Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ogle, George (1704-1746)

1424126Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 42 — Ogle, George (1704-1746)1895Elizabeth Lee

OGLE, GEORGE (1704–1746), translator, was the second son of Samuel Ogle of Bowsden, Northumberland, M.P. for Berwick, and commissioner of the revenue for Ireland, by his second wife, Ursula, daughter of Sir John Markham, bart., and widow of the last Lord Altham. Samuel Ogle died at Dublin on 10 March 1718 (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. v. 169). In 1728 appeared, as an appendix to James Sterling's ‘Loves of Hero and Leander,’ ‘some new translations’ made by the son George ‘from various Greek authors.’ To Ogle, ‘an ingenious young gentleman,’ the volume was dedicated. Ogle's rendering of Anacreon had probably some influence on Moore; but Moore, in his ‘Journal’ (iv. 144), denied a charge of plagiarism preferred against him on that ground in ‘John Bull,’ 12 Sept. 1824 (O'Donoghue, Poets of Ireland, pt. iii. p. 187).

In 1737 Ogle published the first and only volume of ‘Antiquities explained. Being a Collection of figured Gems, illustrated by similar descriptions taken from the Classics.’ It is dedicated to the Duke of Dorset, and was based, he says, on a somewhat similar collection published in Paris in 1732. The book contains a well-executed engraving of each gem, with an explanation of its subject and illustrative quotations from Greek or Latin authors, with translations into English verse. ‘Gualtherus and Griselda, or the clerk of Oxford's Tale,’ appeared in 1739. In 1741 Ogle contributed to ‘Tales of Chaucer modernised by several hands.’ It contains versions by Dryden, Pope, Betterton, and others. Another edition, in two volumes, appeared in 1742. Ogle's share in the work seems to have been the prologues to most of the tales, and the tales of the clerk, haberdasher, weaver, carpenter, dyer, tapestry-maker, and cook. He also supplied a continuation of the squire's tale from the fourth book of Spenser's ‘Faerie Queen.’ This portion of the work—‘Cambuscan, or the Squire's Tale’—was issued separately in 1785.

Ogle married the daughter and coheiress of Sir Frederick Twysden, bart., and died on 20 Oct. 1746. Their only child was the Right Hon. George Ogle (1742–1814) [q. v.]

Ogle's literary aptitude was considerable, and he ranks high as a translator. Besides the works noticed, he published: 1. ‘Basia; or the Kisses,’ 1731. 2. ‘Epistles of Horace imitated,’ 1735. 3. ‘The Legacy Hunter. The fifth satire of the second book of Horace imitated,’ 1737. 4. ‘The Miser's Feast. The eighth satire of the second book of Horace imitated, a dialogue between the author and the poet-laureate,’ 1737.

[Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit. ii. 1451; Gent. Mag. 1746, p. 558; Brit. Mus. Cat.]

E. L.