PARNELL, Thomas, D.D., an elegant poet, was the son of an English landed proprietor who had emigrated to Ireland, and was born at Dublin in 1679. His progress through the several stages of his education was rapid. At the age of thirteen he entered the university of his native town; in 1700 he took the degree of M.A.; and in the same year, although under the canonical age, he was ordained a deacon. It was not, however, until after he had been appointed to the archdeaconry of Clogher, in 1705, that Parnell became known in the literary world. He then began to compose those poems which attracted attention by their easy versification, refined sentiment, and successful imitation of the manner of Pope. Escaping also from his solitary parsonage, he frequently visited London, to cultivate the friendship of the leading wits of both political parties. His generous heart, cultivated understanding, and social qualifications, made him a favourite with both Whigs and Tories. Addison and Steele admitted his papers into the Spectator and Guardian; and Pope, Gay, and Arbuthnot received him into the famous "Scriblerus Club." The closing years of the short career of Parnell were clouded with sorrow. The loss of his wife in 1712 inflicted a severe blow on his sensitive nature. His preference, through the interest of Swift, to the vicarage of Finglass, in the diocese of Dublin, in 1716, did not relieve his melancholy. He became more and more averse to the solitude of home and the labours of the study, and more and more addicted to the excitement of London society and the oblivious influences of the bottle. These habits, it is said, undermined his constitution; and while returning to Ireland from a visit to the capital, he died at Chester in July 1718.
Parnell left behind him many compositions both in prose
and verse. A selection from his poems, which has been frequently reprinted, was published after his death by Pope. Of these, The Rise of Woman, The Fairy Tale, The Night-piece on Death, and The Allegory on Man, deserve to be still remembered. But his most popular poem is The Hermit, a tale not more pleasing for its easy rhythm than for its novel plan and its picturesque incidents. A Life of Parnell, by Goldsmith, is published in Goldsmith's Works, in Murray's "British Classics."