Patrick Delany (theologian)

Patrick Delany, D.D. (1686 – 6 May 1768), was an Irish clergyman and described by A Compendium of Irish Biography as "an eloquent preacher, a man of wit and learning."

Biography

He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, which he entered as a sizar, rising to be Senior Fellow. He became well known as a preacher at St. Werburgh's, attracting the attention of Lord Carteret, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Exchanging the Fellowship for the office of Chancellor of Christ Church, Dublin, impoverished him in the late 1720s, but in 1731 he married Mrs. Margaret Tenison, "a rich Irish widow, and again found himself in a position to gratify his hospitable disposition and indulge his literary tastes."

"He wrote and published several works, chiefly theological; and at his beautiful residence of Delville, Glasnevin, he was wont to collect a brilliant circle, in which Swift shone pre-eminent. His wife died in 1741, and two years afterwards he married Mrs. Pendarves, a lady of uncommon brilliancy, heart, and accomplishments, his junior by fourteen years. Her fortune brought a considerable addition to his income. She had visited Dr. Delany during his first wife's lifetime, and had long been an admirer of his character and his writings. Her maiden name was Mary Granville: she was highly connected, being a niece of Lord Lansdowne's. At eighteen she was married for money to a Cornish miser of "the name of Pendarves."

"After about six years of misery, her husband died suddenly in London, in 1724, and she found herself a rich young widow at twenty-four years of age. Moving in the dissolute society of the time, nought but her purity and good sense carried her safely through her married life, and her nineteen years of widowhood, during which she received numberless brilliant offers. Her marriage with Dr. Delany proved singularly happy. She writes: "I could not have been so happy with any man in the world as the person I am now united to; his real benevolence of heart, the great delight he takes in making everyone happy about him, is a disposition so uncommon, that I would not change that one circumstance of happiness for all the riches and greatness in the world." Mrs. Delany delighted in Delville, a spot that will long be associated with her memory and that of her husband. In May 1744 he was made Dean of Down."

"Dr. Delany vindicated his friend Dean Swift's memory from the strictures of Lord Orrery. It is related that on one occasion he had the honour of preaching before George II., and when the moment came he was so awed by the presence of Majesty that Mrs. Delany was obliged to write out the text for the royal pew. He died at Bath, 6th May 1768, aged about 82, and was buried in Glasnevin graveyard. The last seven years of his life were years of ill-health and great depression; added to which their means had been somewhat reduced by his generosity and hospitality. Allibone writes: "Delany was a man of ability and learning; disposed occasionally to use his fancy, and to reason confidently on doubtful or disputed premises. There is also a great lack of evangelical sentiment in his writings."

External links

• Works by Patrick Delaney on the Internet Archive