4TH

EARL OF

See also:

• WENTWORTH, WILLIAM CHARLES (1793-1872)

WENTWORTH

See also:

• DILLON, ARTHUR RICHARD (172I-1807)
• DILLON, JOHN (1851– )

DILLON

See also:

• ROSCOMMON
• 4TH EARL OF WENTWORTH DILLON ROSCOMMON (c. 163o-1685)

ROSCOMMON (c. 163o-1685)  , English poet, was born in Ireland about 163o . He was a nephew of Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford, and was educated partly under a tutor at his uncle's seat in Yorkshire, partly at Caen in Normandy and partly at Rome . 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 act of parliament of all the lands possessed by his family before the Civil War . As captain of the Gentleman Pensioners he found abundant opportunity to indulge the love of gambling, which appears to have been his only vice . Disputes with the Lord Privy Seal about his Irish estates necessitated his presence in Ireland, where he gave proof of some business capacity . On his return to London he was made master of the horse to the duchess of York . He was twice married, in 1662 to Lady Frances Boyle, widow of Colonel Francis Courtenay, and in 1674 to Isabella Boynton . His reputation as a didactic writer and critic rests on his blank verse translation of the Ars Poetica (168o) and his Essay on Translated Verse (1684) . 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." He saw clearly 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 Paradise Lost . Roscommon formed a small literary society which 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 . He was buried in Westminster Abbey on the 21st of January 1685 . The title passed to his uncle, Carey Dillon (1627-1689) . In 1746, on the death of James, the 8th earl, it passed to Robert Dillon (d . 177o), a descendant of the 'first earl . His family became extinct in 1816, and in 1828 Michael James Robert Dillon, another descend-ant of the 1st earl, established his title to the earldom before the House of Lords . When he died in May 185o it became extinct . Roscommon's poems were collected in 1701, and are included in Anderson's and other collections of the British poets . He also translated into French from the English of Dr W . Sherlock, Traitte touchant 1'obeissance passive (1686) .