Sir Brooke Boothby, 6th Baronet (3 June 1744 – 23 January 1824) was a British linguist, translator, poet and landowner, based in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
, England. He was part of the intellectual and literary circle of
Lichfield
Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...
, which included
Anna Seward
Anna Seward (12 December 1742 ld style: 1 December 1742./ref>Often wrongly given as 1747.25 March 1809) was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield. She benefited from her father's progressive views on female education.
L ...
and
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosophy, natural philosopher, physiology, physiologist, Society for Effecting the ...
. In 1766, he welcomed the philosopher
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...
to Ashbourne circles, after Rousseau's short stay in London with
Hume. Ten years later, in 1776, Boothby visited Rousseau in Paris, and he was given the manuscript of the first part of Rousseau's three-part autobiographic ''
Rousseau Judge of Jean-Jacques''. Boothby published it in Lichfield in 1780 after the author's death and donated the document to the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
in 1781. It is now in the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
(Add MS 4925).
The well-known
portrait of Boothby by
Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution".
Wr ...
, from 1781, shows him reclining in a wooded glade with a book carrying on its cover simply the name Rousseau, indicating Boothby's admiration and promotion of the writer and his work generally.
Several portraits were also made of Boothby's daughter,
Penelope
Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or , ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius (Spartan), Icarius and ...
—by
Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli ( ; ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain.
Many of his successful works depict supernatural experiences, such as '' The Nightmare''. He pr ...
and
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...
and in sculpture by
Thomas Banks. She died young and was the subject of a book of poetry by her grieving father.
[
]
Biography
Boothby was born in 1744. He inherited his unusual forename from Hill Brooke, the second wife of the fourth Baronet Boothby, of Broadlow Ash, Sir William. Brooke Boothby is sometimes referred to as the seventh Baronet as there was some confusion over the appointment of the first Baronet. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...
, matriculating in 1761.
Boothby was active in local intellectual life as an associate of the scientific group, the Lunar Society
The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophy, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly b ...
which was interested in the application of the sciences to modern life and its development, and the Lichfield Botanical Society
Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, freemason, and poet.
...
. He, members of the Lunar Society and the intellectual circle of Lichfield, met the free-thinking Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...
who fled from France in 1766–7 and was staying at Wootton, near Boothby's home, Ashbourne Hall.
Boothby later visited Rousseau in Paris and promised him that he would publish his '' Rousseau Judge of Jean-Jacques''. He did so in 1780, Rousseau having died in 1778. This achievement is immortalised in Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright (3 September 1734 – 29 August 1797), styled Joseph Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution".
Wr ...
's painting. The portrait shows Boothby reclining by a stream in a wooded glade once known as the Twenty Oaks, where he and Rousseau met for discussion and where Rousseau went to write in peace and solitude. He is holding a leather-bound book with the name Rousseau on the spine rather than a specific title, thus referencing Boothby's interest in the philosopher's entire oeuvre. The landscape setting can be interpreted as referring to the Rousseauian idea that all of man's troubles and unhappiness derive from his self-removal from the natural world. According to Andrew Graciano, the plants in the setting refer to Boothby's interest in botany and the botanical aspect of the painting has previously been ignored. Both Boothby and Rousseau were interested in botany and Rousseau studied local flora when he lived at Wootton Hall.
Two other of Wright's paintings of Dovedale were sold to Brooke Boothby who had helped Wright when he put on the first one-man exhibition in London.[Joseph Wright of Derby](_blank)
Liverpool Museums, accessed 23 October 2011 Boothby also purchased two views of nearby Matlock, two paintings of bridges in Rome as well as the unusual portrait of himself.
In 1784, Boothby married Susanna Bristoe, daughter of Robert Bristoe and Susanna Philipson, and in that year he leased Ashbourne Hall from his father, whose extravagance had forced him to live elsewhere whilst renting out the family seat.
accessed 29 May 2008 He began the restoration of Ashbourne Hall, using his wife's dowry to renovate the structure, remodel the parkland, purchase rare plants and obtain works of art. Like his father before him, Boothby was extravagant in the extreme. That weakness and his emotional self-indulgence were to be his nemeses. His only daughter, Penelope, was born in the following April. Sir Joshua Reynold's portrait of Penelope, often called "The Mob Cap", is one of the most famous of English child portraits. Reynolds had painted portraits of Boothby and his younger half-sister Anne. His full sister, Maria, was portrayed by Wright a decade before he painted the famous portrait of Brooke Boothby himself.
On 19 March 1791, disaster struck when Boothby's daughter died at the age of five. This sad event permanently affected him and he subsequently published a book of poetry, ''Sorrows Sacred to the Memory of Penelope''. Penelope had a remarkable tomb constructed for her which included a life-size statue of her sleeping. The tomb is in St Oswald's Church in Ashbourne along with many other Boothby memorials and graves.
Boothby's life went into decline after his daughter's death. He commissioned the sculpture illustrated and the painting by Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli ( ; ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain.
Many of his successful works depict supernatural experiences, such as '' The Nightmare''. He pr ...
. After Penelope's funeral, his wife Susanna returned to her parents' home in Hampshire and settled in Dover. Her death was recorded under her maiden name, Bristoe.
Boothby was involved with the substantial purchase of 16th-century stained glass for Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Chad in Lichfield, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Lichfield, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lichfield and the principal church of the diocese ...
in 1801, which he purchased from Herkenrode Abbey
Herkenrode Abbey () was a Catholic monastery of Cistercian nuns located in Kuringen, part of the municipality of Hasselt, which lies in the province of Limburg, Belgium.
Since 1972 some of the surviving buildings have served as the home of a com ...
which had been dissolved in the Napoleonic wars. He sold the glass to the cathedral on a non-profit basis.
As a result of his extravagance, Boothby met with economic disaster which completely altered the course of his life. Ashbourne Hall was leased in 1814 (parish records show that in 1817, Sir Richard Arkwright
Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution. He is credited as the driving force behind the development of the spinning frame, known as ...
's grandson, also Richard, was living there) and he settled in diminished circumstances in Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...
in 1815 and died there in 1824. He was buried in St Oswald's Church, Ashbourne with his parents, his sister Maria Elizabeth and other Boothby family members.
Sonnet XII
Well has thy classick chisel, Banks
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
As banks ...
, express'd
The graceful lineaments of that fine form,
Which late with conscious, living beauty warm,
Now here beneath does in dread silence rest.
And, oh, while life shall agitate my breast,
Recorded there exists her every charm,
In vivid colours, safe from change or harm,
Till my last sigh unalter'd love attest.
That form, as fair as ever fancy drew,
The marble cold, inanimate, retains;
But of the radiant smile that round her threw
Joys, that beguiled my soul of mortal pains,
And each divine expression's varying hue,
A little senseless dust alone remains[ Sorrows. Sacred to the Memory of Penelope (1796)]
Major works
*''Letter to the Right Honourable Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...
'', 1790
*''Observations on the Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs'', 1792
*''Sorrows. Sacred to the Memory of Penelope'', 1796
*''Venality'', 1793 and 1802
*Translation of Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ; ; 22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille, as well as an important literary figure in the Western tr ...
's ''Britannicus
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (12 February AD 41 – 11 February AD 55), usually called Britannicus, was the son of Roman Emperor Claudius and his third wife, Valeria Messalina. For a time, he was considered his father's heir, but t ...
'', 1803
*''Fables and Satires'', 1809, Edinburgh
*Translation of Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
's ''Le Misanthrope
''The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover'' (; ) is a 17th-century comedy of manners in verse written by Molière. It was first performed on 4 June 1666 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris by the King's Players.
The play satirizes the ...
'', 1819
*''The Fudger Fudged'', 1819
See also
*Henry Fuseli's ''The Nightmare
''The Nightmare'' is a 1781 oil painting by the Swiss artist Henry Fuseli. It shows a woman with her arms thrown below her, in deep sleep as she undergoes a nightmare as an almost hidden horse (the "Mare (folklore), night-mare") looks on as a d ...
'', which was bought by Boothby
References
Further reading
* A. Graciano, ' "The Book of Nature is Open to All Men": Geology, Mining and History in Joseph Wright's Derbyshire Landscapes', in ''The Huntington Library Quarterly''; 68: 4 (2005), p. 583–600
* A. Graciano, ''Joseph Wright, Esq.: Painter and Gentleman'' (2012; Cambridge Scholars Publishing)
* J. Zonneveld, ''Sir Brooke Boothby – Rousseau's Roving Baronet Friend'' (2003)
*
External links
Boothby at Sonnets.org
accessed 25 May 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boothby, Brooke, 06th Baronet
1744 births
1824 deaths
18th-century English writers
18th-century English male writers
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
Associates of the Lunar Society of Birmingham
Baronets in the Baronetage of England
English art collectors
English landowners
English philanthropists
French–English translators
People from Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Sonneteers
English male poets