Author: ANSTEY, Thomas
Biography:
ANSTEY, Thomas (fl. 1818-19)
Although the two works listed in this bibliography as by Thomas Anstey are very different--The Travellers is a reformist satire on religious corruption and Penzance is a loco-descriptive poem celebrating the estates of various Cornish landowners--they are undoubtedly by the same man. Anstey seems to have been living in Southwark when The Travellers was issued but there are some clues in the poem indicating he may have come from Exeter, Devon. He was not from Penzance but he certainly spent time there: the poem is dedicated to Thomas Giddy, long-time mayor of the city, as a good friend. GM described Travellers as "a bitter, acrimonious satire upon all persons not professing Evangelical principles." A response to the poem was published as by "Mentor" in the West Briton in Truro on 22 Jan. 1819. In turn, Anstey wrote a response which was published by T. Vigurs, publisher of Penzance. Nothing more is known. (GM 89 [1819], 333; NUC; WorldCat) SR