Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Josse, Augustin Louis

by William Charles Mark Kent

JOSSE, AUGUSTIN LOUIS (1763–1841), catholic priest and grammarian, was born in France in 1763. During the reign of terror he narrowly escaped falling a victim to the revolution. Having found refuge in the first instance beyond the Pyrenees, he remained in Spain four years, and there thoroughly mastered both the Spanish and Italian languages. Towards the close of the century he settled in England, living at first in London. There he published a series of elementary works, which helped to spread his repute as a teacher of languages.

In 1813 Josse was appointed professor of French literature to Princess Charlotte of Wales. Among his other pupils were the Duke of Wellington, Luttrell the wit, and John Kemble the tragedian. In February 1828 Bishop Poynter induced Josse to take charge of the catholic mission at Gloucester. There the last twelve years of his life were tranquilly passed in the presbytery attached to the church of St. Peter's Chains in the London Road. He died, aged 78, on 28 Jan. 1841, and was buried in the cemetery of St. John the Baptist. A life-like portrait in oils upon a panel, by Gauci, is in the possession of the present writer.

Josse published:

1. ‘Juvenile Biography, or Lives of Celebrated Children,’ 12mo, London, 1801.
2. ‘El Tesoro Español, ó Biblioteca Portátil Española,’ 2 vols. 8vo, 1802.
3. ‘Grammaire Espagnole raisonnée,’ 8vo, several editions.
4. ‘Cours de Thèmes adaptés aux principes fondamentaux de langue Espagnole établis par l'Académie de Madrid,’ 12mo, 1804.

Besides these he published a carefully corrected reissue of Solis's ‘Historia de la Conquesta de México,’ 3 vols. 8vo, 1809, and a revised edition of Wanostrocht's ‘Grammar of the French Language,’ 12mo, 1827.

[Personal recollections; a manuscript Diary of the Abbé Josse extending from 1804 to 1825; Dr. Olliver's Collections, &c., pp. 117–19, 337; Gloucester Journal, 6 Feb. 1841.]

C. K.