Studia Islandica - 01.06.1957, Blaðsíða 9

I. Biographical Sketch.
Within a year of Pope’s death, a boy, whose name was
to be interestingly linked with the poet of Twickenham,
first saw the light of day in distant Iceland. Jón Þorláks-
son, the future translator of the Essay on Man, was born
December 13, 1744, on the farm of Selárdalur in Amar-
fjörður on the northwestern coast of Iceland. He came
of a good stock. His father, the Reverend Þorlákur Guð-
mundsson, was a gifted man, and his nearest ancestors
on the fathers’s side include a great number of clergy-
men and prominent laymen.1)
In the fall of 1760, at the age of fifteen, Þorláksson
entered the Skálholt Cathedral School. During his three
years there he distinguished himself as a student, rank-
ing second from the top in his second year and leading
his class in the third year. At graduation the rector de-
scribed him as “second to none of his classmates in
sciences and languages, but superior to most of them.”
More specifically he is said to have possessed good know-
ledge of Greek, Latin, theology, the fundamentals of
philosophy, and mathematics. As customary in diplomas
of the time, mention is also made of the student’s morals,
which in this case are described as good.2) Evidently,
1) For his life, see especially Islenzk Ijóöabók Jóns Þorláks-
sonar, II, pp. XVII-XL; Jón Þorláksson, Dánarminning, pp. 3-33;
Rímur af Hœnsna-Þóri, pp. 6-30; Kichard Beck, “Jón Thorláksson
— Icelandic Translator of Pope and Milton,” The Journal of English
and Germanic Philology, October, 1933, pp. 572-585; largely the
basis for this chapter.
2) Islenzk Ijóöábók Jóns Þorlákssonar, II, p. XXIII.