Thomas Maurice

Thomas Maurice (1754-1824). Engraving by William Ridley (1764-1838). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Rev. Thomas Maurice (1754 - 30 March 1824) was an English poet, cleric, oriental scholar, and historian.

Life

Youth and education

Maurice came of an ancient Welsh family which claimed connection with the princes of Powis, and descent from Eineon (1093 fl.). His father, Thomas, was head-master of a school at Hertford belonging to Christ's Hospital. Thomas, the eldest of 6 children by a 2nd wife, was born at Hertford in 1754.

His father died in 1763 and his mother remarried; Thomas was sent to Christ's Hospital, from there to Ealing, and subsequently, through his mother's influence, to Kingswood School, Bath.

Taking chambers in the Inner Temple, he found the study of classical and English literature more attractive than that of law, and under the tuition of Dr. Samuel Parr at Stanmore, devoted himself to classics.

On 6 May 1774 he matriculated at St John's College, Oxford, migrating after a year to University College, Oxford. He earned a B.A. in 1778 and an M.A. in 1808. While at Oxford he published a translation of the Œdipus Tyrannus, for which Samuel Johnson wrote a preface, and some English poems.

Career

He was ordained by Bishop Lowth on leaving Oxford and became curate of Woodford, Essex; he was also, through the influence of Dr. Johnson, offered the curacy of Bosworth. In 1785 he relinquished his curacy for the chapel of Epping, and about the same time purchased the chaplaincy of the 97th regiment, which was disbanded soon afterwards, and Maurice received half-pay for the rest of his life.

In 1786 he married the daughter of Thomas Pearce, a captain in the service of the East India Company; she died in 1790.

In 1798 he was presented by Earl Spencer to the vicarage of Wormleighton, Warwickshire; in the same year he became assistant keeper of manuscripts in the British Museum, and in 1804, on the presentation of the lord-chancellor, vicar of Cudham, Kent. All these offices he retained until his death. In 1800 he obtained, through Bishop Tomline, the pension which had been enjoyed by William Cowper.

Maurice was on intimate terms with many of the foremost of his contemporaries. He was an industrious student, a voluminous author, and among the earliest to popularize a knowledge of the history and religions of the east.

Maurice died in his apartments at the British Museum.

Writing

Byron, in his English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, described Maurice as "dull," and his poem on Richmond Hill as "the petrifactions of a plodding brain."

Publications

Poetry

• The School-boy: A poem. Oxford, UK: J. & J. Fletcher / G. Kearsley, London, 1775.
• Hagley: A descriptive poem. Oxford, UK: J. & J. Fletcher / D. Prince / S. Parker / et al, 1776.
• Netherby: A poem. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, for J. & J. Fletcher / D. Prince / et al, 1776.
• A Monody: Sacred to the memory of Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, for J. & J. Fletcher / D. Prince / et al, 1777.
• The Oxonian: A poem. Oxford, UK: J. & J. Fletcher / D. Prince / S. Parker / et al, 1778.
• Poems and Miscellaneous Pieces. London: J. Dodsley / G. Kearsley / et al, 1779.
• Westminster Abbey: An elegiac poem. London: J. Dodsley / G. Kearsley / et al, 1784.
• An Ode: Sacred to the genius of Handel. London: J. Murray / J. Dodsley, 1784.
• An Elegiac and Historical Poem: Sacred to the memory and virtues of the Honorable Sir William Jones. London: privately published, 1795.
• The Crisis; or, The British Muse to the British minister and nation. London: R. Faulder, 1798.
• Grove hill: A descriptive poem; with an ode to nature. London: T. Bensley, for John & Arthur Arch / J. Wright, 1799.
• Poems: Epistolary, lyric, and elegiacal. London: W. Bulmer, for J. Wright, 1800.
• The Crisis of Britain: A poem, addressed to the Right Hon. William Pitt. London: J. White & T. Hatchard, 1803.
• Select Poems. London: C. & W. Galabin, for John White, 1803.
• Elegy on the Late Right Honourable William Pitt. London: C. & W. Calabin, 1806.
• Richmond Hill: A descriptive and historical poem. London: privately published, printed by W. Bulmer, 1807.
• Elegiac Lines: Sacred to the memory of Henry Hope. London: privately published, printed by W. Bulmer, 1811.
• Westminster Abbey, with other occasional poems. London: privately published, printed by W. Bulmer, 1813.

Plays

• Panthea; or, The captive bride: A tragedy, founded upon a story in Xenophon. London: J.W. Galabin, for J. Sewell, 1789.
• The Fall of the Mogul: A tragedy; with other occasional poems. London: R. Taylor, for J. White, 1806.

Non-fiction

• A Letter Addressed to the ... Directors of the East India Company. London: privately published, 1790.
• Indian Antiquities. (7 volumes), London: privately published, 1793-1800.
• The History of Hindustan. (2 volumes), privately published, printed by W. Bulmer, 1795-1798; (3 volumes), London: 1820. Volume I, Volume III
• A Dissertation on the Oriental Trinities. London: H.L. Galabin, for John White, 1800.
• The Modern History of Hindostan. (2 volumes), printed for the author by W. Bulmer, 1802-10.
• Brahminical Fraud Detected. London: W. Bulmer, for White, Cochrane, 1812
  • also published as The Indian Sceptic Confuted; and Brahmin frauds exposed. London: W. Bulmer, for White, Cochrane, 1812.
• Observations Connected with Astronomy and Ancient History. London: J. Murray, 1816.
• Observations on the ruins of Babylon. London: J. Murray, 1816.
• Observations on the Remains of Ancient Egyptian Grandeur and Superstition. London: J. Murray, 1818.
• Memoirs of the Author of 'Indian Antiquities', etc. (3 volumes), London: Rivington, 1819-1822.

Translated

• Sanscreet Fragments; or, Interesting fragments from the sacred books of the Brahmins. London: T. Gardiner, 1798.
• Sophocles, A Free Translation of the 'Oedipus Tyrannus'. London: W. Bulmer / W. Nicol, 1822.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

References

•  Pollard, Albert Frederick (1894) "Maurice, Thomas" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 37 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 107-108 . Wikisource, Web, Aug. 16, 2016.</ref>

External links

Poems

• Rev. Thomas Maurice (1754-1824) info & 7 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830

Books

• Thomas Maurice at Amazon.com

About

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: Maurice, Thomas