T has been the general complaint of the biographers of literary men, that the lives which they have to examine and record possess few circumstances that can sufficiently diversify their narrative, so as to make it engage the attention of the public mind. Of Vincent Bourne, however, it may be said, not that what is known of him is devoid of interest, for that is far from being the case, but that scarcely any remembrance of his life has been preserved. " Qui bene latuit, bene vixit," seems to have been the motto of his easy and unambitious mind: and his scholars, eager perhaps to lose sight of the tutor, subsequently ceased to recollect the poet and the man. We might almost say, that we are better acquainted with the lives of Shakespeare and Spenser, than with that of a poet who lived in times so near to our own. A few meagre dates, which only mark some unimportant æras of his life, have alone been handed down to us, without any accompanying facts; as if the B enumeration of the milestones on a road were to form a satisfactory description of the features and scenery of a country. Subsequently, some casual and familiar touches, which dropped from the pen of Cowper, added to the resemblance; but the likeness, though pleasantly, was hastily and slightly sketched, and the portrait remains still unfinished. The present Editor has been perhaps a little more successful than those who have preceded him, in the materials he has collected; but they are so few, as to make him confess himself disappointed as to the success of his research. The late Rev. Mr. Nares, a diligent and accomplished scholar, was the only person who appeared publicly to evince much interest in the poetry of Vincent Bourne; but even he was too late in his inquiries to collect any information from the contemporaries of the Poet; and all other sources seem to have been examined in vain. We will now lay before our readers what we possess; and accompany, though on less familiar terms than we could have wished, the Poet in that path of life which he preferred and loved; the Secretum iter, et fallentis semita vitæ. The very scanty information which we possess of Vincent Bourne's parentage and birth-place is derived from the following entry in the book of Trinity College, Cambridge: "Maii 27, VINCENT BOURNE. iii 1714. Vincentius Bourne, annos natus 19, filius Andreæ Bourne, Westmonasteriensis; electus in hoc Collegio, e scholâ Reg: Westmonasteriensis sub Preceptore, Doctore Freind. Mro. Baker, Tute. We find from the list of King's scholars, that he was admitted on the foundation at Westminster in the year 1710, at the age of fifteen; and from Mr. Welsh's list of Westminster scholars, we have the following Elections, in the year 1714, for the Universities: TO OXFORD. John Wigan.* Salusbury Cade. TO CAMBRIDGE. Richard Cuthbert. * John Wigan, a physician, editor of Aretæus, and of Dr. Freind's Works, died in Jamaica, 1739. (There are several copies of verses by J. and G. Wigan in the Carmina Quadragesimalia.) ED. + David Gregory, professor of modern history and languages, Canon of Christ Church, 1736, Canon of Carlisle, 1736, Dean 1756, Master of Sherborne Hospital, 1759, son-in-law to the late Duke of Kent; died 1767. T. Fitzgerald, usher of Westminster School, editor of Martial and Terence, used in Westminster School, and author of a volume of poems. § Vincent Bourne, usher of Westminster School, and an elegant Latin Poet. * Vincent Bourne succeeded to a fellowship of Trinity College in due time, took the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1717, and that of Master of Arts in 1721. In the same year he edited a collection of Carmina Comitialia, (Tripos Verses) in which some of his own Poems appeared at the end, under the title of "Miscellanea." He afterwards became one of the ushers of Westminster School, in which situation he remained till the time of his death. In 1734, he printed a volume of his Poems, which he dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle; this edition was reprinted in 1735. A new edition appeared in 1743, with an appendix of a hundred and twelve pages. This was the last edition superintended by the Author, who died on the 2nd December, 1747. In his Will, he describes himself of St. Margaret's, Westminster; desires to be buried in privacy in some neighbouring church of England; and gives all his worldly goods to Lucia, his wife. His will is dated 52th December, 1727. In 1745 he makes a codicil, wherein he says that he then had two children by Lucia his wife, Thomas and Lucia, and he speaks of a farm near Bungay, in Suf A contemporary notice, in the London Magazine, states that " Mr. Vincent Bourne, one of the assistants of Westminster School, was appointed to succeed Thomas Ward, esq. deceased, as housekeeper to the House of Commons, as also to be deputy Serjeant-at-arms to the said House." The appointment took place in Nov. 1734. |