Merrick, James

(1720-1769)

   Born and educated at Reading, Berkshire, he graduated M.A. from St. John's College, Oxford, in 1742. He was ordained in the English church and preached occasionally between 1747 and 1749, but ill-health prevented him from accepting any parish duties. He died after a long and painful illness and was buried near his parents in Caversham Church, Reading. He wrote several learned theses in Latin and Greek and was working on the compilation and amalgamation of indexes to the principal Greek authors. Some of his publications: The Messiah, a Divine Essay, 1734. The Destruction of Troy, 1739 (the sequel of the Iliad, translated from the Greek of Tryphiodorus, with notes). Dissertation on Proverbs, Chap. 9: 1-6, 1744. Prayers for a Time of Earthquakes and Violent Floods, 1756. An Encouragement to a Good Life, 1759. Poems on Sacred Subjects, 1763. Three Dialogues of Plato, 1771. The Psalms Translated or Paraphrased in English Verse, 1765. Some of his poems: "An Ode to Fancy," "Balaam's Blessing on Israel," "The Benedicite Paraphrased," "The Chameleon," "The Ignorance of Man," "The Song of Simeon Paraphrased," "The Trials of Virtue."

   Sources: A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By several hands. Edited and published by Robert Dodsley, 1763. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). 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 Home Book of Verse. Burton Egbert Stevenson, ed. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1953. The Oxford Book of Christian Verse. Lord David Cecil, ed. Oxford University Press, 1940.