Luke Milbourne

Rev. Luke Milbourne (1649 - 15 April 1720) was an English poet and cleric, best known for his controversy with John Dryden..

Life

Youth and education

Milbourne was the son of Luke Milbourne, incumbent of Wroxhall, Warwickshire, where he was born in 1649. His mother's name was Phœbe.

In 1966 he entered Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, earning a B.A. in 1670. He contributed Latin verses to Lacrymæ Cantabrigienses, 1670, on the death of Henrietta, duchess of Orleans.

Clerical career

After graduating he appears to have held chaplaincies to the English merchants at Hamburg and Rotterdam. He was afterwards at Harwich, and was beneficed in the beginning of William III's reign at Yarmouth. There he associated much with Rowland Davies, afterwards dean of Cork, and wrote a lampoon on the town, entitled Ostia.

In 1688 he became lecturer of St. Leonard's, Shoreditch, and in 1704 he succeeded Samuel Harris as rector of St. Ethelburga's, London. He is "the priest of the church of England and rector of a church in the city of London" who, in a published Letter (1713) to Roger Laurence, author of Lay Baptism Invalid, refuted the validity of lay baptism by the authority of Calvin and of French protestant writers.

His sympathies were generally with the high church party, many of his numerous printed sermons touching upon the martyrdom of Charles I, and enforcing the duty of passive obedience. He supported Dr. Sacheverell, in whose footsteps he would have liked to follow. After listening to one of Milbourne's high-flying sermons in January 1713, Bishop Kennett asked indignantly "why he did not stay in Holland" and "why he is suffered to stay in England".

Milbourne vs. Dryden

Milbourne is chiefly remembered on account of his strictures on Dryden's translation of Virgil, and of the retaliation made upon him both by Dryden, and by Pope in Dryden's behalf.

Milbourne attempted an English rendering of Virgil before Dryden. According to an advertisement at the close of The Comparison of Pindar and Horace: written in French by M. Blondel, Master in Mathematics to the Dauphin. English'd by Sir Edward Sherburn, and published in 1696, Milbourne had then issued The First Book of Virgil's Æneis made English, 4to. No copy seems now known.

Dryden's translation appeared in 1697, and its success inspired Milbourne's attack on it in his Notes on Dryden's Virgil, in a Letter to a Friend, with an Essay on the same Poet, London, 1698. Here, in order to demonstrate his own superiority, Milbourne supplemented coarse criticisms by "rickety" specimens of his own translation of the first and fourth Eclogues and the first Georgic.

Dryden complained in the preface to the Fables (1700) that his critic's scurrility was wholly unprovoked. One of Milbourne's avowed reasons for not sparing Dryden was that Dryden had never spared a clergyman. Dryden replied that if he had fallen foul of the priesthood he had only to ask pardon of good priests, and was afraid Milbourne's "part of the reparation would come to little." "I am satisfied," he concludes, "that while he and I live together I shall not be thought the worst poet of the age."

The morals of Milbourne, who, according to Dryden, had lost his living for libelling his parishioners, were severely handled in a poem entitled The Pacificator, 1699 He was subsequently coupled with Sir Richard Blackmore in Pope's Art of Criticism as the type of all that is contemptible in a critic.

Death

Milbourne died in London. A son, Thomas Milbourne, was a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, and died in October 1743.

Writing

Milbourne's other works, apart from 31 single sermons and some minor tracts, are: 1. ‘A Short Defence of the Order of the Church of England, by a Presbyter of the Diocese of Norwich’ (anon.), 1688. 2. ‘Mysteries in Religion vindicated, or the Filiation, Deity, and Satisfaction of our Saviour asserted against Socinians and others, with occasional reflections on several late pamphlets,’ London, 1692, 8vo. 3. A metrical version of ‘The Imitation of Christ,’ entitled ‘The Christian Pattern Paraphrased,’ 1697, 8vo. 4. ‘The Psalms of David in English Metre,’ 1698, 12mo, which deservedly attracted no attention. 5. ‘Tom of Bedlam's answer to his Brother, Ben Hoadly,’ 1709, 8vo. 6. ‘The Moderate Cabal, a Satyr in Verse,’ 1710 (anon.). 7. ‘The Two Wolves in Lamb's Skins, or Old Eli's sorrowful Lamentations over his two Sons,’ 1716, 8vo. 8. ‘A Legacy to the Church of England, vindicating her Orders from the Objections of Papists and Dissenters,’ 2 vols. London, 1722, 8vo (posthumous).

Publications

Poetry

• The Christian Pattern Paraphras'd; or, The book of the imitation of Christ. London: Roger Clavell, 1697.
• Tom of Bedlam; or, A mad poem. London: Booksellers of London & Westminster, 1701.
• Tom of Bedlam's Answer to his Brother Ben Hoadly. London: B. Bragge, 1709.
• The Moderate Cabal: A satyr. London: Booksellers of London & Westminster, 1710.

Non-fiction

• The Originals of Rebellion: A sermon. London: J. Wallis, for Walter Kettilby, 1683.
• A Short Defence of the Orders of the Church of England. London: Randal Taylor, 1688.
• Mysteries in Religion Vindicated. London: Walter Kettilby, 1692.
• Notes on Dryden's Virgil: In a letter to a friend. London: R. Clavill, 1697.
• A False Faith Not Justified by Care for the Poor: A sermon. London: R.R., for W. Kettelby & B. Aylmer, 1698.
• A Farewell Sermon. London: Brabazon Aylmer, 1699.
• Christian Good Rellowship: A sermon. London: A. Roper, 1704.
• The Hope of a Future Life: A sermon. London: J. Leake, for Walter Kettilby, 1704.
• Great Britain's Acclamation to her Deborah: A sermon. London: Brabazon Aylmer, 1704.
• The Morality of God's Prophets: A sermon. London: Brabazon Aylmer, 1704.
• The People Not the Original of Civil Power" A sermon. London: R. Burrough / J. Baker, 1707.
• The Utter Extirpation of Tyrants and their Families: A sermon. London: 1708.
• A Sermon Preach'd ... for the execrable murder King Charles the First. . London: R. Burrough / J. Baker, 1708.
• Debtor and Creditor Made Easy: A sermon. London: Samuel Manship, 1709.
• Melius Inquirendum: A sermon. London: J. Morphew, 1709.
• The Measures of Resistance to Higher Powers: A sermon. London: George Sawbridge, 1710.
• The Impiety and Folly of Resisting Lawful Governors: A sermon. London: George Sawbridge, 1711.
• The curse of regicides: A sermon. London: George Sawbridge, 1712.
• God and Caesar: or, A seasonable antidote for the poison of rebellion against God and the King, in some sermons. London: Lucy Beardwell, for George Sawbridge, 1712.
• A Guilty Conscience Makes a Rebel: A sermon. London: Lucy Beardwell, for George Sawbridge, 1713.
• Peace the Gift of God but the Terror of the Wicked: A sermon. London: Lucy Beardwell, for George Sawbridge, 1713.
• Psalmody Recommended: In a sermon. London: J. Downing, 1713.
• The Traitor's Reward; or, A King's death revenged: A sermon. London: L. Beardwell, for George Sawbridge, 1714.
• Conciones duse ad clerum Londinensem. London: G. James, for George Sawbridge, 1715.
• The Danger of Changes in Church and State. London: H. Meere, for George Sawbridge, 1715.
• The Christian Subject's Duty to His Lawful Prince: In a sermon. London: H. Meere, for G. Sawbridge, 1716.
• Good Princes and Faithfull Counsellors: A sermon. London: George Sawbridge, 1716.
• The Two Wolves in Lamb's Skins. London: J. Sackfield, 1716.
• Evil Not to Be Done that Good May Come of It: A sermon. London: H. Meere, for Eliz. Sawbridge, 1717.
• Sedition and Rebellion in the State: A sermon. London: Eliz. Sawbridge, 1718.
• Ignorance and Folly Put to Silence: A sermon. London: Eliz. Sawbridge, 1719.
• Royal and Innocent Blood Expiated: A sermon. London: J. Wilford, 1720.
• A Legacy to the Church of England. (2 volumes), London: M. Smith, 1722.
• The Royal Martyr Lamented: In fourteen sermons, 1708-1720. London: J. Wilford, 1724.

Translated

• Virgil, The First Book of Virgils 'Aeneis' Made English. London: Randal Taylor, 1688.
• The Psalms of David in English Metre. London: W. Rogers, 1698.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of British poets

References

•  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1894) "Milbourne, Luke (1848-1720)" Dictionary of National Biography 37 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 371=372 . Wikisource, Web, Aug. 20, 2016.

External links

About

• Rev. Luke Milbourne (1639-1720, English Poetry, 1579-1830
• 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: Milbourne, Luke (1848-1720)