Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen (1792–1836) was an English poet and writer, known as translator of
Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' (Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...
.
Life
The eldest son of John Wiffen, an ironmonger, by his wife Elizabeth Pattison, both from
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
backgrounds, he was born at
Woburn,
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...
, on 30 December 1792;
Benjamin Barron Wiffen
Benjamin Barron Wiffen (1794–1867) was an English Quaker businessman, bibliophile and biographer of early Spanish Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a m ...
was his younger brother, and his youngest sister Priscilla married
Alaric Alexander Watts
Alaric Alexander Watts (16 March 1797 – 5 April 1864) was a British poet and journalist, born in London. His life was dedicated to newspaper creation and editing, and he was seen as a conservative writer. It led him to bankruptcy, when a p ...
. His father died young, leaving six children to Elizabeth's care. At the age of ten Jeremiah entered
Ackworth School
Ackworth School is an independent day and boarding school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school (or more accurately its Head) is a member ...
in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, where he acquired some skill in
wood engraving
Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and ...
.
At age 14, Wiffen was apprenticed to Isaac Payne, a schoolmaster at
Epping Epping may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Epping railway station, Sydney
* Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
* Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...
,
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
. In 1811 he returned to Woburn and opened a school in Leighton Road. By hard study he made himself at home in the classics and Hebrew, French, and Italian, and later, Spanish and Welsh. On a visit to the
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as the Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains (or ''fells''), and its associations with William Wordswor ...
with his brother in the summer of 1819 he made the acquaintance of
Robert Southey
Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...
and of
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
, whose "white pantaloons" and "hawk's nose" are described in his diary. In the summer of 1821 he was appointed librarian at
Woburn Abbey
Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, a ...
to
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford
John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, (6 July 1766 – 20 October 1839), known as Lord John Russell until 1802, was a British Whig politician who notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Ministry of All the Talents. He was the fathe ...
.
Wiffen declined the degree of LL.D. from Aberdeen University in 1827. His death was sudden, at
Froxfield
Froxfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. The parish is on the Wiltshire-West Berkshire border, and the village lies on the A4 national route about west of Hungerford and east of Marlborough.
Froxfield vill ...
, near Woburn, on 2 May 1836; he was buried on 8 May in the Friends' graveyard,
Woburn Sands
Woburn Sands () is a town that straddles the border between Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire in England, and also is part of the Milton Keynes urban area. See map. The larger part of the town is in Woburn Sands civil parish, which is in the City ...
, Buckinghamshire.
Works
Wiffen's first appearance in print was in 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 Rev ...
'' of October 1807, with an ''Address to the Evening Star'' versified from
Ossian
Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763), and later combined under t ...
. His first contribution on an antiquarian subject was an account of
Broxbourne
Broxbourne is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Hoddesdon, in the Broxbourne district, in Hertfordshire, England, north of London, with a population of 15,303 at the 2011 Census.Broxbourne Town population 2011 It is ...
church,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, with an etching by himself.
With
James Baldwin Brown the elder
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
and
Thomas Raffles
Thomas Raffles (1788–1863) was an English Congregational minister, known as a dominant nonconformist figure at the Great George Street Congregational Church in Liverpool, and as an abolitionist and historian.
Early life
The only son of Willi ...
, Wiffen published ''Poems by Three Friends'' (1813); the joint authorship was acknowledged in the second edition (1815). With his brother he published ''Elegiac Lines'' (1818) commemorating William Thompson, Quaker schoolmaster of
Penketh
Penketh is a civil parish and suburb of Warrington in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It is located about west of Warrington town centre. It has a population of 8,699. It is in the historic county of Cheshire.
The name is derive ...
, Lancashire. His earliest independent volume was ''Aonian Hours'' (1819, dedicated to his brother; 2nd ed. 1820). His next book was ''Julia Alpinula … and other Poems'' (1820, dedicated to Alaric Watts; 2nd ed. 1820).
In 1821 Wiffen issued "Proposals" for publishing by subscription a new translation of Tasso in
Spenserian verse. As a specimen, the fourth book of ''
Jerusalem Delivered
''Jerusalem Delivered'', also known as ''The Liberation of Jerusalem'' ( it, La Gerusalemme liberata ; ), is an epic poem by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso, first published in 1581, that tells a largely mythified version of the First Crusade i ...
'' was published in 1821, with a dissertation on existing translations. His next work in verse was a translation of ''The Works of Garcilasso de la Vega'', 1823, dedicated to the Duke of Bedford, with a life of
Garcilaso de la Vega, and an essay on Spanish poetry. The publication of the completed version of ''Jerusalem Delivered'' was delayed by a fire in the printing office; it appeared in 1824, dedicated to the Duchess of Bedford, with a life of Tasso and a list of English crusaders, 2 vols.
[There was another edition the same year, 3 vols.; reprinted 1830, 2 vols.; and in Bohn's series, 1854, 1 vol., in addition to several American editions.] The ''
Quarterly Review
The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River ...
'' concluded that Wiffen, as a translator of Tasso, was ahead of
John Hoole
John Hoole (December 1727 – 2 August 1803) was an English translator, the son of Samuel Hoole (born 1692), a mechanic, and Sarah Drury (c. 1700 – c. 1793), the daughter of a Clerkenwell clockmaker. He became a personal friend of Samuel John ...
and
James Leigh Hunt, but some way behind
Edward Fairfax
Edward Fairfax (c. 1580 – 27 January 1635) was an English translator. He translated Torquato Tasso's ''Jerusalem Delivered''. He also wrote an original work on demonology.
Life
He was the natural son of Sir Thomas Fairfax the elder, of Den ...
.
Wiffen's other poetical works were:
* ''Verses … on the Alameda'', 1827,;
* ''Appeal for the Injured African'', Newcastle upon Tyne, 1833; and
* ''Verses … at Woburn Abbey, on … the statues of Locke and Erskine'', 1836.
Eight years' work went into Wiffen's compilation of ''Historical Memoirs of the House of Russell'', 1833, 2 vols. He made some of the researches over a four months' tour in
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
. Other publications were a ''Geographical Primer'' (1812), and ''Thoughts on the Creation, Fall, and Regeneration'', 1826, by John Humbles, "a Bedfordshire peasant" which Wiffen edited. A selection of his poems and ballads was given in ''The Brothers Wiffen'' (1880), by S. R. Pattison.
Family
Wiffen married Mary Whitehead, on 28 November 1828, at the Friends' meeting-house in
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
. They had three daughters.
Notes
Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiffen, Jeremiah Holmes
1792 births
1836 deaths
English translators
English librarians
People from Woburn, Bedfordshire
People educated at Ackworth School
English male poets
19th-century English poets
19th-century British translators
19th-century English male writers
English male non-fiction writers