Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lucas, Charles (1769-1854)

by Albert Frederick Pollard

LUCAS, CHARLES (1769–1854), miscellaneous writer and divine, son of William Lucas of Daventry, was born in 1769, and matriculated from Oriel College, Oxford, 15 July 1786. He styled himself 'A.M.' on the title-pages of his books, but the university register does not recognise him as a graduate. In 1791 he became curate of Avebury, Wiltshire, where he devoted himself to writing novels and religious poems. He left Avebury in 1816 and settled at Devizes, where he died in 1854.

His chief works are:

1. 'A Descriptive Account in Blank Verse of the old Serpentine Temple of the Druids at Avebury,' 1795; 2nd edit, with notes, Marlborough, 1801, 4to.
2. 'Free Thoughts on a General Reform,' Bath, 1796.
3. 'The Castle of St. Donat's, or the History of Jack Smith,' 1798, 3 vols. 12mo.
4. 'The Infernal Quixote, a Tale of the Day,' 4 vols. London, 1801, 12mo, dedicated to Pitt.
5. 'The Abissinian Reformer, or the Bible and the Sabre,' a novel, London, 1808, 12mo.
6. 'Joseph,' a religious poem, 2 vols. London, 1810, 8vo.

[Works in Brit. Mus.; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Foster's Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886.]

A. F. P.