Brydges, Sir Samuel Egerton

Brydges, Sir Samuel Egerton, a learned antiquary, was born at Wootton House, Kent, in 1762. Educated at Maidstone, Canterbury, and Queen's College, Cambridge, he was called to the bar in 1787, but retired a few years later to his books at his country house in Kent. He published poetry and novels, and seems from his Autobiography to have valued these much above their merits, while he speaks of his editorial labours as 'unworthy pursuits' that 'overlaid the fire of my bosom.' Much more valuable were his editions of Edward Phillip's Theatrum Picturarum Anglicanorum (1800); his Censura Literaria, containing Titles, Abstracts, and Opinions of old English Books (10 vols. 1805-9); and his edition of Collins's Peerage of England (9 vols. 1812). The claim of his family to the barony of Chandos broke down, but Brydges was gratified with a Swedish knighthood in 1808 and an English baronetcy in 1814. He represented Maidstone in 1812-18, and printed privately at the 'Lee Priory Press' small editions of many rare Elizabethan books and tracts. After 1818 he lived mostly abroad until his death near Geneva, 8th September 1837. His later bibliographical works were the British Bibliographer (4 vols. 1810-14); Restitutio (4 vols. 1814-16); and Excerpta Tudoriana (2 vols. 1814-18). His Autobiography was published in 1834.