WARTON, JOSEPH, D.D., was born at Dunsfold, Surrey, in 1722. His earlier educa tion he received from his father, the rev. Thomas Warton, sometime professor of poetry at Oxford. At. the age of 14 he was sent to the great school at Winchester, whence, in 1740, he was transferred to Oriel college, Oxford, where, four years afterward, lie took his degree of B.A. After passing the intermediate years as a curate at Chelsea and else where, in 1748 he was presented by the duke of Bolton to the rectory of Winsdale, near Basingstoke, a living of no great value, yet sufficient to determine his marriage with a Miss Damon, to whom lie had been engaged. Previous to this he had become known as a writer of verse in the Gentleman's lifagazins, Dodsley's Museum, etc., and as the author of a volume of Odes and other Poems. In 1751 he went abroad with the duke of Bolton; and after his return he issued, in' 1753, an edition of Virgil,with a translation of the Eclogues and Georgics. This,with the critical notes and dissertations appended to the work, met with great approval, and subsequently procured him from the university of Oxford the degree of M.A. In 1756 appeared the first volume of his chief literary per formance, the .Essly on the Writings 'and Genius of Pope,lhe second and concluding volume of which was not given to the world till 1782, Venturing, as he did, to ques. Lion the positive supremacy which it was then fashionable to attribute to Pope, Wartou did not by this work attain any very instant increase of popularity; but the value in relation to the literature of the time, of the critical principles announced in it, as also in his other more casual essays, has since been sufficiently recognized. In 1755 Warton
was appointed second master of Winchester school, of which he became head in 1766. Soon after, he revisited Oxford, and had conferred on him the degrees of bachelor and doctor of divinity. Of preferment in the church, he had subsequently his full share. By the good offices of Dr. Lowth, bishop of London, he was made, in 1782, a prebend ary of St. Paul's; and the living of Thorley, in Hertfordshire, was conferred on him. Ile obtained besides, iu 1788, a prebend in Winchester cathedral, and the rectory of Easton, which he soon after exchanged for that of Upham. The mastership of Win chester he resigned in 1793, and devoted himself to the preparation of an annotated edition of Pope, which was completed in 9 vols. 8vo in 1797. At his death, Feb. 23, 1800, he was engaged on a similar edition of Dryden, of which he had published two volumes. Though Warton's reputation has not survived as a poet, yet it certainly has as a critic, along with that of his more distinguished brother.—See Bzographical Memoirs of Rev. Joseph Warton, D. B., by rev. John Wooll, A.M. (1800).