84 The Poetry of Mary RobinsonThese may have included holding the post of Poet Laureate. When
Thomas Warton died in May, the General Evening Post reported that
“It is generally supposed that he will have no successor in the office
of Laureat [sic]” (25 May 1790).This occasioned a debate in the press
about whether or not the position ought to be filled. The English
Chronicle recommended its abolishment, decrying it as “an office which
is of no use whatever, and never fails to be disreputable to the person
who fills it” (8 June 1790). Nonetheless, Topham began an outra-
geous and likely facetious campaign of puffing Merry as a contender to
replace Warton. The notion of Della Crusca as Poet Laureate was ridic-
ulous. On 24 May, just days after Warton’s death, Topham suggested,
“On the present vacancy of Poet- Laureatship, if Poetry has charms of
recommendation – why is not Mr. Merry entreated to accept it?” Perry
at the Gazetteer puffed Robinson’s pseudonym by poking fun at the
position and at Della Crusca’s poetry, as well as his supposed nomina-
tion: “Laura Maria does not mean to enter the lists as a candidate for
the Poet Laureateship; her poetry has too much plain sense, and too
little of the obscure sublime, for such a situation” (27 May 1790). On
July 22, the appointment of Henry James Pye as Poet Laureate was
announced in the papers; on the 28th it was official. The next day, a
correspondent in the World suggested that Merry had refused the offer:
“it were to be wished Mr. Merry had accepted the honour, as joining
to a fine genius, a most excellent heart” (29 July 1790). But would
Merry—who was about to celebrate the French Revolution in his most
ambitious poem, The Laurel of Liberty, and who would join the Society
of the Friends of the People and would begin to associate himself with
radicals—really have wanted to write a patriotic New Year’s ode and an
obsequious poem for the King’s birthday every year? I find it preposter-
ous, moreover, that Merry could have been so naive as to even think
he had a shot at it. Pye’s appointment was simply a reward for having
firmly supported Pitt in the House of Commons for six years; failing to
be re- elected, Pye was broke, so he got the job. The Gazetteer mocked
the appointment by joking that the government kept “the office for the
sake of some poor poet” (28 July 1790).
The laurel in which Merry was actually interested is the one he writes
about in his poem celebrating the French Revolution. The story of
Merry’s quest for the laureateship is another part of the Della Cruscan
lore that serves only to make him look foolish and to denigrate his
political convictions. In his book, Hargreaves- Mawdsley, again follow-
ing Reynolds’ account, gives the false impression that Merry had kept
The Laurel of Liberty from the public in the hope of securing the lau-
reateship and contends that, losing “the prize,” Merry “had nothing9780230100251_04_ch02.indd 849780230100251_04_ch02.indd 84 12/28/2010 11:08:28 AM12/28/2010 11:08:28 AM
10.1057/9780230118034 - The Poetry of Mary Robinson, Daniel RobinsonCopyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to Universitetsbiblioteket iTr
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