Pratt, Samuel Jackson

(1749-1814)

   Born at St. Ives, Huntingdonshire, the son of a brewer who twice served as high sheriff of that county, he was ordained in the English church. He was a popular preacher, but after a tangled love affair, of which his parents disapproved, he left the church. He became an actor using the name "Courtney Melmoth" and took the part of Marc Antony in All for Love in the theatre in Smock Alley, Dublin, in 1773. He next appeared at Covent Garden Theatre, London, but his acting was not a success. He and his wife then toured the country telling fortunes to make a living. He wrote several plays that were produced at Drury Lane, London. He died in Birmingham after falling from his horse. Some of his poetry publications: Landscapes in verse, 1785. CottagePictures, 1803. John and Dame, or, the loyal cottagers, 1803. Harvest-Home, 1805. The Poor, Or, Bread, A Poem, 1892. Some of his poems: "Elegy of a Nightingale," "Epitaph on a Lap-Dog," "The Weavers," "To the Memory of David Garrick," "Triumph of Benevolence."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). 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 Oxford Book of Garden Verse. John Dixon Hunt, ed. Oxford University Press, 1993. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.