John Scott of Amwell

John Scott of Amwell (1731-1783), from Poetical Works, 1782. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

John Scott (January 9, 1731 - December 12, 1783), known as Scott of Amwell, was an English poet, and a writer on the alleviation of poverty.

Life

Overview

Amwell was the son of a Quaker draper who in his later years lived at Amwell, a village in Herts, which the poet celebrates in his descriptive poem, Amwell. He wrote much other verse now forgotten.

Youth and education

Scott, the youngest son of Martha (Wilkins) and Samuel Scott, a quaker linendraper, was born in the Grange Walk, Bermondsey, on 9 January 1730. At 7 he commenced Latin under John Clarke, a Scottish schoolmaster of Bermondsey; but his father's moval to Amwell, Hertfordshire, in 1740 interrupted his education.

Career

Scott developed a taste for poetry, and wrote verses in the Gentleman's Magazine between 1753 and 1758. After 1760 he paid occasional visits to London, and made the acquaintance of John Hoole, who introduced him to Dr. Johnson.

In 1767 he married Sarah Frogley, the daughter of a self-educated bricklayer, to whom he owed his 1st introduction to the poets. She died a year later with her infant, and Scott wrote an Elegie (London, 1769, 4to; 2nd edit. 1769). For a time after her death he stayed with poet Joseph Cockfield at Cockfield's home in Upton. In November 1770 he took a house at Amwell.

Scott frequented Mrs. Montagu's parties, and made many literary friends. Among them was Dr. Beattie, in whose defense Scott afterwards wrote letters to the Gentleman's Magazine (March 1778). Johnson, who visited Scott at Amwell, wrote that he "loved" Scott. Scott was also a friend of David Barclay of Youngsbury, and a patron of William Blake.

Scott corresponded with poet Joseph Cockfield, and stayed at Cockfield's home in Upton for a time after the death of his 1st wife.

Scott published in 1776 his descriptive poem, Amwell (2nd edition 1776, 4to; reprinted Dublin, 1776).

In his time he was celebrated as an expert on the turnpike roads and a critic of the Poor Law. He was an active member of 3 Hertfordshire turnpike trusts and his Digests of the General Highway and Turnpike Laws (1778) was praised by Sidney and Beatrice Webb who called him "the ablest Turnpike Trustee of his time". The Webbs also admired his Observations on the Present State of the Parochial and Vagrant Poor (1773). Despite their friendship, Scott took issue with Dr. Johnson on the rights of the American colonies and his Lives of the Poets (1779-1781).

His Poetical Works (London, 1782, 8vo; reprinted 1786 and 1795) were attacked by the Critical Review (July 1782, 47), and Scott ill-advisedly defended himself in A Letter to the Critical Reviewers, London, 1782, 8vo.

He next collected his Critical Essays; but before they were published he died at his house at Ratcliff, 12 Dec. 1783, and was buried at the Friends' burial-ground there. By his 2nd wife, Mary, daughter of Abraham de Horne, Scott left a daughter, Maria de Horne Scott, aged 6 at his death.

Johnson consented to write a sketch of Scott's life to accompany the Essays; but, his death intervening, it was undertaken by Hoole, and published in 1785.

A portrait by Townsend, engraved by J. Hall, which is prefixed to his Poems and Essays, is said to be inexact.

Scott's Grotto

Scott's Grotto at Amwell, 18th century. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Scott's Grotto, is a grotto in Ware, Hertfordshire built by Scott from 1760 on. The grotto, the largest in the United Kingdom, is a series of chambers extending over 65 feet into the chalk hillside. The chambers are decorated with shells, stones such as flint, and colored glass. The grotto, owned by East Hertfordshire district council, is a Grade I listed building, and the surrounding gardens and structures are Grade II listed.

Johnson, who stayed with the Scott family in the summer of 1773 and may have visited again in June 1774, described the grotto as a "Fairy Hall" and said "none but a poet could have made such a garden".

The grotto continued as a tourist attraction into Victorian times but, having then fallen out of use, was restored in 1991 as “the most complete of the grotto-builder’s art”.

Writing

Scott's verses were appreciated by his contemporaries. Besides the works mentioned he wrote: 1. ‘Four Elegies, descriptive and moral,’ 4to, 1760. 2. ‘Observations on the State of the Parochial and Vagrant Poor,’ 1773, 8vo. 3. ‘Remarks on the Patriot’ [by Dr. Johnson], 1775, 8vo. 4. ‘Digests of the General Highway and Turnpike Laws,’ &c., London, 1778, 8vo. 5. ‘Four Moral Eclogues,’ London, 1778, 4to; reprinted in the ‘Cabinet of Poetry,’ 1808. His collected poetical works and life, the latter based upon Hoole's, are included in the series of ‘British Poets’ by Anderson, Chalmers, Campbell, Davenport Park, and Sanford.

Recognition

13 of Scott's poems were included by George Pearch in his Collection of Poems in Four Volumes; by several hands.

The 2nd verse of "The Miseries Of War" (aka "The Drum)" adorns the display panel on the English Civil War at Pendennis Castle Museum, Falmouth, Cornwall, England.

Scott's Grotto was restored by the Ware Society in 1991 and is open to the public.

His poetry was included in the New Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1950.

In popular culture

In the finale of the 1st season of the television series Tour of Duty, the character Roger Horn temporarily deserts his platoon and is heard reciting the 1st verse of John Scott's strongly pacifist "Ode Against Recruiting" (aka "The Drum") - "I hate that Drum's discordant sound ..."

Publications

Poetry

• Four Elegies: Descriptive and moral. London: J. Buckland / R. & J. Dodsley / G. Woodfall / et al, 1760.
• An Elegy: Written at Amwell. London: privately published, printed by Dryden Leach, 1769.
• Amwell: A descriptive poem. London: E. & C. Dilly, 1776; Dublin: S. Price / W. Watson / J. Potts / et al, 1776.
• Moral Eclogues. London: 1778.
• Poetical Works. London: J. Buckland, 1782.
• Poetical Works (edited by Thomas Park).. London: C. Whittingham at Stanhope Press, for J. Sharpe, 1808.

Non-fiction

• The Constitution Defended [against Samuel Johnson's 'False Alarm']. London: E. & C. Dilly, 1770.
• Digest of the Present Act for Amendment of the Highways. London: 1773.
• Observations on the Present State of the Parochial and Vagrant Poor. London: 1773.
• Remarks on the Patriot ... with an address to the Electors of Great Britain. London: Richardson & Urquhart, 1775.
• Four Months Tour through France. 1776.
• Digests of the General Highway and Turnpike Laws. London: 1778.
• A Letter to the Critical Reviewers. London: 1782.
• Critical Essays ... on English poets. (2 volumes), London: James Phillips, 1785; New York: Garland, 1970. Volume I, Volume II

Except where noted, bibliograhical information courtesy WorldCat.

Poems by John Scott of Amwell

The Drum a poem written by John Scott

1. The Drum

See also

• List of British poets

References

• Anne McWhir, ‘Scott, John (1730–1783)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Web. Apr. 17, 2009.
• David Perman, Scott of Amwell: Dr. Johnson's Quaker critic, 2001.
•  Smith, Charlotte Fell (1897) "Scott, John (1730-1783)" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 51 London: Smith, Elder, p. 42 . Wikisource, Web, Feb. 25, 2018.
• Lawrence D. Stewart, John Scott of Amwell, 1956.

External links

Poems

• John Scott of Amwell at PoemHunter ("The Drum")
• John Scott of Amwell at Poets' Corner (4 poems)
• John Scott (1730-1783) at the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (13 poems)
• John Scott of Amwell (1730-1783) info & 17 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830
• John Scott of Amwell at Poetry Nook (65 poems)

Books

• John Scott of Amwell at Amazon.com

About

• Biographies for John Scott of Amwell at English Poetry, 1579-1830
• Scott's Grotto, Ware, East Herts Council
• Scott's Grotto

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Scott, John (1730-1783)