Poetical Works: With Memoir and Critical Disseration by George Gilfillan (Classic Reprint)
Book Details
Author(s)Matthew Prior
PublisherForgotten Books
ISBN / ASIN1330655249
ISBN-139781330655245
MarketplaceFrance 🇫🇷
Description
Excerpt from Poetical Works: With Memoir and Critical Disseration by George Gilfillan
The witty and ingenious author of "Alma" and "Solomon" was born of obscure parents. His father is said to have been a joiner either in London or in Winburn; for if seven cities contended for the honour of bearing Homer, two counties - Middlesex and Dorsetshire - have put in their claims to Prior. He was born 21st July 1664. In the College register, he is styled Films Georgii Prior generosi - a term which would intimate that his father was in respectable circumstances. He is supposed to have had some property in Winburn, but perhaps had lost it, and been obliged to subsist by a mechanical profession. He died when Matthew was very young, and the boy was cast on the care of his uncle, Samuel Prior, who kept a respectable tavern near Charing Cross. His uncle treated him with much kindness, and sent him for some time to the famous Dr Bushy of Westminster School. He seems to have made there considerable proficiency, but was soon taken back to his uncle's house, who proposed breeding him to his own trade. Genius has sometimes, though seldom, been developed in a tavern atmosphere - an atmosphere which, if coarse, is genial, and favourable to the observation of character in all its varieties. This, besides, was not an ordinary inn. The annual meeting of the nobility and gentry of the parish was sometimes held at "The Rummer," which was frequented, too, by many of the leading wits and literary patrons of the day. Among these was the Earl of Dorset, who, on one occasion, having started a question about the meaning of a passage in the Odes of Horace, a keen discussion arose in the company.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
The witty and ingenious author of "Alma" and "Solomon" was born of obscure parents. His father is said to have been a joiner either in London or in Winburn; for if seven cities contended for the honour of bearing Homer, two counties - Middlesex and Dorsetshire - have put in their claims to Prior. He was born 21st July 1664. In the College register, he is styled Films Georgii Prior generosi - a term which would intimate that his father was in respectable circumstances. He is supposed to have had some property in Winburn, but perhaps had lost it, and been obliged to subsist by a mechanical profession. He died when Matthew was very young, and the boy was cast on the care of his uncle, Samuel Prior, who kept a respectable tavern near Charing Cross. His uncle treated him with much kindness, and sent him for some time to the famous Dr Bushy of Westminster School. He seems to have made there considerable proficiency, but was soon taken back to his uncle's house, who proposed breeding him to his own trade. Genius has sometimes, though seldom, been developed in a tavern atmosphere - an atmosphere which, if coarse, is genial, and favourable to the observation of character in all its varieties. This, besides, was not an ordinary inn. The annual meeting of the nobility and gentry of the parish was sometimes held at "The Rummer," which was frequented, too, by many of the leading wits and literary patrons of the day. Among these was the Earl of Dorset, who, on one occasion, having started a question about the meaning of a passage in the Odes of Horace, a keen discussion arose in the company.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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