William Stewart Rose facts for kids

William Stewart Rose (1775–1843) was a British poet and translator. He also served as a Member of Parliament and held government jobs. Coming from a family that supported the Tory political party, he had many important connections in politics and literature. He became well-known for supporting Italian poets and for writing funny, exaggerated poems inspired by their style.

Early Life and Career

William Stewart Rose was born in 1775 near Lyndhurst, Hampshire in England. His father, George Rose, was a high-ranking government official and also a Member of Parliament. William's older brother was George Henry Rose.

William went to Hyde Abbey School and then Eton College, which are famous schools. Later, he studied at St John's College, Cambridge and then Lincoln's Inn, which is a place where lawyers train. He was also the uncle of important people like Hugh Rose, 1st Baron Strathnairn and the Countess of Morton.

Rose held several government positions. From 1797 to 1800, he was the Surveyor of Green-wax Monies. He was also the Clerk of Pleas at the Exchequer from 1797 to 1837 and the Reading Clerk for the House of Lords from 1800 to 1824. He was a Member of Parliament for Christchurch from 1796 to 1800, working alongside his father. Some people, like William Cobbett, thought his job as Clerk of Pleas was an "easy job with pay but little work." Others, like Nathaniel Wraxall, believed his father helped him get these jobs because of family connections. William Rose himself treated these jobs as if they required very little effort.

Travels and Health Challenges

Between 1814 and 1815, Rose traveled across Europe. During this trip, he became very ill in Verona, Italy. A letter from the Countess of Albany mentioned that he had lost the use of one side of his body. He then went to the baths at Abano Terme to recover.

Rose later helped the Italian poet Ugo Foscolo move to the United Kingdom in 1816. He even got help from Stratford Canning to make this happen. In 1817, Rose spent about a year in the Veneto region of Italy.

In 1824, Rose had a stroke, which is a serious health event affecting the brain. After this, he retired from his job in the House of Lords and received a pension. He continued to suffer from similar attacks that caused paralysis. During these years, he lived in Brighton, a town on the coast of England. He had friends visit him from London, including the Rev. Charles Townsend, who was also a poet.

By 1834, according to Henry Crabb Robinson's diary, Rose was described as "a deaf and rheumatic man, who looks prematurely old." He passed away in Brighton on April 29, 1843.

Literary Connections

William Stewart Rose met the famous writer Walter Scott in London in 1803. They became good friends. It was through Rose that Scott met John Bacon Sawrey Morritt. Walter Scott even dedicated the opening poem of his famous work Marmion to Rose in 1808.

Rose was also connected with a group of clever writers from the Anti-Jacobin magazine, like George Canning and John Hookham Frere. These writers were interested in the funny and exaggerated (called burlesque) style of Italian poetry.

Rose knew Lord Byron from meetings in Venice in 1817 and 1818. Byron's 1818 poem, Beppo: A Venetian Story, was influenced by a funny, Arthurian-themed poem that Frere published for Rose in 1817. This poem, called Prospectus and Specimen of an intended National Work, later became The Monks and the Giants. Byron's later, longer poem, Don Juan, also used this funny, rambling style. Byron knew that Rose was the author of the "Whistlecraft" poem. Even though Rose was from a different political group, Byron was inspired to compete with and learn from his style.

Despite his family's background supporting the Tory party, Rose later joined the Holland House set, a group of influential people who supported the Whig party.

Main Works

Rose's most important work was his translation of Orlando Furioso by the Italian poet Ariosto. He translated this long poem into English verse with notes between 1823 and 1831. The publisher John Murray II asked him to do this work because Byron's Beppo had become very popular, showing a new trend in literature. Some people, like Margaret Fuller, thought Rose's translation was the best available at the time.

Another important work by Rose was The Court and Parliament of Beasts (1819). This was a free translation of an Italian poem by Giovanni Battista Casti. This story, about talking animals, is divided into seven parts, each dedicated to a different person. These dedications were for people like Ugo Foscolo, John Hookham Frere, and Walter Scott.

Other works by William Stewart Rose include:

• The Naval History of the Late War (1802, only one volume was published).
• A translation of Amadis de Gaul (1803), a rhymed verse translation of a French romance.
• A translation of Partenopex de Blois (1807) from a French story.
• The Crusade of St. Louis and Edward the Martyr (1810), which were ballads (songs that tell a story).
• Apology, or Anecdotes of Monkeys (1815).
• The Prospectus and Specimen of an Intended National Work (1817), which he published under the names William and Robert Whistlecraft.
• Letters from the North of Italy (1819, 2 volumes), which was travel writing. These letters were addressed to Henry Hallam and included thoughts on Napoleon and other poets.
• A translation of Orlando Innamorato by Boiardo (1823). This was a practice run for his larger Orlando Furioso translation.
• Thoughts and Recollections by One of the Last Century (1825), a collection of essays.
• Epistle to the Right Honourable John Hookham Frere in Malta (1834), a letter written in verse.
• Rhymes (1837).

Rose also wrote five articles for the Quarterly Review magazine between 1812 and 1813, and again in 1826.

Family Life

In 1818, while in Venice, Rose began a relationship with a married woman named Countess Marcella Maria Condulmer Zorzi. She later moved to England with him, and they lived together. After her husband passed away, they got married in 1835 in Brighton, where they had settled. They did not have any children.