Manuscript, in Jephson's hand, of a parody of Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Using florid language throughout, the author explains his satiety with Dublin and determines to explore the countryside. Traveling with Dean Marlay, Mrs Greville and Mrs Jephson, he complains about the unsightly mendicants who mar the scenery; sings, along with his companions, the Beggar's Opera to pass the time; and runs over "pigs and children who were lying together in the middle of the highway." At Celbridge, he praises the landscape, estate, and the appearance of its owner, Colonel Marlay. The essay concludes with a description of the narrator's fall into the Liffey, and his rescue by catching hold of a passing cow and Horace Walpole has filled in Johnson's name and added "By Richard Jephson, Esqre" underneath the title
Description:
Robert Jephson (1736-1803), playwright and parodist, was born in Dublin. His first play, Braganza, was performed in 1775, with an epilogue by Horace Walpole. His most commercially successful play, performed 37 times between 1781 and 1798, was The Count of Narbonne, based on Walpole's Castle of Otranto as well as Walpole's play, Mysterious Mother. In addition to other plays, Jephson also wrote numerous parodic pieces, including a series in the government newspaper The Mercury under the title "The Bachelor." He parodied the style of the printer George Faulkner and criticized Charles Townshend's enemies in An Epistle to Gorges Edmund Howard (1771); wrote Extempore Ludicrous Miltonic Verses(1788); and wrote a prose piece titled Confessions of James Baptiste Couteau (1794), a satirical parody of revolutionary politics., In English., Title from first page., and For further information, consult library staff.
Subject (Geographic):
Ireland., Celbridge (Ireland), and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Gay, John, 1685-1732., Jephson, Robert, 1736-1803., Johnson, Samuel, 1709-1784., Marlay, Richard, d. 1802., and Walpole, Horace, 1717-1797.
Subject (Topic):
English wit and humor, Parodies, English, Poverty, Travelers' writings, English, Description and travel, and Social life and customs
