Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 35.djvu/302

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
296

    1851, 2 vols. 8vo.

  1. ‘Phantasmata, or Illusions and Fanaticisms of Protean Forms, productive of Great Evils,’ London, 1857, 2 vols. 8vo.
  2. ‘The Turkish Empire in its Relations with Christianity and Civilisation,’ London, 1862, 2 vols. 8vo.
  3. ‘Galileo and the Inquisition,’ London, 1863, 8vo.
  4. ‘The History of Irish Periodical Literature from the End of the 17th to the Middle of the 19th Century: its Origin, Progress, and Results, with Notices of Remarkable Persons connected with the Press in Ireland during the past Two Centuries,’ London, 1867, 2 vols. 8vo.

From materials collected by him also was compiled ‘Ireland in '98: Sketches of the Principal Men of the Time, based upon the Published Volumes and some Unpublished Manuscripts of the late Dr. Madden,’ ed. J. Bowles Daly, LL.D., London, 1888, 8vo.

[Memoirs, chiefly autobiographical, of Richard Robert Madden, edited by his son Thomas More Madden, M.D., 1891; Times, 8 Feb. 1886; Men of the Time, 11th edit.; Royal Kal. 1848; Medical Directory, 1886; Madden's Literary Life of the Countess of Blessington, i. 100 et seq.; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit.]

J. M. R.

MADDEN, SAMUEL, D.D. (1686–1765), miscellaneous writer and philanthropist, born in Dublin on 23 Dec. 1686, was son of John Madden, M.D., one of the original members of the Irish College of Physicians, by his first wife, Mary, daughter of Samuel Molyneux, and sister of the famous William Molyneux [q. v.] and of Sir Thomas Molyneux [q. v.], professor of physic at Dublin. He entered the university of Dublin on 28 Feb. 1700. On the death of his father in 1703 he succeeded to the family estates, and took possession of the seat of Manor Waterhouse, co. Fermanagh, three miles from Newtown Butler. He graduated B.A. in 1705 and D.D. 23 Jan. 1723 (Cat. of Dublin Graduates, 1869, p. 364). After being ordained a clergyman of the established church, he obtained the living of Galloon, co. Fermanagh, including the village of Newtown Butler, and about 1727 that of Drummully, adjacent to the village of Newtown Butler, which was in the gift of the family. In 1729 he appointed as curate Philip Skelton [q. v.], who also acted as private tutor to Madden's sons.

In 1729 Madden published ‘Themistocles, the Lover of his Country,’ a tragedy in five acts, and in verse (three editions, London, 1729, 8vo). It was acted with considerable success at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields. In the following year he printed ‘A Letter from the rev. mr. M[a]d[de]n to the hon. lady M[oly]n[eu]x, on occasion of the death of the rt. hon. S[amue]l M[oly]n[eu]x,’ Dublin, 1730, fol., a single leaf. On 7 Sept. 1730 he submitted to the university of Dublin, through its parliamentary representative, Marmaduke Coghill, a scheme for the encouragement of learning by the establishment of premiums, for which he proposed to raise a fund, amounting at the lowest to 230l. per annum. Of this sum 80l. per annum was to be derived from a tax on undergraduates, and in addition 3,000l. was to be raised by subscription, and Madden himself contributed 600l. to carry out the scheme, which was, with some modifications, adopted by the university. The details were explained in ‘A Proposal for the General Encouragement of Learning in Dublin College,’ Dublin, 1731, 4to; 2nd edit. 1732. He next published, anonymously, ‘Memoirs of the Twentieth Century: being original Letters of State under George the Sixth … received and revealed in the year 1728, and now published for the Instruction of all eminent Statesmen, Churchmen, Patriots, Politicians, Projectors, Papists, and Protestants,’ London, 1733, 8vo. This cumbrous satire was to have extended to six volumes, only one of which, however, was published. A thousand copies were printed with unusual despatch, and within a fortnight nine hundred of them were delivered to the author, and probably destroyed. The current report was that the edition was suppressed on the day of publication (NICHOLS, Lit. Anecd. ii. 32). At this period Madden also published, anonymously, ‘A Letter concerning the Necessity of Learning for the Priesthood,’ Dublin, 1733, 8vo. It was followed by ‘Reflections and Resolutions proper for the Gentlemen of Ireland, as to their Conduct for the Service of their Country,’ Dublin, 1738, 4to. The latter was reprinted, Dublin, 1816, 8vo, by the philanthropic Thomas Pleasants, but without the original preface, the existence of which was positively denied by the editor (Lowndes, Bibl. Man. ed. Bohn, p. 1447). In this remarkable work the low condition of the country is ascribed to the extravagance and idle dispositions of the people. Madden recommended that criminals, instead of being executed or transported, should be employed in manufacturing hemp and flax in workhouses; that itinerant husbandmen should be encouraged to travel through the country, in order to give instruction to farmers; and that schools and professorships of agriculture should be established in the principal towns. The latter part of the work enumerates the benefits derivable from a judicious distribution of premiums, a subject which he brought under the notice of the Dublin Society,