"R.H." (No. 14, p. 215.) will find all, I believe, that is known
respecting Antony Alsop, in that rich storehouse of materials for the
literary history of the last century, Nichols's _Anecdotes_, or in
Chalmers (_Biog. Dict._), who has merely transcribed from it. The volume
of _Latin Odes_ your correspondent mentions, was published by Sir
Francis Bernard, and printed by Bowyer. Some notice of Sir Francis
Bernard will also be found in Nichols.
The _Odes_ were long circulated in MS.; and I have a copy that once
belonged to Thomas Warton, which seems to have been written by G.
Crochly, of Christchurch College, in 1736. It contains, however, nothing
that is not to be found in the printed volume. The Dedication to the
Duke of Newcastle was written by Bernard, who had intended to have given
a preface and copious notes, as appears by the prospectus he published:
but, to our great regret, he was dissuaded from his purpose.
Alsop was a favourite with that worthy man and elegant scholar Dean
Aldrich, at whose instance he published his pleasing little volume,
_Fabularum Æsopicarum Delectus_, Oxon. 1698. In the preface Bentley is
thus designated--"Richardum quendam Bentleium Virum in volvendis Lexicus
satis diligentem:" and there is a severe attack upon him in one of the
fables, which was not forgotten by the great scholar, who affects to
speak of Tony Alsop the fabulist with great contempt.
I have never seen the volume of _Latin and English Poems_ published in
1738; but, notwithstanding the designation, "a gentleman of Trinity
College," it may be at least partly by Alsop, though he undoubtedly was
of Christchurch. There are English poems by him, published both in
Dodsley's and Pearch's collection, and several in the early volumes of
the _Gentleman's Magazine_. I have the authority of a competent judge
for saying, that the very witty, but not quite decent verses in that
miscellany, vol. v. p. 216--"Ad Hypodidasculum quendam plagosum, alterum
orbilium, ut uxorem duceret, Epistola hortativa." Subscribed "Kent,
Lady-day, 1835"--are Alsop's. He took the degree of M.A. in 1696, and of
B.D. in 1706, and, by favour of the Bishop of Winchester, got a prebend
in his cathedral, and the rectory of Brightwell, Berks. He was
accidentally drowned in a ditch leading to his garden gate, in 1726.
There is good reason to believe that a MS. life of him is to be found
among the Rawlinson MSS., which it may be worth while to consult.
It will be remembered that Christchurch was the head-quarters of the
phalanx of wits opposed to Bentley.
"Nor wert thou, Isis, wanting to the day,
[Tho' Christchurch long kept prudishly away,"]
is Pope's ironical banter; and he has not failed to mention Alsop and
Freind in Bentley's speech:--
"Let Freind affect to speak as Terence spoke,
And Alsop never but like Horace joke,"
where the note says, "Dr. Antony Alsop, a happy imitator of the Horatian
style."
Indeed, Alsop seems to have been duly esteemed and appreciated by his
contemporaries; and every tasteful scholar will concur in the opinion
that his truly elegant Sapphics deserve a place among the few volumes of
modern Latin verse, which he would place near Cowper's more extensively
known favourite, Vinny Bourne.