View source for Samuel Pegge (the younger)

{{Short description|British writer and composer (1733–1800)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name   = Samuel Pegge (the younger)
| image     = Pegge_Arms.gif
| image_size     = 200px
| caption  = The Pegge coat of Arms. The Pegge family are originally from Shirley, Ashbourne. A distant relative is [[Catherine Pegge]], a mistress of [[Charles II of England]].<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50706 ''Magna Britannia''], Daniel and Samuel Lysons, Volume 5, 1817</ref>
| birth_date  = 1733<ref name=dnb>[[Dictionary of National Biography]] now in the public domain</ref>
| birth_place =
| death_date  = 22 May 1800 (aged 66 or 67)
| death_place =
| education      =
| occupation     = Aniquarian
| spouse         = Martha Bourne and Goodeth Belt
| parents        = [[Samuel Pegge]] the elder
| children       = Sir Christopher Pegge and Charlotte Anne
}}
'''Samuel Pegge - the younger''' (1733 &ndash; 22 May 1800) was an antiquary, poet, musical composer and lexicographer. He was the son of [[Samuel Pegge]] and their work is frequently intertwined.<ref name=sam2>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/iss/library/speccoll/bomarch/bomjune06.html The Samuel Pegge lexicographical manuscripts - June 2006] Kings College Manuscripts by Katie Sambrook. Accessed 26 September 2007</ref> He was the only surviving son of Samuel and his wife Anne, daughter of Benjamin Clarke, esq., of [[Stanley, West Yorkshire|Stanley]], near [[Wakefield]], Yorkshire.<ref name=dnb/>
After receiving a classical education at [[St. John's College, Cambridge]],<ref>{{acad|id=PG750S|name=Pegge, Samuel}}</ref> he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and by the favour of the [[William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire|Duke of Devonshire]], lord chamberlain, he was appointed one of the [[Groom of the Chamber|Grooms of the Privy Chamber]] and an Esquire of the king's household. On 2 June 1796 he was elected a fellow of the [[Society of Antiquaries of London|Society of Antiquaries]].<ref>Gough, Chronological List, p. 69</ref> After his death, he was buried on the west side of [[Kensington|Kensington churchyard]], where a monument was erected to his memory.<ref name=dnb/>
==Music==
Pegge acquired a considerable proficiency in music at an early age. He composed a complete [[melodrama]] both the words and the music in score. Many [[Catch (music)|catches]] and [[Glee (music)|glees]], and several of the most popular songs for [[Vauxhall Gardens]] were written and set to music by him. He was also the author of some prologues and epilogues which were popular including a prologue spoken by Mr. Yates at [[Birmingham]] in 1760. He also wrote an epilogue spoken by the same actor at [[Society of Antiquaries of London|Drury Lane]] on his return from France; and another epilogue, filled with pertinent allusions to the game of [[quadrille]], spoken by Mrs. Yates at her benefit in 1769, 1770 and 1774. He was likewise the author of a pathetic elegy on his own recovery from a dangerous illness, and of some pleasant tales and epigrammatic poems.<ref name=dnb/>
==Family==
By his first wife, Martha, daughter of Dr. Henry Bourne, an eminent physician of [[Chesterfield, Derbyshire|Chesterfield]], he had one son, Sir [[Christopher Pegge]], M.D. (1764 &ndash; 22 May 1822), and a daughter, Charlotte Anne, who died unmarried on 17 March 1793. He married, secondly, Goodeth Belt, aunt to Robert Belt, esq., of [[Bossall]], [[Yorkshire]].<ref name=dnb/>
His son, Christopher, was a well known doctor in Oxford and also delivered lectures in mineralogy at [[Oxford University]], and in 1800, the university purchased a cabinet of minerals from him which was to be part of the establishment of that subject at the university.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kBcBAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA15 ''Memorials of Oxford''], by [[James Ingram (academic)|James Ingram]], [[John Le Keux]], [[Frederick Mackenzie (painter)|Frederick Mackenzie]], pub. 1837 accessed on line October 2007</ref>
Christopher Pegge, together with Wall and Bourne was one of the three most important doctors in Oxford in the early nineteenth century.<ref>G. V. Cox ''Recollections'', p. 133</ref> quotes the following rhyme about them, entitled ''The Oxford medical trio'':
<poem>
I would not call in any one of them all,
For only "the weakest will go to the Wall";
The second, like Death, that scythe-armed mower,
Will speedily make you a peg or two lower;
While the third, with the fees he so silently earns,
Is "the bourn whence no traveller ever returns".
</poem>
Another rhyme, about Sir Christopher Pegge, went:
<poem>
Like Circe Sir C. can prescribe a mixt cup,
But mixtures Circeian beware to drink up<ref>[http://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/doctors/physicians/index.html oxfordhistory.org.uk]</ref>
</poem>
==Samuel Pegge's major works==
#''An Elegy on the Death of [[Godfrey Clarke|Godfrey Bagnall Clerke]], M.P. for Derbyshire, who died on 26 Dec. 1774'', printed at Chesterfield
#"Brief Memoirs of [[Edward Capell]], Esq.", 1790, in [[John Nichols (printer)|John Nichols]]'s ''Literary Anecdotes'' (i. 465–76)
#''Curialia ; or an Historical Account of some Branches of the Royal Household'', 5 parts, London, 1782–1806.<br />[https://archive.org/details/curialiaoranhis00nichgoog/ Parts 1–3] (1782); [https://archive.org/details/curialiaoranhis00pegggoog/page/n8 Parts IV & V] (1803), edited after Pegge's death by Nichols
#"Illustrations of the Churchwardens' Accompts of [[St Michael's Church, Spurriergate, York|St Michael Spurrier-Gate, York]]", in ''Illustrations of the Manners and Expences of Ancient Times'' (1797)
#"Memoir of his father, Dr [[Samuel Pegge]]", in Nichols's '' Literary Anecdotes '' (i. 224–58)
#''[https://books.google.com/books?id=OnASAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22samuel+pegge%22+music&pg=PA414 Anecdotes of the English Language; chiefly regarding the Local Dialect of London and its Environs]'', edited by John Nichols, London, 1803; 2nd edit., enlarged, "to which is added a Supplement to the Provincial Glossary of [[Francis Grose]]", edited by Nichols, London, 1814; 3rd edit., enlarged and corrected, edited by [[Henry Christmas]], London, 1844
#''Curialia Miscellanea; or Anecdotes of Old Times, regal, noble, gentilitian, and miscellaneous, including Authentic Anecdotes of the Royal Household'', edited by Nichols, London, 1818<ref name=dnb/>
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:People from Derbyshire]]
[[Category:1733 births]]
[[Category:1800 deaths]]
[[Category:English composers]]
[[Category:English lexicographers]]
[[Category:19th-century English poets]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London]]
[[Category:18th-century lexicographers]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]