Robert Potter (1721 – 9 August 1804) was an English clergyman of 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 a translator, poet, critic and pamphleteer. He established the convention of using blank verse for Greek hexameters and rhymed verse for choruses. His 1777 English version of the plays of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

was frequently reprinted and the only one available for the next 50 years.

Life

Potter was born in Podimore, Somerset, the third son of John Potter (fl. 1676–1723), a prebendary of Wells Cathedral. He studied at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

and graduated BA in 1742, when he was also ordained. He married the daughter of Rev. Colman of

Hardingham Hardingham is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of 4 square miles (9.78 km) with a population of 274 in 110 households at the 2001 census, decreasing to a population of 267 in 107 households at the 2011 Census. ...

, Norfolk. His children included a daughter, Sarah, referred to in a letter. Potter became curate of

Reymerston Reymerston is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Garvestone, Reymerston and Thuxton, in the Breckland district, in the county of Norfolk, England, six miles north west of Wymondham, six miles south east of Dereham, and a half ...

and vicar of Melton Parva, but the combined emoluments of these were less than £50 a year. He later became curate of

Scarning Scarning is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 2,932 in 1,092 households at the 2001 census, which eased at the 2011 Census to 2,906 in the same number of households. For l ...

, Norfolk, as well as the master of the local Seckar's School from 1761 to 1789, but spent much of his time writing and translating. Among Potter's pupils was Jacob Mountain (1749–1825), the first Anglican bishop of Quebec. Until 1788, Potter struggled to support his family on his meagre stipends and support from aristocratic patrons. He was at last made financially secure when he was appointed a prebendary of Norwich Cathedral through the patronage of the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

Lord Thurlow Baron Thurlow, of Thurlow in the County of Suffolk, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created on 11 June 1792 for the lawyer and politician Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow, with remainder to his younger brothers and the heirs ...

, who had attended Seckar's School. According to one account, Thurlow and Potter had been schoolfellows at Seckar's, which seems unlikely, as Potter was ten years his junior. For whatever reason, when Potter approached Thurlow to ask for a £10 subscription to his Sophocles translation, he received a valuable cathedral stall instead. This meant he could resign other offices and move to Norwich. In June 1789

Lewis Bagot Lewis Bagot (1 January 1740 – 4 June 1802) was an English cleric who served as the Bishop of Bristol, Norwich, and St Asaph. Early life He was the fifth son of Sir Walter Wagstaffe Bagot of Blithfield Hall, Staffordshire and the former Lady ...

, Bishop of Norwich, presented Potter with the valuable vicarage of the combined parishes of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

and Kessingland,

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, and in 1790 he moved again to Lowestoft, where died on 9 August 1804 and was buried in the parish churchyard.

Publications

Potter published in several different genres during his long career.

Poetry

Potter published ''Retirement: an epistle'' (1747), ''A farewell hymne to the country. Attempted in the manner of Spenser's Epithalamion'' (1749 and 1750), ''Holkham, a poem'' (1758), ''Kymber. A monody'' (1759), and his collected ''Poems by Mr. Potter'' (1774).''English Short-title catalogue'' (www.estc.bl.uk).

Sermons

Potter published three sermons. ''On the pretended inspiration of the Methodists'' (1758) was answered by

Cornelius Cayley Cornelius Cayley (23 April 1727 – 1779) was a British religious writer and preacher. Family He was a great-grandson of Sir William Cayley, the first of the Cayley baronets. His parents were Cornelius Cayley (1692-1779), a barrister who was in ...

in "A letter to the Rev. Mr. Potter", which in turn occasioned "An appendix to the sermon on the pretended inspiration of the Methodists. Occasioned by Mr. Cayley's letter. By the reverend Mr. Potter". "A sermon preached before the Right Worshipful the Mayor of Norwich, and the corporation, in the cathedral, on Friday, April 19, 1793" attacked Thomas Paine's '' Rights of Man''. The third was ''A sermon for the first day of June 1802, being the day appointed for a general thanksgiving for peace''.

Political pamphlets

In 1768 Potter wrote "A letter to John Buxton, of Shadwell, Esq; on the contests relative to the ensuing election for the county of Norfolk", and in 1775 ''Observations on the poor laws, on the present state of the poor, and on House of Industry'', criticising the cruel treatment of the rural poor.

Translations

Potter is best remembered for his annotated English translations of

Greek tragedies Greek tragedy is a form of theatre from Ancient Greece and Greek inhabited Anatolia. It reached its most significant form in Athens in the 5th century BC, the works of which are sometimes called Attic tragedy. Greek tragedy is widely believed t ...

in blank verse. He completed the plays of

Æschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, wikt:Αἰσχύλος, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre be ...

(1777),

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

(1781–1783) and

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

in (1788). that remained in print throughout the 19th century. Of the three, the Aeschylus was best known and went through seven editions up to 1892. Likewise his Euripides went through six editions up to 1906; the Sophocles was reprinted in 1808 and 1880. Potter's scheme of using blank verse for Greek hexameters and rhymed verse for the choruses was widely adopted by translators. In 1779 Potter collaborated with the politician Hans Stanley to correct and annotate Stanley's translation of

Pindar Pindar (; grc-gre, Πίνδαρος , ; la, Pindarus; ) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar is ...

's ''Odes''. The task was completed but never published due to Stanley's suicide in January 1780.

Literary criticism

After completing his Euripides, Potter set about an essay on lyric poetry using some notes prepared for the translation of Pindar, but incorporating a defence of the work of

Thomas Gray Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classics, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his ''Elegy Written in a Country ...

after recent criticisms of it by

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 ...

in his '' Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets''. Elizabeth Montagu persuaded him to convert the project into ''An inquiry into some passages in Dr. Johnson's Lives of the poets: particularly his observations on lyric poetry, and the odes of Gray''. In 1789, after Johnson's death, Potter published ''The art of criticism; as exemplified in Dr. Johnson's lives of the most eminent English poets''.

Assessment

The antiquary

Craven Ord Craven Ord (1756–1832) was an English antiquarian. He was particularly noted for his brass rubbings. Life The younger son of Harry Ord, of the king's remembrancer's office, by Anne, daughter of Francis Hutchinson of Barnard Castle, County Durham ...

found Potter "narrow in his circumstances with a disagreeable wife... rather an entertaining and well-behaved gentleman, with some singularities of thinking." A letter from

Sarah Burney Sarah Harriet Burney (29 August 1772 – 8 February 1844) was an English novelist, the daughter of musicologist and composer Charles Burney, and half-sister of the novelist and diarist Frances Burney (Madame d'Arblay). She had some intermittent ...

to her sister

Frances 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 ...

on 1 August 1779 states that

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 ...

and their circle thought little of Potter's poetic abilities. Johnson may have called Potter's poetry "verbiage", but

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whigs (British political party), Whig politician. He had Strawb ...

was welcoming: "There is a Mr. Potter too, I don't know who, that has published a translation of Aeschylus, and as far as I have looked is a good poet."

Portraits

There is a 1789 portrait of Potter by George Romney (painter) and an etching in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

References

External sources

*Potter's draft autobiography is present in the National Library of Wales, Ms 125021, Wigfair 21.
Robert Potter
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)
*An imitation of Spenser written by Potter is available a

Retrieved 16 May 2010. *Potter's is one of the translations covered in Reuben A. Brower's "Seven Agamemnons", ''Mirror on Mirror: Translation, Imitation, Parody'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974) . {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Robert 1721 births 1804 deaths 18th-century English non-fiction writers 18th-century English male writers 18th-century English Anglican priests Anglican writers English translators People from South Somerset (district) People from Scarning People from Lowestoft 18th-century British translators