Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lund, John
LUND, JOHN (fl. 1785), humorous poet, of Pontefract, is said to have been a barber in that town, whose partial historian declares that his satires ‘would not disgrace the pen of a Churchill’ (Boothroyd, Hist. of Pontefract, p. 495). Lund wrote:
- ‘A Collection of Original Tales in Verse, in the manner of Prior; to which is added a Second Edition of Ducks and Pease, or the Newcastle Rider; together with the above story in a Farce of one act, as it was performed at the Theatre in Pontefract with great applause,’ London, 1777. The story is rudimentary, being that of a rider (i.e. bagman) who, when airing himself as a person of quality, is suddenly confronted by his master; but it proved extremely popular, and passed through numerous editions down to 1838. The poem was reprinted in ‘Richardson's Table Book, 1843; Legendary Division,’ i. 169.
- ‘A Collection of Oddities in Prose and Verse, Serious and Comical, by a very Odd Author,’ Doncaster, 1779. Some of the shorter pieces are amusing. ‘In regard to obscenity,’ says the author, ‘things of that nature in what I published were put in at the desire of some particular friends.’
[Hotten's Handbook of Topography; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. p. 1413; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. v. 282–3; Baker's Biograph. Britt., 1812, i. 464; Lund's works in Brit. Mus. Lib., including as many as seven different editions of ‘Ducks and Pease.’]