Graves, Richard

(1715-1804)

   Born at Mickleton, Gloucestershire, he was educated at the grammar school at Abingdon, Berkshire, and graduated from Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1736. He was later ordained into the Church of England, had various appointments in Berkshire and Somerset, and was appointed chaplain to the Countess of Chatham. He was zealous as a churchman and in politics; he was a Whig and he mixed in all shades of society. He died at Claverton, his home near Bath. His comic romance, The Spiritual Quixote or the Summer's Ramble of Mr. Geoffey Wildgoose (1772) ran into several editions. Some of his other publications: The Festoon, A Collection of Epigrams, 1766 and 1767. Galateo, or A Treatise on Politeness, 1774 (translated from the Italian of Giovanni della Casa, archbishop of Benevento). The Love of Order 1773 (a poetical essay, in three cantos). Euphrosyne, or Amusements on the Road of Life, 1776. Columella, or the Distressed Anchoret, a Colloquial Tale, 1779. Eugenius, or Anecdotes of the Golden Vale, 1785. Fleurettes, a translation of Fénelon's "Ode on Solitude," 1792. Three of his poems: "Maternal Despotism; or, The Rights of Infants," "Seven Beginnings," "Single Fare."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. In the Grip of Strange Thoughts: Russian Poetry in a New Era. J. Kates, ed. Zephyr Press, 1999. 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 National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth Century Verse. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press 2003. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.