Rose, William Stewart

(1775-1843)

   The son of the statesman George Rose (17441818), he was educated at Eton College, then from 1800 to 1924 he was clerk of the House of Lords and clerk of the private committees. In 1802 he published only the first volume of A Naval History of the Late War, seemingly written to please his father. In 1803 he published a rhymed version of the first three books of the Amadis, translated from Spanish into French by Herberay des Essarts (circa 1557). When Sir Walter Scott and Rose met in 1803 they became friends and Scott addressed his "Marion" to Rose. Rose's volume of poems, The Crusade of St. Louis, was published in 1810, and his translation of Orlando Furioso, by Ludovico Ariosto (1474 - 1533), was published in volumes between 1823 and 1831. On retirement through ill health he spent some time at Abbotsford, Sir Walter Scott's home, and at Brighton, Sussex. Some of his poems: "Edward the Martyr," "Gundimore," "Prologue," "Sonnet I, To a Pine-Tree," "The Court and Parliament of Beasts," "The Dean of Badajos," "The Talisman," "Thessalian Witcheries."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Orlando Furioso, the Translation by William Stewart Rose (http://omacl.org/Orlando).