Author: WHITE (Rev. James):
Title: The Village Poor House. Second Edition.
Description: London: Smith, Elder, and Co...., 1832. Small 12mo, 164 x 99 mms., pp. x, 61 [62 colophon], contemporary embossed cloth, with paper label on front cover; binding a little faded and slightly worn but a very good copy. White (1803 - 1862) is described on the title-page as "Late Curate Hartest cum Boxted, Suffolk." He dedicates the book to Lord Brougham, "First in Talents - First in Honour - and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen," echoing the famous phrase uttered by Henry Lee about George Washington, "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." The first edition was also published (anonymously) in 1832, and the dedication in this second edition is dated "14th May, 1832." The author alludes to the "favourable notice which the Press has taken to this little volume" in the Preface to the second edition. Indeed the reviewer in The Monthly Review was downright estatic: "In the poem thus offered to his Lordship's acceptance, we find rigid truth expressed in feeling terms.... The author lays no claim to the praise of poetry for any of the verses which he has included in this little volume; but they certainly deserve our approbation, for the forcible terms in which they pourtray [sic] the actual present state of feeling among the poor." Reviewing the volume in 1833, The Imperial Magazine, with an apology for the late notice, exclaimed, "There is the author's manner a clearness of description, accompanied with a vigour of expression, which few of our modern poets can boast.... Who the author of this little poem is, we do not know, but we give him credit for talents and feelings that confer honour on human nature." Copac locates copies at BL, Bodleian, St. Andrews; OCLC adds North Carolina Chapel Hill, so it appears to be uncommon. Copac also records two copies, at Leicester and NLS, by the Rev. John Stagg and/or James White, Vicar of Loxley.

Keywords: poetry poor litertature


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