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Death of Joseph Cooper Walker, Irish Antiquarian & Writer

Joseph Cooper Walker, Irish antiquarian and writer, dies on April 12, 1810, in Enniskerry, County Wicklow.

Walker is born in Dublin, son of Cooper Walker, merchant, and educated by Thomas Ball. He suffers from asthma, which prevents him from attending college. Instead he travels to Italy, where he possibly receives some private tuition in Latin, Greek, French, Italian, and Spanish. He takes a special interest in Italian literature and Irish antiquities, and on his return to Ireland (where he is employed in the Irish treasury as third clerk in the upper department) resides in an Italianate villa, St. Valerie, on the road from Bray to Enniskerry.

In 1785, Walker is elected one of the original members of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) and on March 17, 1786, is requested to sit on its committee of antiquities. In this capacity he submits several essays to the Academy’s Transactions. However, his best-known work is Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards (1786). His interest in poetry, and in eighteenth-century vernacular survivals of the ancient bardic tradition, suggests important new contemporary and literary dimensions for what had previously been antiquarian and scholarly pursuits. He also breaks new ground by considering modern as well as historical Irish culture, and introduces it to an Anglo-Irish audience by providing English translations of Gaelic songs and poems.

The authorities Walker cites covers the entire range of Irish and Anglo-Irish scholarship on Irish antiquities. He includes excerpts from his correspondence with Charles O’Conor, Charles Vallancey, and Sylvester O’Halloran and carries out an extensive correspondence with Thomas Percy after he becomes Bishop of Dromore in 1782. He focuses on both poetry and music, which according to the popular eighteenth-century view has been the two traditional pursuits of the Irish bards. He presents a historical outline of their progress from the earliest times to the eighteenth century and ends with nine appendices, which are almost as lengthy as the main text. In these, his appreciation of what he considers to be the contemporary survivals of the ancient Irish bardic tradition is apparent in his including an account of Cormac Common, a blind eighteenth-century poet from Mayo, as well as a lengthy biographical notice of Turlough O’Carolan, together with translations of several of his songs. The book brings together many of the literary, scholarly, popular, Celtic, antiquarian, political, and musical dimensions of eighteenth-century Irish culture and prefigures the synthesis of literary modes, cultural theories, and musical styles that would occur in the literary productions of the United Irishmen.

Despite his linguistic skills, Walker has little knowledge of the Irish language, yet he (a member of the Anglo-Irish elite) is consistent in his praise of Gaelic culture, portraying it as sophisticated and literate and, although he highly romanticises his work, he does help to challenge negative appraisals of the Irish character. By the standards of the time it is a work of great erudition. However, today the book is judged to be of limited academic merit as Walker is severely hampered by a shortage of primary documents and by his limited grasp of the Irish language. This is illustrated by his ambiguous use of James Macpherson‘s volumes of Ossianic poems, published in the 1760s, which he quotes as authentic in the text while hinting in the footnotes that they are unreliable.

Charlotte Brooke translates three poems, and in return Walker encourages her to produce her Reliques of Irish Poetry (1789). Her work reflects Walker’s influence and she thanks him in the preface for affording her “every assistance which zeal, judgment and extensive knowledge, could give” as well as for prevailing on people to subscribe to her work and for being a subscriber himself. He is part of a literary circle that includes Edward Ledwich, Charles O’Conor, Edward Berwick, John Philpot Curran, and Henry Grattan. He also writes Historical essay on the dress of the ancient and modern Irish (1788), dedicated to his friend James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont, for which he interviews the older generation, consults manuscripts, and even visits tombs to examine the clothing of corpses, and admits he has received copious aid from Elizabeth Rawdon, Countess of Moira. The English Review receives it warmly but Richard Gough, the reviewer for The Gentleman’s Magazine, states he is “much disappointed in the perusal of this high priced history.” Other works by Walker include “an historical essay on the Irish stage,” RIA Trans., ii (1788), Historical Memoir on Italian Tragedy (1799) and contributions to Vallancey’s Collectanea de rebus Hibernicis (Dublin, 1770–1804). In the 1790s he subscribes to Anthologia Hibernica: a monthly collection of science, belles lettres and history and in December 1794 submits an “Historical essay on the Irish stage” which surveys Irish drama from bardic times through to contemporary folk plays.

Walker dies on April 12, 1810, in Enniskerry, County Wicklow, leaving a fine gallery of pictures, a library containing Irish manuscripts, and a collection of antiquities. He is buried on April 14 in St. Mary’s Churchyard, Dublin. His memoirs of Alessandro Tassoni are published posthumously in London in 1815 (with a lengthy preface by his brother Samuel), as is the second edition of Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards (2 vols., Dublin, 1818).

(From: “Walker, Joseph Cooper” by Rosemary Ritchie, Dictionary of Irish Biography, http://www.dib.ie, October 2009)


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Birth of William Beresford, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Tuam

William Beresford, 1st Baron Decies, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Tuam, is born on April 16, 1743.

Beresford is the third surviving son, out of eight daughters and seven sons of Marcus Beresford, 1st Earl of Tyrone, and his wife Catherine Power, 1st Baroness de la Poer, the only daughter and heiress of James Power, 3rd Earl of Tyrone and 3rd Viscount Decies. He enters Trinity College Dublin on December 18, 1759, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1763 and Master of Arts in 1766, before becoming a clergyman.

His birth into the politically influential Beresford family affords him a degree of opportunity, and he is made a vice-regal chaplain in 1766. Brother of George de la Poer Beresford, 1st Marquess of Waterford, he marries Elizabeth Fitzgibbon, sister of John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare, on June 16, 1763. They had three sons and five daughters. These connections, however, do not automatically result in his being promoted to bishop, despite reaching episcopal age in 1773, and he spends several years as a well-beneficed rector of Urney in the Diocese of Derry. The Beresford family complains that he has been overlooked for several episcopal vacancies in the 1770s and it is not until 1780 that he is created Doctor of Divinity and consecrated Bishop of Dromore on April 8, 1780. At Dromore he erects a handsome new episcopal residence. On May 21, 1782, he is transferred to the diocese of Ossory and, as bishop there, takes his seat in the Irish parliament and exercises influence over the ecclesiastical borough of St. Canice.

The death of Primate Richard Robinson in 1794 is the stimulus for a reorganisation within the Church of Ireland hierarchy, and Beresford is one of the candidates rumoured to succeed him. However, his familial ties disadvantage him, because the government does not want to favour one Irish “party” over another. He is instead appointed to the vacant archbishopric of Tuam on October 10, 1794. An influential and senior position within the church, it is worth £5,000 per annum, which is more than Archbishop Charles Agar receives for the archbishopric of Cashel and provides him with extensive patronage.

In the late 1790s Beresford regularly attends parliament, particularly in the crucial session of 1799 as the Acts of Union is debated and shares his brother John’s view that a union is the best means of securing the Protestant interest in Ireland.

In the years following the union Beresford gains a temporal peerage, becoming 1st Baron Decies on December 22, 1812. He is an amiable, kind and loquacious individual, and is patron to artists, including Gilbert Stuart, who produces a portrait of him as Bishop of Ossory. His long years of service within the established church also makes him very wealthy, worth £250,000 at the time of his death.

Beresford dies on September 6, 1819, at Tuam, County Galway, and is succeeded in the barony by his eldest surviving son John on September 8, 1819. His eldest son Marcus had died in 1803. His youngest daughter Louisa, widow of Thomas Hope, marries, by special license, her cousin William Carr Beresford on November 29, 1832. Through Louisa he is a grandfather of British MP and patron of the arts, Henry Thomas Hope.

(From: “Beresford, William” by Martin McElroy, Dictionary of Irish Biography, http://www.dib.ie, October 2009, revised June 2024)


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Death of Irish Dramatist George Farquhar

George Farquhar, Irish dramatist, dies in London on April 29, 1707. He is noted for his contributions to late Restoration comedy, particularly for his plays The Constant Couple (1699), The Recruiting Officer (1706) and The Beaux’ Stratagem (1707).

Born in Derry in 1677, Farquhar is one of seven children born to William Farquhar, a clergyman of modest means. The author of “Memoirs of Mr. George Farquhar,” a biographical sketch prefixed to certain 18th-century editions of his works, claims that he “discovered a Genius early devoted to the Muses. When he was very young, he gave Specimens of his Poetry; and discovered a Force of Thinking, and Turn of Expression, much beyond his years.”

Farquhar is educated at Foyle College and later enters Trinity College Dublin at age seventeen as a sizar under the patronage of the Bishop of Dromore, who may have been related to Farquhar’s mother. He may have initially intended to follow his father’s profession and become a clergyman but is “unhappy and rebellious as a student” and leaves college after two years to become an actor. His 18th-century biographer claims that the departure is because “his gay and volatile Disposition could not long relish the Gravity and Retirement of a College-life,” but another story of uncertain veracity has him being expelled from Trinity College due to a “profane jest.” The two accounts are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Farquhar joins a company performing on the Dublin stage, probably through his acquaintance with the well-known actor Robert Wilks. However, he is reportedly not that impressive as an actor. It is said that “his voice was somewhat weak” and that “his movements [were] stiff and ungraceful.” But he is well received by audiences and thought to continue in this career “till something better should offer.” Some of the roles reportedly played by Farquhar are Lennox in William Shakespeare‘s Macbeth, Young Bellair in The Man of Mode by George Etherege, Lord Dion in Philaster by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, and Guyomar in The Indian Emperour by John Dryden.

During one of the performances in the Dryden play, an accident on stage puts an end to Farquhar’s acting career. As Guyomar, he is supposed to “kill” Vasquez, one of the Spanish generals in the drama. Forgetting to exchange his sword for a foil before enacting this scene, he severely wounds Price, the actor playing Vasquez. Although Price recovers, Farquhar resolves after this mishap to give up acting for good.

Farquhar then leaves for London, “possibly with a draft of his first play in his portmanteau.” Some writers tie his move to that of his friend Wilks, who had received an offer from the manager of Drury Lane to come to London and join that theatre. Wilks is also credited with encouraging Farquhar’s efforts at writing plays.

Farquhar’s first comedy, Love and a Bottle, premieres in 1698 and is well received by the audience. Called a “licentious piece” by one scholar and cited as proof that Farquhar had “absorbed the stock topics, character-types, and situations of Restoration comedy” by another, the play deals with Roebuck, “An Irish Gentleman of a wild roving Temper” who is “newly come to London.” The general character of the play can be evaluated by considering that in the opening scene, Roebuck tells his friend Lovewell that he has left Ireland due to getting a woman pregnant with twins and to Roebuck’s father trying to force Roebuck to marry the woman; however, Roebuck remarks, “Heav’n was pleas’d to lessen my Affliction, by taking away the She-brat.”

After the favourable reception of Love and a Bottle, Farquhar decides to devote himself to playwriting. He also at this point receives a commission in the regiment of the Earl of Orrery, so his time for the next few years is divided between the vocations of soldier and dramatist. It is also at about this time that he discovers Anne Oldfield, who is reading aloud a scene from The Scornful Lady at her aunt’s tavern. Impressed, he brings her to the notice of Sir John Vanbrugh, and this leads to her theatrical career, during which she is the first performer of major female roles in Farquhar’s last comedies.

In 1700, Farquhar’s The Constant Couple is acted at Drury Lane and proves a great success, helped considerably by his friend Wilks’ portrayal of the character of Sir Henry Wildair. The playwright follows up with a sequel, Sir Harry Wildair, the following year, and in 1702 writes the comedies The Inconstant and The Twin Rivals. Also in 1702, he publishes Love and Business, a collection that includes letters, verse, and A Discourse Upon Comedy.

The next year, Farquhar marries Margaret Pemell, “a widow with three children, ten years his senior,” who reportedly tricks him into the marriage by pretending to have a great fortune. His 18th century biographer records that “though he found himself deceived, his Circumstances embarrassed, and his Family increasing, he never upbraided her for the Cheat but behaved to her with all the Delicacy and Tenderness of an indulgent Husband.” He is engaged in recruiting for the army, due to the War of the Spanish Succession, for the next three years, writing little except The Stage Coach in collaboration with Peter Motteux, an adaptation of a French play. He draws on his recruiting experience for his next comedy, The Recruiting Officer (1706). However, he has to sell his army commission to pay debts, reportedly after the Duke of Ormonde advises him to do so, promising him another but failing to keep his promise.

Early in 1707, Farquhar’s friend Wilks visits him. Farquhar is ill and in distress, and Wilks is said to have “cheered him with a substantial present and urged him to write another comedy.” This comedy, The Beaux’ Stratagem, is given its première on March 8, 1707. It is known from Farquhar’s own statement prefacing the published version of the play that he wrote it during his sickness:

“The reader may find some faults in this play, which my illness prevented the amending of; but there is great amends made in the representation, which cannot be match’d, no more than the friendly and indefatigable care of Mr. Wilks, to whom I chiefly owe the success of the play.”

Farquhar dies in London on April 29, 1707, not quite two months after the opening of this last play. He is buried on May 3 in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, a Church of England parish church in the City of Westminster, London.


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Birth of Edmond Malone, Shakespearean Scholar

Edmond Malone, Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of William Shakespeare, is born on October 4, 1741 in Dublin.

Malone is born to Edmond Malone Sr. (1704–1774), MP of the Irish House of Commons and judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, and Catherine Collier, the niece of Robert Knight, 1st Earl of Catherlough. He has two sisters, Henrietta and Catherine, and an older brother, Richard (later Lord Sunderlin). His father is a successful lawyer and politician in England, but his practice fails and he returns to Ireland. Little is known of his childhood and adolescence except that in 1747 he is sent to Dr. Ford’s preparatory school in Molesworth Street, Dublin. The next record of his education is ten years later, in 1757, when he enters Trinity College, Dublin. He receives his BA degree on February 23, 1762.

After practicing in Ireland as a lawyer and journalist, Malone settles in London in 1777. There he numbers among his literary friends Samuel Johnson, Horace Walpole, and the ballad collector Thomas Percy, the Bishop of Dromore. He also is an associate of the statesmen Edmund Burke and George Canning and of the dean of English painters, Sir Joshua Reynolds, who paints his portrait and whose literary works he collects and publishes (1797). The portrait now resides in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

In the following months Malone sends a steady stream of notes and corrections to George Steevens, who, by then the inheritor, from Samuel Johnson, of the editor’s mantle for the Jacob Tonson edition of Shakespeare’s collected works, is busy preparing a second edition. His main contribution appears in the first volume as “An Attempt to Ascertain the Order in Which the Plays Attributed to Shakspeare Were Written.”

Malone’s three supplemental volumes (1780–1783) to Steevens’ edition of Johnson’s Shakespeare, containing apocryphal plays, textual emendations, and the first critical edition of the sonnets, are landmarks in Shakespearean studies. His “Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the English Stage, and of the Economy and Usages of the Ancient Theatres in England” (1800) is the first treatise on English drama based on original sources. His own edition of Shakespeare in 11 volumes appears in 1790. A new octavo edition, unfinished at his death, is completed by James Boswell, the son of Samuel Johnson’s biographer, and published in 1821 in 21 volumes. This work, which includes a memoir of Malone, is the standard edition of Shakespeare’s writings for more than a century.

Malone dies at the age of 70 in London on May 25, 1812.

(Pictured: Portrait of Edmond Malone by Joshua Reynolds (1778), National Portrait Gallery)


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Founding of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome

pontifical-irish-college

The Pontifical Irish College, a Roman Catholic seminary for the training and education of priests, is founded in Rome, Italy, on November 6, 1628.

Towards the close of the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII sanctions the foundation of an Irish college in Rome and assigns a large sum of money as the nucleus of an endowment. However, the pressing needs of the Irish chieftains make him think that, under the circumstances, the money might as well be used for religion by supplying the Irish Catholics with the sinews of war in Ireland as by founding a college for them at Rome.

The project is revived in 1625 by the Irish bishops, in an address to Pope Urban VIII. Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi, who is Cardinal Protector of Ireland, resolves to realize at his own expense the desire expressed to the pope by the Irish bishops. A house is rented opposite Sant’Isodoro a Capo le Case, and six students go into residence January 1, 1628. Eugene Callanan, Archdeacon of Cashel, is the first rector, Father Luke Wadding, OFM being a sort of supervisor. Cardinal Ludovisi dies in 1632 and as he is of a princely family with a large patrimony, he makes provision in his will for the college. It is to have an income of one thousand crowns a year, a house is to be purchased for it, and he leaves a vineyard as Castel Gandolfo where the students might pass their villeggiatura. The cardinal’s will directs that the college should be placed under the charge of the Jesuits. Both the heirs and Wadding suspect that provision and disputed it. A protracted lawsuit is finally decided in 1635 in favour of the Jesuits.

On February 8, 1635, the Jesuits take charge of the college and govern it until financial difficulties force them to give up control in September 1772. An Italian priest, Abbate Luigi Cuccagni, is made rector. The rectorate of Cuccagni comes to an end in 1798, when the college is closed by order of Napoleon.

Dr. Michael Blake, Bishop of Dromore, who is the last student to leave the college at its dissolution in 1798, returns a quarter of a century later to arrange for its revival, which is affected by a brief of Pope Leo XII, dated February 18, 1826. He becomes the first rector of the restored college, and among the first students who seek admission is Francis Sylvester Mahony of Cork, known to the literary world as Father Prout. Having set the college well to work, Blake returns to Ireland and is succeeded by Dr. Boylan, of Maynooth, who soon resigns and dies in 1830. He is succeeded by a young priest, later Cardinal Paul Cullen.

Dr. Cullen is succeeded by Dr. Tobias Kirby, known for his holiness of life. He governs the college for more than forty years. His successor is Michael Kelly, later coadjutor to the Archbishop of Sydney.

In 2011, under orders from Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, leads a root and branch review of all structures and processes at the college. He is assisted in the visitation report by then Archbishop of Baltimore and now Cardinal Edwin O’Brien and Msgr. Francis Kelly of the Northern American College in Rome. The report is highly critical of the college and, as a result of which, three Irish members of the staff are sent home and a fourth resigns.

In 2012, four Irish archbishops, Cardinal Seán Brady, Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam, and Dr. Dermot Clifford, Archbishop of Cashel, are sent a copy of the visitation report by the Vatican. A response prepared for them says “a deep prejudice appears to have coloured the visitation and from the outset and it led to the hostile tone and content of the report.”

Today the Pontifical Irish College serves as a residence for clerical students from all over the world. Every year over 250 Irish couples choose the college chapel as a means to marry in Rome. It organises events for the Irish and wider international community who are currently residing in Rome and has over the years become an unofficial centre for Irish visitors to Rome seeking advice and information.