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FRERE, JOHN HOOKHAM. The works of John Hookham Frere in verse and prose now first collected with a prefatory memoir by his nephews W.E. and Sir Bartle Frere.
London, Basil Montagu Pickering, 1872. First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. ccxcv,[1], 322; [6], 496; 2 engraved portrait frontispieces, vignette title-pp.; slightly later full calf by Mansell, brown morocco labels on gilt-decorated spines; spines a little rubbed, volume designation label on vol. I with loss to the 'o' in "Vol." and part of the Roman numeral I; all else very good and sound. Frere (1769- 1848) was a diplomat and author, a founder of the journal The Microcosm, and of The Anti-Jacobin, or Weekly Examiner. "On 1 April 1799 Frere succeeded his friend Canning as under-secretary of state in the foreign office. In October 1800 he was appointed envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary at Lisbon, and in September 1802 was transferred to Madrid, where he remained for nearly two years … In June 1807 the Duke of Portland appointed him envoy and minister plenipotentiary at Berlin, but owing to the treaty of Tilsit the mission had to be abandoned. On 4 Oct. 1808 Frere was sent out to Spain as minister plenipotentiary to the Central Junta. Affairs on the Peninsula were then in a very critical state, and his position as the British minister was one of heavy responsibility. In November Napoleon commenced his march upon Madrid. Sir John Moore, the commander of the British forces in the north of Spain, was inclined to retreat through Portugal. Frere, however, confident that Napoleon might be anticipated, urged Moore to advance upon Madrid, or, if retreat was inevitable, to retire through Gallicia. Moore yielded, and, after the disastrous retreat to Corunna, Frere was greatly blamed for the advice he had given … As a diplomatist Frere is now almost forgotten, and it is only by the few that he is remembered as a brilliant wit and a sparkling writer of humorous poetry. His translations of Aristophanes cannot fail to be the most lasting memorials of his genius, and the manner in which he has successfully caught the spirit of the original comedies places him in an almost unique place as a translator. His metrical version of the ëOde on thelstan's Victoryí appeared in the second edition of Ellis's ëSpecimens of Early English Poetsí (1801, i. 32-4). It was written by Frere when at Eton, and is a remarkable example of the skilful adoption of the language and style of another period" (DNB) He spent his final years on Malta where he died and is buried.
Offered for US$ 125.00 by: Rulon-Miller Books ABAA/ILAB - Book number: 27997