John Herman Merivale was a respected and congenial figure in the literary circles of his day. A barrister and later a judge in the bankruptcy commission, he was admired as a fine scholar and translator as well as a poet. Limited by the constraints of time and money, however, Merivale never fully developed an original poetic voice of his own, preferring to exercise his skills in verse translations and imitations of other poets. Indeed, many of his works seem to be attempts to exploit the various currents of literary fashion. In effect Merivale was a sort of literary weather vane, pursuing various projects and ideas as he was inspired. Thus, his poetic career echoes the aesthetic interests of the Romantic era from its early appreciation of Romantic ballads and various Gothic pieces through its appropriation of the classics of Italy and Germany. While Merivale's works lack the originality...