logical parts of this work are little more than lists of names, while the botanical part, though containing over fourteen hundred species, arranged alphabetically, with synonyms from Gerard and Parkinson, and an attempted classification, is so uncritical that it was at once superseded by John Ray's ‘Catalogus’ and synopses.
During the plague Merret retired into the country, and in his absence the college was broken into and its treasure-chest was emptied. Shortly afterwards the house and the bulk of the library was destroyed in the great fire, and the college thereupon resigned their lease of the Amen Corner site to the dean and chapter of St. Paul's for 550l., giving Merret 50l. as compensation, and, having lost their library, thought to dispense with his services. Merret, however, argued that his appointment was for life, and in 1680 applied to the king's bench for a mandamus to the college for his reinstatement. In this he was defeated, and ultimately, in 1681, he was expelled by the college from his fellowship, nominally for non-attendance.
‘He died at his house, near the chapel in Hatton Garden … 19 August, 1695, and was buried twelve feet deep in the church of St. Andrew's, Holborne’ (Wood). Merret was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society, and contributed several papers, chiefly on vegetable physiology, to the ‘Philosophical Transactions.’ His plants are preserved in the Sloane Herbarium, and his name is commemorated by the genus Merrettia of Gray, among the unicellular algæ.
Besides the ‘Pinax,’ Merret's chief works were:
- ‘Catalogus Librorum, Instrumentorum, … in Museo Harveiano,’ 4to, 1660.
- ‘A Collection of Acts of Parliament, Charters, Trials at Law, and Judges' Opinions, concerning Grants to the College of Physicians, … made by Christopher Merrett, Fellow and Censor,’ 4to, 1660.
- ‘The Art of Glass … translated into English,’ 8vo, 1662, which was privately reprinted in folio at Middle Hill, Worcestershire, in 1826, and edited by Sir T. Phillipps.
- ‘An Account of Freezing made in December and January, 1662’ (but containing observations made in 1664, ‘there being no frosts in England in 1663’), annexed to Robert Boyle's ‘New Experiments … touching Cold,’ 8vo, 1665, pp. 1–54; and 2nd edit., 4to, 1683, pp. 1–20.
- ‘Antonio Neri, De Arte Vitriariâ libri septem et in eosdem … Observationes et Nota,’ 12mo, Amsterdam, 1668, his additions equalling the original work in bulk.
- ‘A Short View of the Frauds and Abuses committed by Apothecaries, and of the only Remedy thereof by Physicians making their own Medicines,’ 4to, 1669; 2nd edit. 1670.
- ‘Self-conviction, or an Enumeration of the Absurdities and Railings against the College and Physicians in general,’ 4to, 1670.
- ‘The Accomplisht Physician, the Honest Apothecary, and the Skilful Chyrurgeon detecting their necessary connexion and dependence on each other. Withall a Discovery of the Quacking Empirick, the Prescribing Surgeon, and the Practising Apothecary,’ 4to, 1670.
- ‘Some Observations concerning the Ordering of Urines,’ 8vo, 1682.
[Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iv. 430–2; Pulteney's Sketches of the Progress of Botany, i. 290–7; Munk's Coll. of Phys. i. 258.]
MERRY, WALTER (1723–1799), numismatist, of Castle Gate, Nottingham, combined great knowledge of coins and medals with the practical experience of a manufacturer. Impressed with the evils which the scarcity of silver and the circulation of a base copper coinage brought upon the working classes, he signed an association with a number of masters not to offer any man more than 6d. worth of copper. In 1789 he published ‘Remarks on the Coinage of England, from the Earliest to the Present Times … to which is added an Appendix containing Observations upon the Ancient Roman Coinage, and a Description of some Medals and Coins found near Nottingham,’ Nottingham, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1794. In this work he attributes the scarcity of silver to the over-valuation of gold, in consequence of which, he alleges, silver was exported. He proposes, therefore, the reduction of the guinea to 20s. 6d. To illustrate his doctrines he gives an exhaustive sketch of the history of English coinage, in which he shows a wide acquaintance with the works of early writers on currency.
Merrey had a large and valuable collection of coins and medals. He died at Nottingham on 9 Aug. 1799.
[Gent. Mag. 1789 pt. ii. p. 728, 1799 pt. ii. p. 815; Monthly Review, 1791, iv. 234; Bailey's Annals of Nottinghamshire, iv. 175.]
MERRICK, JAMES (1720–1769), poet and scholar, born on 8 Jan. 1719–20, was the second son of John Merrick, M.D., of St. Lawrence, Reading, who died 5 April 1757, aged 87, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Lybbe of Hardwick, Oxfordshire, who died 3 April 1764. Both were buried in Caversham Church, Oxfordshire, with many members of their family, who were commemorated in a long Latin inscription by their son James. He was educated at the Reading
