Robert Merry

Robert Merry (1755–1798) was an English poet and dilettante. He was born in London. Both his father and grandfather were involved in the governance of the Hudson's Bay Company. His mother was the eldest daughter of Sir John Willes, Lord Chief Justice.

Merry's education was entrusted to his father's sister, who sent him to Harrow, where his tutor was Dr.Parr, and then to Christ's College, Cambridge. He lived irregularly (according to Monthly Magazine), did not graduate, and on his return to London was entered of Lincoln's Inn, in accordance with his father's wishes. On the latter's death he immediately purchased a commission in the horse guards. After squandering a large part of his fortune on high living and heavy gambling, he sold his commission, went abroad, and apparently spent some three or four years of travelling in France, the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. He finally joined the English colony settled in Florence.

He was there in 1784, studying Italian and lounging with the artistic crowd in the Tribuna, when he embarked upon a literary career by contributing to the Arno Miscellany and, in 1785, to the Florence Miscellany. These were collections of verse by Mrs. Piozzi, Greatheed, Parsons, and Merry, who rapidly became a recognised figure in Florentine society, and a member of the Accademia della Crusca. But his social success, his open liaison with the Countess Cowper, and the rivalry of the Grand-duke Leopold, made him an easy target for slander. He stood his ground for a time, then after lampooning his fellow-rhymers, abruptly quit Florence in the spring of 1787.

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