Charles Valentine Le Grice
Encyclopedia
Charles Valentine Le Grice (1773–1858) was an Anglican priest, an associate of Charles Lamb and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
, a squib writer, and a translator of Longus
.
to a clergyman father in 1773. Little is known of Le Grice’s early life but he was enrolled in Christ's Hospital
some time around 1780 where he became a friend of other famous students including Leigh Hunt, Charles Lamb, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
. His brother, Samuel Le Grice was also a classmate of Charles Lamb and was known to be a great comfort to Lamb after the murder of his mother at the hands of his sister Mary. Upon leaving Christ's Hospital as a Senior Grecian he passed on to Trinity College, Cambridge
. In 1796 Charles Le Grice left London for Cornwall
where he became a tutor to the son of a wealthy widow named Mrs. Nicholls who lived on the large estate of Trereife. In 1789 Le Grice was ordained and in 1799 he married Mrs. Nicholls. After the death of both Mrs. Nicholls and her son, Le Grice became a wealthy man. Le Grice had no contact with Charles Lamb after 1796 until they met again in 1834, the years of Lamb’s death.
, probably the best diarist of the age, wrote more than once of Le Grice. One story records Le Grice during the meeting of a debaters society in which when asked to speak upon who was the greatest orator – Pitt
, Fox
, or Burke
, Le Grice replied "Sheridan." Le Grice was described to E.V. Lucas by Lord Courtney as "a jocund rubicund little man much of Charles Lamb`s height but plumper, full of pun and jokes, very genial, and in quality rather suggestive of one of Thomas Peacock
`s diviners than of a man steeped in theological rancour."
In 1838 Le Grice published reminiscences of Lamb and Coleridge in the Gentleman's Magazine. Lucas reflects that it is a pity that a man who could write with such discernment as this should have done so little.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
, a squib writer, and a translator of Longus
Longus
Longus, sometimes Longos , was the author of an ancient Greek novel or romance, Daphnis and Chloe. Very little is known of his life, and it is assumed that he lived on the isle of Lesbos during the 2nd century AD...
.
Life
Le Grice was born in Bury St. EdmundsBury St. Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds is a market town in the county of Suffolk, England, and formerly the county town of West Suffolk. It is the main town in the borough of St Edmundsbury and known for the ruined abbey near the town centre...
to a clergyman father in 1773. Little is known of Le Grice’s early life but he was enrolled in Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is an English coeducational independent day and boarding school with Royal Charter located in the Sussex countryside just south of Horsham in Horsham District, West Sussex, England...
some time around 1780 where he became a friend of other famous students including Leigh Hunt, Charles Lamb, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
. His brother, Samuel Le Grice was also a classmate of Charles Lamb and was known to be a great comfort to Lamb after the murder of his mother at the hands of his sister Mary. Upon leaving Christ's Hospital as a Senior Grecian he passed on to Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
. In 1796 Charles Le Grice left London for Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
where he became a tutor to the son of a wealthy widow named Mrs. Nicholls who lived on the large estate of Trereife. In 1789 Le Grice was ordained and in 1799 he married Mrs. Nicholls. After the death of both Mrs. Nicholls and her son, Le Grice became a wealthy man. Le Grice had no contact with Charles Lamb after 1796 until they met again in 1834, the years of Lamb’s death.
Posterity
Charles Le Grice left little to posterity except some squibs, some reminiscences of Lamb and Coleridge, and a translation of the Greek Author Longus. Instead Le Grice is mostly known through stories told by others. Lamb wrote some reflections on Le Grice in the essay Grace before Meat. Henry Crabb RobinsonHenry Crabb Robinson
Henry Crabb Robinson , diarist, was born in Bury St. Edmunds, England.He was articled to an attorney in Colchester. Between 1800 and 1805 he studied at various places in Germany, and became acquainted with nearly all the great men of letters there, including Goethe, Schiller, Johann Gottfried...
, probably the best diarist of the age, wrote more than once of Le Grice. One story records Le Grice during the meeting of a debaters society in which when asked to speak upon who was the greatest orator – Pitt
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
, Fox
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox PC , styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned thirty-eight years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was particularly noted for being the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger...
, or Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
, Le Grice replied "Sheridan." Le Grice was described to E.V. Lucas by Lord Courtney as "a jocund rubicund little man much of Charles Lamb`s height but plumper, full of pun and jokes, very genial, and in quality rather suggestive of one of Thomas Peacock
Thomas Love Peacock
Thomas Love Peacock was an English satirist and author.Peacock was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley and they influenced each other's work...
`s diviners than of a man steeped in theological rancour."
In 1838 Le Grice published reminiscences of Lamb and Coleridge in the Gentleman's Magazine. Lucas reflects that it is a pity that a man who could write with such discernment as this should have done so little.