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"Charles Sprague, the famous poet, was born in Boston
on October 26 1791, and died there on January 22 1875. His father,
Samuel, born in Hingham,
Massachusetts, was one of the party
that threw the tea into Boston Harbor.
Charles was educated at the Franklin School of Boston,
and at the age of ten lost the use of his left eye by an accident. In 1804
he entered mercantile life, and in 1816 was taken into partnership by his
employers. In 1820 he became a teller in the State Bank, and on the
establishment of the Globe Bank in 1824 he was employed as cashier, serving
there until 1865, when he retired from business.
Mr. Sprague first attracted attention as a poet when he
won a prize for the best prologue at the opening of the Park Theatre in New
York. He achieved similar success at the opening of other theaters in
Philadelphia, Salem, and Portsmouth. In 1823 he obtained the prize for the
best ode to be recited at the exhibition in the Boston Theatre of a pageant
in honor of Shakespeare, and in 1830 he pronounced an ode at the centennial
celebration of the settlement of Boston.
In 1829 he delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa
Society of Harvard a poem on Curiosity, which was considered his best
production. Among his shorter poems are the Ode to Shakespeare and
Winged Worshippers.
Edwin P. Whipple [said]: 'His prologues are the
best which have been written since the time of [Alexander] Pope. His
Shakespeare Ode has hardly been exceeded by anything in the same manner
since Gray's Progress of Poesy. But the true power and originality of
the man are manifested in his domestic pieces. The Brothers, I See
Thee Still, and The Family Meeting are the finest consecrations
of natural affection in our literature.'
The Sprague family tomb is Number 5, and can be viewed from the walkway on
Boston Common.
Boston Globe Obituary
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