James Maxwell (9 May 1720 – 1800) was a Scottish poet and essayist, known as the "Poet in Paisley".
Life
Maxwell was born in
Auchenback, Renfrewshire, on 9 May 1720. Most of the details of his life come from his autobiographical poem of 1795. Aged 20 he went to England with a hardware pack; he was not successful, and was a weaver for twenty years, and later a tradesman's clerk and a school usher. He returned to Scotland and for a period was a schoolmaster. Eventually Maxwell settled in
Paisley, Renfrewshire in 1782. The following year he was destitute and worked breaking stones for highways; afterwards he sold pamphlets and his own publications, eventually selling only his own works. In 1787 the town council of Paisley gave him a pension; he died in the spring of 1800.
He usually designating himself "Poet in Paisley"; sometimes on the title-page he added to his name the letters S.D.P.: "Student of Divine Poetry".
James Cuthbert Hadden wrote "He rarely rises above doggerel" in his article on Maxwell in the Dictionary of National Biography.
Works
His works include moral essays, and poems about industrial progress. A bibliography, comprising fifty-two separate publications, is given in Robert Brown's ''Paisley Poets'', volume 1, pages 17–23.
Works include:
James Maxwell
Robert Brown, F.S.A., Scot. ''Paisley Poets'' (1889). Volume 1, pages 17–23. archive.org
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
.
* ''Divine Miscellanies; or, Sacred Poems'' (Birmingham, 1756)
* ''Hymns and Spiritual Songs'' (London, 1759)
* ''A new Version of the whole Book of Psalms in Metre'' (Glasgow, 1773)
* ''The Wonder of Wonders: or, The Cotton Manufacture. A Poem. Being a general account of the rapid progress of that branch and other, at the new Town of Johnstone....'' (Paisley, 1785)
* ''Happiness. A Moral Essay shewing the Vain Pursuits of Mankind after Happiness....'' (Paisley, 1786)
* ''The Great Canal; or, the Forth and Clyde Navigation. A Poem descriptive of that Useful and Extensive Undertaking....'' (Paisley, 1788)
* ''Animadversions on some Poets and Poetasters of the Present Age'' (Paisley, 1788), a poem in which his contemporaries Robert Burns
Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...
and John Lapraik
John Lapraik (1727 – 7 May 1807) was a Scottish farmer and poet, and friend of Robert Burns.
Life
The family name is derived from the French 'Laprivick' or 'Lekprevick' and the first of the Scottish branch had accompanied Mary Queen of Scots to ...
are regarded unfavourably
* ''On the French Revolution. A Moral Essay on the Rights of Man'' (Paisley, 1792)
* ''A Brief Narrative, or, Some Remarks on the Life of James Maxwell, Poet, in Paisley'', an autobiographical poem, written in his seventy-sixth year (Paisley, 1795)
See also
*List of 18th-century British working-class writers
This list focuses on published authors whose working-class status or background was part of their literary reputation. These were, in the main, writers without access to formal education, so they were either autodidacts or had mentors or patrons ...
References
External links
''Animadversions on some Poets and Poetasters of the Present Age''
www.lapraik.com
James Maxwell
at hymnary.org
Hymnary.org is an online database of hymns, hymnodists and hymnals hosted by Calvin College's Calvin Institute of Christian Worship and Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The searchable database contains over one million hymn tunes and texts and ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, James
1720 births
1800 deaths
People from Paisley, Renfrewshire
18th-century Scottish poets
Church of Scotland hymnwriters
Scottish essayists