Thomas Creech
Encyclopedia
Thomas Creech was an English translator
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...

 of classical works, and headmaster of Sherborne School
Sherborne School
Sherborne School is a British independent school for boys, located in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England. It is one of the original member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....

. He translated Lucretius
Lucretius
Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".Virtually no details have come down concerning...

 in verse (1682), for which he received a Fellowship at Oxford, also Manilius
Marcus Manilius
Marcus Manilius was a Roman poet, astrologer, and author of a poem in five books called Astronomica.-Criticism:The author of Astronomica is neither quoted nor mentioned by any ancient writer. Even his name is uncertain, but it was probably Marcus Manilius; in the earlier books the author is...

, 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:...

, Theocritus
Theocritus
Theocritus , the creator of ancient Greek bucolic poetry, flourished in the 3rd century BC.-Life:Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some of the poems commonly attributed to him have little claim to...

, and other classics.

Life

He was born at Blandford Forum, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

. His father, also called Thomas Creech, died in 1720, and his mother, Jane Creech, died in 1693; they had two children, Thomas the translator and one daughter Bridget, who married Thomas Bastard, an architect of Blandford, and had issue six sons and four daughters. Creech's parents were not rich. His classical training was due to Thomas Curgenven, rector of Folke
Folke
Folke is a village in north west Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale south-east of Sherborne. The village has a population of 309 and an area of . Folke Wood is nearby.- External links :* *...

 in Dorset, but best known as master of Sherborne school, to whom Creech afterwards dedicated his translation of the seventh idyll of Theocritus, and to whom he acknowledged his debt in the preface to his translation of Horace. His education was supported from Colonel Strangways, a member of a well-known county family.

In Lent term 1675 Creech was admitted as a commoner at Wadham College, Oxford, and placed under the tuition of Robert Pitt. Creech's translation of one of the idyls of Theocritus is inscribed to his ‘chum Mr. Hody of Wadham College,’ and another is dedicated to Robert Balch, who at a later date was his ‘friend and tutor.’ Two of his letters are printed in Evelyn's Diary. He was elected a scholar of his college 28 September 1676, and took degrees: B.A. 27 October 1680, M.A. 13 June 1683, and B.D. 18 March 1696. He was a reputed scholar, and one of the first to benefit by William Sancroft
William Sancroft
William Sancroft was the 79th Archbishop of Canterbury.- Life :Sancroft was born at Ufford Hall in Fressingfield, Suffolk, son of Francis Sandcroft and Margaret Sandcroft née Butcher...

's reforms in the elections for fellowships at All Souls' College, where he was elected a fellow in 1683.

For two years (1694–6) he was the headmaster of Sherborne School, but he then returned to Oxford, where a strangeness of manner was noticed in 1698. He accepted the college living of Welwyn
Welwyn
Welwyn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands. It is sometimes called Old Welwyn to distinguish it from the newer settlement of Welwyn Garden City, about a mile to the south.-History:Situated in the valley of the...

, to which he was instituted 25 April 1699, but never entered into residence. After he had been missing for five days he was discovered (in June 1700) to have committed suicide in a garret in the house of Mr. Ives, an apothecary, with whom he lodged. He had wished to marry Miss Philadelphia Playdell of St. Giles, Oxford, but her friends would not consent to the marriage. In his will, dated 18 January 1699, and proved 28 June 1700, he divided his means into two parts, one of which he left to his sister Bridget Bastard for the use of his father during his lifetime and afterwards for herself, while he left the other moiety to Miss Playdell and appointed her sole executrix. She later married Ralph Hobson, butler of Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

, and died in 1706, aged 34. He was also short of money.

There were printed after his death two tracts:
  • ‘A Step to Oxford, or a Mad Essay on the Reverend Mr. Tho. Creech's hanging himself (as 'tis said) for love. With the Character of his Mistress,’ 1700.
  • ‘Daphnis, or a Pastoral Elegy upon the unfortunate and much-lamented death of Mr. Thomas Creech,’ 1700; second edition (corrected) 1701, and it is also found in ‘A Collection of the best English Poetry,’ vol. i. 1717.


His portrait, three-quarters oval in a clerical habit, was given by Humphrey Bartholomew to the picture gallery at Oxford. It was engraved by R. White and also by Van der Gucht.

Works

Creech's 1682 translation of Lucretius vied in popularity with John 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...

's Virgil 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...

's Homer. A second edition appeared in the following year with extra commendatory verses in Latin and English, some of which bore the names of Nahum Tate
Nahum Tate
Nahum Tate was an Irish poet, hymnist, and lyricist, who became England's poet laureate in 1692.-Life:Nahum Teate came from a family of Puritan clergymen...

, Thomas Otway
Thomas Otway
Thomas Otway was an English dramatist of the Restoration period, best known for Venice Preserv'd, or A Plot Discover'd .-Life:...

, Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn
Aphra Behn was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing contributed to the amatory fiction genre of British literature.-Early life:...

, Richard Duke
Richard Duke
Richard Duke was an English clergyman and poet, associated with the Tory writers of the Restoration era.-Life:He was born in London, son of Richard Duke, and was admitted to Westminster School in 1670. He was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1675, and proceeded B.A. in 1678, M.A. in 1682...

, and Edmund Waller
Edmund Waller
Edmund Waller, FRS was an English poet and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1624 and 1679.- Early life :...

; and when Dryden published his translations from Theocritus, Lucretius, and Horace, he made flattering comments on Creech's work in the preface. Creech's Lucretius was often reprinted, and was included in the edition of the British poets which was issued by Robert Anderson
Robert Anderson (author)
Robert Anderson was a Scottish author and critic.He was born at Carnwath, Lanarkshire. He studied first divinity and then medicine at the University of Edinburgh, and subsequently, after some experience as a surgeon, took his M.D. at the University of St Andrews in 1778...

. An edition appeared in 1714 containing translations of verses previously omitted and numerous notes from another hand designed to set forth a complete system of Epicurean philosophy.

The success of his translation of Lucretius induced Creech to undertake an edition of the original work. It appeared in 1695 with the title ‘Titi Lucretii Cari de rerum natura libri sex, quibus interpretationem et notas addidit Thomas Creech,’ and was dedicated to his friend Christopher Codrington
Christopher Codrington
Christopher Codrington , British soldier, bibliophile and colonial governor, was born on the island of Barbados, West Indies, in 1668...

. This edition was also often republished, in particular at Glasgow in 1753. Creech's agreement with Abel Swalle for the preparation of this volume is among the Ballard MSS. at the Bodleian Library. H. A. J. Munro in his edition of Lucretius spoke of Creech as borrowing annotations mainly from Lambinus, attributing the popularity of the work their clarity and brevity.

In 1684 Creech published ‘The Odes, Satyrs, and Epistles of Horace. Done into English;’ it was reprinted in the same year, and again in 1688, 1715, 1720, and 1737. Other translations by Creech consisted of:
  • Several elegies from Ovid
    Ovid
    Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

     with the second and third eclogues of Virgil in a collection of ‘Miscellany Poems,’ 1684.
  • Laconick Apothegms, or remarkable sayings of the Spartans in ‘Plutarch's Morals,’ 1684, vol. i. pt. iii. 135–204; a Discourse concerning Socrates his Demon, ib. ii. pt. vi. 1–59; the first two books of the Symposiacks, ib. ii. pt. vi. 61–144, iii. pt. viii. 139–418.
  • Lives of Solon, Pelopidas, and Cleomenes in Plutarch's Lives, 1683–6, 5 vols., an edition often reprinted in the first half of the eighteenth century.
  • Idylliums of Theocritus, with Rapin
    René Rapin
    René Rapin was a French Jesuit and writer.He was born at Tours and entered the Society of Jesus in 1639. He taught rhetoric, and wrote extensively both in verse and prose.-Works:...

    's discourse of Pastorals, done into English, 1684, and reprinted in 1721, which was dedicated to Arthur Charlett
    Arthur Charlett
    Dr Arthur Charlett was an Oxford academic and administrator. He was Master of University College, Oxford for thirty years until his death in 1722...

    .
  • The thirteenth Satire of Juvenal, with notes, in the translation ‘by Mr. Dryden and other eminent hands,’ 1693.
  • Verses of Santolius Victorinus, prefixed to ‘The compleat Gard'ner of de la Quintinye, made English by John Evelyn,’ 1693.
  • The five books of M. Manilius containing a system of the ancient astronomy and astrology, done into English verse, with notes, 1697.
  • Life of Pelopidas in the ‘Lives of Illustrious Men’ by Cornelius Nepos
    Cornelius Nepos
    Cornelius Nepos was a Roman biographer. He was born at Hostilia, a village in Cisalpine Gaul not far from Verona. His Gallic origin is attested by Ausonius, and Pliny the Elder calls him Padi accola...

    , translated by the Hon. Mr. Finch, Mr. Creech, and others, 1713.


Creech was engaged at the time of his death on an edition of Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr, also known as just Saint Justin , was an early Christian apologist. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue survive. He is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church....

.
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