James Ralph

James Ralph (1705 – 24 January 1762) was an American-born English political writer, historian, reviewer, and Grub Street hack writer known for his works of history and his position in Alexander Pope's Dunciad B. His History of England in two volumes (1744–46) and The Case of the Authors by Profession of 1758 became the dominant narratives of their time.

The Dictionary of American Biography places Ralph's birth in New Jersey, and probably in Elizabethtown and the year as 1705 (Kenny 331), but Okie gives a fifteen-year range for birth (1695–1710) and suggests that he was born near Philadelphia (Okie 873). These two Colonial cities were separated by seventy miles of indifferent roads, so the distance is considerable. One reason for the different locations is that the first solid fact about Ralph is his marriage to Mary Ogden in 1724 in Elizabethtown and the birth of the couple's daughter, Mary Ralph, that year in Elizabethtown. That same year, however, Ralph is in Philadelphia, working as a clerk and a part of a literary society that included Benjamin Franklin (Okie 873). In his Autobiography, Franklin recalled Ralph as a man of exquisite manners and declares, "I think I never knew a prettier talker" (quoted in Okie 874). Franklin's account provides the details for the next years of Ralph's life. In the same year as his daughter's birth, Ralph had a falling out with his in-laws, and he deserted his family to sail with Franklin to London, although, later, Ralph did correspond with his daughter.

Upon arrival in London, Ralph unsuccessfully sought to find work as a copyist, editor, or actor (Okie 874). Franklin loaned Ralph money for living expenses, and Ralph eventually found work as a village school master in Berkshire, under Franklin's name. Ralph had taken a milliner for a mistress in London, and when he left for Berkshire he asked Franklin to take care of his mistress. Franklin attempted to do so by making advances to her. She rejected him, and Ralph quarrelled with Franklin and used the argument to renege on the loans Franklin had made him (Autobiography of Franklin, Okie 874). Franklin dedicated his Dissertation Upon Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, to Ralph because he felt responsible for weakening Ralph's religious convictions (Kenny 331).

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