Robert Lowth

Robert Lowth (1710-1787). Engraving from painting by L.E. Pine, dated 1809. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Robert Lowth
Bishop of London
Church	Church of England
Diocese	Diocese of London
Elected	1777
Reign ended	1787 (death)
Predecessor	Richard Terrick
Successor	Beilby Porteus
Other posts	Bishop of Oxford, 1766–1777; Bishop of St David's, 1766; Archdeacon of Winchester, 1750–1766; Oxford Professor of Poetry, 1741–1752
Orders
Ordination	1735
Consecration	1766
Personal details
Born	November 27 1710(1710-Template:MONTHNUMBER-27) Hampshire, Great Britain
Died	November 3 1787(1787-Template:MONTHNUMBER-03) (aged 76)
Buried	All Saints Church, Fulham
Nationality	English
Denomination	Anglican
Parents	Dr William Lowth
Profession	Academic (Poetry & English grammar)
Alma mater	New College, Oxford

Bp. Robert Lowth or Louth FRS (27 November 1710 - 3 November 1787) was a bishop of London, Oxford Professor of Poetry, and the author of an influential textbook of English grammar.

Life

Youth and education

Lowth was the 2nd son of William Lowth, a divine, and Margaret, daughter of Robert Pitt of Blandford, Dorset. He was born at Winchester on 27 November 1710.

He was admitted a scholar at Winchester College in 1722. While at Winchester he wrote a poem on the genealogy of Christ as displayed in the east window of the college chapel (published in Pearch's Collection of Poems), and in 1729 another poem on the view from Catherine Hill, Winchester.

He proceeded to New College, Oxford, where he was elected in 1729. He earned a B.A. in 1733,and an M.A. in 1737.

Early career

Having taken orders he was instituted to the vicarage of Overton, Hampshire, in 1735. In 1741 he was appointed professor of poetry at Oxford, and during his professorship delivered a remarkably learned course of lectures on Hebrew poetry.

He accompanied Henry Bilson-Legge on his embassy to Berlin in 1748, and having been appointed tutor to Lords George and Frederick Cavendish, sons of the Duke of Devonshire, travelled with them on the continent in 1749.

On his return he was appointed archdeacon of Winchester in 1750 by Benjamin Hoadly, bishop of Winchester, vacated his fellowship at New College, and about the same time resigned the professorship of poetry.

By his wife Mary (died 1803), daughter of Lawrence Jackson of Christchurch, Hampshire, whom he married in 1752 (Chambers; Nichols, in Literary Anecdotes, ii. 419), he had 7 children. His son Thomas Henry, fellow of New College, Oxford, and rector of Thorley, Isle of Wight, died in 1778. Another son, Robert, vicar of Halstead, Essex, and a daughter, Martha, survived their father.

Lowth is said to have been well and stoutly built, with a florid countenance and animated expression. His conversation was easy and refined, and his manners were courtly. Of a sympathetic disposition, he was more inclined to melancholy than to mirth. His temper was hasty but kept under control. His taste was fine, and he was an industrious student.

He was an accomplished and elegant scholar, well versed in Hebrew, and with a keen appreciation of the poetic beauty of the Old Testament scriptures. Hebrew was, he believed, the language spoken in Paradise; he studied it critically, and his knowledge of it gained him a European reputation.

In 1753 he was collated to the rectory of Woodhay, Hampshire. Being 1st chaplain to Lord Hartington, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Lowth was in 1755 offered the bishopric of Limerick, but being unwilling to reside in Ireland, he obtained permission to transfer the offer to Dr. James Leslie, receiving in exchange Leslie's preferments, a prebend in Durham and the rectory of Sedgefield in that county.

A sentence in the dedication of his Life of William of Wykeham to Bishop Hoadly, commending the bishop's action with reference to the election of Dr. Christopher Golding as warden of Winchester College, involved him in a controversy carried on by pamphlets in 1758. In 1765 he was involved in a controversy with William Warburton, bishop of Gloucester, who attacked him insolently for an argument used in his ‘Lectures on Hebrew Poetry’.

Bishop

He was offered the bishopric of St. Davids in 1766, and was consecrated on 15 June. Before the end of the year he was translated to the see of Oxford. In 1777 he was translated to the see of London, and appointed dean of the chapel royal and a privy councillor. In the same year he met John Wesley at dinner and refused to sit above him. Wesley spoke of Lowth in his ‘Journal’ as in his ‘whole behaviour worthy of a Christian bishop."

On the death of Frederick Cornwallis, archbishop of Canterbury, in 1783, Dr. Richard Hurd, bishop of Worcester, recommended Lowth to the king for the primacy; the king offered it to him, but he declined it and joined Bp Hurd in recommending Dr. John Moore, bishop of Bangor (Wraxall, Historical Memoirs, iii. 32, 33). The reason of his refusal seems to have been the declining state of his health, which was broken by the disease of the stone and by family affliction.

In 1786 he was appointed a member of the committee of the privy council for trade and foreign plantations.

His administration of his diocese is perhaps chiefly memorable for his attack on the corrupt custom of giving bonds of resignation. Finding in 1783 that a clergyman named Eyre had given such a bond to a Mr. Ffytche, patron of Woodham Walter, he refused to institute him to the living. Ffytche brought the case before the court of common pleas and gained it there, and at the court of king's bench, where the bishop carried it. Finally, on appeal to the lords, the bishop obtained the decision that such bonds were illegal.

Lowth died on 3 November 1787, and was buried on 12 November at Fulham.

Writing

Lowth has been regarded as the earliest imagery critic of Shakespeare's plays, and highlighted the importance of the imagery in the interpretation of motives and actions of characters and dramatic movement of the plot and narrative structure.

He wrote both Latin and English verse with some success, though poet Thomas Gray thought poorly of his efforts (ed. Mason, 1827, p. 346). In controversy he was a dangerous antagonist, with great power of polished sarcasm.

His more important published works are:

1. ‘Prælectiones de Sacra Poesi Hebræorum,’ his ‘Lectures on Hebrew Poetry,’ with a ‘Short Confutation of Bishop Hare's [see Hare, Francis] System of Hebrew Metre,’ 1753, 4to, 1763, 8vo, 1770, ‘notas et epimetra adjecit J. D. Michaelis,’ 1775, 1810, 2 vols. 8vo; translated into English by Gregory, with Michaelis's notes, 1793, 2 vols. 8vo; translation and notes begun by Michaelis, Göttingen, 1763, German translation 1793. Hare's system was defended by Dr. Thomas Edwards (1729–1785), to whom Lowth replied in ‘A Larger Confutation of Bishop Hare's System,’ 1766. An argument in the ‘Prælectiones’ (p. 312, 2nd ed.), in answer to the question whether idolatry was punished by the civil magistrate under the Jewish economy, was supported by a reference to Job, and was opposed to a theory advanced in Warburton's ‘Divine Legation.’ Hearing that Warburton had expressed displeasure at this opposition, Lowth wrote to him in September 1756, and a correspondence ensued between them which appeared to end amicably. Warburton, however, attacked Lowth in the appendix to the 6th book of the ‘Divine Legation’ (iii. 507–14, ed. 1788), jeering at him for the date which he assigned to Job, and for his opinion as to the nature of Job's authority. Lowth replied in a ‘Letter to the … Author of the “Divine Legation” in Answer, &c., by a late Professor of Oxford,’ 1765, with an appendix containing the correspondence of 1756, a pamphlet full of amusing sarcasm, in which the ‘Divine Legation’ as viewed by its author is compared to ‘Lord Peter's brown loaf,’ as containing ‘inclusive all the necessaries of life.’ It was generally held that Lowth had got the better of his unmannerly antagonist, and Gibbon described the Letter as ‘a pointed and polished epistle’ (Memoirs, p. 136). Warburton rejoined, complaining of the publication of a private correspondence, and the further stage of the controversy was published under the title of ‘The Second Part of a Literary Correspondence between the Bishop of Gloucester and a late Professor of Oxford,’ 1766. This controversy led to some minor disputes, of which only that between Lowth and Dr. John Brown (1715–1766) need be noticed here. Lowth answered Brown's letter of 1766 by a letter which is printed in the 4th edition of the above-mentioned ‘Letter to the … Author of the “Divine Legation,”’ snubbing Brown for interfering in a matter which did not concern him.
2. ‘Life of William of Wykeham,’ 1758, with ‘supplement to the first edition, containing corrections of the second,’ 1759, London, 3rd ed. 1777, Oxford; an excellent biography considering the date at which it was written. The dedication to Bishop Hoadly occasioned a ‘Letter to the Rev. Dr. Lowth … in Vindication of the Fellows of New College, Oxford,’ 1758, to which Lowth replied in the ‘Answer to an Anonymous Letter,’ &c. 1759, and this was answered in ‘A Reply to … Dr. Lowth's Answer, by a Wykehamist,’ 1759.
3. ‘A Short Introduction to English Grammar,’ 1762, 8vo; 1764, 12mo; numerous editions, 1st American edition, Cambridge, Mass., 1811, 12mo, is criticised by William Cobbett in his ‘Grammar of the English Language,’ 1818. His most famous contribution to the study of grammar may have been his tentative suggestion that sentences ending with a preposition – such as "what did you ask for?" – are inappropriate in formal writing. (This is known as preposition stranding.) In what may have been intentional self-reference, Lowth used that very construction in discussing it. "This is an Idiom which our language is strongly inclined to; it prevails in common conversation, and suits very well with the familiar style in writing; but the placing of the Preposition before the Relative is more graceful, as well as more perspicuous; and agrees much better with the solemn and elevated Style." Others had previously expressed this opinion; the earliest known is John Dryden in 1672.
4. ‘Isaiah, a New Translation,’ with notes, a book full of learning and poetic feeling, 1778, 1779, 4to, 1790, 8vo, 11th ed. corrected and revised, 1835, was criticised by Dodson, and defended by the bishop's relative, Dr. J. Sturges, 1791, also criticised by Kocher in ‘Vindiciæ S. textus Hebræi Esaiæ vatis,’ 1786; see also ‘Remarks’ by J. Rogers, canon of Exeter.
5. ‘The Choice of Hercules,’ a poem from the Greek of Prodicus, in Roach's ‘Collection,’ vol. vi.
6. ‘Sermons and Charges,’ various dates, see volume of ‘Sermons and other Remains,’ 1834, and ‘Twelve Anniversary Sermons before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,’ 1845; he also contributed notes to ‘Select Psalms in Verse,’ and edited his father's ‘Directions for Reading the Scriptures.’

Recognition

Robert Lowth's funerary monument, All Saints Church, Fulham, London. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Lowth was appointed Oxford Professor of Poetry in 1741, and held the post until 1751.

In 1753 he published his Oxford lectures on Hebrew poetry, for which the University of Oxford awarded him the degree of D.D. by diploma the following year.

In 1765 Lowth was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London and of the Royal Society of Göttingen.

3 of Lowth's poems were included in Dodsley's Collection of Poems in Six Volumes; by several hands, and his "Genealogy of Christ; as it is represented on the east window of Winchester College Chapel" in Pearch's Collection of Poems in Four Volumes; by several hands.

Lowth's portrait was painted by E. Pine, and engraved by Sherwin in 1777, while he was bishop of Oxford, and is also engraved by Cock in Memoirs of Life and Writings, 1787.

Publications

Poetry

• The Genealogy of Christ; as it is represented in the east-window in the college chappel at Winchester: A poem. London: J. Jackson, 1729.
• The Judgment of Hercules: A poem; by a student of Oxford. Glasgow: Robert Foulis, 1743.
  • also published as The Choice of Hercules. London: 1782.

Non-fiction

• Life of William of Wykeham. London: A. Millar / R. & J. Dodsley, 1759.
• A Short Introduction to English Grammar. London: J. Hughs, for A. Millar / R. & J. Dodsley, 1762; London: J. Dodsley / T. Cadell, Junior / W. Davies, 1795.
• A Larger Confutation of Bishop Hare's System of Hebrew Metre. London: A. Millar / J. Dodsley, 1766.
• A Sermon Preached before the ... Lord Bishop of Durham. London: A. Millar & T. Cadell / J. Dodsley, 1767.
• De Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum: Praelectiones academicae Oxonii habitae a Roberto Lowth. Oxonii: E Typegrapheo Clarendeniano, 1775
  • Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews (translated by George Gregory). Boston: Joseph T. Buckingham, 1815.
• "A Sermon [on Acts ii. 39]", in Twelve Anniversary Sermons: Preached before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. London: T.B. Sharpe, 1845.

Collected editions

• Memoirs of Life and Writings. London: W. Bent, 1787.
• Sermons, and other remains. London: J.G. & F. Rivington, 1834.

Translated

• Isaiah. A new translation. London: C. Paramore, Paul-Street, for G. Whitfield / J. Parsons / J. Bruce / et al, 1791.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets
• List of literary critics

Preceded by John Whitfield

Oxford Professor of Poetry 1741-1751

Succeeded by William Hawkins

References

•  Hunt, William (1893) "Lowth, Robert" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 34 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 214-216  . Wikisource, Web, Aug. 26, 2020.
• Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade, 'The anonymity of Lowth’s grammar', in Ontheven aan de tijd. Linguïstisch-historische studies voor Jan Noordegraaf bij zijn zestigste verjaardag (edited by Lo van Driel & Theo Janssen). Amsterdam: Stichting Neerlandistiek VU, Amsterdam & Münster: Nodus Publikationen 2008, 125-134.
• Ingrid M. Tieken-Boon van Ostade, The Bishop's Grammar: Robert Lowth and the rise of prescriptivism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Fonds

• Archival material relating to Robert Lowth listed at the UK National Register of Archives

External links

Poems

• Bp. Robert Lowth (1710-1787) info & 4 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830
• Robert Lowth at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (4 poems)

Books

• Robert Lowth at Amazon.com

About

• Lowth, Robert in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica

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: Lowth, Robert