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Article MEMOIRS OF THE LATE DR. PAUL HIFFERNAN. ← Page 3 of 8 →
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Memoirs Of The Late Dr. Paul Hiffernan.
. It is seldom that the merit of this species of writing outlives it ' s original purpose . We have seen many of those papers , which , however the Doctor ( as HifFernan was usuall y called ) mi g ht pride himself on , possessed little else than personal abuse , or contradictions of oppositional statements . Now and then , indeed , some of the Doctor ' s whim appears , but it was of that kind as must induce his best friends to transfer the
. laugh more to the man than to his writings . .. ' _ " The Tickler , " however , as a party paper made its way for some time , and procured at least this advantage to the Author ( which he unfortunately prized too highly through life ) , of living constantly at private and public tables . An Author by profession at that time of ciay . in Ireland was no common . sihtand . gained admirers
g , many . Those who had their great opponent in politics periodically abused , felt a gratification in die company of their champion ; amongst these lie numbered many of the Aldermen of Dublin , and HifFernan was a man very well qualified to sit at an Alderman's table . .. If our Author had the satisfaction of being well known and caressed by liis friendshe had at the same time " the misfortune of being
, equally known and hated by his enemies , and , what was worse , his enemies by far out-numbered ' his friends ; in short , be became a marked man , and as he was one that gave an improper licence to his tono-ue as well as his pen , he met with several insults in coffee-houses and public places ., The Doctor parried this for some time , but as Lucas ' s reputation carried all before it , and as he was universally esteemed a
man of good intentions , HifFernan suffered additionally by comparison ; so that being chased out of all public places , and , as he . used " to tell himself , " in some danger of his life , " he , by the advice of his "friends , directed his course to London , there to try his fate as an Author " in . this general home of the necessitous . " What year he came to London we cannot exactl y ascertain , but it
must ; from some circumstances , be between the years 1753 and 2754 . In "that and the next year he published five numbers of . a pamphlet which he called "The Tuner , " in which , with more humour than he ever shewed afterwards , he ridiculed the then new plays of " Philotlca , " " Boadicea , " " Constantine , " " Virginia , " & c . His first emp loyment was in tranflations from the French and Latin Authors ; but
though a good scholar in both languages , he wanted that familiarity in his own , which rendered his style stiff and pedantic . He was not always punctual too in his engagements , so that after repeated trials lie was found not to answer the reputation he brought with'him from 'Ireland , and he was through necessity obliged to strike into a new Tine of Authorship . Whilst he was pursuing his studies at Paris and
TVIontpellier , as well as whilst he was in Ireland , he amused himself " with writing several things on occasional subjects for the entertainment of his friends , and partly , perhaps , with a view to keep up that passport to their tables in which he so much deli ghted . These , with some others on more general subjects , he resolved to publish , and accordingly , early in the year 1755 , he gave them to the world under
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Memoirs Of The Late Dr. Paul Hiffernan.
. It is seldom that the merit of this species of writing outlives it ' s original purpose . We have seen many of those papers , which , however the Doctor ( as HifFernan was usuall y called ) mi g ht pride himself on , possessed little else than personal abuse , or contradictions of oppositional statements . Now and then , indeed , some of the Doctor ' s whim appears , but it was of that kind as must induce his best friends to transfer the
. laugh more to the man than to his writings . .. ' _ " The Tickler , " however , as a party paper made its way for some time , and procured at least this advantage to the Author ( which he unfortunately prized too highly through life ) , of living constantly at private and public tables . An Author by profession at that time of ciay . in Ireland was no common . sihtand . gained admirers
g , many . Those who had their great opponent in politics periodically abused , felt a gratification in die company of their champion ; amongst these lie numbered many of the Aldermen of Dublin , and HifFernan was a man very well qualified to sit at an Alderman's table . .. If our Author had the satisfaction of being well known and caressed by liis friendshe had at the same time " the misfortune of being
, equally known and hated by his enemies , and , what was worse , his enemies by far out-numbered ' his friends ; in short , be became a marked man , and as he was one that gave an improper licence to his tono-ue as well as his pen , he met with several insults in coffee-houses and public places ., The Doctor parried this for some time , but as Lucas ' s reputation carried all before it , and as he was universally esteemed a
man of good intentions , HifFernan suffered additionally by comparison ; so that being chased out of all public places , and , as he . used " to tell himself , " in some danger of his life , " he , by the advice of his "friends , directed his course to London , there to try his fate as an Author " in . this general home of the necessitous . " What year he came to London we cannot exactl y ascertain , but it
must ; from some circumstances , be between the years 1753 and 2754 . In "that and the next year he published five numbers of . a pamphlet which he called "The Tuner , " in which , with more humour than he ever shewed afterwards , he ridiculed the then new plays of " Philotlca , " " Boadicea , " " Constantine , " " Virginia , " & c . His first emp loyment was in tranflations from the French and Latin Authors ; but
though a good scholar in both languages , he wanted that familiarity in his own , which rendered his style stiff and pedantic . He was not always punctual too in his engagements , so that after repeated trials lie was found not to answer the reputation he brought with'him from 'Ireland , and he was through necessity obliged to strike into a new Tine of Authorship . Whilst he was pursuing his studies at Paris and
TVIontpellier , as well as whilst he was in Ireland , he amused himself " with writing several things on occasional subjects for the entertainment of his friends , and partly , perhaps , with a view to keep up that passport to their tables in which he so much deli ghted . These , with some others on more general subjects , he resolved to publish , and accordingly , early in the year 1755 , he gave them to the world under