Editing Robert Lowth (section)

==Life==
Lowth was born in [[Hampshire]], [[England]], Great Britain, the son of Dr [[William Lowth]], a clergyman and Biblical commentator. He was educated at [[Winchester College]] and became a scholar of [[New College, Oxford]] in 1729. Lowth obtained his [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in 1733 and his [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] degree in 1737. In 1735, while still at Oxford, Lowth took orders in the [[Anglicanism|Anglican Church]] and was appointed vicar of [[Ovington, Hampshire]], a position he retained until 1741, when he was appointed [[Oxford Professor of Poetry]].

Bishop Lowth made a translation of the [[Book of Isaiah]], first published in 1778. The [[Seventh-day Adventist]] theologian [[Ellet J. Waggoner|E. J. Waggoner]] said in 1899 that Lowth's translation of Isaiah was "without doubt, as a whole, the best English translation of the prophecy of [[Isaiah]]".

In 1750 he was appointed [[Archdeacon of Bournemouth|Archdeacon of Winchester]]. In 1752 he resigned the professorship at Oxford and married Mary Jackson. Shortly afterwards, in 1753, Lowth was appointed [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of [[East Woodhay]]. In 1754 he was awarded a [[Doctor of Divinity|Doctorate in Divinity]] by Oxford University, for his treatise on [[Biblical poetry|Hebrew poetry]] entitled ''Praelectiones Academicae de Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum'' (''On the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews''). This derives from a series of lectures and was originally published in Latin. An English translation was published by [[George Gregory (British writer)|George Gregory]] in 1787 as ''"Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews"''. This and subsequent editions include the life of Bishop Lowth as a preface. There was a further edition issued in 1815. This was republished in North America in 1829 with some additional notes. However, apart from those notes, the 1829 edition is less useful to a modern reader. This is because the editor of that edition chose to revert to citing many of the scriptural passages that Lowth uses as examples, and some of the annotations by [[Johann David Michaelis|Michaelis]]) and others, in Latin.

Lowth was appointed a fellow of the [[Royal Society|Royal Societies]] of London and [[Göttingen]] in 1765. He was consecrated [[bishop of St&nbsp;Davids]] in Wales in 1766; however, before the end of the year he was translated to the English [[bishop of Oxford|see of Oxford]]. He remained Bishop of Oxford until 1777 when he was appointed [[Bishop of London]] as well as [[dean of the chapel royal]] and [[privy councillor]]. In 1783 he was offered the chance to become [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], but declined due to failing health.

Lowth was good friends with the [[Scottish Enlightenment]] figure [[David Hume]], as noted by the prominent Scottish bookseller [[Andrew Millar]]. Millar commented that "Hume and he are very great, tho' one orthodox and ye other Hedretox".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.millar-project.ed.ac.uk/manuscripts/html_output/1.html|title=The manuscripts, Letter from Andrew Millar to Andrew Mitchell, 26 August, 1766. University of Edinburgh.|website=millar-project.ed.ac.uk|access-date=2 June 2016}}</ref>

Lowth wrote a Latin epitaph, ''Cara, Vale'' ("Dear one, farewell!") on the death of his daughter Maria. Much admired in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it was set to music by the English composer [[John Wall Callcott]].<ref>From ''New England Magazine'', 1834 [http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Cara_vale_(John_Wall_Callcott) Cara vale (John Wall Callcott)], accessed 20 February 2018</ref>

[[Image:RobertLowthMonument01.jpg|thumb|right|225px|Funerary monument, All Saints, Fulham, London]]

Lowth died in 1787, and was buried in the churchyard of [[All Saints Church, Fulham]]. Lowth's library was sold by auction by R. H. Evans on 15 January 1823 and five following days, along with the books of his son (also Robert, Rector of Hinton Ampnor, d. 1822). There is a copy of the catalogue at Cambridge University Library (shelfmark Munby.c.126(1)).