Matthew Bridges

BRIDGES, Matthew. b. Maldon, Essex, 14 July 1800; d. Sidmouth, Devon, 6 October 1894. He was brought up in the Church of England, but converted to Roman Catholicism in 1848. He lived in Quebec, Canada, for a time, but died in England at Convent Villa, a guest house of the Convent of the Assumption at Sidmouth. He wrote Jerusalem Regained, a poem (1825), The Roman Empire under Constantine the Great (1828), and another book of poems, Babbicombe; or, Visions of memory. With other poems (1842). The progress of his conversion to Roman Catholicism can be seen in the titles of his publications, from Worldliness engrafted upon the Episcopal Church, through her connexion with the State (probably...