THE SALAMANCA CORPUS:

DIGITAL ARCHIVE OF ENGLISH DIALECT TEXTS

YORKSHIRE

DING 2013: “He wrote three songs and two egloges in the Yorkshire dialect. His father was Rev. Thomas Browne, from Lastingham, near Kirby, Yks., who died in 1773. His uncle, also called Thomas Browne, was a bookseller in Hull. Our poet was born in Kirbymoorside. He was educated at different schools in the neighbourhood of Kirby and later taught by Rev. Joseph Milner of Hull. Rev. Thomas Browne started his professional life working for four years as a teacher at Yeddingham, near Pickering, Yks. He then proceeded to another school in Bridlington, Yks. In 1797 he moved to Hull where he became Editor of The Hull Advertiser. This newspaper had published some of his poems, under the pseudonym of Alexis, while he was still residing at Bridlington. He took holy orders that same year and married in October. He died in Hull on 8th January 1798. His poems were published posthumously by his family to help his widow and child. Most of the subscribers to the collection came from Hull and other places in Yorkshire. Regarding his Yorkshire poems, John Merrit (1800: xi) stated: “The Speciments of the Yorkshire Dialect have been greatly admired... In my opinion they contain the most faithful representations of rustic language that have yet appeared. Perhaps some, disgusted with the vulgarity of the language and sentiments, may think the imitation too close, and that the coarseness of clownish manners ought to be somewhat softened in poetry. They will, however, afford great pleasure to every one conversant in the habits and dialect of the Yorkshire villager, and on that account they are inserted.” These five poems have been separately included in different anthologies and collections through the years".

WORKS

1800. “Specimens of Yorkshire Dialect: "Song", "Song", "Song", "Awd Daisy, An Eglogue", "The Invasion: An Eclogue"”. Poems on Several Occasions. London: Vernor & Hood: 151-166. SC. EDD.

NOT IN KINGKONG PROJECT

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT HIS LIFE AND WORKS SEE

http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/authorrecord.php?action=GET&recordid=33772

Holland, John and William Carwright Newsam. 1845. “Rev. Thomas Browne”. Poets of Yorkshire; Comprising Sketches of the Lives, and Specimens of the Writings of those “Children of Song” who have been natives of, or otherwise connected with the County of York. London: Groombridge and Son: 83-84

Merritt, John. 1800. “Editor’s Preface”. Thomas Browne. Poems on several Occasions. London: Vernor & Hood: iii-xii.

DIALECT LITERATURE

1700-1799

NORTH

YORKSHIRE VERSE

Rev. Thomas Browne

(1771-1798)

Poems on Several Occasions
(1800)