Samuel Jackson Pratt (1749-1814)

In 1773 Samuel Pratt abandoned a clerical career to ascend the boards in Dublin as "Courtney Melmouth." Failing at Covent Garden in 1774, he became a bookseller at Bath and a sentimental poet and novelist. A most prolific writer, Pratt's works were obviously written with an eye towards income. His dubious moral character did little to recommend the literature of sensibility to his more sober-minded contemporaries, though in later years he obtained some respectability as a man of letters.

TEXT RECORDS:

1774The Deserted Town.
1774The Tears of Genius. Occasioned by the Death of Dr. Goldsmith.
1779The Shadows of Shakespeare: a Monody, occasioned by the Death of Mr. Garrick.
1782Time's Answer to the Lady of Norwich.

PUBLICATIONS:

The prediction: or, the history of Miss Lucy Maxwell. By a lady. 1770.
The precipitate choice: or, the history of Lord Ossory and Miss Rivers. By a lady. 2 vols, 1772.
The tears of genius. Occasioned by the death of Dr. Goldsmith. 1774.
Liberal opinions or the history of Benignus. 6 vols, 1775-77.
The progress of painting. 1775.
Garrick's looking glass, or the art of rising on the stage: a poem. 1776.
The pupil of pleasure. 2 vols, 1776.
Travels for the heart, written in France. 2 vols, 1777.
An apology for the life of Hume. 1777.
Supplement to the life of Hume. 1777.
The shadows of Shakespeare. 1780.
Shenstone-green: or the new Paradise lost. 3 vols, 1779.
The tutor of truth. 3 vols, 1779.
Emma Corbett: or the miseries of civil war. 1780.
Sympathy: or a sketch of the social passion. 1781.
The fair Circassian: a tragedy. 1781.
Landscapes in verse. 1785.
Miscellanies. 4 vols, 1785.
The triumph of benevolence. 1786.
Humanity, or the rights of nature: a poem. 1788.
Ode on his Majesty's recovery. 1789.
The new cosmetic, or the triumph of beauty: a comedy. 1790.
Gleanings through Wales, Holland, and Wesphalia. 4 vols, 1795.
Letter to the old tars of England. 1797.
Family secrets, literary and domestic. 5 vols, 1797.
Letter to the British soldiers. 1797.
Our good old castle on the rock. 1797.
Pity's gift. 1798.
Cottage pictures or the poor: a poem. 1801.
Gleanings in England. 2 vols, 1801.
The paternal present: being a sequel to pity's gift. 1802.
Bread: or the poor. 1802.
John and Dame: or the loyal cottagers. 1803.
Harvest-home. 3 vols, 1805.
Classical poetry, for the use of schools. 1807.
The cabinet of poetry. 6 vols, 1808.
The contrast: a poem. 1808.
The sorrows of Werther: a new translation. 1809.
The lower world: a poem. 1810.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

education not known

clergyman
editor
actor
book trade
poet
novelist
dramatist

The Morning Chronicle
European Magazine
Monthly Magazine
Weekly Magazine or Edinburgh Amusement

James Beattie
John Britton
George Colman
George Colman the Younger
Edward Gibbon
Rev. Richard Graves
John Hawkesworth
Edward Jerningham
Samuel Johnson
William Meyler
Lady Miller
John Morfitt
David Parkes
Rev. Robert Potter
Clara Reeve
Mary Robinson
Anna Seward
John Taylor Esq.
Dr. John Wolcot

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL; DLB.

Pearch, Supplement to Dodsley's Collection (1768-83); A Letter to Courtney Melmoth, Esq; with some Remarks on two Books, called Liberal Opinions, and the Pupil of Pleasure (1777); "Anecdotes of the Author" in European Magazine 1 (January 1782) 53-54; Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788); Lounger's Common-Place Book (1792; 1796) 2:96-99; David Rivers, Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798); "Mr. Pratt" Monthly Mirror 15-16 (June-August 1803) 363-66, 9-12, 81-85 [portrait]; "Biographical Sketches: Mr. Pratt" Flowers of Literature for 1803 (1804) 35-40 [portrait]; [Portrait in Pratt, Harvest Home (1805)]; "Mr. Pratt" Scourge and Satirist 1 (March-April 1811) 216-34, 295-300; Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); Biographia Dramatica (1812); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 84 (October 1814) 398-99; obituary in European Magazine 66 (November 1814) 412-13; obituary in Monthly Magazine 38 (November 1814) 387; Annual Register for 1814 (1814) 139; Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Butt, OHEL (1979); C. R. Johnson, Provincial Poetry 1789-1839) (1992); Chadwyck-Healey English Poetry Database (1995).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Samuel Jackson Pratt:

1.	1774 Anonymous, Review of Pratt, The Tears of Genius; Critical Review 38 (July 1774) 75.
2.	1778 ca. William Cole, 1778 ca.; Collectanea for Athenae Cantabrigienses; Restituta or ... English Literature Revived 3 (1815) 75-76n.
3.	1781 Robert Potter, "Sonnet. To the Author of Sympathy, a Poem" London Courant (25 August 1781).
4.	1781 James Beattie to Samuel Jackson Pratt, 29 June 1781; The Monthly Magazine 49 (February 1820) 38-39.
5.	1781 B. Walwyn, "To the Author of Sympathy" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (6 August 1781).
6.	1781 Clara Reeve, "To the Unknown Author of a Poem, called Sympathy" Morning Herald and Daily Advertiser (2 July 1781).
7.	1781 Edmund Rack to Richard Polwhele, 21 November 1781; Polwhele, Traditions and Recollections (1826) 1:132-33.
8.	1782 Horace Walpole to William Cole, 1 June 1782; Letters, ed. Cunningham (1906) 8:227.
9.	1782 Anna Seward, in Poem to the Memory of Lady Miller (1782) 12 &n.
10.	1782 Anonymous, "On seeing the Raree-show of the Fair Circassian during the Holidays exhibited at Drury-Lane to an empty House of Journey-men, 'Prentices, Mantua-makers, and Abigals" St. James's Chronicle (12 January 1782).
11.	1785 Clara Reeve, "To the Author of Sympathy" in Pratt, Miscellanies (1785) 1:ix-x.
12.	1785 Richard Polwhele, "To Mr. Pratt, on reading his Landscapes in Verse" 1785; Polwhele, Poems (1791) 219.
13.	1785 H. S., in "An Epistle to William Hayley, Esq." European Magazine 8 (November 1785) 386.
14.	1786 Anna Seward to George Hardinge, 15 November 1786; Letters, ed. Scott (1811) 1:211.
15.	1786 Anonymous, "To the Author of the Triumph of Benevolence" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (28 September 1786).
16.	1786 Cantabrigiensis, "To the Author of the Triumph of Benevolence" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (4 October 1786).
17.	1786 Rev. Mr. Poleskcles, "Sonnet. To Mr. Pratt, on reading his Landscapes in Verse" Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser (5 April 1786).
18.	1796 Anonymous, in Lounger's Common-Place Book (1796) 2:97.
19.	1796 Anonymous, in "On Reading Mr. Pratt's Gleanings" St. James's Chronicle (24 March 1796).
20.	1799 Mary Robinson, in "On Reading Mr. Pratt's Gleaner" Morning Post and Gazetteer (25 July 1799).
21.	1802 William Mavor, "Sonnet to Mr. Pratt, on a Mental Review of his various Works" The Monthly Magazine 14 (November 1802) 324.
22.	1802 William Meyler, "To Mr. Pratt, Author of Gleanings, Sympathy, The Poor or Bread, &c. &c." 1802; Lady's Monthly Museum 10 (January 1803).
23.	1803 Anonymous, in "Mr. Pratt" Monthly Mirror 16 (July 1803) 9.
24.	1803 Henry James Pye, "To the Author of Cottage Pictures; or, the Poor" Pratt, Cottage Pictures (1803) 1.
25.	1803 Richard Polwhele, "To Mr. Pratt" Pratt, Cottage Pictures (1803) 1-2.
26.	1803 John Morfitt, "To S. J. Pratt, to me and to the Muses dear; on Account of his most elegant Poem, intituled, Cottage Pictures" Pratt, Cottage Pictures (1803) 2.
27.	1803 Sibylla, "To the Author of Cottage Picture; or, the Poor" Pratt, Cottage Pictures (1803) 3.
28.	1803 R. B. W—n, "To Mr. Pratt, on his Poem Cottage Pictures; or, the Poor" Pratt, Cottage Pictures (1803) 3-4.
29.	1804 Richard Graves, "To Mr. Pratt" Gentleman's Magazine 74 (August 1804) 761.
30.	1805 Anna Seward to Richard Polwhele, 18 June, July 1805; Polwhele, Traditions and Recollections (1826) 2:566-73.
31.	1808 Anonymous, "The Literary Spy" Lady's Monthly Museum NS 4 (June 1808) 306.
32.	1808 Lord Byron to John Becher 28 March 1808; Letters and Journals, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (1898-1901) 1:186.
33.	1809 Lord Byron, in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809); Poetical Works, ed. E. H. Coleridge (1898-1901) 1:322-23 & n.
34.	1809 Robert Southey to Miss Barker, 24 October 1809; Selections from the Letters, ed. Warter (1856) 2:171.
35.	1809 Anonymous, "Literary Opinions: Mr. Pratt" The Cabinet NS 1 (May 1809) 409.
36.	1809 Anonymous, "Epigram. Written in a Volume of Pratt's Gleanings" Port Folio [Philadelphia] S3 2 (October 1809) 377.
37.	1809 J. G., "Stanzas, most respectfully inscribed to Mr. Pratt" Select Reviews and Spirit of the Foreign Magazines [Philadelphia] 2 (December 1809) 427.
38.	1810 Walter Scott, in "Living Poets" Edinburgh Annual Register for 1808 (1810) 2:442.
39.	1810 Mary Russell Mitford to her father, 4 April 1810; L'Estrange, Life of Mary Russell Mitford (1870) 1:86-87.
40.	1811 Anonymous, in "Mr. Pratt" Scourge and Satirist 1 (March 1811) 219-20.
41.	1812 Charles Caleb Colton, in Hypocrisy, a Satire (1812) 57-58 &n.
42.	1814 Ambrose, "Tributary Lines" The Monthly Magazine 38 (November 1814) 387.
43.	1815 William Henry Ireland, in Scribbleomania (1815) 47-51 & n.
44.	1832 John Taylor Esq., in Records of my Life (1832) 1:38-47.
45.	1850 John Britton, in Autobiography (1850) 1:114-15.
46.	1952 Mary Alden Hopkins, in Dr. Johnson's Lichfield (1952) 124-26.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Samuel Jackson Pratt:

1.	1782 Anonymous, "Anecdotes of the Author" European Magazine 1 (January 1782) 53-54.
2.	1782 Isaac Reed, in Biographia Dramatica; or, A Companion to the Playhouse (1782) 1:361.
3.	1788 Anonymous, in Catalogue of five hundred Celebrated Authors (1788).
4.	1798 David Rivers, in Literary Memoirs of Living Authors (1798) 2:155-58.
5.	1804 Francis William Blagdon, "Biographical Sketches: Mr. Pratt" Flowers of Literature for 1803 (1804) 35-40.
6.	1812 Stephen Jones, in Biographia Dramatica; or, A Companion to the Playhouse (1812) 1:582.
7.	1812 Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 25:259-60.
8.	1814 Anonymous, Obituary in European Magazine 66 (November 1814) 412-13.
9.	1814 Anonymous, Obituary in Gentleman's Magazine 84 (October 1814) 398-99.
10.	1815 John Nichols, in Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812-15) 9:722-23.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1774 Oliver Goldsmith: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in The Tears of Genius. Occasioned by the Death of Dr. Goldsmith (1774) 10-12.
2.	1774 Thomas Gray: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in The Tears of Genius. Occasioned by the Death of Dr. Goldsmith (1774) 13-15.
3.	1774 William Shenstone: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in The Tears of Genius. Occasioned by the Death of Dr. Goldsmith (1774) 24-27.
4.	1775 Elizabeth Montagu: Samuel Jackson Pratt to Elizabeth Montagu, 1775; Reginald Blunt, Mrs. Montagu, 1762-1800 (1923) 1:296.
5.	1785 Elizabeth Sheridan: Samuel Jackson Pratt, "A Reply to the Verses of Mrs. Sheridan to her Brother's Lyre" London Chronicle (15 February 1785) 158.
6.	1787 Edmund Waller: Samuel Jackson Pratt, "Verses hung on the Boughs of a venerable Walnut-Tree ... in Beaconsfield Church-yard" Morning Chronicle (10 September 1787).
7.	1791 Mary Robinson: Samuel Jackson Pratt, "To Mrs. Robinson on reading her Ode to the Nightingale" European Magazine 20 (November 1791) 393.
8.	1791 Mary Robinson: Samuel Jackson Pratt, "On Reading Mrs. Robinson's Ode to the Nightingale" Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (10 December 1791).
9.	1801 Mary Robinson: Samuel Jackson Pratt, "Epitaph on Mrs. Robinson's Tombstone, in the Church of Old Windsor" The Monthly Magazine 11 (June 1801) 422-23.
10.	1804 Rev. Richard Graves: Samuel Jackson Pratt, "To the Rev. Mr. Graves, of Claverton, near Bath" Gentleman's Magazine 74 (August 1804) 761.
11.	1806 David Parkes: Samuel Jackson Pratt, "Written while viewing a Portrait of Mr. Graves, in possession of Mr. Parkes" Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the XVIII Century (1812-15) 3:756n.
12.	1806 Dr. John Wolcot: Samuel Jackson Pratt, "Extempore" The Star (16 August 1806).
13.	1807 Thomas Campbell: Samuel Jackson Pratt, "To a Friend in Affliction, with The Pleasures of Hope" Pratt, Sympathy, with other Poems (1807) 315-17.
14.	1810 Mary Russell Mitford: Samuel Jackson Pratt to John Mitford, 2 October 1810; L'Estrange, Friendships of Mary Russell Mitford (1882) 37-38.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(biography records)

1.	1808 Joseph Addison: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:321-22.
2.	1808 Dr. Mark Akenside: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 4:335-36.
3.	1808 Dr. John Armstrong: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:280-81.
4.	1808 James Beattie: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:469-70.
5.	1808 Rev. Thomas Blacklock: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:385-86.
6.	1808 Rev. William Broome: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:385-86.
7.	1808 Rev. John Brown: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:332-33.
8.	1808 Michael Bruce: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:420-21.
9.	1808 Robert Burns: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:455-56.
10.	1808 Samuel Butler: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:44-45.
11.	1808 Thomas Chatterton: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:432-33.
12.	1808 Rev. Charles Churchill: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:129-130.
13.	1808 William Collins: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of the Muses (1808) 4:236-37.
14.	1808 John Gilbert Cooper: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:216-17.
15.	1808 Dr. Nathaniel Cotton: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:349-50.
16.	1808 Abraham Cowley: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:1-2.
17.	1808 John Cunningham: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:170-71.
18.	1808 Sir John Denham: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:55-56.
19.	1808 Robert Dodsley: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:348-49.
20.	1808 John Dryden: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:70-71.
21.	1808 Rev. John Dyer: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 4:263-64.
22.	1808 Elijah Fenton: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:383-84.
23.	1808 John Gay: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:415-16.
24.	1808 Oliver Goldsmith: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:229-30.
25.	1808 Thomas Gray: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:1-2.
26.	1808 William Hamilton of Bangour: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 4:208-09.
27.	1808 Aaron Hill: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:369-70.
28.	1808 John Hughes: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:352-53.
29.	1808 Rev. Richard Jago: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:27-28.
30.	1808 Samuel Johnson: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:101-02.
31.	1808 William King: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:170-71.
32.	1808 Rev. John Langhorne: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:378-79.
33.	1808 Robert Lloyd: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:150-51.
34.	1808 George Lyttelton: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:29-30.
35.	1808 David Mallet: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 4:185-86.
36.	1808 Rev. William Mason: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:411-12.
37.	1808 William Julius Mickle: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:1-2.
38.	1808 John Milton: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 1:1-2.
39.	1808 Edward Moore: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:56-58
40.	1808 Rev. Thomas Parnell: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:218-19.
41.	1808 William Pattison: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:271-72.
42.	1808 Rev. Thomas Penrose: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:465-66.
43.	1808 Ambrose Philips: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 4:197-98.
44.	1808 John Philips: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of the Muses (1808) 2:128-29.
45.	1808 Alexander Pope: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:37-38.
46.	1808 Matthew Prior: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:1-2.
47.	1808 Nicholas Rowe: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:310-11.
48.	1808 Richard Savage: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:310-11.
49.	1808 John Scott of Amwell: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:51-52.
50.	1808 John Sheffield: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:369-70.
51.	1808 William Shenstone: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 4:275-76
52.	1808 Christopher Smart: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:363-64.
53.	1808 Tobias Smollett: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:271-72.
54.	1808 William Somervile: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:217-18.
55.	1808 Rev. Jonathan Swift: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:395-96.
56.	1808 Rev. William Thompson: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:87-88.
57.	1808 James Thomson: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 4:1-2.
58.	1808 Thomas Tickell: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:182-83.
59.	1808 Edmund Waller: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:29-30.
60.	1808 Rev. Thomas Warton: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:320-21.
61.	1808 Rev. Isaac Watts: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 3:531-32.
62.	1808 Richard West: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 5:22-23.
63.	1808 William Whitehead: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 6:132-33.
64.	1808 Rev. Thomas Yalden: Samuel Jackson Pratt, in Cabinet of Poetry (1808) 2:399-400.