Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/134

Byrom The Byroms of Manchester had been prosperous merchants and linendrapers. John Byrom's father, Edward, was son of another Edward (1627-1668), and had a younger brother, Joseph, whose daughter, Euzabeth, was thus John's cousin, and afterwards became his wife (see pedigrees appended to Byrom's Remains). John's name is in the register of Merchant Taylors' School in March 1707. He was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, on 6 July 1708; was elected scholar in May 1709; became B.A. in 1712 ; M. A. in 1715, and was elected fellow of his college at Michaelmas 1714. He had many scruples as to taking the oath of abjuration. While at college he contributed two papers on dreams to the 'Spectator' (Nos. 586, 593, and perhaps 597), and a playful pastoral, called ' Colin and Phoebe (No. 605, 6 Oct. 1714). Joan or *Jug' Bentley, then only eleven years old, daughter of the master, and afterwards mother of Richard Cumberland, is said to have been his Phoebe ( Bentley, i. 200, ii. 113). The poem was very popular. In 1716 Bvrom travelled abroad and studied medicine for a time at Montpelier. He was afterwards called ' doctor ' by his friends, but never took the degree. He declined a proposal to practise at Manchester {Remains, i. 267), and his journey may possibly have had rather a political than a professional purpose. He showed strong Jacobite leanings through life.

He returned to London in 1718, and on 14 Feb. 1721 married his cousin, with the consent of her parents (Remains, i. 43), though the contrary has been alleged as an explanation of his subsequent poverty. His father had died in 1711, and the estates had gone to his elder brother, Edward. Byrom now resolved to increase his income by teaching shorthand. He had invented a new system at Cambridge, in concert, it is said, with Thomas Sharp, a college contemporary, son of the archbishop of York. He issued proposals for publishing his system, dat«d 27 May 1723. During many years he made visits to London, where he often stayed for months, and occasionally to Cambridge, in order to give lessons in his art. His pupils paid five guineas and took an oath of secresy. Byrom was soon challenged to a trial of skill by a rival teacher named Weston, whom he treated with good-humoured ridicule. In June 1725 he acted as moderator between Weston and one Clayton at the Chapter Coffee-house. His pupils formed a kind of society; they called him grand master, and upon opening ms 'sessions' he delivered addresses upon the history and utility of shorthand. His occupation brought him many distinguished acquaintance. On 17 March 1724 he became a fellow of the Royal Society, and contributed two papers upon shorthand to the 'Philosophical Transactions' (No. 488). In June 1727 he had a sharp dispute at the society with Sir Hans Sloane. Byrom seems to have opposed an address to the king, and was accused of Jacobitism. He unsuccessfully supported Jurin against Sloane in the election of the president on 30 Nov. 1727.

Byrom's diary, with many letters, published by the Chetham Society, are full of lively accounts of meetings with distinguished contemporaries during these years. He was intimate with Bentley and nis family ; with Bishop Hoadley's son, whose father he occasionialy met ; he reports interesting conversations with Bishop butler and Samuel Clarke ; David Hartley was a pupil and a very warm friend ; he saw something of Wesley ; and took a great interest in all the relimous speculations of the time. He meets Whiston, the Arian ; the deist Collins ; the heretical Elwal ; and discusses Chubb and Woolston. His own leaning was towards mysticism. He is said to have become acquainted with the writings of Malebranche and Antoinette Bourignon in France. One of his liveliest poems describes his buying a portrait of Malebranche (9 March 1727), whom he calls 'the greatest divine that e'er lived upon earth. In this he sympathised with William Law, whom he went went to see at Putney, 4 March 1729, in consequence apparently of having bought the 'Serious Call,' then just published. Law was at this time tutor to Gibbon's father, whom he accompanied to Cambridge, where Byrom met him again. Bjnrom became an ardent disciple of I^w, whom he calls his master. When Law became a student of Behmen, Byrom followed, with a modest confession of partial comprehension. He versified several passages of Law's writings, hoping that his verse would cling to the prose 'like ivy to an oak' Remains ii. 521), and when Law settled at King's Cliffe, Byrom visited him in his retirement. He corresponded with Law's disciple. Dr. Cheyne, and defended his master against Warburton's brutality. Warburton, who teUs Hurd (2 Jan. 1752) that Byrom is 'not malevolent but mad,' treated his new antagonist with unusual courtesy (see letters in Remains, ii. 522-39).

Byrom's uncle and father-in-law, Joseph, died in 1733, leaving his property to a son, Edward, on whose death, in 1760, it came to John Byrom's family {Remains, ii. 93). The death of his own elder and unmarried brother, Edward (12 May 1740), put him in possession of the family estates, and relieved him