Samuel Jackson Pratt
Samuel Jackson Pratt | |
---|---|
St Ives, Huntingdonshire | |
Died | 4 October 1814 Birmingham, West Midlands | (aged 64)
Pen name | "Courtney Melmoth" |
Occupation | Writer, poet & dramatist |
Language | English |
Nationality | English |
Education | Felsted, Essex |
Period | 18th & 19th Centuries |
Spouse | "Mrs Charlotte Melmoth" |
Samuel Jackson Pratt (25 December 1749 – 4 October 1814) was a prolific English poet, dramatist and novelist, writing under the pseudonym of "Courtney Melmoth"[1] as well as under his own name. He authored around 40 publications between 1770 and 1810, some of which are still published today,[2] and is probably best remembered as the author of Emma Corbett: or the Miseries of Civil War, (1780) and the poem Sympathy (1788).[3] Although his reputation was tainted by scandal during his lifetime, he is today recognised as an early campaigner for animal welfare[4] and the first English writer to treat the American Revolution as a legitimate subject for literature.[5]
Biography
Early life
Samuel Jackson Pratt was born "to a very respectable family"
"Sham marriage"
Some time in the early 1770s, Pratt entered into a marital-like relationship with a lady who thereafter referred to herself as "Mrs Charlotte Melmoth" (Melmoth being Pratt's stage-name). Her maiden name is unknown.[10] According to A History of The City of Brooklyn, Charlotte "had been duped into a sham marriage, while at boarding school, by a Mr. Pratt (known in the literary and theatrical circles of that day as Courtney Melmoth ), and with him went upon the stage, playing in several companies both in England and Ireland.".[11] Pratt's parents strongly disapproved of the relationship[8] and it is not known whether or not the marriage was ever legally formalised. The couple toured together in theatrical productions, unsuccessfully, and eventually had to resort to telling fortunes to make their living.[8]
By 1777 the couple were briefly in Paris, where they met Benjamin Franklin who lent the couple money which they struggled to repay.[12] Charlotte, like Pratt, considered herself a poet, and Pratt sent Franklin copies of some of his wife's poetry.[13]
In 1781 the couple separated and Charlotte embarked on a solo acting career. In 1793 she emigrated to America where she gained a reputation as "The Grande Dame of Tragedy on the Early American Stage".[10] The couple would never meet again.
The relationship was to taint Pratt's reputation with the reading public as indicating a dubious moral character;[14] one obituary published after his death tactfully refers to the relationship as "such indiscretions as too frequently accompany genius";[7] others simply omit any reference to his marriage altogether.[1]
Stage career
In 1773, having abandoned his Church career, Pratt made his first appearance as an actor under the name 'Courtney Melmoth' at the
Later life
In 1774, having given up the stage, he had his first literary success – a poem entitled The Tears of A Genius, occasioned by the Death of Dr Goldsmith which attracted the attention of the reading public, and from then onwards he was able to make a living by writing.
By 1802 he was in
Literary career
Pratt's first poem, written while he was still a clergyman,[7] was The Partridges – an elegy. Published in The Annual Register in 1771, it was a 10-verse tale of a mother partridge praying for the safety of her chicks during the shooting season, and revealed Pratt's concern for animal welfare which would be reflected in later writings.[17] It was included in many collections of popular poetry throughout the 19th Century.[8]
However, it was his The Tears of A Genius, occasioned by the Death of Dr Goldsmith (1774) which first caught the public's attention: written within a few hours of Goldsmith's death, it contained poetry written in imitation of Goldsmith's style[8] and was published under Pratt's pseudonym of 'Courtney Melmoth'.[1]
Over the next six years he produced twelve further works as 'Courtney Melmoth' including An Apology for the Life and Writings of David Hume (1777); Shenstone Green, or the New Paradise Lost (1779); Emma Corbett (1780) and Shadows of Shakespeare, a Monody on Death of Garrick (1779): lines from the latter are quoted on Garrick's memorial in Westminster Abbey.[8] In 1781 he began writing under his own name, with a tragic play entitled The Fair Circassian, and most of his following works were published as by Samuel Jackson Pratt.
During the 1790s he produced his popular Gleanings through Wales, Holland and Westphalia and Gleanings in England, which went through several editions. In total he penned seven novels (in twenty-three volumes), ten plays and twenty-three volumes of poems, 'miscellanies' and travel journals.[1][18]
The Pupil of Pleasure
In 1776 he scandalised the literary world with a novel, satirising
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Emma_Corbett.jpg/220px-Emma_Corbett.jpg)
Emma Corbett
In 1780 Pratt, still using the name Courtney Melmoth, published his most historically significant novel: Emma Corbett or, The miseries of civil war. Founded on some recent circumstances which happened in America. In the novel, the title-character, Emma, travels to America to find her lover, Henry, a British soldier. She is captured by American rebels, but released on
Dramatic works
As well as his poems, novels and 'miscellanies', Pratt drew upon his theatre experience to write ten plays, although three were never performed or published. His first play, Joseph Andrews, was an adaptation of
Animal welfare
Pratt was a campaigner against
Critical reception
Critical reception to Pratt's works was mixed during his lifetime. His scandalous "sham marriage" and the public furore over his "unnatural and shocking" novel The Pupil of Pleasure damaged his reputation, giving him a 'dubious moral character' which deterred respectable readers.
"It is a just tribute to his character to say that all his works strongly tended to promote the interests of benevolence and virtue. Though his literary fame has been somewhat overcast by the extraordinary success of several contemporary poets, yet it is probable that many of his works will be admired when most of theirs has sunk into oblivion."
However the same publication also noted that "his chief error was not knowing how to check the exuberance of his feeling and imagination; and therefore he sometimes diffused his sentiments to a tedious extent."[1] Charles Lamb lambasted his Gleanings as "A wretched assortment of vapid feelings", although the same volume was popular enough with readers to pass through many editions.[8] The London Magazine said of The Tutor of Truth, "We can recommend this sprightly and at the same time instructive romance in the warmest terms."[1] The Catalogue of Five Hundred Authors Now Living (1788) summarised his works with the succinct phrase "There are people now living who believe that they possess a degree of merit." The Gentleman's Magazine obituary of Pratt summarised his life with the words
"No man who ever attained public distinction was more exempt from envy; and though he may, in the vicissitudes of a life unsupported by fortune and exposed to all the casualties of a precarious subsistence, have fallen into errors, nothing of malice or ill-nature can justly be imputed to him; and as his works are all intended to promote the interests of virtue, none of these errors should be remembered in his epitaph."[7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Notes and Queries" – Oxford Journals
- ^ Guardian Newspaper – 'Book' pages – recent editions of Pratt's works.
- ^ "Sympathy" by Samuel Jackson Pratt
- ^ Animal Rights History website
- ^ American Philosopophical Society :"Samuel Jackson Pratt, novelist and poet" (1952)
- ^ a b c d e Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century: John Nichols
- ^ a b c d 'A Memoir of Samuel Jackson Pratt' – The Gentleman's Magazine
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Dictionary of National Biography 1921–1922 Vols 1–20
- ^ Chalmers' "General Biographical Dictionary" (1817)
- ^ a b Oxford Companion to American Theatre : Mrs Charlotte Melmoth
- ^ A History of the City of Brooklyn. Including The Old Town And Village of Brooklyn, The Town of Bushwick, And The Village And City of Williamsburgh. Vol.II. Chapter II.
- ^ Franklin Papers 22 June 1778
- ^ Franklin Papers 28 January 1778
- ^ English Poetry 1579–1830
- ^ a b charlotte melmoth&f=false Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians
- ^ Baileys British Directory, 1784
- ^ An online OCR-scanned copy of a selection of Pratt's writings
- ^ a b The Spencerians
- ^ Silhouettes (Edmund Grosse)
- ^ Summary of Emma Corbett
- ^ Dismembering Anglo-America
- ^ Oxford Journals
- ^ Amazon's page for this play
- ^ Animal Rights History
External links
- Complete list of Pratt's writings
- Pratt's obituary in "Notes and Queries"
- Pratt's obituary in "The Gentleman's Magazine"
- An OCR-scanned (hard to read) copy of "Pity's Gift", a collection of Pratt's stories
- Animal Rights History website, giving examples of Pratt's writings on animal welfare.
- Pratt's entry in Chalmers' "General Biographical Dictionary"