Grose

Grose, FRANCIS, a famous English antiquary, born at Greenford, Middlesex, in 1731, son of a rich Swiss jeweller settled in England. In the College of Heralds in 1755–63, he next became adjutant of the Hampshire and then of the Surrey militia, and, when his easy habits had brought him to the end of his fortune, began to put to profit the favourite studies of his youth and his excellent draughtmanship. His Antiquities of England and Wales (6 vols. 1773–87) proved a success, and in 1789 he set out on an antiquarian tour through Scotland. His splendid social qualities, his rich humour and good nature, which fitted well with his Falstaff-like bulk, made him friends everywhere. Burns made his acquaintance, and has hit him off admirably in his poem, 'Hear, Land o' Cakes, and brither Scots.' The lines 'a chield's among you takin' notes, and faith he'll prent it,' are often quoted by persons ignorant of their original application. Grose crossed over to Ireland to continue the same inquiries, but died suddenly in an apoplectic fit at Dublin, 12th May 1791. Grose's work on the antiquities of Scotland appeared 1789–91; that of Ireland in 1791. Works of exceptional value are A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785; new ed. with Memoir by Pierce Egan, 1823), and A Provincial Glossary (1787). Other works are his Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons (1785–89); Military Antiquities (1786–88); The Grumbler (1791), a collection of amusing essays; and The Olivo (1793), a strange hotch-potch of jests, verse, and prose essays.