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THE

LIF E

OF

DR. PARNELL.

THE life of a scholar feldom abounds with adventure. His fame is acquired in folitude. And the hiftorian, who only views him at a distance, must be content with a dry detail of actions by which he is fcarcely diftinguished from the rest of mankind. But we are fond of talking of those who have given us pleasure, not that we have any thing important to fay, but because the subject is pleafing.

THOMAS PARNELL, D. D. was defcended from an ancient family, that had for fome centuries been settled at Congleton in Cheshire. His father, Thomas Parnell, who had been attached to the commonwealth party, upon the restoration went over to Ireland; thither he carried a large perfonal fortune, which he laid out in lands in that kingdom. The eftates he purchased there, as alfo that of which he was poffeffed in Cheshire, defcended to our poet, who was his eldest son, and ftill remain in the family. Thus want, which has compelled many of our greatest men into VOL. IV. B

the

the fervice of the mufes, had no influence upon Parnell; he was a poet by inclination.

He was born in Dublin, in the year 1679, and received the firft rudiments of his education at the fchool of Doctor Jones in that city. Surprising things are told us of the greatness of his memory at that early period, as of his being able to repeat by heart forty lines of any book at the firft reading; of his getting the third book of the Iliad in one night's time, which was given in order to confine him for fome days. These ftories, which are told of almost every celebrated wit, may perhaps be true.

But

for my own part, I never found any of thofe prodigies of parts, although I have known enow that were defirous, among the ignorant, of being thought fo.

There is one prefumption, however, of the early maturity of his underftanding. He was admitted a member of the College of Dublin, at the age of thirteen, which is much fooner than ufual, as at that Univerfity they are a great deal ftricter in their examination for entrance, than either at Oxford or Cambridge. His progrefs through the college courfe of ftudy was probably marked with but little splendour; his imagination might have been too warm to relish the cold logic of Burgerfdicius, or the dreary fubtleties of Smiglefius; but it is certain, that as a claffical fcholar few could equal him. His own compofiti'ons fhew this, and the deference which the moft eminent men of his time paid him upon that head, put it beyond a doubt. He took the degree of Mafter of Arts the ninth of July, 1700; and in the fame year he was ordained a Deacon, by. William bishop of Derry, having a difpenfation from the Primate, as being under twenty-three years of age. He was admitted into Prieft's Orders about three years after, by William archbishop of Dublin; and on the ninth

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of February, 1705, he was collated by Sir George Athe, bishop of Clogher, to the archdeaconry of Clogher. About that time alfo he married Mifs Anne Minchin, a young lady of great merit and beauty, by whom he had two fons, who died young, and one daughter, who is ftill living. His wife died fome time before him; and her death is faid to have made fo great an impreffion on his fpirits, that it ferved to haften his own. On the thirty-first of May, 1716, he was prefented, by his friend and patron Archbishop King, to the vicarage of Finglafs, a benefice worth about four hundred pounds a year, in the diocese of Dublin, but he lived to enjoy his preferment a very fhort time. He died at Chefter, in July, 1717, on his way to Ireland, and was buried in Trinity church in that town, without any monument to mark the place of his interment. As he died without male iffue, his eftate devolved to his only Nephew, Sir John Parnell, Baronet, whofe father was younger brother to the Archdeacon, and one of the Juftices of the King's Bench in Ireland.

Such is the very unpoetical detail of the life of a poet. Some dates, and fome few facts scarcely more interefting than those that make the ornaments of a country tomb-ftone, are all that remain of one, whofe labours now begin to excite univerfal curiofity. A poet, while living, is feldom an object fufficiently great to attract much attention; his real merits are known but to a few, and thefe are generally fparing in their praises. When his fame is increased by time, it is then too late to inveftigate the peculiarities of his difpofition; the dews of the morning are paft, and we vainly try to continue the chace by the meridian splendour.

There is fcarcely any man but might be made the fubject of a very interefting and amufing hiftory, if the writer, befides a thorough acquaintance with the

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character he draws, were able to make thofe nice diftinctions which feparate it from all others. The strongest minds have usually the most striking peculiarities, and would confequently afford the richest materials but in the prefent inftance, from not knowing Doctor Parnell, his peculiarities are gone to the grave with him; and we are obliged to take his character from fuch as knew but little of him, or who, perhaps, could have given very little information if they had known more.

Parnell, by what I have been able to collect from my father and uncle, who knew him, was the most capable man in the world to make the happiness of those he converfed with, and the least able to fecure his own. He wanted that evennefs of difpofition which bears disappointment with phlegm, and joy with indifference. He was ever very much elated or depreffed ; and his whole life fpent in agony or rapture. But the turbulence of these paffions only affected himself, and never thofe about him he knew the ridicule of his own character, and very effectually raised the mirth of his companions, as well at his vexations as at his triumphs.

How much his company was defired appears from the extenfivenefs of his connexions, and the number of his friends. Even before he made any figure in the literary world, his friendfhip was fought by perfons of every rank and party. The wits at that time differed a good deal from thofe, who are most eminent for their understanding at prefent. It would now be thought a very indifferent fign of a writer's good fenfe to disclaim his private friends for happening to be of a different party in politics; but it was then otherwife, the whig wits held the tory wits in great contempt, and thefe retaliated in their turn. At the head of one party were Addison, Steele, and Congreve; at that of the other, Pope, Swift, and Arbuthnot.

Arbuthnot. Parnell was a friend to both fides, and with a liberality becoming a fcholar, fcorned all thofe trifling distinctions, that are noify for the time, and ridiculous to pofterity. Nor did he emancipate himfelf from thef without fome oppofition from home, Having been the fon of a commonwealth's man, his tory connexions on this fide of the water gave his friends in Ireland great offence; they were much enraged to fee him keep company with Pope, and Swift, and Gay; they blamed his undiftinguishing taste, and wondered what pleasure he could find in the converfation of men who approved the treaty of Utrecht, and difliked the Duke of Marlborough. His converfation is faid to have been extremely pleafing, but in what its peculiar excellence confifted is now unknown. The letters which were written to him by his friends, are full of compliments upon his talents as a companion, and his good-nature as a man. I have several of them now before me. Pope was particularly fond of his company, and feems to regret his abfence more than any of the reft.

A letter from him follows thus:

DEAR SIR,

London, July 29.

I WISH it were not as ungenerous as vain to complain too much of a man that forgets me, but I could expoftulate with you a whole day upon your inhuman filence; I call it inhuman; nor would you think it lefs, if you were truly fenfible of the uneafiness it gives me. Did I know you fo ill as to think you proud, I would be much lefs concerned than I am able to be, when I know one of the best-natured men alive neglects me; and if you know me fo ill as to think amifs of me, with regard to my friendship for you, you really do not deferve f half the trouble you occafion me. I need not tell you,

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