John Ozell
Encyclopedia
John Ozell was an English
translator and accountant
who became an adversary to Jonathan Swift
and Alexander Pope
.
He moved to London
from the country at around the age of twenty and entered an accounting firm, where he was successful in managing the accounts of several large entities, including the City of London
itself. He was a Whig
and probably a dissenter
who associated with the prominent figures of the whig establishment in the 18th century. He was particularly associated with Joseph Addison
and the "little senate" that met at Button's Coffee House in Covent Garden
.
He was financially well off, due to his accounting work. He died on 15 October 1743, a lifelong bachelor
.
and Greek
from school. He began to act as a translator in addition to his work in accounting. Ozell's translations were not very strict, but they were of a better quality than those of his contemporaries.
In 1705, Jonathan Swift's Battle of the Books had appeared as a preface to A Tale of a Tub
. The Battle of the Books was part of a general quarrel of the ancients and the moderns, where the question was between ancient authors (Homer
, Virgil
, Horace
, and Aristotle
) and contemporary ones and whether contemporary philosophy and science had surpassed what could be gathered from the classics. Swift's version of the Battle has all contemporary authors, and he names several of them, swept away by the ancient authors that they glossed. The Battle was based on Le Lutrin by Boileau
, and Ozell performed his own translation of Le Lutrin in 1708. In his version, the contemporaries being blasted away were Tory authors, and, in particular, William Wycherley
.
Boileau was a great favorite of the "ancients" camp and the Scriblerus Club
in particular. In 1711 through 1713, Ozell published The Works of Monsieur Boileau. He thus took the French
neoclassicist
for the Whig side. This infuriated the Tory defenders of Wycherley, and both Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope struck back at Ozell. In 1708, Pope wrote Epigram, Occasion'd by Ozell's Translation of Bioleau's Lutrin and said, "those were slander'd most whom Ozell praised." Swift satirized Ozell in the Introduction to Polite Conversation, and Pope mentioned Ozell again in The Dunciad
. In that poem, Dulness shows her champion her powers of conception and
In 1712, he translated Anne Dacier's French retelling of the Iliad
into blank verse
. He was also at pains to express his anti-Catholicism with a translation of the life of Veronica of Milan
, whom he termed a saint, in 1716 (just after a Jacobite
uprising), and he took a political stance by translating Paul de Rapin
's Dissertation sur les Whig et les Torys with a pro-Whig slant.
In 1728, the Dunciad Variorum appeared, and, the same year, Richard Bundy published a translation of Histoire romaine, depuis la fondation de Rome, a work Ozell was planning to translate. Ozell wrote a long treatise enumerating Bundy's mistakes and Pope's villainy, and he took out an ad to attack his enemies.
In 1738, Ozell translated L'Embarras des richesses (1726, "Embarrassment of Riches
").
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
translator and accountant
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...
who became an adversary to Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
and 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...
.
He moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from the country at around the age of twenty and entered an accounting firm, where he was successful in managing the accounts of several large entities, including the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
itself. He was a 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...
and probably a dissenter
Dissenter
The term dissenter , labels one who disagrees in matters of opinion, belief, etc. In the social and religious history of England and Wales, however, it refers particularly to a member of a religious body who has, for one reason or another, separated from the Established Church.Originally, the term...
who associated with the prominent figures of the whig establishment in the 18th century. He was particularly associated with Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison
Joseph Addison was an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician. He was a man of letters, eldest son of Lancelot Addison...
and the "little senate" that met at Button's Coffee House in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
.
He was financially well off, due to his accounting work. He died on 15 October 1743, a lifelong bachelor
Bachelor
A bachelor is a man above the age of majority who has never been married . Unlike his female counterpart, the spinster, a bachelor may have had children...
.
Works
Ozell taught himself several contemporary languages and had a good grounding in LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
from school. He began to act as a translator in addition to his work in accounting. Ozell's translations were not very strict, but they were of a better quality than those of his contemporaries.
In 1705, Jonathan Swift's Battle of the Books had appeared as a preface to A Tale of a Tub
A Tale of a Tub
A Tale of a Tub was the first major work written by Jonathan Swift, composed between 1694 and 1697 and published in 1704. It is arguably his most difficult satire, and perhaps his most masterly...
. The Battle of the Books was part of a general quarrel of the ancients and the moderns, where the question was between ancient authors (Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
, Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
, Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
, and Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
) and contemporary ones and whether contemporary philosophy and science had surpassed what could be gathered from the classics. Swift's version of the Battle has all contemporary authors, and he names several of them, swept away by the ancient authors that they glossed. The Battle was based on Le Lutrin by Boileau
Boileau
Boileau can refer to:Persons:*Boileau-Narcejac, pen name of Pierre Boileau and Pierre Ayraud, also known as Thomas Narcejac, French writers of police stories*Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, 17th century French writer...
, and Ozell performed his own translation of Le Lutrin in 1708. In his version, the contemporaries being blasted away were Tory authors, and, in particular, William Wycherley
William Wycherley
William Wycherley was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for the plays The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer.-Biography:...
.
Boileau was a great favorite of the "ancients" camp and the Scriblerus Club
Scriblerus Club
The Scriblerus Club was an informal group of friends that included Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, John Arbuthnot, Henry St. John and Thomas Parnell. The group was founded in 1712 and lasted until the death of the founders, starting in 1732 and ending in 1745, with Pope and Swift being...
in particular. In 1711 through 1713, Ozell published The Works of Monsieur Boileau. He thus took the French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
neoclassicist
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
for the Whig side. This infuriated the Tory defenders of Wycherley, and both Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope struck back at Ozell. In 1708, Pope wrote Epigram, Occasion'd by Ozell's Translation of Bioleau's Lutrin and said, "those were slander'd most whom Ozell praised." Swift satirized Ozell in the Introduction to Polite Conversation, and Pope mentioned Ozell again in 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...
. In that poem, Dulness shows her champion her powers of conception and
- "How, with less reading than makes felons 'scape,
- Less human genius than God gives an ape,
- Small thanks to France and none to Rome or Greece,
- A past, vamp'd, future, old, reviv'd, new piece,
- 'Twixt PlautusPlautusTitus Maccius Plautus , commonly known as "Plautus", was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus...
, FletcherJohn Fletcher (playwright)John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
, Congreve, and CorneillePierre CorneillePierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
, - Can make a CibberColley CibberColley 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...
, JohnsonCharles Johnson (writer)Charles Johnson was an English playwright, tavern keeper, and enemy of Alexander Pope's. He was a dedicated Whig who allied himself with the Duke of Marlborough, Colley Cibber, and those who rose in opposition to Queen Anne's Tory ministry of 1710 - 1714.Johnson claimed to be trained in the law,...
, or Ozell." (I. 235-40)
In 1712, he translated Anne Dacier's French retelling of the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
into blank verse
Blank verse
Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the sixteenth century" and Paul Fussell has claimed that "about three-quarters of all English poetry is in blank verse."The first...
. He was also at pains to express his anti-Catholicism with a translation of the life of Veronica of Milan
Veronica of Milan
Blessed Veronica of Milan was an Italian nun in the Augustinian Order. She was reputed to have received frequent visions of the Virgin Mary, and her local cultus was confirmed by Pope Leo X in 1517.-Life:...
, whom he termed a saint, in 1716 (just after a Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
uprising), and he took a political stance by translating Paul de Rapin
Paul de Rapin
Paul de Rapin , sieur of Thoyras , was a French historian writing under English patronage....
's Dissertation sur les Whig et les Torys with a pro-Whig slant.
In 1728, the Dunciad Variorum appeared, and, the same year, Richard Bundy published a translation of Histoire romaine, depuis la fondation de Rome, a work Ozell was planning to translate. Ozell wrote a long treatise enumerating Bundy's mistakes and Pope's villainy, and he took out an ad to attack his enemies.
In 1738, Ozell translated L'Embarras des richesses (1726, "Embarrassment of Riches
Embarrassment of Riches
An embarrassment of riches is an idiom that means an overabundance of something, or too much of a good thing, that originated in 1738 as John Ozell's translation of a French play, L'Embarras des richesses , by Léonor Jean Christine Soulas d'Allainval.Example: "All four of them have their own cars...
").