John Pritchard, Tragedian: 1830-1868
Seems to have been a rather handsome chap, and rather too obviously proud of it - given that this is the only sculpted head of the deceased in any of the three Jesmond cemeteries.
A "Tragedian" was a (self-styled*) serious actor of the Classics; and this is referenced by the masks at the foot of the stone.
If you look very closely, there are a few subtle hints that Pritchard may - perhaps, allegedly - also have been a Freemason...
*I say "self-styled" because the man generally acknowledged as the worst poet ever in the English language - William McGonagall - also called himself a Tragedian.
1 comment:
Less-read soul that I was, I didn't encounter the word tragedian until adulthood when I read C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. I immediately recognized that it was the counterpart to the better-known term comedian.
Post a Comment