Robert Potter (1721 – 9 August 1804) was an English clergyman of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and a translator, poet, critic and pamphleteer. He established the convention of using

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metre (poetry), metrical but rhyme, unrhymed lines, usually in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th cen ...

for Greek

hexameters Hexameter is a Metre (poetry), metrical Line (poetry), line of verses consisting of six metrical foot, feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English language, English line of poetry; in Greek language, Greek as well as i ...

and rhymed verse for choruses. His 1777 English version of the plays of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

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 A prebendary is a member of the Catholic Church, Catholic or Anglicanism , Anglican clergy, a form of canon (priest) , canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in part ...

Wells Cathedral Wells Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Bath and Wells and the mother church of the diocese of Bath and Wells. There are daily Church of England services in ...

. 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 mo ...

and graduated BA in 1742, when he was also ordained. He married the daughter of Rev. Colman of Hardingham, Norfolk. His children included a daughter, Sarah, referred to in a letter. Potter became curate of Reymerston and vicar of Melton Parva, but the combined emoluments of these were less than £50 a year. He later became curate of Scarning, 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 Jacob Mountain (1 December 1749 – 16 June 1825) was an English priest who was appointed the first Anglican Bishop of Quebec. He served also on both the Legislative Council of Lower Canada and the Legislative Council of Upper Canada. Biography ...

(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 Norwich Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Norwich and the mother church of the dioc ...

through the patronage of the

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

, Lord Thurlow, 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, 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), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

and

Kessingland Kessingland is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is located around south of Lowestoft on the east coast of the United Kingdom. It is of interest to archaeologis ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, 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 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 in blank verse. He completed the plays of Æschylus (1777),

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

(1781–1783) and

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

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 (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...

'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, and classics, classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College. He is widely ...

after recent criticisms of it by

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

in his ''

Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets ''Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets'' (1779–81), alternatively known by the shorter title ''Lives of the Poets'', is a work by Samuel Johnson comprising short biographies and critical appraisals of 52 poets, most of whom lived during th ...

''. 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 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 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 of "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Meckle ...

on 1 August 1779 states that

Hester Thrale Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (née Salusbury; 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 1740. The pro ...

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 Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

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) George Romney ( – 15 November 1802) was an English portrait painter. He was the most fashionable artist of his day, painting many leading society figures – including his artistic muse, Emma Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson. Early life ...

and an etching in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

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 People from South Somerset (district) People from Scarning People from Lowestoft 18th-century English translators