Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Carey, David
CAREY, DAVID (1752–1824), journalist and poet, son of a manufacturer in Arbroath, was born in 1782. After leaving school he was placed in his father's counting-house, but subsequently he removed to Edinburgh, where he was for a short time in the publishing house of Archibald Constable. Thence he went to London and obtaining a situation on the periodical press, wrote with such keenness in support of the whig government as to attract the notice of Wyndham, who offered him a foreign appointment, which he declined. After the dissolution of the ministry of ‘all the talents’ he wrote a satire entitled ‘Ins and Outs; or, the State of Parties, by Chrononhotonthologos,’ which met at once with an extensive sale. In 1807 he became editor of the ‘Inverness Journal,’ which he left in 1812 to conduct the ‘Boston Gazette.’ In a few months, however, he renewed his connection with the London press, which for the remainder of his life occupied his principal attention. In 1822 he spent some time in Paris, and on his return published ‘Life in Paris,’ written chiefly in a humorous vein, with apposite coloured illustrations. His visit to Paris having failed to restore his shattered health, he returned to his father's house at Arbroath, where he died of consumption after eighteen months' illness on 4 Oct. 1824. Besides the works above mentioned, two novels—‘The Secrets of the Castle,’ 1806, and ‘Lochiel; or, the Field of Culloden,’ 1812—and ‘ Picturesque Scenes; or, a Guide to the Highlands,’ 1811, Carey was the author of several volumes of verse displaying some taste and fancy, although the sentiment is for the most part commonplace and hackneyed. He edited the ‘Poetical Magazine; or, Temple of the Muses,’ 1804, consisting chiefly of his own poems, and published separately ‘Pleasures of Nature; or, the Charms of Rural Life, and other Poems,’ 1803; ‘The Reign of Fancy, a Poem with Notes,’ 1803; ‘Lyric Tales, &c’ 1804; ‘Poems chiefly Amatory,’ 1807; ‘Craig Phadrig: Visions of Sensibility, with Legendary Tales, and occasional Pieces and Historical Notes,’ 1810; and ‘The Lord of the Desert: Sketches of Scenery; Foreign and Domestic Odes, and other Poems,’ 1812.
[Anderson’s Scottish Nation; Brit. Mus. Catalogue.]