Rev. Thomas Bastard (1566 - April 19, 1618) was an English poet and clergyman famed for his published English-language epigrams.
Thomas Bastard (1565-1618), Poems English and Latin, 1880. Courtesy [WorthPoint].
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Bastard was born at Blandford, Dorsetshire, in 1566. The date is derived from the Oxford matriculation register, where he is described under 1586 as ‘Pleb. fil. æt. 20’.[1] [2]
He was schooled at Winchester, from which he proceeded to New College, Oxford, as a scholar on 27 August 1586. He contributed to the volume dedicated to the memory of Sir Philip Sidney, Peplus Illustrissimi Viri D. Philippi Sidnæi. Supremis honoribus dicatus, Oxonii, 1587, and to the volume of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew elegies, written on the death of Ann, countess of Oxford, daughter of Lord Burghley, which is preserved in manuscript in the British Museum (MS. Landsd. 104, No. 78). In 1588 he was "admitted perpetual fellow," and in 1590 he earned a B.A.,[2] and an M.A. 16 years later in 1606.[3]
Career[]
Bastard became notorious for libelling the sexual doings of various Oxford clergy and academics via a published tract entitled An Admonition to the city of Oxford, &c. Despite disavowing authorship, he was nonetheless expelled from his Oxford fellowship in 1591.[3] According to Anthony à Wood, Bastard, "being much guilty of the vices belonging to poets and given to libelling, was in a manner forced to leave his fellowship in 1591. So that for the present being put to his shifts, he was not long after made chaplain to Thomas, earl of Suffolk, lord treasurer of England."[2]
The "epistles dedicatory" of his later sermons show lifelong gratitude to the lord treasurer and to his wife. By the favor of his patrons he became vicar of Beer Regis and rector of Amour or Hamer, in his native county. These "livings" were small and poor. Allusions in his books show that he had a "little family," and that his wife proved no great "help-meet."[2] He was married 3 times.[3]
His "discourses were always," says Wood, "pleasant and facete, which made his company desired by all ingenious men." He was clearly a genial, not to say jovial parson, after the type of Robert Herrick.[2]
He published his Chrestoleros: Seuen bookes of epigrames written by T. B. in 1598. Dudley Carleton, writing to John Chamberlain, says: "I send you the epigrams which I often told you of. The author is Bastard, who has the name of a very lively wit, but it does not lie this way; for in these epigrams, he botches up his verse with variations, and his conceits so run upon his poverty that his wit is rather to be pitied than commended".[4] [2]
A Latin poem by Bastard addressed to James I ("Serenissimo potentissimoque Monarchæ Jacobo …"), was issued in 1605. Bastard also contributed a commendatory poem to Coryat's Crudities, 1611.[2]
in 1615 he published 2 prose collections, Five Sermons and Twelve Sermons.[5]
The sad story of Bastard's last days runs thus in the Athenæ: "This poet and preacher being towards his latter end crazed, and thereupon brought into debt, was at length committed to the prison in Allhallows parish, in Dorchester, where, dying very obscurely and in a mean condition, was buried in the churchyard belonging to that parish on 19 April 1618, leaving behind him many memorials of his wit and drollery." He had only reached his 52nd year.[2]
Writing[]
Bastard's Poems, English and Latin, 1880, were collected and edited by Alexander Balloch Grosart.[2]
His book of epigrams, Chrestoleros, paints the manners of the time, and alludes to many memorable occurrences and persons. Some of the epigrams are very bitter.[2]
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- Chrestoleros: Seven books of epigrames. London: Richard Bradocke, for I[oan] B[usby], 1598; Manchester, UK: C.E. Simms, for the Spenser Society, 1888; New York: Franklin, 1967.
- Magna Britannia: A Latin poem. 3 volumes, 1605.[5]
- Poems English and Latin (edited by Alexander Balloch Grosart). Manchester, UK: C.E. Simms, 1880.
Non-fiction[]
- Five Sermons. London: T[homas] S[nodham], for Mathew Lownes, 1615.
- Twelve Sermons. London: T[homas] S[nodham], for Mathew Lownes, 1615.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[6]
See also[]
References[]
- "Bastard, Thomas" in S. Austin Allibone, A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors Living and Deceased from the Earliest Accounts to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century. Philadelphia & London: J.B. Lippincott, 1886, i, 139.
Grosart, Alexander Baloch (1885) "Bastard, Thomas" in Stephen, Leslie Dictionary of National Biography 3 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 387-388 Wikisource, Web, Feb. 21, 2020.
Notes[]
- ↑ Wood, Athenæ (ed. Bliss), ii. 227–229.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 Grosart, 388.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Thomas Bastard, Wikipedia, March 17, 2018. Web, Feb. 21, 2020.
- ↑ Cal. State Papers Add., 1580–1625, 385, where the letter is dated 13 Sept. 1597?. The year is more probably 1598.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Thomas Bastard 1566-1618, Poetry Foundation. Web, Aug. 4, 2012.
- ↑ Search results = au:Thomas Bastard, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 21, 2020.
External links[]
- Poems
- Books
- Chrestoleros at Amazon.com
- About
- Bastard, Thomas in Chalmers' Biography, 1812.
- "A Commonplace Bastard"
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: "Bastard, Thomas"
|