LOWTH, ROBERT, 1710-1787.
Letter, 1781 Feb. 9.

MANUSCRIPT NUMBER 105

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CITATION:  Robert Lowth Letter, MSS 105, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.

Robert Lowth was born in England on November 27, 1710, the youngest son of Dr. and Mrs. William Lowth. There is some debate as to his place of birth. Some sources report it as Buriton, Hampshire, while others maintain it was Winchester. He entered Winchester College in 1722 and received a scholarship to New College, Oxford, in 1729. Lowth graduated from Oxford taking the B.A. in 1733 and the M.A. in 1737. In 1735 Lowth had entered the Anglican Church and was appointed vicar of Overton, Hampshire. He remained at this position until 1741 when he was appointed professor of poetry at Oxford. During his tenure at Oxford, Lowth acquired a notable reputation for his lectures on Hebrew poetry. These lectures were the basis for his work  Praelectiones Academicae de Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum, which was published in 1753. Owing to this publication, Oxford University awarded him a D.D. in 1754. In 1750 he was appointed archdeacon of Winchester and rector of East Woodhay in 1753. At this time, he resigned the professorship of poetry at Oxford. Lowth married Mary, daughter of Lawrence Jackson of Christ-Church, Hamptonshire, in 1752. He became a fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Gottingen in 1765. He was consecrated bishop of St. Davids in 1766, however, before the end of the year he was transferred to the see of Oxford. There he remained until 1777 when he was created Bishop of London as well as dean of the chapel royal and privy councillor. In 1783 he was offered the archbishopric of Canterbury which he declined due to failing health. Lowth died on November 3, 1787. 

The collection consists of a letter with a small engraving of Lowth.  The letter, dated February 9, 1781, thanks the addressee for an essay written in response to the controversy created by Joseph Priestley's interpretation of the distinction between the soul and body of man. It is not known for whom the letter was intended.