and Homer at 12 years of age.

At the age of 13 he was sent to the grammar school at Abingdon. Becoming ‘a pretty good Grecian’ he gained a scholarship at Pembroke College, Oxford.

He matriculated at Pembroke on 7 November 1732. At Pembroke he befriended poet William Shenstone, afterwards his close friend. George Whitefield was a servitor of Pembroke College, and they earned the degree of Bachelor of ArtsB.A.]] on the same day, in July 1736.

Also in 1736 he was elected to a fellowship at All Souls' College, when he proceeded to London to study medicine. He attended the lectures of Dr. Frank Nicholls on anatomy, but was prostrated by a nervous fever, and returned to Oxford. At All Souls he began a lifelong friendship with William Blackstone.

, and, having taken his master's degree in 1740, was duly ordained.

Career

The donative of Tissington in Derbyshire was bestowed upon Graves by William Fitzherbert, the friend of Dr. Johnson, and for 3 years Graves was family chaplain at Tissington Hall, where he rambled through the district described in his principal novel, and made the acquaintance of Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden, Sir Edward Wilmot, Nicholas Hardinge, and other distinguished persons.

After resigning his chaplainship he made a tour in the north, and at Scarborough met a distant relative, Samuel Knight, archdeacon of Berkshire, and the author of the Life of Colet. Knight obtained for him the curacy of Aldworth, near Reading, where the parish registers show him to have been in residence in 1744.

As the Aldworth parsonage was in disrepair, Graves lived in the house of a gentleman farmer, Mr. Bartholomew of Dunworth. There he fell in love with and married his host's youngest daughter, Lucy, a beautiful but uneducated girl of about 16. About 1748 he sent her to London, where she is reported to have acquired good manners and needful knowledge. This marriage lost him his fellowship and offended his relations.

He was very poor until, through the interest of Sir Edward Harvey of Langley, near Uxbridge, he was presented in 1748 by William Skrine to the rectory of Claverton, near Bath. He was inducted in July 1749, and came into residence in 1750, and for 54 years until his death was never absent for a month together from this living.

Ralph Allen obtained for him in 1763 the adjoining vicarage of Kilmersdon, and through the same influence Graves was appointed chaplain to the Countess of Chatham. About 1793 he took the rectory of Croscombe, also in Somersetshire, but held it only as a "warming-pan."

He purchased the advowson of Claverton from Allen's representatives in 1767, but afterwards resold it to them. The old rectory house had been built in part by Ralph Allen in 1760, but was enlarged by Graves. It is described as "a pretty rural spot," marked by "classic elegance of taste."

Graves for 30 years took pupils, whom he educated with his own children. Until his rectory was enlarged he rented from Mrs. Warburton for £60 a year "the great house at Claverton, and the great gallery-library was turned into a dormitory." His pupils included Ralph Allen Warburton, the bishop's only son; Henry Skrine of Warleigh, who in his book on the Rivers of Great Britain praises the "little grounds" of Claverton rectory; Thomas Malthus, the political economist, who "was taught little but Latin and good behavior;" and Prince Hoare, the artist.

Through his preferments and scholars Graves gradually acquired considerable means, and among his purchases was the manor of Combe in Combe Monckton, Somersetshire.

In frame he was short and slender, and he was eccentric both in dress and gait, but his features were expressive and his conversation was marked by a sportive gaiety. This "amiable, well-read, and lively old man … was known to all the frequenters of Bath," and it was amusing "to see him on the verge of ninety walking almost daily to Bath with the briskness of youth." A zealous churchman and a whig in politics, he mixed in all shades of society. He was a frequent guest of Allen or the Warburtons at Prior Park, and contributed to the vase at Lady Miller's house at Batheaston.

Shenstone paid him repeated visits at Claverton, between 1744 and 1763. The 4th elegy by Shenstone is ‘Ophelia's Urn. To Mr. G——’ [Graves], and the 8th elegy is also addressed ‘To Mr. G——, 1745.’ Numerous letters from Shenstone to Graves are in vol iii. of the former's Works;’ a letter addressed to Mr. —— on his marriage, written 21 Aug. 1748, probably refers to Graves. Shenstone's letter to Graves on the death of Anthony Whistler is among the manuscripts of Mr. Alfred Morrison.

Malthus attended his old master during his last illness, and administered the holy sacrament to him. Graves died on 23 Nov. 1804, and was buried in the parish church on 1 December.

His wife died in 1777, aged 46. In a niche on the south wall of Claverton chancel Graves placed "a handsome festooned urn on a small plain pedestal" bearing the inscription, ‘Luciæ coniugi carissimæ Ricardus Graves coniux infelicissimus fecit et sibi, ob. Cal. Maii 1777, æt. 46.’ The urn is said to be now in the vestry. Their children were 5 sons and a daughter.

His portrait, painted by Gainsborough when in Bath, was engraved by Basire and Gainsborough Dupont; a 2nd portrait by Northcote was engraved by S.W. Reynolds, 1800.

Writing

Graves was the author of: 1. The Festoon; a Collection of Epigrams (anon.), 1766 and 1767. 2. The Spiritual Quixote, or the Summer's Ramble of Mr. Geoffry Wildgoose, a Comic Romance (anon.), 1772, 1773, 1774 (2 editions), 1783, and 1808. 3. Galateo, or a Treatise on Politeness, translated from the Italian of Giovanni della Casa, archbishop of Benevento, 1774. 4. The Love of Order; a Poetical Essay, in three cantos (anonymous), 1773. Dedicated to William James of Denford, Berkshire. 5. Euphrosyne; or Amusements on the Road of Life,’ 1776; 3rd edition vol. i. 1783; 2nd edition vol. ii. 1783, with appendix of pieces written for the Poetical Society at Batheaston. 6. Columella; or the Distressed Anchoret, a Colloquial Tale, 1779. In praise of an active life as superior to that of a small country gentleman, and probably suggested by the career of Shenstone. 7. Eugenius; or Anecdotes of the Golden Vale (anon.), 1785, 2 vols. A tale of life in a Welsh valley. 8. Lucubrations, consisting of Essays, Reveries, &c., by the late Peter of Pontefract, 1786. 9. Recollections of some particulars in the Life of the late William Shenstone, in a Series of Letters from an intimate Friend of his [i.e. Graves] to … esq., F.R.S. [William Seward], 1788.

In the Works, ii. 322–3, are "To William Shenstone at the Leasowes by Mr. Graves," and "To Mr. R.D. on the death of Mr. Shenstone," signed ‘R.G.’ For the statement by Graves in the Recollections of Shenstone that the latter had a share in the compilation of the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry Bishop Percy obtained "a letter of retractation in form."

10. The Rout; or a Sketch of Modern Life, from an Academic in the Metropolis to his Friend in the Country, 1789. 11. Plexippus; or the Aspiring Plebeian (anon.), 1790, 2 vols. 12. Fleurettes; a translation of Fénelon's “Ode on Solitude.” 13. Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus: a new translation from the Greek original, with a Life, Notes, &c., by R. Graves, 1792; new edition, Halifax, 1826. 14. Hiero on the Condition of Royalty, a Conversation from the Greek of Xenophon, by the Translator of Antoninus, 1793. 15. The Heir-Apparent, or the Life of Commodus, from the Greek of Herodian, with a preface adapted to the present time, 1789. 15. The Reveries of Solitude, consisting of Essays in Prose, a new translation of the “Muscipula,” and Original Pieces in Verse, 1793. 17. The Coalition; or the Opera Rehearsed, a Comedy in three acts, 1794.

In his comedy The Coalition was embodied "Echo and Narcissus," a dramatic pastoral which originally appeared in Euphrosyne,’ vol. ii.

18. The Farmer's Son; a Moral Tale, by the Rev. P.P., M.A., 1795. 19. Sermons, with "A Letter from a Father to his Son at the University," Bath, 1799. 20. Senilities, or Solitary Amusements in Prose and Verse, with a Cursory Disquisition on the Future Condition of the Sexes, by the Editor of the “Reveries of Solitude,” 1801. 21. The Invalid, with the Obvious Means of Enjoying Health and Long Life, by a Nonagenarian, editor of the “Spiritual Quixote,” &c., 1804, dedicated to Prince Hoare. 22. The Triflers, consisting of Trifling Essays, Trifling Anecdotes, and a few Poetical Trifles, to which are added “The Rout” and “The Farmer's Son.” By the late Rev. R. Graves, 1805.

Prose

Graves from early life wrote verses for the magazines.

His prose works were elaborate, and as they were written in a clear and lively style, attained considerable popularity in his day, but are now forgotten, with the exception of his novel, the Spiritual Quixote. It ridiculed the intrusion of the laity into spiritual functions and the "enthusiasm" of the methodists with a severity asserted even then to have been excessive. The hero has been identified with Sir Harry Trelawny (an assertion refuted by chronology); Joseph Townsend, rector of Pewsey, Wiltshire; and his own brother Charles Caspar Graves; and the novel is said to have originated in the intrusion into the parish of Claverton of a shoemaker from Bradford-on-Avon, who held a meeting in an old house in the village. The plot is skilfully devised, and many of the incidents are amusing. The rambles brought Wildgoose to Bath, Bristol, the Leasowes of Shenstone, and the Peak. A key to several of the personages was supplied by Sir Alleyne Fitzherbert, Lord St. Helen's, to Croker. His own love adventures are portrayed in vol. ii.

The copy of The Triflers belonging to Mr. J.G. Godwin, librarian to Lord Bute, contains some manuscript verses by Graves. An advertisement at the end mentions a proposed new edition of the Spiritual Quixote, with a life of Graves, partly written by himself, and completed by extracts from original manuscripts in the possession of his executrix.

Mr. Godwin possesses a manuscript collection of poems transcribed and corrected from original sources by Shenstone, which afterwards belonged to Bishop Percy. It includes numerous verses by Graves. Graves wrote the thirtieth number (on grumbling) in the Rev. Thomas Monro's ‘Olla Podrida.’ In the Gentleman's Magazine, 1815, pt. ii. p. 3, are some "Lines written by him under an hour-glass in the grotto at Claverton."

He was a student at Abingdon School.

He became a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, in 1736

Recognition

A mural tablet was placed in the parish church to his memory.

The Spanish Quixote was included in Mrs. Barbauld's British Novelists, and in Walker's British Classics.

Some of his poems appeared in the [[A Collection of Poems by several hands|Collections] of Dodsley (iv, 330-3377) and Pearch (iii, 133-138).

Publications

Poetry

• The Love of Order: A poetical essay, in three cantos. London: J. Dodsley, 1773.
• The Progress of Gallantry: A poetical essay. London: J. Dodsley, 1774.
• Euphrosyne; or, The amusements of real life. (2 volumes), London: J. Dodsley, 1776.

Plays

• Echo and Narcissus: A dramatic pastoral, of three acts. London: J. Dodsley, 1780.
• The Coalition; or, The opera rehears'd: A comedy, in three acts. Bath, UK: printed by R. Crutwell, for C. Dilly / G.G.J. & J. Robinson, London, 1794.

Novels

• The Spiritual Quixote; or, The summer's ramble of Mr. Geoffrey Wildgoose: A comic romance]. (3 volumes), 1773. Volume I, Volume II, Volume III
• Columella; or, The distressed anchoret: A colloquial tale. (2 volumes), London: J. Dodsley, 1779.
• Eugenius; or Anecdotes of the golden vale: An embellished narrative of real facts. (2 volumes), London: J. 1785.
• Plexippus; or, The aspiring plebeian. (2 volumes), London: J. Dodsley, 1790.
• The Farmer's Son: A moral tale. Bath, UK: R. Crutwell, 1795.

Non-fiction

• A Letter from a Father to His Son at the University. Oxford, UK: D. Prince & J. Cooke, 1787.
• Recollections of Some Particulars in the Life of the Late William Shenstone. London: J. Dodsley, 1788.
• The Rout; or, A sketch of modern life. London: J. Dodsley, 1789.
• The Reveries of Solitude: Consisting of essays in prose. Bath, UK: R. Crutwell, for G.G.J. & J.Robinson, London, 1793.
• Sermons; to which is added a letter from a father to his son at the university. Bath, UK: printed by R. Crutwell, 1799.
• The Invalid; with The obvious means of enjoying health and a long life. London: Phillips, 1804.

Collected editions

• Lucubrations: Consisting of essays, reveries, etc in prose and verse (by "the late Peter of Pontefract"). London: J. Dodsley, 1786.
• Senilities; or, Solitary amusements in prose and verse. London: T.N. Longman & O. Rees, 1801.
• The Triflers: Consisting of trifling essays, trifling anecdotes, and a few poetical trifles. London: privately published, 1805.

Translated

• Giovanni Della Casa, Galateo; or, A treatise on politeness. London: J. Dodsley, 1774.
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Werter: A German story . (2 volumes), London: J. Dodsley, 1779.
• François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon, Fleurettes: Containing an ode on solitude. London: J. Dodsley,1784.
• Herodian, The Heir Apparent; or, The life of Commodus. London: J. Dodsley, 1789.
• Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, The Meditations. Bath, UK: R. Crutwell, for G.G.J. & J. Robinson, London, 1792.
• Xenophon, Hiero: On the condition of royalty; a conversation from the Greek. Bath, UK: R. Crutwell, for G.G.J. & J. Robinson, London, 1793.

Edited

• The Festoon: A collection of epigrams, ancient and modern. London: Robinon & Robert, 1766.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

References

•  Courtney, William Prideaux (1890) "Graves, Richard" in Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 22 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 432-434 . Wikisource, Web, May 13, 2021.
• Hill, C.J. (1935) "The Literary Career of Richard Graves, the Author of The Spiritual Quixote." Smith College Studies in Modern Languages XVI, 1-3
• Tracy, C. (1987) A Portrait of Richard Graves ISBN 0-8020-5697-0

External links

Poems

• Rev. Richard Graves (1715-1804) info & 4 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830
• Richard Graves at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (11 poems)

Books

• Rev. Richard Graves at Amazon.com

About

• "Richard Graves and his literary work" in the Cambridge History of English and American Literature

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Graves, Richard