Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/7

Rh In 1725, Concanen published an octavo volume of poems, consisting chiefly of compositions of his own, and some few of other gentlemen; they are addressed to the Lord Gage, whom he endeavours artfully to flatter without offending his modesty. The gentlemen, who assisted our author in his collection, were Dean Swift, Parnell, Dr. Delany, Messrs. Brown, Ward, and, Stirling. In this collection there is a poem by Concanen, called "A Match at Foot-ball," in three cantos, written, it is said, in imitation of Pope's "Rape of the Lock." He was also concerned with Mr. Roome and another gentleman, in altering Browne's "Jovial Crew," into a ballad opera, which was performed about the year 1730, and the profits given entirely to Mr. Concanen. His wit and literary abilities recommended him to the favour of the Duke of Newcastle, through whose interest, in 1782, he obtained the lucrative post of attorney-general of the island of Jamaica, which office he filled with the utmost integrity and honour, and to the perfect satisfaction of the inhabitants for more than seventeen years, when, having acquired an ample fortune, (one of his biographers says by marrying a planter's daughter,) he was desirous of passing the close of his life in his native country, with which intention he quitted Jamaica, and came to London, intending to pass some little time there before he went to settle entirely in Ireland. But the difference of climate between that metropolis and the island he had so long been accustomed to, had so violent an effect on his constitution, that he fell into a consumption, of which he died on the 22nd of January, 1749, a few weeks after his arrival in London.

His original poems, though short, are possessed of considerable merit; but much cannot be said of his play, entitled "Wexford Walls." Concanen has several songs in "The Musical Miscellany," published in 6 vols. in 1729. But a memorable letter addressed to him by Dr. Warburton, will perhaps be remembered longer than any writing of his own pen. This letter, which Mr. Malone first published (in his Supplement to Shakspeare, vol. i.