young, and a daughter who long furvived dimibloD10

him.

At the ejection of the Whigs, in the end of queen Anne's reign, Parnell was perfuaded to change his party, not without much cenfure from thofe whom he forfook, and was received by the new miniftry as a valuable reinforcement. When the earl of Oxford was told that Dr. Parnell waited among the crowd in the outer room, he went by the perfuafion of Swift, with his treasurer's staff in his hand, to enquire for him, and to bid him welcome; and, as may be inferred from Pope's dedication, admitted him as a favourite companion to his convivial hours, but, as it feems often to have happened in thofe times to the favourites of the great, without attention to his fortune, which, however, was in no great need of improve

ment.

Parnell, who did not want ambition or vanity, was defirous to make himfelf confpicuous, and to fhew how worthy he was ambaitenance MersiMAR of high preferment. As he thought himfelf qualified to become a popular preacher,

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he displayed his elocution with great fuccefs in the pulpits of London; but the queen's death putting an end to his expectations, abated his diligence; and Pope reprefents him as falling from that time into imtempe rance of wine. That in his latter life he was too much a lover of the bottle, is not denied; but I have heard it imputed to a caufe more likely to obtain forgiveness from mankind, the untimely death of a darling fon; or, as others tell, the lofs of his wife, who died (1712) in the midst of his expec tations.

He was now to derive every future addition to his preferments from his perfonal intereft with his private friends, and he was not long unregarded. He was warmly recommended by Swift to archbishop King, who gave him a prebend in 1713 and in May 1716 prefented him to the vicarage of Finglafs in the diocefe of Dublin, worth four hundred pounds a year. Such notice from fuch a man inclines me to believe that the vice of which he has been accufed was not grofs, or not notorious, signs asbom diw

elscout issig aliw noitools air buyslqtib ad 36913

But his profperity did not laft long. His end, whatever was its caufe, was now ap proaching. He enjoyed his preferment little more than a year; for in July 1717, in his thirty-eighth year, he died at Chester on his way to Ireland, ili to, tavol dobim col aswr s of bein

work oved I aud & beinsh He feems to have been one of those poets who take delight in writing. He contributed to the papers of that time, and probably publifhed more than he owned. He left many compofitions behind him, of which Pope felected thofe which he thought beft, and dedicated them to the earl of Oxford. Of these Goldsmith has given an opinion, and his criticifm it is feldom fafe to contradi&t. He bestows just praise upon the Rife of Woman, the Fairy Tale, and the Pervigilium Veneris; but has very properly remarked, that in the Battle of Mice and Frogs the Greek names have not in English their original effectgri chapoq berbaud

He tells us, that the Bookworm is borrowed from Beza; but he fhould have added, with modern applications and when he dif covers that Gay Bacchus is tranflated from 368

U 4

Augu

Augurellus, he ought to have remarked thatd the latter part is, purely Parnell's.) Another poem. When Spring comes on, is, he fays, taken from the French, I would add, that the defcription of Barrenness, in his verdesi to Pope, was borrowed from Secundus g but lately fearching for the paffage which I had formerly read, I could not find it. The Night-piece on Death is indirectly preferred by Goldsmith to Gray's Church-yard, but, in my opinion, Gray has the advantages in dignity, variety, and originality of fentiment. He obferves, that the ftory of thet Hermit is in More's Dialogues and Howell's Letters, and fuppofes it to have been originally Arabian..

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Goldfmith has not taken any notice of the Elegy to the old Beauty, which is perhaps the meaneft; nor of the Allegory on Man, the happieft of Parnell's performances. The hint of the Hymn to Contentment I fufpect to have been borrowed from Cleiveland.

The general character of Parnell is not great extent of comprehenfion, or fertility of mind. Of the little that appears still less is HTДAO

his own. His praise must be derived from thedeafy sweetness of his diction: in his verfes there is more happiness than pains; he is spritely without effort, and always delight, though he never ravishes; every thing is proper, yet every thing feems cafual.If there is fome appearance of elaboration in

lefs ai the Hermit, the narrative, as it is

lefs airy, is lefs pleafing. Of his other compofitions it is impoffible to fay whether they are the productions of Nature, fo excellent as not to want the help of Art, or of Art fo refined as to refemble Naturė,

This criticifm relates only to the pieces published by Pope. Of the large appendages which I find in the laft edition, I can only fay, that I know not whence they came, nor have ever enquired whither they are going. They stand upon the faith of the compilers.

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