Giles Jacob

Who was Giles Jacob?

Giles Jacob was a British legal writer and literary critic who figures as one of the dunces in Alexander Pope's 1728 Dunciad:

Pope's lines single Jacob out for satire primarily for his dogmatism and pettiness. While these qualities made him ripe for personal reflection, Jacob is still remembered well for his legal writing, and Jacob's guides remained in use for considerable time.

He was born in Romsey, Hampshire to a brewer. Jacob's early life is not well documented and such information as exists comes from passing mentions in his later works. He appears to have trained at the law in some manner and was a secretary to Sir William Blathwayt. Working for Blathwayt, he worked in litigation and dispensation in some fashion, although apparently in manorial courts. His first book, The Compleat Court-Keeper, of 1713 has detailed instructions for how to practically administer estate matters. He combined this with a chronological summary of statute law. Both works were financially successful.

Jacob always had an interest in contemporary poetry and the literary life, and in 1714 he wrote a farce called Love in a Wood, or, The Country Squire. This play was never produced. He persisted, however, and in 1717 he wrote a satire of Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock in the form of The Rape of the Smock. The poem was low and bawdy, and the next year he wrote a pornographic Tractatus de hermaphroditus.