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Samuel say

Samuel Say (1676-1743). Engraving by R. Roffe. Courtesy National Galleries Scotland.

Rev. Samuel Say (23 March 1676 - 12 April 1743) was an English poet and dissenting minister.[1]

Life[]

Family, youth, education[]

Say was born in All Saints' parish, Southampton, on 23 March 1676, 2nd son of Gyles Say (1632–1692), by his 2nd wife. Gyles Say (1632–1692), who was of Huguenot ancestry by his mother's side, was educated at Southampton grammar school, was presented to the vicarage of Catherington, Hampshire, on 24 March 1656, and to the vicarage of St. Michael, Southampton, on 23 November 1657; was ordained by presbyters on 8 May 1660, refused conformity in 1662, and preached as a nonconformist at Southampton and Wellow, Hampshire (1672-1680), London (1680-1687), and Guestwick, Norfolk (1687-1692).[1]

Samuel was educated at schools in Southwick, Hampshire (to 1689), and Norwich (1691-1692), from which he proceeded (1692) to the London academy of Thomas Rowe. Isaac Watts was his fellow-student and close friend.[1]

Career[]

After acting as chaplain for 3 years to Thomas Scott of Lyminge, Kent, Say ministered for a short time at Andover, Hampshire, then at Great Yarmouth (from 6 July 1704), and in 1707 settled at Lowestoft, Suffolk, where he ministered for 18 years, but was not ordained pastor. He declined in 1712 a call to the independent congregation at Norwich.[1]

In 1719 he married Sarah Hamby (died February 1744, aged 70). Their only child, Sarah, married Isaac Toms (1709–1801), dissenting minister at Hadleigh, Suffolk.[1]

In 1725 Say became co-pastor with Samuel Baxter at Ipswich. In 1734, after much hesitation, he accepted the care of the congregation at Long Ditch (now Princes Street), Westminster, which had been without a pastor since the death of Edmund Calamy in 1732. His ministry was successful.[1]

He died on 12 April 1743, and was buried in Bunhill Fields.[1]

Writing[]

2 years after Say's death appeared his Poems; and Two critical essays, &c., 1745, 4to, edited by William Duncombe. The poems are juvenilia, with a version of the opening of Paradise Lost in Latin hexameters; the essays are respectively on rhythm in general, and on the rhythm of Paradise Lost.[1]

In Letters by Several Eminent Persons (1772, vol. ii.), edited by John Duncombe, are 2 letters by Say, and a reprint of his "Character" of Mrs. Bendish, which originall appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine (1760, 423).[1]

The "Say Papers," edited in the Monthly Repository, 1809–1810, by Robert Aspland, from manuscripts then in the possession of Say's grandson, Samuel Say Toms, contain many curious documents, among them a petition from "Sophia Selchrig," widow of Alexander Selkirk.[1]

Recognition[]

Samuel Say's portrait was engraved by C. Hall after a drawing by Jonathan Richardson.[1]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Poems on Several Occasions; and two critical essays. London: John Hughs, 1745.

Non-fiction[]

  • A Sermon Preached at the ordination of Mr. William Crookshank. London: Alexander Cruden, 1735.
  • A Sermon Preach'd to the Societies for Reformation of Manners. London: Richard Hall, 1736.
  • Israel and England Compared ... in a sermon. London: James Brackstone, 1741.
  • An essay on the harmony, variety, and power of numbers (1745) (edited by H.V.S. Ogden). Los Angeles, CA: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, University of California, 1956; New York: Kraus Reprint, 1967.

Juvenile[]

  • A sermon chiefly address'd to young people. London: Richard Ford / Richard Hett, 1737.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[2]

See also[]

References[]

  • PD-icon Gordon, Alexander (1897) "Say, Samuel" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 50 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 388-389 . Wikisource, Web, Nov. 7, 2016.

Notes[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Gordon, 388.
  2. Search results = au:Samuel Say, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 4, 2021.

External links[]

Poems
Books
About

PD-icon 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: Say, Samuel

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