Peter Anthony Motteux | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pierre Antoine Motteux (1663-02-25)25 February 1663 Rouen, France |
| Died | 18 February 1718(1718-02-18) (aged 54) London, England |
| Citizenship | British |
| Occupation(s) | Editor, journalist, translator, playwright |
Peter Anthony Motteux (bornPierre Antoine MotteuxFrench:[mɔtø]; 25 February 1663 – 18 February 1718) was a French-born English author, playwright, and translator. Motteux was a significant figure in the evolution of English journalism in his era, as the publisher and editor ofThe Gentleman's Journal, "the first English magazine,"[1] from 1692 to 1694.
A native ofRouen, he was a FrenchHuguenot who came to England in 1685 after the revocation of theEdict of Nantes. At first he lived with his godfather, Paul Dominique, and made his living as an auctioneer; by 1706 he maintained a shop inLeadenhall Street, selling imports from China, Japan, and India, and (in his own words) "silks, lace, linens, pictures, and other goods." He also held a position with the Post Office in the first decade of the 18th century.
His death in a bawdy house was thought to be suspicious, and caused a good deal of legal disturbance.[2] Five people were tried for his murder, but were acquitted. His death was ultimately ruled an accident byerotic asphyxiation. He was survived by his widow Priscilla, two sons and a daughter.
Motteux is perhaps best known for completing SirThomas Urquhart's translation ofRabelais'Gargantua and Pantagruel. Books I and II of Urquhart's translation of Rabelais had been published in 1653; Motteux (with outside help) revised these, completed Urquart's translation of Book III, and translated Book IV and the possibly-spurious Book V. The entire work was published in 1693 and 1694 (reprinted in 1708; revised byJohn Ozell in 1737).
While Urquhart's original version of Rabelais has sometimes been acclaimed as a masterpiece in itself, critics have had reservations about Motteux's continuation. In part, Motteux suffered for frankly rendering the vulgarity of Rabelais, to a generation of readers less prepared to tolerate it than Urquhart's had been.[3]
Motteux produced an important translation of theMiguel de Cervantes novelDon Quixote; this 4-volume 1700–03 edition (3rd edition in 1712) was credited as "translated from the original by many hands and published by Peter Motteux." Very popular in its own era, Motteux's version of the work has been condemned by later translators.John Ormsby listed numerous faults he found with Motteux's translation, and described it as "worse than worthless ... worthless as failing to represent, worse than worthless as misrepresenting" the spirit and flavour of the original.[4]
Motteux translated other works as well, one example beingThe Present State of the Empire of Morocco (1695) by French diplomatFrançois Pidou de Saint-Olon.
Motteux wrote a series of plays and musical librettos that were produced during the 1690s and early 18th century, including:
—among others. As its subtitle indicates,The Novelty was an anthology of five short plays in different genres,comedy,tragedy,pastoral,masque, andfarce.
Motteux worked in the English stage genre then called "opera," which were semi-operas somewhat comparable to modern musicals; works likeThe Rape of Europa by Jupiter (1694),Acis and Galatea (1701), andArsinoe, Queen of Cyprus (1705),Thomyris, Queen of Scythia (17078 the first two with music byJohn Eccles, the third with music byThomas Clayton and the fourth arranged byJohann Christoph Pepusch. His final works are translations and adaptations of opera libretti from the Italian.
As was typical ofRestoration drama, Motteux's plays often adapted earlier works; and his plays in turn were adapted by others into new forms. His semi-operaThe Island Princess, or the Generous Portuguese (1699) was an adaptation ofJohn Fletcher's playThe Island Princess, with music byDaniel Purcell,Richard Leveridge and Jeremiah Clarke. The mezzo-soprano,Mrs Lindsey sang interludes at its first performance atDrury Lane in February 1699.[5]
After his death, the comic subplot ofAcis and Galatea was transformed into "a comic mask" calledRoger and Joan, or the Country Wedding (1739). Much later,David Garrick adaptedThe Novelty into a farce titledThe Lying Varlet, published in 1823.
Motteux editedThe Gentleman's Journal, or the Monthly Miscellany from its initial issue, dated January 1692, to its last of November 1694; evidence suggests he wrote most of the prose in each issue as well. (The plan was for monthly issues, though some were late, and some were missed.) Motteux may have been influenced byLe Mercure Galant, a French periodical of the 1670s devoted to Court news and gossip—though Motteux'sJournal was more ambitious. TheJournal published "News, History, Philosophy, Poetry, Musick, Translations, &c." It covered a wider range of topics than other periodicals of its era likeJohn Dunton'sThe Athenian Gazette, giving it some claim as the first "general interest" magazine in English. Motteux reviewed plays byJohn Dryden (a personal friend) andWilliam Congreve among others; he published verse by the poets of the era, includingMatthew Prior andCharles Sedley; he covered the musical career ofHenry Purcell and printed several of his songs. The short fictions published in the journal contributed to the formation of the novel in English.[6] TheJournal even featured a "Lovers' Gazette," foreshadowing the advice-to-the-lovelorn columns of later generations of popular journalism.
Though its existence was relatively brief in historical terms, theJournal provided a precedent for later publications of the same type, notablyThe Gentleman's Magazine andThe London Magazine. One curiosity of theJournal is that the title page of its first issue bore the mottoE pluribus unum, apparently the earliest use of what would later become the motto of the United States of America. Motteux used the phrase in the sense of "one chosen among many," rather than its common later connotation.[7] (Classicists have attempted to trace possible sources for the motto, ranging fromVergil toAristotle toHorace toCicero toSt. Augustine.)[8]
Motteux published early arguments in favor of the equality of the sexes; he re-titled the October 1693 issue of theJournal "The Lady's Journal," and devoted it to articles by and about women.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Motteux, Pierre Antoine".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 931.
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