According to the least exceptionable account, his works are as follow:

  1. The Irish Colours displayed, in a reply of an English Protestant, to an Irish Roman Catholic, Lond. 1662, 4to.
  2. An Answer to a scandalous Letter lately printed and subscribed be a Peter Walsh, procurator for the Secular and Romish priests of Ireland: This was the same infamous Walsh who forged the commisssion to act against the Protestants. In this letter his lordship makes a full discovery of the treachery of the Irish rebels, Dublin 1662, 4to. Lond. 1662, 4to.
  3. A Poem on his Majesty's Restoration, presented by the earl himself to the King.
  4. A Poem on the Death of the celebrated Mr. Abraham Cowley, Lond. 1667, fol. reprinted by Dr. Sprat, before his edition of Cowley's works; also reprinted and much commended by Mr. Budgel.
  5. History of Henry V. a tragedy. Lond. 1668, fol. In this play Mr. Harris who played Henry, wore the Duke of York's coronation suit; and Betterton, who played Owen Tudor, by which he got reputation, wore the King's; and Mr. Liliston, [196] to whom the part of the Duke of Burgundy was given, wore the Earl of Oxford's.
  6. Mustapha the Son of Solyman the Magnificent, a Tragedy, Lond. 1667, fol. This play succeeded tollerably well.
  7. The Black Prince, a Tragedy, Lond. 1672, fol. When this play was begun his lordship lay ill of the gout, and after he had finished two acts of it, he sent it to the King for his perusal, and at the same time told his Majesty, that while he laboured under that disorder, he had done these two acts; and perhaps would do no more till he was taken ill again; upon which his Majesty pleasantly said, that if it was not to be compleated till the return of the gout, he wished him a lusty fit of it[12].
  8. Tryphon, a Tragedy, Lond. 1672, fol. These four plays were collected, and printed in fol. 1690, and make the entire first volume of the new edition of the earl's Dramatic Works.
  9. Parthenissa, a Romance, in three volumes, Lond. 1665, 4to. 1677, fol. This romance is divided into six parts, the last written at the desire of, and therefore dedicated to, her royal highness the Princess Henrietta Maria, Duchess of Orleans, sister to King Charles II.
  10. A Dream. This poem has been before mentioned. In it, the genius of France is introduced, saying every thing the French ministers could insinuate to inveigle King Charles II. to endeavour at making himself arbitrary, or to deceive him into a mean and scandalous dependence on Lewis XIV. to all which the ghost of Charles I. is next brought in, giving reasons why the sole foundation of a Monarch's power, is the love and confidence of his people.
  11. [197] The Art of War, Lond. 1677, fol. This work he addresses to the King, in a large dedication, which was but the first part of what he intended upon the subject; and was so strangely received, that the second never appeared.
  12. Poems on most of the festivals of the church. This work, tho' printed and published, was never finished by our author. It was written in the last year of his life, under much weakness of body; and Budgel observes, very justly, that his poetry in this composition runs low; and indeed his characteristical fault as a poet, is want of elevation.

His posthumous works are these;

  1. Mr. Anthony, a Comedy, 4to. Lond. 1692.
  2. Guzman, a Comedy. 1693, 4to. upon a Spanish plot, and written in the Spanish manner.
  3. Herod the Great, a Tragedy, Lond. 1694, 4to.
  4. Altemira a Tragedy, brought upon the stage by Mr. Francis Manning 1702, dedicated to Lionel earl of Orrery, grandson to the author, with a prologue by lord viscount Bolingbroke. We may add to them his state letters, which have been lately published in one volume fol. The rest of his lordship's political papers perished in the flames, when his house at Charleville was burnt in the year 1690, by a party of King James's soldiers, with the duke of Berwick at their head.

We shall give a specimen of his lordship's poetry from a speech in Altemira, in a scene between Altemira and her lover.

[198] Altem. I can forgive you all my Lycidor,
But leaving me, and leaving me for war,
For that, so little argument I find,
My reason makes the fault look more unkind.

Lycidor. You see my griefs such deep impressions give,
I'd better die than thus afflicted live.
Yet to those sorrows under which I groan,
Can you still think it fit to add your own?

Altem. 'Tis only you, have your own troubles wrought,
For they alas! are not impos'd but sought;
Did you but credit what you still profess,
That I alone can make your happiness:
You would not your obedience now decline,
But end by paying it, your griefs and mine.

Footnotes:

  1. Earl of Cork's True Remembrance.
  2. Morrice's Memoirs of E. Orrery, chap. 6.
  3. Memoirs of the Earl of Orrery, p. 36.
  4. Carte's Life of the Duke of Ormond.
  5. Memoirs of the Interregnum, p. 133.
  6. Cox's History of Ireland, vol. 2. part 2d. p. 16.
  7. Thurloe's State Papers.
  8. Morrice's Memoirs chap. 5.
  9. Budgel's Memoirs of the family of the Boyles.
  10. Collin's peerage, vol. iv. p. 26.
  11. Love's Memoirs of the Earl of Orrery.
  12. Memoirs of the Earl of Orrery.