John Herman Merivale (5 August 1779 - 25 April 1844). Courtesy Alchetron.
John Herman Merivale (5 August 1779 - 25 April 1844) was an English poet and scholar.
Life[]
Youth and education[]
Merivale, the only son of John Merivale of Barton Place, Exeter, and Bedford Square, London, by Ann (Katencamp) (or Katenkamp), daughter of a German merchant settled in Exeter, was born in that city on 5 Aug. 1779.[1]
He was raised in strict presbyterian principles, so that, though he spent some years at St John's College, Cambridge, he left without taking a degree. (In later life he conformed to the church of England.)[2]
On 17 Dec. 1798 he entered Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar in Hilary term 1804.[2]
Marriage and career[]
Merivale married, on 10 July 1805, Louisa Heath, daughter of Rev. Joseph Drury, headmaster of Harrow School. The couple had 6 sons and 6 daughters.[2]
In 1811 he published, at the request of the Society for the Diffusion of Knowledge respecting the Punishment of Death and the Improvement of Prison Discipline, A Brief Statement of the Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament in the Last and Present Sessions upon the several Bills introduced with a view to the Amendment of the Criminal Law: together with a General Review of the Arguments used in the Debates upon those occasions, London, 8vo. He practised in chancery and bankruptcy, and published Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery, London, 1817–1819, 8vo. He sat on the Chancery Commission of 1824, in the report of which he concurred, but expounded a wider scheme of reform in ‘A Letter to William Courtenay, Esq., on the Subject of the Chancery Commission,’ London, 1827, 8vo. On 2 December 1831 he was appointed to a commissionership in bankruptcy, which he held until his death.[2]
Merivale was an accurate and elegant scholar, accomplished alike in classical and romantic literature. He was Bland's principal collaborator in his ‘Collections from the Greek Anthology and from the Pastoral, Elegiac, and Dramatic Poets of Greece,’ London, 1813, 8vo. In 1814 he published Orlando in Roncesvalles, London, 8vo, a poem in ottava rima, founded on the Morgante Maggiore of Luigi Pulci, and in 1820 a free translation in the same metre of the first and third cantos of Fortiguerra's Ricciardetto.[2]
Merivale was a friend of Byron, who warmly praised both his translations from the Greek and his Orlando in Roncesvalles. He was a frequent contributor to the Quarterly and other reviews and periodicals. In 1837–8 he published in the Gentleman's Magazine some valuable letters by Walter Moyle. He made some collections for a history of Devonshire. Some of his letters to his friend the Rev. Joseph Hunter are preserved in Add. MS. 24871, ff. 145–60.[2]
When past middle age he learned German, and shortly before his death published felicitous translations, partly reprinted from the New Monthly Magazine for 1840, of The Minor Poems of Schiller of the Second and Third Periods, London, 1844, 8vo.[2]
Recognition[]
A collective edition of his Poems, Original and Translated, appeared in 1838, London, 2 vols. 8vo, which includes, besides the before-mentioned pieces, a continuation of Beattie's Minstrel, some translations from Dante, and other miscellanea.
Publications[]
Poetry[]
- The Minstrel: Book the third. London: R. Taylor, for Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, 1808.
- Orlando in Ronscevalles: A poem. London: 1814.
- Poems: Original and translated, now first collected. (2 volumes), London: William Pickering, 1838; (3 volumes), London: William Pickering, 1844.
Play[]
- Richard, Duke of York; or, The contention of York and Lancaster; as altered from Shakspeare's Three parts of Henry VI, in five acts. London: Published by Richard White / T. Earle, 1817.
Non-fiction[]
- A Brief Statement of the Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament. London; printed by J. M'Creery, for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, 1811.
- Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery. (3 volumes), London: Butterworth, 1817-1819; New York: G. Lamson / Philadelphia: J. Grigg, 1825.
- Letter to William Courtney, Esq. on the Chancery Commission. London: J. Murray, 1827.
- Letters to a Chancery Reformer. London: William Pickering, 1841.
Translated[]
- Translations Chiefly from the Greek Anthology; with tales and miscellaneous poems. London: J. M'Creery, for R. Phillips, 1806.
- Niccolo Fortiguerri, The two first cantos of Richardetto. London: John Murray, 1820.
- Friedrich Schiller, The Minor Poems. London: William Pickering, 1844.
- Friedrich Schiller, Das Lied von der Glocke = The Song of the Bell. London, Edinburgh, & Leipzig: 1856; Edinburgh: Williams & Newgate, 1869.
Edited[]
- Collections from the Greek Anthology. London: W. Bulmer, for John Murray, 1813.
Journal[]
- Leaves from the Diary of a Literary Amateur: John Herman Merivale, 1819-1844 (edited by Edward H.A. Koch). Hampstead, UK: Priory Press, 1911.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[3]
See also[]
References[]
Rigg, James Mcmullen (1894) "Merivale, John Herman" in Lee, Sidney Dictionary of National Biography 37 London: Smith, Elder, pp. 281-282 . Wikisource, Web, Aug. 17, 2016.
Notes[]
External links[]
- Poems
- John Herman Merivale (1779-1844) info & 5 poems at English Poetry, 1579-1830
- Books
- Herman Merivale at Amazon.com
- About
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, the Dictionary of National Biography (edited by Leslie Stephen & Sidney Lee). London: Smith, Elder, 1885-1900. Original article is at: Merivale, John Herman
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