THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 29 



preacher we have." He was successively Rector of St. 

 John's, Dublin, Chancellor of Christ Church, and Chancellor 

 of St. Patrick's, finally being appointed in 1744 to the 

 Deanery of Down. Delany published a vindication of Swift 

 and his circle, in reply to Lord Orrery's insinuations, which 

 is said to contain the only extant account of the great Dean 

 by one who had been acquainted with him when his 

 intellect was in its fullest vigour. Delany was author of 

 Revelation examined with candour, a performance on which he 

 was said to set a high value, and of a Life of David, King of 

 Israel, and his Reflections on Polygamy excited much criticism. 

 Delany married, as his second wife, Mary Granville, Mrs. 

 Pendarves, whose well-known Correspondence gives such 

 charming glimpses of their happy domestic life and sur- 

 roundings at Delville, Glasnevin, and of society in Dublin 

 between 1740 and 1770. The Dean of Down died at Bath 

 in 1768, and lies buried at Glasnevin. 



7. Humphry French, born in 1680, was M.P. for Dublin 

 17336, and Lord Mayor 17323, being well known in his 

 day as the " good Lord Mayor." He reformed a number of 

 abuses, and when candidate for the representation of the 

 city, Dean Swift exerted his powerful influence on his 

 behalf, always appearing to regard French with strong 

 feelings of admiration. One of the Dean's poems a 

 paraphrase of the igth Ode of the Fourth Book of Horace 

 addressed to Humphry French, concludes as follows : 



" This the sovereign man complete ; 

 Hero : patriot : glorious : free : 

 Rich and wise : and good and great : 

 Generous Humphry, thou art he ! " 



He died in October 1736. Swift fully intended to have 

 written his biography, and in a letter to Geo. Faulkner, the 

 printer, begged him to procure particulars of his life, more 

 especially from Mr. Maple (curator and registrar of the 

 Dublin Society), who, Swift added, was French's " most 

 intimate friend, who knew him best, and could give the 

 most just character of himself and his actions. I will, 

 though I am oppressed with age and infirmities, stir up all 



