William Somerville

William Somerville or Somervile (2 September 1675 - 19 July 1742) was an English poet.

William Somerville (1675-1742). Portrait circa 1695-1710. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Life

Overview

Somerville, eldest son of a country gentleman, was born at Edstone, Worcestershire, on the 2nd of September 1675. He was educated at Winchester College and at New College, Oxford. After his father’s death in 1705 he lived on his estate, devoting himself especially to field sports, which supplied the subjects of his best-known poems. His publications were The Two Springs (1725), a fable; Occasional Poems. . . (1727) ; The Chase (1735) Hobbinol, or the Rural Games (1740), a burlesque poem; and Field Sports (1742), a poem on hawking. Somerville died on the 19th of July 1742.

Family

Somerville came of an ancient family long settled at Aston-Somerville in Gloucestershire. To this family belonged John Somerville, on whose attainder a younger brother, Sir William, contrived to retain or recover both estates. The poet, 4th in descent from this Sir William, was the eldest son of Robert Somervile of Edstone, and Elizabeth his wife, eldest daughter of Sir Charles Wolseley (died 1714), baronet, of Wolseley in the parish of Colwich, Staffordshire,

Youth and education

Somerville was born in Colwich on 2 September 1675. He had 5 brothers and a sister.

He is said to have received his early education at Stratford-upon-Avon.

In 1690 he was admitted as "founder's kin" at Winchester.

On 24 August 1694 he proceeded to New College, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship. On 3 October 1696 he was admitted a student at the Middle Temple, but retained his fellowship till 1705.

Adult life

On his father's death in 1705 Somerville settled at Edstone, where he spent the rest of his life. His life at Edstone was that of a country gentleman, taking his share in the business and pleasures of his station.

Somerville was tall and handsome and "very fair" (Letters, ed. 1775, 277). He married, on 1 February 1708, Mary, daughter of Hugh Bethell, esq., of Rise in Yorkshire.

He had the reputation of being a good justice, and he enjoyed the esteem of his neighbors, among whom were Lord Lyttelton, Shenstone, and Jago the poets, and Lady Luxborough, the half-sister of Bolingbroke. Dr. Thomas, whose edition of Dugdale's Warwickshire was published in 1730, calls him in that work viciniæ suæ ornamentum (ii. 829). In politics he was a whig.

Of his devotion to field sports there is ample evidence in his writings. The only form of sport condemned in them is coursing, which he sternly denounced. He took an active part in the management of his kennels, which consisted of "about twelve couples of beagles, bred chiefly between the small Cotswold harrier and the southern hound; six couples of fox-hounds, rather rough and wire-haired; and five couples of otter-hounds, which in the winter season made an addition to the fox-hounds" (Sporting Mag. 1832).

His revenue, which amounted to about £1,500, was burdened with an annuity of £600 to his mother, whose death, at the age of 98, occurred only a month before his own. In 1730, being in embarrassed circumstances, he made an arrangement with James (13th lord Somerville in the peerage of Scotland, who also claimed descent from the Somervilles of Wichnour), by which, in consideration of the relief of burdens, he settled on his lordship the reversion of his estates after his death.

William Shenstone, in a letters, says that Somerville was improvident, and that in his later years he fell into the habit of intemperate drinking (Shenstone, Works, iii. 66).

Somerville died at Edstone on 17 July 1742. His wife died childless on 5 September 1731. They are both buried in the chantry chapel of the church of Wootton-Wawen. There is an epitaph by himself, and in the churchyard is an inscription by him in commemoration of his huntsman and butler, James Boeter, who "was hurt in the hunting field and died of this accident."

Writing

Somerville's leisure was devoted to literature, and the earliest of his verses to which a date (about 1712) can be assigned were addressed to Marlborough, to Charles Montagu, earl of Halifax, to General James (afterwards 1st Earl) Stanhope, and to Addison, all statesmen of his own political party. It appears from the verses addressed to him by Allan Ramsay that some of his poems were circulated privately before publication.

His earliest published volume was The Two Springs, a fable, 1725, fol. This was followed in 1727 by Occasional Poems, Translations, Fables, Tales, &c., 8vo, which included most of his writings up to the date of publication. The Chase, his most famous production, appeared in 1735 (London, 4to, 9th edit. 1796); Hobbinol; or, The rural games, a burlesque in blank verse (dedicated to Hogarth), in 1740, 4to (but he states in the preface that much of it had been in circulation before); Field Sports, a poem on hawking, was published in folio in 1742, the year of his death.

He left to Lord Somerville, his executor and residuary legatee, a manuscript volume of unpublished poems; and Lady Luxborough mentions that she had in her possession a translation which he had executed of Voltaire's Alzire,’ and also several "little poems and impromptus, for the most part too trivial or too local for the press" (Letters, ed. 1775, 211).

The Chase

Somerville's fame rests chiefly on The Chase, a poem in 4 books, which has some passages of considerable descriptive power; to which Field Sports may be considered a supplement. It contains a vivid description of his favorite pastime and some lively pictures of animal life.

The Chase has always been held in high esteem by sportsmen, and many editions of it have been published, the finest being that of 1796, with illustrations by the brothers Bewick, of whose art it exhibits some of the best examples. The edition of 1800 has designs by Stothard. In 1896 it was reissued with illustrations by Hugh Thomson. A collective edition of Somerville's poetical works appeared in 1801, and a ‘Diamond’ edition in 1825–6.

Critical introduction

by Edmund Gosse

Somerville was a handsome noisy squire, a strapping fellow 6 feet high, a hard rider, a crack shot. No more characteristic specimen of the sporting country gentleman, pure and simple, could be imagined, or one less likely to develop into a poet. It was, in fact, not until fast living had begun to break down his constitution that he took to literature as a consolation. One of his earliest exercises was an epistle addressed to Addison, who had bought a property in Warwickshire, and so had become Somerville’s neighbour. This poem is neatly and enthusiastically versified, and contains the well-known compliment which pleased Dr. Johnson so much:—

‘When panting Virtue her last efforts made,

You brought your Clio to the virgin’s aid.’

Somerville was the disciple of Addison, but he enjoyed at the same time the friendship of Pope. A lyric correspondence with Allan Ramsay tells us more about his person than we should otherwise have known, and an epistle to James Thomson displays the respect with which he learned to contemplate his own literary judgment. A friendship with the boyish William Shenstone was the last event of a career that ended very plaintively, in pain, financial ruin, and drunkenness. His life is a singular variant of the pagan ideal of the time; it is curious to find a boisterous squire, of the coarse type that Fielding painted in the next generation, assuming the airs of a stoic and a wit, and striking the fashionable Cato attitude in top-boots and a hunting-belt.

Somerville, who was a well-read man, took the Cynegetica of Gratius Faliscus as his model, when he produced his best poem, The Chase. Like the Latin poet, he alternates moral maxims with practical information about the training and the points of hounds. This epic, which is in 4 books, discusses in its 1st part the origin of hunting, the economy of kennels, the physical and moral accomplishments of hounds, and the choosing of a good or bad scenting day. The 2nd book, which possesses more natural language and a finer literary quality than the others, commences with directions for hare-hunting, and closes with a moral reproof of tyranny. In the 3rd book hunting is treated from an antiquarian and an exotic standpoint, while the 4th deals with the breeding of hounds, their diseases, and the diseases they cause, such as hydrophobia. It will hardly be guessed from such a sketch of the contents that The Chase is a remarkably readable and interesting poem: it is composed in blank verse that is rarely turgid and not very often flat, and the zeal and science of the author give a certain vitality to his descriptions which compels the reader’s attention. People that have a practical knowledge of the matters described confess that Somerville thoroughly understood what he was talking about, and that in his easy chair before the fire he "plied his function of the woodland" no less admirably than he had done in the saddle in his athletic youth.

The success of The Chase induced him, when he was quite an old man, to sing of fishing and of the bowling green; but on these subjects he was less interesting than on hunting. His Hobbinol, a sort of mock-heroic poem on rural games, written in emulation of The Splendid Shilling of John Philips, was intended to be sprightly, and only succeeded in being ridiculous. Less foolish, but somewhat coarsely and frivolously easy, were his Fables, in the manner of Prior. Posterity, in short, has refused to regard Somerville in any other light than as the broken-down squire, warming himself with a mug of ale in his ancestral chimney corner, and instructing the magnificent Mr. Addison in the mysteries of breeds and points.

Critical reputation

John Aikin: "The poetical character of Somervile will be easily deduced. He is strictly and almost solely a descriptive poet and his talent lies in delineating actual scenes with fidelity and spirit, adorning them with the beauties of diction, but leaving them to act upon the imagination by their own force, without aid from the creations of fancy. In classical allusion he is not deficient, but it is of the more common kind; and little occurs in his writings that indicates a mind inspired by that exalted enthusiasm which denotes the genius of superior rank. His versification is generally correct and well varied, and evidently flows from a nice and practiced ear. His language is well suited to his subjects, rising and sinking with them, and free from that stiffness and affectation so commonly attendant upon blank verse. It more resembles that of Armstrong, than of Thomson or Akenside. Some of his other poems shew him to have had a strong perception of the ludicrous; and in this, too, traits of humour are discernible. On the whole, Somervile occupies a respectable place among our native poets; and his Chase is probably the best performance upon that topic which any country has produced."

Samuel Johnson: "Somervile has tried many modes of poetry; and though perhaps he has not in any reached such excellence as to raise much envy, it may commonly be said at least, that “he writes very well for a gentleman.” ... In his odes to Marlborough there are beautiful lines; but in the second ode he shows that he knew little of his hero, when he talks of his private virtues. His subjects are commonly such as require no great depth of thought or energy of expression. His fables are generally stale and therefore excite no curiosity.

Recognition

Robert Dodsley included Somerville's poetry in his Collection of Poems in Six Volumes; by several hands. Somerville's poems figure in the collections of Johnson, Anderson, Chalmers, Bell, Sanford, and Park.

At Wolseley there is a portrait of Somerville when a boy. Another painted by Dahl in 1702, was in the possession of Hon. Mrs. Ralph Smyth, fourth daughter of the seventeenth Baron Somerville. A half-length engraving of it is prefixed to the 2nd volume of the Memorie of the Somervilles. A later portrait by Kneller was presented by the poet to his neighbor, Christopher Wren, esq., of Wroxhall Abbey, son of Sir Christopher; an engraving of it by Worthington, from a drawing by Thurston, was published in 1821. Lady Luxborough mentions a portrait by Worlidge, besides another which belonged to herself.

Publications

Poetry

• An Imitation of the Ninth Ode of the Fourth book of Horace. London: Jacob Tonson, 1715.
• The Two Springs: A fable. London: J. Roberts, 1725.
• Occasional Poems, Translations, Fables, Tales, &c. London: Bernard Lintot, 1727.
• The Chace: A poem, in four books, in heroick verse]. London: B. Dickinson, 1735; 4th edition, London: G. Hawkins, 1735.
• Hobbinol; or, The rural games: A burlesque poem, in blank verse. 2nd edition, London: J. Stagg, 1740; Dublin: George Faulkner, 1740. Canto I, Canto II, Canto III
• Field Sports: A poem. London: J. Stagg, 1742; Dublin: S. Powell, for George Ewing, 1742.
• Poetical Works. (2 volumes), Glasgow: Robert Urie, 1766;
• Poetical Works. Edinburgh: Apollo Press, by the Martins, 1780.
• Poetical Works. London: G. Cawthorne, 1797.
• Poetical Works.London: J. Walker for C. Cooke (Cooke's edition), 1802.
• Poems. Chiswick, UK: Press of C. Whittingham, 1822.

Non-fiction

• Reasons against Repealing the Occasional and Test Acts. England: 1717; Edinburgh: John Coulson, 1717; London: H.P., for J. Morphew, 1718.

Anthologized

• A Collection of Miscellaneous Poetry (edited by F.G. Waldron). London: Knight & Compton, for Lackington, Allen / J. Wallis, 1802.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• The Shenstone circle
• List of British poets

References

•  Campbell, George William (1898) "Somerville, William (1675-1742)" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 53 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 256-258  . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 2, 2018.

External links

Poems

• "Wine Poem: Anacreontic" by William Somerville.
• "Seafood Poem: The Oyster by William Somerville
• "Fox-hunting"
• William Somerville at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (3 poems)
• Somerville in The English Poets: An anthology: Extracts from The Chase: Book I, Book II
• William Somerville at Poets' Corner
• William Somerville at Poetry Nook (73 poems)

Books

• The Poems of William Somerville
• William Somervile at Amazon.com

About

• William Somerville in the Encyclopædia Britannica
• William Somerville 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: Somerville, William (1675-1742)