Samuel Boyse

For the English poet with a similar name, see Samuel Boyce.
The Pantheon, by Samuel Boyse.

Samuel Boyse (1702/3? – May 1749)[1] was an Irish poet and writer who worked for Sir Robert Walpole and whose religious verses in particular were prized and reprinted in his time.

Life

Born in Dublin, Boyse was the son of Joseph Boyse, a Presbyterian[2] minister. He studied in Dublin, then Glasgow University; he had no profession other than writer, a career which took him to Edinburgh and London.[3] He married at the age of 20.[4]

Boyse "had many brilliant opportunities for advancement, all of which he wasted by almost inexplicable recklessness", according to William Lloyd Phelps. "Debts at length drove him from Edinburgh. He often had to beg for the smallest coins, and wrote verses in bed to obtain money for clothes and food.".[4]

Boyse became a regular contributor to Gentleman's Magazine, where he wrote under the pen names "Alcaeus" and "Y". Boyse was patronised by Sir Robert Walpole, but later fell into poverty during the latter part of his life. He was sometimes regarded as dissolute, sometimes as insane.[3][5]

His religious verse was valued, and his poetry was collected and reprinted. He died of consumption, although the circumstances of his death have been disputed.[3]

Bibliography

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sambrook, James (2004). "Boyse, Samuel (1702/3?–1749)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/3152. Retrieved 3 December 2013. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  2. 1 2 "The Olive: an Ode. In the Stanza of Spenser". English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Samuel Boyse (1708–1749)". English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Phelps, William Lloyd, Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement, pp 64–65 (1893), as quoted in "The Olive, an Heroick Ode: Preface" at English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition website. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  5. ↑  "Boyse, Samuel". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  6. ↑ "An Ode sacred to the Birth of the Marquis of Tavistock", at English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition website. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  7. ↑ "The Character and Speech of Cosroes the Mede: an Improvement of the Squire's Tale of Chaucer.", at English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition website. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "Cambuscan, or the Squire's Tale.", at English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition website. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  9. ↑ "The Vision of Patience, an Allegorical Poem.", at English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition website. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  10. ↑ "Albion's Triumph. An Ode.", at English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition website. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  11. ↑ "To Mr. Urban, on the Conclusion of his Vol. XIII for the Year 1743. Ode.", at English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition website. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
  12. ↑ "Irene, an Heroic Ode in the Stanza of Spenser.", at English Poetry 1579–1830: Spenser and the Tradition website. Retrieved 6 July 2009.
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