PARNELL.
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HE life of Dr. Parnell is a task which I should very willingly decline,since it has been lately written by Goldsmith, a man of such variety ofpowers, and such felicity of performance, that he always seemed to dobest that which he was doing; a man who had the art of being minutewithout tediousness, and general without confusion; whose language wascopious without exuberance, exact without constraint, and easy withoutweakness. What such an author has told, who would tell again? I have made anabstract from his larger narrative; and have this gratification from myattempt, that it gives me an opportunity of paying due tribute to thememory of Goldsmith. Thomas Parnell was the son of a Commonwealthsman of the same name, who,at the Restoration, left Congleton, in Cheshire, where the family hadbeen established for several centuries, and, settling in Ireland,purchased an estate, which, with his lands in Cheshire, descended to thepoet, who was born at Dublin in 1679; and, after the usual education at agrammar school, was, at the age of thirteen, admitted into the Collegewhere, in 1700, he became Master of Arts; and was the same year ordaineda deacon, though under the canonical age, by a dispensation from theBishop of Derry. 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.About the same time he married Mrs. Anne Minchin, an amiable lady, bywhom he had two sons, who died young, and a daughter, who long survivedhim. At the ejection of the Whigs, in the end of Queen Anne’s reign, Parnellwas persuaded to change his party, not without much censure from thosewhom he forsook, and was received by the new Ministry as a valuablereinforcement. When the Earl of Oxford was told that Dr. Parnell waitedamong the crowd in the outer room, he went, by the persuasion of Swift,with his Treasurer’s staff in his hand, to inquire for him, and to bidhim welcome; and, as may be inferred from Pope’s dedication, admitted himas a favourite companion to his convivial hours, but, as it seems oftento have happened in those times to the favourites of the great, withoutattention to his fortune, which, however, was in no great need ofimprovement. Parnell, who did not want ambition or vanity, was desirous to makehimself conspicuous, and to show how worthy he was of high preferment.As he thought himself qualified to become a popular preacher, hedisplayed his elocution with great success in the pulpits of London; butthe Queen’s death putting an end to his expectations, abated hisdiligence; and Pope represents him as falling from that time intointemperance of wine. That in his latter life he was too much a lover ofthe bottle, is not denied; but I have heard it imputed to a cause morelikely to obtain forgiveness from mankind, the untimely death of adarling son; or, as others tell, the loss of his wife, who died (1712) inthe midst of his expectations. He was now to derive every future addition to his preferments from hispersonal interest with his private friends, and he was not longunregarded. He was warmly recommended by Swift to Archbishop King, whogave him a prebend in 1713; and in May, 1716, presented him to thevicarage of Finglass, in the diocese of Dublin, worth £400 a year. Suchnotice from such a man inclines me to believe that the vice of which hehas been accused was not gross or not notorious. But his prosperity did not last long. His end, whatever was 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 hisway to Ireland. He seems to have been one of those poets who take delight in writing. Hecontributed to the papers of that time, and probably published more thanhe owned. He left many compositions behind him, of which Pope selectedthose which he thought best, and dedicated them to the Earl of Oxford.Of these Goldsmith has given an opinion, and his criticism it is seldomsafe to contradict. He bestows just praise upon “The Rise of Woman,”“The Fairy Tale,” and “The Pervigilium Veneris;” but has very properlyremarked that in “The Battle of Mice and Frogs” the Greek names have notin English their original effect. He tells us that “The Bookworm” isborrowed from Beza; but he should have added with modern applications:and when he discovers that “Gay Bacchus” is translated from Augurellus,he 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.I would add that the description of “Barrenness,” in his verses to Pope,was borrowed from Secundus; but lately searching for the passage which Ihad formerly read, I could not find it. “The Night Piece on Death” isindirectly preferred by Goldsmith to Gray’s “Churchyard;” but, in myopinion, Gray has the advantage in dignity, variety, and originality ofsentiment. He observes that the story of “The Hermit” is in More’s“Dialogues” and Howell’s “Letters,” and supposes it to have beenoriginally Arabian. Goldsmith has not taken any notice of “The Elegy to the Old Beauty,”which is perhaps the meanest; nor of “The Allegory on Man,” the happiestof Parnell’s performances. The hint of “The Hymn to Contentment” Isuspect to have been borrowed from Cleveland. The general character of Parnell is not great extent of comprehension orfertility 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 hisverses there is more happiness than pains; he is sprightly withouteffort, and always delights, though he never ravishes; everything isproper, yet everything seems casual. If there is some appearance ofelaboration in “The Hermit,” the narrative, as it is less airy, is lesspleasing. Of his other compositions it is impossible to say whether theyare the productions of nature, so excellent as not to want the help ofart, or of art so refined as to resemble nature. This criticism relates only to the pieces published by Pope. Of thelarge appendages which I find in the last edition, I can only say that Iknow not whence they came, nor have ever inquired whither they are going.They stand upon the faith of the compilers.
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