Ireland.- Digby (John, of Landenstown

Ireland.- Digby (John, of Landenstown, Co. Kildare, father of William Digby, Dean of Clonfert) A Letter wrote by John Digby... to his Children on ye sacrament [& letters on happiness],manuscript, 100pp., slightly browned, original Irish binding of red morocco, covers with cental diamond shaped onlay of vellum, surrounded by blue border, the whole richly gilt with peacock, flower and leafy branch tools, spine repaired and label missing, but in sound state, g.e., 134 x 85mm., Landenstown, 23rd May 1750 - 21st July 1751.

***An attractive volume both in terms of its binding and its contents. The second letter written "by a young Gentleman in the Colledge, to his sister at Landenstown; in wh. after ye Manner of the visions in ye Spectator, Life is discribed as a spacious plane, interspersed with many different roads, representing the various inclinations & passions of Mankind & terminated by ye great river of Death, beyond which lay ye temple of true happyness...". He is answered by the sister who elaborates on the theme by relating two allegorical dreams, both set in the same place as her brother's vision and both in search of happiness through a spiritual/philosophical journey. In the first dream she is escorted by her brother and Prudence (who looks like her mother) and in the second she is joined by amongst others, the sisters Faith, Hope and Charity in her quest for "Temporall happyness. Happyness is of such importance to humane life, that the thinking men of all ages... have employed themselves in inquirys after it; that there is such a thing as Happiness, all are agreed in; but wherein it consists, or how it is to be attained, are the two grand question, yt. divide most of the sects both in Philosophy & Religion; which shows how naturall the desires of it are to the mind of Man." - John Digby. Addressed to his daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Digby but according to the manuscript, originally written in 1736 as a student at Trinity College Dublin. This volume perhaps was prepared for publication with an "Advertisement to the Reader" but does not appear to have been published. The Irish Digby's were descended from Sir Robert Digby, of Coleshill, Warwickshire and Lettice Fitzgerald, only daughter and heir of Gerald, Lord Offaly, eldest son of the eleventh Earl of Kildare. John Digby was a cousin of Henry Brooke (c. 1703-83), writer and playwright; author of The Fool of Quality, 1766-70. Owing to financial problems the Brooke family had been forced to mortgage the Rantavan estate and rent Daisy Park, near Sallins from Digby..