Page:Life of Edmond Malone.djvu/305

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BISHOP OF DROMORE.
285

tiquaries; Sir Joshua Reynolds’s monument; the condition of the Club with his usual Esto perpetua; and reply to a proposal from Malone to have his (the Bishop’s) portrait engraved. Acquiescing in the request, it was forwarded to town by his daughter in Northamptonshire. The Bishop adds an Anglo-Iricism considering his complaint, “I hope you will allow me to see there are no mistakes in the narrative”—stating that several had crept into some notes of Dr. Anderson printed in Edinburgh. This engraving and memoir, under Malone’s inspection, were meant for an edition of the Reliques.

In the following year (1806) the print was completed, and gave satisfaction to the Bishop’s Irish friends. To Malone he wrote as usual, in that tone of apology always employed in adverting to a work the introduction of which, to literary life, required no apology, and which, in fact, forms the basis of his literary reputation. “The Bishop cannot see the print, but his friends think it is neatly engraved. Not having the picture to compare it with, they cannot judge of its fidelity. He cannot by any means think that such a solemn figure is fit to be prefixed to the sportive subjects of the Reliques—the gay amusements of early youth, of which he is now frequently reproached by his brethren and other serious persons.”

In the beginning of winter, renewed apprehensions of their brother’s condition prevailed in the Baronston family. His health became unsatisfactory, exercise was discontinued, and his spirits depressed. A