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DYER. 



DYER. JOHN, an English poet of some note, was 

 born in the year 17(H), the second son of Kolnrt D\er 

 of Aberglasney, in Caennartheiishire, an able and emi- 

 nent M>liritor. He was educated at Wc-tmiiister school, 

 under the care of Dr Freind, and was afterwards called 

 home, to be instructed in hi- father's profession. But 

 having little relish for legal pursuits, he, upon the 

 death of his father, alwndoned the >tinly of the law ; 

 and, being fond of drawing, he became a pupil of the 

 celebrated Richardson. Alter having studied for some 

 time under this master, he wandered about South Wales, 

 and the country adjacent, as an itinerant painter ; mid 

 about the year 1727, he printed his first poetical pro- 

 duction, UroHjiar Hill, in Lewis's Miscellany. 



With the view of improving his talents as an artist, 

 he undertook a journey to Italy ; and upon his return 

 to his native country in 1740, published the Ruins of 

 Rome. Declining health, and love of study, afterwards 

 induced him to enter into orders ; and about the same 

 time he married a lady of the name of Ensor, " whose 

 grandmother," he says, " was a Shakespeare, descend- 

 ed from a brother of every body's Shakespeare." He 

 was fortunate enough to obtain several livings in the 

 church, but did not long enjoy his ecclesiastical prefer- 

 ments. In 1757, he published his greatest poetical 

 work, TheFleeee; of which the following ludicrous anec- 



dote has been transmitted. Dodsley, the bookseller, 

 was one day mentioning it to a critical visitor with 

 greater expectations of success than the other seemed 

 disposed to admit. The author's age was asked ; and 

 being represented as advanced in life, He will, said the 

 critic, lie buried in //<///<. He died in the year 1758. 

 Although neither the number nor the merit of Dyer's 

 productions are Mifticient to elevate him to the first 

 rank among our F.nglish hards, yet he must ever be 

 allowed a distinguished place in the list of our minor 

 poets. GrOHgar Hill, according to the opinion of Dr 

 Johnston, is the happiest of his efl'usioiis. But the 

 well known antipathy of that celebrated critic to blank 

 verse, seems to have rendered him blind to the merit of 

 the other productions of Dyer ; although he is forced 

 to admit, that some passages are conceived with the 

 mind of a poet The title of the Ruins of Rome per- 

 haps raises expectations which few poets are capable of 

 gratifying ; yet the poem of Dyer will be perused with 

 a pleasure resulting at once from the sublimity of the 

 subject, the grandeur of the conceptions, and the skil- 

 fulness of the versification. The Fleece, it must be ad- 

 mitted, is an unpromising subject for a poem, but Dyer 

 has the merit of having given to it all the interest which 

 the art of a poet could confer upon a barren topic. 



Dj-cr. 



