Gilbert West

Gilbert West (1703-1756) was a minor English poet, translator and Christian apologist in the early and middle eighteenth century. Samuel Johnson included him in his Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets.

Biography

The son of a minister, West was educated at Winchester, Eton and Christ Church, Oxford; his father intended a career in the Church for him. cite book
last = Johnson
first = Samuel
authorlink = Samuel Johnson
coauthors =
title = Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets vol. 3
publisher =
date = 1781
location =
pages = 328-33
url = http://198.82.142.160/spenser/BiographyRecord.php?action=GET&bioid=33881
doi =
id =
isbn = ] cite book
last = Jones
first = Stephen
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Biographia Dramatica; or, A Companion to the Playhouse vol. 1
publisher =
date = 1812
location =
pages = 741-42
url = http://198.82.142.160/spenser/BiographyRecord.php?action=GET&bioid=33885
doi =
id =
isbn = ] However, he was persuaded by his uncle, Lord Cobham to take a commission in the army but soon left to work under Lord Townshend, a prominent Whig. West left this position when it became clear that he had no prospect of advancement in such a career.

West married a Miss Bartlett with whom he lived in Wickham in Kent and was appointed Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital which provided him a modest income. During this period he published the essay "Observations on the history and evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1747) for which Oxford University awarded him an LLD. In 1749 West published his translations of the odes of Pindar; his translation of Pindar remained the standard version throughout the following century.cite book
last = Carruthers
first = Robert
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature, 3rd ed.
publisher =
date = 1879
location =
pages = 192
url = http://198.82.142.160/spenser/BiographyRecord.php?action=GET&bioid=36903
doi =
id =
isbn = ] Only late in his life did West achieve a measure of financial success when he was appointed to a clerkship of the Privy Council in 1752. He died four years later.

Works

*"Stowe, the gardens of the Right Honourable Richard, Lord Viscount Cobham" (1732)
*"A canto of the Fairy Queen. Written by Spenser" (1739)
*"The institution of the order of the garter. A dramatick poem" (1742)
*"Observations on the history and evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (1747)
*"The odes of Pindar, with several other pieces translated" (1749)
*"Education: a poem in two cantos" (1751)
*"Two orations" (1759) (translation of Thucydides)
*"The oration of Plato" (1768) (translation of Thucydides)

Note: Some publication dates are posthumous.

Notes

External links