The Poetry of Mary Robinson: Form and Fame

Bell’s Laureates II 83

1790 dedicated by Laura Maria to Robert Merry, not to Della

Crusca. It followed within days Merry’s first volume after dropping

the Della Crusca avatar—The Laurel of Liberty. Both poems celebrate

the French Revolution and confirm that Robinson and Merry shared

political views as well as literary tastes. The baroque formal elegance,

such as that displayed by Robinson and Merry, eventually would

prove incongruous with their political views and associated poetical

ambitions as the course of the French Revolution became increas-

ingly controversial. The lovely pouffy world of West End elegance,

as well as the stability of the Whig social and political network, the

two being always interrelated, both were disrupted by the pamphlet

wars instigated by Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France and

incessant subsequent debate regarding the Revolution.

As Robinson continued to cultivate her Laura Maria avatar, Merry

was trying to wriggle free of his. Della Crusca was good for a laugh

and a paycheck, but Merry was embarrassed at being forever associ-

ated with the name. Events in France made him especially eager to

shed the association. An ardent republican, Merry went to France

in the late summer and autumn of 1789 to observe the Revolution

first- hand. During 1790, Robinson continued to write poetry for Bell

in the Oracle with an eye toward the publication of her first vol-

ume of collected poems since 1777. On 26 July 1790, the Gazetteer

and New Daily Advertiser, edited at the time by Fox supporter James

Perry, reported that “the attention of the gay and fashionable world

will soon be solicited to two volumes of Poems by Mrs. Robinson,

which she is preparing incontinently for the press.” If this item was

not planted by Robinson herself, her assiduous networking and build-

ing up a list of subscribers for the volume likely alerted Perry to her

literary activities and forthcoming publication. Meanwhile, Merry

came back to England, favorably impressed by the first few months

of the Revolution. In need of work, he turned to his friend Topham

at the World, as spurious Della Cruscas and imitators continued to

proliferate in the press. But the authentic Della Crusca did make a few

public appearances. The death of philanthropist and prison reformer

Howard prompted a “Monody. To the Memory of John Howard,

Esq.” which was recited at Covent Garden and reprinted the follow-

ing day in the World (19 May 1790) as the work of Della Crusca. It

forms a companion piece to Della Crusca’s previous ode on “Howard,

the Phil- Anthrope” from the World during the height of its popular-

ity (30 October 1787), although, as noted earlier, these pieces created

complications for Merry as he sought to shed Della Crusca: his ambi-

tions had developed beyond what his avatar made possible.

9780230100251_04_ch02.indd 839780230100251_04_ch02.indd 83 12/28/2010 11:08:28 AM12/28/2010 11:08:28 AM

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