h, became, in
1706, Archdeacon of Clogher, and through the recommendation of Swift
obtained also a good living. Parnell was fond of society, and was
accustomed as often as possible to join the wits in London. He was a
member of the Scriblerus Club, wrote for the _Spectator_, preached
eloquent sermons, and had the ambition of a poet. But the loss of his
wife preyed upon his mind, and he is said, though I believe chiefly on
Pope's authority, to have given way to intemperance. He died suddenly at
Chester at the age of thirty-nine in 1718.

Parnell was one of the poets whose fortunes Swift did his best to
promote. Writing in 1712, he says, 'I gave Lord Bolingbroke a poem of
Parnell's. I made Parnell insert some compliments in it to his lordship.
He is extremely pleased with it, and read some parts of it to-day to
Lord Treasurer, who liked it as much. And indeed he outdoes all our
poets here a bar's length.' And a month later he writes, 'Lord
Bolingbroke likes Parnell mightily, and it is pleasant to see that one
who hardly passed for anything in Ireland, makes his way here with a
little friendly forwarding.'

_The Hermit_, the _Hymn to Contentment_, an _Allegory on Man_, and a
_Night Piece on Death_, give Parnell his title to a place among the
poets. _The Rise of Woman_, and _Health, an Eclogue_, have also much
merit, and were praised by Pope (but this was to their author) as 'two
of the most beautiful things he ever read.' The story of _The Hermit_,
written originally in Spanish, is given in _Howell's Letters_
(1645-1655), and is admirably told by Parnell, but much that he wrote,
including a series of long poems on Scripture characters, is poetically
worthless. His poems, published five years after his death, were edited
by Pope, who wisely suppressed some pieces unworthy of the poet. Then,
as now, literary scavengers were at work. In 1758 the suppressed poems
were published, and called forth the comment from Gray, 'Parnell is the
dunghill of Irish Grub Street.' To Parnell Pope was indebted for the
_Essay on Homer_ prefixed to the translation, with which he does not
seem to have been well pleased. He complained of the stiffness of the
style, and said it had cost him more pains in the correcting than the
writing of it would have done.

If Parnell's prose has the defect of stiffness, his lines glide with a
smoothness that must have satisfied the ear of Pope. The higher
harmonies of verse were unknown to him, but ease is no