Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon

Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon (1637–1685), was an Anglo-Irish landlord, Irish peer, and poet.

Wentworth Dillon
Earl of Roscommon
Reign1649–1685
PredecessorJames, 3rd Earl of Roscommon
SuccessorCarey, 5th Earl of Roscommon
BornOctober 1637
Died18 January 1685
Spouse(s)Frances Boyle, Isabella Boynton
Issue
childless
FatherJames, 3rd Earl of Roscommon
MotherElizabeth Wentworth

Birth and origins

Wentworth was born in October 1637[lower-alpha 1] in Dublin, probably in St George's Lane.[1] He was the only son of James Dillon, 3rd Earl of Roscommon, and Elizabeth Wentworth. His father was the 2nd 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 viceroy at the time of Wentworth's birth.

Early life

As a young child he was educated by a tutor at Wentworth Woodhouse, his uncle Thomas's family seat in Yorkshire. Later he was sent to Caen in Normandy, where a Calviniste academy or university existed at that time and where Wentworth is supposed to have been taught by Samuel Bochart.[3] Finally, he also studied at Rome.[4]

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.[5]

Marriages

He married twice. Both marriages were childless.

In April 1662 he married Frances, widow of Colonel Francis Courtenay and daughter of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington, who was also 2nd Earl of Cork.[6]

On 10 November 1674 he married Isabella Boynton.[7] She outlived him and died in 1721.

Family tree
Wentworth Dillon with his two wives, his parents, and other selected relatives. Both his marriage were childless.
James
1st Earl

d. 1641
Eleanor
Barnewall

d. 1628
Margaret
Barry
Robert
2nd Earl
d. 1642
Ann
Strode
;
James
3rd Earl
c. 1605 – 1649
Elizabeth
Wentworth
;
Carey
5th Earl
1627–1689
Frances
Boyle
Wentworth
4th Earl
1637–1685
Isabella
Boynton
;
Robert
6th Earl
d. 1715
Robert
7th Earl
d. 1721
Angel
Ingoldsby
;
James
8th Earl
d. 1746
unmarried
Legend
XXXWentworth
Dillon
XXXEarls of
Roscommon
This family tree is partly derived from the Roscommon pedigree in Cokayne.[8]

Career

After the Restoration he returned to England, and was well received at court. 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 possessed 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.[9] 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.

His 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).[10] 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";[11] 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.[12]

Death, succession, and timeline

Lord Roscommon died on 18 January 1685 in his house at St James, Westminster[13] and was buried in Westminster Abbey.[14] The title passed to his uncle, Carey Dillon, 5th Earl of Roscommon (1627–1689),[15] the "Colonel Dillon" of the Diary of Samuel Pepys.[16] 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 title to the earldom before the House of Lords. When he died in May 1850, it became extinct.

Works

Roscommon's poems were collected in 1701, and are included in Robert Anderson's and other collections of the British poets.

Notes and references

  1. Gillespie(2004) gives his birth as "October 1637",[1] but Cousin (1910) gives it as "1633?".[2]
  1. Gillespie 2004, p. 226: "... was born in Dublin, probably in St George's Lane in October 1637."
  2. Cousin 1910, p. 321: "ROSCOMMON, Wentworth, Dillon (1633? – 1685) ..."
  3. Johnson 1912, p. 161: "... was sent to Caen, where the Protestants then had a university, and continued his studies under Bochart."
  4. Chisholm 1911, p. 727, left column, line 25: "... was educated partly at under a tutor at his uncle's seat in Yorkshire, partly in Caen in Normandy, and partly in Rome."
  5. 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."
  6. Cokayne 1895, p. 411, line 40: "He m. firstly, April 1662 Frances, widow of Col. Francis COURTENAY, 1st da. of Richard (BOYLE), 2nd EARL OF CORK [I.], and 1st EARL OF BURLINGTON by Elizabeth, suo jure Baroness Clifton."
  7. Cokayne 1895, p. 411, line 43: "He m. secondly (lic. at Vic. gen. off. stating him to be about 30), 10 Nov. 1674, Isabella, yst da. and coheir of Lieut.-Col. Matthew BOYNTON by Isabel, da. of Robert STAPLETON, of Wighill, co. York."
  8. Cokayne 1895, p. 414.
  9. Chisholm 1911, p. 727, left column, line 33: "... he found abundant opportunity to indulge the love of gambling, which appears to have been his only vice."
  10. Duke 1717, p. .
  11. Chisholm 1911, p. 727, left column, line 49: "Alexander Pope ... says that 'In all Charles's days, Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays'."
  12. Chisholm 1911, p. 727, left column, line 59: "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."
  13. Cokayne 1895, p. 411, line 45: "He d. s.p. at his house at St James, Westm. 18 Jan. 1684/5 ..."
  14. Chester 1876, p. 212: "1684/5 Jan. 21 The Earl of Roscommon: [in the Abbey]."
  15. Burke 1866, p. 172, right column: "... the honours reverted to his uncle ..."
  16. Pepys 1893, p. 217: "Aug. 8, 1660. We found them very pretty, and Coll. Dillon there, a very merry and witty companion ..."
  17. Burke 1866, p. 577, left column, line 3: "He [Strafford] suffered death with characteristic firmness on Tower Hill, 12 May 1641."
  18. Burke 1949, p. cclxvii, line 9: "… after the decapitation of CHARLES I at Whitehall, 30 Jan. 1649 ..."
  19. Coffey 1914, p. 213: "Cromwell landed in Dublin on August 15th [1649]."
  20. Seaward 2004, p. 127, right column: "… he sailed to England and on 29 May [1660] he entered London in triumph."
  21. 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.
  22. Chisholm 1911, p. 727, left column, line 72: "He also translated into French from the English of Dr W. Sherlock Traitté touchant l'obéissance passive (1686)."
Political offices
Preceded by
The Earl Fauconberg
Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners
1676–1677
Succeeded by
Lord Deincourt
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
James Dillon
Earl of Roscommon
1649–1685
Succeeded by
Carey Dillon
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.