Passing by with regret the illustrious seventeenth century names of
Philip O'Sullivan Beare, Sir James Ware, Luke Wadding, Hugh Ward,
John Colgan, and John Lynch, because their bearers wrote in Latin,
and those of "The Four Masters" and Geoffrey Keating, because they
wrote in Irish, we are first brought to a pause in the seventeenth
century by the imposing figure of him, whom, in a later day, Johnson
justly called the "great luminary of the Irish [Protestant] church",
none other than the archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland,
James Ussher himself. James Ussher (1581-1656), born in Dublin and
among the earliest students of the newly-founded Trinity College, was
in intellect and scholarship one of the greatest men that Ireland has
ever produced. Selden describes him as "learned to a miracle" (_ad
miraculum doctus_), and Canon D'Alton in his _History of Ireland_
says of him that "he was not unworthy to rank even with Duns Scotus,
and when he died he left in his own Church neither an equal nor a
second." Declining the high office of provost of Trinity, Ussher was
made bishop of Meath and was afterwards promoted to the primatial
see. His fine intellect was unfortunately marred by narrow religious
views, and in many ways he displayed his animus against those of his
countrymen who did not see eye to eye with him in matters of faith
and doctrine. For example, it was he who in 1626 drew up the Irish
Protestant bishops' protest against toleration for Catholics, therein
showing a bigotry which consorted badly with his reputation as a
scholar. On account of his well-known attitude towards Catholicism,
he was naturally unpopular with those who professed the ancient
creed, and hence, when the rebellion of 1641 broke out, much of his
property was destroyed by the enraged insurgents. His person escaped
violence, for he happened to be in England at the time engaged in the
vain task of trying to effect an accommodation between Charles I. and
the English parliament. He never returned to his see and died in
London.
Ussher's collected works fill seventeen stately volumes. His _magnum
opus_ is undoubtedly the _Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti_. It is
written in Latin, and is a chronological compendium of the history of
the world from the Creation to the dispersion of the Jews under
Vespasian. Published at Leyden, London, Paris, and Oxford, it gained
for its author a European fame. His books written in English deal
mostly with theological or controversial subjects, and while they
display wide reading, great acumen, and keen powers of argumentation,
they yet do not do full justice to his genius. Those which he
published in Dublin are _A Discourse of the Religion anciently
professed by the Irish and British_ (1622), in which he tried to show
that the ritual and discipline of the Church as originally
established in the British Isles were in agreement with the Church of
England and opposed to the Catholic Church on the matters in dispute
between them; _An Answer to a Challenge made by a Jesuite in Ireland_
(1624), in which his aim was to disprove the contention set forth
earlier in the same year by a Jesuit that uniformity of doctrine had
always been maintained by the Catholic Church; and _Immanuel, or the
Mysterie of the Incarnation_. He published in England _The Originall
of Bishops, A Body of Divinitie, The Principles of Christian
Religion_, and other works. So great was Ussher's reputation that
when he died Cromwell relaxed in his favor one of the strictest laws
of the Puritans and allowed him to be buried with the full service of
the Church of England, and with great pomp, in Westminster Abbey.
Among Ussher's other claims to distinction, it should be noted that
it was he who in 1621 discovered the celebrated Book of Kells, which
had long been lost. This marvel of the illuminator's art passed with
the remainder of his collection of books and manuscripts to Trinity
College, Dublin, in 1661, and to this day it remains one of the most
treasured possessions of the noble library of that institution.
Sir John Denham (1615-1669), a Dublin man by birth, took an active
part on the side of Charles I. against the parliament during the
Civil War, and subsequently was conspicuous in the intrigues that led
to the restoration of Charles II. In his own day he had a great
reputation as a poet. His tragedy, _The Sophy_, and his translation
of the Psalms are now forgotten, but he is still remembered for one
piece, _Cooper's Hill_, in which occur the well-known lines addressed
to the River Thames:
O could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example, as it is my theme!
Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull;
Strong, without rage; without o'erflowing, full.
Another Dublin-born man was Wentworth Dillon, Earl of Roscommon
(1633-1684). He had the good fortune to win encomiums both from
Dryden and from Pope. One of his merits, as pointed out by the
latter, is that
In all Charles's days
Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays.
He translated from Virgil, Lucan, Horace, and Guarini; wrote
prologues, epilogues, and other occasional verses; but is now
principally remembered for his poetical _Essay on Translated Verse_
(1681), in which he develops principles previously laid down by
Cowley and Denham. To his credit be it said, he condemns indecency,
both as want of sense and bad taste. He was honored with a funeral in
Westminster Abbey. Johnson records that, at the moment of his death,
Roscommon uttered with great energy and devotion the following two
lines from his own translation of the _Dies Irae_:
My God, my Father, and my Friend,
Do not forsake me in my end!
Robert Boyle (1627-1691), one of the founders of the Royal Society
(1662), was son of the "great" Earl of Cork and was born at Lismore,
Co. Waterford. He takes rank among the principal experimental
philosophers of his age, and he certainly rendered valuable services
to the advancement of science. Most of his writings, which are very
voluminous, are naturally of a technical character and therefore do
not properly belong to literature; but his _Occasional Reflections on
Several Subjects_ (1665), a strange mixture of triviality and
seriousness, was germinal in this sense that it led to two celebrated
_jeux d'esprit_, namely, Butler's _Occasional Reflection on Dr.
Charlton's feeling a Dog's Pulse at Gresham College_ and Swift's
_Pious Meditation upon a Broomstick, in the Style of the Honourable
Mr. Boyle_. Indeed, one of Boyle's _Reflections_, that "Upon the
Eating of Oysters", is reputed to have rendered a still more signal
service to literature, for in its two concluding paragraphs is
contained the idea which, under the transforming hand of the master
satirist, eventually took the world by storm when it appeared, fully
developed, as _Gulliver's Travels_.
His brother, Roger Boyle (1621-1679), who figures largely as a
soldier and a statesman in Irish and English history under his title
of Lord Broghill, was an alumnus of Trinity College, Dublin. During
the Civil War he was a royalist until the death of Charles I., when
he changed sides and aided Cromwell materially in his Irish campaign.
When the Lord Protector died, Broghill made another right-about-face,
and crossing to his native country worked so energetically and
successfully that he made Ireland solid for the restoration of
Charles II. For this service he was rewarded by being created Earl of
Orrery. He was the author of six tragedies and two comedies, some of
which when produced proved gratifyingly popular. He is noted for
having been the first to write tragedy in rhyme, thereby setting an
example that was followed with avidity for a time by Dryden and
others. He also wrote poems, a romance called _Parthenissa_ (1654),
and a _Treatise on the Art of War_ (1677). From whatever point of
view considered, Lord Orrery was a remarkable member of a remarkable
family. His son, John Boyle, Earl of Cork and Orrery (1707-1762), in
virtue of his translation of Pliny's _Letters_, his _Remarks on the
Life and Writings of Swift_, and his _Letters from Italy_, has some
claims to recognition in the field of literature.
Charles Leslie (1650-1722), a Dubliner by birth, was son of that John
Leslie, bishop of Raphoe and Clogher, who lived through a whole
century, from 1571 to 1671, and who was 79 years of age when Charles,
his sixth son, was born. Educated first at Enniskillen and afterwards
at Trinity College, Dublin, Charles Leslie studied law in London, but
eventually abandoned that profession and entered the ministry. He was
of a disputatious character and in particular went to great lengths
in opposing the pro-Catholic activities of James II. Nevertheless,
when the Revolution of 1688 came, he took the side of the deposed
monarch, and loyally adhered to his Jacobite principles for the
remainder of his life. He even joined the Old Pretender on the
continent, and endeavored to convert him to Protestantism, but,
failing therein, he returned to Ireland, where he died at Glasslough
in county Monaghan. Many years of Leslie's life were devoted to
disputes with Catholics, Quakers, Socinians, and Deists, and the
seven volumes which his writings fill prove that he was an extremely
able controversialist. His best known work is the famous treatise, _A
Short and Easy Method with the Deists_, published in 1698.
The Irish note, tone, or temper is not conspicuous in any of the
writings so far named unless when it is conspicuous by its absence;
but it appears plainly, for the first time, in Molyneux's _Case of
Ireland being bound by Laws [made] in England Stated_ (1698). William
Molyneux (1656-1698) has always ranked as an Irish patriot. His was
one of the spirits invoked by Grattan in his great speech (1782) on
the occasion on which he carried his celebrated Declaration of
Independence in the Irish parliament. When the English Act of 1698,
which was meant to destroy, and did destroy, the Irish woolen
industry, came before the Irish house of commons for ratification,
Molyneux's was the only voice raised against its adoption. His
protest was followed by the publication of his _Case Stated_, which
is a classic on the general relations between Ireland and England,
and contained arguments so irrefutable that it drove the English
parliament to fury and was by that body ordered to be burned by the
common hangman. It is a remarkable coincidence that Molyneux opens
his argument by laying down in almost identical words the principles
which stand at the beginning of the American Declaration of
Independence.
John Toland (1669-1722) was born near Redcastle, in Co. Derry, and
was at first a Catholic but subsequently became a free-thinker. His
_Christianity not Mysterious_ (1696) marks an epoch in religious
disputes, for it started the deistical controversy which was so
distinctive a feature of the first half of the eighteenth century. It
shared a similar fate to that of the _Case Stated_, though on very
different grounds, and was ordered by the Irish parliament to be
burned by the hangman. Toland wrote many other books, among which are
_Amyntor_ (1699); _Nazarenus_ (1702); _Pantheisticon; History of the
Druids_; and _Hypatia_. All his books show versatility and wide
reading and are characterized by a pointed, vigorous, and aggressive
style.
George Farquhar (1678-1707), a Derry man, and Thomas Southerne
(1660-1746), born near Dublin, were distinguished playwrights, who
began their respective careers in the seventeenth century. Farquhar
left Trinity College, Dublin, as an undergraduate and became an
actor, but owing to his accidental killing of another player he left
the stage and secured a commission in the army. He soon turned his
attention to the writing of plays, and was responsible in all for
eight comedies. He has left us some characters that are very humorous
and at the same time true to life, such as Scrub the servant in _The
Beaux' Stratagem_ and Sergeant Kite in _The Recruiting Officer_. His
Boniface, the landlord in the former of these two plays, has become
the type, as well as the ordinary quasi-facetious nickname, of an
innkeeper. He was advancing in his art, for his last comedy, _The
Beaux' Stratagem_ (1707), is undoubtedly his best, and had he lived
longer--he died before he was thirty--he might have bequeathed to
posterity something even more noteworthy. As Leigh Hunt says of him:
"He was becoming gayer and gayer, when death, in the shape of a sore
anxiety, called him away as if from a pleasant party, and left the
house ringing with his jest."
Southerne was also a student of Trinity College, Dublin. At the age
of eighteen, however, he left his _alma mater_, and went to London to
study law. This profession he in turn abandoned for the drama. His
first play, _The Persian Prince, or the Loyal Brother_, had
remarkable success when performed, and secured him an ensign's
commission in the army (1685). Here promotion came to him rapidly and
by 1688 he had risen to captain's rank. The Revolution of that year,
however, cut off all further hope of advancement, and he once more
turned his attention to the writing of plays. His productions number
ten. His tragedies _Isabella, or the Fatal Marriage_ (1694) and
_Oroonoko_ (1696), both founded on tales by Mrs. Aphra Behn, are
powerful presentations of human suffering. His comedies are amusing,
but gross. Southerne had business ability enough to make play-writing
pay, and the amounts he received for his productions fairly staggered
his friend Dryden. It is to this faculty that Pope alludes when he
says that Southerne was one whom
heaven sent down to raise
The price of prologues and of plays.
He was apparently of amiable and estimable character, for he secured
and retained the friendship not only of Dryden--a comparatively easy
matter--but also that of Pope, a much more difficult task. Known as
"the poets' Nestor", Southerne spent his declining years in peaceful
retirement and in the enjoyment of the fortune which he had amassed
by his pen.
Nahum Tate (1652-1715), a Dubliner by birth, and Nicholas Brady
(1659-1726), a Bandon man, have secured a certain sort of twin
immortality by their authorized metrical version of the Psalms
(1696), which gradually took the place of the older rendering by
Sternhold and Hopkins. Tate became poet-laureate in 1690 in
succession to Shadwell and was appointed historiographer-royal in
1702. He wrote the bulk of the second part of _Absalom and
Achitophel_ with a wonderfully close imitation of Dryden's manner,
besides several dramatic pieces and poems. Between Tate, Shadwell,
Eusden, and Pye lies the unenviable distinction of being the worst of
the laureates of England. Brady was a clergyman who, after the
pleasant fashion of that day, was a pluralist on a small scale, for
he had the living of Richmond for thirty years from 1696, and while
holding that held also in succession the livings of Stratford-on-Avon
and Clapham. He added further to his income, and doubtless to his
anxieties, by keeping a school at Richmond. He wrote a tragedy
entitled _The Rape_, a _History of the Goths and Vandals_, a
translation of the _Aeneid_ into blank verse, and an _Ode for St.
Cecilia's Day_; but, unless for his share in the version of the
Psalms, his literary reputation is well nigh as dead as the dodo.
Ireland somewhat doubtfully claims to have given birth to Mrs.
Susannah Centlivre (c. 1667-1723), who, after a rather wild youth,
settled down to literary pursuits and domestic contentment when, in
1706, she married Queen Anne's head-cook, Joseph Centlivre, with whom
she lived happily ever after. Her first play, _The Provoked Husband_,
a tragedy, was produced in 1700, and then she went on the stage as an
actress. She wrote in all nineteen dramatic pieces, some of which had
the honor of being translated into French and German. Her most
original play was _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1717).