Rev. Thomas Newcomb

The head master of Hackney School, Thomas Newcomb was the son of a clergyman (and great-grandson of Edmund Spenser) who studied at Corpus Christi College Oxford (B.A. 1704), where he formed a long-lived friendship with the poet Edward Young. Newcomb was afterwards chaplain to Charles Lennox (1701-50), the Duke of Richmond; he was Rector of Stopham, Sussex (1705) and Barlavington (1707-65).

TEXT RECORDS:

1712Bibliotheca: A Poem.
1758Vindicta Britannica, an Ode on the Royal Navy.

PUBLICATIONS:

An epistle from the Duke of Burgundy to the French king. 1709.
The happy rival or Venus mistaken. 1711.
Bibliotheca: a poem. 1712.
Pacata Britannia. A panegyrick to the queen. 1713.
An ode sacred to the memory of that truly pious and honourable lady, the Countess of Berkeley. 1717.
Two poems. 1718.
Carmen seculare, presented to the ... king. 1720?
An ode to his grace the Duke of Richmond. 1720.
Scating: a poem. By Mr Addison [Newcomb]. 1720.
The Roman history of C. Velleius Paterculus... translated. 1721.
Verses to the right honourable the Earl of Cadogan. 1722.
The last judgment of men and angels. A poem, in twelve books. 1723.
An ode on the general conflagration; written in the plan of Dr Burnet. 1725.
Sacred hymns. 1726.
Verses to his grace the Duke of Richmond. 1726.
An ode to the queen. 1727.
Blasphemy as old as the creation: or, the Newgate divine. 1730.
An ode to his grace the Duke of Newcastle. 1732.
The manners of the age: in thirteen moral satirs. 1733.
Verses to the injur'd patriot. 1733.
The woman of taste. 1733.
An ode to Mr Ellis, occasioned by a beautiful painting of the honourable Mr Walpole. 1737.
A supplement to One thousand seven hundred thirty eight. Not written by Mr Pope. 1738.
A miscellaneous collection of original poems. 1740.
A supplement to a late excellent poem entitled, Are these things so? 1740.
Vindicta Britannica: an ode, to the real patriot. 1740.
An ode to the right honourable the E—l of O—d, in retirement. 1742.
A collection of odes and epigrams. 1743.
Verses left in a grotto in Richmond Garden. 1744.
An epistle to his royal highness the Duke of Cumberland, on his voyage to Holland. 1746.
An ode, presented to his royal highness the Duke of Cumberland, on his return from Scotland. 1746.
An ode inscrib'd to the memory of the late Earl of Orford. 1747.
The oracle, an ode inscrib'd to Sir Edward Hawke. 1747.
The consummation, a sacred ode on the final dissolution of the world. 1752.
Mr. Hervey's Contemplations on a flower garden done into blank verse. 1757; 1764.
Vindicta Britannica, on ode on the royal navy. 1758.
Noves Epigrammatum delectus: or, original state epigrams, and minor odes. 1760.
A congratulatory ode to the Queen. 1761.
Death of Abel. 1763.
On the success of the British arms. 1763.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

Corpus Christi College Oxford
Bachelor of Arts

clergyman
schoolmaster
poet

George Keate
Edward Young

REFERENCE:

DNB; not NCBEL.

Giles Jacob, An Historical Account of ... English Poets (1720); [portrait in Newcomb, Last Judgement (1723)]; John Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82); Bell's Fugitive Poetry (1789-97); Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes (1812-15); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); Mark Anthony Lower, The Worthies of Sussex: Biographical Sketches (1865); Foster, Alumni Oxon (1887-91).

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for Rev. Thomas Newcomb:

1.	1762  Edward Young to Thomas Newcomb, 25 November 1762; Gentleman's Magazine 97 (February 1797) 91.
2.	1763  Anonymous, Review of Newcomb, On the Success of British Arms; The Monthly Review 28 (February 1763) 160-61.
3.	1763  Anonymous, "On a Bookseller who refused to print a Poem, because the Subject was too moral and religious" St. James's Chronicle (9 April 1763).
4.	1800 ca.  Robert Southey, 1800 ca.; Common-Place Book (1849-51) 1:423.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for Rev. Thomas Newcomb:

1.	1720  Giles Jacob, in Historical Account of the Lives and Writings of our most considerable English Poets (1720) 118-19.
2.	1780  John Nichols, in Select Collection of Poems with Notes Biographical and Historical (1780-82) 4:355-56.
3.	1780  John Nichols, in Select Collection of Poems with Notes Biographical and Historical (1780-82) 8:300.
4.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 23:111-12.
5.	1865  Mark Anthony Lower, in The Worthies of Sussex: Biographical Sketches (1865) 337.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1712  John Ayloffe:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:50.
2.	1712  Rev. Richard Bentley:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:60-63.
3.	1712  Sir Richard Blackmore:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:25.
4.	1712  William Camden:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:41-42.
5.	1712  Dr. William Coward:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:51-53.
6.	1712  Thomas D'Urfey:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca (1712); Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:27-28.
7.	1712  John Dennis:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:55.
8.	1712  Andrew Marvell:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:50.
9.	1712  John Milton:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:56.
10.	1712  Katherine Philips:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:44-45.
11.	1712  John Philips:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1784) 57-58.
12.	1712  John Sheffield:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:39.
13.	1712  Edmund Smith:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:56-57.
14.	1712  Sir Richard Steele:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:71.
15.	1712  Nahum Tate:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:39.
16.	1712  George Wither:   Thomas Newcomb, in Bibliotheca, 1712; Nichols, Select Collection of Poems (1780-82) 3:34-35.
17.	1719  Nicholas Rowe:   Thomas Newcomb, "An Ode sacred to the Memory of N. Rowe, Esq." Musarum Lachrymae: or Poems to the Memory of Nicholas Rowe (1719) 41-62.