MEREDITH
MEEEITT
(Psychology : Normal and Morbid, 1901 ;
Conduct and its Disorders, 1911, etc.), and
A New Logic (1912). He professed a
belief in Vitalism, but was scornful of
creeds (especially in Conduct and its
Disorders). The recrudescence of Spiritu
alism suited his caustic and incisive pen,
and he wrote one of the most damaging
criticisms of it (Spiritualism and Sir Oliver
Lodge, 1917). D. Sep. 2, 1919.
MEREDITH, Evan Powell, writer. B. 1811. Ed. Pontypool College. Meredith was a Welsh Baptist minister who had a high reputation in Wales as a preacher. He translated the Bible into Welsh. He, however, became a Eationalist, and quitted the ministry and the Church. In 1864 he published a life of Jesus, The Prophet of Nazareth, in which he discarded all the supernatural claims of Christianity. His later Amphilogia (1867) is a reply to his clerical critics. In his last years he was caught in the Spiritualist wave which swept over the country. D. July 23, 1889.
MEREDITH, George, poet and novelist. B. Feb. 12, 1828. Ed. St. Paul s School, Southsea, and Moravian School, Neuwied. In 1845 Meredith was articled to a London solicitor, but he sought relief in writing poems and articles for the magazines in his leisure, and at length found himself free for letters. His first volume of verse (Poems, 1851), and even The Shaving of Shagpat (1855), had little success, and for fifteen years he had to sustain a severe struggle. The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859), in which his genius is apparent, did not reach a second edition until nineteen years afterwards. He supplemented his income by journalism, and in 1862 became a reader for Chapman and Hall. In 1866 he was war correspondent of the Morning Post in Italy, and in the following year he settled at Box Hill, where the most brilliant writers of his time loved to gather. Most of his finer novels follow this date. He is now appreciated as one of the ablest writers of his generation, but it is still a mark of
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intelligence and cultivated taste to read
his subtle and finely humorous stories.
Meredith s Eationalism is reflected in all
his work. " When I was quite a boy," he
wrote in a letter to Mr. Clodd (Memories,
p. 153), " I had a spasm of religion which
lasted six weeks But I never since have
swallowed the Christian fable." In his earlier letters there is a mild Theism. In later years he was quite Agnostic, and he strongly and openly supported Mr. Foote in his most aggressive attacks on all religion. D. May 18, 1909.
MERIMEE, Prosper, French poet. B. Sep. 28, 1803. Merimee was the illegiti mate son of an artist. He studied law, but turned to letters and journalism. In 1831 he became secretary of cabinet to the minister, Count d Argout, and inspector of historical monuments. Two years later he was head of a bureau in the Ministry of Marine. He was a Conservative, and very friendly with the royal family ; but a little booklet on Beyle (H. B., by "P. M."), which he published privately in 1853, shows that his Conservatism in politics was associated with Atheism in religion. His exquisite poems, novels, and dramas his work is often likened to carving in marble put him among the elite of French writers. He was admitted to the Academy in 1844, and to the Senate in 1853 ; and in 1866 he became a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. D. Sep. 23, 1870.
MERRITT, Henry, artist. B. June 8, 1822. Ed. charity school. He spent his early years in poor circumstances, but he studied art, and earned some repute for art criticism and picture renovating. From 1847 onward he lived for some years in the house of G. J. Holyoake, and he occa sionally contributed to the Beasoner under the pseudonym of " Christopher." He was a friend of Ruskin, and was often consulted by the National Gallery and the Royal Academy. His Robert Dalby (1865) is an autobiographical novel. D. July 10, 1877.
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