Richard Jago

Rev. Richard Jago (1 October 1715 - 8 May 1781) was an English poet and cleric.

Richard Jago (1715-1781). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Life

Overview

Jago, 3rd son of Richard Jago, rector of Beaudesert, Warwickshire, was born in 1715. He went up to University College, Oxford, in 1732, and took his degree in 1736. He was ordained to the curacy of Snitterfield, Warwickshire, in 1737, and became rector in 1754; and, although he subsequently received other preferments, Snitterfield remained his favourite residence. He died there on the 8th of May 1781. He was twice married. Jago’s best-known poem, "The Blackbirds," was originally printed in Hawkesworth’s Adventurer (No. 37, March 13, 1753), and was generally attributed to Gilbert West, but Jago published it in his own name, with other poems, in R. Dodsley’s Collection of Poems (vol. iv., 1755). In 1767 appeared a topographical poem, Edge Hill; or, The Rural Prospect delineated and moralized; 2 separate sermons were published in 1755; and in 1768 Labour and Genius: A fable. Shortly before his death Jago revised his poems, and they were published in 1784 by his friend, John Scott Hylton, as Poems Moral and Descriptive.

Youth and education

Jago was the 3rd son of Rev. Richard Jago (born at St. Mawes in Cornwall in 1679, and rector of Beaudesert, Warwickshire, from 1709 until his death in 1741), who married in 1711 Margaret, daughter of William Parker of Henley-in-Arden. The poet was born at Beaudesert on 1 October 1715.

He was educated at Solihull School, He afterwards referred to his schooling there with these lines:

"Hail, Solihull! respectful I salute,
Thy walls; more awful once! when from the sweets
Of festive freedom, and domestic ease,
With throbbing heart, to stern discipline
Of pedagogue morose I had return'd
But tho' no more his brow severe, nor dread
Of birchen sceptre awes my riper age,
A sterner tyrant rises to my view,
With deadlier weapon arm'd."

The pedagogue morose was John Crompton (1704-1735), and the sterner tyrant the literary critic and his pen.

William Shenstone was also at Solihull, and their friendship lasted unimpaired for life. In later life Shenstone addressed a poem to him, inscribed a seat at Leasowes with the words Amicitiæ et meritis Richardi Jago, and corresponded with him until death (Works, iii. passim).

In his father's parish Jago also made the acquaintance of William Somerville, author of The Chase.

As his father's means were small, he matriculated as a servitor at University College, Oxford, on 30 October 1732 (when Shenstone was also in residence as a commoner). Jago earned a B.A. in 1736, and an M.A. in 1739.

Career

Jago was ordained in 1737 to the curacy of Snitterfield in Warwickshire.

He married in 1744 Dorothea Susanna Fancourt, daughter of John Fancourt, rector of the benefice of Kimcote, which he himself afterwards held. She died in 1751, leaving 3 sons and 4 daughters; 3 of the latter survived their father.

In 1746 Jago was appointed by Lord Willoughby de Broke to the small livings of Harbury and Chesterton in that county. As he had 7 children, his nomination in 1754, through the assistance of Lord Clare, afterwards Earl Nugent, to the vicarage of Snitterfield, proved a welcome addition to his resources.

On 16 October 1758 he married at Rugeley Margaret, daughter of James Underwood, who survived him, but left no issue.

In 1771, Jago resigned the benefices of Harbury and Chesterton on his preferment (through the gift of his old patron, Lord Willoughby de Broke) to the more valuable rectory of Kimcote in Leicestershire (1 May 1771). Jago continued, however, to reside at Snitterfield, passing much of his time in improving the vicarage house and grounds, and there he died on 8 May 1781.

Writing

Jago's pleasing elegy, "The Blackbirds," originally appeared in Hawkesworth's Adventurer, No. 37, 13 March 1753, and was by mistake attributed to Gilbert West. Its author thereupon procured its insertion, with other poems and with his name, in Dodsley's ‘Collection’ (vols. iv. and v.), when the manager of a Bath theatre (who is suggested in Notes and Queries, 5th ser. v. 198–9, to have been John Lee) claimed it as his own, alleging that Jago was a fictitious name from ‘Othello.’ This piece was a great favorite with Shenstone, who reports in his letters (June 1754) that it had been set to music by the organist of Worcester Cathedral.

Jago published in 1767 a topographical poem, in 4 books, Edge Hill; or The rural prospect delineated and moralized, a subject which did not present sufficient variety for a poem of that length, but it has been praised for the ease of its diction.

He also wrote: 1. A Sermon on occasion of a Conversation said to have pass'd between one of the Inhabitants and an Apparition in the Churchyard of Harbury, 1755. 2. Sermon at Snitterfield on the Death of the Countess of Coventry, 1763. 3. Labour and Genius: A fable, inscribed to Shenstone, 1768; also in Pearch's Collection, iii. 208–218. 4. An Essay on Electricity, which is alluded to in Shenstone's letters, but apparently was never published.

Some time before his death Jago revised his poems, which were published in 1784 with some additional pieces, the most important of which was "Adam; an Oratorio, compiled from 'Paradise Lost'," and with some account of his life and writings by John Scott Hylton of Lapal House, near Halesowen.

Recognition

Jago was buried in a vault which he had constructed for his family under the middle aisle of the church in Snitterfield, and an inscription to his memory was placed on a flat stone, which has since been moved to the north aisle.

Jago's poems have appeared in many collections of English poetry, including those of Alexander ChalmersChalmers, vol. xvii., Anderson, vol. xi., Park, vol. xxvii., and Davenport, vol. lv. Southey, in his Later Poets (iii. 199–202), included Jago's "Elegy on the Goldfinches;"

Jago's poem "Absence" was included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.

One of the 5 houses of Solihull School bears his name.

Publications

Poetry

• Edge-Hill; or, The rural prospect delineated and moralized: A poem. London: J. Dodsley, 1765.
• Labor and Genius; or, The mill-stream, and the cascade: A fable. London: J. Dodsley, 1768.
• Poems: Moral and descriptive (edited by John Scott Hylton). London: J. Dodsley, 1784.
• Poems (edited by Alexander Chalmers). London: Johnson, 1810.

Non-fiction

• The Causes of Impenitence Consider'd. Oxford, UK: printed at The Theatre, 1755.
• The Nature and Grounds of a Christian's Happiness ... in Death: A sermon. Oxford, UK: printed at The Theatre, for J. Fletcher, London, 1763.
• Hail Solihull! Richard Jago's Memories of Solihull School and William Shenstone (edited with introduction by Roger Burdett Wilson). Cheltenham, UK: Martlet Press, 1964.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

Roundelay by Richard Jago 1715 1781

See also

• The Shenstone circle
• List of British poets

References

• The Life of Richard Jago
•  Courtney, William Prideaux (1892) "Jago, Richard" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 29 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 128-129  Wikisource, Web, July 20, 2020.

External links

Poems

• "Absence"
• "The Scavengers: A town eclogue, in the manner of Swift"
• Richard Jago at Poets' Corner (3 poems)
• Richard Jago at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (7 poems)
• Richard Jago at My Poetic Side
• Richard Jago at PoemHunter (5 poems)

About

• Richard Jago at NNDB
• Richard Jago at Literary Heritage - West Midlands
• Rev. Richard Jago (1715-1781) at English Poetry, 1579-1830

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: Jago, Richard
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. Original article is at Jago, Richard