Author: Phillips, John
Biography:
PHILLIPS, John (fl 1830)
Although his work was published by a well established London firm, Hatchard’s of Piccadilly, and although the title-page indicates that the author was an MA, his name is such a common one that it does not seem possible to provide a firm identification. In a diffident preface, he acknowledges that the work is his first attempt to win literary favour. University records offer several possibilities but the dates do not match well, all the MAs being either too early or too late. Valence the Dreamer (1830), with its acknowledged contemporary models of Byron, Southey, and Coleridge (qq.v.), could hardly have been written by an MA of 1770 or 1778, and an MA of 1836 would surely not have claimed that honour when he was still an undergraduate. The poem, with its pages of historical and critical Notes, shows off its literary credentials and includes extensive quotations in Greek, Latin, and Italian. It was announced and advertised but apparently not reviewed, and the poet seems never to have ventured into print again. One other John Phillips MA who published a pamphlet with Hatchard’s (in 1843) was a Yorkshire clergyman, but his was the MA of 1836. (ACAD; Alumni Oxonienses; ancestry.com 29 Sept. 2023; findmypast.com 29 Sept. 2023) HJ