John Delap (1725–1812) was an English churchman and academic, known as a poet and dramatist.

Life

The son of John Delap, of

Spilsby Spilsby is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The town is adjacent to the main A16, east of the county town of Lincoln, north-east of Boston and north-west of Skegness. It ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, he entered

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, but migrated to

Magdalene College Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, and was admitted pensioner on 15 March 1743. He took the degrees of B.A. in 1747, M.A. in 1750, and D.D. in 1762, and was described on the last occasion as of Trinity College. On 30 December 1748 he was elected to a fellowship at Magdalene. Delap was ordained in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, and was once curate to

William Mason William, Willie, or Willy Mason may refer to: Arts and entertainment *William Mason (poet) (1724–1797), English poet, editor and gardener *William Mason (architect) (1810–1897), New Zealand architect *William Mason (composer) (1829–1908), Ame ...

. The united livings of Iford and

Kingston near Lewes Kingston near Lewes is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book and is located two miles (3.2 km) south of Lewes and is nestled in the South Downs. The parish ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

were conferred on him in 1765, and he became rector of Woollavington in 1774. But he lived at South Street,

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

, where he died in 1812, aged 87. Delap used to visit

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

and

Hester Thrale Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; later Piozzi; 27 January 1741 or 16 January 1740 – 2 May 1821),Contemporary records, which used the Julian calendar and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years, recorded her birth as 16 January ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

or Tunbridge Wells, so knew

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

and

Fanny Burney Frances Burney (13 June 1752 – 6 January 1840), also known as Fanny Burney and later Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist, diarist and playwright. In 1786–1790 she held the post as "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Mecklen ...

, who found his conversation onerous- Johnson for Delap's obsession with his health, and Burney for the manner in which, despite being "commonly and naturally grave, silent, and absent", Delap would "work... threadbare" any subject raised in conversation on which he had anything to say.

Works

Delap's first work was ''Marcellus, a Monody'', 1751, inspired by the death of

Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fath ...

, inscribed to his widow. It was succeeded by a number of elegies (1760); two which may have been among those were in George Pearch's ''Collection of Poems''. His thesis for his divinity degree (12 April 1762) was published in 1763, ''Mundi perpetuus administrator Christus''. The tragedy ''Hecuba'' by Delap was produced at Drury Lane Theatre on 11 December 1761, when the prologue, written by Robert Lloyd, was spoken by

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1717 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil and friend of Sa ...

, who also wrote the epilogue. It was printed anonymously in 1762. Delap wanted Garrick to produce of a tragedy entitled ''Panthea'', in vain. Delap addressed a long letter to him in 1762 in favour of a new composition, '' The Royal Suppliants''; it was accepted, but not acted until 17 Feb. 1781, when it ran for ten nights at Drury Lane, and was published with a dedication to

Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston, FRS (4 December 1739 – 17 April 1802), was a British politician. Life Temple was a son of Henry Temple (son of Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston) and Jane, daughter of Sir John Barnard, Lord Mayor ...

. In 1774 Garrick refused the ''Royal Exiles''. A tragedy '' The Captives'' by Delap, was staged at Drury Lane on 9 March 1786, was acted three times, and was published in the same year. An unacted play ''Gunilda'' was published in 1786. Delap wrote further verse: * ''An Elegy on the Death of the Duke of Rutland'', 1788; * ''Sedition, an Ode occasioned by his Majesty's late Proclamation'', 1792; and * ''The Lord of Nile, an Elegy'', 1799. Four unacted plays in one volume of ''Dramatic Poems: Gunilda, Usurper, Matilda, and Abdalla'', then appeared in 1803.

Notes

External links

John Delap
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Delap, John 1725 births 1812 deaths 18th-century English Anglican priests English dramatists and playwrights Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge English male dramatists and playwrights English male poets