Life
?1700-1775; ed. TCD; noted bon vivant and wit of Grattan’s Parliament;
lawyer; Baron of Irish Court of Exchequer, 1742. PI JMC
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Criticism
Robert Welch, A History of Verse Translation from the Irish
1789-1897 (Gerrards Cross 1988),p. 32.
George Birmingham, intro., Recollections of Jonah Barrington, (Dublin: Talbot Press; London: Fisher Unwin [1918]), ‘Only a society something like that which Barrington describes could have produced “Bumpers, Squire Jones”, and promoted the man who wrote it to high legal dignity. [Quotes, as infra.]
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Notes
Justin McCarthy, gen. ed., Irish Literature (Washington: University of America 1904); ‘Bumpers, Squire Jones’;
song written by him in conjunction with Carolan as a toast to their host
at Moneyglass; Carolan’s words were poor, and Dawson composed his
version - which he passed off as the original to Carolan’s annoyance
in the ensuing performance - while over-hearing the harper at work composing
in the next room. In [Samuel] Lover’s Poems of Ireland, Bunting is
cited as claiming that the song was imitated from the original Irish of
Carolan. The verses are typically Georgian, with allusions to physicians
and lawyers of the day. The refrain is ‘... claret, a bumper, Squire
Jones!’
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London: Walter Scott 1888), incls. “Bumpers, Squire Jones”.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)