Life
?1685-1768 [or Delaney; signing himself Pat in letters to Mrs Pendarves
(Mary Delany)]; clergyman, fellow of TCD and tutor; Swift called him ‘the
most eminent preacher we have’; chancellor of Christ Church, 1727;
prependary of S. Patrick’s Cath., 1729; Chanc. St. Patrick’s,
1730; moved to a 12 yr. old house in Glasnevin, called Delville, 1734;
started The Tribune, 1738; Dean of Down, 1744; spent 14
of 25 ensuing years in Ireland; subscribed for 6 copies of Dermod O’Connor’s
translation of Keating’s History of Ireland (1723); d. 6 May;
bur. in garden of Delville, that part of it which was later added to Glasnevin
Cemetery. RR CAB DNB PI DIW DIB OCEL FDA OCIL
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Works
Revelations Examined with Candour, Vol. i (1732), Vol. ii (1734),
Vol. iii (1763); Reflections upon Polygamy (1738), 2nd ed., with
preface 1739); An Historical Account of the Life and Writings of King
David, vol. i (1740), vols. ii and iii (1742); Social Duties of
Life, [15 sermons] (1744), do. 2nd ed. (1747) [add. give more on Vices];
Divine Original of Tythes (1748); A Humble Apology for Christian
Orthodoxy (1761), tract; Eighteen Discourses (1766), many republished
in Family Lectures (1791); . Fnd. The Tribune (20 issues),
1737; fnd. The Humanist (15 issues) in 1757, renouncing docked
tails in horses.
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Criticism
Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica: Irish Worthies (1821), Vol.
II, p.63-70.
Constantia Maxwell, Strangers in Ireland (1954).
Mrs Esther Morris, ‘The Delanys of Delville’, Dublin Historical Record, 9, 4 (Dec. 1947-Feb.1948), pp.105-116.
Joseph R McElrath, Jr., ‘Swift’s Friend, Dr Patrick Delany’, Eire-Ireland 5.3 (Autumn 1970), 53-62.
Robert Welch, A History of Verse Translation from the Irish 1789-1897 (Gerrards Cross 1988).
Gerard McCoy, ‘"Patriots, Protestants and Papists": Religion and the Ascendancy, 1714-60’, in Bullán: An Irish Studies Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1, Spring 1994.
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Notes
Dictionary of National Biography gives this biographical account:
b. Ireland, son of servant of Irish judge, Sir John Russell, and afterwards
small farmer; sizar, TCD; popular preacher and tutor worth £900 from his
pupils; maintained his dignity more than Swift’s other companions;
intimacy began 10 Nov 1718, with verses addressed by Swift praising his
conversational powers and requesting him to advise Sheridan to keep his
jests within the bounds of politeness; defended case of expelled students
in college sermon, 1724; compelled to apologise to Provost; parish of
St. John, Dublin, 1725; Archbishop Boulter resisted his application to
hold this with his fellowship, letter to Canterbury showing him to be
thought dangerous influence; Lord Carteret gav him the chancellorship
of Christ Church in 1727, and in 1729 the prependary of St Patrick’s;
Chancellor of St. Patrick’s, 1730; sought further preferment of Carteret
in verse; momentary coolness with Swift who thought him too much of a
courtier; introduced the Pilkington’s to Swift; Swift called him
the ‘most eminent preacher we have’; Delany published periodical,
The Tribune, running to 20 numbers; publ. Revelations examined
with Candour (1732; 2nd vol. 1732; 3rd vol., 1763); m. Margaret Tenison,
rich widow; called by Swift one of the few men not spoiled by access of
fortune; hospitality; his book ridiculed for enjoining Christians to abstain
from things strangled and from blood; excited more criticism with Reflections
upon Polygamy and the encouragement given to that practise by the Scriptures
of the Old Testament, by Phileleutherus Dubliniensis (1738); 2nd. ed.
1739, with apologetic preface by Boulter with whom he was now reconciled,
arguing that polygamy was not favourable to population; An Historical
Account of the Life and Writings of King David, vol. i (1740), vols.
ii and iii (1742), defending David against Bayle; first wife died 1741;
went to England to offer himself to Mrs Pendarves; m. 9 June 1743; appointed
to deanery of Down through her interest; Hel Del Ville, then Delville,
built by him and Dr Helsham; minute size ridiculed in verses by Sheridan
printed in Swift’s works; continued in state left by Delanys with
shell decorations of the ceilings and a fresco port. of Stella, attrib.
to Mrs Delany; hospitality and bill of fare recounted in Mrs Delany’s
diaries; Mrs Delany bought house at Spring Gardens, England, with which
she parted shortly before his death; issued as ‘J.R.’ [pseud.]
Observations upon Lord Orrery’s Remarks upon the Life and Writings
of Dr. Jonathan Swift (1754), intended to vindicate Swift from some
of Orrery’s insinuations, well written, and only account of Swift
by one who had known him in the full force of his intellect; Swift left
a medal to him, and appointed him one of his executors; lawsuit arising
out of first marriage having destroyed settlement made at the time; wife’s
heirs called for account of the property; decision against him by Irish
chancellor, 23 Dec. 1752; reversed on appeal to Lords, 1758, Lord Mansfield
speaking for him in ‘an hour and a half of angelic oratory (Mrs Delany,
Autobiog., 1st ser. iii, 490); health decayed; started the Humanist,
denouncing among other things docking of horses tails; tried effect of
Bath waters; gradually sank, and d. 6 May 1768; left nothing but his books
and furniture. Bibl. incl. Swift’s works, Mrs Delany’s Autobiog.,
Cotton’s Fasti, ii, 58, 59; Boulter’s Letters; Josiah Brown’s
Cases in Parliament (1783, v.300-25).
D. J. O’Donoghue, Poets of Ireland (Dublin: Hodges Figgis 1912), lists A Poem addressed to His Excellency Lord Carteret [who appointed him Chancellor of Christ Church, DNB supra] (Dublin 1730); friend of Swift; b. Ireland circa 1685; anthologised by Matthew Concanen [Misc. Poems by Several hands, 1727]; some relics in Gilbert collection, Dublin Central.
Charles Read, ed., A Cabinet of Irish Literature (3 vols., 1876-78), cites further publications (sermons, &c.; see Works, supra), and called the Swift reposte Critiques on Orrery’s Life of Swift (1754); selects ‘the Duties of a Wife [‘first, she is to love her husband, anf that upon the same principles, and for the very same reason, that he is to love her. First, because they are one flesh ... it is not, indeed, to be imagined that men should treat their wives with the same reserve and formal complaisance after marriage; that the freedom and ease of friendship forbids; but why friendship and freedom should be a reason for ill-treatment, I must own I cannot conceive ... but after all, wives that are so unhappy as to be too much provoked by the ill treatment of their husbands, should always remember that their husbands’ guilt doth not justify theirs, and much less will neglect or rudeness in the husband justify infidelty in the wife.’]; ‘The Duty of Paying Debts’ [‘A good-natured villain will surfeit a sot and gorge a glutton, nay, will glut his horses and his hounds with that food for which the vendors are one day to starve to death in a dungeon; a good-natured monster will be gay in the spoils of widows and orphans./Good-nature separated from virtue is absolutey the worst quality and character in life; at least, if this be good-nature, to feed a dog, and to murder a man. And therfore, if you have any pretence to good-nature, pay your deabts and in so doing clothe those poor families that are no in rags for your finery -’
Brian Cleeve & Ann Brady, A Dictionary of Irish Writers (Dublin: Lilliput 1985) notes that he held office of Chancellor of St. Patrick’s Cathedral but prospered through marriage to two wealthy widows, to the advantage of his friends; lived in Delville, Glasnevin; entertained Swift and O’Carolan; cites Observations upon Lord Orrery’s Remarks upon the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift (1754); Revelations examined with candour (1732); Reflections on Polygamy (1738), and a defence of Swift against Orrery, 1754.
The Oxford Companion to English Literature, ed. Margaret Drabble (OUP 1986), cites Observations upon Lord Orrery’s Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift (1754), signed ‘J.R.’, an attempt to correct ‘very mistaken and erroneous accounts which have been published.’
Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing (1991), Vol. 1 453-54 [remarks on Swift’s circle, his exchange of literary complements with Delany and others; and the enmity of Arbuckle]; selects ‘News from Parnassus’ [456-57; eulogising Swift]; [WORKS& COMM., 492, Observations &c. (Lon 1754; also Dublin 1754); Delany considered in all major biographies; see also Robert W Uphaus, ‘Swift’s "whole character", The Delany Poems and "Verses on th Death of Dr Swift"‘, Modern Language Quarterly, 34, No.4 (Dec. 1973), pp.406-16; reference in JC Beckett chapter in A New History of Ireland, IV; DNB. BIBL., 495, ‘News from Parnassus’ (Dublin 1721), Foxon D202, from Harold Williams, ed., The Poems of Jonathan Swift, I, pp.266-69; do., also in Matthew Concanen’s Miscellaneous Poems [by Several Hands] (London 1724). NOTE also, ; The most severe attack on Swift was made by James Arbuckle, the poet, philosopher and journalist who edited The Dublin Weekly Journal, 1725-27, and who was ridiculed again and again by the literati bewteen 1725 and 1736. Swift had used the figure of Momus as the patron of the Moderns in The Battle &c. In 1735 Arbuckle used him to attack Swift’s private life, leaving it to Mercury, a thief, ‘Pimp’, and ‘Blackguard Crier of the News’, to make an unconvincing tribute to Swift at the end of the poet. [FDA1453-54; and see under Arbuckle, and Sterling.]
Dean Patrick Delany would not have Tristram Shandy in the house
as a work of ‘bad tendency’ (see ‘Mrs. Delany’ in
Constantia Maxwell, Strangers in Ireland, 1954, p. 149).
Of Swift’s meeting with Stella, Dr. Delany wrote, ‘I have good reason to believe that they were greatly shocked and distressed (tho’ it may be differently) upon the occasion. The Dean made a tour to the South of Ireland for about two months, at this time, to dissipate his thoughts and give place to obloquy. And Stella retired (upon the earnest invitation of the owner) to the house of a cheerful, generous, good-natured friend of the Dean’s whom she also much loved and honoured. there my informant often saw her and, I have reason to believe, used his utmost endeavour to relieve, support and amuse her in this sad situation.’ (Cited Sybil Le Brocquy, Cadenus, 1962, p.99-100, with the comment that Dr. Delany was himself the informant.)
There is a bust by [attributed to] Van Nost in the Old Library, TCD; Constantia Maxwell says; ‘he was a very good preacher, a popular tutor, a writer of verses and epigrams, and a man of taste and humour, whose intelligence was praised by Swift. He wrote some very dull books, but one has only to look at the fascinating bust of him by Van Nost in the gallery of Trinity College Library to see that he had humour and charm.’ (Maxwell, Strangers in Ireland, 1954, p.145]
For Delany’s improvements at Delville [House], see Edward Malins, ‘Landscape Gardening by Jonathan Swift and His Friends in Ireland, Garden History II (1973), 69 [J. W. Foster, Colonial Consequences, 1991]. FDFA1, selects ‘News from Parnassus’, 456-57.
There is a notice of Delany, DD, Chancellor of Christ Church, 1730-44, in THE CHURCH OF S. WERBURGH DUBLIN, by SC Hughes (Hodges & Figgis 1889, 104 Grafton St.; Charles W Gibbs, Printer, Dublin), pp.156 [it is hoped that it will possess some interest for the Visitors - viz, Sir Knights of the Baldwin Encampment, Bristol, attending Vestry in Comm. of Special Services, 27 Mar 1898 - as the first English in Dublin were a Bristol Colony, and as Bristol has among her own Churches one ded. to S Werburgh.]. Delany, Scholarship at TCD 1704, grad. 1706; Fellowship 1709; King’s Lect. in Div., 1722-28; Prof. of Oratory and History, 1724-32; vicar of Davidstown, 1727; in addition, rector of Derryvullen, Clogher, 1728; resigned fellowship. Chancellor of Christ Church, 1727-44; Chancellor of St patrick’s, 1730, holding his other benefices by faculty; Deanery of Down, 1744. Much information about his life and times may be gleaned from the Memoirs of Mrs Delany, a pompous relative of Lord Carteret. [Cf. ‘a pompous beadle’ who was deposed for reading the burial service, ibid., p.47.] He had a residence at Delville, Glasnevin, and having died at Bath in 1768, he was buried at the corner of the old graveyard in Glasnevin. There is an attractive bust [port.] of him in the College Library. Excellent preacher and good writer of prose and verse, one of the most brilliant of Swift’s set, ‘And thus my stock of wit decayed,/I dying leave the debt unpaid,/Unless Delany, as my heir,/Will answer for the whole arrear.’ (Swift, in lines on Stella). Further, advising Sheridan to study the goodhumour of Delany’s verse, ‘He’ll find the secret out from thence/To rhyme all day without offence.’ Referring to Delany’s slow promotion, and his own, ‘A genius in the reverend gown/Must ever keep its owner down;/’Tis an unnatural combination,/And spoils the credit of the function’. Delany wrote his fable of ‘The Pheasant and the Lark’ on the occasion of his promotion to Chancellorship by Carteret, ‘It chanced as on a day he strayed/ Beneath an Academic shade,/He liked, amid a thousand throats,/The wildness of a woodlark’s notes;/And searched, and spied, and seized his game,/And took him home, and made him tame,/Found him on trial, true and able/So cheered, and fed him at his table.’ (pp.62-63, END]
Delany write in appreciation of Charles O’Conor’s Dissertations on its being reprinted in a revised edn. in 1766, subjoining, ‘I gladly take this occasion to assure you than no mortal has as cordial a good will to the nation or natives as I have; and I can give no better proof of it, than solemnly to declare that I wish them all as free from the chains of Rome as I am; and upon my concsicnece I know no other more beneficent either to them or you in particular. (Cited by O’Conor in letter to John Curry, 5 June 1766; see Ward & Ward, eds., Letters of Charles O’Conor, 1988, p.181.). NOTE, O’Conor later registers gratitude to George Faulkner for an introduction to the Dean of Down – that is, Delany – and others (28 Oct. 1766; ibid., p.187).
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)