John Herman Merivale (5 August 1779 – 25 April 1844,

Bedford Square Bedford Square is a garden square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London, England. History Built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, the square has had many distinguished residents, inclu ...

) was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

and man of letters.

Life

He was the only son of John Merivale of Barton Place,

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, and

, London, by Ann Katencamp or Katenkamp, daughter of a German merchant settled in Exeter, and was born there on 5 August 1779. The grandson of Samuel Merivale (1715–1771), tutor in a local

dissenting academy The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, those who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of England's edu ...

in Exeter, he was brought up a presbyterian. He spent some years at

St. John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

, but left without taking a degree. In later life he conformed to the Church of England. On 17 December 1798 Merivale entered

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

, where he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in Hilary term 1804. He practised in chancery and bankruptcy, and published ''Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery'', London, 1817–19. 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. On 2 December 1831 Merivale was appointed to a commissionership in bankruptcy, which he held until his death, on 25 April 1844. He was buried in the churchyard,

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

Works

In 1811 Merivale published, for 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. He was Robert Bland's principal collaborator in his ‘Collections from the Greek Anthology and from the Pastoral, Elegiac, and Dramatic Poets of Greece,’ London, 1813, In 1814 he published ''Orlando in Roncesvalles'', London, a poem in ''

ottava rima Ottava rima is a rhyming stanza form of Italian origin. Originally used for long poems on heroic themes, it later came to be popular in the writing of mock-heroic works. Its earliest known use is in the writings of Giovanni Boccaccio. The otta ...

'', based on the ''Morgante Maggiore'' of

Luigi Pulci Luigi Pulci (; 15 August 1432 – 11 November 1484) was an Italian diplomat and poet best known for his ''Morgante'', an epic and parodistic poem about a giant who is converted to Christianity by Orlando and follows the knight in many adventure ...

, and in 1820 a free translation in the same metre of the first and third cantos of

Niccolò Fortiguerra :''This article is not about Niccolò Fortiguerra (1674-1735), bishop and poet, author of Ricciardetto'' Niccolò Fortiguerra (also spelled Forteguerri) (1419 – 21 December 1473) was an Italian papal legate, military commander, and Cardinal. ...

's ''Ricciardetto''. An edition of Merivale's ''Poems, Original and Translated'', appeared in 1838, London, 2 vols., with a continuation of James Beattie's ''The Minstrel'', some translations from Dante, and other miscellanea. When past middle age he learned German, and shortly before his death published translations, partly reprinted from the ''

New Monthly Magazine ''The New Monthly Magazine'' was a British monthly magazine published from 1814 to 1884. It was founded by Henry Colburn and published by him through to 1845. History Colburn and Frederic Shoberl established ''The New Monthly Magazine and Univer ...

'' for 1840, of ''The Minor Poems of Schiller of the Second and Third Periods'', London, 1844. Merivale was a friend of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

, who praised his translations from the Greek and his ''Orlando in Roncesvalles''. He was a frequent contributor to the ''

Quarterly Review The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River ...

'' and other reviews and periodicals. In 1837–8 he published in the ''

Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term ''magazine'' (from the French ''magazine'' ...

'' letters by

Walter Moyle Walter Moyle (1672–1721) was an English politician and political writer, an advocate of classical republicanism. Life He was born at Bake in St Germans, Cornwall, on 3 November 1672, the third, but eldest surviving son of Sir Walter Moyle, ...

Family

Merivale married, on 10 July 1805, Louisa Heath, daughter of

Joseph Drury Joseph Drury (11 February 1750 – 9 January 1834) was Head Master of Harrow School 1785–1805, and first of a dynasty of Drurys to teach at Harrow. Life Drury was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Admitted to Trinit ...

, by whom he had six sons and six daughters. His two eldest sons were

Herman Merivale Herman Merivale CB (8 November 1806 – 8 February 1874) was an English civil servant and historian. He was the elder brother of Charles Merivale, and father of the poet Herman Charles Merivale. He was born at Dawlish, Devon to John Her ...

and

Charles Merivale Charles Merivale (8 March 1808 – 27 December 1893) was an English historian and churchman, for many years dean of Ely Cathedral. He was one of the main instigators of the inaugural Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race which took place at Henley ...

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Merivale, John Herman 1779 births 1844 deaths English barristers English writers English translators English legal writers Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge English male non-fiction writers Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge