Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Glasse, George Henry
GLASSE, GEORGE HENRY (1761–1809), classical scholar and divine, the son of Dr. Samuel Glasse [q. v.] was born in 1761. He was sent to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1775, aged 14, and graduated B.A. 28 April 1779, and M.A. 14 Jan. 1782. He took holy orders, and in 1785 his father resigned to him his living of Hanwell, Middlesex. He also filled the office of domestic chaplain to the Earl of Radnor, the Duke of Cambridge, and the Earl of Sefton successively. His intellectual attainments greatly impressed his friends. In 1781 he published a translation of Mason's ‘Caractacus,’ ‘Καράκτακος ἐπι Μώνῃ: sive cl. Gul. Masoni Caractacus Græco carmine redditus cum versione Latina,’ which was very favourably reviewed. In 1788 appeared Glasse's rendering in Greek verse of Milton's ‘Samson Agonistes.’ The ease with which Glasse handled the classical languages is illustrated by his Latin version of Colman's ‘Miss Bayley's Ghost,’ which was sung by Tom Moore at a masquerade given by Lady Manvers, and afterwards published in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine’ (lxxv. 750). He published a large number of sermons, including ‘Contemplations on the Sacred History, altered from the works of Bishop Hall,’ 4 vols., 12mo, 1792, and ‘Sixteen Discourses abridged from the works of Bishop William Beveridge [q. v.] with Supplement of Ten Sermons by G. H. Glasse,’ London, 1805, 8vo. The most popular of his works was ‘Louisa: a narrative of fact supposed to throw light on the mysterious history of the Lady of the Haystack’ (1801), translated from ‘L'Inconnue, Histoire Véritable.’ This work, which quickly reached a third edition, was an attempt to prove that a mysterious refugee at Bristol was identical with Félix-Julienne de Schonau, otherwise Freulen, who declared herself to be the natural daughter of the emperor Francis I, and who was the unnamed heroine of the anonymous French work ‘L'Inconnue.’ Glasse frequently contributed to the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ and wrote a paper in ‘Archæologia’ in 1787. He ran through a large fortune in sixteen years, and then found himself in such difficulties that on 30 Oct. 1809 he hanged himself in the Bull and Mouth Inn, St. Martin's-le-Grand, London. At the inquest his solicitor testified that his embarrassments were so great as to fully account for mental derangement. Glasse is described as ‘short and fat, his face full and rather handsome, with an expression of benevolence and intelligence.’ He married, first, Anne Fletcher of Ealing, who died in June 1802, within a few days of their eldest daughter, and afterwards in May 1805 Harriet, the daughter of Thomas Wheeler.
[Gent. Mag. lxxix. 1082–3; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ix. 131–3; St. James's Chronicle, 31 Oct. 1809; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. x. 496, 2nd ser. iii. 249; Cat. of Oxford Graduates; Brit. Mus. Cat.]