Hildebrand Jacob (1692 or 1693–1739) was a British poet and playwright, whose major works include the epic poem Brutus the Trojan and the tragic verse drama The Fatal Constancy.[1] His collected works (entitled The Works of H. Jacob, Esqr.) were published in 1735.[2]

Family

His father was Sir John Jacob, third baronet of Bromley, Middlesex (c.1665–1740) and his mother was Dorothy (c.1662–1749). Sir John served in the army from 1685 to 1702, seeing action at the Battle of Killiecrankie and in Ireland.

Following his father, Hildebrand served in the army until at least 1715, then in 1717 he married Meriel, daughter of another baronet, Sir John Bland of Kippax-Park, Yorkshire. They had a son, also Hildebrand, and a daughter, Anne[3] They made their home at West Wratting, Cambridgeshire.

He never succeeded to his father's seat, dying in 1739, a year before Sir John. His son Sir Hildebrand Jacob (1717 or 1718–1790) succeeded Sir John at his death on 31 March 1740, becoming the fourth baronet.[1] The junior Sir Hildebrand was known as an excellent scholar, particularly of Hebrew.[4]

Brutus the Trojan

Brutus the Trojan (1735[5]) is an epic poem about Brutus of Troy, the legendary founder of Britain, according to the histories of Nennius and Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Plays

His plays included the tragedy The Fatal Constancy (1723). He also wrote comedies: The Nest of Plays (1738) comprised The Prodigal Reform'd, The Happy Constancy, and The Trial of Conjugal Love.

Other works

Jacob produced a number of bawdy works, probably including The Curious Maid (1720), although this is sometimes attributed to Matthew Prior (1664–1721).[6]

Other works include Bedlam (1723), Chiron to Achilles (1732), Hymn to the Goddess of Silence (1734), Of the sister arts: an essay (1734), The progress of religion (1737), and Donna Clara to her daughter Teresa: an epistle (1737).[7]

Portrait

The National Portrait Gallery in London has an engraving of him by Jacobus Houbraken after George Knapton (NPG D18752).[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Bullen, A. H.; Bridget Hill. "Jacob, Hildebrand". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
  2. ↑ Black, Jeremy (2007). Culture in Eighteenth-Century England: A Subject for Taste. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 77.
  3. ↑ Betham, William (1802). The baronetage of England: or The History of the English baronets, and such baronets of Scotland, as are of English families; with genealogical tables, and engravings of their coats of arms. Burrell and Bransby. pp. 366–367. Hildebrand Jacob.
  4. ↑ Nichols, John (1790). "The Gentleman's Magazine". The Gentleman's Magazine. 68: 1055.
  5. ↑ Armitage, David (2000). The Ideological Origins of the British Empire. Cambridge University Press. p. 193. ISBN 9780521789783. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  6. ↑ Benedict, Barbara M. (2002). Curiosity: A Cultural History of Early Modern Inquiry. University of Chicago Press. p. 271. ISBN 9780226042640.
  7. ↑ Watson, George; Ian R. Willison (1971). The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: 1660-1800. Cambridge University Press. p. 553. ISBN 9780521079341.
  8. ↑ "Sir Hildebrand Jacob (1693-1739), Poet". National Portrait Gallery website. Retrieved 23 January 2013.
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