1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Moultrie, John

5082071911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 18 — Moultrie, John

MOULTRIE, JOHN (1799–1874), English poet, was born in London on the 30th of December 1799. He was educated at Eton, and many of his best verses were contributed to the Etonian. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1819, and in 1822 began to reside at the Middle Temple. Three years later he was ordained, and was presented to the living of Rugby by Lord Craven. At Rugby he became intimate with Thomas Arnold, to whom two of his best sonnets are addressed. He died at Rugby on the 26th of December 1874. He published several volumes of verse during his lifetime, and a complete edition of his poems was published (2 vols., 1876) with a memoir by Derwent Coleridge. They include, amongst much that is dull, some popular pieces, “Godiva,” “Three Minstrels,” an account of meetings with Wordsworth, Coleridge and Tennyson, “My Brother’s Grave,” and some excellent hymns.