3 o A HISTORY OF 



the little spirit I can raise to give the public an account of 

 that great patriot : and propose him as an example to all 

 future magistrates, in order to recommend his virtues to 

 this most miserable kingdom." 



8. John Boyle, 5th Earl of Orrery, and 5th Earl of 

 Cork, born 1707 ; a friend of Swift, Pope, and Johnson. 

 His Remarks on the Life and Writings of Jonathan Swifts 1 75 1, 

 was the first attempt made at any account of the Dean, who 

 left Orrery a portrait and some silver plate. Though they 

 had been friends, the work showed malice, and it is thought 

 that some contemptuous remarks of Swift were repeated 

 to the Earl. He died in 1762. 



9. Ambrose Philips, born in 1675, was a Fellow of 

 Trinity College, Cambridge, and a member of Addison and 

 Steele's circle. His poetical Pastorals and tragedy of The 

 Distressed Mother are well known. On his friend, Hugh 

 Boulter, becoming Primate of Ireland in 1 724, he brought 

 Philips over with him as secretary, and he was elected m.p. 

 for Armagh. In 1733 he was appointed Judge of the Irish 

 Court of Prerogative, and died in 1749. 



10. Thomas Sheridan, born in 1687, was a schoolmaster, 

 and a friend of Dean Swift from the time of his arrival in 

 Dublin as Dean of St. Patrick's. At Quilca, co. Cavan, 

 Sheridan's place, Swift planned the Drapier's Letters, and 

 wrote portion of Gulliver's Travels. Sheridan was generally 

 believed to be one of the greatest scholars in the kingdom, 

 and he published editions of some of the works of Persius, 

 Juvenal, and Sophocles. Sheridan died at Rathfarnham in 



1738- 



It is noteworthy that Dean Swift, who was so 

 deeply interested in everything that concerned the pro- 

 sperity and advancement of Ireland, did not become 

 a member of the Society, though many of its prominent 

 members were well known to him, some of them indeed 

 being intimate personal friends. Dr. Elrington Ball, an 



