See also:MATTHEW See also:PRIOR (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 See also: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
.
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