Dyer, John (1741-1758)

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VENN

LL.B. 1752 (per Lit. Reg.). 2nd s. of Robert, solicitor, at Aberglasney, Carmarthenshire. B. c. 1700. School, Westminster. Poet and artist. Went into his father's office, but after his father's death gave up business to study art under Jonathan Richardson. Spent some time as an itinerant painter in S. Wales and on the Welsh border. In 1727 published Grongar Hill which gained him reputation. Published the Ruins of Rome on his return from Italy in 1740. His health suffered henceforth from malaria caught in the Campagna. Ord. deacon (Lincoln) 1740 or 1741. R. of Catthorpe, Leics., 1742-54. (D.N.B. erroneously gives Calthorpe.) V. of Belchford, Lincs., 1751-5. V. of Coningsby, from 1752 and Kirkby-on-Bain, from 1755. Published The Fleece in 1757, upon which the 'visitor' is said by Johnson to have remarked that he 'would be buried in woollen.' A great lover of scenery at a period when that taste was out of fashion. His poems were severely criticized by Johnson, Gilpin and Scott, but their judgment was condemned by Drake in Literary Hours. Probably best known by a Sonnet which Wordsworth addressed to him. Married Miss Ensor of Coleshill, Warwickshire. Died of consumption. Buried at Coningsby, Dec. 15, 1757. (Record of Old Westminsters; D.N.B., which gives date of death, 1758.)

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