Author: Alves, James
Biography:
ALVES, James (fl 1800)
No reliable biographical information has been located. The preface, which reflects bitterly on English writers’ scorn of Scotland, refers to his having once lived in England. He is probably not James Alves, a portrait painter from Inverness. That man was baptised at Inverness on 27 Apr. 1738, son of Thomas Alves and his wife Jean Cuthbert. He spent time in Rome where he painted a portrait of James Boswell (q.v.), and died in 1808. The author of Banks of the Esk has a strong association with Midlothian and the poems, particularly "An Address to Impudence," imply a younger man than Alves the painter would have been in 1800. "The Dependent's Complaint" bemoans the author's fate in "poor dependence" at having to move from the banks of the Esk to the Tyne but looks forward to a time when he will have "quit the slipp'ry servile state." (ancestry.co.uk 13 Jan. 2025) SR