4 he became master of arts; a deacon, though under the from the Bishop of Derry 1. and was the same year ordained canonical age, by a dispensation About three years afterwards he was made a priest; and in 1705 Dr. Ashe, the bishop of Clogher, conferred upon him the archdeaconry of Clogher 2. About the same time he married Mrs. Anne Minchin3, an amiable lady, by whom he had two sons who died young, and a daughter who long survived him. 5 At the ejection of the Whigs, in the end of queen Anne's reign*, Parnell was persuaded to change his party, not without much censure from those whom he forsook, and was received by the new ministry 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 persuasion 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 seems often to have happened 4 Swift wrote on Sept. 9, 1710:— 'The Whigs were ravished to see me, and would lay hold on me as a twig while they are drowning. . . . Every Whig in great office will, to a man, be infallibly put out.' Works, ii. 9. See post, GARTH, 12; SHEFFIELD, 19; PRIOR, 21; CONGREVE, 28; GRANVILLE, 16. 5 Having been the son of a Commonwealth's man, his Tory connections on this side of the water gave his friends in Ireland great offence.' GOLDSMITH, Works, iv. 131. 6 'Jan. 31, 1712-13. I contrived it so that Lord Treasurer came to me, and asked (I had Parnell by me) Johnson follows Delany, who, in his Observations, &c., p. 28, heightens the story: Swift made Lord Oxford, in the height of his glory, walk with his treasurer's staff from room to room through his own levy, inquiring which was Dr. Parnell.' See also post, SWIFT, 134 n. 76 7 For him thou oft hast bid the world attend, Fond to forget the statesman in the friend; For Swift and him despised the farce of state, The sober follies of the wise and great; Dexterous the craving, fawning crowd to quit, And pleased to 'scape from flattery POPE, Epistle to Robert, Earl of in those times to the favourites of the great, without attention to his fortune', which however was in no great need of improve ment 2. Parnell, who did not want ambition or vanity, was desirous to 6 make himself conspicuous, and to shew how worthy he was of high preferment. As he thought himself qualified to become a popular preacher he displayed his elocution with great success in the pulpits of London; but the queen's death putting an end to his expectations abated his diligence: and Pope represents him as falling from that time into intemperance of wine 3. 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 cause more likely to obtain forgiveness from mankind, the untimely death of a darling son*; or, as others tell, the loss of his wife, who died (1712) in the midst of his expectations 5. He was now to derive every future addition to his preferments 7 from his personal interest 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 17136, and in May 1716 presented him to the vicarage of Finglas in the diocese of Dublin, worth four hundred pounds a year'. Such notice from such a man inclines me to believe that the vice of which he has been accused was not gross, or not notorious. But his prosperity did not last long. His end, whatever was 8 its cause, was now approaching. 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. Post, POPE, 75, 91. 2 His fortune (for a poet) was very considerable, and it may easily be supposed he lived to the very extent of it.' GOLDSMITH, Works, iv. 136. 3 See Appendix E. He had two sons who died young, and one daughter who long survived him. Ib. p. 130. 5 Those helps that sorrow first called for assistance habit soon rendered necessary, and he died before his fortieth year, in some measure a martyr to conjugal fidelity.' Ib. p. 140. His wife died in 1711. Swift wrote on Aug. 24, 1711:-'I am heartily sorry for poor Mrs. Parnell's 9 He seems to have been one of those poets who take delight in writing. He contributed to the papers of that time, and probably published more than he owned1. He left many compositions behind him, of which Pope selected those which he thought best, and dedicated them to the earl of Oxford 2. Of these Goldsmith has given an opinion3, and his criticism it is seldom safe to contradict. He bestows just praise upon The Rise of Woman, the Fairy Tales, 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 effect". 10 He tells us that The Bookworm is borrowed from Beza 8; but he should have added with modern applications, and when he discovers that Gay Bacchus is translated from Augurellus, he 'Burialls, 1718. Arch Deacon Tho: Parnell, DD. October 24.' Aitken's Parnell, Preface, p. 48. Boswell (iv. 54) has preserved the Qui sacerdos pariter et poeta, According to Miss Reynolds John- For Goldsmith's epitaph on Parnell see his Works, i. 111. It is strange that the grave of a poet for whom Johnson and Goldsmith each wrote an epitaph should remain uninscribed. Steele in The Spectator, No. 555, includes him among the contributors. In the preface entitled 'The Publisher to the Reader' prefixed to The Guardian Steele writes :-' Mr. Parnell will, I hope, forgive me that, without his leave, I mention that I have seen his hand' among the contributors. 2 Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), iii. 189; post, POPE, 124. Pope, at the end of his notes on the Iliad, speaks of 'those beautiful pieces of poetry, the publication of which Dr. Parnell left to my charge, almost with his dying breath.' In Dec. 1718, Pope wrote:-'What he gave me to publish was but a small part of what he left behind him; but it was the best, and I will not make it worse by enlarging it.' Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), viii. 28. 'In the list of papers ordered to be burnt [by Pope, after his death] were several copies of verses by Parnell. I interceded in vain for them.' Spence's Anec. p. 290. 3 Goldsmith's Works, iv. 142. Eng. Poets, xxvii. 5. 5 lb. p. 21. 6 lb. p. 29. 7 Ib. p. 35; Goldsmith's Works, iv. 142. Parnell uses the Greek names, giving at the beginning of the poem the translation of each. 8 Ib. p. 143. Beza's poem is entitled Ad Musas, locus. His lines 'Pene tu mihi passerem Catulli, Pene tu mihi Lesbiam abstulisti are thus translated and expanded by Parnell : 'By thee my Ovid wounded lies, By thee my Lesbia's sparrow dies; Thy rabid teeth have half destroy'd The work of love in Biddy Floyd, They rent Belinda's locks away, And spoil'd the Blouzelind of Gay.' Bezae Poemata, 1569, p. 138; Eng. Poets, xxvii. 66. 9 'It is a translation of a Latin poem by Aurelius Augurellus, an Italian poet [ob. 1524], beginning with: "Invitat olim Bacchus ad coenam suos ought to have remarked that the latter part is purely Parnell's. Another poem, When Spring comes on, is, he says, taken from the French 1. I would add, that the description of Barrenness, in his verses to Pope, was borrowed from Secundus; but lately searching for the passage 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 advantage in dignity, variety, and originality of sentiment. He observes that the story of The Hermit is in More's Dialogues and Howell's Letters, and supposes it to have been originally Arabian ". Goldsmith has not taken any notice of the Elegy to the old 11 Beauty, which is perhaps the meanest '; nor of the Allegory on Man, the happiest of Parnell's performances. The hint of the Comum [Comon], Iocum, Cupidi nem. GOLDSMITH, Works, iv. 142. For the poem, entitled Gratiarum Convivium, see Pope's Selecta Poemata Italorum, 1740, ii. 69. Parnell's version begins (Eng. Poets, xxvii. 19):— 'Gay Bacchus, liking Estcourt's * wine, A noble meal bespoke us; And for the guests that were to dine I Brought Comus, Love and Jocus.' 1 Ib. p. 16. 'It is taken from a French poet whose name I forget.' GOLDSMITH, Works, iv. 142. 2 Eng. Poets, xxvii. 56. 3 Johnson refers to the following lines in the Epistolae, i. 1, of Ioannes Secundus (John Everard), Opera, 1631, p. 142:— 'Me retinet salsis infausta Valachria terris, Oceanus tumidis quam vagus ambit aquis. Nulla ubi vox avium, pelagi strepit undique murmur, Caelum etiam larga desuper urget aqua. Flat Boreas, dubiusque Notus, flat frigidus Eurus: Felices Zephyri nil ubi iuris habent. Proque tuis ubi carminibus, philomela canora, in mud.' Eng. Poets, xxvii. 56. For Fenton's translation of two of Secundus's Basia see ib. xxxv. 347-8. * lb. p. 75. The Night Piece on Death deserves every praise, and I should suppose, with very little amendment, might be made to surpass all those night pieces and churchyard scenes that have since appeared.' GOLDSMITH, Works, iv. 143. 5 Post, GRAY, 51. 6 See Appendix F. 7 Eng. Poets, xxvii. 64. It contains the line : 'We call it only pretty Fanny's way.' 8 Ib. p. 70. An allusion in one of Johnson's Letters (ii. 73) is explained * 'A celebrated comedian and tavern-keeper.' 12 13 Hymn to Contentment I suspect to have been borrowed from Cleiveland'. The general character of Parnell is not great extent of comprehension or fertility of mind. Of the little that appears still less is his own. His praise must be derived from the easy sweetness of his diction: in his verses there is 'more happiness than pains 3'; he is spritely without effort, and always delights though he never ravishes; every thing is proper, yet every thing seems casual. If there is some appearance of elaboration in The Hermit the narrative, as it is less airy, is less pleasing. Of his other compositions it is impossible to say whether they are the productions of Nature, so excellent as not to want the help of Art, or of Art so refined as to resemble Nature 4. This criticism relates only to the pieces published by Pope. Of the large appendages which I find in the last edition I can only say that I know not whence they came, nor have ever enquired whither they are going. They stand upon the faith of the compilers 5. by the following couplet in this poem : : Jove talked of breeding him on high, Johnson wrote: Young Desmoulins is taken in an under-something of Drury Lane.' 'See Appendix G. 2 Goldsmith speaks of 'that ease and sweetness for which his poetry is so much admired.' Works, iv. 139. In his epitaph on him he writes: 'What heart but feels his sweetly That leads to truth through plea- 3 'Led by some rule that guides, but And finish'd more through happi- POPE, Epistle to Mr. Jervas, 1. 67. Hume, contrasting simplicity with wit in poetry, says :-'It is sufficient to run over Cowley once; but Parnell, after the fiftieth reading, is as fresh as at the first.' Essays, 1770, i. 244. Campbell praises his 'correct and equable sweetness,... the select choice of his expression, the clearness and keeping of his imagery, and the pensive dignity of his moral feeling.' British Poets, Preface, p. 86. 5 In the Gent. Mag. 1758, p. 282, Parnell's Posthumous Works, just published, are treated as forgeries: The volume consists of 286 pages, 202 of which contain the history of the Old Testament, in doggrel, scarce less contemptible than the bell-man's. The rest consists of enthusiasm and indecency, that are not less disgusting than despicable.' Some of his poems have been made public with very little credit to his reputation.' GOLDSMITH, Works, iv. 142. 'Gray, writing of the volume to Mason, said:-"Parnell is the dunghill of Irish Grub Street."' Gosse's Gray, ii. 372; see also Pope's Works (Elwin and Courthope), viii. 28. |