Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Carey, John (1756-1826)

1367373Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 09 — Carey, John (1756-1826)1887Charles William Sutton

CAREY, JOHN, LL.D. (1756–1826), classical scholar, brother of Mathew Carey, author of the 'Vindiciæ Hibernicæ,' [q. v.], and of William Paulet Carey [q. v.], was born in Ireland in 1756. At the age of twelve he was sent to finish his education in a French university. He spent some time in the United States about 1789, and afterwards passed many years in London as a teacher of the classics, French, and shorthand. He died at Prospect Place, Lambeth, 8 Dec, 1826, from calculus, the last years of his life having been embittered by distressing complaints.

Carey was editor of the early numbers of the 'School Magazine,' published by Phillips, and a frequent contributor to the 'Monthly' and 'Gentleman's' magazines. In the former journal in 1803 he made a suggestion for enabling persons on shore to give assistance to distressed vessels by means of shooting a wooden ball from a mortar, an idea subsequently conceived and carried out independently by Captain G. M. Manby, for which invention Manby was rewarded by government. Carey brought out a new edition of Dryden's 'Virgil,' 1803, 3 vols. 8vo, and again in 1819; two editions of Ainsworth's 'Latin Dictionary' in 4to, and five of the abridgment of the same; the 'Gradus ad Parnassum' in 1824; the Latin 'Common Prayer' in Bagster's polyglot edition; 'Ruperti Commentarius in Livium,' and a revision of Schleusner's 'New Testament Lexicon' (1826). He likewise edited more than fifty volumes of the 'Regent Latin Classics' published by Baldwin. He was the compiler of the valuable 'General Index to the Monthly Review from 1790 to 1816' (2 vols. 1818), and translated Bitaubé's 'Batavians,' Madame de Staël's 'Young Emigrants,' Lehmen's 'Letters on Switzerland,' and others. In 1810 he published a story for children called 'Learning better than House and Land,' which went through several editions. His school-books were popular in their day and generally praised for accuracy and scholarly qualities. Among them are:

  1. 'Latin Prosody made Easy,' 1800; new edition 1812.
  2. 'Practical English Prosody and Versification,' 1809.
  3. 'Alphabetic Key to the Propria quæ maribus,' 1812.
  4. 'Introduction to English Composition and Elocution,' 1817.
  5. 'Clavis Metrico-Virgiliana,' 1818.
  6. 'Eton Latin Prosody illustrated,' 1818.
  7. 'Greek Terminations,' 1821.
  8. 'Latin Terminations,' 1821.

He published also a small volume of poems, with a portrait prefixed.

[Rose's Biog. Dict.; Biog. Dict. of Living Authors (1816), p. 64; Webb's Compendium of Irish Biography (1878), p. 73; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; London Catal. of Books from 1814-46; Boase and Courtney's Bibl. Cornubiensis, i. 68; private information.]

C. W. S.