FITZGERALD, EDWARD (1809-1883), English writer, translator of Omar Khayyam, was born as EDWARD PURCELL, at Bredfield, Suffolk, on March 31, 1809. His father, John Purcell, who had married a Miss FitzGerald, assumed in 1818 the name and arms of his wife's family. From 1816 to 1821 the FitzGeralds lived at St. Germain and at Paris, but Edward was educated at Bury St. Edmunds and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became acquainted with Thackeray and W. H. Thompson. In 1830 he returned to Paris, but soon chose to settle in the Suffolk town of Woodbridge where he passed a secluded, leisurely life devoted to flowers, music and books. With Tennyson, his intimacy began about 1835 and with Carlyle about 1842. In 1851, Fitz gerald published Euphranor, a Platonic dialogue, born of memories of the old happy life at Cambridge. In 1852 appeared Polonius, a collection of aphorisms, some original, the rest borrowed from English classics. In the following year he issued Six Dramas of Calderon, freely translated, and having turned to Oriental under the guidance of his friend E. B. Cowell, afterwards pro fessor of Sanskrit at Cambridge, in 1856 he anonymously pub lished a version of the Saldmdn and Abseil of Jami in Miltonic verse. In the same year he married Lucy, daughter of Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, but they were soon separated. In Jan. 1859 a little anonymous pamphlet was published as The Rubdiyat of Omar Khayyam. The poem seems at first to have attracted no attention, until in 1860 Rossetti discovered it, and Swinburne and Lord Houghton quickly followed. The expression which it gave to the perplexity of the times led to the demand for a second edi tion in 1868. Meanwhile FitzGerald had produced in 1865 a version of the Agamemnon, and two more plays from Calderon. In 188o-81 he issued privately translations of the two Oedipus tragedies; his last publication was Readings in Crabbe, 1882.
From 1861 onwards FitzGerald's greatest interest centred in the sea, and for some years, till 1871, he spent the months from June to October mainly in "knocking about somewhere outside of Lowestoft." On June 14, 1883, he passed away painlessly in his sleep. He was "an idle fellow, but one whose friendships were more like loves"; his wit and human side are displayed in his inimitable letters. Tennyson's dedication of his Tiresias to Fitz Gerald's memory, in some touching reminiscent verses to "Old Fitz" (1885) was the signal for the universal appreciation of Omar Khayyam in his English dress. The exquisite melody of FitzGerald's verse has made the poem probably better known than any single poem of its class published since 1860. (E. G.) An edition of FitzGerald's works appeared in 2 vols. (New York, 1887) ; his Letters and Literary Remains were edited by W. Aldis Wright (7 vols., 1902-03) ; other Letters were edited by F. R. Barton (1923), and those to Bernard Quaritch by C. 0. Wrentmore (1926) . His Diet. of Mine. de Sevigne was edited by his great niece, M. E. F. Kerrich, 2 vols. See also T. Wright, Life of E. FitzGerald, 2 vols. (1904) ; A. C. Benson, E. FitzGerald (1905) ; Morley Adams, Omar's Interpreter, a New Life of E. FitzGerald (19o9).