Hester Lynch SALUSBURY

The Bishop of Limerick was Thomas Barnard. The Gentleman's Magazine (lxxvi. 588) reported he died on 7 June 1806. A premature report of his death must have reached Hester.

Another Death! nothing else indeed I think—the pleasant Bishop of Limerick; gay, gallant, chearful Creature that he was— when known by name of Barnard Dean of Derry: Friend & Companion to dear little Goldsmith, Reynolds, Burke, Johnson; all the old Coterie of the Turks Head: where after Supper he used to sing the Song of Polypheme in Acis & Galatea :—Can one then _help_ exclaiming …

Has then the Dean of Derry:
Past o’er the darksome Ferry?
Who once more bright
Than Torch by Night
Shone forth ’mong Wits so merry!

He to the Grape’s ripe Cluster
Could lend Convivial Lustre;
When blythe & gay
In Garrick’s Day
Sweet Mirth her Friends did muster.

But since the Dean of Derry
Has cross’d the Stygian Ferry;
Wit Sense and Worth
Shall joyn with Mirth,
And cry We are griev’d,—ay Very!