Patrick Hume (
fl. 1695) was a Scottish schoolmaster in London, author of the first commentary on the ''
Paradise Lost'' of
John Milton.
Career
In 1695 he edited for
Jacob Tonson
Jacob Tonson, sometimes referred to as Jacob Tonson the Elder (1655–1736), was an eighteenth-century English bookseller and publisher.
Tonson published editions of John Dryden and John Milton, and is best known for having obtained a copyright ...
the sixth edition of Milton's ''Paradise Lost'' with elaborate notes. This is said to have been the first to attempt exhaustive annotations on the works of an English poet. On the title-page he calls himself P. H. φιλοποιητῆς.
Thomas Newton, in his preface to the edition of ''Paradise Lost'' published in 1749, says: ‘Patrick Hume, as he was the first, so is the most copious annotator. He laid the foundation, but he laid it among infinite heaps of rubbish.’
Thomas Warton
Thomas Warton (9 January 172821 May 1790) was an English literary historian, critic, and poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1785, following the death of William Whitehead.
He is sometimes called ''Thomas Warton the younger'' to disti ...
, however, called Hume's work ‘a large and very learned commentary’.
[''Preface to Poems upon Several Occasions, by John Milton'', edition of 1791).] John Callander, who edited the first book of ''Paradise Lost'' in 1750, plagiarised Hume's notes.
Family
He is said to have been a member of the family of Hume of
Polwarth, Berwickshire.
Notes
References
*
17th-century Scottish writers
Scottish editors
Year of death unknown
Year of birth unknown
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