|
See also:PRIOR, See also:MATTHEW (1664-1721) , See also:English poet and diplomatist, was the son of a See also:Nonconformist joiner at See also:Wimborne-See also:Minster, See also:East See also:Dorset, and was See also:born on the 21st of See also:July 1664. His See also:father moved to See also:London, and sent him to See also:Westminster, under Dr See also:Busby. At his father's See also:death he See also:left school, and See also:fell to the care of his See also:uncle, a vintner in Channel See also:Row. Here See also:Lord Dorset found him See also:reading See also:Horace, and set him to translate an See also:ode. He acquitted himself so well that the See also:earl offered to contribute to the continuance of his See also:education at Westminster. One of his schoolfellows and See also:friends was See also:Charles See also:Montagu, afterwards earl of See also:Halifax. It was to avoid being separated from Montagu and his See also:brother See also:- JAMES
- JAMES (Gr. 'IlrKw,l3or, the Heb. Ya`akob or Jacob)
- JAMES (JAMES FRANCIS EDWARD STUART) (1688-1766)
- JAMES, 2ND EARL OF DOUGLAS AND MAR(c. 1358–1388)
- JAMES, DAVID (1839-1893)
- JAMES, EPISTLE OF
- JAMES, GEORGE PAYNE RAINSFOP
- JAMES, HENRY (1843— )
- JAMES, JOHN ANGELL (1785-1859)
- JAMES, THOMAS (c. 1573–1629)
- JAMES, WILLIAM (1842–1910)
- JAMES, WILLIAM (d. 1827)
James that Prior accepted, against his See also:patron's wish, a scholarship recently founded at St See also:John's See also:College. He took his B.A. degree in 1686, and two years later became a See also:fellow. In collaboration with Montagu he wrote in 1687 the See also:City See also:Mouse and See also:Country Mouse, in ridicule of See also:Dryden's See also:Hind and See also:Panther. It was an See also:age when satirists were in See also:request, and sure of patronage and promotion. The See also:joint See also:production made the See also:fortune of both authors. Montagu was promoted at once, and Prior three years later was gazetted secretary to the See also:embassy at the See also:Hague. After four years of this employment he was appointed one of the gentlemen of the See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king's bedchamber. Apparently, also, he acted as one of the king's secretaries, and in 1697 he was secretary to the plenipotentiaries who concluded the See also:peace of See also:Ryswick. Prior's See also:- TALENT (Lat. talentum, adaptation of Gr. TaXavrov, balance, ! Recollections of a First Visit to the Alps (1841); Vacation Rambles weight, from root raX-, to lift, as in rXi vac, to bear, 1-aXas, and Thoughts, comprising recollections of three Continental
talent for affairs was doubted by See also:Pope, who had no See also:special means of judging, but it is not likely that King See also:- WILLIAM
- WILLIAM (1143-1214)
- WILLIAM (1227-1256)
- WILLIAM (1J33-1584)
- WILLIAM (A.S. Wilhelm, O. Norse Vilhidlmr; O. H. Ger. Willahelm, Willahalm, M. H. Ger. Willehelm, Willehalm, Mod.Ger. Wilhelm; Du. Willem; O. Fr. Villalme, Mod. Fr. Guillaume; from " will," Goth. vilja, and " helm," Goth. hilms, Old Norse hidlmr, meaning
- WILLIAM (c. 1130-C. 1190)
- WILLIAM, 13TH
William would have employed in this important business a See also:man who had not given See also:- PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)
proof of See also:diplomatic skill and grasp of details. The poet's knowledge of See also:French is specially mentioned among his qualifications, and this was recognized by his being sent in the following See also:year to See also:Paris in attendance on the English See also:ambassador. At this See also:period Prior could say with See also:good See also:reason that " he had commonly business enough upon his hands, and was only a poet by See also:accident." To See also:verse, however, which had laid the See also:foundation of his fortunes, he still occasionally trusted as a means of maintaining his position. His occasional poems during this period include an See also:elegy on See also:Queen See also:Mary in1695; a satirical version of Boileau's Ode sur le prise de See also:Namur (1695); some lines on William's See also:- ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli
escape from assassination in 1696; and a brief piece called The Secretary. After his return from See also:France Prior became under-secretary of See also:state and succeeded See also:Locke as a See also:commissioner of See also:trade. In 1701 he sat in See also:parliament for East Grinstead. He had certainly been in William's confidence with regard to the See also:Partition Treaty; but when See also:Somers, See also:Orford and Halifax were impeached for their See also:share in it he voted on the Tory See also:side, and immediately on See also:Anne's See also:accession he definitely allied himself with Harley and St John. Perhaps in consequence of this for nine years there is no mention of his name in connexion with any public transaction. But when the Tories came into See also:power in 1710 Prior's diplomatic abilities were again called into See also:action, and till the death of Anne he held a prominent See also:place in all negotiations with the French See also:court, sometimes as See also:secret See also:agent, sometimes in an equivocal position as ambassador's See also:companion, sometimes as fully accredited but very unpunctually paid ambassador. His share in negotiating the treaty of See also:Utrecht, of which he is said to have disapproved, personally led to its popular See also:nickname of " Matt's Peace." When the queen died and the Whigs regained power he was impeached by See also:Sir See also:Robert See also:Walpole and kept in See also:close custody for two years (1715-1717). In 1709 he had already published a collection of verse. During this imprisonment, maintaining his cheerful See also:philosophy, he wrote his longest humorous poem, See also:Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind. This, along with his most ambitious See also:work, See also:Solomon, and other Poems on several Occasions, was published by subscription in 1718. The sum received for this See also:volume (4000 guineas), with a See also:present of 4000 from Lord Harley, enabled him to live in comfort; but he did not See also:long survive his enforced retirement from public See also:life, although he See also:bore his ups and See also:downs with rare equanimity. He died at Wimpole, See also:Cambridgeshire, a seat of the earl of See also:- OXFORD
- OXFORD, EARLS OF
- OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE, 17TH EARL
- OXFORD, JOHN DE VERE, 13TH EARL OF (1443-1513)
- OXFORD, PROVISIONS OF
- OXFORD, ROBERT DE VERE, 9TH EARL OF (1362-1392)
- OXFORD, ROBERT HARLEY, 1ST
Oxford, on the 18th of See also:September 1721, and was buried in Westminster See also:Abbey, where his See also:monument may be seen in Poet's Corner. A See also:History of his Own See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
Time was issued by J. Bancks in 1740. The See also:book pretended to be derived from Prior's papers, but it is doubtful how far it should be regarded as See also:authentic.
Prior had very much the same easy, See also:pleasure-loving disposition as See also:Chaucer (with whose career his life offers a certain See also:parallelism), combined with a similar capacity for solid work. His poems show considerable variety, a pleasant scholarship and See also:great executive skill. The most ambitious, i.e. Solomon, and the See also:paraphrase of the See also:Nut-See also:- BROWN
- BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN (1771-181o)
- BROWN, FORD MADOX (1821-1893)
- BROWN, FRANCIS (1849- )
- BROWN, GEORGE (1818-188o)
- BROWN, HENRY KIRKE (1814-1886)
- BROWN, JACOB (1775–1828)
- BROWN, JOHN (1715–1766)
- BROWN, JOHN (1722-1787)
- BROWN, JOHN (1735–1788)
- BROWN, JOHN (1784–1858)
- BROWN, JOHN (1800-1859)
- BROWN, JOHN (1810—1882)
- BROWN, JOHN GEORGE (1831— )
- BROWN, ROBERT (1773-1858)
- BROWN, SAMUEL MORISON (1817—1856)
- BROWN, SIR GEORGE (1790-1865)
- BROWN, SIR JOHN (1816-1896)
- BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, BART
- BROWN, THOMAS (1663-1704)
- BROWN, THOMAS (1778-1820)
- BROWN, THOMAS EDWARD (1830-1897)
- BROWN, WILLIAM LAURENCE (1755–1830)
Brown Maid, are the least successful. But Alma, an admitted See also:imitation of See also:- BUTLER
- BUTLER (or BOTELER), SAMUEL (1612–168o)
- BUTLER (through the O. Fr. bouteillier, from the Late Lat. buticularius, buticula, a bottle)
- BUTLER, ALBAN (1710-1773)
- BUTLER, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1818-1893)
- BUTLER, CHARLES (1750–1832)
- BUTLER, GEORGE (1774-1853)
- BUTLER, JOSEPH (1692-1752)
- BUTLER, NICHOLAS MURRAY (1862– )
- BUTLER, SAMUEL (1774-1839)
- BUTLER, SAMUEL (1835-1902)
- BUTLER, SIR WILLIAM FRANCIS (1838– )
- BUTLER, WILLIAM ARCHER (1814-1848)
Butler, is a delightful piece of wayward easy See also:humour, full of witty turns and well-remembered allusions, and Prior's mastery of the octo-syllabic See also:couplet is greater than that of See also:Swift or Pope. His tales in See also:rhyme, though often objectionable in their themes, are excellent specimens of narrative skill; and as an epigrammatist he is unrivalled in English. The See also:majority of his love songs are frigid and See also:academic, See also:mere See also:wax-See also:flowers of See also:Parnassus; but in See also:familiar or playful efforts, of which the type are the admirable lines To a See also:Child of Quality, he has still no See also:rival. " Prior's"—says See also:Thackeray, himself no mean proficient in this See also:kind—" seem to me amongst the easiest, the richest, the most charmingly humorous of English lyrical poems. Horace is always in his mind, and his See also:song and his philosophy, his good sense, his happy easy turns and See also:melody, his loves and his Epicurianism, See also:bear a great resemblance to that most delightful and accomplished See also:master."
The largest collection of Prior's verses is that by R. Brimley See also:- JOHNSON, ANDREW
- JOHNSON, ANDREW (1808–1875)
- JOHNSON, BENJAMIN (c. 1665-1742)
- JOHNSON, EASTMAN (1824–1906)
- JOHNSON, REVERDY (1796–1876)
- JOHNSON, RICHARD (1573–1659 ?)
- JOHNSON, RICHARD MENTOR (1781–1850)
- JOHNSON, SAMUEL (1709-1784)
- JOHNSON, SIR THOMAS (1664-1729)
- JOHNSON, SIR WILLIAM (1715–1774)
- JOHNSON, THOMAS
Johnson in the " Aldine Poets " (2 vols., 1892). There is also a selection in the " See also:Parchment Library," with introduction and notes by See also:Austin See also:Dobson (1889). (A.
End of Article: PRIOR, MATTHEW (1664-1721)
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!