Author: Lewis, William
Biography:
LEWIS, William (fl 1818)
The fact that “William Lewis” is such a common name makes it difficult to provide a precise identification of the author of The Bard’s Lament . . . and Other Poems (1818), one of myriad elegies following the death of Princess Charlotte in childbirth in 1817. He distinguishes himself, however, as “a truant from the pencil to the lyre,” meaning that he earned his living normally as an artist. The Royal Academy collections include two of his (rather generic) landscapes in watercolour; their records provide floruit dates of 1804-38 and the helpful information that he was one of the four sons of an emigrant miniature painter and engraver from Hanover, Johan Ludwig (b c. 1740), who took the English name John Lewis, and his wife Elizabeth. This however may not be true. Biographies indicate that the Lewises had only three sons who grew to maturity: Frederick Christian (b 1779), an engraver and painter; Charles (b 1782), a bookbinder; and George Robert (b 1786), a landscape painter. That said, a couple named John and Elizabeth Lewis did baptise a child, William George, at Finsbury, London, on 24 Apr. 1785. William Lewis the author was undoubtedly an artist, though perhaps not of that family. His book was handsomely printed and he indicated that two further volumes of poetry would be issued if it were well received. But the reviewers were not kind: the Literary Panorama declared that he would be wise to pause and seek advice from a friendly critic before publishing again, and the European Magazine described his verses as “astonishing by their ignorance, and disgusting by their absurdity.” Lewis presumably went back to his pencil, but nothing further can be said with certainty about him. (ancestry.com 16 Jan. 2024; findmypast.com 16 Jan. 2024; royalacademy.org 16 Jan. 2024; ODNB 16 Jan. 2024 [Frederick Christian and Charles Lewis])