Shaw, Cuthbert

(1739-1771)

   Born at Ravensworth, near Richmond in Yorkshire, his first poem, Liberty, inscribed to the Earl of Darlington, was published in 1756. Feeling unappreciated in Yorkshire, he joined a company of comedians and in 1760 was at Bury St. Edmunds, where he published under the pseudonym of "W. Seymour" Odes on the Four Seasons. As an actor he had little to recommend him except his good looks, although he did appear at Covent Garden in 1761, and in a benefit performance for himself as Pierre in Venice Preserved (1762). During the last years of his life his contributions to The Freeholder's Magazine and other periodicals were noted for their caustic comments leveled at contemporary personalities and events. He died at Oxford. Some of his other publications: An Elegy on the Death of Charles York, 1770. Monody to the Memory of a Young Lady, 1770. Poems on Different Occasions, 1776. The Race, 1776. Some of his other poems: "Address to the Critics," "The Author, Being in Company with Emma," "Emma to Damon," "Evening Address to a Nightingale," "Invitation to Emma, After Marriage," "Song, to Emma," "To Emma, Doubting the Author's Sincerity."

   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). Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources (http://library.stanford.edu). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Works of the British Poets, Vol. 33 (Blair, Glynn, Boyce, Shaw, Lovibond, and Penrose). J. Sharpe, 1808.