The New International Encyclopædia/Dyer, John

DYER, John (c.1700-58). An English clergyman and poet. He began but rejected the law, turned painter, and in pursuit of his art wandered through South Wales and the English counties adjacent. After studying in Italy he returned to England to take orders, became vicar of Calthorp (Leicestershire) in 1741, was appointed to Belchford (Lincolnshire) in 1751, and in 1752 received the living of Coningsby, to which in 1755 that of Kirkby-on-Bane was added. His writings include chiefly: Grongar Hill (1727), still found in many anthologies; The Ruins of Rome (1740), of which Johnson well remarks that "the title raises greater expectation than the performance gratifies;" and The Fleece (1757), referred to by Wordsworth in his sonnet "To the Poet, John Dyer."