Hildebrand Jacob (1692 or 1693–1739) was a British poet and playwright, whose major works include the epic poem ''Brutus the Trojan'' and the tragic verse drama ''The Fatal Constancy''.
His collected works (entitled ''The Works of H. Jacob, Esqr.'') were published in 1735.
Family
His father was
Sir John Jacob, third baronet of
Bromley
Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011.
Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...
, Middlesex (c.1665–1740) and his mother was Dorothy (c.1662–1749). Sir John served in the army from 1685 to 1702, seeing action at the
Battle of Killiecrankie
The Battle of Killiecrankie ( gd, Blàr Choille Chnagaidh), also referred to as the Battle of Rinrory, took place on 27 July 1689 during the 1689 Scottish Jacobite rising. An outnumbered Jacobite force under John Graham, Viscount Dundee and ...
and in Ireland.
Following his father, Hildebrand served in the army until at least 1715, then in 1717 he married Meriel, daughter of another baronet, Sir John Bland of Kippax-Park, Yorkshire. They had a son, also Hildebrand, and a daughter, Anne They made their home at
West Wratting
West Wratting is a village and civil parish 10 miles southeast of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire. At above sea level, it can claim to be one of the highest villages in Cambridgeshire.
The parish covers 3,543 acres in south east Cambridge, a thin ...
, Cambridgeshire.
He never succeeded to his father's seat, dying in 1739, a year before Sir John. His son Sir Hildebrand Jacob (1717 or 1718–1790) succeeded Sir John at his death on 31 March 1740, becoming the fourth baronet.
[ The junior Sir Hildebrand was known as an excellent scholar, particularly of Hebrew.
]
''Brutus the Trojan''
''Brutus the Trojan'' (1735) is an epic poem about Brutus of Troy
Brutus, also called Brute of Troy, is a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British history as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the ''Historia Brittonum'', an anonymous ...
, the legendary founder of Britain, according to the histories of Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth
Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography ...
.
Plays
His plays included the tragedy '' The Fatal Constancy'' (1723). He also wrote comedies: ''The Nest of Plays'' (1738) comprised ''The Prodigal Reform'd'', ''The Happy Constancy'', and ''The Trial of Conjugal Love''.
Other works
Jacob produced a number of bawdy works, probably including ''The Curious Maid'' (1720), although this is sometimes attributed to Matthew Prior (1664–1721).
Other works include ''Bedlam'' (1723), ''Chiron to Achilles'' (1732), ''Hymn to the Goddess of Silence'' (1734), ''Of the sister arts: an essay'' (1734), ''The progress of religion'' (1737), and ''Donna Clara to her daughter Teresa: an epistle'' (1737).
Portrait
The National Portrait Gallery in London has an engraving of him by Jacobus Houbraken after George Knapton
George Knapton (1698–1778) was an English portrait painter and the first portraitist for the Society of Dilettanti in the 1740s. He became Surveyor and Keeper of the King's Pictures from 1765 to 1778.
Life and work
Knapton was born in Chri ...
(NPG D18752).
References
External links
Hildebrand Jacob
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacob, Hildebrand
People from West Wratting
1690s births
1739 deaths
English male poets