I lived from 1785-1806.
I was from England, and am in the English category.
Henry Kirke White was born at Nottingham, March 21st, 1785. His father was a butcher; his mother, whose own name was Neville, was of a respectable Staffordshire family. Henry, who from a very early age discovered a great desire for reading, received his first education at the school of a Mrs. Garrington, who soon perceived his superior capacity, and of whom he speaks with affection in his poem upon Childhood. At the age of six, he was removed to a higher school, where he learned writing, arithmetic, and French. It was his father's intention that he should follow his own business; but his mother, aware that he was worthy of better things, made every possible effort to procure him such an education as his talents deserved and his heart desired. In his mother he found an affectionate counsellor; she made every possible effort to gratify his desire for a literary life; and at length, after he had remained a year at the loom, she got him removed to an attorney's office, as the most probable means of attaining the object of his pursuit. He netered the office in 1800, when he was fifteen; but as no premium could be given with him, he was not articled till the commencement of the year 1802.
Read full description by Jones's Cabinet Edition of the Poets, Works of White, 1825...
He now devoted himself to intellectual improvement. The law was his primary pursuit, to which he applied himself with great industry; but during his leisure hours he acquired a knowledge of Greek and Latin, and latterly of Italian, Spanish, and Portugese. Several of the sciences were also among his studies, of some of which he acquired a respectable knowledge. About this time he was admitted a Member of a Literary Society in Nottingham, where he honourably distinguished himself; and he began also to furnish pieces, both in prose and verse, to several periodicals. In the Monthly Preceptor, a magazine which proposed prize-themes, he gained a silver medal for a translation from Horace, and a pair of twelve-inch globes for an imaginary Tour from London to Edinburgh. At one time, his opinions were inclining to deism, and for a considerable period they remained unsettled; but whenever he saw his error and embraced Christianity, he resolved to devote his life to the promulgation of it; and, with that view, formed the determination to abandon law, and, if possible, place himself at one of the universities. His friends endeavoured without effect to dissuade him from his purpose. Great and numerous as the obstacles were, he was determined to surmount them all.
Every university-honour was thought to be within his reach; he was set down as a medallist, and expected to take a senior wrangler's degree; but these expectations goaded him to fresh exertions after his strength was gone. To his mother and brother he wrote that he had relaxed his studies, and that he was betterl but to Mr. Maddock, the most intimate of his friends, he complained of dreadful palpitations, nights of sleeplessness, and spirits depressed to the very depth of wretchedness. For a time he appeared to be gaining strength, but it failed as the year advanced. He went to London to recruit himself - the worst place to which he could have gone; and when he returned to college, he was so completely worn out that no power of medicine could save him. His very mind was exhausted; and it was the opinion of his medical attendants that, even if his life had been preserved, his intellect would have been affected. He died on the 19th of October, 1806, aged 21 years.
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