Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/288

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Synge
282
Synge

fession had, but for the generally disturbed state of the kingdom in 1638, drawn down upon him the vengeance of Archbishop Laud (see Prynne, Canterburies Doom, p. 195; Strafford, Letters, ii. 185, 212, 249). On 11 Nov. 1638 he was consecrated bishop of Cloyne at Drogheda; but on the breaking out of the rebellion in October 1641 he fled for safety to Dublin. In February 1644 he was sworn of the Irish privy council, and on the death of Dr. John Maxwell (1590?–1647) [q. v.] in February 1646–7 was nominated to the archbishopric of Tuam; but, failing to obtain possession on account of the war, he returned in the following year to Bridgnorth, where he died in 1653, and was buried on 31 Aug. in the church of St. Mary Magdalene. He was the author of a learned reply to the Jesuit Malone’s answer to Archbishop Ussher, entitled ‘A Rejoinder to the Reply, published by the Jesuits under the name of William Malone,’ Dublin, 1632.

It was at his suggestion that his younger brother, Edward Synge (d. 1678), then a mere boy, but destined for the church, likewise repaired to Ireland. Having received a sound education at the school at Drogheda and Trinity College, Dublin, he was, after taking orders, preferred to the rectory of Killary in the barony of Lower Slane, co. Meath. In 1647 he was appointed a minor canon of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, and shortly afterwards vicar of Inishannon in co. Cork, and dean of Elphin. During the rule of the Commonwealth he persisted in using the English liturgy in all the public offices of his ministry, being secured from prosecution by his interest with Dr. Gorge, the then auditor-general. He was consecrated bishop of Limerick on 27 Jan. 1661, and on 21 Dec. 1663 translated to the united sees of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross. He died on 22 Dec. 1678, having acquired a reputation as a singularly able preacher. Of his two sons, Samuel the elder, having graduated B.A. from Christ Church College, Oxford, on 26 Nov. 1674, proceeding M.A. on 3 July 1677, became dean of Kildare on 17 April 1679, and, dying on 30 Nov., was buried in the family vault in St. Patrick’s churchyard, near Archbishop Marsh’s library, on 2 Dec. 1708.

Edward, the younger son, after being educated at the grammar school at Cork, was admitted a commoner at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1674, and graduated B.A. in 1677, but on his father’s death returned to Ireland, finishing his studies at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was admitted ad eundem, and took the degree of M.A. Having been ordained priest and deacon, he was preferred to the two small parishes of Laracor and Augher in the diocese of Meath, being both together of about the yearly value of 100l. These he afterwards exchanged for the vicarage of Christ Church, Cork, of the same value, but one of the heaviest cures in Ireland. Here he remained for more than twenty years, his income having been in the meantime increased to about 400l. a year by the gift of certain small benefices tenable with his cure. In 1699 he was offered the deanery of Derry, but declined it out of regard for his mother, who was unwilling to leave Cork. He was chosen proctor for the chapter in the convocation summoned in 1703, and was shortly afterwards nominated by the lord-lieutenant, the Duke of Ormonde, to the deanery of St. Patrick’s, Dublin. But the right of election being claimed by the chapter, a compromise was effected through the mediation of Archbishop William King [q. v.]; John Sterne [q. v.] (afterwards bishop of Clogher) succeeding to the deanery and Synge to the chancellorship, with the parish of St. Werburgh annexed. He was installed on 2 April 1705, and during the next eight years that he resided in Dublin he established a reputation for himself as one of the most industrious clergymen and popular preachers in the city. At the same time he took his degree of D.D., and on Sterne’s promotion to the see of Dromore, having been appointed by Archbishop King his vicar-general, he was chosen to represent the chapter of St. Patrick’s in the convocation that met in 1713. On 7 Nov. 1714 he was consecrated bishop of Raphoe in the church of Dunboyne, co. Meath, by the archbishop of Cashel, and on 8 June 1716 was translated to the archbishopric of Tuam, including the ancient sees of Enaghdune and Kilfenora, together with the wardenship of Galway. He was enthroned at Kilfenora on 7 Nov., and one of his earliest actions, and that which gained him the goodwill of his clergy, was the resignation, in pursuance of an old scheme of the Earl of Strafford for improving the livings in his diocese, of the ‘quarta pars episcopalis’ or fourth part of the tithes, which his immediate predecessors had nevertheless enjoyed [see Vesey, John, archbishop of Tuam, and for a full discussion of the subject Ware’s Works, ed. Harris, i. 619]. To this end he procured an act of parliament in 1717 settling it permanently on such rectors, vicars, and curates as personally discharged their cures. In 1716 he was admitted a privy councillor, and in that and the two following years was one of the keepers of the great seal in the absence of the lord high chancellor. Like King himself, he