SHERIDAN, Thomas, The Satyrs of Persius. Translated into English by Thomas Sheridan, D.D. [IN FINE GRIERSON BINDING FROM THE LIBRARY OF CAPTAIN TOTTENHAM]

Dublin: Printed by George Grierson, 1728. Post octavo. pp. xvi, [3], 4-101, [1]. Contemporary Irish binding of full red morocco, covers decorated with a gilt floral roll. Spine divided into six panels by five raised bands, title in gilt on morocco letterpiece in the second, the remainder tooled in gilt with fleur-de-lys; board edges gilt; comb-marbled endpapers; green and gold endbands. Armorial bookplate on front pastedown of Captain Tottenham, Woodstock. Inscription on front free endpaper ‘This book was given / me by Mrs. Euphemia Houghton / April ye 29th / Anno Domini: 1729.’ All edges gilt. In fine condition.

COPAC locates 8 copies only. ESTC T125331.
Latin text with parallel English translation. Includes brief passages in Ancient Greek. Thomas Sheridan, D.D. (1687-1738), schoolmaster, and friend of Swift, was born at Cavan in 1687, and was the son of James Sheridan, fourth and youngest son of the Rev. Dennis Sheridan, who assisted Bishop Bedell in translating the bible into Irish. Thomas Sheridan, the Jacobite, and William Sheridan, bishop of Kilmore, were his uncles.
In 1707 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, as a pensioner, his uncle, the bishop, helping with funds. He graduated B.A. in 1711, and M.A. in 1714; in 1724 he became B.D. and in 1726 D.D. Shortly after graduating he married Elizabeth, the only child of Charles MacFadden of Quilca House, County Cavan, and this house became his on MacFadden’s death. The property was originally in the possession of the Sheridans, and was forfeited for their adhering to James II, while Charles MacFadden acquired it for his services to King William. Sheridan, on his marriage, opened a school in King’s Mint House, Capel Street, which was attended by sons of the best families in Dublin, and from which he derived an income of 1,000l. Swift made Sheridan’s acquaintance in 1713, on arriving in Dublin to take possession of the deanery of St. Patrick’s. They became constant companions. A room in the deanery was reserved for Sheridan, while Swift often lived for months together at Quilca, where he planned the ‘Drapier’s Letters,’ wrote a part of ‘Gulliver’s Travels,’ and edited ‘The Intelligencer’ in concert with his friend. Sheridan wrote much and published little. Translations of the ‘Satyrs of Persius’ (1728, 8vo) and ‘Satires of Juvenal’ (1739, 8vo), both of which had several editions, and the ‘Philoctetes’ of Sophocles (1725) were the most noteworthy of his productions. Swift said that Sheridan “shone in his proper element” at the head of a school; in a letter to Alderman Barber he characterised him as “the best scholar in these kingdoms.” Sir Walter Scott, in his ‘Memoir of Swift,’ writes about ‘the good-natured, light-hearted, and ingenious Sheridan: “Not a day passed that he did not make a rebus, an anagram, or a madrigal. Idle, poor, and gay, he managed his own affairs badly” He justly wrote of himself, ‘I am famous for giving the best advice and following the worst”. Provenance: From the library of Captain Tottenham, Woodstock. He was obviously a connoisseur of fine bindings. See ‘Exquisite & Rare Bookbindings from the Library of Benjamin Guinness, 3rd Earl of Iveagh’ an Exhibition in Marsh’s Library, Dublin, July 2013. One of the finest Irish bindings of the eighteenth century: Hugh Maffett (ed.), The Catiline and Jugurthine Wars. Translated from Sallust (Dublin, 1772), has also the bookplate of Captain Tottenham of Woodstock, County Wicklow. Built by Sir John Stratford in the 1770s, Woodstock House was designed by the architect Robert West who worked on many of the country’s great houses. This property was bought in 1827 by Lord Robert Tottenham, who is said to have paid £12,000 for the house (25 rooms) and demesne (180 acres), and to have spent another £6000 on building a wall round it

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