Rev. John Ogilvie

The son of a clergyman, John Ogilvie was born at Aberdeen and educated at Marischal College (M.A. 1759, D.D. 1766); he was minister of Midmar, Aberdeenshire (1759-1814). A fellow of the Royal Society, Edinburgh, Ogilvie was acquainted with James Beattie and Samuel Johnson. He was for a time a popular minor poet; his odes were admired while his longer works fell stillborn from the press.

TEXT RECORDS:

1758Ode to Sleep.
1759Ode to Time, occasioned by seeing the Ruins of an Old Castle.
1762Ode to Evening.
1762Ode to Innocence.
1765Solitude: or the Elysium of the Poets, a Vision.
1765Solitude: or, the Elysium of the Poets: Introduction.

PUBLICATIONS:

The day of judgment: a poem. 1759.
The day of judgment ... to which are added ... odes. 1759.
Poems on several subjects. 1762; 1764.
Observations on the cause and consequences of prejudices against religion. A sermon. 1764.
Providence. An allegorical poem in three books. 1764.
Solitude: or, the Elysium of the poets: a vision; to which is subjoined an elegy. 1765.
Six sermons on several subjects. 1767.
Paradise. A poem. 1769.
Poems on several subjects. 2 vols, 1769.
Philosophical and critical observations on the nature, characters, and various species of composition. 2 vols, 1774.
Rona: a poem in seven books. 1777.
An inquiry into the causes for the infidelity and scepticism of the times. 1783.
Fane of the druids; a poem. 1784.
Fane of the druids. Book second. 1789.
The theology of Plato, compared with the principles of Oriental and Grecian Philosophers. 1793.
Britannia, a national epic poem, in twenty books. 1801.
The triumphs of Christianity over deism. 1805.
An examination of the evidence from prophecy on behalf of the Christian religion. 1803.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

Scottish
Presbyterian

Marischal College
Bachelor of Arts
Master of Arts
Doctor of Divinity

clergyman
antiquary
poet

Poetical Register

James Beattie
Rev. Thomas Blacklock
James Boswell
Rev. William Duff
Rev. James Hervey
Samuel Johnson
Rev. John Langhorne
William Russell

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL.

Pearch, Supplement to Dodsley's Collection (1768-83); Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788); Bell's Fugitive Poetry (1789-97); Boswell, Life of Johnson (1791); Roach's Beauties of the Poets (1794); David Rivers, Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798); Alexander Campbell, Introduction to the History of Poetry in Scotland (1798) 301; Poetical Register for 1801 (1802), 1803 (1804), 1808-09 (1812); obituary in Scots Magazine (1814); obituary in Analectic Magazine [Philadelphia] NS 4 (July 1814) 87; Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816); Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58); Joseph Robertson, Lives of Scottish Poets (1821-22); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Robert Chambers, revised Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen (1832-35; 1870); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); William Anderson, Scottish Nation (1859-63); James Grant Wilson, Poetry of Scotland (1876); William Walker, in Bards of Bon-Accord (1887); Margaret Forbes, in James Beattie and his Friends (1904); Butt, OHEL (1979); C. R. Johnson, Provincial Poetry 1789-1839 (1992).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Rev. John Ogilvie:

1.	1759  William Woty, "To Mr. Ogilvie, on reading his sublime Poem, called The Day of Judgment" Universal Chronicle 2 (24 March 1759) 89-90.
2.	1762  William Shenstone to Thomas Percy, 14 November 1762; Letters, ed. Hecht (1909) 89.
3.	1763  John Langhorne, in Genius and Valour: A Scotch Pastoral (1763) 22.
4.	1764  Charles Churchill, in The Journey, 1764; Poetical Works of Charles Churchill, ed. William Tooke (1804) 2:371-74.
5.	1766  John Langhorne, Review of Ogilvie, Solitude; Monthly Review 34 (February 1766) 116-24.
6.	1772  Anonymous, in "Catalogue of the most celebrated Writers" Letters concerning the present State of England (1772) 389-90.
7.	1785  H. S., in "An Epistle to William Hayley, Esq." European Magazine 8 (November 1785) 386.
8.	1791  Samuel Johnson, 1763; Boswell, Life of Johnson (1791); ed. G. B. Hill (1891) 1:488.
9.	1791  James Boswell, in Life of Johnson, 1791; ed. G. B. Hill (1891) 1:490n.
10.	1793  Thomas Blacklock, "To the Rev. Dr. Ogilvie" Poems (1793) 191-92.
11.	1798  Alexander Campbell, in Introduction to the History of Poetry in Scotland (1798) 301.
12.	1801  Alexander Thomson, in The British Parnassus, at the Close of the Eighteenth Century (1801) 34 & n.
13.	1804  S., "To John Ogilvie D.D. on reading his Verses to a Friend" Gentleman's Magazine 74 (May 1804) 455.
14.	1804  William Tooke, Note to The Journey; Poetical Works of Charles Churchill (1804) 2:373-74n.
15.	1806  William Forbes, in Life and Writings of James Beattie (1806) 1:38n.
16.	1814  Robert Southey to Walter Scott, 27 April 1814; Life and Correspondence (1849-50) 4:71.
17.	1822  Joseph Robertson, in Lives of the Scottish Poets (1822) 3:137-38.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Rev. John Ogilvie:

1.	1788  Anonymous, in Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788).
2.	1798  David Rivers, in Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798) 2:88-89.
3.	1814  Anonymous, Obituary in Analectic Magazine [Philadelphia] NS 4 (July 1814) 87.
4.	1816  Anonymous, in Biographical Dictionary of Living Authors (1816) 256.
5.	1859  William Anderson, in Scottish Nation (1859-66) 8:262.
6.	1876  James Grant Wilson, in Poetry of Scotland (1876) 1:246-47.
7.	1887  William Walker, in Bards of Bon-Accord (1887) 253-62.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1759  Rev. James Hervey:   John Ogilvie, in "To the Memory of the late pious and ingenious Mr. Hervey" Scots Magazine 21 (January 1759) 35.
2.	1801  Rev. William Duff:   John Ogilvie, "Verses Written to a Friend 15 Sept. 1801" Poetical Register 1 (1802; 1815) 16-17.