William Combe

William Combe , 1741-1823, English satirist and miscellaneous writer, b. Bristol. His writing was mainly hack work, issued anonymously to avoid seizure of the proceeds by his many creditors. He is chiefly remembered for the "Dr. Syntax" series (3 vol., 1812-21), for which he wrote doggerel verse to accompany the illustrations of Thomas Rowlandson.

Combe, William (1741–1823), published many works in prose and verse, including The Devil upon Two Sticks in England (1790) and The Microcosm of London (1808). He is particularly remembered for his verses written to accompany Rowlandson's coloured plates and drawings of the adventures of ‘Dr Syntax’. The first of these works, The Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of the Picturesque, a parody of the popular books of picturesque travels of the day, and particularly of the works of Gilpin, appeared in Ackermann's Poetical Magazine in 1809, and in 1812 as a book. Dr Syntax is the grotesque figure of a clergyman and schoolmaster, who sets out on his tour and meets with a series of absurd misfortunes. This was followed by two further volumes of Dr Syntax (1820, 1821); the three Tours were collected in 1826.