Robert Jephson

Alfred Webb

A Compendium of Irish Biography

1878

Jephson, Robert, dramatist and poet, was born in Ireland in 1736. Entering the army, he attained the rank of captain; and when his regiment, the 73rd, was reduced in 1763, he was put on the half-pay list. He was intimate with Burke, Johnson, and Goldsmith. In 1767 he married the daughter of Sir E. Barry, the physician, and procuring a government appointment in Dublin, resided there for the remainder of his life. He sat in the House of Commons in the government interest, but did not in any way distinguish himself. Jephson was an intimate friend of Edmund Malone, in whose Memoirs he is constantly mentioned. "In the society of the Castle and its chief — amid the wit, talents, and hospitality which then shone pre-eminent in Dublin, he found the position fitted above all others for that species of enjoyment, where the flow of soul was aided by liberal streams of claret and whisky punch."[231] He wrote numerous works, of which the tragedies of Braganza (1775) and the Count of Narbonne (1781) were the most popular. He died at Blackrock, County of Dublin, 31st May 1803, aged about 67.

Sources

37. Biographical Dictionary: Alexander Chalmers. 32 vols. London, 1812-'17.

231. Malone, Edmund, Life: Sir James Prior. London, 1860.

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