Book description
Peter Pindar (1738-1819), the pen name of John Wolcot, dared to
ridicule the foibles, corruptions and misdemeanours of King George III
and those in power in his kingdom. His satire was merciless, but
Wolcot survived accusations of treason, protected by his wit and
readership. His admirers included Lord Nelson and the Prince Regent
himself; to Robert Burns he was 'a delightful fellow and a first
favourite of mine'. Fascinating for what they reveal of the world of
Hanoverian England, Peter Pindar's audacious poems still shock the
modern reader into laughter at the unchanging characteristics of the
arrogant and powerful. Fenella Copplestone's introduction and notes
illuminate social and literary contexts of Pindar's writing.
'The Papers I see are full of anecdotes of the late King: how he
nodded to a Coal Heaver and laugh'd with a Quaker and liked boil'd Leg
of Mutton. Old Peter Pindar is just dead: what will the old King and he
have to say to each other? Perhaps the King may confess that Peter was
in the right, and Peter maintain himself to have been in the wrong'. -
John Keats John Wolcot ('Peter Pindar') was born in 1738 in Devon. He
was educated in Devon, Cornwall and France and he also studied medicine
in London. His medical degree was gained from Aberdeen University in
1767, by external examination in Plymouth. In the same year he travelled
to Jamaica and became physician to the governor, Sir William Trelawney.
Upon his return to England after Trelawney's death he practised medicine
in Cornwall, where he befriended the artist John Opie, who became his
protege. In 1778 Wolcot abandoned medicine and went with Opie to London,
where he began his career as a satirist under the pseudonym of Peter
Pindar, publishing Lyric Odes to the Royal Academicians (1782 - 5). His
verses were bestsellers and he became a well-known figure in the
capital's literary and political circles, greatly admired for his biting
wit and social commentary. His targets included William Pitt, James
Boswell, Sir Joseph Banks and the moralist Hannah More. His most
important target was the King himself. In 1786 he published the first
canto of his most important poem, The Lousiad, the five volumes of which
were not completed until 1795, and in 1787 Ode upon Ode, which ridiculed
the official yearly odes to King George III. Wolcot's verse was
collected in 1812. He died in London in 1819 and was buried in the
church of St Paul's, Covent Garden. Fenella Copplestone was born and
educated in Northern Ireland, reading English at Queen's University
Belfast. She holds an MA in American Studies from the University of
Sussex and an M. Phil in the teaching of poetry from the Universy of
Exeter. Trained as an English teacher at Makerere University, Kampala,
she taught English first in Uganda and thereafter in Northern Ireland,
England and Scotland, ending her teaching career as acting head of a
comprehensive school. She has been a publisher's reader and a reviewer
of poetry, and worked on Shakespearean topics with her husband Gamini
Salgado before developing her current interest in eighteen-century
literature. Her home is in Rennes, Brittany.
