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 iv. 188; ''Parl. Register''. XV. 77, 137-41). He attributed the existence and strength of the united Irish conspiracy to the misgovernment that followed Fitzwiliiam'a recall, and on 5 March 1798 moved for a committee to inquire into the state of the country, and to suggest such measures as were likely to conciliate the popular mind and to restore tranquillily; but his motion was rejected by 156 to 19 (, Life of H. Grattan, iv. 341;, ''Collect. Politic''. iii. 215-20). He deprecated the severity of the government, and was dismissed from his command of the King's County regiment of militia for what was called his 'mistaken lenity' (, Life of H. Grattan, iv. 343-4).

According to Lord Cornwallis, Parsons originally declared in favour of a union upon 'fair and equitable principles' (Corresp. iii. 197). The charge, Parsons declared was unfounded, and he was certainly a most uncompromising opponent of that measure in parliament. On 24 Jan. 1799 he moved an amendment to the address to the crown to expunge a paragraph in favour of a union, which was earned by 109 to 104; but a similar amendment to the address on 15 Jan. 1800 was defeated by 138 to 96; and he weakened his position by failing to substantiate a charge he preferred against the government of having dispersed a meeting of freeholders in the King's County by military force (ib. iii. 187). His interest in politics visibly declined after the union. In March 1805 he was made one of the lards of the treasury in Ireland, and was sworn a privy councillor of that kingdom. He succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father's half-brother Lawrence-Harman, first earl of Rosse (of the second creation), on 20 April 1807. He was appointed joint postmaster-general for Ireland in 1809, and in the same year was elected a representative peer of Ireland. He spoke very seldom from his seat in the House of Lords. He was, he declared, 'far from being disposed to think hardly of the catholic body,' but he strongly disapproved of the method of agitation adopted by the catholic committee under O'Connell's guidance (Parl. Debate, xviii, 1233), and he signed the 'Leinster Declaration' in 1830 against O'Connell's repeal agitation (O'Connell Corrrsp. ed. Fitzpatrick, ii. 229). But he confined his attention chiefly to matters of finance, taking a strongly hostile view of the report of the bullion committee (1811). He died at Brighton on 24 Feb. 1841, in his eighty-third year. Describing him as he appeared in the Irish House of Commons, the author of 'Sketches of Irish Political Characters of the Present Day' (1799) writes: 'His voice is strong, distinct, and deep: and his language simple, flowing, and correct; his action is ungraceful, but frequently forcible; his reasoning is close, compact, and argumentative; though his manner is stiff and awkward, his matter is always good, solid, and weighty.'

Parsons married, on 6 April 1797, Alice, daughter of John Lloyd, esq., of Gloster, King's County; she died on 4 May 1867. By her Parsons had William, third earl of Rosse [q. v.], John Clere, Lawrence, Jane, and Alicia.

In addition to the pamphlet on the Irish Mutiny Bill, already mentioned. Parsons published: 1. 'Observations on the Bequest of Henry Flood, Esq., to Trinity College, Dublin : with a Defence of the Ancient History of Ireland,' Dublin, 1795. 3, 'Observations on the Present State of the Currency of England,' London, 1811. 3. 'An Argument to prove the Truth of the Christian Revelation,' London, 1834.

[Burke's Peerage; Gent, Mag., 1841 pt. i, 536: Irish Parliamentary Register: Cornwallis Corresp.; Warden Flood's Memoirs of the Life of H. Flood, p. 189; Official Return of Members of Parliament; Parliamentary Debates, chiefly 1804 and 1811; Grattan's Life and Times of Henry Grattan; Lecky's Hist. of England: and authoriries quoted.)  PARSONS, PHILIP (1594–1653), principal of Hart Hall (now Hertford College), Oxford, was born in London in December 1594. He was admitted to Merchant Taylors' School in 1606, whence he was elected to St. John's College, Oxford, in 1610. He matriculated on 26 June 1610, and was chosen fellow in June 1613. He graduated B.A. on 6 June 1614, and M.A. on 9 May 1618; in the latter degree he was incorporated at Cambridge in 1622. In April 1624 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of proctor at Oxford. Afterwards he went to Italy, studied medicine, and took the degree of M.D. at Padua. Returning to England, he was called to the bar of the House of Commons to make a profession of his religion, which he did on 2 April 1628. On 20 June 1628 he was incorporated at Oxford as M.D. of Padua. He was made principal of Hart Hall on 15 April 1633. In March 1649 the committee for the advance of money granted an order to John Maudit, the sub-rector of Exeter College, to summon Parsons to show his reason for the non-payment of rent due to the college. He died on 1 May 1653, and was buried in Great Barrington Church, Gloucestershire.

Between 1611 and 1621 Parsons wrote a Latin comedy in iambic verse, entitled ‘Atalanta,’ which he dedicated to Laud, then