John Home (22 September 1722 – 5 September 1808) was a Scottish poet and dramatist. He was born at Leith, near Edinburgh,
John Home (22 September 1722 – 5 September 1808) was a Scottish poet and dramatist. He was born at Leith, near Edinburgh, where his father, Alexander Home, a distant relation of the earls of Home, was town clerk. John was educated at the Leith Grammar School, and at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated MA, in 1742. Though interested in being a soldier, he studied divinity, and was licensed by the presbytery of Edinburgh in 1745. In the same year he joined as a volunteer against Bonnie Prince Charlie, and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Falkirk (1746). With many others he was carried to Doune castle in Perthshire, but soon escaped. In July 1746 Home was presented to the parish of Athelstaneford, East Lothian, left vacant by the death of Robert Blair. He had leisure to visit his friends and became especially intimate with David Hume who belonged to the same family as himself. His first play, Agis: a tragedy, founded on Plutarch's narrative, was finished in 1747. He took it to London, England, and submitted it to David Garrick for representation at Drury Lane, but it was rejected as unsuitable for the stage. The tragedy of Douglas was suggested to him by hearing a lady sing the ballad of Gil Morrice or Child Maurice (FJ Child, Popular Ballads, ii. 263). The ballad supplied him with the outline of a simple and striking plot. After five years, he completed his play and took it to London for Garrick's opinion. It was rejected, but on his return to Edinburgh his friends resolved that it should be produced there. It was performed on 14 December 1756 with overwhelming success, in spite of the opposition of the presbytery, who summoned Alexander Carlyle to answer for having attended its representation. Home wisely resigned his charge in 1757, after a visit to London, where Douglas was brought out at Covent Garden on March 14. Peg Woffington played Lady Randolph, a part which found a later exponent in Sarah Siddons.
Size: 3726px × 4522px
Photo credit: © 19th era / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -fashioned, 1800, 19th, 2d, academic, age, alexander, ancient, antique, antiquity, black, book, born, bw, bygone, century, classical, clerk., copy, cut, cutout, distant, dramatist., drawing, duplicate, earls, edinburgh, educated, embossed, empire, engrave, engraved, engraver, engraving, etching, expression, father, figure, formal, front, frontispiece, grammar, graphic, hand, heritage, historic, history, home, illustration, image, imperial, john, late, leith, lifelike, majesty, margin, master, monotone, national, nineteenth, notable, obscure, obsolete, olden, original, paper, period, pictorial, picture, poet, portrait, pre, press, print, printed, printing, prior, proof, publication, publicity, queen, rare, real, realism, realistic, reference, relation, relief, replica, represent, representation, repro, reproduce, reproduction, retro, review, romantic, school, scottish, social, standard, steel, studio, style, subject, teach, time, title, tool, topic, topical, town, tract, true, university, unusual, victoria, victorian, visual, white
