The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV.Cibber, Theophilus
General
The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume IV.
Cibber, Theophilus
Poets, English -- Biography -- Early works to 1800; Poets, Irish -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
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Dr. GEORGE SEWEL,
This ingenious gentleman was the eldest son of Mr. John Sewel,
treasurer, and chapter-clerk of the college of Windsor, in which
place our poet was born. He received his education at Eton school, was
afterwards sent to the university of Cambridge, and took the degree
of bachelor of physic at Peter-house College. He then passed over
to Leyden, and studied under the famous Boerhaave, and afterwards
returned to London, where for several years he practised as a
Physician. He had a strong propension for poetry, and has favoured
the world with many performances much applauded. In the year 1719 he
introduced upon the stage his tragedy of Sir Walter Raleigh, taken
from the historical account of that great man's fate. He was chiefly
concerned in writing the fifth volume of the Tatler, and the ninth
of the Spectator. He translated, with some other gentlemen, the
Metamorphoses of Ovid, with very great success, and rendered the Latin
poems of Mr. Addison into English. Dr. Sewel made an attempt, which he
had not leisure to execute, of translating Quillet's Callipedia, which
was afterwards done by Rowe. He is the author of several miscellanous
poems, of which the following is as accurate an account as we could
possibly obtain. On Conscience, Beauty, the Force of Music, Song of
Troilus, &c. dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle.
To his Grace the Duke of Marlborough, upon his going into Germany
1712. This poem begins thus,
Go, mighty prince, and those great nations see,
Which thy victorious arms made free;
View that fam'd column, where thy name's engrav'd,
Shall tell their children who their empire fav'd.
Point out that marble where thy worth is shewn
To every grateful country but thy own.
A Description of the Field of Battle, after Caesar was Conqueror at
Pharsalia, from the Seventh Book of Lucan.
The Patriot.
Translations from Lucan, occasioned by the Tragedy of Cato.
The Fifth Elegy of the First Book of Tibullus, translated, and
addressed to Delia.
An Apology for Loving a Widow.
The Fifth Psalm Paraphrased.
A Poetical Epistle, written from Hampstead to Mr. Thornhill, upon Mr.
Addison's Cato.
An Epistle to Mr. Addison on the Death of the Earl of Hallifax. This
poem begins thus,
And shall great Hallifax resign to fate,
And not one bard upon his ashes wait?
Or is with him all inspiration fled,
And lye the muses with their patron dead?
Convince us, Addison, his spirit reigns,
Breathing again in thy immortal strains:
To thee the list'ning world impartial bends,
Since Hallifax and envy now are friends.
Cupid's Proclamation, or a Defence of Women; a Poem from Chaucer.
Dr. Sewel, in his state principles, was inclined to the cause of
the Tories, and takes every occasion to combat with the bishop of
Salisbury, who had so eminently appeared in the cause of the Whigs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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