William Oldys

The illegitimate son of Dr. William Oldys, chancellor of Lincoln, Oldys lost much of his patrimony in the South Sea Bubble, and moved to Yorkshire where he lived with the Earl of Malton. In 1738 he was appointed secretary to Edward Harley, second earl of Oxford, whose library he catalogued with Samuel Johnson. After the death of his patron Oldys contributed to many scholarly projects, notably the Biographia Britannica (1747-60). In 1751 he was imprisoned for debt; in 1755 he was appointed Norroy king-at-arms by the duke of Norfolk.

TEXT RECORDS:

1748An Historical Essay on the Life and Writings of Michael Drayton.
1750 ca.[Notes for a Biography of Edmund Spenser.]
1758Some Account of the Life and Writings of Edmund Spenser.
1763Biographia Britannica: Edmund Spenser.

PUBLICATIONS:

A dissertation upon pamphlets and the undertaking of Phoenix britannicus to revive the most excellent of them. 1731.
Life of Sir Walter Raleigh in Raleigh, History of the World. 2 vols, 1736.
The British librarian. 1737.
The Muses library [Elizabeth Cooper, with Oldys]. 1741.
Memoirs of Mrs Anne Oldfield [attributed to Oldys]. 1741.
The Harleian miscellany: or a collection of scarce, curious and entertaining tracts and pamphlets [ed. Oldys]. 8 vols, 1744-46.
Biographia Britannica [major contributor]. 5 vols, 1747-60.
Some account of the life and writings of Charles Cotton in Izaac Walton, Compleat Angler. 1760.
Diary, ed. J. Yeowell. 1862.

PROFILE AND
ASSOCIATES:

English
Anglican

Gray's Inn
Inns of Court

secretary
editor
antiquary
poet

Universal Spectator
British Librarian

Rev. Thomas Birch
John Campbell
Elizabeth Cooper
Thomas Hayward
Samuel Johnson
Bp. Thomas Percy
Rev. William Thompson

REFERENCE:

DNB; NCBEL.

Thomas Davies, A Catalogue of the Library of the late William Oldys (1762); "Biographical Anecdotes of William Oldys" Gentleman's Magazine 84 (March-April 1784) 161-64, 260; "William Oldys, Esq." European Magazine 30 (November 1796) 315-16 [portrait]; Alexander Chalmers, General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17); Robert Watt, Bibliotheca Britannica (1824); Isaac D'Israeli, Curiosities of Literature 6 (1834); Allibone, Critical Dictionary of English Literature (1858-71; 1882); James Yeowell, "Memoirs of Oldys" Notes and Queries S3 1 (4 January-1 February 1862); Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05); Lawrence Lipking, "The Curiosity of William Oldys: An Approach to the Development of English Literary History" Philological Quarterly 46 (1967) 285-407; Thomas Kaminski, "Johnson and Oldys as Bibliographers: An Introduction to the Harleian Catalogue" Philological Quarterly 60 (1981) 439-53.

COMMENTARY RECORDS
for William Oldys:

1.	1755 ca.  William Oldys, Letter to Sir Peter Thompson, 1755 ca.; Notes and Queries 5 (5 June 1852) 529-31.
2.	1763  Thomas Percy to Thomas Birch, 2 July 1763; Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58) 7:569.
3.	1766 ca.  Samuel Pegge, 1766 ca; in Anonymiana, or Ten Centuries of Observations on various Authors and Subjects (1809) 126.
4.	1780 ca.  Francis Grose, "Mr. William Oldys" 1780 ca.; in Grose, The Olio (1792) 136-38.
5.	1784  S. A., "Anecdotes of William Oldys" Gentleman's Magazine 54 (March 1784) 161.
6.	1784  R. L. P., "Oldys's Writings" Gentleman's Magazine 54 (March 1784) 161-64.
7.	1784  Anonymous, "Biographical Notices of Mr. Oldys" Gentleman's Magazine 54 (April 1784) 260.
8.	1792  Anonymous, "Mr. Oldys" European Magazine 22 (November 1792) 341.
9.	1801  Anonymous, "William Oldys" Monthly Mirror 12 (July 1801) 19.
10.	1805  Samuel Egerton Brydges, in Censura Literaria 1 (1805) i-ii, 445.
11.	1805  Andrew Caldwell to Thomas Percy, 18 November 1805; Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58) 8:61.
12.	1806  Andrew Caldwell to Thomas Percy, 5 September 1806; Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58) 8:64.
13.	1807  Thomas Park to Samuel Egerton Brydges, 1807; Moulton, Library of Literary Criticism (1901-05) 3:457.
14.	1809  Thomas Frognall Dibdin, in The Bibliomania (1809) 64n.
15.	1809  Nathan Drake, in Essays Illustrative of the Rambler (1809-10) 1:71-72.
16.	1811  Robert Anderson to Thomas Percy, 15 May 1811; Nichols, Illustrations of the Literary History of the XVIII Century (1817-58) 7:212.
17.	1832  John Taylor Esq., in Records of my Life (1832) 1:25-30.
18.	1860  George Gilfillan, in Specimens with Memoirs of the less-known British Poets (1860) 3:125.
19.	1911  George Saintsbury, in History of English Literary Criticism (1911) 298n.

BIOGRAPHY RECORDS
for William Oldys:

1.	1796  Isaac Reed?, "William Oldys, Esq." European Magazine 30 (November 1796) 315-16.
2.	1812  Alexander Chalmers, in General Biographical Dictionary (1812-17) 23:334-39.
3.	1836  Isaac D'Israeli, "Oldys and his Manuscripts" in Curiosities of Literature (1836; 1881) 3:499-502.
4.	1844  Robert Chambers, in Cyclopaedia of English Literature (1844; 1850) 2:121 & n.
5.	1862  James Yeowell, "Memoir of William Oldys, Esq. Norroy King-at-Arms" Notes and Queries S3 1 (4 January-1 February 1862) 1-3, 21-23, 41-44, 61-64, 81-85.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(commentary records)

1.	1737  Robert Allott:   William Oldys, in The British Muse (1737) 1:viii-ix.
2.	1737  Edward Bysshe:   William Oldys, in The British Muse (1737) 1:xiv-xvi.
3.	1737  Elizabeth Cooper:   William Oldys, Diary entries, 1737; Notes and Queries S2 11 (2 February 1861) 101, 103.
4.	1737  Charles Gildon:   William Oldys, in The British Muse (1737) 1:xvi-xviii.
5.	1737  Thomas Hayward:   William Oldys, Diary entries, 1737-38; Notes and Queries S2 11 (16 February 1861) 123, 124.
6.	1737  Joshua Poole:   William Oldys, in The British Muse (1737) 1:xiii-xiv.
7.	1738  John Bodenham:   William Oldys, in The British Muse (1738) 1:vii-viii.
8.	1740 ca.  George Chapman:   William Oldys, ca. 1740; in Restituta or ... English Literature Revived 2 (1815) 30.
9.	1740 ca.  Sir Walter Raleigh:   William Oldys, in Bliss, Athenae Oxonienses (1815) 2:612n.
10.	1748  Michael Drayton:   William Oldys, in Memoir in Drayton, Works (1748) 10.
11.	1750 ca.  William Browne of Tavistock:   William Oldys, Adversaria, 1750 ca.; Notes and Queries S2 11 (9 March 1861) 181.
12.	1750 ca.  Thomas Churchyard:   William Oldys, Adversaria, 1750 ca.; Notes and Queries S2 11 (9 March 1861) 182.
13.	1750 ca.  John Dryden:   William Oldys, Adversaria, 1750 ca.; Notes and Queries S2 11 (2 March 1861) 162.
14.	1750 ca.  Sir Edward Dyer:   William Oldys, Adversaria, 1750 ca.; Notes and Queries S2 11 (2 March 1861) 163.
15.	1750 ca.  Thomas Flatman:   William Oldys, 1750 ca.; in William Beloe, Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books 1 (1807) 201.
16.	1750 ca.  Ben Jonson:   William Oldys, "Ben Jonson" Censura Literaria 1 (1805) 1:94-99.
17.	1750 ca.  Nathaniel Lee:   William Oldys, "Nathaniel Lee" 1750 ca.; Censura Literaria 1 (1805) 176-79.
18.	1750 ca.  John Milton:   William Oldys, Adversaria, 1750 ca.; Notes and Queries S2 11 (16 March 1861) 203.
19.	1750 ca.  Alexander Oldys:   William Oldys, "Anecdote of Alexander Oldys" Gentleman's Magazine 54 (March 1784) 161.
20.	1750 ca.  Katherine Philips:   William Oldys, "Mrs. Katherine Phillips," 1750 ca; Censura Literaria 2 (1806) 173-74
21.	1750 ca.  Thomas Shadwell:   William Oldys, ca. 1750; in Censura Literaria 1 (1805) 180-81n.
22.	1750 ca.  Thomas Shadwell:   William Oldys, Adversaria, 1750 ca.; Notes and Queries S2 11 (9 March 1861) 182.
23.	1750 ca.  Rev. William Thompson:   William Oldys, Adversaria, 1750 ca.; William Oldys, Adversaria, 1750 ca.; Notes and Queries S2 11 (9 March 1861) 182-83.
24.	1755 ca.  William Oldys:   William Oldys, Letter to Sir Peter Thompson, 1755 ca.; Notes and Queries 5 (5 June 1852) 529-31.
25.	1758  Rev. Phineas Fletcher:   William Oldys?, in Faerie Queene, ed. Church (1758) 1:xlii-xliv.
26.	1758  Gabriel Harvey:   William Oldys?, in Memoir of Spenser, Faerie Queene, ed. Church (1758) 1:xix.

AUTHOR AS CRITIC:
(biography records)

1.	1748  Michael Drayton:   William Oldys, Essay on the Life and Writings of Michael Drayton, in Drayton, Works (1748) 3-12.
2.	1750  Thomas Shadwell:   William Oldys, ca. 1750; in Censura Literaria 1 (1805) 181-82n.