James Merrick was an English poet and scholar; M.A. Trinity College, Oxford, 1742: fellow, 1745: ordained, but lived in college. It is said that "[h]e entered into holy orders, but never could engage in parochial duty, from being subject to excessive pains in his head". He published poems, including The Chameleon; translated from the Greek and advocated the compilation and amalgamation of indexes to the principal Greek authors; versified the Psalms, several editions of which were set to music. His work was featured in Oxford religious poetry anthologies. Wikipedia
“Not what we wish, but what we want,
Oh, let thy grace supply!”
Hymn, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Let not that happen which I wish, but that which is right", Menander, Fragment.
“Oft has it been my lot to mark
A proud, conceited, talking spark.”
The Chameleon, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
"The Sacred Poets of England and America For Three Centuries" printed 1848.
