John Home

John Home

John Home (22 September 1722 – 5 September 1808) was a Scottish poet and dramatist.

He was born at Leith, near Edinburgh, where his father, Alexander Home, a distant relation of the earls of Home, was town clerk. John was educated at the Leith Grammar School, and at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated MA, in 1742. Though interested in being a soldier, he studied divinity, and was licensed by the presbytery of Edinburgh in 1745. In the same year he joined as a volunteer against Bonnie Prince Charlie, and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Falkirk (1746). With many others he was carried to Doune castle in Perthshire, but soon escaped.

In July 1746 Home was presented to the parish of Athelstaneford, East Lothian, left vacant by the death of Robert Blair. He had leisure to visit his friends and became especially intimate with David Hume who belonged to the same family as himself. His first play, "Agis: a tragedy", founded on Plutarch's narrative, was finished in 1747. He took it to London, England, and submitted it to David Garrick for representation at Drury Lane, but it was rejected as unsuitable for the stage. The tragedy of "Douglas" was suggested to him by hearing a lady sing the ballad of "Gil Morrice" or "Child Maurice" (FJ Child, "Popular Ballads", ii. 263). The ballad supplied him with the outline of a simple and striking plot.

After five years, he completed his play and took it to London for Garrick's opinion. It was rejected, but on his return to Edinburgh his friends resolved that it should be produced there. It was performed on 14 December 1756 with overwhelming success, in spite of the opposition of the presbytery, who summoned Alexander Carlyle to answer for having attended its representation. Home wisely resigned his charge in 1757, after a visit to London, where "Douglas" was brought out at Covent Garden on March 14. Peg Woffington played Lady Randolph, a part which found a later exponent in Sarah Siddons. David Hume summed up his admiration for "Douglas" by saying that his friend possessed "the true theatric genius of Shakespeare and Otway, refined from the unhappy barbarism of the one and licentiousness of the other." Gray, writing to Horace Walpole (August, 1757), said that the author "seemed to have retrieved the true language of the stage, which has been lost for these hundred years," but Samuel Johnson held aloof from the general enthusiasm, and averred that there were not ten good lines in the whole play (Boswell, "Life", ed. Croker, 1348, p. 300).

In 1758 Home became private secretary to Lord Bute, then secretary of state, and was appointed tutor to the prince of Wales; and in 1760 his patron's influence procured him a pension of £300 per annum and in 1763 a sinecure worth another £500. Garrick produced "Agis" at Drury Lane on 21 February 1758. By dint of good acting and powerful support, according to Genest, the play lasted for eleven days, but it was lamentably inferior to "Douglas". In 1760 his tragedy, "The Siege of Aquileia", was put on the stage, Garrick taking the part of Aemilius. In 1769 another tragedy, "The Fatal Discovery" ran for nine nights; "Alonzo" also (1773) had fair success; but his last tragedy, "Alfred" (1778), was so coolly received that he gave up writing for the stage.

In 1778 he joined a regiment formed by the Duke of Buccleuch. He sustained severe injuries in a fall from horseback which permanently affected his brain, and was persuaded by his friends to retire. From 1767 he resided either at Edinburgh or at a villa which he built at Kilduff near his former parish. It was at this time that he wrote his "History of the Rebellion of 1745", which appeared in 1802. Home died at Merchist,on Bank, near Edinburgh, in his eighty-sixth year.

The "Works of John Home" were collected and published by Henry Mackenzie in 1822 with "An Account of the Life and Writings of Mr John House," which also appeared separately in the same year, but several of his smaller poems seem to have escaped the editor's observation. These are--"The Fate of Caesar," "Verses upon Inveraray," "Epistle to the Earl of Eglintoun," "Prologue on the Birthday of the Prince of Wales, 1759" and several "Epigrams," which are printed in vol. ii. of "Original Poems by Scottish Gentlemen" (1762). See also Sir W Scott, "The Life and Works of John Home" in the "Quarterly Review" (June, 1827). "Douglas" is included in numerous collections of British drama. Voltaire published his "Le Gaffe, ou l'Ecossaise" (1760), "Londres" (really Geneva), as a translation from the work of Hume, described as "pasteur de l'église d'Edimbourg", but Home seems to have taken no notice of the mystification.

Home was also an active participant in the social life of Edinburgh, and joined the Poker Club in 1762. [http://www.fzc.dk/Boswell/Misc/The_Poker_Club.php]

External links

* [http://www.jamesboswell.info/People/biography-58.php John Home] at James Boswell - a Guide

ee also

*Scottish literature


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • John Home — John Home, Henry Raeburn, circa 1795 1800. John Home (22 de septiembre de 1722 – 5 de septiembre de 1808) fue un poeta y dramaturgo escocés. Nació en Leith, cerca de Edimburgo, estudiando en la universidad …   Wikipedia Español

  • John Home Robertson — (born December 5, 1948) is a Labour politician in Scotland. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Berwick and East Lothian and East Lothian from 1978 to 2001 and a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for East Lothian from 1999 until… …   Wikipedia

  • John Home, Lord Renton — Sir John Home of Renton, Lord Renton (1600 July 13, 1671) [ Crawford, Donald, editor, Journals of Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall 1665 1676 , Scottish History Society, 1900, p. 214] was appointed Lord Justice Clerk by King Charles II. He was… …   Wikipedia

  • Home — (engl., mit der Bedeutung ‚Haus, Heim, Wohnung, Heimat‘) steht für im Computerwesen für das Stammverzeichnis eines Benutzers, das Benutzerverzeichnis auch die Leitseite einer Website, die Homepage im Baseball kurz für Home Run Home,… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Home (Begriffsklärung) — Home steht für in Computerwesen für das Stammverzeichnis eines Benutzers, das Heimverzeichnis im Baseball kurz für Home Run Home, namentlich: Home (Washington) in den Vereinigten Staaten Home (Album), Musikalbum (2006) der Band The Gathering Home …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Robertson — may refer to:Politicians:* John Robertson (Canadian politician) (1799 1876), Scottish born member of the Canadian Senate from 1867. * John Robertson (United States congressman) (1787 ndash;1873), member of the United States Congress in the 19th… …   Wikipedia

  • John Robertson — ist der Name folgender Personen: John Robertson (Premierminister New South Wales) (1816–1891), australischer Politiker und Premierminister von New South Wales John Robertson (Fußballspieler, 1884) (* 1884), schottischer Fußballspieler John… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • John Mackintosh — John Pitcairn Mackintosh (24 August 1929 30 July 1978) was a British Labour Party politician known for his defence of devolution and the concept of dual nationality; that Scots could be both Scottish and British.Mackintosh was born In Simla,… …   Wikipedia

  • John Fernström — (6 December 1897 – 19 October 1961) was a Swedish composer.Fernström was born in Ichang, China, where he also spent most part of the first ten years of his life at the mission his father directed, except for a couple of years in Sweden. He… …   Wikipedia

  • Home-Purves-Hume-Campbell Baronets — of Purves Hall, Berwickshire (1665)= Created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia 25 July 1665*Sir William Purves, 1st Baronet *Sir Alexander Purves, 2nd Baronet *Sir William Purves, 3rd Baronet *Sir William Purves, 4th Baronet *Sir Alexander Purves …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”