Rev. Christopher Pitt

Christopher Pitt began writing poetry at while at Winchester School; he matriculated at Wadham College Oxford in 1718 (B.A. from New College 1722, M.A. 1724, Poetry Professor, 1722) and was rector of Pimperne, Dorsetshire from 1722. Pitt, remembered for his translation of Virgil, knew Pope, was related to Bishop Robert Lowth, and was a classmate and friend of Joseph Spence at both Winchester and Oxford. Some of Pitt's verses were published under Spence's name in the Oxford gratulatory collections.

TEXT RECORDS:

1727To the unknown Author of the Battle of the Sexes.
1740 ca.An Imitation of Spenser. [The Jordan.]

PUBLICATIONS:

A poem on the death of the late Earl Stanhope. 1721.
Vida's Art of poetry, translated into English verse. 1725.
Poems and translations. 1727.
An essay on Virgil's Aeneid: being a translation of the first book. 1728.
The Aeneid of Virgil, translated. 2 vols, 1740.
Poems. 1756.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

Winchester College
Wadham College Oxford
New College Oxford
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts

clergyman
professor
poet
translator

The Museum

Rev. William Broome
Bubb Dodington
Robert Dodsley
Rev. John Duncombe
William Duncombe
Bp. Robert Lowth
Thomas Morrison
Alexander Pope
Rev. Glocester Ridley
Rev. Joseph Spence
Gilbert West

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL.

Robert Dodsley, Collection of Poems (1748-58); Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets (1753); letters in John Duncombe, ed. Letters of Eminent Persons (1772, 1773); Bell's Poets of Great Britain (1776-82); Samuel Johnson, Life in Works of the English Poets (1779-81); "Poems published under the name of Spence" Gentleman's Magazine 57 (December 1787) 1124; Bell's Fugitive Poetry (1789-97); Robert Anderson, British Poets (1795); Robert Southey, Specimens of Later English Poets (1807); Alexander Chalmers, English Poets (1810); Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); "Character of Christopher Pitt" Gentleman's Magazine 83 (June 1813) 537-40; Ezekiel Sanford, British Poets (1819); Joseph Spence, in Anecdotes (1820); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the most Eminent Persons (1832-34); John Holland, in Psalmists of Britain (1843); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1882); Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature 3rd ed. (1876); Foster, Alumni Oxon (1887-91); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); Dobree, OHEL (1959); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995); Michael F. Suarez, ed., Dodsley, Collection of Poems (1997) 1:193.

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Rev. Christopher Pitt:

1.	1725  Thomas Cooke, in Battle of the Poets (1725) 8.
2.	1726  Alexander Pope to Christopher Pitt, 23 July 1726; Works, ed. Warton (1796-97) 7:381.
3.	1728  Joseph Spence to Christopher Pitt, 2 August 1728; Works of Pope, ed. Warton (1797) 7:383.
4.	1730  George Woodward, in "Session of the Oxford Poets" Poems (1730) 208.
5.	1740 ca.  Glocester Ridley, "To Mr. Christopher Pitt" 1740 ca.; Chalmers, English Poets (1810) 12:369.
6.	1740 ca.  Edward Cobden, "To Mr. Pitt, on his having a Bay Leaf sent him from Virgil's Tomb" 1740 ca.; Discourses and Essays (1757) 124-25.
7.	1742  William Broome to Christopher Pitt, 24 March 1742; Works of Pope, ed. Elwin and Courthope (1871-1889) 8:183-85.
8.	1744  Anonymous, "To the Rev. Mr. Christopher Pitt" Gentleman's Magazine 14 (August 1744) 447-48.
9.	1751  Anonymous, in "Winchester College, by a young Gentleman now at School there" London Magazine 20 (June 1751) 279.
10.	1764  Joseph Warton to Joseph Spence, 15 January 1764; Spence, Anecdotes, ed. Singer (1820) 472-73.
11.	1772  John Duncombe, in Letters of Eminent Persons (1772; 1773) 2:12n.
12.	1795  John Anderson, in Works of the British Poets (1795) 8:793.
13.	1807  Robert Southey, in Specimens of the Later English Poets (1807) 104.
14.	1809  Charles Lamb to Charles Lloyd Senior, 31 July 1809; Letters, ed. Lucas (1935) 82.
15.	1833  James Montgomery, in Lectures on General Literature, Poetry, &c. (1833) 183.
16.	1843  John Holland, in Psalmists of Britain. Records of upwards of One Hundred and Fifty Authors, who have rendered the Whole or Parts of The Book of Psalms, into English Verse (1843) 2:182-83.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Rev. Christopher Pitt:

1.	1753  Anonymous, in Cibber-Shiels, Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) 5:298-307.
2.	1772  John Duncombe, in Letters of Eminent Persons (1772; 1773) 2:12n.
3.	1779  Samuel Johnson, Lives of the English Poets (1779-81); ed. Hill (1905) 3:277-80.
4.	1812  John Nichols, in Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812-15) 2:260-61n.
5.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 24:534-35.
6.	1876  Robert Carruthers, in Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature, 3rd ed. (1876; 1879) 3:191-92.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1726  Rev. Joseph Spence:   Christopher Pitt to Joseph Spence, 18 July 1726; St. James's Chronicle (1 July 1774).
2.	1728  William Duncombe:   Christopher Pitt to William Duncombe, 6 July 1728; Duncombe, ed. Letters by Several Eminent Persons (1772; 1773) 2:12-14.
3.	1728  Rev. Joseph Spence:   Christopher Pitt to William Duncombe, 6 July 1728; Duncombe, Letters of Eminent Persons (1772; 1773) 2:12-13.
4.	1735 ca.  Bp. Robert Lowth:   Christopher Pitt, "An Epistle to Mr. Robert Lowth" 1735 ca.; Magazine of Magazines 1 (November 1750) 456.
5.	1737  Jabez Hughes:   Christopher Pitt to William Duncombe, 21 August 1737; Duncombe, Letters of Eminent Persons (1772; 1773) 2:101.