John Corry

John Corry, Odes and Elegies (1797). Kessinger 2010. Courtesy Amazon.com.

John Corry (?1770-1825 fl.) was an Irish poet and miscellaneous writer.

Life

Corry was a native of the north of Ireland and a self-taught man.

On reaching manhood he went to Dublin, where he followed the profession of a journalist.

About 1792 he fixed his residence in London, and there found constant employment for his versatile pen.

Most of his works were published anonymously. Besides editing a periodical, he furnished the letterpress for the ‘History of Liverpool,’ 4to, Liverpool, 1810, published by Thomas Troughton; wrote vol. i. of the ‘History of Bristol,’ 2 vols. 4to, Bristol, 1816 (the 2nd volume being supplied by Rev. John Evans); and the next year published a ‘History of Macclesfield,’ 8vo, London, Manchester [printed], 1817. A more ambitious undertaking was the ‘History of Lancashire,’ 2 vols. 4to, London, 1825, with a dedication to George IV dated 22 Sept. of that year.

After this nothing is known of Corry's personal history.

Writing

Corry was also the author of: 1. ‘Poems,’ 12mo [Dublin?], 17—. 2. ‘The Adventures of Felix and Rosarito,’ 12mo, London, 1782. 3. ‘The Life of George Washington,’ 12mo, London, 1800. 4. ‘The Detector of Quackery,’ 12mo, London, 1801 (new edition under the title of ‘Quack Doctors dissected,’ 12mo, London, Gloucester [printed 1810]). 5. ‘A Satirical View of London,’ 8vo, London, 1801, which came to a fourth edition in 1809. 6. ‘Edwy and Bertha,’ 12mo, London, 1802. 7. ‘Memoirs of Alfred Berkeley,’ 12mo, London, 1802. 8. ‘Tales for the Amusement of Young Persons,’ 12mo, London, 1802. 9. ‘The Life of William Cowper,’ 12mo, London, 1803. 10. ‘The Life of Joseph Priestley,’ 12mo, Birmingham, 1804 (another edition appeared in the same year). 11. ‘Sebastian and Zeila,’ 12mo, London [1805?]. 12. ‘The Suicide; or, the Progress of Error,’ 12mo, London [1805?]. 13. ‘The Mysterious Gentleman Farmer,’ 3 vols. 12mo, London, 1808. 14. ‘Strictures on the expedience of the Addingtonian Extinguisher’ [i.e. Lord Sidmouth's Protestant Dissenting Bill], 12mo, Macclesfield, 1811. 15. ‘The Elopement … 3rd edition (the History of Eliza, &c.),’ 12mo, London [1810?]. 16. ‘The English Metropolis; or, London in the year 1820,’ 8vo, London, 1820. 17. ‘Memoir of John Collier’ (‘Tim Bobbin’), prefixed to an edition of his ‘Works,’ 8vo [Manchester? 1820?], and also to the quarto edition published at Manchester in 1862.

Publications

Poetry

• Odes and Elegies: Descriptive & sentimental; with The Patriot, a poem. Newry, Ireland: R. Moffat, 1797.
• The Patriot: A poem (by "A citizen of the world"). London: J. Ridgway, 1798.

Novels

• The Adventures of Felix and Rosarito; or, The triumph of love and friendship. London: B. Crosby, 1782, 1802.
• The Gardener's Daughter of Worcester; or, The miseries of seduction. A moral tale. London: T. Newdling, for Champante and Whitrow, et al, [1800?]
• Edwy and Bertha; or, The force of connubial love London: B. Crosby, 1802.
• Memoirs of Alfred Berkley; or, The danger of dissipation. London: R. Dutton, B. Crosby, J.F. Hughes, et al, 1802.
• Sebastian and Zeila; or, The captive liberated by female generosity. London: B. Crosby, 1802.
• The History of Henry Thomson; or, The reward of filial affection. London: B. Crosby, 1803.
• The Vale of Clwyd; or, The pleasures of retirement: A Welch tale. London: B. Crosby, Champtante, R. Ogle, et al, [1803?]
• The Suicide; or, The progress of error: A moral tale. London: privately published, [1805?].
• The Mysterious Gentleman Farmer; or, The disguises of love: A novel. (3 volumes), London: B. Crosby, 1808.
• The Elopement; or, the Imprudent connexion; containing the adventures of Edmund and Letitia .., London: privately published, [1810?].

Non-fiction

• The Life of George Washington: Late President and Commander in Chief of the armies of the United States of America. (2 volumes), London: J.W. Myers, or G. Kearsley, 1800; New York: John Low, 1807; (1 volume), New York: M'Carty & White, 1809; Poughkeepsie, NY: Paraclete Potter, 1812.
• A Satirical View of London. London: Kearsley, 1801; London: R. Ogle, 1804; London: R. Dutton, 1809; London: J. Ferguson, 1815.
• The Detector of Quackery. London: B. Crosby, 1802.
  • also published as Quack Doctors Dissected. London, G.F. Harris, for Champante & Withrow, 1810.
• The Life of William Cowper" With critical observation on his poems. London: B. Crosby, 1803.
• The Life of Joseph Priestly. Brimingham, UK: Willis, Grafton, 1804.
• Strictures on the Expedience of the Addingtonian Extinguisher [i.e. Lord Sidmouth's Protestant Dissenting Bill]. London: C. Craddock & W. Joy, Macclesfield, 1811.
• The History of Bristol: Civil and ecclesiastical. Bristol, UK: W. Sheppard, 1816. Volume I, Volume II
• "Memoir of John Collier" in The Works of Tim Bobbin: In prose and verse. Rochdale, Lancashire UK: J. Westall, 1819; Manchester, UK: John Heywood / London: Simkin, 1862.
• The English Metropolis; or, London in the year 1820. London: Barnard & Farley, for Sherwood, Neely & Jones, 1820.
• The History of Lancashire. London: G.B. Whittaker, 1825.

Juvenile

• Tales for the Amusement of Young Persons. London: 1802.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of Irish poets

References

•  Goodwin (1887) "Corry, John" in Stephen, Leslie Dictionary of National Biography 12 London: Smith, Elder, p. 256 . Wikisource, Web, May 19, 2016.

External links

Poems

• John Corry (1770 ca.-1825 fl.) info & 4 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830
• John Corry at Poetry Nook (39 poems)

Books

• John Corry at Amazon.com
• John Corry at the Book Depository

About

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Corry, John