Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/69

DELAN.Y. 65 Christ church, with about 100l. a year; and about the same time the university of Dublin presented him to a small northern living of about the same value. Three years after this Lord Carteret gave him a prebend of St. Patrick's cathedral, the revenue of which was not greater than either of his other preferments. Dr. Delany had become wearied with his duties as tutor and fellow, and relinquished their advantages, contenting himself with an income much smaller than what, according to Dr. Swift, he had been in the habit of squandering away, “in a man ner which, although proper enough for a clergyman with out a family, will not be for the advantage of his character to discover, either on the exchange or at a banker's shop.” Dr. Delany contributed his assistance to a periodical pub lication, entitled, “Hibernicus's Letters,” which appeared in 1725, 1726, 1727; and in 1729 he published a paper, called the “Tribune,” which, notwithstanding it was of considerable merit, was continued only through twenty - numbers. In 1731, he had got reconciled to Archbishop Boulter, who furnished him with a letter of introduction to Dr. Gibson, Bishop of London, to whom he came to submit to his lordship's approbation, a theological work, entitled, “Revelation examined with Candour; or, a fair Enquiry into the Sense and Use of the several Revelations ex pressly declared, or sufficiently implied, to be given to Mankind, from the Creation, as they are to be found in the Bible,” &c. The first volume came out in 1731 ; and the second in 1784. They were considered at the time as calcu lated to render useful service to the cause of revealed reli gion: they, however, contained a great deal of objectionable and fanciful matter, which much diminished their value; and they are now superseded by much better works on the same subject. During his absence from Ireland to superintend the publication of the first volume, the doctor was not unmindful of his own domestic happiness, which he consulted by marrying a widow lady from Ireland with a very ample fortune. He was now enabled to indulge WOL II. F