Samuel Humphreys (poet)

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Samuel Humphreys (c.1697–1738) was an English poet, librettist, and translator. From about 1728 to 1732 he wrote poetry and worked with composer George Frideric Handel, providing the words for Handel’s oratorios Esther (1732), Deborah (1733), and Athalia (1733). He also expanded the Esther libretto and wrote the libretti for Deborah and Athalia.

Humphreys did many translations. He translated or adapted dramas and operas such as Poro (Re dell'Indie) 1731; Rinaldo 1731; Venceslao 1731; Catone in Utica 1732; Ezio 1732; Sosarme Re di Media 1732. He published a Life of Matthew Prior and, in 1733, an edition of Prior’s poems. His Peruvian Tales (1734) were popular; they came from Thomas-Simon Gueullette and were continued by Samuel Kelly (reprinted in 1817). He also translated Spectacle de la nature by Antoine Noël de Pluche (London 1733) and works by Crébillon and La Fontaine.

He died in Canonbury on 11 January 1738 and was buried in Islington churchyard.