Author: Mortimer, Thomas
Biography:
MORTIMER, Thomas (fl 1828)
Hypocrisy, and Other Poems appears to have been the only collection of verse published by Thomas Mortimer. His name was common enough at the time that it is difficult to identify him with any certainty, but he cannot have been the writer on economics of that name (1730-1810) and it seems most unlikely that he was any of the clergymen. He does not appear to have been university-educated. Internal evidence indicates that he was a reader of romance languages (French, Italian, Spanish) but not of classical ones; that he had travelled in Europe; and that he admired Byron, Pope, and the plays of George Colman (qq.v.). Many of the poems are satirical, and many celebrate worldly pleasures such as cigars and pretty women. There is a furious preface attacking anonymous reviewers, “mercenary hacks,” some of whom had apparently taken Mortimer to task for “indecency.” At least one poem had been published earlier in the Monthly Magazine. The overall impression is of a dandy well read in light literature. HJ