Carr, Sir John

(1732-1807)

   Born in County Durham, of farming stock and educated at St. Paul's School, London, Carr became headmaster of Hertford grammar school. Because he lacked a university education he was turned down as head of St. Paul's School. Marischal College, Aberdeen, awarded him the degree of LL.D. From 1805 till death he was honorary canon at Lincoln Cathedral. His main publications are: The third volume of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 1760 (Laurence Sterne's comic novel, in nine volumes). Filial Piety, 1763 (a mock-heroic poem). Extract of a Private Letter to a Critic, 1764. Epponina, 1765 (a dramatic essay addressed to ladies). Translations from Lucian, 1773 (volume 2 in 1779 was followed by three more between 1779 and 1798). Poems, 1809. Some of his poems: "Bankruptcy Rendered Easy," "Derwent; an Ode," "Epigram on the Grave of Robespierre," "Farewell Lines to Bristol Hot Wells," "An Indian Massacre-Song," "Memories of Childhood," "Sonnet upon a Swedish Cottage."

   Sources: Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition, 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Oldpoetry (www.oldpoetry.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Life and Opinion of Tristram Shandy. Laurence Sterne, 1995, The Folio Society. The New Oxford Book of Eighteenth-Century Verse. Roger Lonsdale, ed. Oxford University Press, 1984. Tristram Shandy Online (http://www.gifu-u.ac.jp/Carr, Sir Johnmasaru/TS/contents.html).