William Hawkins of Oxford

This article is about the 18th-century English poet and dramatist. For the 18th-century periodical poet, see William Hawkins (18th century). For the 20th-century Canadian songwriter and poet, see William Hawkins (Canada).

Rev. William Hawkins (1722-1801) was an English poet and dramatist who worked as a clergyman. He was the 5th Oxford Professor of Poetry.

Life

Youth and education

Hawkins was the eldest son of William Hawkins, serjeant-at-law, by his 1st wife, a daughter of Sir Roger Jenyns and sister of Soame Jenyns.

Through his grandmother he was descended from the brother of Thomas Tesdale, a founder of Pembroke College, Oxford, where Hawkins matriculated on 12 November 1737. He graduated B.A. on 26 February 1742, and on 2 March 1742 was admitted a fellow on the Tesdale foundation.

James Boswell mentions Hawkins as a distinguished alumnus of Pembroke College, when commenting on Samuel Johnson's description of the college as "a nest of singing-birds." The serjeant lived in the city of Oxford, and for some years his son lived at the university, composing sermons, poems, and tragedies. On 10 April 1744 he earned an M.A..

When Robert Lowth vacated the professorship of poetry in 1751, Hawkins was elected to the chair, serving from 6 June 1751 to 1756. As professor of Poetry he delivered the earliest-ever series of lectures devoted to Shakespeare.

Later life

Hawkins had been ordained in the Church of England, and was instituted on 27 August 1764 to the small rectory of Little Casterton, Rutland. He moved at the close of 1764 to the rectory of Whitchurch Canonicorum, Dorset, which he retained until his death. He held the prebendal stall of Combe (7th) in Wells Cathedral from his collation on 7 March 1767 to his death.

Throughout his life Hawkins was indefatigable in writing and preaching, and he was an early Bampton lecturer.

He died in a fit at Oxford on 13 October 1801.

Writing

Early in life Hawkins contributed pieces to magazines, and in 1743, when he was only 21, he published his first work, The Thimble: An heroi-comical poem in four cantos, by a gentleman of Oxford, which was reissued in the following year. This imitation of Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock was dedicated to Anna Maria Woodford, "the compleatest housewife in Europe."

His next venture was in play-writing, which remained his passion for nearly 25 years. Henry and Rosamond: A Tragedy was published in 1749, and was at once pirated by the Dublin printers. It was offered to the managers of Drury Lane Theatre and declined; it is an attempt in the manner of Shakespeare, whose play of Cymbeline (with alterations by Hawkins) was acted at Covent Garden Theatre but condemned as being "entirely ruined by his unpoetical additions and injudicious alterations." The mangled play was printed in 1759.

Of a third play, the Siege of Aleppo, which was never acted, Hawkins alleged that it had met the approval of "Judge Blackstone, Mr. Smart of Cambridge, Mr. Samuel Johnson, and Mr. Thomas Warton." David Garrick, to whom it was submitted, rejected the piece as "wrong in the first concoction," and an account of his quarrel with its author appears in Boswell's Johnson. Hawkins had further correspondence with Garrick respecting 3 more plays, The Queen of Lombardy; or, The ambitious lover, Troilus and Cressida, and Alfred. Hawkins accounted for the rejection of his pieces by alleging that he had given Garrick some offence in connection with the previous play of Henry and Rosamond.

A volume issued in 1754 under the pseudonym of Gyles Smith, containing ‘Serious Reflections on the Dangerous Tendency of the Common Practice of Card-playing,’ is attributed to Hawkins.

In 1758 he collected and published in three volumes his separate publications. The 1st volume consisted of tracts on divinity; the 2nd of dramatic and other poems, including The Thimble Henry and Rosamond, and the Siege of Aleppo; and the last of his lectures on poetry and his Creweian orations, delivered as professor of poetry at Oxford. Oliver Goldsmith wrote a review of these productions for the Critical Review. On most of them he was severe, but he singled out the play of Aleppo as deserving applause. Hawkins replied in a maladroit defense, signed "Veridicus," and styled 'A Review of the Works of the Rev. W. Hawkins and of the Remarks made on the same in the “Critical Review” for August and in the “Monthly Review” for September 1759.’ Goldsmith rejoined in the ‘Critical Review’.

The translation by Hawkins of the 1st 6 books of the Æneid appeared in 1764; though the translation of the rest was ready for the press, the reception did not warrant the printing of the remainder. Hawkins's failures did not restrain him from issuing in 1781 a collection of Poems on Various Subjects.

Hawkins was an indefatigable writer of sermons, and he printed: 1. ‘A Sermon before the University of Oxford on 30 Jan.,’ 1752. 2. ‘The Nature, Extent, and Excellence of Christian Charity’ (a Colston sermon), 1755. 3. ‘The Reasonableness of our Belief in Christianity’ (2 sermons at St. Mary's, Oxford), 1756. 4. ‘Pretences of Enthusiasts considered and confuted’ (2 sermons preached at St. Mary's, on 26 June 1768 on 6 August 1769). The 1st was answered by ‘The Oxford Confutation confuted, by Philologos,’ Cambridge [1769]. 5. ‘Discourses on Scripture Mysteries’ (Bampton lectures, 1787, which led him into a controversy with Samuel Palmer on the proceedings of the dissenters). 6. ‘Regal Rights consistent with National Liberties,’ 1795.

Publications

Poetry

• The Thimble: An heroi-comical poem, in four cantos. London:J. Roberts, 1743; London: J. Shuckburgh, for M. Cooper, 1744.
• Female empire; or, Winter celebrated at London. London: M. Cooper, 1746.
• Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. (3 volumes), London: privately published, sold by T. Bell, 1775.
• Poems on various subjects. Oxford, UK:W. Jackson for J. Dodsley, et al, 1781.

Plays

• Henry and Rosamond: A tragedy. London: William Owen, 1749.
• The Siege of Aleppo. Oxford, UK:W. Jackson for R. & J. Dodsley, J. Rivington & J. Fletcher, W. Owen, & S. Parker, 1758.
• Cymbeline: A tragedy, altered from Shakespeare. London:James Rivington & James Fletcher, 1759.

Non-fiction

• A sermon Preach'd Before the University of Oxford, at St. Mary's. Oxford, UK: Sackville Parker Bookseller at Oxford, J. & J. Rivington, & W. Owen, London, 1752.
• The Nature, Extent, and Excellence of Christian Charity: A sermon. Bristol, UK: S. Farley, for J. Rivington, London, & P. Parker, Oxford, [1755?]
• The Reasonableness of our Belief in the Doctrines of Christianity Asserted: Two sermons. Oxford, UK : Printed at the Theatre for S. Parker, & sold by J. Rivington, London, & S. Farley at Bristol, 1756.
• Tracts in Divinity. (2 volumes), Oxford, UK:W. Jackson, for R. & J. Dodsley / J. Rivington & J. Fletcher, & W. Owen, London / J. Fletcher & S. Parker, Oxford, 1758.
• The Pretences of Enthusiasts, considered, and confuted: A sermon Preached before the University of Oxford, At St. Mary's, On Sunday, June 26. 1768. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, for Dan. Prince, 1769.
• The Principle of the Confessional Considered and Confuted: Being the substance of two sermons. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1773.
• Discourses on scripture mysteries : preached at St. Mary's, Oxford, before the University. Oxford, UK: Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, for D. Prince & J. Cooke, Oxford, & J.F. & C. Rivington, London, 1787.
• Regal Rights Consistent with National Liberties: A sermon. Oxford, UK: J. Cooke / Messrs. Rivingtons, in London / Woolmer, Exeter / & Gould, Dorchester, 1795.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

Preceded by Robert Lowth

Oxford Professor of Poetry 1751-1756

Succeeded by Thomas Warton

References

• 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:

External links

About

• Rev. William Hawkins of Oxford (1722-1801) 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: Hawkins, William (1722-1801)