Edmond Malone's relentless pursuit and scrupulous examination of documents; his refusal to accept any assertion, no matter how sanctified by tradition, not supported by physical evidence; his insistence on following the ascertainable facts wherever they led; and even his reluctance to publish--so unwilling was he to commit himself to print while there was a chance that further discoveries might shed new light on his subject--all help define the spirit of modern literary scholarship. His gifts were widely recognized during his life, and, after a century of neglect, twentieth-century critics have restored him to the honors he once claimed.

Edmond Malone was born on 4 October 1741 to Edmond and Catherine Collier Malone. The Malones had been distinguished in Irish civil and ecclesiastical life since the twelfth century, as evident in Mervyn Archdall's Peerage of Ireland (1789). They were substantial landowners and in 1741 were among the wealthiest and most powerful Irish families...