Bramston, James

(?1694-1744)

   Born into a family of lawyers of considerable standing, Bramston's father was Francis Bramston, fourth son of Sir Moundeford Bramston, master in chancery, who in his turn was younger son of Sir John Bramston the elder, lord chief justice of the king's bench. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, but he chose the Church instead of law and was vicar of two parishes in Sussex: Lurgashall then Harting. In 1729 he published Art of Politicks, an imitation of the Ars Poetica of Horace, followed by The Man of Taste (1731). Both satires abound with contemporary references to life in the 18th century and were reprinted in Vol. I. of Dodsley's Poems by Several Hands (6 volumes, 1770). He also wrote some Latin poems and parodied John Phillips's "Splendid Shilling" in "The Crooked Sixpence." Some of his other poems: "The Art of Politicks," "Time's Changes."

   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). Great Books Online. www.bartleby.com. 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 Faber Book of Comic Verse. Michael Roberts, and Janet Adam Smith, ed. Faber and Faber, 1978. The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press, 1984. The Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse. David Nichol Smith, ed. Oxford University Press, 1926.