[In the following essay, originally published in 1781, Johnson provides a brief overview of Parnell's life and claims that his poems, while not works that stemmed from a great mind, have a pleasant sense about them which was enjoyable to the writer himself as well as the reader.]

The Life of Dr. Parnell is a task which I should very willingly decline, since it has been lately written by Goldsmith¹, a man of such variety of powers and such felicity of performance that he always seemed to do best that which he was doing²; a man who had the art of being minute without tediousness, and general without confusion; whose language was copious without exuberance, exact without constraint, and easy without weakness.

What such an author has told, who would tell again? I have made an abstract from his larger narrative; and have this gratification from my attempt that it gives me an opportunity of paying due tribute to the memory of Goldsmith.

Τò γàρ γ[UNK]ραs [UNK]sτ[UNK] θανóντων(3)

Thomas Parnell was the son of a commonwealthsman of the same name, who at the Restoration left Congleton in Cheshire, where the family had been established for several centuries, and, settling in Ireland, purchased an estate, which, with his lands in Cheshire, descended to the poet⁴, who was born at Dublin in 1679; and, after the usual education at a grammar school, was at the age of thirteen admitted into the College⁵, where in 1700 he became master of arts; and was the same year ordained a deacon, though under the canonical age, by a dispensation from the Bishop of Derry⁶.

About three years afterwards he was made a priest; and in 1705 Dr. Ashe, the bishop of Clogher, conferred upon him the archdeaconry of Clogher⁷. About the same time he married Mrs. Anne Minchin⁸, an amiable lady, by whom he had two sons who died young, and a daughter who long survived him.

At the ejection of the Whigs, in the end of queen Anne's reign⁹, Parnell was persuaded to change his party, not without much censure from those whom he forsook¹⁰, 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 welcome¹¹; and, as may be inferred from Pope's dedication, admitted him as a favourite companion to his convivial hours¹², but, as it seems often to have happened in those times to the favourites of the great, without attention to his fortune¹³, which however was in no great need of improvement¹⁴.

Parnell, who did not want ambition or vanity, was desirous to 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 wine¹⁵. 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 son¹⁶; or, as others tell, the loss of his wife, who died (1712) in the midst of his expectations¹⁷.

He was now to derive every future addition to his preferments 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 1713¹⁸, and in May 1716 presented him to the vicarage of Finglas in the diocese of Dublin, worth four hundred pounds a year¹⁹. Such notice from such a man²⁰ 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 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 Chester²¹, on his way to Ireland.

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 owned²². He left many compositions behind him, of which Pope selected those which he thought best, and dedicated them to the earl of Oxford²³. Of these Goldsmith has given an opinion²⁴, and his criticism it is seldom safe to contradict. He bestows just praise upon The Rise of Woman²⁵, the Fairy Tale²⁶, and the Pervigilium Veneris²⁷; but has very properly remarked that in The Battle of Mice and Frogs the Greek names have not in English their original effect²⁸.

He tells us that The Bookworm is borrowed from Beza²⁹; but he should have added with modern applications, and when he discovers that Gay Bacchus is translated from Augurellus³⁰, 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 French³¹. I would add, that the description of Barrenness, in his verses to Pope³², was borrowed from Secundus; but lately searching for the passage which I had formerly read I could not find it³³. The Night-piece on Death is indirectly preferred by Goldsmith to Gray's Church-yard³⁴, but, in my opinion, Gray has the advantage in dignity, variety, and originality of sentiment³⁵. He observes that the story of The Hermit is in More's Dialogues and Howell's Letters, and supposes it to have been originally Arabian³⁶.

Goldsmith has not taken any notice of the Elegy to the old Beauty, which is perhaps the meanest³⁷; nor of the Allegory on Man, the happiest of Parnell's performances³⁸. The hint of the Hymn to Contentment I suspect to have been borrowed from Cleiveland⁴⁰.

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 diction⁴¹: in his verses there is ‘more happiness than pains⁴²’; 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 Nature⁴³.

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 compilers⁴⁴.

Notes

1. In 1770. Forster's Goldsmith, 1871, ii. 223; Goldsmith's Works, iv. 129.

   ‘Goldsmith's Life of Parnell is poor; not that it is poorly written, but that he had poor materials.’ Johnson, Boswell's Johnson, ii. 166. Goldsmith's father and uncle had known Parnell. In apologizing for the absence of facts in the narrative of his youth he writes:—‘A poet, while living, is seldom an object sufficiently great to attract much attention. … When his fame is increased by time it is then too late to investigate the peculiarities of his disposition; the dews of the morning are past, and we vainly try to continue the chase by the meridian splendour.’ Goldsmith's Works, iv. 130.

2. Johnson said of Goldsmith:—‘Whether we take him as a poet, as a comic writer, or as an historian, he stands in the first class.’ Boswell's Johnson, ii. 236. In his epitaph he describes him as one ‘qui nullum fere scribendi genus non tetigit, nullum quod tetigit non ornavit.’ Ib. iii. 82.

   Mr. G. A. Aitken, in the Preface to Parnell's Poems, 1894, has brought together the facts known about the poet.

3. Odyssey, xxiv. 190.

4. Charles Stewart Parnell was descended from the poet's younger brother. Post, Swift, 77 n.

5. ‘He was admitted much sooner than usual, as they are a great deal stricter in their examination for entrance than either at Oxford or Cambridge.’ Goldsmith, Works, iv. 129.

6. The canonical age is twenty-three. He was twenty-one. He was ordained by the Bishop [King, afterwards Archbishop of Dublin], but the dispensation was from the Primate. Ib. p. 130.

7. On Feb. 9, 1705-6. Aitken's Parnell, Preface, p. 10. For Ashe see post, Swift, 70.

8. Johnson uses ‘Mrs.’ according to its earlier usage. Goldsmith calls her ‘Miss.’

9. 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.

10. ‘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.

11. ‘Jan. 31, 1712-13. I contrived it so that Lord Treasurer came to me, and asked (I had Parnell by me) whether that was Dr. Parnell, and came up and spoke to him with great kindness, and invited him to his house. I value myself upon making the ministry desire to be acquainted with Parnell, and not Parnell with the ministry.’ Swift, Works, iii. 102. See also ib. p. 81.

    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.

12. ‘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 to wit.’
    Pope, Epistle to Robert, Earl of Oxford, l. 6.

13. Post, Pope, 75, 91.

14. ‘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.

15. See Appendix E.

16. He had two sons who died young, and one daughter who long survived him. Ib. p. 130.

17. ‘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 death; she seemed to be an excellent good-natured young woman, and I believe the poor lad is much afflicted; they appeared to live perfectly well together.’ Works, ii. 327. ‘July 1, 1712. It seems he has been ill for grief of his wife's death.’ Ib. iii. 35.

18. Ib. xvi. 36.

19. Swift, in 1730, said it was ‘worth about £100 a year.’ Ib. vii. 293.

20. Post, Swift, 64. The Duke of Grafton, the Lord-Lieutenant, described him as ‘charitable, hospitable, a despiser of riches, and an excellent bishop.’ Coxe's Walpole, 1798, ii. 357.

21. In the register of Trinity Church, Chester, is the following entry:—‘Burialls, 1718. ArchDeacon Tho: Parnell, DD. October 24.’ Aitken's Parnell, Preface, p. 48.

    Boswell (iv. 54) has preserved the following epitaph by Johnson:—

    ‘Hic requiescit Thomas Parnell,
                        S.T.P.
    Qui sacerdos pariter et poeta,
    Utrasque partes ita implevit,
    Ut neque sacerdoti suavitas poetae,
    Nec poetae sacerdotis sanctitas,
                        deesset.’

    According to Miss Reynolds Johnson produced it extempore.' John. Misc. ii. 293.

    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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. Goldsmith's Works, iv. 142.

25. Eng. Poets, xxvii. 5.

26. Ib. p. 21.

27. Ib. p. 29.

28. Ib. p. 35; Goldsmith's Works, iv. 142. Parnell uses the Greek names, giving at the beginning of the poem the translation of each.

29. Ib. p. 143. Beza's poem is entitled Ad Musas, Iocus. 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.

30. ‘It is a translation of a Latin poem by Aurelius Augurellus, an Italian poet [ob. 1524], beginning with:—

    “Invitat olim Bacchus ad coenam suos
    Comum [Comon], Iocum, Cupidinem.”’

    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(39) wine,
              A noble meal bespoke us;
    And for the guests that were to dine
              Brought Comus, Love and Jocus.’

31. Ib. p. 16. ‘It is taken from a French poet whose name I forget.’ Goldsmith, Works, iv. 142.

32. Eng. Poets, xxvii. 56.

33. 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,
              Turpis in obscoena rana coaxat aqua.’

    Parnell wrote:—

    ‘For fortune placed me in unfertile ground;
    Far from the joys that with my soul agree,
    From wit, from learning,—far, O far, from thee!
    Here moss-grown trees expand the smallest leaf,
    Here half an acre's corn is half a sheaf;
    Here hills with naked heads the tempest meet,
    Rocks at their side, and torrents at their feet;
    Or lazy lakes, unconscious of a flood,
    Whose dull brown Naiads ever sleep in mud.’

    Eng. Poets, xxvii. 56.

    For Fenton's translation of two of Secundus's Basia see ib. xxxv. 347-8.

34. Ib. 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.

35. Post, Gray, 51.

36. See Appendix F.

37. Eng. Poets, xxvii. 64. It contains the line:—

    ‘We call it only pretty Fanny's way.’

38. Ib. p. 70. An allusion in one of Johnson's Letters (ii. 73) is explained by the following couplet in this poem:—

    ‘Jove talked of breeding him on high, An under-something of the sky.’

    Johnson wrote:—‘Young Desmoulins is taken in an under-something of Drury Lane.’

39. ‘A celebrated comedian and tavern-keeper.’

40. See Appendix G.

41. 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 moral lay,

    That leads to truth through pleasure's flowery way!’

42. ‘Led by some rule that guides, but not constrains,

    And finish'd more through happiness than pains.’

    Pope, Epistle to Mr. Jervas, l. 67.

43. 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.

44. 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.