Edward Dubois (4 January 1774 – 1850) was an English wit and
man of letters.
Early life
Dubois, son of William Dubois, a merchant in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, whose father was a native of
Neufchâtel, was born at
Love Lane, in the city of London. Educated at home, he came to know the classics well as having some knowledge of French, Italian, and Spanish.
Man of letters
He adopted
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
as his profession, and although he was called to the bar at the
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...
, on 5 May 1809, he did not meet with sufficient success to abandon his pen. He was a regular contributor to various periodicals, and especially to the ''
Morning Chronicle
''The Morning Chronicle'' was a newspaper founded in 1769 in London. It was notable for having been the first steady employer of essayist William Hazlitt as a political reporter and the first steady employer of Charles Dickens as a journalist. It ...
'' under Perry. Art notices, dramatic criticisms, and verses on the topics of the day were his principal contributions; and to the last day of his life he retained his position of art critic on the staff of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
''. When the ''
Monthly Mirror'' was the property of the eccentric
Thomas Hill, it was edited by Dubois, and on Hill's death he gained financially as one of the two executors and residuary legatees.
Theodore Hook
Theodore Edward Hook (22 September 1788 – 24 August 1841) was an English man of letters and composer and briefly a civil servant in Mauritius. He is best known for his practical jokes, particularly the Berners Street hoax in 1809. The w ...
was among his assistants on the ''Monthly Mirror'', and
Richard Harris Barham
Richard Harris Barham (6 December 1788 – 17 June 1845) was an English cleric of the Church of England, a novelist and a humorous poet. He was known generally by his pseudonym Thomas Ingoldsby and as the author of ''The Ingoldsby Legends''.
...
, when writing Hook's life, obtained "many of the most interesting details" of Hook's early history from Dubois. Dubois assisted
Thomas Campbell in editing the first number of
Henry Colburn
Henry Colburn (1784 – 16 August 1855) was a British publisher.
Life
Virtually nothing is known about Henry Colburn's parentage or early life, and there is uncertainty over his year of birth. He was well-educated and fluent in French and h ...
's ''
New Monthly Magazine
''The New Monthly Magazine'' was a British monthly magazine published from 1814 to 1884. It was founded by Henry Colburn and published by him through to 1845.
History
Colburn and Frederic Shoberl established ''The New Monthly Magazine and Univ ...
'', but before the second number could be issued differences broke out and they separated. For a few years he was the editor of the ''
Lady's Magazine
London fashionable spencer ">Spencer_(clothing).html" ;"title="walking dresses, July 1812, including a Spencer (clothing)">spencer
''The Lady's Magazine; or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to Their Use and Amuseme ...
'', and for the same period he conducted the ''
European Magazine
''The European Magazine'' (sometimes referred to as ''European Magazine'') was a monthly magazine published in London. Eighty-nine semi-annual volumes were published from 1782 until 1826. It was launched as the ''European Magazine, and London Re ...
''.
Relationship with Sir Philip Francis
He is sometimes said to have been "a connection" of
Sir Philip Francis
Sir Philip Francis GCB (22 October 1740 – 23 December 1818) was an Irish-born British politician and pamphleteer, thought to be the author of the ''Letters'' of Junius, and the chief antagonist of Warren Hastings. His accusations against t ...
, at other times his private secretary, and they were certainly on intimate terms of friendship from 1807 until Francis's death in 1818. If Francis had gone out as governor of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
in 1807, Dubois would have accompanied him as private secretary. He compiled Francis's biography in the ''Monthly Mirror'' for 1810, and wrote the life of Francis which appeared in the ''
Morning Chronicle
''The Morning Chronicle'' was a newspaper founded in 1769 in London. It was notable for having been the first steady employer of essayist William Hazlitt as a political reporter and the first steady employer of Charles Dickens as a journalist. It ...
'' for 28 December 1818. When
Lord Campbell was composing his ''Memoir'' of
Lord Loughborough
Alexander Wedderburn, 1st Earl of Rosslyn, PC, KC (3 February 1733 – 2 January 1805) was a Scottish lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1761 and 1780 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Loughborough. He se ...
, Dubois obtained for him a long memorandum from Lady Francis on the authorship of the ''
Letters of Junius
''Letters of Junius'' (or Junius: ''Stat nominis umbra'') is a collection of private and open letters critical of the government of King George III from an anonymous polemicist ( Junius) claimed by some to be Philip Francis (although Junius' real ...
''.
The first of these lives is said to have prompted the publication of
John Taylor's ''Junius Identified'', and it has more than once been insinuated that Dubois was the real author of that volume. Considerable correspondence and articles on the general subject of the ''Letters of Junius'' and on Taylor's work appeared in the ''
Athenaeum
Athenaeum may refer to:
Books and periodicals
* ''Athenaeum'' (German magazine), a journal of German Romanticism, established 1798
* ''Athenaeum'' (British magazine), a weekly London literary magazine 1828–1921
* ''The Athenaeum'' (Acadia U ...
'' and ''
Notes and Queries
''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...
'' for 1850 (some of which will be found in
Charles Wentworth Dilke
Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789–1864) was an English liberal critic and writer on literature.
Professional life
He served for many years in the Navy Pay-Office, on retiring from which in 1830 he devoted himself to literary pursuits.
Lit ...
's ''Papers of a Critic'', vol. ii.), but the connection of Dubois with the authorship of ''Junius Identified'' was set at rest by the assurance of Taylor (''
Notes and Queries
''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...
'', 1850, pp. 258–9) that he 'never received the slightest assistance from Mr. Dubois.'a
Later life
For many years, at least twenty years, Dubois was assistant to Serjeant Heath, judge of the court of requests, a 'strange and whimsical court,’ as it has been designated.
When county courts were established a
judgeship was offered to Dubois, but he preferred to continue as Heath's deputy. In 1833 he was appointed by
Lord Brougham to the office of treasurer and secretary of the Metropolitan Lunacy Commission, and on the abolition of that body in 1845 was employed under the new commission without any special duties. These appointments he retained until his death, and their duties were discharged by him with success; for although he loved a joke, even in court, he never allowed this propensity to get the mastery over his natural astuteness. His face was naturally droll, his wit was caustic, and he was 'capital at the dinner table.'
He died at
Sloane Street
Sloane Street is a major London street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea which runs north to south, from Knightsbridge to Sloane Square, crossing Pont Street about halfway along.
History
Sloane Street takes its name from Sir H ...
,
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
, on 10 January 1850, aged 76. One of his last acts was to raise a subscription for the family of
Richard Brinsley Peake
Richard Brinsley Peake (19 February 1792 – 4 October 1847) was a dramatist of the early nineteenth century best remembered today for his 1823 play '' Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein'', a work based on the novel ''Frankenstein'' ...
, the dramatist.
Works
Dubois's works were of an ephemeral character, and appeared when he was a young man.
*''A Piece of Family Biography'', dedicated to
George Colman, 3 vols., 1799.
*''The Wreath'' (1799); these were selections from
Sappho,
Theocritus
Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry.
Life
Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...
,
Bion, and
Moschus
Moschus ( el, Μόσχος), ancient Greek bucolic poet and student of the Alexandrian grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace, was born at Syracuse and flourished about 150 BC. Aside from his poetry, he was known for his grammatical work, nothing o ...
, with prose translation and notes. There were remarks on
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, and a comparison between
Horace and
Lucian. In this compilation he was assisted by
Capel Lofft
Capel Lofft (sometimes spelled Capell; 14 November 1751 – 26 May 1824) was a British lawyer, writer and amateur astronomer.
Life
Born in London, he was educated at Eton College, Peterhouse, Cambridge. He trained as a lawyer at Lincoln's Inn, w ...
. The remarks on Shakespeare chiefly show coincidences and imitations between his works and those of the ancient classics.
*''The Fairy of Misfortune, or the Loves of Octar and Zuleima, an Italian Tale translated from the French, by the author of "A Piece of Family Biography",'' 1799. The original work, ''Mirza and Fatimé'', was published at The Hague in 1754.
*''St. Godwin; a Tale of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Century, by Count Reginald de St. Leon'', 1800. A skit on
William Godwin's novel ''St. Leon''.
*''Old Nick; a Satirical Story in Three Volumes'', 1801; 2nd ed. 1803. Dedicated to Thomas Hill.
*''The Decameron, with remarks on the Life and Writings of Boccaccio, and an Advertisement by the Author of "Old Nick",'' 1804. The translation, which was suggested by Thomas Hill, was a revision of one issued anonymously in 1741.
*''Rhymes'' (1805); anonymous, by
Octavius Graham Gilchrist of Stamford, and edited by Dubois.
*''Poetical Translations of the Works of Horace'' (1807), edition of the work by
Philip Francis, with additional notes by Dubois, 4 vols. Dubois was assisted by Capel Lofft,
Stephen Weston, and Sir Philip Francis.
*When the travels of
Sir John Carr were attracting attention, Dubois undertook, for the publishers of the 'Monthly Mirror,’ to write a satirical pamphlet on Carr's writing. It was called ''My Pocket-book, or Hints for a "Ryghte merrie and conceitede tour, in quarto; to be called, 'The Stranger in Ireland,’ in 1805. By a Knight Errant",'' 1807. This satire quickly passed through two editions, and was followed by 'Old Nick's Pocket-book,’ 1808, written in ridicule of Dubois, by a friend of Carr, who was stung into bringing an action against Hood and Sharpe. The case came before
Lord Ellenborough
Baron Ellenborough, of Ellenborough in the County of Cumberland, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 19 April 1802 for the lawyer, judge and politician Sir Edward Law, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench from ...
and a special jury, at
Guildhall
A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...
, 1 August 1808, when the judge summed up in favour of the defendants, and the verdict was given for them. Two reports of the trial were issued, one on behalf of the plaintiff and the other in the interest of the defendants; the latter report was appended to a third edition of ''My Pocket-book''.
*''The Rising Sun''.
*''The Tarantula, or the Dance of Fools; by the Author of "The Rising Sun",'' (1809). A satire on fashionable life in 1809, which is sometimes attributed to Dubois.
*''Facetiæ, Musarum Deliciæ, or the Muses' Recreation, by Sir J. M.
ennisand Ja. S.
ames Smith… with Memoirs
y Duboisof Sir
John Mennis and Dr.
James Smith'', 1817, 2 vols.
Dubois also edited Harris's ''Hermes'' (6th edit. 1806); ''Fitzosborne's Letters'', by Melmoth (11th edit. 1805); ''Burton's Anatomy'' (1821); ''Hayley's Ballads'', with plates by
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
(1805); and ''Ossian's Poems'' (1806).
Family
He married at Bloomsbury Church in August 1815 Harriet Cresswell, daughter of Richard Cheslyn Cresswell, registrar of the
Arches Court of
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...
. By her, who survived him, he had three sons, and one daughter.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubois, Edward
1774 births
1850 deaths
English people of French descent
Writers from London
English writers
Members of the Inner Temple