&: 
286 
fexes in the Florentine Mifcellany, printed 
under the eye and fuperintendence of the ju- 
dicious and learned Mrs. Piozzi. While wit 
_and tafle were thus publicly diffufed through 
the elegant part of the world, private fcandal 
did not want for publifhers. Tales were cir- 
culated, which, eccording to the laté and 
Yearned Lord Manstield’s doctrine, could not 
fail te be deemed great libels. And thefe be- 
coming every day more current, failed not to 
give great uneafinefs to the enamorato as well 
az tohis friends. Mr. Merry’s indignation at 
the authors of thefe reports, which he found 
among his collaborators, urged him to take up 
the pen of fatireinrevenge. He employeéit 
in ridiculing the greater part of the circle, 
and in fome meafure occafioned its breaking 
up. This incident haftened Mr. Merry’s 
return to his native country, and gives a 
proper cccafion to fpeak of his poetical tafte 
and acquirements. That the fubje& of our 
memoir pofleffed a lively imagination, that 
he fpoke the language of paffion, every one 
who had the happinefs to know him muft 
bear witnefs; what is there then to won- 
der at that he afterwards appeared fo capable 
of expreffing himfelf in regular, in harmo- 
pious numbers? He had the qualities of a 
poet by nature. ‘The company he had kept, 
the countries he had vifited, the books he 
had read, all confpired to give thofe qualities 
every external aid. The approbation his fir 
effays in the art experienced, fully juftified 
the great expe€tation formed of his future 
“productions. 
rather impromptu flights to Parnaffas, than 
ftudied compofitions. ‘They fhow, however, 
the author’s powers, and. while they give 
picafure to the preient age they will not fail 
to fecure him the admiration of pofterity. Of 
Crufca, &c. it is unneceflary to fpeak 5 they 
are frefh in every one’s memory. Of his fa- 
éytical and witty epigrams publifhed in the 
Argus, under the fignature of Tom Thorie it 
equally needlefs to make mention. During 
the laft months of that paper’s exiftence, it 
tight be truly faid, a certain Ross was ne- 
Ver without a THORNE. : 
““AS a fpecitmen of the keennefs of our 
poet’s epigrammiatic wit, we give the few 
following inftances. 
me THE LONDON. ROSE. 
The Ross is called the firtt of flow’rs 
~ In-all the rurai fhades and bow’ss 5 
But ©! in London tis decreed, 
The Rose is but aDIRTY, WEED. 
Tom THorNne. 
ANOTHER, ; 
THE HOT-HOUSE ROSE. Z 
From genial heat, the nor-House RosE 
Expands and blufhes, thrives and blows, 
But the poor Rose will fade and rot 
Whene’er the Houfe becomes Too HoT. 
@: 
Many of his pieces have been’ 
Biographical Notice of My, Robert Merry. . [ Apri 
A THIRD; 
ON ANOTHER SUBJECT. 
When truth her rending fconrge applies, 
The HIRELINGS roar with ftreaming €yes § 
They crowd together and complain, 
They.cannot bear fo cREAT +A PAINE. 
Upon a minifterial newfpaper affixing his 
adopted fignature to fome verfes of a very 
aifferent nature and tendency, he wrote the 
following 
IMPROMPTU. 
The sravisu pRinT, that’s dead to fhame, } 
In fury for departed fame, 
Has even robb’d me of my name: 
Alas! sy nofe is out of joint 5 
Yet what’sa Tuorne without a point ? 
But thefe brilliant effufions like the cut- 
ting epigrams of Horace’ (which author 
our’s fo much réfembled in indolence, and the 
love of refined pleafures) ; or like the fatires 
of the laft of the Roman poets, muft in time 
lofe their value, when the occafions which 
gave them birth are forgottea,. however ani- 
mated and well directed they might have 
been at the period they were written. 
Thefe jeux d’efprits are oftered as proofs of 
his fancy andready wit only. For, his judge- 
ment and fkill in verfification we refer the 
reader to the reviewers of his works as they 
appeared; as wellas to ‘¢ Literary Memoirs 
of living Authors.” His connexion with fe= 
veral perfons concerned in dramatic affairs, 
poilefied him with the idea of writing for the 
ftage. He was not fuperficial enough to fuc- 
cecd in this walk.’ He difdained to facrifice 
judgment to perverted tafte, and therefore 
was not calculated to pleafe a -vitiated palate. 
His tragedy of Larenzo, reprefented at Covent 
Garden houfe, and his Adapician no Conguror 5 
while they prove his various turn of «mind 
equally manifeft to thefe who knew the wri- 
ter, that he was biaffed to the undertaking 
without due confideration, z 
His native fire flames’ out in his odes. Some 
of thefe give room to think that had he em- 
ployed himfelf chiefly in the lyric f{pecies of 
poetry, he might have filled a moft honowra- 
le place between Pindar and Horaee.. In 
confirmation of which aflertion reference may 
be had to the odaic fong he wrote for the 
fourteenth of July, the anniverfary of the 
fall of the Baftiile, and which was repeated 
in full chorus, with fo much applaufe, in the 
year 179%, at the Crown and Anchor ta- 
vern, : 
The Laurel of Liberty he wrote alfo, and 
prefented it to the National Convention who 
did honour to the auther by the manner in 
which it-was received. 
He had one of thofe fufceptible minds, to 
which the genius of liberty inftantaneoufly 
communicated all its enthufiafm, all its fire. 
He gazed with rapture on the fudden and pro- 
mifingly beneficial change of condition in fo. 
many millions ef his-fellow creatures. He 
would. 
. 
4 
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