Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon (1637–1685), was an Anglo-Irish soldier and poet.
Wentworth Dillon | |
|---|---|
| Earl of Roscommon | |
 | |
| Tenure | 1649–1685 |
| Predecessor | James, 3rd Earl of Roscommon |
| Successor | Carey, 5th Earl of Roscommon |
| Born | October 1637 |
| Died | 18 January 1685 |
| Spouse(s) | Frances Boyle, Isabella Boynton |
| Issue | childless |
| Father | James, 3rd Earl of Roscommon |
| Mother | Elizabeth Wentworth |
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Birth and origins edit
Wentworth was born in October 1637[b] in Dublin, probably in St George's Lane.[2] He was the only son of James Dillon, 3rd Earl of Roscommon, and Elizabeth Wentworth. His father was the 3nd Earl of Roscommon. He had conformed to the established church. Wentworth's mother was English, a sister of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, who was therefore his uncle. Strafford was viceroy at the time of Wentworth's birth.
Early life edit
As a young child he was educated by a tutor at Wentworth Woodhouse, his uncle Thomas's family seat in South Yorkshire. Later he was sent to Caen in Normandy, where a Calvinist academy or university existed at that time and where Wentworth is supposed to have been taught by Samuel Bochart.[6]
His father died accidentally in Limerick in 1649: according to family tradition Wentworth, who was at Caen at the time, exclaimed "My father is dead!" at the moment it happened, two weeks before the news could have reached him.[7] He therefore succeeded his father as the 4th Earl of Roscommon.
Roscommon, as he now was, travelled in Italy and studied at Rome.[8] He returned from Italy to London at the Restoration.[9] He was well received at court.
Marriages edit
Roscommon married twice. Both marriages were childless.
In April 1662 he married Frances, widow of Colonel Francis Courtenay, 3rd Baronet (died 1660), and daughter of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington, who was also 2nd Earl of Cork.[10][11]
On 10 November 1674 he married Isabella Boynton.[12] She outlived him and died in 1721.
Career edit
In 1649 he had succeeded to the Earldom of Roscommon, which had been created in 1622 for his great-grandfather, James Dillon; and he was now put in possession by an act of the Irish Parliament of all the lands owned by his family before the Civil War. As Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners he found abundant opportunity to indulge the love of gambling, which appears to have been his only vice.[13] He fought a number of duels, but unlike his uncle Carey, later the 5th Earl, he is not known to have killed any of his opponents. Disputes with Lord Robartes, the Lord Privy Seal, about his Irish estates necessitated his presence in Ireland, where he gave proof of some eloquence in debate, and of some business capacity. On his return to London, he was made Master of the Horse to the Duchess of York.
In 1671 Roscommon raised an Irish regiment for French service in the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678). He went with it to France, but the French disbanded it in 1672 and he returned to Ireland.[14]
Roscommon's reputation as a didactic writer and critic rests on his blank verse translation of Horace's Ars Poetica (1680) and his Essay on Translated Verse (1684).[15] The essay contained the first definite enunciation of the principles of poetic diction, which were to be fully developed in the reign of Queen Anne. Roscommon, who was fastidious in his notions of dignified writing, was himself a very correct writer, and quite free from the indecencies of his contemporaries. Alexander Pope, who seems to have learnt something from his carefully balanced phrases and the regular cadence of his verse, says that "In all Charles's days, Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays";[16] in his An Essay on Criticism, when Pope lists poets he admires, beginning from the classical age, Roscommon is one of two British poets he includes (William Walsh is the other).
Roscommon believed that a low code of morals was necessarily followed by a corresponding degradation in literature, and he insists that sincerity and sympathy with the subject in hand are essential qualities in the poet. This elevated conception of his art is in itself no small merit. He has, moreover, the distinction of having been the first critic to avow his admiration for Milton's Paradise Lost. Roscommon formed a small literary society that he hoped to develop into an academy with authority to formulate rules on language and style, but its influence only extended to a limited circle, although it included such men of distinction as John Dryden and George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, the scheme fell through after its promoter's death.[17]
Death, succession, and timeline edit
Roscommon died on 18 January 1685 in his house at St James, Westminster[18] and was buried in Westminster Abbey.[19] The title passed to his uncle, Carey Dillon, 5th Earl of Roscommon (1627–1689),[20] the "Colonel Dillon" of the Diary of Samuel Pepys.[21] In 1746, on the death of James, the 8th earl, it passed to Robert Dillon (died 1770), a descendant of the first earl. His family became extinct in 1816, and in 1828 Michael James Robert Dillon, another descendant of the 1st Earl, established his right to the earldom before the House of Lords. When he died in May 1850, the title became extinct.
| Timeline | ||
|---|---|---|
| Age | Date | Event |
| 0 | 1637, Oct | Born, probably in St George's Lane, Dublin[2] |
| 3 | 1641, 12 May | Strafford beheaded[22] |
| 7 | 1649, 30 Jan | King Charles I beheaded[23] |
| 11 | 1649, 15 Aug | Oliver Cromwell landed in Dublin.[24] |
| 18 | 1660, 29 May | Restoration of King Charles II[25] |
| 24 | 1662, Apr | Married Frances, widow Courtenay, née Boyle. |
| 37 | 1674, 10 Nov | Married Isabella Boynton.[12] |
| 42–43 | 1680 | Ars Poetica published. |
| 47 | 1685, 18 Jan | Died in St James, Westminster, London[18] |
Works edit
- Horace’s Art of Poetry (1680).[26]
- Traitté touchant l'obéissance passive (1686).[27]
Roscommon's poems were collected in 1701, and are included in Robert Anderson's and other collections of British poets.
Notes and references edit
Notes edit
Citations edit
- ^ Cokayne 1895, p. 414.
- ^ a b c Gillespie 2004, p. 226. "... was born in Dublin, probably in St George's Lane in October 1637."
- ^ Lunney 2009, 1st paragraph. "... was born ... in October 1637 ..."
- ^ Cousin 1910, p. 321. "Roscommon, Wentworth, Dillon (1633? – 1685) ..."
- ^ Wills 1841, p. 54. "Born A. D. 1633."
- ^ Johnson 1912, p. 161. "... was sent to Caen, where the Protestants then had a university, and continued his studies under Bochart."
- ^ Aubrey 1696, p. 89. "The Lord Roscomon, being a Boy of Ten Years of age at Caen in Normandy ... he cries out My Father is Dead."
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 727, first para, line two. "... was educated partly at under a tutor at his uncle's seat in Yorkshire, partly in Caen in Normandy, and partly in Rome."
- ^ Wills 1841, p. []https://archive.org/details/livesofillustrio05willuoft/page/54/ 55. "... he travelled through Italy, where he attained considerable skill in medals, and a perfect mastery of the language. He did not return to England till the restoration—"
- ^ Cokayne 1895, p. 411, line 40. "He m. [married] firstly, April 1662 Frances, widow of Col. Francis Courtenay, 1st da. [daughter] of Richard (Boyle), 2nd Earl of Cork [I. [Ireland]], and 1st Earl of Burlington by Elizabeth, suo jure Baroness Clifton."
- ^ Lodge 1789, p. 165. "He married first in April 1662, the Lady Frances Boyle, eldest daughter of Richard, Earl of Burlington and Cork, and widow of Colonel Francis Courtenay ..."
- ^ a b Cokayne 1895, p. 411, line 43. "He m. [married] secondly (lic. [licence] at Vic. gen. off. [Vicar General's office, London] stating him to be about 30), 10 Nov. 1674, Isabella, yst [youngest] da. [daughter] and coheir of Lieut.-Col. Matthew Boynton by Isabel, da. of Robert Stapleton, of Wighill, co. York."
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 727, first para, line seven. "... he found abundant opportunity to indulge the love of gambling, which appears to have been his only vice."
- ^ Lunney 2009, paragraph 3. "Having raised an infantry regiment to fight with the French against the Dutch, he left Ireland in 1671, but returned to Ireland a year later, his regiment having been disbanded by the French."
- ^ Duke 1717, p. [1].
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 727, second para, line five. "Alexander Pope ... says that 'In all Charles's days, Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays'."
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 727, second para, line ten. "Roscommon formed a small literary society that he hoped to develop into an academy with authority to formulate rules on language and style, but its influence only extended to a limited circle, and the scheme fell through after its promoter's death."
- ^ a b Cokayne 1895, p. 411, line 45. "He d. s.p. [died without issue] at his house at St James, Westm. 18 Jan. 1684/5 ..."
- ^ Chester 1876, p. 212. "1684/5 Jan. 21 The Earl of Roscommon: [in the Abbey]."
- ^ Burke 1866, p. 172, right column. "... the honours reverted to his uncle ..."
- ^ Pepys 1893, p. 217. "Aug. 8, 1660. We found them very pretty, and Coll. Dillon there, a very merry and witty companion ..."
- ^ Burke 1866, p. 577, left column, line 3. "He [Strafford] suffered death with characteristic firmness on Tower Hill, 12 May 1641."
- ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 17. "Charles I. ... exec. 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
- ^ Coffey 1914, p. 213. "Cromwell landed in Dublin on August 15th [1649]."
- ^ Fryde et al. 1986, p. 44, line 39. "Charles II. ... acc. 29 May 1660 ..."
- ^ Horace (1680). Horace's Art of Poetry. Made English by the Right Honorable the Earl of Roscommon. Translated by Wentworth Dillon. London: Printed for Henry Herringman at the Blew Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange. OCLC 81670860..
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 727, second para, final line. "He also translated into French from the English of Dr W. Sherlock Traitté touchant l'obéissance passive (1686)."
Sources edit
- Aubrey, John (1696). Miscellanies. London: Edward Castle. OCLC 1049629740.
- Burke, Bernard (1866). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (New ed.). London: Harrison. OCLC 11501348.
- Chester, Joseph Lemuel (1876). Registers of Westminster Abbey. London: Private Edition. OCLC 1140248. – Marriages, baptisms and burials from about 1660 to 1875
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 727.
- Coffey, Diarmid (1914). O'Neill and Ormond – A Chapter of Irish History. Dublin: Maunsel & Company. OCLC 906164979.
- Cokayne, George Edward (1895). Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Vol. VI (1st ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 1180818801. – N to R (for Roscommon)
- Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London: J. M. Dent & Sons.
- Duke, Richard, ed. (1717). Poems by the Earl of Roscomon. London: J. Tonson.
- Fryde, Edmund Boleslaw; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology. Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, No. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society. ISBN 0-86193-106-8. – (for timeline)
- Gillespie, Stuart (2004). "Dillon, Wentworth, fourth Earl of Roscommon". In Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 16. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 226–228. ISBN 0-19-861366-0.
- Johnson, Samuel (1912). Lives of the English Poets. Vol. 1. London: Oxford University Press.
- Lunney, Linde (October 2009). McGuire, James; Quinn, James (eds.). "Dillon, Wentworth". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- Lodge, John (1789). Archdall, Mervyn (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or, A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Vol. IV. Dublin: James Moore. OCLC 264906028. – Viscounts
- Pepys, Samuel (1893). Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (ed.). The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Vol. I. London: George Bell and Sons. OCLC 503692830. – 1 January 1660 to 30 March 1660/1
- Wills, Rev. James (1841). "Wentworth Dillon, Earl of Roscommon". Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen, from the earliest times to the present period. Vol. V. Dublin: MacGregor, Polson & Co. pp. 54–56.
External links edit
Works by or about Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon at Wikisource
Quotations related to Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon at Wikiquote- . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. XX (9th ed.). 1886. p. 850.
