Page:The Poetical Works of Thomas Parnell (1833).djvu/57

Rh Archdeacon, and one of the Justices of the King's Bench in Ireland. No monument marked his grave; but his epitaph has been written by Johnson.

Such is the small amount of facts which has been preserved relating to the poet. I must now borrow from Goldsmith's narrative some account of his mental qualities and habits, for which the biographer was indebted to the information of his father and uncle: while I just mention, that if the account given is correct, the poems of Parnell do not form a clear transcript of his mind; nor could we, through the veil of their light and graceful gaiety, discern the feelings of a person whose passions were so strong, and whose life was an unfortunate alternation of rapture and agony. I shall leave to others to explain how far such violent and unrestrained habits were compatible with his delightful qualities as a companion;

but it is said, that he knew the ridicule which his strongly contrasted character excited; though he