Matthew Prior

Matthew Prior – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Matthew Prior (1664-1721) was an English poet, diplomat, and statesman. Explore his early life, poetry, public career, influence, and some of his most memorable lines.

Introduction

Matthew Prior stands as a distinctive figure in the early 18th century: a poet whose verse blended wit, lyricism, satire, and philosophical insight, and a diplomat who served in some of England’s key foreign negotiations. His active engagement in public life sets him apart from many of his contemporaries — he was not an isolated poet but one who moved between political, literary, and diplomatic spheres. In this article, we’ll trace his biography, examine his poetic contributions and style, and collect some of his notable quotes to show his voice across time.

Early Life and Family

Matthew Prior was born on 21 July 1664 (some sources mention either 21 or 23 July) in the Westminster area of London, though his family’s roots were near Wimborne Minster, Dorset.

His father, George Prior, was a joiner (a skilled carpenter) and a Nonconformist by religious leaning.

The family moved to London while Matthew was young. His father ensured he was sent to Westminster School, then under the tutelage of Dr. Richard Busby.

After his father’s death, Prior’s education was interrupted. He was taken in by an uncle who ran a tavern (in Channel Row) and worked there for a while.

At that time, Lord Dorset encountered young Matthew reading Horace and tested him by asking him to translate an ode. Impressed, Dorset pledged to help support his continued schooling at Westminster.

One of Prior’s schoolmates was Charles Montagu (later Earl of Halifax), who became a lifelong friend and patron.

To remain near Montagu and his brother James, Prior accepted a scholarship to St John’s College, Cambridge (even though his initial patron preferred another route). B.A. in 1686 and two years later became a fellow.

During his Cambridge years, in 1687, he and Montagu co-authored a parody titled “City Mouse and Country Mouse”, a satirical response to John Dryden’s The Hind and the Panther.

Thus, from early on, Prior’s life was shaped by literary ambition, classical learning, patronage, and the merging of poetic and political networks.

Career and Achievements

Matthew Prior’s career can be divided roughly into his early poetic and diplomatic ascent, his public service and political involvement, and the later years of trouble, imprisonment, and poetic consolidation.

Early Diplomatic Engagement & Literary Activity

Not long after finishing at Cambridge, Prior entered public service. By the early 1690s, he was secretary to the English embassy at The Hague. Paris in the English diplomatic service.

His involvement in diplomatic affairs was substantial: he contributed to the negotiations of the Peace of Ryswick in 1697.

Back in England, he held positions such as Undersecretary of State and was named Commissioner for Trade and Plantations, succeeding John Locke in that role. Member of Parliament for East Grinstead briefly in 1701.

In the court and party politics of his time, Prior shifted his political affiliation: earlier aligned with Whigs, later with the Tories after 1701.

During the reign of Queen Anne, Prior played a crucial role in negotiating the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which ended the War of the Spanish Succession. His work in those negotiations earned him the nickname “Matt’s Peace” among contemporaries.

Yet despite the political prestige, Prior continuously wrote poetry. In 1709 he published a collection of verse.

Impeachment, Imprisonment & Later Works

After the death of Queen Anne in 1714 and the ascendancy of the Whigs, Prior fell out of political favor. He was impeached and held under close custody between 1715 and 1717.

During this imprisonment, he composed Alma; or, The Progress of the Mind — a longer, philosophical and witty poem — which was published by subscription in 1718 along with Poems on Several Occasions.

The 1718 subscription edition was a remarkable commercial success: it earned him 4,000 guineas, plus an additional gift of £4,000 from Lord Harley.

With his earnings, Prior bought the estate Down Hall and later purchased land at Wimpole in Cambridgeshire.

In his last years, he withdrew somewhat from politics and devoted more attention to literary, garden, and pastoral pursuits.

Death and Legacy

Matthew Prior died on 18 September 1721 in Wimpole, Cambridgeshire. Westminster Abbey, and his monument—designed by notable sculptors—stands in Poets’ Corner.

His reputation survived in literary circles: during the 18th and 19th centuries, his works influenced the genre of vers de société (light, witty, occasional verse).

Samuel Johnson praised aspects of his verse, and later writers such as William Cowper recognized him as a worthy voice bridging Dryden and later Augustan poets.

Style, Themes & Literary Contributions

Matthew Prior was not a poet of grand epic or soaring ambition (though he sometimes touched philosophical themes), but rather a master of balance: integrating wit, elegance, moral reflection, social observation, and occasional seriousness.

Some key features of his poetic style and influence:

• Versatility of forms: He wrote longer philosophical poems (e.g. Alma), occasional poems, epistles, imitations of Horace, lyrics, and witty satires.

• Lightness & levity: Even when addressing serious topics (morality, fate, politics), he often employed irony, graceful phrasing, and conversational tone.

• Blend of classical influence: His grounding in classical education allowed him to echo Horace and Latin meters, while making them accessible in English.

• Occasional & societal verse: He excelled in writing tailored poems to persons, events, or patrons — a key aspect of 18th-century poetic culture.

• Economic model for poets: His success with the 1718 subscription scheme showed that poets might support themselves by appealing directly to readers.

• Bridge between eras: He is often described as the leading English poet in the interregnum between Dryden’s death and the full flowering of Alexander Pope.

His poems often explore human folly, virtue vs. vice, mortality, love, and social interplay, with an undercurrent of philosophical pensiveness rather than grand system.

Famous Quotes of Matthew Prior

Here are selected quotations that capture the wit, tone, and insight characteristic of Prior’s voice:

1. “Cured yesterday of my disease, I died last night of my physician.”

2. “They never taste who always drink; They always talk, who never think.”

3. “Fantastic tyrant of the amorous heart. How hard thy yoke, how cruel thy dart.”

4. “Who walks the fastest, but walks astray, is only furthest from his way.”

5. “The end must justify the means.”

6. “From ignorance our comfort flows. The only wretched are the wise.”

7. “Be to her virtues very kind; be to her faults a little blind.”

8. “Our hopes, like towering falcons, aim / At objects in an airy height; / The little pleasure of the game / Is from afar to view the flight.”

9. “He ranged his tropes, and preached up patience; / Backed his opinion with quotations.”

10. “That if weak women went astray, / Their stars were more in fault than they.”

These lines show his range: from ironic humor to moral reflection, from love imagery to political commentary. (Sources: AZQuotes, Wikiquote, LibQuotes, BrainyQuote)

Lessons from Matthew Prior

Matthew Prior’s career offers several instructive lessons:

1. Poetry and public life need not be mutually exclusive. He navigated both realms — poetry and diplomacy — showing that a literary life can have public engagement.

2. Wit and substance can coexist. Prior balanced elegancies, light tones, and moral depth without turning dry or pedantic.

3. Adaptability is a strength. He shifted political allegiances, navigated changing regimes, and survived reversals like imprisonment while continuing to write.

4. Financial independence for writers is possible. His subscription success showed that poets could rely on the reading public rather than patronage alone.

5. Writing for occasions matters. His occasional poems, epistles, social verse, and tailored verse allowed him to engage socially and politically through his art.

6. Legacy often lies in the in-between. Sitting between the giants (Dryden, Pope), he may not always dominate modern anthologies, but his influence shaped the evolution of English lyrical, satirical, and occasional poetry.

Conclusion

Matthew Prior remains a singular voice of the early 18th century: a poet-diplomat who married elegance and wit, public responsibility and literary ambition. Though time has sometimes consigned him to the margins compared with figures like Pope or Swift, his verse is rewarding to revisit for its sharpness of tone, moral imagination, and historical resonance.