Bourne, Vincent

(1695-1747)

   "Vinny" Bourne, a Latin poet, was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a lifelong master at Westminster School. He was also housekeeper and deputy sergeant-at-arms to the House of Commons. His major works are Carmina Comitialia (editor), which contains some verses of his own, 1721; and Poemata, Latine partim reddita, partim scripta, 1734, 2nd ed. 1735, 3rd ed. 1743. William Cowper (a pupil of Bourne's at Westminster) translated several of his pieces into English, and said this of him: "I love the memory of Vinny Bourne. I think him a better Latin poet than Tibullus, Propertius, Ausonius, or any of the writers in his way except Ovid, and not at all inferior to him" (DNB). Charles Lamb (see entry) had a high opinion of Bourne and included nine translations of Bourne's poems among his Miscellaneous Poems. An edition of Bourne's poems was published in 1840. He was obviously fond of nature, for many of his poems are about animals or birds. Some of his poems: "Epitaph on a Dog," "Invitation to the Redbreast," "Sparrows Self-Domesticated," "The Jackdaw," "The Silk Worm," "The Snail."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. 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 Poetical Works of William Cowper. H.S. Milford, ed. Oxford University Press, 1926. The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb. Vol. 5. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1903.