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
Malting is the process of steeping, Germination, germinating, and drying grain to convert it into malt. Germination and sprouting involve a number of enzymes to produce the changes from seed to seedling and the malt producer stops this stage of t ...
from a family of Rutter,
Appleby. His mother was the only daughter of Edward Stevenson of Knipe, a relative of
Edmund Gibson
Edmund Gibson (16696 September 1748) was a British divine who served as Bishop of Lincoln and Bishop of London, jurist, and antiquary.
Early life and career
He was born in Bampton, Westmorland. In 1686 he was entered a scholar at Queen's ...
. Robertson was educated at the free school at Appleby, and on 17 March 1746 matriculated from
The Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...
. He graduated B.A. on 19 Oct. 1749, and took holy orders about 1752, being appointed curate to Dr. Sykes at
Rayleigh, Essex
Rayleigh is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Rochford (district), Rochford District in Essex, England; it is located between Chelmsford, Essex, Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, east of central London. It had a po ...
. In 1758 he was presented to the living of
Herriard in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, 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, increasi ...
, in 1770, and in 1779 vicar of
St. Mary's Church, Horncastle, by the gift of his relative
Edmund Law.
Robertson died of
apoplexy
Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...
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'' he contributed over 2,600 articles between 1764 and 1785. He also wrote in the ''
Gentleman's Magazine
''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1907, ceasing publication altogether in 1922. It was the first to use the term '' ...
'', and produced a learned work on the authenticity of the ''
Parian Chronicle
The Parian Chronicle or Parian Marble (, Mar. Par.) is a Greek chronology, covering the years from 1582 BC to 299 BC, inscribed on a stele. Found on the island of Paros in two sections, and sold in Smyrna in the early 17th century to an ...
'' (London, 1788), which was answered by
John Hewlett.
Other works included sermons, a translation of
François Fénelon
François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon, PSS (), 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 ' ...
'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'' () is a didactic novel by François Fénelon, Archbishop of Cambrai, who in 1689 became tutor to ...
'' (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
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
{{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