James Moore Smythe
Encyclopedia
James Moore Smythe was an English
playwright, fop
,and wastrel. He was appointed by the King to the Office of, Co-Paymaster of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms
. He was born James Moore.He was the son of Arthur Moore M.P.
(ca. 1660 – 4 May 1730), for Great Grimsby
, and his 2nd wife Theophila Smythe, dau. of William Smythe Esq., Paymaster of the Band of Pensioners,now known as The Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms
, and Lady Elizabeth Berkeley. His maternal grandfather was George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley
and his mother carried the last name Smythe. Moore graduated from All Souls College, Oxford
with a Bachelor of Arts
in 1722. During his college years, he had a reputation for wittiness and a great attention to fashion
. He was referred to by the informal name "Jemmy." This lack of seriousness offended Moore's father, but the Earl of Berkeley provided a government post for him, and, when Berkeley died in 1720, he left estates to Moore on condition that he change his name to Smythe.
Moore Smythe was profligate, and even with inherited estates ran up substantial debts. Furthermore, he had offended several persons in society, and particularly tories. In 1727, he wrote his only play, The Rival Modes, and the Drury Lane
company under the direction of Colley Cibber
and Robert Wilks
acted it. Smythe packed the audience in hopes of raising money, but the play was not well received. The opening night audience included many to whom Smythe owed money. The play ran for six nights, which was a mediocre run. However, Smythe received £300 for the author's benefit night.
Smythe's place in Alexander Pope
's The Dunciad
comes primarily from this play. In the second act, Smythe quoted eight lines of Pope's poetry. It appears that Pope had given and then revoked permission for the use of the lines, but Smythe went ahead anyway. This earned him Pope's wrath, and he was already despised by the other Tory wits. In The Dunciad of 1727, Pope presents Moore as a "phantom poet" whom all the book sellers are desperate to court. This is partially because of the piracy (Moore does not indicate his source or credit Pope), but it is more because Thomas Lintot offered Moore Smythe the incredible sum of £105 for the publication rights to the play. (In contrast, Leonard Welsted
had had a much greater theatrical success in 1726 with The Dissembled Woman and had received only £30 for the publication rights.) Lintot probably suspected that the controversy would mean sales and that Moore was a new Whig
hero. On the last score, at least, he would have been correct.
Edward Cooke
, in his Battel of the Poets of 1729, proclaimed Moore a "new Dryden
." Other "dunces" from The Dunciad began to support and collaborate with Moore, and Leonard Welsted joined with Moore in writing One Letter to Mr Pope in 1730. Moore, despite having no poetic career before the play and virtually no career after it, was being lauded, and this despite what Edward Young
called "a very bad" play. Moore Smythe appeared to be a nobleman, a man of fashion, and an anti-Tory, and in The Dunciad he is presented as a great, vaccuous nothing whose jingling coat and supposedly jingling pockets induce the mercenary book sellers into a frenzy. When they reach Moore, they find that he has nothing of his own, including his clothes.
In 1730, Pope renewed this characterization of Moore Smythe. In The Grub-Street Journal for May and June, Pope wrote:
In each attack, Pope characterizes Moore primarily as a plagiarist
. When the book sellers reach their "Phantom Moore" in The Dunciad, all the poetry in his collection flies back to the poets it was stolen from. Pope indicates that Moore stole not only from him, but from Dryden, from John Arbuthnot
, and from others. In the context of The Dunciad, Moore stands not just for the generally degraded fop, nor for the imprudent heir of a fortune, but for the avarice and stupidity of book sellers (exemplified by Edmund Curll
) who would publish anything at all, regardless of value, if it looked like it would sell. Thus, Moore Smythe's calculated gesture of using his notoriety to sell seats in the playhouse and the book sellers who would count upon that notoriety to sell copies of the play were mirrored sides of a critique of an emergent mass market for literature, and Pope's primary target is the abandonment of standards of quality.
After his quarrel with Pope, Moore Smythe continued in his debts and insolvency. He died unmarried and in poverty on October 18, 1734. The next year, in Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Pope again attacked Moore Smythe as a plagiarist. Since his day, Moore Smythe has been remembered almost exclusively as Pope presented him, as a noble-born dunce.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
playwright, fop
Fop
Fop became a pejorative term for a foolish man over-concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th century England. Some of the very many similar alternative terms are: "coxcomb", fribble, "popinjay" , fashion-monger, and "ninny"...
,and wastrel. He was appointed by the King to the Office of, Co-Paymaster of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms
Paymaster of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms
The office of Paymaster of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms and the office of Co-Paymaster of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, were offices created under the Great Seal. These offices were appointed under Letters Patent, which were mostly for the life of the office holder so...
. He was born James Moore.He was the son of Arthur Moore M.P.
Arthur Moore M.P.
Arthur Moore M.P. for Great Grimsby who represented the borough, for many years and during the reigns of several kings and queens. He was born in Ireland, but moved to England early. His brother was Colonel Sir Thomas Moore Arthur Moore's son was William Moore, M.P. for Banbury...
(ca. 1660 – 4 May 1730), for Great Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
, and his 2nd wife Theophila Smythe, dau. of William Smythe Esq., Paymaster of the Band of Pensioners,now known as The Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms
Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms
Her Majesty's Bodyguard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms is a bodyguard to the British Monarch. Until 17 March 1834 they were known as The Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners.-Formation:...
, and Lady Elizabeth Berkeley. His maternal grandfather was George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley
George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley
George Berkeley, 1st Earl of Berkeley PC FRS was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1654 until 1658 when he succeeded to the peerage.-Life:...
and his mother carried the last name Smythe. Moore graduated from All Souls College, Oxford
All Souls College, Oxford
The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....
with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1722. During his college years, he had a reputation for wittiness and a great attention to fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
. He was referred to by the informal name "Jemmy." This lack of seriousness offended Moore's father, but the Earl of Berkeley provided a government post for him, and, when Berkeley died in 1720, he left estates to Moore on condition that he change his name to Smythe.
Moore Smythe was profligate, and even with inherited estates ran up substantial debts. Furthermore, he had offended several persons in society, and particularly tories. In 1727, he wrote his only play, The Rival Modes, and the Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
company under the direction of Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
and Robert Wilks
Robert Wilks
Robert Wilks was a British actor and theatrical manager who was one of the leading managers of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in its heyday of the 1710s...
acted it. Smythe packed the audience in hopes of raising money, but the play was not well received. The opening night audience included many to whom Smythe owed money. The play ran for six nights, which was a mediocre run. However, Smythe received £300 for the author's benefit night.
Smythe's place in Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
's The Dunciad
The Dunciad
The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version was published in 1728 anonymously. The second version, the Dunciad Variorum was published anonymously in 1729. The New Dunciad, in four books and with a...
comes primarily from this play. In the second act, Smythe quoted eight lines of Pope's poetry. It appears that Pope had given and then revoked permission for the use of the lines, but Smythe went ahead anyway. This earned him Pope's wrath, and he was already despised by the other Tory wits. In The Dunciad of 1727, Pope presents Moore as a "phantom poet" whom all the book sellers are desperate to court. This is partially because of the piracy (Moore does not indicate his source or credit Pope), but it is more because Thomas Lintot offered Moore Smythe the incredible sum of £105 for the publication rights to the play. (In contrast, Leonard Welsted
Leonard Welsted
Leonard Welsted was an English poet and "dunce" in Alexander Pope's writings . Welsted was an accomplished writer who composed in a relaxed, light hearted vein...
had had a much greater theatrical success in 1726 with The Dissembled Woman and had received only £30 for the publication rights.) Lintot probably suspected that the controversy would mean sales and that Moore was a new Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
hero. On the last score, at least, he would have been correct.
Edward Cooke
Edward Cooke
Edward Tiffin Cook, Jr. was an American athlete who competed in the men's pole vault. He competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics and tied for gold with fellow American vaulter Alfred Gilbert....
, in his Battel of the Poets of 1729, proclaimed Moore a "new Dryden
John Dryden
John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...
." Other "dunces" from The Dunciad began to support and collaborate with Moore, and Leonard Welsted joined with Moore in writing One Letter to Mr Pope in 1730. Moore, despite having no poetic career before the play and virtually no career after it, was being lauded, and this despite what Edward Young
Edward Young
Edward Young was an English poet, best remembered for Night Thoughts.-Early life:He was the son of Edward Young, later Dean of Salisbury, and was born at his father's rectory at Upham, near Winchester, where he was baptized on 3 July 1683. He was educated at Winchester College, and matriculated...
called "a very bad" play. Moore Smythe appeared to be a nobleman, a man of fashion, and an anti-Tory, and in The Dunciad he is presented as a great, vaccuous nothing whose jingling coat and supposedly jingling pockets induce the mercenary book sellers into a frenzy. When they reach Moore, they find that he has nothing of his own, including his clothes.
In 1730, Pope renewed this characterization of Moore Smythe. In The Grub-Street Journal for May and June, Pope wrote:
- A Gold watch found on a Cinder Whore,
- Or a good verse on J--my M-re,
- Proves but what either shou'd conceal,
- Not that they're rich, but that they steal.
In each attack, Pope characterizes Moore primarily as a plagiarist
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
. When the book sellers reach their "Phantom Moore" in The Dunciad, all the poetry in his collection flies back to the poets it was stolen from. Pope indicates that Moore stole not only from him, but from Dryden, from John Arbuthnot
John Arbuthnot
John Arbuthnot, often known simply as Dr. Arbuthnot, , was a physician, satirist and polymath in London...
, and from others. In the context of The Dunciad, Moore stands not just for the generally degraded fop, nor for the imprudent heir of a fortune, but for the avarice and stupidity of book sellers (exemplified by Edmund Curll
Edmund Curll
Edmund Curll was an English bookseller and publisher. His name has become synonymous, through the attacks on him by Alexander Pope, with unscrupulous publication and publicity. Curll rose from poverty to wealth through his publishing, and he did this by approaching book printing in a mercenary...
) who would publish anything at all, regardless of value, if it looked like it would sell. Thus, Moore Smythe's calculated gesture of using his notoriety to sell seats in the playhouse and the book sellers who would count upon that notoriety to sell copies of the play were mirrored sides of a critique of an emergent mass market for literature, and Pope's primary target is the abandonment of standards of quality.
After his quarrel with Pope, Moore Smythe continued in his debts and insolvency. He died unmarried and in poverty on October 18, 1734. The next year, in Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, Pope again attacked Moore Smythe as a plagiarist. Since his day, Moore Smythe has been remembered almost exclusively as Pope presented him, as a noble-born dunce.