Crabbe, George

Crabbe, George an English poet and divine, was born at Aldborough, Suffolk, December 24, 1754. When fourteen years of age, being tolerably grounded in mathematics and classics, he was apprenticed to a surgeon near Bury St. Edmunds, but had no liking for the profession, and ultimately proceeded to London to make a trial of literature. For a time he was very unfortunate. At last, when threatened with arrest for debt, he made his case known to Edmund Burke, who received him in a very kindly manner, brought him into his family, introduced him to Fox, Reynolds, Johnson, and other distinguished men, and gave him his criticism and advice concerning the poem of The Library, which was published in 1781 (2d ed. 1783), and was favorably noticed. By the assistance of Burke he was enabled to prepare himself for admission to holy orders. In 1782 he was ordained curate of his native place, and shortly after appointed chaplain to the duke of Rutland, at Belvoir Castle. In 1785 he was presented to two small livings in Dorsetshire, in 1789 exchanged them for others in the vale of Belvoir, and in 1813 was preferred to the rectory of Trowbridge, which he held until his death, February 8, 1832. Mr. Crabbe, in addition to the work above mentioned, published, The Village (1783): — The Newspaper (1785): — The Parish Register (1807): — The Borough (1810): — Tales in Verse (1812): — Tales of the Hall (1819). See The North American Review, 1834, page 135; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.; Rose, Genesis Biog. Dict. s.v.; Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.