William Combe

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Combe . Drawing by George Dance the Younger (1793; National Portrait Gallery)

William Combe (born March 25, 1742 in London , † June 19, 1823 ibid) was an English writer .

Life

William Combe's early life was that of a bon vivant and adventurer. He was born in London in 1742 as the son of the wealthy iron merchant Robert Combes. He attended Eton College , which he left without a degree after the untimely death of his parents. From then on he lived with his godfather William Alexander in London. A grand tour to France and Italy, where he met Laurence Sterne , followed in 1763–66. When his godfather left him an inheritance of £ 2,000 in 1766, he appeared from then on as Duke (Duke) or Count (Earl), but the significant fortune was soon melted away by various extravagances. He hired himself as a common soldier, then also as a waiter. In the meantime he fled to France, but soon returned to England. From 1771 on he earned his living as a writer, from 1799 he spent the rest of his life writing "in the care" of King's Bench Prison , one of the English guilty prisons (guilty prisons were not abolished in England until the Debtors Act 1869), where he - similar to today in the open execution - nevertheless led a tolerable, almost bourgeois life. Combe has been married twice. He died childless on June 19, 1823.

plant

Thomas Rowlandson: Dr Syntax made free of the Cellar

William Combe became known as a satirist, writer, translator, editor, and columnist for newspapers and journals. His The Three Tours of Dr., first printed in Rudolph Ackermann's Poetical Magazine from 1809 onwards, were successful and best known. Syntax (1812–1821), quixoteque adventures written in verse by an English village chaplain to illustrations by Thomas Rowlandson . In further collaboration with Rowlandson, u. a. The English Dance of Death (1815-16) and The Dance of Life (1816-17). Combe previously provided the texts for the third volume of Microcosm of London (1810-11) and Boydell's An History of the River Thames (1796). Literary products of fictitious authorship were the letters from Laurence Sterne (1775) and the correspondence between Sternes Yorick and Eliza (1779). From 1789 to 1801 and 1804 to 1806 he received an annual fee of £ 200 from the Pitt government for his political columns . From 1803 he wrote for the Times . None of his works appeared under his name, mostly it was just "The Author" or "The Author of ...". About 85 publications are bibliographically recorded, including fiction, place and travel descriptions, translations and editions by other authors. According to his own information, he wrote thirty reviews, two hundred biographical sketches and "no less than two thousand columns for daily newspapers."

Works

William Combe: silhouette and autograph (British Museum)

(In selection; also attributed to anonymous, pseudonym, Combe)

  • The Philosopher in Bristol (1775)
  • Letters from Eliza to Yorick (1775)
  • Letters to His Friends on Various Occasions by Laurence Sterne (1775) - 12 letters, including possibly No. 1, No. 3 and No. 9 from Sterne himself, No. 2 from John Eustace to Sterne, the remaining letters probably written by Combe
  • The Diaboliad: a Poem: Dedicated to the Worst Man in His Majesty's Dominions. Also, the Diabo-Lady: or, a Match in Hell (1777)
  • Letters Supposed to Have Been Written by Yorick and Eliza. 2 volumes (1779)
  • Letters of the Late Lord Lyttleton. 2 vols (1780-2) -
  • Original Letters of the Late Reverend Mr. Laurence Stars: Never Before Published. (1788) - 39 letters, of which letters No. 8, No. 23 and No. 35 are possibly authentic.
  • The Devil upon Two Sticks in England: Being a Continuation of Le diable boiteux of Le Sage. 6 vols (1790–91)
  • An History of the River Thames. 2 vols (1794-6)
  • The Thames, or Graphic Illustrations. 2 vols (1811)
  • Microcosm of London: Vol 3 (1811)
  • The Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of the Picturesque. A Poem (1812)
  • The Second Tour in Search of Consolation (1812)
  • Third Tour in Search of a Wife (1821)
  • The English Dance of Death. 2 vols. (1815-16)
  • The Dance of Life (1817)
  • The History of Johnny Quae Genus, The Little Foundling of the Late Doctor Syntax (1822)

literature

  • John Camden Hotten: The Life and Adventures of the Author of "Doctor Syntax" . In: Dr Syntax's Three Tours in Search of the Picturesque, of Consolation, and of a Wife. By William Combe. London: Chatto & Windus (1868, 1895), V - XLVIII.
  • Harlan W Hamilton: Doctor Syntax - A Silhouette of William Combe . London: Chatto & Windus (1969)
  • Vincent Carretta: Combe, William (1742–1823) , Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  • Klaus Huebner: "A Philosopher can bear anything." - William Combe, hack-writer. In: Lichtenberg yearbook 2014 . Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter 2016, pp. 33–77.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The correct place of birth London can be found among others in Montgomery (1941), Hamilton (1969) and Carretta (2004). Older sources incorrectly give Bristol as the place of birth.
  2. ↑ On life and work: Hamilton (1969) and John Camden Hotten, The Life and Adventures of the Author of "Doctor Syntax" , ...
  3. ↑ Assigned to Wolverhampton, he met an acquaintance from Combes' better times, who mocked the soldier who was now carrying marching packs. The answer of the fallen hero: "A philosopher should be able to bear everything." (Hotten, X)
  4. ↑ On June 8, 1823, Rudolph Ackermann asked his long-time author to list his works, which William Combe immediately compiled in a summary. He concluded the Miscellanies with the sentence: “I had not the assistance of a dot to an i from any amanuensis. I trusted to my own exertions and talents, such as they are - knowledge, & c. My pen asked for no aid. ”- Combe died eleven days later.

Web links

Commons : William Combe  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
personal data
SURNAME Combe, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Doctor syntax
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English writer, satirist
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1742
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1823
Place of death London