Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/180

Ashe ASHE, ST. GEORGE (1658?–1718), Irish bishop, descended from a Wiltshire family which had settled in Ireland, was born at Roscommon, educated at Dublin, and became a fellow of Trinity College in 1679. During the Revolution he left the country, and was chaplain to Lord Paget, the ambassador of William III at Vienna. He returned, and became provost of Trinity in his thirty-fourth year in 1692. He was made bishop of Cloyne in 1695; was translated to Clogher in 1697, and to Derry in 1716-17. He died at Dublin 27 Feb. 1717-18, and left his mathematical books to Trinity College. He published three sermons and contributed some papers upon modes of geometrical demonstration and observations on natural phenomena to the Royal Society, of which he was a fellow (Phil. Transactions, Nos. 116, 162, 164, 171, 176, 220, 228, 243). He also succeeded Molyneux as secretary to the Irish Philosophical Society. He is best known from his intimacy with Swift, who was his pupil at Trinity College, and who became his lifelong friend. Frequent references to him in the 'Journal to Stella' show that Swift was his constant correspondent, and consulted him on many matters of business. He was one of three brothers; Tom Ashe, the eldest, was a squire with an estate of 1,000l. a year in Meath; Dillon Ashe, a clergyman, was vicar of Finglas from 1694 to 1716, when he was succeeded by the poet Parnell. All three were friends of Swift, and joined in his favourite amusement of making execrable puns at Lord Pembroke's viceregal court; their slang language constructed of puns being called Castilian (, Life of Swift, p. 191). Dillon seems to have been an undignified and claret-loving priest. Swift says that 'Dilley's' red face will 'whiz' in the Bath waters; and that the rabble will say, 'There goes a drunken parson,' and, 'which is worse, will say true' (Journal to Stella, 10 April 1711). The bishop was a man of high character; Addison was charmed with him; and Sir A. Fountaine said to Swift that there was not a bishop in England with half his wit. He was intimate with Hester Johnson (Stella); the younger Sheridan says (Life of Swift, p. 280), on the authority of Mrs. Sican, that Ashe, at Swift's desire, inquired 'into the cause of Stella's melancholy in 1716, and performed the marriage ceremony which was the consequence of her explanation. The statement that Swift and Stella were married by Ashe in 1716 is also made by Lord Orrery, by Dr. Johnson on the authority of Dr. Madden, and by Monck Berkeley on the authority of his grandmother, the widow of Bishop Berkeley. The bishop was travelling on the continent as tutor to Ashe's only son, St. George Ashe, from 1715 to 1720. He could hardly have received the statement from Ashe himself; and it is still doubtful whether the marriage took place. It is plain, however, that Ashe was one of Swift's most trusted and valued friends, and had the confidence of Stella.

[Ware's Bishops of Ireland (ed. Harris); Swift's Works; Forster's and Craik's Lives of Swift.]  ASHE, SIMEON (d. 1662), a nonconformist divine, was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He began his ministration in Staffordshire, but was soon ejected from his living on account of his refusal to read the 'Book of Sports' and to conform to other ceremonies. On his dismissal Sir John Burgoyne befriended him and allowed him the use of an 'exempt' church at Wroxhall; and he was afterwards under the protection of Lord Brook. When the civil war broke out, he became chaplain to the Earl of Manchester; and in 1644 joined with William Goode, another chaplain of the Earl of Manchester, in writing a pamphlet entitled 'A particular Relation of the most Remarkable Occurrences from the United Forces in the North' This was followed by another pamphlet, for which Ashe alone was responsible, entitled 'A True Relation of the most Chiefe Occurrences at and since the late Battell at Newbery.' The writer's object in both cases was to vindicate the conduct of his patron. In Vicars's 'Parliamentary Chronicle' there is a letter of his, describing the proceedings of the Earl of Manchester in reducing several garrisons after the battle of Marston Moor. At the close of the war he received the living of St. Austin, and was also one of the Cornhill lecturers. Although he had joined the side of the parliament, Ashe was strongly opposed to the extreme party of the Cromwellians; and when the time was ripe for the restoration he was among the divines who went to Breda to meet Charles II. He died a few days before the passing of the Act of Conformity, and was buried on 24 Aug. 1662. Had he lived to see the passing of the act, he would have vacated his living. Ashe was a man of some property, and while he held the living of St. Austin, his house was always open to his clerical brethren. Walker charges him with exercising severity against the conforming clergy.

Ashe was the author of several sermons, among which may be mentioned: 1. 'A Sermon on Ps. ix. 9,' preached before the