See also:GEORGE See also:CRABBE (1754-1832)
, See also:English poet, was See also:born at See also:Aldeburgh in See also:Suffolk on the 24th of See also:December 1754
.
His See also:family was partly of See also:Norfolk, partly of Suffolk origin, and the name was doubtless originally derived from " crab." His grandfather, See also:Robert See also:Crabbe, was the first of the family to See also:settle at Aldeburgh, where he held the See also:appointment of See also:collector of customs
.
He died in 1734, leaving one son, See also:George,who practised many occupations, including that of a schoolmaster, in the adjoining See also:village of See also:Orford
.
Finally the poet's See also:father obtained a small See also:post in the customs of Aldeburgh, married See also:Mary Lodwick, the widow of a publican, and had six See also:children, of whom George was the eldest
.
The See also:sea has swept away the small cottage that was George Crabbe's birthplace,but one may still visit the See also:quay at Slaughden, some See also:half-mile from the See also:town, where the father worked and the son was at a later date to See also:work with him
.
At first attending a See also:dame's school in Aldeburgh, when nine or ten years of See also:age he was sent to a boarding-school at See also:Bungay, and at twelve to a school at See also:Stowmarket, where he remained two years
.
His father dreamt of the medical profession for his See also:clever boy, and so in 1768 he went to Wickham See also:Brook near See also:Newmarket as an See also:apothecary's assistant
.
In 1771 we find him assisting a surgeon at See also:Woodbridge, and it was while here that he met Sarah Elmy
.
Crabbe was now only eighteen years of age, but he became " engaged " to this See also:lady in 1772
.
It was not until 1783 that the pair were married
.
The intervening years were made up of painful struggle, in which, however, not only the See also:affection but the See also:purse of his betrothed assisted him
.
About the 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 of Crabbe's return from See also:Wood-See also:bridge to Aldeburgh he published at See also:Ipswich his first work, a poem entitled See also:Inebriety (1775)
.
He found his father fallen on evil days
.
There was no See also:money to assist him to a See also:partnership, and See also:surgery for the moment seemed out of the question
.
For a few See also:weeks Crabbe worked as a See also:common labourer, See also:rolling See also:butter casks on Slaughden quay
.
Before the See also:year was out, however, the See also:young See also:man bought on See also:credit " the shattered See also:furniture of an apothecary's See also:shop and the drugs that stocked it." This was at Aldeburgh
.
A year later Crabbe installed a See also:deputy in the surgery and paid his first visit to See also:London
.
He lodged in See also:- WHITE
- WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
- WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
- WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
- WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
- WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
- WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
- WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
- WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
- WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
- WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
- WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)
White-See also:chapel, took lessons in midwifery and walked the hospitals
.
Returning to Aldeburgh after nine months—in 1777—he found his practice gone
.
Even as a See also:doctor for the poor he was an utter failure, See also:poetry having probably taken too See also:firm a hold upon his mind
.
At times he suffered See also:hunger, so utterly unable was he to See also:earn a livelihood
.
After three years of this, in 178o Crabbe paid his second visit to London, enabled thereto by the See also:loan of five pounds from See also:Dudley See also:Lang, a See also:local See also:magnate
.
This visit to London, which was undertaken by sea on See also:board the " Unity " See also:smack, made for Crabbe a successful career
.
His poem The See also:Candidate, issued soon after his arrival, helped not at all
.
For a time he almost starved, and was only saved, it is clear, by gifts of money from his sweetheart Sarah Elmy
.
He importuned the See also:great, and the publishers also
.
Everywhere he was refused, but at length a See also:letter which reached See also:Edmund See also:Burke in See also:March 1781 led to the careful See also:consideration on the See also:part of that great man of Crabbe's many See also:manuscripts
.
Burke advised the publication of The Library, which appeared in 1781
.
He invited him to See also:Beaconsfield, and made See also:interest in the right quarters to secure Crabbe's entry into the See also:- CHURCH
- CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
- CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
- CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
- CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
- CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)
church
.
He was ordained in December 1781 and was appointed See also:curate to the See also:rector of Aldeburgh
.
Crabbe was not happy in his new post
.
The Aldeburgh folk could not reverence as See also:priest a man they had known as a See also:day labourer
.
Crabbe again appealed to Burke, who persuaded the See also:duke of See also:Rutland to make him his See also:chaplain (1782), and Crabbe took up his See also:residence in Belvoir See also:Castle, accompanying his new See also:patron to London, when See also:Lord See also:Chancellor See also:Thurlow (who told him he was " as like See also:Parson See also:- ADAMS
- ADAMS, ANDREW LEITH (1827-1882)
- ADAMS, CHARLES FRANCIS (1807-1886)
- ADAMS, HENRY (1838— )
- ADAMS, HENRY CARTER (1852— )
- ADAMS, HERBERT (i858— )
- ADAMS, HERBERT BAXTER (1850—1901)
- ADAMS, JOHN (1735–1826)
- ADAMS, JOHN QUINCY (1767-1848)
- ADAMS, SAMUEL (1722-1803)
- ADAMS, THOMAS (d. c. 1655)
- ADAMS, WILLIAM (d. 162o)
Adams as twelve to the dozen ") gave him the two livings of See also:Frome St Quentin and Evershot in See also:Dorsetshire, See also:worth together about £200 a year
.
In May 1783 Crabbe's poem The Village was published by See also:Dodsley, and in December of this year he married Sarah Elmy
.
Crabbe continued his duties as ducal chaplain, being in the See also:main a non-See also:resident priest so far as his Dorsetshire parishes were concerned
.
In 1785 he published The Newspaper
.
Shortly after this he moved
with his wife from Belvoir Castle to the parsonage of Stathern, where he took the duties of the non-resident See also:vicar See also:- THOMAS
- THOMAS (c. 1654-1720)
- THOMAS (d. 110o)
- THOMAS, ARTHUR GORING (1850-1892)
- THOMAS, CHARLES LOUIS AMBROISE (1811-1896)
- THOMAS, GEORGE (c. 1756-1802)
- THOMAS, GEORGE HENRY (1816-187o)
- THOMAS, ISAIAH (1749-1831)
- THOMAS, PIERRE (1634-1698)
- THOMAS, SIDNEY GILCHRIST (1850-1885)
- THOMAS, ST
- THOMAS, THEODORE (1835-1905)
- THOMAS, WILLIAM (d. 1554)
Thomas Parke, See also:archdeacon of See also:Stamford
.
Crabbe was at Stathern for four years
.
In 1789, through the persuasion of the duchess of Rutland (now. a widow, the duke having died in See also:Dublin as lord-See also:lieutenant of See also:Ireland in 1787), Thurlow gave Crabbe the two livings of Muston in See also:Leicestershire and See also:West Allington in See also:Lincolnshire
.
At Muston parsonage Crabbe resided for twelve years, divided by a See also:long See also:interval
.
He had been four years at Muston when his wife inherited certain interests in a See also:property of her See also:uncle's that placed her and her See also:husband in See also:possession of See also:Ducking See also:- HALL
- HALL (generally known as SCHWABISCH-HALL, tc distinguish it from the small town of Hall in Tirol and Bad-Hall, a health resort in Upper Austria)
- HALL (O.E. heall, a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Halle)
- HALL, BASIL (1788-1844)
- HALL, CARL CHRISTIAN (1812–1888)
- HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS (1821-1871)
- HALL, CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN (1816—19oz)
- HALL, EDWARD (c. 1498-1547)
- HALL, FITZEDWARD (1825-1901)
- HALL, ISAAC HOLLISTER (1837-1896)
- HALL, JAMES (1793–1868)
- HALL, JAMES (1811–1898)
- HALL, JOSEPH (1574-1656)
- HALL, MARSHALL (1790-1857)
- HALL, ROBERT (1764-1831)
- HALL, SAMUEL CARTER (5800-5889)
- HALL, SIR JAMES (1761-1832)
- HALL, WILLIAM EDWARD (1835-1894)
Hall, Parham, Suffolk
.
Here he took up his residence from 1793 to 1796, leaving curates in See also:charge of his two livings
.
In 1796 the loss of their son Edmund led the Crabbes to remove from Parham to Great Glemham Hall, Suffolk, where they lived until 18o1
.
In that year Crabbe went to live at Rendham, a village in the same neighbourhood
.
In 18o5 he returned to Muston
.
In 1807 he See also:broke a silence of more than twenty years by the publication of The See also:Parish See also:Register, in 18ro of The See also:- BOROUGH (A.S. nominative burh, dative byrig, which produces some of the place-names ending in bury, a sheltered or fortified place, the camp of refuge of a tribe, the stronghold of a chieftain; cf. Ger. Burg, Fr. bor, bore, bourg)
- BOROUGH [BURROUGH, BURROWE, BORROWS], STEVEN (1525–1584)
Borough, and in 1812 of Tales in See also:Verse
.
In 1813 Crabbe's wife died, and in 1814 he was given the living of See also:Trowbridge, See also:Wiltshire, by the duke of Rutland, a son of his See also:early patron, who, it is interesting to recall, wanted the living of Muston for a See also:cousin of Lord See also:Byron
.
From 1814 to his See also:death in 1832 Crabbe resided at Trowbridge
.
These last years were the most prosperous of his See also:life
.
He was a See also:constant visitor to London, and in friendship with all the See also:literary celebrities of the time
.
" Crabbe seemed to grow young again," remarks his biographer, M
.
Rene Huchon
.
He certainly carried on a See also:succession of mild flirtations, and one of his parishioners, See also:Charlotte Ridout, wculd have married him
.
The elderly widower had proposed to her and had been accepted in 1814, but he See also:drew out of the engagement in 1816
.
He proposed to yet another friend, See also:Elizabeth See also:Charter, somewhat later
.
In his visits to London Crabbe was the See also:guest of See also:Samuel See also:Rogers, in St 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's See also:Place, and was a frequent visitor to See also:- HOLLAND
- HOLLAND, CHARLES (1733–1769)
- HOLLAND, COUNTY AND PROVINCE OF
- HOLLAND, HENRY FOX, 1ST BARON (1705–1774)
- HOLLAND, HENRY RICH, 1ST EARL OF (1S9o-,649)
- HOLLAND, HENRY RICHARD VASSALL FOX, 3RD
- HOLLAND, JOSIAH GILBERT (1819-1881)
- HOLLAND, PHILEMON (1552-1637)
- HOLLAND, RICHARD, or RICHARD DE HOLANDE (fl. 1450)
- HOLLAND, SIR HENRY, BART
Holland See also:House, where he met his See also:brother poets See also:Moore and See also:- CAMPBELL, ALEXANDER (1788–1866)
- CAMPBELL, BEATRICE STELLA (Mrs PATRICK CAMPBELL) (1865– )
- CAMPBELL, GEORGE (1719–1796)
- CAMPBELL, JOHN
- CAMPBELL, JOHN (1708-1775)
- CAMPBELL, JOHN CAMPBELL, BARON (1779-1861)
- CAMPBELL, JOHN FRANCIS
- CAMPBELL, LEWIS (1830-1908)
- CAMPBELL, REGINALD JOHN (1867— )
- CAMPBELL, THOMAS (1777—1844)
Campbell
.
In 1817 his Tales of the Hall were completed, and See also:John See also:- MURRAY
- MURRAY (or MORAY), EARLS OF
- MURRAY (or MORAY), JAMES STUART, EARL OF (c. 1531-1570)
- MURRAY (or MORAY), SIR ROBERT (c. 1600-1673)
- MURRAY, ALEXANDER STUART (1841-1904)
- MURRAY, DAVID (1849– )
- MURRAY, EUSTACE CLARE GRENVILLE (1824–1881)
- MURRAY, JAMES (c. 1719-1794)
- MURRAY, JOHN
- MURRAY, JOHN (1778–1820)
- MURRAY, LINDLEY (1745–1826)
- MURRAY, LORD GEORGE (1694–1760)
- MURRAY, SIR JAMES AUGUSTUS HENRY (1837– )
- MURRAY, SIR JOHN (1841– )
Murray offered £3000 for the See also:copyright, Crabbe's previous See also:works being included
.
The offer after much negotiation was accepted, but Crabbe's popularity was now on the wane
.
In 1822 Crabbe went to See also:Edinburgh on a visit to See also:Sir See also:Walter See also:Scott
.
The See also:adventure, complicated as it was by the visit of George IV. about the same time, is most amusingly described in See also:Lockhart's See also:biography of Scott, although one See also:episode—that of the broken See also:wine-See also:glass—is discredited by Crabbe's biographer, M
.
Huchon
.
Crabbe died at Trowbridge on the 3rd of See also:February 1832, and" was buried in Trowbridge church, where an ornate See also:monument was placed over his See also:tomb in See also:August 1833
.
Never was any poet at the same time so great and continuous a favourite with the critics, and yet so conspicuously allowed to fall into oblivion by the public
.
All the poets of his earlier and his later years, See also:Cowper, Scott, Byron, See also:Shelley in particular, have been reprinted again and again
.
With Crabbe it was long quite otherwise
.
His works were collected into eight volumes, the first containing his life by his son, in 1832
.
The edition was intended to continue with some of his See also:prose writings, but the reception of the eight volumes was not sufficiently encouraging
.
A reprint, however, in one See also:volume was made in 1847, and it has been reproduced since in 1854, 1867 and 1901
.
The exhaustion of the copyright, however, did no See also:good for Crabbe's reputation, and it was not until the end of the See also:century that sundry volumes of " selections " from his poems appeared; See also:Edward See also:FitzGerald, of See also:Omar Khayyam fame, always a loyal admirer, made a " Selection," privately printed by See also:Quaritch, in 1879
.
A " Selection " by See also:Bernard Holland appeared in 1899, another by C
.
H
.
See also:Herford in 1902 and a third by See also:Deane in 1903
.
The See also:Complete Works were published by the See also:Cambridge University See also:Press in three volumes, edited by A
.
W
.
See also:- WARD
- WARD, ADOLPHUS WILLIAM (1837- )
- WARD, ARTEMUS
- WARD, EDWARD MATTHEW (1816-1879)
- WARD, ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS (1844-1911)
- WARD, JAMES (1769--1859)
- WARD, JAMES (1843– )
- WARD, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (1830-1910)
- WARD, LESTER FRANK (1841– )
- WARD, MARY AUGUSTA [MRS HUMPHRY WARD]
- WARD, WILLIAM (1766-1826)
- WARD, WILLIAM GEORGE (1812-1882)
Ward, in 1906
.
Crabbe's poems have been praised by many competent pens, by Edward FitzGerald in his Letters, by See also:Cardinal See also:Newman in his Apologia, and by Sir See also:Leslie See also:Stephen in his See also:Hours in a Library, most notably
.
His verses comforted the last hours of See also:Charles
James See also:Fox and of Sir Walter Scott, while Thomas See also:Hardy has acknowledged their See also:influence on the See also:realism of his novels
.
But his works have ceased to command a wide public interest
.
He just failed of being the artist in words who is able to make the same See also:appeal in all ages
.
Yet to-day his poems will well repay perusal
.
His stories are profoundly poignant and when once read are never forgotten
.
He is one of the great realists of English fiction, for even considered as a novelist he makes fascinating See also:reading
.
He is more than this: for there is true poetry in Crabbe, although his most distinctively lyric See also:note was attained when he wrote under the influence of See also:opium, to which he became much addicted in his later years
.
End of Article: