absurd and a bore of the first water he was apparently a kindly and liberal man, and abandoned the profits of his plays, such as they were, to the actors. He was zealous on behalf of Savage, whose story he published in the ‘Plaindealer,’ and helpful to Thomson and others.
In 1738 Hill left London, where he had hitherto occupied a house in Petty France, Westminster, looking upon St. James's Park, to Plaistow in Essex. He mentions pecuniary difficulties at this time (to Pope, 1 Sept. 1738), which may have been the cause of his retirement. He probably did not diminish them by planting vineyards in Essex. He sent some bottles of his wine to Richardson (ib. i. 22, 29, 44–52), with the sanguine belief that they would contribute to Richardson's health and pleasure. He also busied himself in a scheme for making potash. His translation of Voltaire's ‘Merope’ (1749) was brought upon the stage, and a performance commanded for his benefit by Frederick, prince of Wales. He died the night before the intended performance, 8 Feb. 1749–1750, ‘at the very minute of the earthquake.’ He was buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey in the same grave with his wife, who died 1731. He had by her nine children, of whom four were living in 1760, a son and three daughters, Urania, Astræa, and Minerva. A ‘Collection of Letters between Mr. Aaron Hill, Pope, and others,’ was published in 1751. His ‘Works,’ in 4 vols. 8vo, were published by subscription for the benefit of his family in 1753 (second edition 1754). The first two contain his correspondence; the last his poems and an essay upon acting (first published in 1746). The poems include ‘Camillus,’ the ‘Northern Star,’ and the ‘Progress of Wit’ (see above); the ‘Creation,’ 1720; ‘Advice to Poets,’ 1731; the ‘Tears of the Muses,’ 1737; ‘Free Thoughts on Faith,’ 1746; and a number of prologues and occasional pieces. He also published the ‘Fanciad,’ 1743; the two first books of ‘Gideon,’ an epic poem, about 1716, and three more books, now called ‘Gideon, or the Patriot,’ and dedicated to Bolingbroke, in 1749.
The dramatic works were also published by subscription in two volumes in 1760. The plays, with dates of first publication, are, Vol. i.:
- ‘Elfrid,’ 1710.
- ‘The Walking Statue,’ 1710.
- ‘Rinaldo’ (in English and Italian), 1711.
- ‘The Fatal Vision,’ 1716.
- ‘Henry V’ (founded on Shakespeare), 1723.
- ‘The Fatal Extravagance,’ 1726 (written by Hill for the benefit of J. Mitchell, under whose name it was first published).
- ‘Merlin in Love,’ 1759 (pastoral opera).
- ‘Athelwold,’ 1732.
Vol. ii.:
- ‘The Muses in Mourning’ (opera), 1760.
- ‘Zara’ (from Voltaire), 1736, and later editions (acted in 1735 for the benefit of W. Bond).
- ‘The Snake in the Grass,’ 1760.
- ‘Alzira’ (from Voltaire), 1736.
- ‘Saul’ (tragedy), 1760.
- ‘Daraxes’ (pastoral opera), 1760.
- ‘Merope’ (from Voltaire), 1749.
- ‘The Roman Revenge’ (written about 1738 as ‘Cæsar,’ when he published a pamphlet ‘On the Merits of Assassination,’ with a view to this case of Cæsar, published 1754).
The ‘Biographia Dramatica’ also mentions ‘Trick upon Trick; or Squire Brainless,’ a comedy, and in 1758 was published ‘The Insolvent, or Filial Piety.’
Hill was co-author with William Bond [q. v.] of the ‘Plaindealer,’ 1724, afterwards collected in 2 vols. 8vo, and published the ‘Prompter’ in 1735. He wrote various pamphlets about his beechnut projects, and the first of ‘Four Essays’ in 1718, which treats of making china ware in England.
[Anonymous Life in Cibber's Lives of the Poets, 1753, v. 252–75; Life by ‘J. K.’ prefixed to Dramatic Works, 1760; general correspondence in Works, vols. i. and ii.; in Richardson's Correspondence, 1802, i. 1–132; Elwin and Courthope's Pope, x. 1–78 (and notes to the Dunciad and the Bathos); Biog. Brit.; Biog. Dram.; Genest's History of the Stage, iv. 295; Victor's Hist. of Theatres, 1761, ii. 170–202.]
HILL, ABIGAIL (d. 1734). [See Masham, Abigail, Lady.]
HILL, ABRAHAM (1635–1721), man of science, baptised on 16 June 1635 at St. Dionis Backchurch, London (Parish Register, Harl. Soc., p. 104), came of an old family seated at Shilstone in Devonshire. His father, Richard Hill, a merchant and alderman of London, was appointed by the Long parliament treasurer of sequestrations in the summer of 1642, and acted in that capacity until 1649. Hill entered his father's business, in which he was very successful, but by private study he contrived to master several languages, and to gain some knowledge of natural and moral philosophy. He was besides an ardent book and coin collector. On his father's death in January 1659–60 he inherited an ample fortune, and that he might study with less interruption, he hired chambers in Gresham College, where he had frequent opportunities of conversing with learned men. He was one of the council of the Royal Society named in the king's charter, dated 22 April 1663 (Thomson, Hist. of Roy. Soc., Append. iv. p. xxi). On 30 Nov. of that year he was elected treasurer of the society, an office which he held until 30 Nov. 1665. On being re-elected on 1 Dec. 1679 he discharged the
