Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Catcott, Alexander Stopford

by William George (1830-1900)

CATCOTT, ALEXANDER STOPFORD (1692–1749), divine and poet, son of Alexander Catcott, gent., was born in Long Acre, in the parish of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, Westminster, 10 Oct. 1692. He was admitted to Merchant Taylors' School 3 May 1699, and elected thence to St. John's College, Oxford, where he matriculated 2 July 1709. In 1712 he was elected a fellow of his college, ‘where he putt on a Civil Law gown, and took the degree of LL.B. 6 March 1717’ [–18] (Bodl. MS. Rawl. J. 4to, 5, f. 209). In a letter preserved by Dr. Rawlinson, Catcott gives the dates of his ordinations, ‘Dear Chumb … In answer to yr queries, I inform you that I was ordained deacon 8 June 1718, priest 15 March 1718–9, by Dr. Potter’ (bishop of Oxford), (ib. J. fol. 16, f. 352). On 18 April 1722 he was elected head-master of the grammar school, Bristol. In the same year he resigned his fellowship at Oxford. In June 1729 ‘the Rev. Mr. A. S. Catcott was appointed reader in Mr. Mayor's Chappell of St. Mark,’ Bristol, and ‘a sallary of 20l. per annum allowed him during the pleasure of the House’ (Manuscript Diary of Peter Mugleworth, sword-bearer, 1725–34, f. 95). Eleven years afterwards he held the lectureship of St. John's at Bristol (Audit Book, Bristol Corporation). A sermon preached by him in 1735 before Lord-chief-justice Hardwicke (then lord high steward of Bristol) was printed at the expense of the Bristol corporation; it occasioned a controversy which lasted many years. Catcott was presented to the rectory of St. Stephen's, Bristol, by Lord-chancellor Hardwicke 2 Jan. 1743–4 (Bodl. MS. Rawl. fol. 16, 355), when he resigned the mastership of the grammar school. Thomas Fry, D.D., president of St. John's College, Oxford (d. 1772), and Richard Woodward, D.D., bishop of Cloyne (d. 1794), were among Catcott's pupils (G. S. Catcott, Manuscript). He died of a lingering disorder 23 Nov. 1749 (Bristol Weekly Intelligencer, 29 Nov.), and six days later was buried in St. Stephen's Church (burial register). Among his contemporaries Catcott was distinguished as a ‘pulpit orator’ (Bristol Weekly Intelligencer), ‘a good poet, profound linguist, well skilled in Hebrew and Scripture philosophy, and a judicious schoolmaster’ (Barrett, Hist. of Bristol, 1789, p. 514). Wesley testifies to his eminent piety (Journal, 1827, iv. 192; see also Dr. Wilson, History of Merchant Taylors' School, 1072). Catcott was a Hutchinsonian, and ‘one of those authors who first distinguished themselves as writers on the side of’ that school (Jones, Memoirs of Bishop Horne, 1795, p. 23). In a note appended to his Assize Sermon, 1736, Catcott expresses his indebtedness to Hutchinson. Several of Hutchinson's letters to Catcott are in the City Library, King Street, Bristol.

‘The Poem of Musæus on the Loves of Hero and Leander,’ 1715, and ‘The Court of Love, a Vision from Chaucer,’ 1717, are the only poems he published separately; both ‘printed at the Theater,’ Oxford. An octavo manuscript, containing poems written by him at Oxford and Bristol, is extant. ‘In his younger days,’ Dr. Rawlinson says, Catcott ‘applyed himself much to poetry,’ but soon ‘turn'd his head more towards divinity and the languages’ (Bodl. MS. Rawl. J. 4to, 5, 209). Catcott's sons, Alexander [q. v.] and George S. Catcott, were friends of Chatter- ton. The father died before the poet's birth, but from a confusion with his son has been described as interesting himself in Chatterton.

Catcott's works are:

1. ‘The Poem of Musæus on the Loves of Hero and Leander; paraphras'd in English Heroick Verse,’ Oxford, 1715, 8vo (anon.). Dedicated to ‘Lady Mary [Wortley] Mountague.’ A copy of the poem, in Catcott's handwriting, is in the British Museum Add. MS. 16614.
2. ‘The Court of Love, a Vision from Chaucer,’ Oxford, 1717, 8vo.
3. ‘The Supreme and Inferiour Elahim: a Sermon [on Psalm lxxxii. 6], preached before the Corporation of Bristol and the Lord Chief Justice Hardwicke, at the Mayor's Chappel, on Sunday, the 16th of August, 1735, being the day before the Assizes,’ London, 1736, 4to; second edition, London, 1742, 8vo; third, but on title stated to be ‘the second edition,’ Oxford, 1781, 4to. The last-named edition is not in the catalogue of books in British Museum. The first edition was printed by the desire and at the expense of the Bristol corporation. It elicited bantering ‘Observations’ on it by Rev. Arthur Bedford, 1736, which involved Catcott, Hutchinson, Julius Bate, and Daniel Gittins in a pamphlet war.
4. ‘An Answer to the Observations on a Sermon preach'd before the Corporation of Bristol … by Alex. Stopford Catcott, LL.B. … As also an Appendix, being a Reply to some Objections in the Bibliothèque Britannique, 1736,’ Bristol, 1737, 8vo.
5. ‘The State of the Case between Mr. Bedford and Mr. Catcott, in answer to Mr. Bedford's Examination of Mr. Hutchinson's Remarks,’ &c., Lond. 1738, 8vo, (anon.).
6. ‘Tractatus, in quo tentatur conamen recuperandi notitiam Principiorum Veteris et Veræ Philosophiæ, prout eadem in usum humani generis, primum protulerunt sacræ literæ, nuper explicuit vir clarissimus Joannes Hutchinsonus; unde deducuntur modus et ratio formandi cœlos et orbes iisdem insitos; Quinetiam eorundem Motus (telluris autem præcipue) et incœpti et continuati causæ. Cui etiam inseruntur regulæ quædam et observationes Grammaticam Hebraicæ Linguæ spectantes,’ Lond. 1738, 4to; ‘translated, with additional notes and a preliminary dessertation, by Alexander Maxwell,’ Lond. 1822, 8vo. This and his ‘single sermons’ are erroneously attributed by Orme to Alexander Catcott [q. v.]
7. ‘The Antiquity and Honourableness of the Practice of Merchandize. A Sermon [on Isaiah xxiii. 8], preached before the Worshipful Society of Merchants of the City of Bristol, in the Parish Church of St. Stephen, November the 10th, 1744,’ Bristol, 1744, 4to.
8. ‘Sermons [x.] by the late Reverend A. S. Catcott, LL.B.,’ Bristol, 1752, 8vo. These are included in (xviii.) ‘Sermons,’ London, 1753, 8vo; London, 1767, 8vo. Though stated to be ‘the second edition,’ it is that of 1753 with a new title-page. The title-page issued with the ten sermons ‘Bristol, 1752,’ is sometimes prefixed to the complete volume published in 1753, edited by his son Alexander, who has added a few notes.
9. ‘The Hundred and Fourth Psalm Paraphrased,’ printed in the ‘Universal Magazine,’ July 1759; in Alexander Catcott's ‘Treatise on the Deluge,’ 1761, 280–4, in the second edition, 1768, 419–23, and elsewhere. Corry and Evans (History of Bristol, ii. 183) and Pryce (Popular History of Bristol, 1861, p. 183) attribute Alexander Catcott's ‘Treatise on the Deluge’ to his father, A. S. Catcott. 10. ‘Bristol Grammar School Visitation Exercises, Fifth of November Speeches before the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol, &c., &c. Translations and various other Pieces, by A. S. Catcott, Master of the Thorne's Grammar School, Bristol,’ 8vo, 233 pages, all in the autograph of A. S. Catcott. The title is in the handwriting of Richard Smith, surgeon, Catcott's grandson.

He possessed many of the books of George Symes Catcott, of Chattertonian fame.

[Authorities cited above; Catcott's books. Mr. F. Madan, Bodleian Library, has kindly supplied transcripts of the Rawlinson MSS. for this article.]

W. G.

Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.57
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line

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	ii	5	Catcott, Alexander S.: after Oxford insert and was first appointed chaplain to the mayor of Bristol