his works represent pictures first and portraits afterwards. The house, which is being built, decorated, and tarnished from his own designs, will be an ideal artist's house from his own point of view, and will contain two studios and a small picture-gallery with a top light.
Mercer, Rev. Peter, D.D., is a native of Perth, Scotland, and graduated at St. Andrews and Edinburgh Universities, obtaining his D.D. degree at the former. He landed at Adelaide in 1855, going to Victoria in 1861; and has had three charges in the colonies—viz., at Taradale, Richmond, and Echuca and Deniliquin. He was for some time secretary and treasurer of the Presbyterian Church and Professor of Sacred Languages and Exegetics.
Meredith, Hon. Charles, descended in a direct line from the last kings of Wales, was the son of George Meredith (born in Birmingham), and of his wife Sarah Westall Hicks. Charles Meredith was born at Poyston Lodge, Pembroke, May 29th, 1811, and with his father and other members of his family emigrated to Tasmania, arriving at Hobart on March 18th, 1821. After some early years of varied and adventurous life, he became a successful squatter in New South Wales; and, revisiting England in 1838, married, at Old Edgbaston Church, Birmingham, his cousin, Louisa Anne Twamley, of that city, April 18th, 1839. Returning with his wife to New South Wales, Mr. Meredith, after a year's residence there, removed to Tasmania, where he remained, and was, during a period of thirty-eight years, a prominent member of the House of Assembly. In the second Tasmanian Ministry formed after the concession of responsible government, he held the post of Colonial Treasurer under Mr. Gregson, Feb. 26th to April 25th, 1857. He held the same position in the Whyte Ministry from Jan. 20th, 1863, to Nov. 24th, 1866. He was Minister of Lands and Works in the Innes Ministry from Nov. 4th, 1872, to Aug. 4th, 1873, and Colonial Treasurer in the Reibey Ministry from July 20th, 1876, to August 9th, 1877. He was a staunch free-trader, and in 1866, when Treasurer, he introduced a measure for the abolition of Customs duties (except those on spirits and tobacco), and the substitution of trade licences and a land or property tax; but the proposal led to the defeat of the Government. Among the many measures which Mr. Charles Meredith introduced into Parliament, the one most gratifying to himself was an Act for the protection of the native black swans, then in danger of extermination; and this, although at first received with derision, eventually passed, and was succeeded by other valuable enactments for the preservation of native birds and animals. Heart-disease compelled him to resign his seat in 1879. He died in Launceston, Tasmania, March 2nd, 1880. A public fountain, erected to his memory, was placed in the Queen's Domain, Hobart, in 1885.
Meredith, Louisa Anne (née Twamley), daughter of Thomas Twamley, of Hamptead, near Birmingham, where she was born on July 20th, 1812, was chiefly educated by her accomplished mother, and at an early age wrote verses and practised art with ardour and success. In 1833 she published an octavo volume of "Poems with Illustrations" (Tilt), the latter being etchings on copper from her own original drawings. The book was most favourably reviewed, and the novelty of a girl-poet being also artist and engraver excited considerable interest. Her "Romance of Nature" was a beautiful and costly volume in verse and prose, with hand-coloured plates from her own drawings—the 3rd edition published in 1839 (Tilt). "Our Wild Flowers" told the story of the year in a narrative form, with many poems introduced, the plates hand-coloured from the author's drawings. "A Tour in South Wales" and "An Autumn on the Wye" (Tilt) were illustrated with engravings after David Cox, Cattermole, etc. On April 18th, 1839, Miss Twamley married at Old Edgbaston Church, Birmingham, her cousin, Charles Meredith, and accompanied him on his return to Australia. Her "Notes and Sketches of New South Wales," published in Murray's "Home and Colonial Library," was one of the most popular volumes of that excellent series. It was followed, some years after, by "My Home in Tasmania" (Murray), with landscape illustrations by the Bishop of Tasmania (Dr. Nixon) and the author. "Over the Straits" (Chapman & Hall) was the narrative of a visit to Melbourne and the goldfields in 1856. "Loved and
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