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THOMAS RUSSELL (1762-1788)

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 865 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THOMAS See also:RUSSELL (1762-1788)  , See also:English poet, was See also:born at Beaminster, See also:early in 1762 . He was the son of See also:John See also:Russell, an See also:attorney at See also:Bridport, in See also:Dorsetshire, and his See also:mother was See also:Miss Virtue Brickle, of See also:Shaftesbury . He was educated at the See also:grammar school of Bridport, and in 1777 proceeded to See also:Winchester, where he stayed three years, under Dr See also:Joseph See also:Warton, and See also:Thomas Warton, the See also:professor of See also:poetry . In 178o Russell became a member of New See also:College, See also:Oxford . He graduated B.A. in 1784 and was ordained See also:priest in 1786 . During his See also:residence at the university he devoted himself to See also:French, See also:Italian, See also:Spanish, Portuguese, Provencal and even See also:German literature . His See also:health, however, See also:broke down, and he retired to See also:Bristol hot See also:wells to drink the See also:waters; but in vain, for he died there on the 31st of See also:July 1788 . He was buried in See also:Power-stock See also:churchyard, See also:Dorset . In 1789 was published a thin See also:volume, containing his Sonnets and See also:Miscellaneous Poems, now a very rare See also:book . It contained twenty-three sonnets, of See also:regular See also:form, and a few paraphrases and See also:original lyrics . The sonnets are the best, and it is by right of these that Russell takes his See also:place as one of the most interesting precursors of the romantic school . " See also:War, Love, the Wizard, and the See also:Fay he sung "—in other words, he rejected entirely the narrow circle of subjects laid down for 18th-See also:century poets .

In this he was certainly influenced both by See also:

Chatterton and by See also:Collins . But he was still more clearly the See also:disciple of See also:Petrarch, of See also:Boccaccio and of Canloens, each of whom he had carefully and enthusiastically studied . His See also:sonnet, " Suppos'd to be written at See also:Lemnos," is his masterpiece, and is unquestionably the greatest English sonnet of the 18th century . The See also:anonymous editor of Russell's solitary volume is said to have been See also:William Howley (1766-1848), See also:long afterwards See also:arch-See also:bishop of See also:Canterbury, who was a youthful See also:bachelor of New College when Russell, who had been his See also:tutor, died . His memoir of the poet is very perfunctory, and the fullest See also:account of Russell is that published in 1897 by T . Seccombe .

End of Article: THOMAS RUSSELL (1762-1788)
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