English author, son of the late Herman Merivale, permanent under-secretary of state for the colonies, and afterward for India; born in London on the 27th of January 1839, and educated at Harrow and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1861. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1864; and served on the western circuit and Exeter sessions. He afterward practiced in the privy council on Indian appeals. From 1870 to 1880 he was editor of the Annual Register, and in 1879, owing to ill-health, was obliged to give up the legal profession. Since then he has occupied himself almost entirely with literature and politics. His chief works are the plays All for Her, 1874; Forget me Not, 1879; The Cynic, 1882; Fédora (from Sardou), 1883; and Our Joan, 1885; a novel, Faucit of Balliol, 1882; Binko’s Blues, a fairy tale, 1884; White Pilgrim, and other Poems, 1883; Florien and other Poems, 1884. See also “Ready, Ay, Ready,” “Thaisa’s Dirge” and “Aetate XIX.”
