Edmond Malone

• 1. A Dublin Scholar's Birth

  ›

  Edmond Malone entered the world on the 4th of October 1741 within a Dublin household of legal prominence. His father Edmond Sr. served as an MP and judge while his mother Catherine Collier came from the Knight family. The boy grew up at Shinglas, a country estate in County Westmeath after his father returned to Ireland following a failed London practice. Records show little about his early years until 1747 when he attended Dr. Ford's preparatory school on Molesworth Street. Ten years later he enrolled at Trinity College Dublin where he excelled academically. He shared top honours with James Drought and John Kearney during his first examination. Malone received books stamped with the College Arms for his diligence. He wrote poetry and translated Sophocles' Oedipus Rex with extensive annotations. These early works demonstrated erudition beyond his years.

• 2. The Law That Failed Him

  ›

  Malone entered the Inner Temple in January 1763 but struggled to find purpose in legal studies. He published satirical articles about government abuse and corrected texts in Jonathan Swift's correspondence. A significant meeting occurred in 1764 when Thomas Southwell introduced him to Samuel Johnson. This encounter became the most important moment of his life according to biographer Peter Martin. Malone traveled through France in autumn 1766 visiting Paris and Avignon. His motivation for law faded as he missed London's literary world. A romance with Susanna Spencer ended disastrously causing a nervous collapse. He spent summer months in Spa while his sisters sent letters suggesting remedies. By March 1772 he returned to Ireland yet complained privately about boredom with his occupation. The death of his father on the 22nd of March 1774 changed everything by providing financial independence.

• 3. Ordering Shakespeare's Plays

  ›

  In May 1778 Malone published An Attempt to Ascertain the Order in Which the Plays Attributed to Shakspeare Were Written within a ten-volume edition edited by George Steevens. This essay established chronological order for Shakespeare's works for the first time. It allowed scholars to construct biographies from the plays themselves. Malone moved into Sunninghill outside London before settling at 55 Queen Anne Street East. He visited Ireland briefly in late 1778 then began sitting for Joshua Reynolds' portrait in February 1779. Reynolds charged thirty-five guineas for the face and shoulders painting. Malone sat ten times between February and July alongside Edward Gibbon and King George III. The portrait now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. His scholarly work gained attention beyond legal circles establishing him as a serious researcher.

• 4. Inside The Club's Doors

  ›

  Membership in The Club remained elusive until the 5th of February 1782 when David Garrick's memory had dimmed enough. Malone attended his first meeting on the 19th of February 1782 becoming treasurer of the exclusive group founded in 1764. Samuel Johnson dined there only five times after Malone joined due to failing health. Their final meeting occurred on the 22nd of June 1784 when Johnson dragged himself to the gathering in obvious pain. Malone kept notes on conversations that James Boswell later included in The Life of Samuel Johnson. John Byng wrote letters describing Johnson's last hours which survive today. The club counted Horace Walpole, Edmund Burke, and Richard Farmer among its members. Malone's social rise brought him into contact with the era's greatest literary minds despite Johnson's declining condition.

• 5. Exposing Chatterton's Lies

  ›

  Thomas Chatterton sent poems attributed to Thomas Rowley to Horace Walpole starting in 1769 while only seventeen years old. These works were actually written by Chatterton who committed suicide shortly thereafter. Thomas Tyrwhitt published them as authentic in 1777 creating controversy over their origins. Malone entered the fray in December 1781 signing an article Misopiclerus in The Gentleman's Magazine. He compared Rowley poems to actual contemporary writers showing Chatterton borrowed from Shakespeare and Pope. A second edition appeared in February titled Cursory Observations on the Poems Attributed to Thomas Rowley. His arguments ridiculed supporters like Jacob Bryant and Jeremiah Milles. This work demonstrated his legal training applied to literary forgery detection. The essay met success establishing Malone as a critical voice against fraud.

• 6. A Library for Future Scholars

  ›

  Malone detailed instructions for his library before dying on the 25th of May 1812. Lord Sunderlin announced donation of part of the collection to Bodleian Library in 1815 after completing the Variorum Shakespeare edition. Approximately eight hundred volumes remained while others sold at Sotheby's in 1818. The Bodleian received the collection officially in 1821. Subsequent decades saw donations fill gaps including Thomas Caldecott's poems in 1833. Papers relating to Alexander Pope arrived in 1836 alongside pamphlets purchased in 1838. Letters from Samuel Johnson and Mrs Siddons entered the archive in 1864. Most books bear E.M. monograms or coat-of-arms bookplates. The British Museum holds additional letters and annotated copies of Johnson's Dictionary. This legacy ensured preservation of materials crucial to understanding Elizabethan drama.