Joseph Robertson (1726–1802) was an English clergyman and writer.
Life
Born at
Knipe,
Westmoreland, on 28 August 1726, he was the son of a
maltster from a family of Rutter,
Appleby. His mother was the only daughter of Edward Stevenson of Knipe, a relative of
Edmund Gibson. Robertson was educated at the free school at Appleby, and on 17 March 1746 matriculated from
The Queen's College, Oxford. He graduated B.A. on 19 Oct. 1749, and took holy orders about 1752, being appointed curate to Dr. Sykes at
Rayleigh, Essex. In 1758 he was presented to the living of
Herriard
Herriard is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Basingstoke, which lies north. The village is situated mainly on the A339 road between Alton, and Basingstoke. At the 2001 ...
in
Hampshire, and married. He became rector of
Sutton, Essex
Sutton is a village and civil parish in the District of Rochford in Essex, England. It is located between the River Roach and the adjoining Borough of Southend-on-Sea, and includes the hamlet of Shopland. It has a population of 127, increasing ...
, in 1770, and in 1779 vicar of
St. Mary's Church, Horncastle
St. Mary's Church, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England, dates from the early 13th century and is dedicated to Saint Mary. It serves the Ecclesiastical Parish of Horncastle and a grade II* listed building that was heavily restored by Ewan Christia ...
, by the gift of his relative
Edmund Law.
Robertson died of
apoplexy on 19 January 1802, in his seventy-sixth year. His wife, a daughter of Timothy Raikes, chemist, of London, survived him, but his children all died in infancy.
Works
Robertson was a prolific writer with a reputation as a critic. In 1772 he revised for the press Gregory Sharpe's posthumous sermons, and in the same year edited
Algernon Sidney's ''Discourses on Government'', at the request of
Thomas Hollis. In ''
The Critical Review
''The Critical Review'' was a British publication appearing from 1756 to 1817. It was first edited by Tobias Smollett, from 1756 to 1763. Contributors included Samuel Johnson, David Hume, John Hunter, and Oliver Goldsmith.
Early years
The Ed ...
'' he contributed over 2,600 articles between 1764 and 1785. He also wrote in the ''
Gentleman's Magazine'', and produced a learned work on the authenticity of the ''
Parian Chronicle'' (London, 1788), which was answered by
John Hewlett.
Other works included sermons, a translation of
François Fénelon
François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon (), more commonly known as François Fénelon (6 August 1651 – 7 January 1715), was a French Catholic archbishop, theologian, poet and writer. Today, he is remembered mostly as the author of '' Th ...
's ''
Les Aventures de Télémaque
:''"Les Aventures de Télémaque" is also the title of a 1922 seven-chapter story by Louis Aragon.''
''Les aventures de Télémaque, fils d'Ulysse'' (English: ''The adventures of Telemachus, son of Ulysses'') is a didactic novel by François F ...
'' (1795), and:
* ''A Letter to Sauxay on the Case of Miss Butterfield, a Young Woman charged with Murder'', London, 1775, with ''Observations on the same'', 1776.
* ''Essay on Culinary Poisons'', London, 1781.
* ''Introduction to the Study of Polite Literature'', London, 1782; other editions 1785, 1799, and 1808.
* ''An Essay on Punctuation'', London, 1785; 5th edit. London, 1808; answered by David Steel in ''Remarks on an Essay'', London, 1786.
* ''Observations on the Act for augmenting the Salaries of Curates'', published under the name of Eusebius, Vicar of Lilliput, London, 1797.
* ''An Essay on the Education of Young Ladies'', 1798.
* ''Essay on the Nature of English Verse'', London, 1799; 5th edit., 1808.
References
*
;Attribution
*
External links
*
The Parian chronicle, or The chronicle of the Arundelian marbles; with a dissertation concerning its authenticity', 1788, from the
Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Joseph
1726 births
1802 deaths
18th-century English Anglican priests
English writers
English male writers
People from Garden Route District Municipality
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford